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

Shan Lan said, "I'm leaving too. Goodbye, President."

After watching the two leave, Illusory Moon immediately summoned several guild managers and had them continue searching the Black Market thoroughly for other cards made by Yueban. He also sent Fat Uncle a friend voice message in an exceptionally earnest tone, carefully listing all kinds of benefits offered by the Judgment Club. He was even more attentive than an official advertisement.

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

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

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

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

At the Star Card Bank counter, Xie Mingzhe politely asked the smart teller, "Hello, how do I exchange game coins for real-world Crystal Coins?"

The smart teller replied, "Today's reference exchange rate is 10:1. You may set the price of the game coins you wish to sell and place them in the Star Card Bank's game coin purchase window, then link your bank card information. If another player purchases your game coins, your bank account will automatically receive the transfer."

So it was an in-game currency trading platform?

Xie Mingzhe quickly 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 left the Star Card Bank, Xie Mingzhe was in an excellent mood. Even the sky outside seemed bluer than before.

Just then, a system notification sounded by his ear: "You have received a friend voice message from Illusory Moon."

Xie Mingzhe accepted it, and President Illusory Moon went on at length about the various benefits of the Judgment Club. He clearly wanted 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, President. 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 gaming consumes mental energy, and remaining online for extended periods is harmful to your health. Please arrange your gaming time reasonably and log off to rest as soon as possible."

Holographic games connected all five senses, so they really did take a lot out of one's mind. He had logged in at half past six after dinner, and it was now nearly midnight. Xie Mingzhe felt his headache worsening, so he simply logged off.

After logging off, Xie Mingzhe rubbed his throbbing temples. Just then, text messages 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.

Xie Mingzhe looked at the balance in his bank account and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

He had originally been a pauper with only 200 in savings. Now, he had become a modest little rich man with 300,200!

This was the first money he had earned since being reborn. He had never expected that the copyright fee for a single original card could earn him so much. Honestly, he had never seen this much savings 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 washed his face. Since Xie Mingzhe would be living with Pang Yu from now on, he followed the chubby guy upstairs to the dormitory.

Pang Yu was naturally friendly. Once they entered the room, he started chatting with Xie Mingzhe. "Little Xie, you look pretty young. You're not even twenty yet, are you?"

"Mm, I just turned eighteen this year. I'm taking on some part-time work during the holidays to earn 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 kind of club is it?" Xie Mingzhe began gathering information.

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

"I saw Nie Yuandao's profile while looking up information before, so I was curious." Choosing a job was a major matter, and he had to investigate thoroughly before making a decision. 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 earn hundreds of thousands. Of course it's a dream job for ordinary people." Pang Yu looked envious. "But once you become a club's contracted designer, the copyright for the cards you make no longer belongs to you—it belongs to the club. That's why most original designers with high mental energy prefer to design their own cards and compete personally. Only those whose mental energy does not meet the requirements, or whose age truly prevents them from participating in intense matches, become professional designers."

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

Luckily, he had kept his guard up and had not been tempted by the immediate benefits into casually 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 staying free and designing more good cards to sell!

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

After God Nie bought the Wu Song Card copyright at such a high price, Xie Mingzhe had begun to feel something faintly strange—did people in this world not know Wu Song? He thought the card design was fairly ordinary. Wasn't it just the "Wu Song Fights the Tiger" episode from Water Margin? Why did Lan God seem to admire him so much?