Chapter 13: Unlocking? Locking?

Gu Ye spent the entire day either dozing off or daydreaming in class. After school, he arrived in front of a small Chinese-style pavilion on campus, where an old man was reclining leisurely in a chair, fast asleep.

"Could this be the school's 'Sweeping Monk'?" Gu Ye thought to himself.

Gu Ye stepped forward and said politely in a soft voice, "Teacher, I'm here at the Precious Card Pavilion to exchange for cards."

"Go in yourself. You know the rules, right?" The old man squeezed out a few words without opening his eyes.

"Understood," Gu Ye replied. He walked to the gate and swiped a card.

"Beep! Student card! Gu Ye."

The gate opened, and Gu Ye slowly stepped into the Precious Card Pavilion. The interior decor was very primitive—to put it simply, it was dilapidated. Very, very dilapidated!

The paint on the walls was peeling off in layers, and the flickering light bulbs on the ceiling were on the verge of falling, all testifying to the pavilion's age.

"Hello! I am Ash, the intelligent butler of the Precious Card Pavilion." A small, floating metal sphere drifted over.

"Hello, Ash!" Gu Ye greeted it, but his eyes were scanning the pavilion. Seeing no cards on display, he asked Ash:

"I'm here to exchange for a card."

"Certainly, Student Gu Ye. Please follow me." Ash led him to a counter. A flash of light erupted, and a virtual screen appeared before Gu Ye.

"All the cards within the Precious Card Pavilion are listed here."

Gu Ye raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected such advanced technology in such a run-down pavilion.

Gu Ye swiped his finger across the screen, and cards of various levels entered his field of vision. Curious, he tapped on one, and its description appeared. Gu Ye even saw cards like [Unlock] and [Lock]. The descriptions were as follows:

card: [Unlock]

Quality: [White]

Description: Can Unlock ordinary doors or other common items.

[Lock] was the exact opposite of [Unlock].

Gu Ye continued searching for the card he needed. After a long while, he still hadn't found one he liked, and the screen indicated there were over five thousand cards left to browse.

Just then, Ash's voice rang out: "Friendly tip! You can use categories."

Hearing this, Gu Ye gave an embarrassed smile and made an excuse. "I was just seeing how many cards our school actually has."

For some reason, Gu Ye felt as if he saw a hint of disdain in its metallic eyes. He shook his head; how could that be? This was just a byproduct of magi-tech.

He swiped his finger, finished categorizing, and browsed carefully. He picked out five cards that fit his requirements for card-making materials.

[Mechanical Electromagnetic Dart]

[Elf Hurricane Arrow]

...

Although Gu Ye liked all five cards very much, who could understand the pain of only being able to choose one...

After weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately chose the [Military Standard Battle Armor Type V]. Now, the armor form for his bloodline card was settled.

A moment later, Ash brought the card from somewhere. He tucked the card into his pocket and, without lingering, headed outside.

Passing the old man, Gu Ye politely greeted him, hoping to leave a good impression—just in case the old man really was some hidden powerhouse! After waiting a while without a response, Gu Ye regretfully headed toward the school exit.

After he left, the old man opened his eyes and looked toward the direction Gu Ye had disappeared with confusion. "Why does this kid have to say hello every time he passes by? He's disturbing an old man's sleep."

The old man's expression suddenly turned strange. "He doesn't think I'm some Card Master powerhouse, does he? No way! Surely not!"

To make a long story short, the camera returns to Gu Ye. He walked out of the school gates and hailed a Saber-toothed Tiger taxi. The Saber-toothed Tiger had a saddle on its back and four seats in addition to the driver's.

"Driver, 91 Xingfu Road."

"You got it! Hold on tight." The Saber-toothed Tiger began to run rapidly. On the road, many other strangely-shaped taxis were also moving at high speeds.

He soon arrived at the Witch Society's branch. After paying, Gu Ye stepped off the Saber-toothed Tiger and looked at the building before him with a mix of emotions. If he hadn't secured a loan here, he might have ended up as a bartender at a club, waiting for a rich woman to come along.

Gu Ye came here specifically to repay his debt. The money for the card-making materials he sold to Ye Suxuan this morning had already been deposited this afternoon. As expected of a major family, they were incredibly fast.

It was only because those two were rare blue cards that they could sell for two million. However, the Card Master profession was indeed too lucrative. That was why so many people on Blue Star wanted to become Card Masters, hoping to enter Card Domains to obtain card-making materials and make money.

Gu Ye walked to the main entrance, and the doors opened automatically. He walked down the corridor into a room he was familiar with. It still had that same atmosphere, with the dim lights on the ceiling flickering and making his eyes ache.

"Handsome, we meet again." Seeing it was Gu Ye, the woman greeted him with a smile.

Gu Ye nodded to her and sat directly on the chair in front of her. "Repaying the loan."

After speaking, he took out his phone and signaled for the woman to process the transfer. The woman was clearly stunned. She thought Gu Ye wanted another loan and was even prepared to see if she could flirt a little. She hadn't expected him to come back to repay the loan after only a few weeks.

Snapping out of it, her smile grew even wider. She took out a card from the same place she'd kept the contract and entered the amount. Gu Ye injected spiritual energy into his phone and swiped it over the card. A notification sound immediately rang from his phone:

"Beep! 300,000 transferred out."

Hearing that sound, Gu Ye felt a momentary pang in his chest. In just three weeks, the interest had climbed to a hundred thousand. If he had been a few days later, wouldn't it have easily reached a million?

He didn't want to stay here for another second. If he had the strength, he wouldn't even want to pay this money back, but alas, he lacked the power.

Picking up his phone, Gu Ye stood up and walked out. Once he left, the woman's smile gradually vanished, and the greed in her eyes was no longer hidden.

"Go investigate this kid. You know the rules."

"Yes, Elder!" A voice came from the shadows of the room. A ripple shimmered in the darkness, and the voice vanished, as if she had always been alone in the room.

Her originally charming expression turned into one of worry.

"Sigh! As an Evil God Cult, we've actually fallen to the point where we need to embezzle a measly few million."

"Cult Leader, please come back soon. The cult can barely keep the pot boiling!"

Returning home, Gu Ye threw together a simple meal—three dishes and a soup.

Sitting back in front of his computer, he opened the familiar card-making material online shopping site. He went on a shopping spree for white cards, and in the blink of an eye, nearly four million of his 4.75 million disappeared.

A white card sold for twenty thousand. Gu Ye bought forty cards to perform Refinement. He wanted to test the upper limit of the probability for his [Refinement] talent and also to level it up.

He summoned the [Furnace], threw all forty cards inside, injected spiritual energy, and ignited the white flames.

Gu Ye stared at the [Furnace] and murmured to himself, "Will it take twelve hours?"

Although the Refinement time had increased, last time it took six hours to refine six cards. Now, forty cards only took twelve hours. He guessed that Refinement time was also closely related to his own strength; the stronger he was, the shorter the Refinement time.

Gu Ye left the [Furnace] hovering in the air to continue the Refinement. After washing up, he went to bed.

The night was silent, with only the [Furnace] in Gu Ye's bedroom hovering all night, its flames flickering occasionally.