21: Chapter 21 A New Problem

Su Bai's face darkened.

Other things were fine. The mana bonus was great, the derivative card creation was great, and the exclusive magic was as good as it gets—

But what the hell is this Magical Girl transformation?!

He had explicitly refused Kyubey's contract invitation precisely because he didn't want to become a Magical Girl.

And now the system just gave him a set?

It even included customization features for transformation poses and background music?!

"...System. Are you suffering from some kind of serious illness?"

[This system's objective is—to break all equivalent exchanges.]

"I didn't ask you to break that!!"

[The Critical Refund mechanism cannot be disabled. This is one of the core privileges granted to the host upon binding with the system.]

"Then you should have triggered a critical hit on something serious! What did I make for you? I made you a cat! A talking cat! What kind of logic is it to return a Magical Girl transformation set to me?!"

[The core function of the Kyubey Card is the [Magical Girl Contract]. The principle of Critical Refund is to return 100% of the card's core functionality while eliminating all side effects. Based on this, returning the Magical Girl transformation ability to the host is logically impeccable. If you have any questions, please refer to Article 6, Section 3 of the Critical Refund mechanism.]

Su Bai fell silent.

He suddenly realized something—reasoning with the system was essentially reasoning with his own cheat. And the result of reasoning with a cheat was that the cheat always won.

He took a deep breath.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the white, fluffy creature squatting on the table, which was watching him with innocent red eyes.

Kyubey tilted its head.

[Su Bai, your expression looks like you've swallowed a fly. Do you need me to help you make a wish to eliminate your troubles?]

"...Shut up."

Su Bai sighed. He ran his hands through his hair, rubbing it vigorously, and then turned his gaze back to Kyubey.

Regardless—

Screw it, it was a pretty badass ability anyway. Aside from the requirement to get an SSS rating in the Monthly Exam, there was nothing wrong with it.

Besides...

Although the art style was getting increasingly weird, although he had inexplicably gained a Magical Girl transformation ability he didn't want to use at all, and although the system's logic was as infuriating as ever—

This cat had indeed come to life.

And it possessed all the functions it theoretically should have. Contract inducement, immortality, causality judgment, energy collection—every item had been perfectly implemented according to the blueprint standards.

The Spatial Circuit on the card itself had already been proven effective during the last training room test.

Now the physical vessel was also complete.

In other words—

He, Su Bai, the first Card Creator in history to spend 2.05 million to make a cat—

Could finally consider the Monthly Exam task completed, right?

"It's just that... I still don't know the card's grade."

Su Bai scratched his head, looking at the interface of the testing equipment, having no idea how to operate it. The original owner hadn't learned Appraisal, and neither had he. A Card Creator without appraisal skills was like a carpenter who didn't know how to read a ruler—the item was made, but he didn't even know what grade his own work was.

[Your card's rating is—]

Kyubey's voice suddenly rang in his mind again.

[Tier 1. SSS. Conceptual Armament type. Rarity: Unique.]

Su Bai froze.

"...How do you know?"

Kyubey looked at him with those red glass eyes that held no emotion or warmth, and tilted its head.

[Because it is my own body.]

Su Bai fell into deep thought.

He wasn't pondering why Kyubey could appraise itself—the logic, while weird, actually held up. He was pondering something else.

Tier 1 SSS.

Since the founding of the Jinghai Card Creator Academy, he didn't seem to have heard of anyone who could make an SSS-grade card at Tier 1?

In other words, was he one of a kind?

Su Bai's lips curled up uncontrollably.

Master Li Qingyue.

The Monthly Exam judges.

The attention of the entire school—

He was suddenly very much looking forward to the expressions of those who had once glanced at the original owner with disdain, as if he were trash, when they saw this two-million-dollar doll and its SSS-grade card.

Especially Deputy Commander Zhou Mu.

The man who had said, "If you can't even afford the materials, don't be a Card Creator."

He really wanted to know what kind of expression this former Deputy Commander of the Abyss Crusade, a tough guy who mixed his red ink with the blood of abyssal creatures, would have when he witnessed the Magical Girl transformation—

—would reveal.

He even more wanted to know what kind of spectacular reaction Li Haoran, who had just inexplicably sent him a private message and then inexplicably left him on read, would have when he saw the finished product.

"...Screw it."

Su Bai put the card away and patted Kyubey's head. The white fur felt surprisingly good—soft and warm, not at all like a terrifying prop made from the feathers of a century-old ghoul vulture and blood demon gel.

[Su Bai, your hand is very warm.]

"...Don't say things like that in that tone. You clearly have no emotions."

[Yes. But I can simulate an expression that makes you feel comfortable. This is part of the inducement mechanism.]

