Targeted

"First, I need to craft enough Energy Cards. I'll sell a small portion, use most of them, and then use the money from sales to buy more Blank Cards for crafting. I need to boost my personal strength as quickly as possible. Unless absolutely necessary, I won't risk logging onto the Dark Web to sell knowledge or techniques through illicit channels."

Tang Jian pondered this after acquiring Yang Mao's Scrap Cards.

After school, he went straight to a card shop near the campus and bought a batch of Blank Cards and five bottles of Energy Ink.

He carefully inspected the one-star Blank Cards to confirm they weren't refurbished second-hand goods before counting out the money and handing it to the shop owner.

Some unscrupulous merchants would wash failed Scrap Cards with Rare Energy Water and then resell them as new.

If one wasn't careful, they could easily get swindled.

"You scoundrel, impressive! Got some money, huh? Buying a whole batch of Blank Cards directly, looks like you're ready to go all out and make a push?"

A sturdy young man walked over, clapped Tang Jian on the back, and gave a thumbs-up, chuckling.

Tang Jian glanced at him, vaguely recalling who he was. The person's name was Xie Dong, and his Card Energy wasn't low. Tang Jian remembered that in his previous life, this person had made it into the final Rocket Class training.

However, this guy often hung out with idle youths from outside the school, so most of the well-behaved students at school were still a bit wary of him.

Tang Jian nodded, speaking discreetly, "I know the school is about to prepare for the sprint class, so I want to give it a shot."

Xie Dong smiled upon hearing this, glancing at the stack of cards in Tang Jian's hand. "Go for it. I'm rooting for you."

With that, Xie Dong picked up his bag and walked out of the shop. "I'm heading off."

Tang Jian watched Xie Dong's departing back, shook his head, packed up the cards, and walked towards his father, who was waiting by the street in an electric scooter.

"See that kid? He's in the class next to mine. He just bought a whole batch of Blank Cards and five bottles of Energy Ink. You guys keep an eye on him tomorrow. After we pull off a job, we'll split it 30-70; you get 70."

In the shadows of an alley corner on the other side of the school, Xie Dong gathered with three or two other youths. He took a cigarette offered to him, lit it, and then pointed to Tang Jian, who had just gotten onto the electric scooter in the distance.

The three youths memorized Tang Jian's appearance and nodded slightly. One with permed hair said, "Then let's do it tomorrow during your dinner time. You follow him then, and contact us anytime."

"Alright." Xie Dong gave a cold smirk, his eyes playfully watching the distant, already departed Tang Jian.

In his eyes, Tang Jian was already meat on the chopping block; as soon as the time was right tomorrow, that meat could be put into the pot.

"Son, since you bought a batch of Blank Cards, practice hard. I think you have talent in Card Crafting. If you learn well in the future, you can teach me. If you're ever short on money or materials, just tell me."

On the way home, Tang Lin looked at the silent Tang Jian in the back seat through the side mirror, thinking he was under a lot of pressure, and encouraged him with a smile.

Tang Jian felt a warmth in his heart and grinned. "This batch is enough for now. Once I make enough Energy Cards, I can help subsidize the household."

Tang Lin smiled upon hearing this but said nothing.

How easy was it to craft Energy Cards?

Even for the most common One-Star Blank Energy Card, an inexperienced novice like Tang Jian, with weak Card Energy, would be doing well to successfully craft two or three out of a batch.

A batch of cards, including ink and materials, cost 2,250 yuan. Crafting three One-Star Blank Energy Cards would only yield a little over three hundred yuan. It was a definite loss, with no profit. How could that subsidize the household?

While Tang Lin had some expectations for Tang Jian, honestly, even as his father, his expectations weren't high.

Tang Jian could generally guess his father didn't have much hope, but what he was thinking about now wasn't that, but Xie Dong, who had just seemingly casually struck up a conversation with him.

Although Xie Dong wasn't in his class, Tang Jian always had some impression of him. He frequently associated with idle individuals from outside the school.

In his previous life, although Xie Dong later managed to get into the sixty-day Rocket Class, an scandal broke out just before the college entrance exam, alleging that he had colluded with some youths to extort fellow students within the school.

The last incident even nearly involved the police department, but afterward, it seemed to have been resolved by the school's higher-ups, who downplayed the serious matter and trivialized the minor one.

However, the impact at the time was significant, and many students from the same school knew about it.

As a result, even after they entered society, many classmates would show some disdain when Xie Dong was mentioned.

It was only now that Tang Jian remembered this, and a sense of alarm rose in his heart.

He had just purchased over two thousand yuan worth of materials at the card shop, which was a huge sum for high school students like them.

If Xie Dong had his eye on him, it was very likely he would become a target for extortion.

While it might seem overly suspicious to judge someone without evidence, Tang Jian secretly took note.

Back home, he ate the dinner his mother had prepared.

Tang Jian immediately couldn't wait to carry a bag of materials upstairs.

He vaguely heard a soft sound from his sister Tang Yue's room.

Tang Jian paid it no mind. He took out his Sketching Pen from his room, went to the table in the small living area, turned on the desk lamp, and began to grind and prepare the energy potion, getting ready for Card Crafting.

As a former Three-Star Card Master, he wouldn't even bother to look at cards like the One-Star Blank Energy Card.

But now, having been reborn, he was surprisingly excited to craft these low-level cards.

Tang Jian lamented the impermanence of life.

Once the Energy Ink slowly settled in the inkstone, he also took out a stack of white-quality Blank Cards from his backpack.

Each of these cards was about 0.3 millimeters thick, 6 centimeters long, and 4 centimeters wide, all used for crafting one-star white-quality cards.

There were many types of one-star white-quality cards, but the ones with the highest demand were, of course, Energy Cards, followed by communication cards, Illumination Cards, and so on.

These low-level cards were actually industrialized and could be mass-produced by machines, so they weren't particularly valuable.

Many similar cards crafted by ordinary Card Users were even hard to sell.

Because if the Card Crafting process wasn't exquisite, manually crafted cards wouldn't perform as well as machine-made ones.

A standard white-grade One-Star Energy Card contains 100 points of energy, and most machine-produced cards meet this standard.

However, a Card User with poor craftsmanship might only produce an Energy Card with around 80 to 90 points of energy, resulting in slightly inferior performance.

In his previous life, Tang Jian was a Three-Star Card Crafter. Crafting these low-level cards was effortless for him, and they naturally achieved optimal performance.

He picked up a Sketching Pen, held his breath, and concentrated, swiftly drawing on a Blank Card.

In about a minute, a white-grade One-Star Energy Card was crafted. The relatively simple lines and patterns solidified on the card, and then, a faint energy fluctuation emanated from within.

Tang Jian exhaled. Only then did fine beads of sweat appear on his forehead, and he felt a little tired.

He had crafted a card in one go this time, but it had consumed a significant amount of Card Energy.

He estimated he had used over 25 units of Card Energy.

This time, the energy within the Energy Card wasn't directly absorbed. I must have used 25 points of Card Energy. If I absorb this Energy Card now, will it be like yesterday?

Tang Jian focused his consciousness, feeling a red glow appear in his eyes as a data panel materialized before him.