Chapter 38: 38. Chapter 38: Character Card Apprenticeship (Please subscribe! Please vote for monthly tickets!)

Chapter 38: Character Card - Apprentice (Please subscribe! Please vote with monthly tickets!)

The card was entirely black with purple-gold edges.

On the back of the card was a purple-haired witch with her eyes closed. Floating before her was a large, gilded book, with several cards drifting above it.

It was rendered in a lush, ornate manga style.

The upper half of the card's front featured a rectangular frame containing a realistic oil painting-style illustration of the Book of Cards.

Below the frame was the card's information.

Except for the illustration within the frame, the entire card—including the patterns, text, and the image of the purple-haired witch—utilized deep purple strokes infused with gold dust.

Exquisite and magnificent, it was clearly no ordinary object.

Moran excitedly waved the card toward the air: "Dean! I did it!"

This time, Lady Amisha did not respond to her.

Moran did not mind.

Her mana was still quite abundant, and she could try making other cards.

Now that she had the {Book of Cards}, she didn't need to rush into infusing mana. She could first design the card effects, see how much mana was required, and then decide whether to craft it. It was much safer than before.

She had not completely given up on the card-making inspirations that had previously guided her strength enhancement.

When making the last card, the suggestion "Current Difficulty: 1" had reminded her of something.

Reducing the expected functions of a card or setting a limit on those functions could save energy consumption.

Previously, she indeed had not set a functional limit.

Verifying this was simple; she created a new card design.

By consuming only 1 Mana, she could test the energy consumption.

【Card Design: Unnamed Card 2】 —【Estimated Consumption: Infinite Mana】 —【Estimated Appearance: Appearance Template 1】 —【Estimated Function: Guide the enhancement of self-strength】

Just as she expected, without functions or limits, there was no limit to the energy consumed.

No wonder Lady Tracy's Witch Book magic and Carmella's Golden Pen Technique magic were divided into levels. It was likely to limit consumption!

Moran modified the functions of this card again.

【Card Design: Unnamed Card 2】 —【Estimated Consumption: 10 Mana】 —【Estimated Appearance: Appearance Template 1】 —【Estimated Function: Upon binding, it can display the user's name, race, strength rank, mana capacity, magic names, and magic levels. It can monitor the status of users up to the Apprentice level. Subsequent energy consumption can increase the monitoring limit, up to the Peak level.】

Seeing the consumption, Moran felt relieved.

It was indeed because she hadn't set a limit before.

Now she could craft with abandon.

Soon, a new card appeared in the card slot.

{Character Card - Apprentice - Unbound} 【Cannot be unbinded after binding. Bind?】

Such a text box appeared on the card surface.

Moran selected "Yes."

【Strength exceeds the card's usage limit. Unable to bind. You may inject 100 Mana into the card to upgrade its usage limit to Junior level.】

Moran could afford 100 Mana; she injected 100 Mana into the card.

{Character Card - Junior} 【Strength exceeds the card's usage limit. Unable to bind. You may inject 500 Mana into the card to upgrade its usage limit to Intermediate level.】

Five hundred Mana—Moran gritted her teeth and paid!

{Character Card - Intermediate - Moran} ()

Her character appearance appeared on the card surface.

Below it were her various statistics.

【Name: Moran】 【Race: Witch/Sorceress】 【Rank: Intermediate】 【Mana: 195/989 Mana】 【Magic: Golden Pen Technique (Apprentice), Witch Book (Apprentice)】

"It worked!" Moran became visibly happy.

Just the real-time display of her mana capacity was already incredibly useful. It was far more accurate than observing the brightness of the energy aura.

Moran remembered that during her previous talent test, her mana was measured at 998.

By signing the Witch Contracts for the Golden Pen Technique (Apprentice) and the Witch Book (Apprentice), she had paid a 10 Mana capacity cost, so her remaining maximum mana should have been 988.

Now, the card displayed a maximum of 989. There was only one possibility: her mana capacity had increased by 1 point over the past few days.

As for the magic column, it only listed magic that involved mana application techniques; magical infusion was not included.

The Golden Pen Technique and the Witch Book were clearly listed, along with their magic levels.

However... if magic levels could be displayed, could magic learning progress be displayed as well?

If every spell had a progress bar, wouldn't learning become incredibly motivating?

In the novels of her past life, those "proficiency panel" cheats were essential for grinders and overachievers.

Could she turn the {Character Card} into such an existence?

Moran acted immediately. Using the {Book of Cards} again, she redesigned the functions of the Character Card.

By adding "Ability Progress" to the estimated functions, the crafting cost of the {Character Card - Apprentice} jumped from 10 Mana to 50 Mana.

Moran attempted to create the new version of the Character Card in the slot.

However, she discovered that even after sufficient mana infusion, the estimated function completion was still only at 50%.

A difficulty point had appeared.

【Current Difficulty: Unclear distinction in magic progress. Suggest supplementing relevant knowledge to refine the progress distinctions for all magic at the Apprentice stage.】

This was similar to the problem of mana grading.

The issue was that she herself did not understand the distinctions in practice progress for various magics within the Apprentice stage.

Since the cards were born based on her will, they naturally could not quantify the progress of magic practice!

This problem was harder to solve than the mana capacity issue.

As far as Moran knew, Apprentice, Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced were the only existing distinctions for magic levels. Any further refinement lacked mature theoretical support.

This meant that if she wanted the {Character Card} to display magic learning progress, she would have to learn various magics herself to feel the more detailed gradations.

Moran had not yet formally learned a single spell. To reach that level was a long way off and could not be achieved overnight.

She silently saved this design in her crafting history. Once her magic across all elements broke through to the Junior level, she could probably give it another try.

The unfinished card in the slot dissipated, and a soft white light flowed into the purple gem above the slot.

The stored energy column on the {Book of Cards} also changed; it was no longer zero.

【Stored Energy: 50 Mana】

Only then did Moran realize that this gem could store energy for card crafting.

She pressed her finger directly onto the gem, carefully inputting mana.

This time, there was no intense suction strong enough to make her lose control immediately.

When she released her finger, the stored energy changed from 50 Mana to 51 Mana.

Her own mana had also decreased slightly, leaving her with only 143 points.

It seemed she could slowly store mana in the purple gem to save for future card crafting.

With little mana remaining and classes tomorrow, Moran had to temporarily halt her card-making research.

(End of Chapter)