9: Chapter 9 First, get dressed.

Looking at Li Murou's tragic expression, as if she were facing death, Chen Xi felt a headache coming on.

He rushed forward in a stride and reached out to grab her small hand, which was still tugging forcefully at her collar.

"Stop, stop, stop! Don't rush! We haven't started making the card yet!"

"Ah? Oh, oh..."

Li Murou replied blankly, then hurriedly scrambled to pull her collar back up.

Chen Xi quickly changed the subject. "Ahem... well, Mu Rou, making your class core card requires a musical instrument as a base. Do you have any instruments you usually like, or are particularly good at?"

"Musical instrument?"

"I only know how to play the electronic keyboard..."

"An electronic keyboard... Alright."

Chen Xi nodded, an idea forming in his mind.

He slowly closed his eyes and stood in place.

With a thought, he activated the skill [Miracle Deduction].

In an instant, countless phantoms of items, materials, and equipment appeared like stars in the sky, colliding, breaking down, and reassembling at a frequency of billions of times per second.

His target was locked onto the concept of an "electronic keyboard."

A moment later, the chaotic data stream gradually subsided, and several incredibly clear golden formulas were branded into his mind.

[Card: Swift-Play Zither]

[Synthesis Formula: Electronic Keyboard + Speed-type equipment (boots are best)]

[Card Effect: Significantly increases skill casting speed.]

[Card: Thorn Echo Zither]

[Synthesis Formula: Electronic Keyboard + Any armor (cuirass is best)]

[Card Effect: When you are attacked, there is a certain probability of reflecting a portion of the damage back to the attacker.]

Chen Xi slowly opened his eyes and let out a long, heavy breath.

With his current mental strength, deriving the synthesis formulas for two cards simultaneously was already his limit.

Chen Xi instinctively glanced at his spatial backpack and sighed.

Previously, in order to make class core cards for those four ungrateful wretches, Lin Feng and the others, he had almost exhausted all his savings.

At this moment, the backpack was empty, save for the [Heart of Bedrock] card he had just scavenged yesterday.

Now, wanting to craft a card, he was truly strapped for cash.

Helpless, Chen Xi had to bite the bullet and tentatively look at Li Murou: "Ahem, Mu Rou, I'm still short on materials to make your class core card."

Li Murou immediately understood what Chen Xi meant, and she asked: "What do you need?"

"See if you have what I need: two electronic keyboards, one piece of speed-type equipment, and one piece of defense-type equipment."

"Oh, oh, for keyboards, I have those!"

Li Murou opened her spatial backpack without hesitation. With a flash of light, two brand-new, sci-fi-looking electronic keyboards appeared on the living room floor.

"I've loved playing the keyboard since I was a child, so I bought quite a few."

Following that, she took out a pair of boots with white wings on both sides from her backpack.

"My dad gave me these as a gift when I started university. But because I could never find a team and have never entered a dungeon, I... I've never used them."

The moment Chen Xi's gaze landed on those boots, his eyes almost popped out!

[Whisper of Gale (S-Rank)]

"Holy f*ck!" Chen Xi couldn't help but curse, completely stunned.

This was S-Rank equipment!

The girl in front of him, who looked harmless and even a bit dorky... had just taken this out so casually!?

Before he could recover from the shock, Li Murou's next actions left him completely numb.

He saw her take out several more pieces of equipment, one after another, from her backpack, all glowing with the same dazzling orange light—armor, leggings, gauntlets, a helmet...

"My dad gave me the whole set."

A whole set... an S-Rank set!

Chen Xi looked at the dazzling array of equipment, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He silently withdrew the [Heart of Bedrock] he had originally intended to use to make up the numbers.

Compared to this pile of equipment, that card was practically garbage.

After Li Murou took out all the equipment, she scratched her head a bit embarrassedly: "Captain Chen, is this... enough? If it's not... I don't have any more."

"Enough! More than enough! Definitely enough!"

Chen Xi nodded like he was pounding garlic, his eyes glowing, his voice trembling with excitement.

He carefully selected the [Whisper of Gale] and the [Gale Guardian Breastplate] from that pile of divine gear.

"With these two pieces, it's enough!"

With that, Chen Xi could no longer suppress his excitement.

He grabbed the two S-Rank pieces of equipment with one hand, and with a wave of his other hand, he pulled the two electronic keyboards into his grasp.

