97: Chapter 97 The Philosopher's Stone

When Su Bai woke up, the sunlight leaking through the gap in the curtains hit his eyelids just right.

It took him a full ten seconds to remember what happened last night.

Assassins, Time Stop, Explosion Magic... a bald head rolling on the windowsill.

And the embarrassing image of himself falling straight backward after finishing his lines.

"...Damn."

He tried wiggling his fingers. They could move. He tried lifting his arms. They could move too. His mana pool was still empty, his stamina had recovered about twenty or thirty percent, and the bump on the back of his head was still throbbing with pain.

But at least he wasn't missing any arms or legs.

Kyubey was squatting on the bedside table, its tail slowly sweeping across his phone screen.

[Su Bai, your heart rate has returned to normal. It is estimated that your mana pool will need another forty-six hours to fully recharge. It is recommended that you do not transform during this period.]

"Got it."

[Additionally, your master has been waiting in the living room for two hours.]

"...Why didn't you say so earlier."

[You were snoring just now. I was not sure if I should interrupt.]

Su Bai threw off the blanket and rolled out of bed.

The scene in the living room was completely different from last night. The bloodstains and gore had been cleaned up, the broken window was temporarily patched with a layer of translucent mana film, and the charred hole blasted out by the Explosion Magic still remained on the ceiling.

Li Qingyue was sitting on the sofa, her bare feet dangling over the edge, holding a steaming cup of black tea. There was another cup on the coffee table. It was for him.

"Sit."

Su Bai sat down obediently and took a sip from the teacup. The temperature was just right.

"Master, you didn't leave last night?"

"You could say I stayed here for the night, but that's not important."

Li Qingyue put down the teacup, her crimson eyes looking straight at him, "That question you asked last night, about the National Competition."

Su Bai put down the teacup and sat up straight.

"The National Card Creator Competition is held every three years," Li Qingyue held up a finger, "The eligibility for participation is for Card Creators under thirty years old and within Tier 5. The competition format is not just a simple Card Creator contest, but actual combat—Magic Card Masters will take the cards made by Card Creators into actual combat."

Magic Card Masters, which are powerhouses who do not rely on card creation and purely make a living by applying card abilities, like Deputy Commander Xiao Hongyan.

Compared to Card Creators, Magic Card Masters have an innate advantage, which is that their base attributes are high enough. Their blessings are in a more violent form, and therefore they are the main force in battle.

Su Bai raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that just fighting?"

"It is fighting. But it is not about brute strength; it is about the ability exerted by both the Card Creator and the Magic Card Master," Li Qingyue took a sip of black tea, "How long a Magic Card Master can stand on the arena depends on you, meaning how strong the Card Creator's cards are. Both are indispensable."

"What about the rewards?"

"The championship prize is two billion."

Su Bai's eyebrows twitched.

"Holy crap!"

"The runner-up gets one billion, and the second runner-up gets five hundred million," Li Qingyue's tone was as flat as if she were reading a menu, "The top eight all have guaranteed prize money, and the amount increases year by year. This year, because the war in the Abyss is tight, the military has added an extra three billion to the special prize pool, distributed to the top three."

"So the champion actually gets—"

"About five billion or so."

Su Bai fell silent. Five billion. Enough for him to buy the entire materials street, build another laboratory, and maintain a mass production line.

"But money is not the point."

Li Qingyue put down the teacup and folded her hands on her lap. A solemnity that Su Bai had never seen before appeared on her porcelain doll-like face.

"The point is the champion's additional reward—the Philosopher's Stone."

When those four words fell, the air in the living room seemed to be sucked away by half.

"What is that?"

Although he really didn't want to admit it... But Su Bai had seen it in quite a few works before. No matter what world it was in, this was one of the top-tier existences. He just didn't know what this thing was in the Magic Card world.

