The morning sun climbed higher over the horizon. Rays of light streamed through the gaps of the wooden railing on the balcony, falling across Lan Qi’s body and stretching his shadow long.
On the balcony sat a comfortable rattan chair, with a glass tea table beside it. An unfinished book lay there, waiting. A breeze, carrying the fragrance of flowers, drifted past and brushed against Lan Qi’s cheek, as if trying to blow away his drowsiness.
“Lan Qi, time to head off to your cardmaking exam. Stop fussing over your little animal friends already.”
The Great Poet of Love held a watering can in hand. After gLan Qing at the clock in the sitting room, she looked down at Lan Qi, who was still crouched on the ground leisurely feeding the birds, and gave him two firm kicks in the back.
“I knooow, it’s still early. I won’t be late.”
Lan Qi rubbed his sleepy eyes.
Although he often released the Great Poet of Love and had grown fairly familiar with her, her attitude toward him was becoming increasingly casual. Sometimes, he felt no sense at all that she was a girl—her mannerisms were downright boyish.
“Go on, Lan Qi. Show the people of the capital your sealing arts! The most famous practitioner is Bishop Silence. It’s a shame otherwise!”
The Great Poet of Love grinned at him in the morning sunlight.
“That’s right. Sealing magic ought to be warm and full of sunlight—it’s nothing like those grim spells Askson uses.”With a relaxed smile, Lan Qi stood up and stretched with all his might.
Soon after, the Great Poet of Love dismissed her own summon state, while Lan Qi finished preparing to leave.
Passing through the pale dawn in front of the Sage’s Institute dormitory, Lan Qi walked slowly along the campus path, a faint smile on his face. Bathed in the golden morning light, his usually calm demeanor seemed to shine even brighter.
Today was the day of the Registered Cardmaster Exam, and also the weekend. No classes, no student council activities.
The past month had gone by in a blur, filled with nothing but ordinary daily routines.
Aside from helping the student council mediate small campus disputes, Lan Qi spent most of his time either seeking out Talia or staying in his dorm crafting cards.
Though he still wasn’t entirely confident about passing the exam, thanks to Talia’s demon-style training methods, and his discovery (and hard practice) of the magic type most compatible with him, he believed he was now far stronger than when he had only been good at making mental-type cards.
So, early that morning, he set out for the Cardmaster Association’s branch in Ikerite, the royal capital, to take his registration exam.
The higher one’s rank as a registered cardmaster, the greater the discounts one could enjoy when purchasing both common and rare materials from the association.
They could even requisition materials transported in from other nations of the Southern Continent.
Not only that—fees for selling cards and accepting commissioned requests would also be lower.
And of course, the association was one of the best places to buy rare, high-tier materials.
Previously, when Lan Qi had still been trading with a merchant’s identity, some high-grade materials could only be sold to the association but not purchased from it.
The association had long waged war against scalpers and their middlemen.
Not far from the dormitory, under a big tree, Lan Qi spotted Huperion sitting on a ring of wooden benches, clearly waiting for him.
“Good morning, Huperion!”
He waved as he called out.
She quickly noticed him and tilted her head.
“Mm. Morning.”
The two met at the agreed spot, then began walking together toward the Cardmaster Association.
Huperion had told him long ago she wanted to accompany him today.
She was one of the few at school who knew about his identity as a cardmaster, and had always wanted to see the process of his cardmaking firsthand.
Leaving the school grounds, they strolled down the silent morning streets. Following the cobbled path beside Ikerite Grand Theater, they crossed a stone bridge over the canal and saw Yara’s moat glittering with golden ripples under the sunlight.
“Lan Qi, did you know you’ve become a bit of a name in the capital lately?”
As always, the two chatted as they walked.
“Really?”
Lan Qi had no idea his reputation had spread beyond the Ikerite Academy.
He had spent almost all his recent days buried in cardmaking.
The only times he left school were to visit Cat Boss’s restaurant nearby, where Talia often was.
“Even though the Shadow World projection wasn’t made public, the rumors just kept getting more exaggerated…”
Huperion sighed.
If there had been actual footage, it might’ve been better.
But because there wasn’t, everyone could let their imaginations run wild as the tale passed from mouth to mouth—every retelling morphing into something stranger. In the end, each version became more absurd than the last.
“What are they saying now?”
Lan Qi asked curiously.
“The wildest version claims that you, Principal Lan, even while burdened with purgatory itself, could still hold up Corridor Academy in one hand and battle a vampire prince with the other—yet remain invincible in this world.”
Lan Qi nearly choked on his own spit.
He coughed repeatedly. “Don’t tell me people actually believe that?”
Huperion shook her head.
“Anyway, plenty of the capital’s residents seem to enjoy spreading it. Some young parents even use the story to scare disobedient children: If you don’t behave, Principal Lan will drag you off to Demon Academy for reform!”
“I…”
Lan Qi was momentarily at a loss for words.
In the Shadow World, he had been preaching nothing but love, peace, morality, and order—all positive values.
How on earth had that turned into a dark fairy tale?
The distortion of rumors was terrifying.
“Alright, alright, don’t mind it. Everyone knows it’s half in jest anyway.”
Huperion smiled helplessly.
Though she knew the stories were three parts truth and seven parts fiction, she could clearly see Lan Qi’s bewilderment.
He nodded deeply at her words.
Then, with a firm expression, he said:
“You’re right. As long as I work even harder next time, I’ll definitely make everyone truly feel the positive energy I’m spreading.”
“…”
Huperion fell silent, regretting that maybe she shouldn’t have brought it up at all.
…
About half an hour later.
They arrived at the Southern Continent Cardmaster Association’s Ikerite branch, located near Erica’s Magic Tower and Hutton Pedestrian Plaza on the city’s eastern side.
Unlike the simple, traditional-style branch Lan Qi had seen in the South Vantina borderlands, this capital branch was a massive postmodern building completed just ten years ago. Its construction had been overseen directly by the Ikerite city government.
Facing across Hutton Plaza, it stood in sharp contrast to the nearby neoclassical Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association building. Yet the two were aligned perfectly along the same central axis.
The association’s glass curtain walls incorporated Ikerite’s city grid, reflecting the scenery of the plaza.
As soon as they passed through the grand waterfall illusion doors that opened automatically in welcome, they were met with flowing corridors and a gallery-like interior filled with forest murals. The architectural design blended Ikerite’s human culture, geology, history, paleontology, magi-engineering, and sociology.
“When does your exam start?”
Following the clear signs through the building, Huperion turned her head and asked.
“Nine o’clock. Still plenty of time—we can look around first.”
Lan Qi estimated it was just past eight now.
“Since we both advanced, we might as well check if there are any new cards we can buy before the next Shadow World expedition.”
“Alright.”
Huperion nodded.
She knew all of Lan Qi’s Error-Healing cards had been bought from this association.
Because those cards were practically useless for normal mages, they could be picked up cheaply without spending much at all.
Sometimes, with enough digging, one might even find a superior version of Error-Healing spells.
However, recently, it seemed the entire Hutton Kingdom’s supply of Error-Healing cards had started to rise slightly in price.
More and more people were realizing these so-called “junk cards,” usually just broken down for parts, could actually be carried into battle to annoy opponents.
They didn’t have much real effect, but they could really mess with someone’s mindset.
Huperion knew exactly why—some Sage’s Institute teachers must have caught onto Lan Qi’s trick and started playing with the idea themselves. That, in turn, had slowly spread the trend.
Although Loren, the dean, had forbidden anyone from speaking about it openly, the teachers all knew those cards were destined to skyrocket in value, so the clever ones were already hoarding them.