The four items floated in front of him, and his gaze instantly became incredibly focused.

Card Crafting!

[Ding!]

[Card crafting successful! Obtained material card: Demon Sound Phantom Zither (S-Rank)!]

[Card crafting successful! Obtained material card: Thorn Echo Zither (S-Rank)!]

Two S-Rank material cards, shimmering with brilliant orange light, floated quietly in Chen Xi's palm.

"Again! Synthesize!"

Chen Xi let out a low shout, his mental energy pouring out without reservation.

The two S-Rank cards instantly turned into two streams of light, spinning, colliding, and merging frantically above his palm.

The blinding light made the entire stronghold room as bright as day.

[Ding!]

[S-Rank class core card synthesis successful!]

[Card Name: Reversal Movement]

[Rank: S-Rank]

[Effect 1: Law of Reversal: All your buff skills will be converted into powerful debuff curses applied to enemies, with the debuff effect being 500% of your original skill's buff attribute!]

[Effect 2: Zero-Second Aria: All your skill casting times are reduced to 0. Furthermore, after casting two skills consecutively, the third skill will trigger a 'Duet' effect, doubling the resulting debuff effect and stacking with previous effects!]

[Effect 3: Thorn Echo: Within 5 seconds after you cast a skill, all damage you receive will be 100% reflected back to the attacker!]

Looking at these three ridiculously overpowered stats displayed on the light screen, Chen Xi was ecstatic.

As expected of an S-Rank class core card fused using two S-Rank pieces of equipment as a base.

This effect is simply heaven-defyingly strong!

Instant cast! Double stacking! One hundred percent damage reflection!

How is this still a support? This is basically a cheat code wearing a support's clothing!

He turned around excitedly, looking at Li Murou, who was also dumbfounded by the astonishing phenomenon, and shouted: "Come on! Mu Rou! Prepare to undergo your transformation!"

Li Murou took a deep breath. Although her face still carried a shy blush, her eyes were filled with unprecedented determination.

She closed her eyes again and pulled her collar open forcefully.

This time, it was to become stronger!

Chen Xi didn't hesitate at all either.

He held the [Reversal Movement] core card, which shimmered with S-Rank radiance, in his palm, and pressed his hand without hesitation onto Li Murou's warm, snow-white skin!

"Ugh..." Li Murou's body trembled violently, and a charming flush spread across her face.

But the next second, a torrent of incredibly massive energy surged from Chen Xi's palm into her body.

The core card turned into a stream of light and instantly merged into her heart.

Immediately after, all the information regarding this core card rushed into her mind like a tide.

... "It worked!"

When the light dissipated, Li Murou opened her eyes abruptly, her deep eyes filled with unbelievable ecstasy!

"I feel... my combat power has achieved a qualitative leap!"

She was so excited she was almost incoherent. In her excitement, she actually rushed over and gave Chen Xi a solid hug!

The soft and astonishing sensation instantly drowned Chen Xi's reason, leaving his mind blank and a bit dizzy.

He quickly coughed twice, gently pushed the young girl away from his embrace, pointed at her collar, and reminded her: "Ahem... put your clothes on first."

"Ah!" Li Murou only then realized she was still disheveled.

She exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly pulled her collar back up, shyly, but the excitement on her face could not be stopped.

"Captain Chen! You are simply a god! The effects of the skills I currently possess have completely changed!"

She gestured excitedly: "The [Joyful Movement] has now turned into [Sorrowful Elegy], which can directly reduce monsters' movement speed and attack speed by 50%! Plus, with the Duet effect, theoretically... as long as I have enough mental strength, I... I think I could freeze all the monsters in the entire dungeon by myself!"

Chen Xi looked at her cute, dancing-with-excitement appearance and smiled with satisfaction.

"That was my intention from the start."

As he spoke, he opened the door to the stronghold room, his face full of confidence.

"Let's go. No amount of theory is useful. We'll go find a simple dungeon now and test your power!"

The two talked and laughed, walking out of the door of Room 301 in high spirits.

... However, as soon as they stepped out, they bumped into a group of people.

That group of people was just walking out of Room 303, diagonally opposite them.

It was the Shenfeng Battle Team.

Lin Feng happened to turn his head and locked eyes with Chen Xi.

"Yo! Isn't this the discarded pawn our Shenfeng Battle Team didn't want!"

Lin Feng spoke mercilessly, his face showing undisguised disdain.