Blazing Wind Saber

For the next few days, Lin Qi shut himself in his room. Aside from eating and sleeping, he spent all his time studying card fusion, determined to find a way to help Lin Feng advance his Wind-Breaking Saber.

"Three Small Fireball Magic Cards and two Thorn Summoning Cards. Fusion succeeded, producing a two-star Thorn Trap Summoning Card!"

"Three Breeze Dust Star Cards and two Smoke Dust Star Cards can fuse into a one-star Obscuring Dust Spell Magic Card."

"Two Small Sparks and three Greases can actually fuse into a two-star, white-quality Summoning Card, Burning Trap!"

Lin Qi stared at the two-star card glowing white in his hand, his eyes burning with fervor. He hurriedly recorded the results of the experiment on paper.

"I see. Five identical cards can undergo a qualitative change, but five different cards with a causal connection can also produce an effect where one plus one is greater than two."

Looking at the two-star Burning Trap Magic Card he had fused from five scrap cards, Lin Qi felt as though the doors to a new world had opened before him.

He was certain the Ten Thousand Cards Pavilion's card compendium definitely didn't have this card.

"Even though it's only a white card, it's a genuine two-star card. Even if it won't sell for ten thousand Ka'en, two thousand Ka'en should be no problem. But it only cost me two Ka'en to make."

To make this Burning Trap, Lin Qi had only spent money on two Small Spark Dust Star Cards. The remaining breeze, Grease, Thorn... Kane had given him all those scrap cards for free.

The Ten Thousand Cards Pavilion needed to train its own card makers.

And the number of scrap cards its card-making apprentices produced every day was simply enormous.

Though those scrap cards sold for only ten Ka'en each, Card Masters willing to sift through them for bargains were few and far between. Over time, the unsold cards had piled up like mountains in the warehouse.

When Kane learned Lin Qi needed scrap cards, he used his privileges as a steward to sell them to him wholesale by weight.

That was also why the Wonderful Tales Shop had been putting out new cards constantly over the past few days. It had twice as many customers buying cards as the Ten Thousand Cards Pavilion, and business was booming.

"Leather, two pieces of refined iron, a dagger, and a wisp of breeze."

"Fuse!"

The cards on the table soon turned into a vortex, and a soft white light shone at its center.

Lin Qi held his breath and stared intently at the light.

The white glow gradually faded, and a card drifted down.

On its face, a short blade lay motionless, wisps of pale cyan wind element curling around its edge, as though it would cut through the air at any moment.

"It worked!"

Lin Qi shouted excitedly.

Implement Card: Wind-Chasing Blade

Star rating: one star

Quality: white

Attribute: speed +2

Evaluation: This is a sharp short blade. It couldn't be better suited for assassination.

"Hahahaha, so it really does work."

Clutching a stack of cards, Lin Qi hurried downstairs and ran into the courtyard.

"Dad, I found the best advancement path for you!"

Lin Feng was sitting under a tree with his eyes closed, resting. Hearing him, he looked up to see his son rushing over with dark circles under his eyes.

Seeing Lin Qi and the almost feverish look in his eyes, he grew a little worried. "Son, why don't you rest for a while first? Look at you. You must not have slept well for days."

Lin Qi ran up to him and shoved a stack of cards into his hands, his face full of excitement.

"I'm fine. Advance first. The advancement path I designed for you is definitely more reliable than your old commander's."

Lin Qi waved a hand, his gaze resolute.

To find this advancement path, he had spent the past few days conducting hundreds of experiments stacking Implement Card attributes.

Although he hadn't fused a Wind-Breaking Saber, he had fused a lower-end Wind-Chasing Blade, which was enough to prove his hypothesis correct.

Unable to argue Lin Qi out of it, Lin Feng took the cards, walked to the center of the courtyard, and sat down cross-legged.

He first placed the Fire Crystal Ore in his palm and closed his eyes to sense it for a moment. Then he placed the Flame Lizard Leather Card and three Refined Iron Cards one by one around his Natal Card, the Wind-Breaking Saber.