"You're really so honest that it makes me want to punch you."

Su Bai checked the time. There were still a few days left before the Monthly Exam, and there were materials remaining. He had enough time to run some additional performance tests on Kyubey—such as energy collection efficiency in a combat environment, the magic equivalent produced by different negative emotions, and limit testing for the success rate of contract inducement and the quality of derivative cards.

Although the Magical Girl transformation had added some unnecessary trouble, in reality, this haul had far exceeded his initial expectations.

Regardless of the test results—

Anyway, let's first see what this cat can actually do.

Su Bai picked up his phone and sent a message to the group chat.

[Su Bai]: [The physical form is done, haha, wait until the Monthly Exam and I'll show you the finished product.]

The phone was silent for a moment, then exploded in the way he had expected.

[Zhao Dahai]: [?????? Done?? The 2.05 million cat is done???]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Will I even be able to sleep tonight!!!!]

[Lin Xiao]: [I'm also almost completely finished. This is the first time I've made an A-grade card.]

[Lin Xiao]: [I reckon I'll shock the whole school this time, hehe.]

[Su Bai]: [Hehe, I'm going to shock the whole school too.]

[Lin Xiao]: [Really? What's the rating of your crappy cat?]

[Su Bai]: [SSS!]

[Lin Xiao]: [Get lost.]

[Su Bai]: [Bro, it really is SSS!]

[Lin Xiao]: [Did you test it with equipment?]

[Su Bai]: [No, Kyubey said so itself.]

[Lin Xiao]: [?]

[Zhao Dahai]: [?]

Seeing their question marks, Su Bai immediately clenched his fists.

They were tense.

His fists were clenched!

You don't believe it, right?

Wait until the day of the Monthly Exam, and I'll show you!

SSS!

This is an SSS card!!

He turned off his phone and glanced at Kyubey again. Kyubey was squatting on the table, staring at him with its red eyes without blinking, the subtle curve of its mouth looking somewhat meaningful in the dim light.

Just then, the group chat suddenly vibrated again.

[Zhao Dahai]: [By the way, I suddenly have a question I've been wanting to ask. Su Bai, how are you going to test your card?]

[Su Bai]: [What do you mean?]

[Zhao Dahai]: [I mean, all Armament Cards are tested uniformly by the judges. Combat Card Creators summon their armaments to conduct power tests; it's impossible to rely on machine estimates, as those things can only give a rough, inaccurate measurement anyway. So here's the problem: most armaments people use are equipment types, like summoning a magic sword, a suit of armor, etc. These are all very easy to test.]

[But what about your Magical Girl?]

[If it were just dressing up as a girl, that would be one thing, but this soul gem of yours... it would kill someone, right? I don't mean literally die, but it would turn the body into a soul gem, right?]

[Are you expecting the instructor to help you test it in a suicide-style manner?]

Hm?

Seeing Zhao Dahai's question, Su Bai froze completely.

That's right, how was he supposed to be tested?

Damn it!

He hadn't thought of this aspect at all!

He opened his mouth wide, thought for a moment, and finally became annoyed and embarrassed.

[Su Bai]: [Why didn't you remind me sooner!]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Bro, you really made a Magical Girl like that? I thought you were joking.]

[Su Bai]: [I was definitely serious!]

[Zhao Dahai]: [Well, if no one tests it, there's no grade, so it's unqualified.]

[Su Bai]: [?]

[Lin Xiao]: [...Zhao Dahai, I didn't expect you to be so observant. You actually thought of this.]

[Su Bai]: [No, so how do I solve this?]

[Lin Xiao]: [That's why I said from the beginning that your card has a huge cost, and this can't be solved... After all, as the designer, you should have realized long ago that no one could test this card, right?]

[Su Bai]: [Then isn't it over? My Monthly Exam, my grades, my life!]

[Lin Xiao]: [It's not that pessimistic. You're severely underestimating your Spatial Circuit. Even if this newly born Spatial Circuit is in an unfinished state, a B-grade rating is a sure thing. You can definitely get a very high score with an unfinished card.]

[Lin Xiao]: [But it can only be B-grade, after all, there's no completion. But this rating is actually very powerful, so rest assured. And it will definitely attract various companies to sign you; after all, this copyright of yours is very important. You can probably make a fortune.]

[Su Bai]: [...]

Su Bai was speechless. If he only got a B-grade in the Monthly Exam, would that count as completing the system's task?

How could that be!

Damn it, the Monthly Exam required an SSS rating!

He only had one thought now—

[Su Bai]: [May I ask, if someone were to test it, could I get an SSS rating?]

[Lin Xiao]: [No.]

[Su Bai]: [?]