Chapter 137

In the lord's mansion of Kinston City, on the second floor, within a classically decorated magical workshop, time-worn brown wood was carved into a neatly arranged counter, the boundary runes etched upon its surface emitting a faint, breathing light.

Seated in a corner armchair, Xi De cradled a small cat, watching Lan Qi make cards with keen interest.

Although she had never heard of magical artificers needing someone to watch them while making cards, she was happy to help Lan Qi if it would benefit him. Or rather, she had planned to observe her own Holy Son making cards.

Even now, she still remembered when she first encountered Lan Qi during the annihilation branch assessment at the Knights of Annihilation in Herlom. She had already been captivated by Lan Qi's work then, and now, whether watching him carve, paint, or create magical items, she never felt bored.

Deep in the workshop, near the window, a heavy, silver magic-isolating velvet cloth covered the workbench, intended to reduce the interference of magical facilities in the room on the materials and tools. Under the warm yellow light, Lan Qi's shadow was projected around him, his focused emerald eyes reflecting the magical instruments in front of him.

Next to Lan Qi's right hand, a row of small glass bottles with markings were neatly arranged. Each bottle contained liquids of different colors and heights, which were magic core liquids he had personally refined and measured. As soon as he put down a freshly mixed bottle, he smoothly turned to his right and continued using the miniature balance and a set of precise graduated bottles to start a new blend.

"Why does he use so many materials?"

Xi De lowered her head in confusion, whispering softly near the little black cat's ear.

She had, after all, seen other card makers make cards.

Usually, everyone prepares one set of materials to make one magic card.

But Lan Qi was like a cafeteria chef, preparing materials for ten or twenty cards before starting.

"I don't know, meow. Every time this kid makes cards, it's like he's preparing for a fifty-pull gacha, but his family seems to be quite wealthy, enough for him to squander..."

Cat Boss also whispered to Xi De.

Previously, every time it stayed in Lan Qi's dorm to watch him make cards, he had a high probability of success when making sealing-type magic cards. Mental and light types were also okay, but the success rate for other types of magic cards was basically appalling.

After thinking about it, Cat Boss stopped the topic.

No matter how rich Lan Qi's family was, they were only wealthy common merchants. From the snippets it usually heard at the Iketerite Academy, it knew that the Wilford Merchant Guild couldn't withstand too much turbulence, while Xi Ge Li De, as a cardinal of the Rebirth Church, was on another level entirely.

If Lan Qi's old man ever met Xi Ge Li De, who seemed to be his daughter-in-law, coming to visit, Cat Boss didn't dare imagine what the scene would be like.

"I see."

Xi De nodded and looked at Lan Qi again.

She saw him carefully weighing the magic crystal powder of transformation attributes. Although the magic crystals used were low-level, their purity was extremely high. Lan Qi gently poured in the required amount. Even though the slightest breeze could change the reading of the balance, his movements were exceptionally delicate, ensuring that it was neither too much nor too little, done perfectly in one go.

"His skill is heartbreaking."

Xi De quietly commented.

"..."

Cat Boss glanced at Xi De without saying anything.

Lan Qi slowly dripped the concentrated magic core liquid into the magic crystal powder. The moment they made contact, the powder and liquid reacted slightly, completing the process of boiling and settling instantly, and began to emit a fluorescent glow. Then, he picked up the engraving pen, slowly injecting the adjusted magic ink into the pen barrel until it was eight-tenths full, and carefully sealed it.

After completing the process, he took out a delicate, translucent blank card. This was a necessary material for making magic cards, only produced in the Shadow World, capable of bearing fixed magic formulas and ensuring the card's durability and magic stability.

In front of the workbench, Lan Qi began to open several different low-level magic scrolls commonly used for transformation, gently unfolding them. The runes and patterns on them appeared faintly on the light brown moonflower paper in deep blue lines. He skillfully used a special engraving knife and magic to extract the required parts, and the special alloy metal could withstand and conduct high-intensity magic, accurately placing them on the predetermined position of the card, and began the re-compilation steps like resetting a scroll.

Magic circuit engraving requires extremely high concentration and skill. But even though Lan Qi was clearly doing work that required great mental focus, his breathing and heart rate never changed, as if he was just doing ordinary work.

Even laymen like Xi Ge Li De and Cat Boss could see the difficulty of the engraving. The dense, stack-like demonic language magic characters on the card seemed to be crawling like ants, and even if they could see them clearly, they wouldn't want to take a closer look.

Lan Qi engraved with ease, not seeming to think he would fail at all.

Like a painter painting a familiar old work.

Every stroke was swift and neat, yet incredibly delicate.

This made Xi De behind him pay more attention to Lan Qi.

Lan Qi's aura made people feel that he was a consummate artist, and even look forward to what kind of card he would create!

After dozens of seconds.

Accompanied by rising flames and a violent bang.

It exploded.

"So fast."

Xi De widened her eyes and exclaimed in the dissipating sparks.

Although her Holy Son seemed a bit extravagant and his operations were a bit confusing, this kind of situation was either an extremely conceited genius or a hopelessly ambitious idiot.

