Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The “girl” that Ning Zhu was protecting was a head shorter than her. He had a thin, slender build, jet-black long hair draped down his back, and a pair of large, bright black eyes that looked obedient and cute.

The “girl” was also wearing a fluffy dress, which would make anyone assume she was a girl.

But the moment he spoke…

Well, imagine a duck-like hoarse voice.

Ning Zhu also noticed the Adam’s apple on his fair neck…

He was indeed a boy.

What a petite cross-dressing master!

The crowd dispersed, and the card ring shop was no longer crowded. Ning Zhu quickly let go of the one she had been holding in her arms… oh, it was a boy now.

She didn’t think much of it. The boy looked young, and from a psychological gender perspective, he was probably just like a good sister, so… she really didn’t feel anything strange.

On the contrary, the boy’s face turned red as he said, “I’m a boy!”

Ning Zhu: “Mm-mm.”

“I really am a boy!”

“Actually, gender isn’t that important. Just be yourself.”

“I…”

“Don’t worry, biological gender doesn’t define psychological gender. This era is very tolerant.”

“Tolerant my ass!”

Li Leyang couldn’t hold it anymore and shouted angrily, “I was hit by a Illusion Card, that’s why I turned like this!”

“Huh?” Ning Zhu blinked, once again amazed by this bizarre card master world.

Li Leyang had already seen through her: “You’re a Pure Human, right?”

“What human?”

“It means someone who, before sensing spiritual energy, didn’t know about the existence of cards.”

“I did just learn about cards, but…” Ning Zhu was unhappy, “You can’t call us stupid humans.”

“Who said stupid? It’s PURE! Pure as in pure!”

“……”

“Pure, clean, innocent! All good words!”

“No hint of sarcasm at all?”

“Wake up! My dad is a Pure Human. Do you think I’d dare be sarcastic? He’d slap me to death.”

Pure Human?

Ning Zhu still found those two words strange.

People who couldn’t sense spiritual energy were called Pure Humans, so what were card masters? Impure humans?

Bai Ze said faintly, “They already are impure.”

Ning Zhu: “???”

In front of a stranger, Ning Zhu naturally didn’t ask Bai Ze further.

Card spirits were rare existences.

Right now, the Star God Card Master was already under intense attention, so she didn’t want to expose anything.

Li Leyang, with his sweet-looking face, actually had a loud and carefree personality. He introduced himself: “My name is Li Leyang. I’m a freshman this year. You are too, right? We’ll be classmates from now on. By the way, what’s your name?”

Ning Zhu paused. “Your surname is Li? The Li of ‘dawn’?”

Li Leyang said, “You’re pretty well-informed—you already heard of the Tianscale Card Master? That’s right, I’m from the Li family too… but the Li family is huge. I’m from a branch of a branch. My dad doesn’t have spiritual energy, so I basically got in through my mom. Oh, my mom is a librarian at the Card Spirit Academy. I grew up running around there, I know it really well…”

No need for Ning Zhu to ask further—Li Leyang had already laid out his background in great detail.

There are aristocratic families in the card master world too?

That actually made sense.

Bai Ze kept mentioning things from a hundred years ago, which showed that card masters had existed for a long time. It was normal for there to be family inheritance.

Ning Zhu looked at the short, chubby “dwarf pumpkin” in front of her and asked, “You’re sixteen this year?”

Li Leyang: “Of course! My birthday is in April—definitely sixteen, okay?”

Ning Zhu: “……”

Li Leyang understood the sympathy in her eyes and immediately exploded in anger: “I already said I was hit by an Illusion Card! Damn Ye Jianrong actually used me as a test subject. I’ve got a 1.8-meter-long pair of legs, alright!”

Ning Zhu blinked. “So this is an illusion?”

Li Leyang: “More precisely, it’s the effect of an Illusion Card. We card masters aren’t good at making Illusion Cards, but Ye Jianrong just loves that kind of thing… The day before yesterday I lost a card duel to her, and she used me as test material…”

Li Leyang’s explanation was hard to put into words, but Ning Zhu listened with great interest.

Card duel? Test card?

Sounds pretty fun.

