One-Star Energy Card

October Village, Xi City.

A rather dilapidated self-built house, two stories tall, with a front yard and a back yard. There was an old yellow dog at home and an old locust tree in the yard.

This was Tang Jian's home.

It was decent enough. At least it was an old detached house, so Tang Jian had his own bedroom and even a small study.

Though it was located in October Village, Xi City itself was not very large.

Tang Jian's home was not too far from the streets at the county center. It took only seven or eight minutes by electric scooter, and around fifteen minutes to get to school. It fell within North City, and its location was not particularly remote.

In a small county town like this, the energy particles drifting through the air were extremely sparse—not even one-tenth as abundant as in an Elite Base City, let alone on the other super-planets humanity had developed beyond Earth Star.

Only after the National Era had been replaced by the Federation Era did the people of the Federation gradually come into contact with other humans beyond Earth Star, and with the wider world of cards.

It turned out that the people of Earth Star had always been trapped within the Solar System. Beyond the Solar System, there were actually traces of other humans.

Those humans had long since conquered worlds beyond the Solar System, turning countless planets in the universe into human strongholds.

Yet before those humans entered the Solar System, the people of Earth Star had not even known of their existence, much less ever encountered cards.

Even in the present era, Earth Star remained extremely backward—so backward that it could only rely on the technology of humans from beyond the Solar System to travel through the Solar System, or even leave it.

But that technology was basically irrelevant to ordinary people.

Although Tang Jian had been a Three-Star Card Master in his previous life, he had only obtained the status of a Federal Pioneer, not that of an Interstellar Citizen. He had no qualifications whatsoever for interstellar travel or for leaving Earth Star. His entire family could only remain trapped on this poor, backward planet.

By the time Tang Lin parked the electric scooter, Tang Jian had already entered the house.

His mother, Chen Lianrong, had already prepared dinner.

No matter how poor the Tang family was, they could still afford a bowl of sliced meat noodles.

But compared with the rumored Advanced Nutrient Solution, or even the far inferior Solar Energy Potion, these noodles might indeed smell delicious, yet they could not provide the human body with much nutrition.

His younger sister, Tang Yueyue, had already gone to sleep.

As Tang Jian ate his noodles, he vaguely heard his father and mother talking in their room.

They seemed to be discussing giving him money to buy Blank Card Material.

Tang Jian raised his head and looked at the first-floor ceiling. There was no actual ceiling—just the roof itself. Spiderwebs clung to the corners, and cracks marred the roof and walls.

He felt a little upset.

This house was very old.

It had been built more than twenty years ago. His father had scraped together the money to build it himself when he was twenty-five or twenty-six. The materials had not been very good at the time, and even now, cracks could occasionally be seen in some of the walls. Still, it was basically livable.

His parents were both ordinary people.

His father barely had any Card Energy, and not much at that—not even as much as Tang Jian. With a Card Energy level of just over twenty, he was a One-Star Card Apprentice. He now worked at a factory in the county, earning barely over two thousand a month even with overtime. His mother grew some vegetables at home to sell, making at most around five hundred a month.

Given their family's circumstances, was it a little too much for him to ask for over two thousand to buy materials?

But when he thought about how, once he had money, he could quickly earn even more, increase his strength, achieve good results in the college entrance examination, and repay them, Tang Jian quickly hardened his resolve again.

"Xiao Jian, here's 2,300. Take it to buy the materials. Don't lose it. Keep the extra fifty as living expenses, and spend it sparingly."

After Tang Jian finished dinner, his mother came over to clear away the bowls and chopsticks, then took out a stack of money and handed it to him.

As he accepted the wad of cash, which even included many loose fifty-cent and one-yuan bills, Tang Jian's fingers unconsciously tightened around it.

This was all his parents' hard-earned money. Those one-yuan and fifty-cent bills had probably been collected by his mother while selling vegetables. She had taken them all out now; there was likely very little money left at home.

That was perfectly normal.

His parents earned so little every month, yet they had to support him through high school and his sister through middle school, even paying for tutoring classes from time to time. They could barely save anything at all.

Seeing Tang Jian's expression, Chen Lianrong showed a hint of relief. She patted his shoulder. "Go upstairs and study, then get some rest."

"Okay!"

