63: Chapter 63 The Ironclad Rules of Card Makers

Su Bai was woken up by his phone vibrating.

He reached for his phone.

[Li Qingyue]: [Are you awake?]

Su Bai took three seconds to confirm he wasn't dreaming. He had deactivated his Magical Girl form before going to sleep last night—he looked down at his hands; they were clearly defined, without a soul gem or an hourglass of time. Original.

[Su Bai]: [Just woke up. What time did you get up, Master?]

[Li Qingyue]: [I didn't sleep. Let's talk business.]

[Li Qingyue]: [There's an important matter! Do you know that Card Creators can receive blessings by selling cards?]

Su Bai stared at the line of text.

[Su Bai]: [...What kind of blessing?]

[Li Qingyue]: [The introductory blessing you received yesterday, plus two hundred to all attributes, twenty percent success rate, monthly materials, things like that.]

[Li Qingyue]: [But what I'm talking about now is different. When a Card Creator sells a card and the purchaser uses it in actual combat, the emotional resonance generated flows back through the circuit. The Sanctuary's Law Engine automatically converts these resonances into additional blessings, which are then added to you. Strength, speed, Mental Power, luck, card creation success rate—it could be any dimension. There is no upper limit.]

Holy crap!

Su Bai sat up in bed.

Kyubey was shaken from the edge of the pillow to the foot of the bed by his movement, its red glass eyes narrowing in dissatisfaction.

[Su Bai]: [In other words, the blessings from selling cards are extra.]

[Li Qingyue]: [Yes. The more you sell, the more extra blessings you get. This actually concerns the core of a Card Creator's cultivation; it is very, very important, and it is the fundamental source of a Card Creator's true strength.]

The other end paused.

[Li Qingyue]: [Conversely, if your cards don't sell, you won't get anything other than the introductory blessing.]

Su Bai picked Kyubey up from the foot of the bed and placed it on his lap, absentmindedly rubbing the ragdoll cat's ears.

[Su Bai, your heart rate is rising.]

"I know."

[Are you worried about selling cards, or are you worried that your Master stayed up all night?]

"...When did your persuasion algorithm update to version 8.0?"

[How did you know?]

"Guessed."

Su Bai couldn't be bothered to continue this topic. He was reading the message Li Qingyue had just sent.

[Li Qingyue]: [During yesterday's Monthly Exam live stream, the scene where you transformed and used Time Stop was the peak of the entire network's traffic. This is the best promotional window. Strike while the iron is hot and promote it today.]

[Su Bai]: [Master, did you use to be this pushy when you sold cards?]

The other side took five seconds to reply.

[Li Qingyue]: [I've never sold cards. I took the academic route; writing papers is also a way to gain attributes.]

[Li Qingyue]: [But I have seen too many geniuses who created god-tier cards that went unnoticed, and they never received anything other than the introductory blessing their entire lives.]

[Li Qingyue]: [The Card Creator path is very magical. Since you are in the combat faction, you should focus on selling cards, especially with Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan's help. Her army ordering ten thousand cards is already a huge promotion. If you can build a reputation later, you will be able to gain more benefits.]

[Su Bai]: [Does the Truth Sanctuary have official promotional channels?]

[Li Qingyue]: [I've already opened one for you, a shop in the Sanctuary Mall, but the Sanctuary's promotion is optional. People used to trust the Sanctuary's cards very much, but then those people started accepting random orders and selling everything, and over time, the reputation collapsed.]

[Su Bai]: [...Is the Truth Sanctuary always this unreliable?]

[Li Qingyue]: [That's how it is. The Truth Sanctuary's path is not suitable for selling cards; I can only do my best to help.]

[Su Bai]: [Understood!]

Putting the phone away, Su Bai stretched lazily.

He hadn't expected that selling cards as a Card Creator was actually a form of cultivation. But this explained things; he had previously wondered why Lin Weiwei would publish papers and the like. Normally, creating an awesome card and not letting competitors know the principles should maximize profits.

Now it seemed that the Card Creator's path was actually quite interesting.

It was time to ask Lin Xiao about the situation. Although she hadn't participated in selling cards, she should know something about promotions, right?

Just as he thought this.

Ding.

The phone vibrated frantically.

Messages from the [Three-Person Card-Making Mutual Aid Group] popped up one after another, and the red unread number rushed toward triple digits at a speed visible to the naked eye.

[Lin Xiao]: [@Su Bai Are you awake!!!!]