"An origin divine object," Li Qingyue's voice was very low, "Legend has it that it is the ultimate material capable of ignoring all laws, ignoring equivalent exchange, and providing infinite mana. It is not a product of this world, but a fragment of laws that fell from a higher dimension into the present world in ancient times... Well, but this Philosopher's Stone is of course not the main body, but a projection of the Philosopher's Stone. However, even just a projection is terrifying. It is rumored that obtaining it grants the qualification to come into contact with the real Philosopher's Stone."

Su Bai's pupils constricted.

"Ignore equivalent exchange? Does the projection have this ability?"

"Yes," Li Qingyue nodded, "You should know best what your biggest pain point in card creation is. While the projection is far from the main body, it still possesses immense power and can indeed ignore equivalent exchange to a certain extent."

"To a certain extent, huh..."

Su Bai's heart moved; of course he knew. Tier 1 materials carrying Tier 7 mana, which was why Chu Yin would collapse after casting Explosion Magic. The Tarot cards carrying the War Emperor's daughter's Mental Power, which would backfire if he was even slightly careless. Every one of his cards was using low-tier materials to forcefully carry high-tier output, and the price was always side effects—mana depletion, soul corruption, total paralysis.

If there was a stone that could reduce the price to zero. If there was a stone that could allow him to ignore the law constraints of material tiers.

"What level of cards can I make with it?"

"Any level," Li Qingyue said, "The 1.5 billion material cost required for a Tier 9 Rainbow Card can be completely replaced by it. Carving a twelve-axis circuit on a Tier 1 paper base, the mana inertia it provides would make the paper base more stable than refined gold. That deck of yours that lets Chu Yin annihilate a star with one shot—if you used the Philosopher's Stone as a base, she could fire off another one right after shooting a hundred-fold Explosion Magic."

Su Bai felt his breathing quicken.

"In other words, with this thing..."

"You could turn those truly world-destroying concepts in your head into reality without any side effects," Li Qingyue finished his sentence.

Su Bai said in shock: "Doesn't this mean that whether it's the Perfect Ultra Instinct, the Infinity Gauntlet, or the truly immortal Law of Cycles—as long as my conceptual framework can hold up, the Philosopher's Stone can help me bypass all the restrictions at the material level!?"

"I don't understand what you are saying, but that's about right," Li Qingyue said helplessly.

Su Bai set the teacup on the table, his fingers tapping lightly on the rim of the cup.

He remembered what he said when he refused Kyubey's contract. At that time, he was afraid of side effects, afraid of soul gem corruption, afraid of wearing a pink tutu. Later, the system gave him a side-effect-free version, but the cost was just transferred—transferred to his contractor.

The image of Chu Yin collapsing in the pile of rubble was still vivid in his mind.

If he could eliminate these costs.

"Master. Where is this stone now?"

"It is jointly managed by the Dragon Kingdom's highest authority and the Truth Sanctuary," Li Qingyue said, "It is a national treasure-level fragment projection and does not belong to any individual or family. There is only one way to come into contact with it—"

She held up a finger.

"The National Competition grand champion. Every three years, there is only one spot. The champion can enter the secret realm to comprehend and even absorb the true essence laws on the Philosopher's Stone."

Su Bai fell silent for a beat.

"In other words, I have to reach first place among all National Card Creators under thirty years old and within Tier 5."

"Yes."

"What is the level of the opponents?"

"The previous champion was at the peak of Tier 5, holding two SS-rank cards and a complete seven-card combo deck," Li Qingyue picked up the black tea and took a sip, "The runner-up of that year is now a Tier 6 Card Creation Grandmaster. The third-place winner was specially recruited by the military and is currently serving as an independent tactical consultant on the front lines. As for the others—the lowest had at least three S-rank or higher core cards."

Su Bai looked down at his hands. Level 19. Not even Tier 2. He only had one Tier 1 Kyubey and four deck components. Although each was a system core at the Rainbow Card level, the gap in tiers was right there.

Then he looked up.

"When does registration close?"

The corners of Li Qingyue's mouth curled up slightly. Very faintly. But Su Bai saw it.

"Three months."

"That's enough!"