MSC: Chapter 17

Xie Mingzhe returned to his space and focused on studying the two seven-star cards that Brother Chen had given him.

What puzzled him was that while the back of these two seven-star cards were decorated with elaborate patterns, the fronts were completely bare. The Storm Goddess only depicted a goddess while the Ice Goddess similarly only showed a figure. There were no temples, temples or other scene decorations.

No scenes? Xie Mingzhe realized this and was suddenly stunned. Had he gone astray from the start?

Senior Brother Qi had said that the higher a card maker’s mental power, the more detailed and refined the card would be and the stronger it would be. This refinement clearly referred to the level of detail in the card’s main body. For example, with a character card, it was the character’s clothes, appearance and even individual strands of hair that had to be meticulously detailed to create a more realistic illusion. It wasn’t giving the character a bunch of flash but impractical backgrounds!

Xie Mingzhe realized this and felt a sudden enlightenment.

He eagerly went to his study, picked up the Nebula Paper, closed his eyes and connected his mental power with the Star Card world.

As he concentrated his mental power on sketching, a thin, ancient-style beauty gradually appeared on the Nebula Paper. There were no green trees, rivers or lawns. There was only the figure of Lin Daiyu.

Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath and stopped imagining.

Since the original creator owned the card copyright, they could naturally modify their own cards.

The modified Lin Daiyu’s stats were clearly improved. The attack and defense remained largely unchanged, her agility increased from 1 to 15 and the skill description changed from ‘10% chance of instant death against flower-type cards’ to ‘30% chance.’

It seemed his approach was correct.

Xie Mingzhe immediately created a new Wu Song card. He drew the robust Wu Song in greater detail, recolored his clothes and made his features more angular. The completed card’s stats were also improved, with the probability of instant death against tiger-type cards increasing to 30%.

Xie Mingzhe was pondering on things when he heard a voice in his ear. “You have a new email. Please check it.”

This voice had been ringing several times since he entered his personal space, but Xie Mingzhe assumed it was an official advertisement and ignored it. Now it was ringing repeatedly. Xie Mingzhe was annoyed by the interruption so he went to the living room, intending to simply delete all unread emails.

However, he saw a long list of player emails when he opened the mailbox icon on the LCD screen.

Shuangshuang: Hello, Chubby Uncle. I’m from the Judgment Club. Our guild is very interested in the Wu Song card you made and wants to buy it in bulk from you. Please reply when you see this email.

Shuangshuang: Chubby Uncle, are you there? Please reply when you see this email!

Shuangshuang: C-Chubby Uncle! Please just reply to me. I’ve been waiting for your reply!

The inbox contained over a dozen emails from the ID Shuangshuang. Xie Mingzhe quickly remembered that she was the girl who bought the Wu Song card for 140 gold coins on the black market. She said that the Judgment Club wanted to buy it in bulk? Could this be a big business opportunity?

Xie Mingzhe’s eyes lit up and he immediately replied to the email: Sorry, I just saw your email. Your guild wants to buy the Wu Song card, right:? I just improved this card and the data is better than before. Regarding the price, there is a discount if you buy more than ten.

Shuangshuang finally received a reply and almost cried with excitement. She immediately contacted Canyang. “Vice President, Chubby Uncle finally replied!”

Canyang was delighted. “Quickly invite him to the guild base!”

Shuangshuang replied to the email: Chubby Uncle, go to the star map and teleport directly to our guild base. I’ve granted you access permission. I’ll be waiting for you at the guild!

Xie Mingzhe arrived at the star map and really did see a small planet highlighted in red. It was the Judgement Guild’s territory.

Previously, this small planet wasn’t on the star map. It was probably because each guild had its own territory star on the star map, but outsiders couldn’t find or enter it. It was only after access permission was granted that this territory star would appear.

