Song Lin

Chaihe City, Xingxiu Academy.
Laboratory No. 16, Department of Ink Blending.

Song Lin's gaze was intensely focused. A layer of sweat had beaded on his forehead, and the back of his shirt was soaked, but his hands did not tremble in the slightest. His left hand held a test tube filled with a green solution, while his right hand held a separatory funnel containing a blue solution.

A plump drop of the blue solution hung at the tip of the funnel, then gently fell into the test tube. Song Lin's expression grew even more focused as his spiritual force converged entirely onto the drop of liquid. The moment it touched the solution in the tube, his spiritual force swept out, beginning to fuse the two liquids bit by bit.

This process lasted about thirty seconds, after which another drop fell. This time, Song Lin's focus wavered slightly; it took him thirty-five seconds to complete the fusion. With each subsequent drop, Song Lin took longer and longer, until by the fifth drop, he had reached his limit. His spiritual force could no longer completely envelop the liquid, which behaved like a wild beast tearing through a rusted cage to escape. The solution began to bubble, becoming highly unstable.

Song Lin's face paled. He immediately placed the test tube into the Safebox and shut the lid.

*Thud!*

The Safebox vibrated slightly, emitting a muffled thud. The gauge on the side began to spike.

Normally, when ink blending failed, the failed ink would become highly unstable and explode violently. The higher the grade of the card ink, the more powerful the explosion, posing an immense danger to the ink-blending master. Later, the Safebox was invented, which significantly reduced the danger. In truth, the Safebox had a very simple design: it was a box made of a special alloy capable of absorbing energy and was extremely durable. One only had to drop the failed ink into the opening on the lid and close it. The force of the explosion was displayed on the gauge attached to the side, which resembled a thermometer. Depending on the grade of the Safebox, the gauge had different scales.

Looking at the reading on the gauge, Song Lin broke into a cold sweat.

Explosive force 500! As expected, level 2 card ink caused a level 2 explosion. To put it in perspective, a hand grenade had an explosive force of about 1000 on this scale. In other words, the level 2 card ink exploded with half the force of a grenade—enough to leave Song Lin crippled, if not dead.

Fortunately, Song Lin had been quick; otherwise, his life would have been ruined.

"Well, time's up. I'll have to wait until next month." Song Lin looked at the clock with regret, but he had no other choice. Renting the lab for one hour cost 100 Ren, which was a tenth of his monthly income. Because of this, he could only afford to conduct experiments once a month.

Song Lin cleaned up briefly and walked out. He didn't head straight home but went to the trading area instead.

Xingxiu Academy was the largest academy in Chaihe City, consisting of three main departments: Card Cultivation, Card Making, and Ink Blending. The academy's principal was a six-star card cultivator, and most of the professors were four-star, producing many talents each year. However, the tuition was by no means cheap, so a dirt-poor person like Song Lin had no way to enroll. He could only learn from books and then rent the school's laboratories.

The school's trading area was massive, hosting all kinds of transactions from finished cards and blank cards (without inscribed patterns) to card ink ingredients. There weren't many restrictions here; one didn't have to be a student of the academy, as long as they registered as a member, they could participate in trading.

Song Lin walked straight to a stall.

"Ah, you're here. You're an hour late today," the stall owner said with a smile upon seeing Song Lin.

"I just finished an experiment. Forget being an hour late, I almost met an early grave." Song Lin laughed, then took a foam box out of his bag. The foam box had ten slots, each holding a tube of green liquid. "Gao Da, here is today's batch. Can we raise the price a bit?"

What Song Lin had just produced was one-star card ink, used by one-star card makers to craft cards. A bottle like this was priced at 60 Ren; deducting costs, he made a profit of 4 Ren. Song Lin blended ten bottles every day, which had been his livelihood for the past four years.

"I can't raise the price any further. I only make a profit of 1 Ren per bottle myself. Once the school raises its purchasing price, I'll raise yours," Gao Da shook his head.

"I was just asking. Spending 100 Ren on the experiment just now hurt my wallet. Anyway, give me today's materials."

"I have them ready. Ten drops of one-star white ink, one kilogram of Chijin Sand, five kilograms of Green Lotus, and one level 1 energy card, totaling 550 Ren." Gao Da handed Song Lin a package.

Song Lin pulled out a gold card and swiped it on the machine. The money was immediately deducted from his account and transferred to Gao Da's gold card, which was already inserted into the machine.

"Hey, look! It's Li Jinxuan!"

"Who is Li Jinxuan?"

"You're not a student here, so you wouldn't know. She is the most outstanding third-year student in the Card Making department, and she has already reached the four-star level. I heard Professor Hidan wants to take her as his personal disciple."
...

Suddenly, the crowd erupted into whispers. The moment Song Lin turned around, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his heart pounding wildly. A young girl was walking over. She was exceptionally beautiful, with exquisite features and a well-proportioned figure, though her eyes were as cold as two shooting stars. She stopped in front of Gao Da's stall, presumably to buy something.

Song Lin turned his face away in fluster, half-wanting to leave immediately, half-wanting to stay.

"Do you have one-star card ink?" Li Jinxuan paid no attention to Song Lin. She asked Gao Da in a voice as clear as wind chimes and as soft as falling leaves, leaving the shopkeeper dazed for a moment. "Do you have one-star card ink?" she repeated, her tone carrying a hint of annoyance.

"Ah, yes, yes. Wait, don't you usually buy four-star card ink?" Gao Da snapped out of it, his voice stammering.

"I have a use for it."

"Alright, I just received a batch of ten bottles. How many do you want?"

"How much for ten bottles?"

"610 Ren. I'll give you a 10 Ren discount, so 600."

"Good."