She believed that her Holy Son must be the former.

"It exploded again..."

The light barrier in the card-making workshop protected Lan Qi from harm. Lan Qi looked at the exploded magic card in his hand in a daze. It seemed that everything had happened too suddenly, and even he hadn't reacted.

"Did I scare you?"

He turned around and apologized to Xi De, looking a little embarrassed.

"It's okay, I like watching fireworks."

Xi De smiled with a hint of joy and encouraged Lan Qi.

Lan Qi was slightly stunned, as if he couldn't process it, or he had received a feedback that was completely different from what he usually expected.

After a moment, Lan Qi finally came back to his senses and sighed in relief, his eyes drooping.

He would never say that Xi De was an older woman who couldn't get married again. Her own conditions were indeed too good.

Xi De frowned slightly.

But she just tightened her grip on Cat Boss in her arms without saying anything.

Just like that, Lan Qi turned back and continued making cards, and Xi De continued to watch him with her chin propped up.

No one knew how long had passed, and the sparks in the card-making workshop occasionally burst.

Despite the unexpected noises, the air in the room seemed particularly peaceful between them.

As dusk fell, Lan Qi still couldn't make the card he was aiming for.

Xi De was sleepy and fell asleep in the chair with her eyes closed.

She seemed to be having a sweet dream, sleeping soundly, even making slight snoring noises. The usual sounds of card-making failures couldn't wake her up, and the noises of the tools were like a thunderstorm to her.

"Meow meow."

Cat Boss went to the guest room on the second floor and found a thick blanket, using telekinetic magic to cover Xi De.

Then it couldn't help but look worriedly at Lan Qi.

It felt like with Xi De around, Lan Qi was blowing up cards even faster.

When it used to watch him blow up cards, at least he could make a few more steps before blowing them up. Now he seemed particularly casual, like he was playing with mud.

He didn't even seem ashamed like ordinary card makers would be, and he would just smile.

It could be seen that after completely letting go of the pressure, he was genuinely happy and had found the purest joy in card making.

Cat Boss didn't know what to say. It couldn't tell if the reverse buff that Xi De gave Lan Qi was good or bad.

It only knew that when Lan Qi returned to the Southern Continent and Tata saw him making cards like this, her blood pressure would probably explode.

As the last ray of twilight escaped the horizon, leaving only stars twinkling quietly on the inky curtain, the world outside the room had sunk into a bottomless night, and the gaps in the curtains of the card-making workshop outlined the contours of starlight and moonlight.

The hands of the grandfather clock in the corner crossed the threshold of midnight, and the echoes of each tick were particularly clear in the workshop.

After an unusually long period of time without any abrupt sounds in the workshop, a dazzling light finally emerged from one side of the workbench in the silence.

"Hmm..."

As if sensing the light, Xi De also opened her eyes slightly and rubbed them.

She saw not far away that the light grew brighter and brighter until it went out. Lan Qi was holding a magic card that was surrounded by a purple mist.

Xi De quickly woke up and turned her gaze to Lan Qi.

"Oh, a purple rare magic card. No wonder Little Black Cat said you were quite powerful."

Xi De clapped her hands in admiration, very satisfied.

It probably only took more than ten hours to make a directed purple rare magic card. Although it was second-tier, it was enough to prove his excellent level.

"Card making is my old profession."

Lan Qi said. When he returned to the Southern Continent, most of his time would probably be occupied by improving his magical engineering skills. The Northern Continent was more free, and every day was fulfilling and happy.

Cat Boss ignored Lan Qi's words and jumped off the armchair, moving closer to look at the card Lan Qi made.

It turned out to be a second-tier spell that Lan Qi and Talia had already thoroughly researched, [Transformation: Human].

However, this one was obviously a special version with directional appearance changes.

"You spent so much effort just to create a new alias?"

Cat Boss asked in surprise.

It did know that Lan Qi and Xi De lacked new disguises, so much so that Lan Qi had lent Xi De the one he used to transform into Locke McCarthy last time.

Lan Qi smiled without saying anything. He just lightly touched the [Transformation: Human] card, and then his figure became blurred and twisted. To Cat Boss's surprise, when he became clear again, he had already become the Annihilation Holy Son.

"Meow?!"

Cat Boss was so frightened that all the fur on its body stood up, and it screamed and jumped into Xi De's arms.

However, after thinking carefully, it suddenly realized that this was Lan Qi, so it poked its head out again to observe.

Lan Qi not far away still had that unique temperament. He was not seriously playing the role of the Annihilation Holy Son.

But in terms of appearance, it could be said that he had become seamless!

"...After you capture someone, you can disguise yourself as them and blend back into their companions... I don't know how to describe this kind of evil being."

The moment Xi De saw Lan Qi transform into the Annihilation Holy Son, she basically understood what he was going to do next, and she didn't even know what to say.

It could only be said that he was born to be on the side of the Rebirth Church.

There is one more chapter, and I will try to finish it before twelve o'clock.

(End of this chapter)