[Lin Xiao]: [Stop sleeping, something big happened!!!!]

[Lin Xiao]: [The forum exploded!!!!! Everything exploded!!!!!]

[Zhao Dahai]: [I saw it too. Su Bai, the situation isn't right.]

[Zhao Dahai]: [You'd better take a look yourself; this isn't a joke.]

Su Bai frowned.

He opened the link Lin Xiao sent over.

Jinghai Card Creator Joint Forum, homepage, top three hot posts.

First post:

"Magical Girl Armament Card — The greatest innovation of this century, or the most ridiculous joke?"

The poster's ID was a string of garbled characters. The main text was thousands of words long, analyzing everything from Kyubey's causality mechanism to the irreversible cost of soul gem transformation, and finally concluded:

[Student Su Bai's card creation talent is unquestionable. The combat potential of the Magical Girl system is indeed astonishing. But the problem is—who is going to use it? A normal, dignified combat professional with basic shame would absolutely never go onto the battlefield wearing a pink frilly skirt. This is not a technical problem; it's an aesthetic problem, a dignity problem, a fundamental conflict between human nature and social perception.]

[Therefore, this guild hereby officially declares: We highly recognize Student Su Bai's talent, but we will not purchase any Kyubey Cards. This card is destined to be used only by cannon fodder. We deeply regret this.]

The ID of the post-topper made Su Bai's pupils contract.

[Verification Badge: War God Temple · Vice President · [Heaven-Breaking Sword Saint] Qin Wufeng]

War God Temple.

One of the top five combat guilds in the world. They have two active 9th-tier Supremes, seventeen Rank 8 elites, and their industries span three continents. Their Vice President personally came out to make a statement.

Su Bai scrolled down. Second post.

"Statement of Position Regarding the Procurement of Magical Girl Armament Cards"

Poster: [Verification Badge: Frost Throne · Minister of Military Supplies · [Frost Speaker] Violet]

[At the Frost Throne's full military meeting, the Magical Girl Armament Card was put on the procurement evaluation agenda. After thirty-six hours of serious discussion and simulation, we have reached the following conclusion: The card's combat power increase data is real and effective, and the soul gem transformation mechanism can indeed significantly improve battlefield survival rates.]

[However. We will not be purchasing it at this time.]

[The reason is unrelated to the Card Creator's technical ability. We respect Student Su Bai's talent and recognize the SSS-level evaluation personally granted by Her Excellency Li Qingyue. However, the Magical Girl combat form has a fundamental, irreconcilable conflict with the military aesthetics and combat culture that we have always upheld. We ask Student Su Bai to understand.]

The third post was shorter.

Poster: [Verification Badge: Blade of the Polar Night · Chief Card Creation Consultant · [Shadow Craftsman] Nightingale]

[Blade of the Polar Night Guild Position: Will not purchase.]

[Reason same as above.]

[P.S. Student Su Bai's Spatial Circuit is indeed worthy of respect. If it could be applied to conventional Armament Cards rather than the Magical Girl system, Blade of the Polar Night would be willing to sign a contract at the highest level. But only for conventional cards.]

Su Bai scrolled down.

Fourth post. Fifth. Sixth.

Dragon Abyss Pavilion.

Undying Fortress.

Star Commerce Alliance.

Blood Moon Mercenary Group.

Six. Seven. Nine. Thirteen.

Thirteen top-tier guilds. All official verified accounts. All expressed the same position—

"Su Bai's talent is great"

"Magical Girl is indeed very strong"

"But we won't buy it"

The wording was different, but the attitude was consistent. Gentle, polite, like a PR team that had agreed on their lines.

And in the comment sections of these statements—

[Hahahaha I told you so!! Who would change gender and then go fight!!]

[The big shots all look down on it, this card is completely finished...]

[Su Bai: I made a Rainbow Card, and then no one bought it. jpg]

[LMAO, yesterday the whole network was praising it, today the whole network is rejecting it.]

[It's not exactly rejecting, it's "respect but won't buy," which is even harsher than rejecting, okay.]

[Doesn't this mean he's been blacklisted by the entire industry?]

[Brothers, what is it like to have Rainbow Cards not selling?]

Su Bai raised his head.

His expression was calm. Kyubey was squatting on his shoulder, its red glass eyes staring motionlessly at the side of his face.

[Su Bai. Your heart rate—]

"I know."

He put down his phone and took a deep breath.

"Lin Xiao is right. Something big has indeed happened."