Xie Mingzhe teleported to the Judgment Guild’s territory. Upon entering the territory star, he saw many high-rise buildings painted a fiery red. Directly in front was a seven-story guild building. Shuangshuang was there to greet him at the entrance and immediately led him to the office. “Chubby Uncle, several top players are waiting for you. Go in quickly.”

After all, this was his first big deal and Xie Mingzhe was a bit nervous. He took a deep breath to compose himself before pushing open the door.

The office was spacious, with a simple and clean design.

A badge hung in the center of the wall. It was a golden sword piercing the imposing character, Judgment. The character was accompanied by flame effects, almost as if it was going to burst into flames. The badge was designed with a sharp edge. Xie Mingzhe didn’t know much about the Judgment Guild, but he knew from the badge alone that this guild wasn’t simple.

There were two elderly men with gray hair sitting on the sofa. Their IDS were 9876543 and 9877521 respectively. Standing next to the two elderly men were two young figures with the ID Canyang and Huanyue. They had the titles of ‘Vice President of the Judgment Guild’ and ‘President of the Judgment Guild’ above their heads.

Xie Mingzhe was confused. “???”

The guild president and vice president were both here, but what were these two old men doing here?

The puzzled Xie Mingzhe maintained a friendly smile and spoke in a businessman’s tone, trying to be as approachable as possible. “Hello, I heard from Shuangshuang that the Judgement Guild wants to buy a large number of my Wu Song cards?”

Huanyue looked at the smiling, chubby uncle in front of him and ignored the strange feeling in his heart as he asked, “You are the creator of the Wu Song card, Chubby Uncle?”

“Yes, the initial card I made wasn’t good enough so I modified it. The one I just made is even better than the one I sold to Shuangshuang. Would you like to take a look, President?” It was business, so he could ask for a higher price if the card’s information was good. He handed the newly modified Wu Song card to Huanyue, the guild president.

Huanyue didn’t look at it himself, but instead respectfully handed the card to the old man sitting on the sofa.

The old man glanced at the card and asked, “How many of these cards have you made so far?”

Despite his appearance as an old man, his voice was quite young. His deep tone gave off a very steady feeling.

Xie Mingzhe was taken aback. “You are?”

The guild president, Huanyue, introduced them. “These two are our God Nie and God Lan.”

The old man nodded to him. “Hello, I am Nie Yuandao, a professional player from the Judgment Club.”

The old man next to him followed up. “Hello, I am Shan Lan, a professional player and God Nie’s apprentice.”

Xie Mingzhe, “……”

Wow! They were such powerful players? Just after being reborn, he had searched for the game Star Card Storm in the hospital and saw some reviews online. Nie Yuandao seemed to be a player on par with Tang Muzhou, and had extremely high popularity.

Such a powerful player actually came to see him in person. Xie Mingzhe was flattered and hurriedly said, “Hello, two great players.”

Shan Lan smiled slightly. “Were you scared by our appearance? These are just some random alternative accounts. There is a competition coming up and it isn’t convenient to log into the game with our main accounts.”

“Oh.” Xie Mingzhe snapped out of his daze and noticed that God Lan’s voice was unusually gentle. A few random digits for the ID and the bizarre appearance of an old man. It was definitely a secondary account, but the two of them were so careless in creating this one! Could they not make it so ugly? It was uglier than his Chubby Uncle.

Nie Yuandao’s deep, steady voice rang out again, repeating the previous question. “How many of these cards did you make in total?”

“I sold one to Shuangshuang before and I just made ten more, which I haven’t sold yet,” Xie Mingzhe replied.

“So 11?” Nie Yuandao paused before saying, “I want to buy all your Wu Song cards, as well as the production rights to this Wu Song card. Please name your price.”

“???” Xie Mingzhe looked completely bewildered.

Seeing Chubby Uncle’s confused look, Shan Lan gently explained, “Buying the copyright means you are transferring the copyright of this card to God Nie. You can no longer make this card, but God Nie will copy it.”