"Flame Lizard leather, three pieces of extremely high-quality refined iron, and the most important thing, Fire Crystal Ore. Dad's advancement will definitely succeed this time!"

He had fused those three Refined Iron Cards bit by bit from seven hundred and twenty-five Iron Ore Cards, so there was absolutely no problem with their quality.

Lin Qi stared at Lin Feng without blinking. This was no longer just about Dad advancing his Natal Card. If his hypothesis was correct, then with his theoretical knowledge, even if he couldn't become the greatest card appraiser on the continent in one stroke, he could still surpass eighty percent of master card appraisers.

"Begin advancement!"

Lin Feng gave a low shout and circulated the Source Power within him.

The Wind-Breaking Saber suddenly blazed with dazzling cyan light. As if summoned, the Fire Crystal Ore transformed into a stream of fire and quickly merged into the saber. The Flame Lizard Hide Card and the Refined Iron Cards shattered one after another, turning into bands of interwoven silver and red energy that wrapped around the Wind-Breaking Saber layer upon layer.

Soon, a scorching aura radiated from Lin Feng, and the temperature in the courtyard rose considerably.

The process lasted a full hour. His body was like a forge, glowing fiery red all over.

Finally, the moment Source Power began gathering in the courtyard, the red light gradually faded, and a brand-new long saber appeared in Lin Feng's hand.

"Did it work?"

Lin Qi stared at the long saber in his hand.

Its blade was longer and wider than before, with faint flames flowing along its edge. The patterns on the blade resembled burning wind, and even before it was swung, the intertwined howl of wind and fire could be heard.

"Blazing Wind Saber."

Lin Feng slowly rose to his feet. The moment he gripped the hilt, a wind blade wreathed in flames shot through the air. With a boom, the boulder in the corner of the courtyard split in two, smoke rising from the scorched surfaces.

"It worked! It really worked!" Lin Qi waved his fist excitedly.

"I can't believe it really succeeded! Son, you really are a genius!"

Lin Feng looked at Lin Qi, his voice full of pride and gratitude.

The thing he had dreamed of had actually been accomplished by Lin Qi.

"Dad, did you break through to Grand Card Master?"

Lin Feng shook his head. "It's not that simple. But now that my Natal Card has broken through to blue quality, advancing to Grand Card Master is just a matter of accumulating Source Power."

"Source Power? Then you need Source Crystals..."

Lin Qi rubbed his chin. "Dad, roughly how many Source Crystals do you need? I'll go buy some from the bishop at the church."

On the Source Card Continent, one Source Crystal was worth ten thousand Ka'en, but in remote regions, the going price was around eleven thousand Ka'en.

Many merchants could be said to have made their fortunes reselling Source Crystals.

But few people did so.

The more remote a place was, the more rampant its bandits were. Even if merchants had the energy to resell Source Crystals, they would often be robbed of everything.

"No need. I have some."

Under Lin Qi's shocked gaze, Lin Feng took out ten crystals with purple light flowing through them.

"Dad, didn't you swear you didn't have any money hidden away?"

Lin Qi felt as though he had been stabbed in the back.

When they had first bought the Wonderful Tales Shop, the family had been so poor they could only gnaw on foul-tasting low-level Card Beast meat, yet Lin Feng hadn't brought out any money. And now he actually had ten Source Crystals!

Lin Feng's old face reddened, and he coughed twice. "This was money I'd set aside for you to get a wife... But let me borrow it for now. Once I become a Grand Card Master, I'll go to Stone Iron Mountain and collect protection money from those bandits. I'll definitely earn back more than ten Source Crystals."

Seeing how self-assured his father looked, Lin Qi rolled his eyes. "All right, as long as you're happy..."

The exhaustion of the past several days washed over Lin Qi. He gave a long yawn and leaned back against a stone chair nearby. He hadn't slept well for days and urgently needed to recover his energy.