The black market was an underground mall located in the alley behind the main street. Unlike the bright and bustling commercial streets, the black market was dimly lit and filled with a variety of materials, creating the feeling of a night market selling essential goods on Earth.
Shopping for the desired items in the black market required patience. Fortunately, Senior Brother Qi was familiar with the place and led Xie Mingzhe and Sisi to a large stall. The owner of the stall, a chubby middle-aged man, greeted them warmly, "What would you like to buy?"
"Do you have any Nebula paper?" Senior Brother Qi asked directly.
The owner, his eyes squinting with a smile, replied, "Yes. I have Nebula paper of various grades." He then took out five stacks of Nebula paper, placing the Grade 1 to Grade 5 papers from left to right in order. The higher the grade, the better the gloss of the paper.
"Is the high star-rated card made from high-grade paper?" Xie Mingzhe asked.
"No. The original cards made by players are all one-star cards at level 1. The card made from high-grade paper has better stats compared to low-grade paper, but the creator's talent is the key factor determining the card's data. In other words, a gifted creator can use low-grade paper to make a powerful card, while a creator with ordinary Inner Spirit can only make worthless cards with high-grade paper. If you want to try making an original card, I suggest buying Grade 1 paper. The higher the grade, the higher the price," Senior Brother Qi explained.
"Then I'll buy several pieces of the cheapest paper and give it a try," Xie Mingzhe said, looking back at the owner. "How much is a piece of Grade 1 Nebula paper?"
"Ten gold coins per piece," the owner replied.
"Can the price be lowered?" Xie Mingzhe asked.
"It's already the lowest price," the owner said.
"Can I buy ten pieces for seventy gold coins? I'm a newbie and don't have much money."
Xie Mingzhe was skilled at bargaining, and he was willing to try. He had learned from Senior Brother Qi that haggling was allowed in the black market.
The owner gave him an odd look when he heard Xie Mingzhe wanted to buy the paper at a 30% discount, saying, "No matter how poor a newbie is, they must have at least 100 gold coins, right?"
Xie Mingzhe responded seriously, "I just bought cards and only have 70 gold coins left. Can I buy 10 pieces with these?"
Reluctantly, the owner agreed to sell him 10 pieces, saying, "Alright, it's a deal."
Xie Mingzhe smiled, "Thank you!"
Senior Brother Qi was speechless. He decided that whenever he came to the black market again, he would bring Xie Mingzhe, since he was so good at managing a budget.
After buying the Nebula paper, Senior Brother Qi took them to a stall selling cards, where they purchased three suitable battle cards—three-star evolution cards.
[Firefly]
Skill: Firefly Glow (Illuminates the surrounding area within a 10-meter radius for 5 minutes.)
[Black Crow]
Skill: Air Attack (Deals 100% Thunder damage to targets within a 10-meter radius.)
[Water Spirit]
Skill: Deceleration (Applies a debuff of deceleration to targets within a 10-meter radius for 3 seconds.)
The [Firefly] card was priced at 150 gold coins, and each of the other two cards was sold for 200 gold coins. They were much cheaper than the cards in the auction house. Senior Brother Qi bought all three cards. He gave the [Firefly] card to Sisi, the [Black Crow] card to Xie Mingzhe, and kept the [Water Spirit] card.
Xie Mingzhe was puzzled and asked, "Both of these battle cards have AOE attack and control skills. Why are they so cheap?"
Senior Brother Qi explained, "Because their skill range is small, and the skill increase is low. A high-quality AOE card typically has a skill range of more than 20 meters."
"Will the skill range increase as the card levels up?"
"The AOE range increases by only 1 meter every 10 levels. So, the maximum AOE range increase after 70 levels is 7 meters. Tang Muzhou's [Tuberose] is expensive because both of its crowd control skills have a 30-meter AOE range—the maximum allowed by the official rules."
"I see," Xie Mingzhe nodded, impressed. He considered Senior Brother Qi to be a walking "encyclopedia" of the game, and joining their team had been a wise decision—it allowed him to quickly learn a lot about the game.
To gain more experience, Senior Brother Qi took them to the "Dark Cave" at the southernmost part of Egret Star. Inside the Dark Cave, it was completely dark, so they couldn't see anything. The holographic game world was so lifelike that even though Sisi was terrified of darkness, she stayed calm and quickly summoned the [Firefly] to light up the surrounding area within 10 meters.
As soon as the fireflies emitted light, a shrill cry echoed through the cave. Sisi screamed and bolted backward. At the same time, Senior Brother Qi reached out to protect her, saying, "Go to the corner and turn off the game sound. Just keep the area lit. Uncle Chubby and I will handle these mobs."
Sisi nodded and quickly retreated to a corner, using the [Firefly] card as a lantern.
Senior Brother Qi turned to Xie Mingzhe and said, "This Dark Cave is a great place for spawning mobs. They'll gather automatically when they see the light. We can lure more mobs in and then take them all out at once."
Xie Mingzhe nodded. He realized how convenient it was to spawn mobs with the help of experienced players who knew the most efficient methods.
…
An hour later, all their characters had reached level 15, and they had collected all the materials needed for card evolution.
Senior Brother Qi said, "I'm going to eat now, then we'll continue leveling up."
Sisi replied, "My mom's calling me for dinner too, I have to go. But wait! Uncle Chubby, will you be online this evening? If so, we can level up together and aim for level 35 tonight!"
Xie Mingzhe nodded, "I will."
Sisi beamed, "Uncle Chubby, see you tonight!"
Xie Mingzhe waved and said, "Goodbye."
After the two left, Xie Mingzhe returned to his apartment and took out the Nebula paper he had just bought, ready to try making his original cards.
When he placed a piece of Nebula paper on the card platform, the system prompted, "Do you want to create a card?"
Xie Mingzhe pressed the YES button.
The system instructed, "Please focus and picture the card image in your mind, and transfer it onto the Nebula paper..."
Xie Mingzhe began to imagine. He was surprised to find that when his Inner Spirit power connected with the Nebula paper, whatever he envisioned would appear on the paper.
Unconsciously, he recalled a scene from his previous life on Earth when he drank with his roommates. Due to his vague thoughts, the image on the Nebula paper was also disordered, with only a wine bottle clearly depicted.
Xie Mingzhe was stunned and immediately stopped imagining.
System: "Card creation failed. Nebula paper has been shredded. Do you want to start over?"
This time, Xie Mingzhe pressed the No button.
He had wasted one piece of Nebula paper, so he decided to calm down and rethink the process, instead of rushing into another attempt.
At this point, he realized just how difficult card creation really was.