Tang Jian nodded, picked up his schoolbag, put the money away, and went upstairs.

The second floor had two bedrooms and a small sitting room.

The innermost bedroom belonged to his younger sister, Tang Yueyue.

Tang Jian quietly opened his sister's door.

He looked inside. The room was pitch-black, and he could faintly hear his sister breathing.

It was already ten o'clock, and Tang Yueyue was fast asleep.

Tang Jian quietly shut the door again, switched on the light in the small sitting room as softly as he could, then rummaged through his own bedroom and found a White Card and a bottle of ink that was nearly empty.

A third of the White Card was already covered in rings of intricate lines.

It was an unfinished One-Star Energy Card, and the lines looked fairly well drawn.

But in Tang Jian's eyes now, some of the lines on the White Card were severely lacking in precision.

Holding the two materials, Tang Jian left his bedroom and sat down at the table in the small sitting room. He took out an Outlining Pen of very ordinary quality and immediately began preparing to make a card.

Just as he was about to begin making the card—

In Tang Yueyue's room, Tang Yueyue quietly let out a breath beneath her blankets, wondering why her brother Tang Jian had suddenly opened her door to look at her. He had never done that before.

She silently reminded herself that she had to lock the door from the inside tomorrow.

With that thought, she quietly turned on a flashlight beneath the covers and continued reading the novel in her hands with rapt attention.

After the tip of the Outlining Pen had absorbed enough Energy Ink, Tang Jian looked at the Energy Card on the table and immediately began tracing and drawing along the previous line.

Making a One-Star Energy Card, the lowest-level and most basic kind of card, was something many proficient One-Star Card Apprentices could handle, let alone someone like Tang Jian, who had returned from rebirth and had once been a Three-Star Card Crafter.

Although a Three-Star Card Crafter was still nothing in the eyes of the entire Federation, in Xi City, a card crafter of that level was already considered an immensely important figure.

Though Tang Jian currently had very little Card Energy in his body and no longer possessed the powerful spiritual power he had once had as a Three-Star Card Master, his awareness and skills had remained.

Thus, as he focused completely on outlining the One-Star Energy Card, the blade-sharp tip of the pen could be seen gliding across the white card, black threads as fine as spider silk extending and curving beneath its tip with exceptional fluidity.

The process of outlining an Energy Card was also the process of using one's own Card Energy to guide and manipulate the Energy Magic Water.

Without Card Energy, it was impossible to guide or manipulate the energy within the Energy Ink, much less activate it and store it in the card along the stroke of the pen. The resulting lines would lack energy conductivity, possessing only form but no substance.

Therefore, possessing Card Energy was essential if one wished to become a Card Crafter.

A perfect card was best outlined from beginning to end in a single uninterrupted flow, which required the card crafter to possess sufficiently powerful Card Energy that met a certain standard.

In fact, many mid- and high-level cards had to be made in one continuous effort.

A low-level Energy Card like the one in Tang Jian's hand did not have such a restriction and could be completed over several outlining sessions, but that would inevitably lower the success rate. Even if it succeeded, the card's performance would decline.

That was because cards made in several sessions would always have pauses at certain points during the process.

These points would create discrepancies or flaws in the transmission of energy, causing the card's performance to decline or even resulting in failure.

Tang Jian's attempt at making the Energy Card went smoothly this time. With the awareness and skills of a Three-Star Card Crafter, he only consumed around sixteen or seventeen points of Card Energy from his body to complete this One-Star Energy Card.

Of course, that was also because a third of the Energy Card had already been completed. Otherwise, he would have had to consume far more Card Energy.

Tang Jian put away the Outlining Pen and watched as the ink on the white Energy Card abruptly solidified. A faint energy fluctuation spread from it, vaguely drawing toward the Card Energy in his body, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

However, he was somewhat tired now, and drowsiness washed over him.

With his current physique of merely 30 Card Energy, after consuming sixteen or seventeen points, his stamina began to decline, and he felt exhausted.

Tang Jian shook his head and sighed inwardly. Just as he was about to visualize the "Three-Point-One-Line Technique," he suddenly sensed that the energy within the Energy Card on the table was rapidly decreasing.

"What's going on?" Tang Jian froze. Then he noticed that his vision was beginning to blur, while a flash of red light swiftly brightened before his eyes.