Li Leyang didn’t want to boost others’ prestige while weakening his own. He straightened his chest and said proudly: “It was just a minor misjudgment on my part. Otherwise I wouldn’t have lost to her. You don’t even have a card ring or basic cards yet. Once we get to the academy, you’ll understand after fighting me—I’m really strong, definitely one of the top freshmen!”

Ning Zhu nodded seriously. “I’ll try when I get the chance.”

Li Leyang said happily: “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”

Ning Zhu thought of the Tianscale Card Master’s strength, and he was only a second-year student. Li Leyang, although a freshman, clearly knew a lot about cards, so she sincerely said: “Then I’ll be counting on your guidance.”

Li Leyang felt very pleased hearing that, and the more he looked at Ning Zhu, the more pleasing she seemed.

This classmate was pretty good—she had even protected him earlier. Well… actually, Li Leyang had really been scared. If he had fallen and gotten stepped on, his small arms and legs would have definitely broken.

At that time…

Pain would be minor. Losing face would be major.

Li Leyang brought the topic back: “You’re here to buy school supplies?”

Ning Zhu nodded.

“You’re alone?”

Ning Zhu: “……” Actually there was someone, but he had already gone missing somewhere.

“Never mind, I’ll take you. I know this place well, I guarantee nothing will be missed.”

Ning Zhu didn’t refuse and said straightforwardly: “Thanks!”

Li Leyang waved his hand. “Small matter.”

The two of them left the card ring shop.

Logically, Ning Zhu should have bought a card ring first, but after that incident, the shop owner had completely broken down emotionally and the staff were overwhelmed, so the store directly closed for the day.

Li Leyang said: “We’ll come back for the card ring this afternoon.”

Ning Zhu: “Okay!”

Although they shared the surname Li, Li Leyang’s personality was completely opposite to Li Jin.

Li Jin was quiet and reserved, while Li Leyang talked nonstop.

Li Jin’s schedule was strictly planned in a notebook, while Li Leyang went shopping entirely by instinct.

Ning Zhu quite liked Li Leyang’s style—she was already very interested in the Spirit Rhythm Land and wanted to see and play around more.

Why worry about taking detours?

Walking a bit of a detour leads to a more wonderful experience.

“Wow!” Ning Zhu’s eyes were practically glued straight ahead.

Bai Ze curled its lips. “Just a tiger.” It licked its paw, thinking its true form was way more impressive than this.

Li Leyang said, “Pretty interesting, right? These are all Pet Cards.”

This area looked just like a zoo.

Outside each shop stood an animal—some majestic, some adorably goofy: tigers, lions, black panthers, monkeys, fawns… even elephants!

But even the elephant was small in size, about the same as a tiger.

“Pet Cards?” Ning Zhu asked.

Li Leyang said, “A type of Character Card.”

Ning Zhu had just started to speak when Li Leyang quickly cut in: “Pet Cards can’t be used for combat. They’re purely for viewing.”

Ning Zhu: “I see…”

Li Leyang said: “You haven’t learned card crafting yet. Once you do, you’ll understand—combat-ready Character Cards are very hard to make!”

The Pet Card area was dazzling to Ning Zhu’s eyes, but she quickly began to understand.

These animals were all “virtual,” similar to holographic projections. They could interact in simple ways, but couldn’t be physically touched.

A thought crossed Ning Zhu’s mind. “How come I don’t see any human-shaped ones…”

Li Leyang’s expression changed drastically. “Whoa whoa! Watch what you say!”

Ning Zhu: “?”

Li Leyang: “Alright, alright… you really are a Pure Human.” He lowered his voice. “You’ll understand after you enter the academy. There are many taboos in card crafting—for example, Pet Cards cannot have human forms, Character Cards cannot have self-awareness, and even Flying Cloud Cards require certification…”

Ning Zhu’s eyes lit up. “Flying Cloud Cards?”

Li Leyang: “Flying Sword Cards also require certification.”

Ning Zhu asked excitedly, “Can you really travel eighty thousand miles in one somersault cloud?”

“What are you dreaming about? The top speed is only around 100–200 km/h, and it consumes a lot of energy. Most beginners can’t even afford to use it.”

“So it’s basically like a car…”

“A car doesn’t fly.”