Xie Mingzhe understood and scratched his head in confusion. “How much does it cost to transfer the copyright?”

Transferring the copyright meant he could no longer make this card, but he could consider it if the price was right. After all, he could make other things even if he couldn’t make Wu Song. Selling cards one by one was time-consuming and energy-intensive. It definitely wasn’t as profitable as transferring the copyright all at once.

Xie Mingzhe thought of this and said, “God Nie, name your price for me to consider.”

Nie Yuandao was also straightforward and directly quoted a price. “300,000 for the copyright buyout. How about it?”:

300,000 game coins at a 10:1 price was 30,000 real-world crystal coins. It was enough for several years of living expenses!

A big shot like God Nie wouldn’t lie about the price and take advantage of a nobody like him. Xie Mingzhe thought of the meager 200 crystal coins left in his bank account and happily agreed. “Okay, then I’ll transfer the copyright of the Wu Song card to you!”

Nie Yuandao looked at Huanyue. “Pleaes have the guild leader pay him first. I’ll transfer it to you later.”

Huanyue nodded and immediately sent Xie Mingzhe a request for a face-to-face transaction.

Xie Mingzhe saw a number quickly being entered into the transaction box. It was 3,000,000.

He wasn’t mistaken. It was a seven-digit number. Three million?

Xie Mingzhe was stunned. “Didn’t you say 300,000?”

Huanyue explained, “The recent gold price ratio is 10:1. The 300,000 God Nie mentioned is real-world currency. This is three million in game currency.”

Xie Mingzhe, “……”

The poor boy with only 200 crystal coins in his account was overwhelmed by all the zeros.

Shan Lan found that Chubby Uncle’s silly image quite interesting. He smiled and asked, “Chubby Uncle, do you not understand the value of this card?”

Xie Mingzhe touched his nose sheepishly. “To be honest, I’ve only been playing this game for a few days so I don’t really understand the card market. I went to the auction before. God Tang had a Night Blooming Jasmine card that sold for a high price of 660,000 gold coins, but that card had very high HP and defense. Even if I upgrade mine to level 70, the HP and defense will still be very low, right? Isn’t the price offered by God Nie a bit too high?”

He was short of money but he wasn’t comfortable holding such a huge sum of money. He needed to patiently figure things out first.

Shan Lan patiently explained, “It isn’t high. Tang Muzhou’s Night Blooming Jasmine card was priced as a single card while yours is a copyright buyout price. Moreover, this card isn’t a regular combat card. It is a one-time use function card. You probably don’t know, do you? Instant death is a new skill judgment recently added to the database. In a match, you can only bring one of these instant death cards, but it is extremely targeted, capable of unexpectedly eliminating the opponent’s card and disrupting their rhythm. It is a tactical card, so you don’t need to look at attributes like health or defense. Just look at the skill.”

Xie Mingzhe was deeply shocked upon hearing this. He had thought his cards were ordinary and the skills were common! He had even specifically investigated prices on the black market before selling these cards. So those two black market vendors weren’t knowledgeable about cards either?

Seeing the horrified expression on Chubby Uncle’s face, Shan Lan continued softly, “Chubby Uncle, my master didn’t buy the copyright to this card because he is afraid of it. His deck has dozens of beast cards and White Tiger is just one of them. It doesn’t matter if someone uses this card against him. Our more important goal is to make you realize your talent and hire you as a professional card designer for our Judgment Club.”

Nie Yuandao were usually too serious and many people were afraid of him. Once it came to negotiations, he confidently entrusted it to his gentle apprentice. Hearing this, he interjected in a low voice, “I’ve already spoken to the club’s higher-ups. If you agree, you can start working at the Judgment Club this week. The starting salary is 20,000 yuan per month, and there is a high bonus for every good card designed.”

Xie Mingzhe, “……”

Happiness came too suddenly. Xie Mingzhe felt like he was dreaming.