Special Items (Part Two)

Xing Yao waved a hand lightly, his tone crisp and blunt. "Forget it. Keep making them. This thing either succeeds completely in one go or fails outright. Stop dragging your feet and keep trying."

With that, he was the first to raise his hand, drawing on the resentment surging through the mental world and returning to card crafting.

The others said no more either, each settling down to try again and again.

Failure, explosion, dispersal, start over.

Formation, stability, fluctuations, collapse again.

They went back and forth for who knew how many rounds, with a few successes along the way, but either the effects were unsuitable, the energy was unstable, or the side effects were too extreme. They still had not made a finished product that was genuinely suitable for sale, safe and practical.

Red light flickered in the mental world, the faint sounds of shattering energy rising one after another. Repeated failures had worn them all somewhat numb, and the air was so quiet that only the faint sound of flowing energy remained.

Just then-

An arrogant, triumphant voice cracked as it suddenly rang out through the space!

Clone No. 3 slapped his thigh, his mouth stretched into a grin he could not close. Wild joy was written all over his face: I fucking did it! He held a fully formed card steadily in his palm and shouted:

"This Daoist master has done it!"

In an instant, every clone's gaze whipped over, landing squarely on the card.

Xing Yao looked up, his tone calm but straight to the point. "It worked? What does it do?"

Clone No. 3 grinned obnoxiously, but he did not beat around the bush, speaking plainly:

"Tear up this card, and for the next half hour, you can command the power of earth to form a suit of earth armor around your body. A purely defensive item."

The light from the card in his palm gradually steadied. Its patterns were neat and clean, its energy concentrated without spilling out. The whole thing had a solid, sought-after quality, plainly a practical model that could become an instant hit on the market. Its main colors were inky teal mixed with dark gold, understated yet highly distinctive, nothing like a shoddily made reject.

No one offered unnecessary praise. They simply nodded in silence-defensive items had a broad audience and were highly practical. They could not be more suitable for public sale.

Xing Yao's gaze remained calm as he went straight to the most crucial question. "What about the side effects?"

One corner of Clone No. 3's mouth tilted up into a knowing, wicked grin, and he lowered his voice:

"I used resentment to refine a batch of itching agent and fused it directly into the card. Once the earth armor's duration ends, the agent will instantly spread throughout the body, making the user itch until they break down. The effect is contagious, too. One touch spreads it, and without a special antidote, there's no recovering."

At his words, the others' gazes sharpened in unison. They instantly understood how insidious this side effect was-it did not injure anyone or cause trouble, yet it could make people itch until they questioned their lives, and spread to others besides. It could not be more suitable for earning resentment.

Looking at the inky teal and dark gold earth armor card, Xing Yao nodded slightly, his tone steady:

"The effect is reliable, and the side effect is suitable. This one can be mass-produced."

Clone No. 3 immediately sidled up, his eyes shining as he stared eagerly at Xing Yao. He looked expectant and a little ingratiating, just waiting to be praised and rewarded.

His stare left Xing Yao speechless for a moment. He shot him a sidelong glance and asked bluntly, "What do you want?"

Clone No. 3 immediately rubbed his hands together and said with a cheeky grin, "Look how hard I've worked. How about giving me an upgrade?"

As soon as he finished, Clone No. 2 came over too, nodding repeatedly in agreement. "Yeah, yeah! I've finished the invisibility card. Surely I deserve an upgrade too!"

Xing Yao shook his head helplessly and gave a soft snort. "It's not like I'm some heartless merchant."

With that, he lifted his fingertips slightly, and two gentle yet pure streams of power fell directly onto them.

The next second, their auras surged-

They broke straight through from stage 8, rising steadily to stage 9!

As the fluctuations from their upgrades spread, Xing Yao instinctively glanced into the depths of the mental world, his brow creasing almost imperceptibly.

After all this fuss, crafting cards and upgrading them, the resentment points he had accumulated had dropped by nearly half again.

He pondered for a moment, then looked up at everyone, his tone crisp and decisive, with a hint of urgency:

"Take a look at the situation. Stop dawdling and pick up the pace. Try to get the first batch made by tomorrow so we can take them out and sell them."

After a pause, he added, helpless but serious:

"Otherwise, if we keep spending at this rate, these resentment points won't be nearly enough."

Hearing this, everyone immediately understood the stakes. They wasted no more words and bent their heads to work at a frantic pace.

A day hurried by.

Resentment surged and energy collided in the mental world, where four brand-new practical item cards were all finalized and given stable forms.

Then came Clone No. 4.

He already controlled flames, and this time, he directly fused his own fire attribute completely into a card, creating a flame incarnation card.

Its function was simple and brutal: tearing it activated it, turning the entire body into flame for half an hour. Attack, defense, and speed all soared. It worked in both melee and ranged combat, with explosive power pushed to the limit.

But when it came to the side effect, Clone No. 4 smiled with an utterly innocent yet wicked expression:

"Once the effect ends, every scrap of clothing on your body burns away, along with every last hair. It's all about baring everything."

At those words, the others' mouths twitched in unison-how was that a side effect? That was public execution.

Next, Clone No. 1 leisurely withdrew his hand, a shimmering spatial card hovering at his fingertips.

A teleportation card.

Its function: tear it to activate it, allowing three teleports to any location within a hundred-meter radius of the user. Ambushes, escapes, showing off-it could do them all, pushing practicality to the limit.

Just as everyone's eyes lit up, Clone No. 1 suddenly lowered his head. An extremely subtle and extremely evil smile slowly curled his lips, and the look in his eyes sent a tingle down their backs.

"As for the side effect..."

He drew out his words, thoroughly whetting everyone's appetite, his tone brimming with mischief:

"Once all three teleports are used up, three enormous holes will randomly appear in your clothes. As for where... that's entirely up to heaven."

At that, he raised his eyes toward the outside world, his smile growing more sinister:

"I can't wait to see the expression on the first 'lucky customer' who buys this card."

A few hours later.

Looking at the four completely stable finished cards, each with its own twisted sense of fun, Xing Yao shook his head, both helpless and amused.

"All right."

He took a deep breath, his tone carrying a hint of anticipation and the easy air of someone happy to watch the spectacle, however big it got:

"We'll head straight out and start selling first thing tomorrow."

He also upgraded Clone No. 1 and Clone No. 4 to stage 9 while he was at it. His resentment points had already bottomed out.

After speaking, Xing Yao swept his gaze over everyone and asked casually:

"By the way, how many cards did each of you make? Give me the numbers."

Clone No. 1 spoke first, his tone casual. "I made 83 teleportation cards."

Clone No. 2 followed. "A few more invisibility cards on my end. 96."

Clone No. 3 thumped his chest, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "My earth armor cards are the hottest sellers. I went straight ahead and made 108!"

Clone No. 4 rubbed his nose, looking a little embarrassed. "My flame incarnation cards are more troublesome. I only made 76."

Xing Yao silently calculated the total, then nodded. "All right, that's enough. Tomorrow, we'll take 64 out to sell first, test the waters and see how the market responds."

Hearing this, Clone No. 1 immediately frowned and stepped forward to speak:

"This isn't a solution."

He paused, then voiced what everyone was thinking:

"You can't keep us cooped up in this mental world every day, slowly making them one at a time, can you? It's too inefficient. We need to figure something out and research a way to mass-produce cards quickly."