Page 37

Nie Yuandao nodded and said quietly, "He really is a promising prospect. Recruit him as soon as possible. I'm logging off first. Let us know if there's any news."

Shanlan said, "I'm leaving too. Goodbye, Guildmaster."

After watching the two leave, Huanyue immediately gathered several guild managers and had them continue their carpet-style search of the Black Market for other cards made by Yueban. He also sent Fat Uncle a friend voice message, earnestly and meticulously listing all the benefits of the Judgment Club. He put even more effort into it than an official advertisement.

Xie Mingzhe followed Setting Sun to the Service Center on Aquarius.

The Service Center building was dozens of stories tall and could help players resolve all kinds of problems. The card copyright department was on the sixteenth floor. Setting Sun brought him there, and Xie Mingzhe connected to the database to verify his identity as an author before transferring the production copyright for the [Wusong Card] to the Judgment Guild.

After transferring the copyright, he could no longer make Wusong Cards—but that was fine. Wusong was only effective against tigers, so its skill range was rather narrow. He could still make Daiyu, whose effects targeted a much broader range of flowers.

With a huge sum of three million game coins in his pocket, Xie Mingzhe happily ran next door to Star Card Bank.

At the Star Card Bank counter, Xie Mingzhe politely asked the intelligent teller, "Hello, how do I convert game coins into real Crystal Coins?"

The intelligent teller replied, "Today's reference exchange rate is 10:1. You can set the price for the game coins you wish to sell, place them in the Star Card Bank's game coin purchase window, and bind your bank card information. If another player purchases your game coins, the funds will automatically be transferred to your bank account."

So it was an in-game currency trading platform?

Xie Mingzhe swiftly entered the information. He planned to split the three million into ten listings in the trading window, which should make them easier to sell.

When he walked out of Star Card Bank, Xie Mingzhe was in an excellent mood. Even the sky outside seemed bluer than before.

Just then, a system notification sounded in his ear: "You have received a friend voice message from Huanyue."

Xie Mingzhe pressed accept. Guildmaster Huanyue went on at length about the benefits of the Judgment Club, clearly hoping to recruit him into Judgment. Xie Mingzhe did not want to make a hasty decision, so he politely replied with something along the lines of, "Thank you, Guildmaster. I'll consider it carefully."

Immediately afterward, the system issued another voice notification: "Dear player, you have been online continuously for more than five hours. Holographic games consume mental energy, and prolonged play is detrimental to your health. Please arrange your gaming time responsibly and log off to rest as soon as possible."

Holographic games connected all five senses, so they really were mentally exhausting. He had logged in at six thirty after dinner, and it was now nearly midnight. As Xie Mingzhe felt his headache growing worse, he simply logged off.

After logging off, Xie Mingzhe rubbed his throbbing temples. Just then, a text message popped up on his phone: "Dear user, you have received a transfer of 30,000 Crystal Coins from Star Card Bank. Account balance: 30,200 Crystal Coins." "Dear user, you have received a transfer of 30,000 Crystal Coins from Star Card Bank..." "Dear user..."

Ten consecutive bank messages flooded his screen!

His final balance had become 300,200 Crystal Coins.

Looking at the balance on his bank card, Xie Mingzhe rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

The pauper who had originally possessed only 200 in savings had now become a minor rich kid with 300,200!

This was the first money he had earned since being reborn. He had never expected that the copyright fee for just one original card could earn him so much. Honestly, he had never seen so much money in his account in his entire life—three hundred thousand!

Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath and ran to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He felt completely refreshed. Pang Yu had also just logged off and finished washing his face. Since Xie Mingzhe would be living with Pang Yu from now on, he followed Little Fatty upstairs to the dormitory.

Pang Yu was naturally friendly. Once inside, he started chatting with Xie Mingzhe. "Little Xie, you look pretty young. You haven't turned twenty yet, have you?"

"Yeah, I just turned eighteen this year. I'm working part-time during the holiday to earn some living expenses."

"Not bad, not bad. You've got ambition." Pang Yu gave him a thumbs-up.

"By the way, Brother Yu, do you know about the Judgment Club? What's that club like?" Xie Mingzhe began gathering information.

"Judgment? They're incredibly impressive, one of the six giants of the Star Card League." Pang Yu enthusiastically introduced them. "The Judgment Club mainly uses beast-type card decks. Their most famous player is Nie Yuandao. He's been competing for nearly ten years, making him the league's most experienced player, and he's highly respected by the other players... But why are you asking about the Judgment Club?"

"I saw Nie Yuandao's profile while looking up information before, so I got curious." Choosing a job was a major matter. He had to investigate thoroughly before making a decision, so Xie Mingzhe continued asking Pang Yu, "Brother Yu, do you know about card designers? What are this job's prospects like?"

"The chief card designers at major clubs earn annual salaries in the millions, while ordinary designers can make several hundred thousand. Of course it's a dream job for ordinary people." Pang Yu looked envious. "But once you become a club's contracted designer, the copyrights to the cards you create no longer belong to you—they belong to the club. That's why most original designers with high mental strength choose to design cards themselves and compete personally. Only those whose mental strength doesn't meet the requirements, or who are truly too old for intense competition, become professional designers."

"!!!!" Xie Mingzhe was startled by those words.

Fortunately, he had kept his guard up and had not been tempted by the immediate benefits into carelessly accepting Judgment's invitation.

Once he became Judgment's card designer, the copyrights to every card he designed in the future would belong to the Judgment Club. Wouldn't that mean tying himself to a single tree? He would be better off remaining free and designing more good cards to sell!

Although Xie Mingzhe had only sold one card so far, everything was difficult at the beginning. With the first card, there would naturally be a second.

After the copyright to the Wusong Card had been bought by God Nie at such a high price, Xie Mingzhe had begun to feel faintly puzzled—did people in this world not know Wusong? He thought the card design was pretty ordinary. Wasn't it just the "Wusong Fights the Tiger" episode from Water Margin? Why had God Lan looked so impressed by him?