“Fair point.” Ning Zhu asked with interest, “Is the certification hard?”

Li Leyang said, “Not really, but you have to be at least eighteen years old.”

Ning Zhu: “…oh.” She deflated.

With Li Leyang around, Ning Zhu unknowingly finished buying everything needed for enrollment.

Spirit Rhythm Land was quite user-friendly—it not only accepted cash but also WeChat, Alipay, and digital banking payments.

Being a card master really was an expensive profession.

No wonder textbooks had to be bought individually. That thick “Introduction to Card Theory” alone cost 300 yuan—Ning Zhu had never bought such an expensive book in her life!

Even card bags were expensive—the entry-level ones already cost 1,000.

The one Yang Principal gave her was probably worth five or six thousand.

But all of that was nothing compared to crafting materials.

Those were the truly expensive things.

Gold now cost over 700 yuan per gram, and Golden Silk Thread was even 20–30% more expensive than gold!

Seeing Ning Zhu’s expression, Li Leyang said, “How’s your family situation? Don’t be embarrassed—freshmen can apply for student loans from the Card Master Association.”

“Card Master Association?”

“Equivalent to the government agency for ‘Pure Humans’.”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Ning Zhu added, “My family situation is pretty good, so I don’t need to apply for a student loan.”

Li Leyang said, “Anyway, don’t feel embarrassed. Student loans are very easy to apply for. And you don’t have to worry about not being able to pay them back. Our school has a lot of scholarship categories… not to mention, once you learn card crafting, you can earn money yourself. As long as you’re diligent, supporting yourself won’t be a problem…”

Hearing this, Ning Zhu finally relaxed a little.

Her family situation was fine, but constantly spending her parents’ money still made her feel uneasy.

Card crafting did sound expensive to learn, but it also sounded like it could make money.

That made sense… those Pet Cards weren’t cheap at all.

By noon, Ning Zhu had bought everything she needed, so she said to Li Leyang, “Let me treat you to a meal.”

Li Leyang wasn’t polite either. “Sure! I know a place. They don’t use Food Cards—the dishes are cooked by hand…”

“There are Food Cards too?”

“There are a lot of them, actually. But Food Card dishes don’t taste that good.”

“Hmm, so it’s like pre-made meals?”

“Pretty much.” Li Leyang added, “Actually, high-star Food Cards make really tasty food, but the cost-performance ratio is too low. Ordinary people can’t afford it.”

Ning Zhu actually wanted to try Food Card cuisine—even low-star ones were fine, just for the novelty.

But Li Leyang was clearly already sick of it.

Since Ning Zhu was treating him, she naturally followed his preference.

Li Leyang ate happily, and Ning Zhu also felt the restaurant’s food was quite good. Besides, they had been walking all morning and were indeed hungry.

After eating and drinking their fill, Ning Zhu curiously asked, “Aren’t you going to buy anything?”

Li Leyang: “I already bought everything.”

“Then why did you come to Spirit Rhythm Land…”

“Don’t even mention it!” Li Leyang said frustratedly. “I heard a rumor that Senior Li Jin was going to bring the Star God Card Master here to buy enrollment supplies, so I wanted to catch a glimpse of that big shot in advance… who knew I’d run into a theft case instead.”

He lowered his voice. “You heard it too, right? That Huaxia Card Ring Shop had a Seven-Star Card Ring. That’s the highest-star card ring in history. The previous one… cough, anyway, people are just different. Only a Star God Card Master can recognize that ring.”

“Recognize it?”

“You saw all those card rings in the shop earlier, right?”

“Yeah, the counter was full of them.”

“To us, those card rings look colorful, but it’s said that in the eyes of Star God Card Masters and Zodiac Card Masters, they’re either white or gray.”

Ning Zhu fell silent.

So it wasn’t the card rings that were the problem—it was her eyes.

“Crazy, right!” Li Leyang sighed. “It’s because those rings are too low-level to even enter those experts’ sight!”

Ning Zhu didn’t speak for a long time.

Li Leyang thought she was just shocked. He rested his chin on his hand and said gloomily, “Same age, sixteen years old… someone becomes a Star God Card Master, while I… damn, I turned myself into neither male nor female!”