New Card
1694 Words
“I should clarify first.”
Zhang Xiaopang said in advance, “The illusions I create have low realism, low restoration, and only last for 10 minutes. So if it doesn’t work out, I won’t refund the money.”
Lu Ming: “???”
What does he mean by "not working out"?
Wait a minute.
Why is it always ten minutes?
“Are you sure ten minutes is enough?”
Lu Ming sneered.
“Of course.”
Zhang Xiaopang was proud, “I can use it two hundred times in ten minutes.”
Two hundred times…
Lu Ming calculated the time in his head and was astonished.
“Let’s do it.”
Zhang Xiaopang was ready to start.
“Stop, stop, stop.”
Lu Ming was speechless, “I didn’t ask you to make that. I just need a simple illusion about fruits, it won’t consume too much of your energy.”
“Fruits?”
Zhang Xiaopang looked confused.
He clearly didn’t understand why fruits were needed; he had never heard of such a thing.
“Here’s how.”
Lu Ming explained while gesturing.
It turned out that the basic skills of Little Lu Ming were quite powerful. The strong drawing ability of card makers ensured one thing—every card maker had excellent sketching skills!
So.
Lu Ming managed to draw what he wanted.
“Yes, these things need to be in order…”
“This is for the next…”
“Not all at once, they should appear gradually, understand?”
“This should speed up.”
Lu Ming described while sketching.
Zhang Xiaopang started to build the illusion based on his description. As Lu Ming had guessed, constructing this kind of illusion consumed very little energy.
Even though Lu Ming had a lot of items, it didn’t consume much energy.
Soon.
The illusion was successfully constructed.
“Done.”
Zhang Xiaopang was pleased.
Although Lu Ming’s request was complex and time-consuming, the illusion was mostly made up of non-energy consuming elements, which saved costs and didn’t consume much energy at all!
Eight hundred bucks, earned!
“How’s the energy completion?”
Lu Ming asked.
“32 points.”
Zhang Xiaopang glanced.
Although the illusions he usually made were already quite basic, this illusion was so basic that it was the lowest he had ever made in his career.
It was below the 50-point warning line; how good could it be?
“32 points…”
Lu Ming pondered.
His original card had 48 points of energy, so he could still add some things.
“Hmm…”
“Let me think.”
Lu Ming felt something was missing and suddenly had an idea, “Xiao Pang, can you make the color of the illusion’s sky change with the user’s mood?
Happy mood is joyful red.
Sad mood is melancholic blue.
Excited mood is passionate purple.
……”
???
Zhang Xiaopang’s face turned green.
“Forget it!”
Zhang Xiaopang was furious, “You’re seriously pushing it! You still want more from an eight-hundred-dollar job? Do you want me to adjust the weather to match the mood too?”
“Is that possible?”
Lu Ming’s eyes lit up.
Swish!
Zhang Xiaopang gave him a murderous look.
“Ahem.”
“Just kidding, just kidding.”
Lu Ming quickly reassured.
He was genuinely just curious about the profession of an illusionist.
Even if Zhang Xiaopang wanted to do it, he couldn’t accept it because adding mood-related changes would raise the energy demand of the entire illusion to over 50 points, which he couldn’t afford.
Buzz—
The original card reappeared.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Ming got into position.
Encasing skills wasn’t easy; it required precise timing and angles to perfectly match the original card, and both parties needed to cooperate well.
“Uh…”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Zhang Xiaopang looked at Lu Ming with some hesitation. He had heard that Lu Ming had spent a long time in the infirmary after a failed card encapsulation last time.
“Let’s do it.”
Lu Ming placed the original card in front of Zhang Xiaopang, “This isn’t Fireball Technique; it’s just an illusion.”
“True.”
Zhang Xiaopang took a deep breath.
He aimed his hands at the original card and directly released the illusion!
Swish!
A flash of light passed.
“Encapsulate!”
Lu Ming felt an energy fluctuation and didn’t hesitate to use the original card’s skill.
Buzz—
A strange light flashed.
Encapsulation successful!
The original card, which was once crystal clear, now glowed brightly. The blank card began to display images, and the dozens of hidden patterns on the black back of the card became visible.
“Done!”
Lu Ming was thrilled.
He had successfully encapsulated this illusion! This meant he could fully create this illusion card in the future! This was a milestone progress for him!
“Successful?”
Zhang Xiaopang leaned over curiously.
“Yeah.”
Lu Ming was very satisfied.
“This kind of illusion isn’t very useful.”
Zhang Xiaopang was certain that this illusion had almost no practical use! After all, it was made by him, and this card was worse than his little yellow card.
“You don’t understand.”
Lu Ming curled his lips.
He paid Zhang Xiaopang and sent him away.
Buzz—
The original card was summoned again, and Lu Ming began to study it carefully.
Front…
He could see some simple patterns. This was the scene in the illusion, simplified after the rendering, and it seemed there was still some mystery to the card itself.
Back…
It was the familiar patterns!
Hidden patterns in the pitch-black card!
This illusion card had poor stability, with only 32 points of energy, a third of the energy card, but the patterns on the back were slightly more complex than those of energy cards.
“Is it because of more calculations?”
Lu Ming speculated.
He decided to proceed with drawing this card.
Drawing according to the original card was something Little Lu Ming had never done before, but he had been preparing for a long time to reach this step. He was familiar with all the steps.
First step, sense the patterns.
Lu Ming closed his eyes slightly, focusing on the back of the card. The faint patterns became clear.
“Forty-six patterns…”
Lu Ming silently counted.
Although it was a bit more than the energy card, the patterns were all basic ones he had learned, so there was no awkward situation of not recognizing any patterns.
He carefully memorized each pattern.
Second step, draw!
Taking out a blank card, Lu Ming began drawing.
This feeling…
It was like typing out a program source code downloaded from the internet. Programmers might fail due to programming environments or variable settings, but here…
It wouldn’t happen!
As long as you understand the patterns, you can draw them!
After all, it’s just basic.
Swish!
Energy flowed through him, forming the patterns under his pen.
When the energy was insufficient, Lu Ming would automatically use energy stones to supplement. The illusion card slowly took shape in his hands.
Buzz—
A faint light flashed.
One-star Illusion Card, completed!
“Success.”
Lu Ming was a bit excited.
He wanted to see if this card could open a breakthrough for his current predicament!
After thinking for a moment.
He peeled off a white label, stuck it on the top right corner of the card, and carefully wrote the name of the card—Fruit Ninja!
Yes.
Fruit Ninja!
This was the illusion card Lu Ming wanted to create!
Technical and financial constraints forced him to choose the lowest level, and the nearly non-existent entertainment projects in this world led him to choose Fruit Ninja.
“Let’s test it first.”
Lu Ming activated the card with energy.
Swish!
The illusion card dissipated, and the world in front of him instantly changed.
Well…
How should I put it?
An illusion that only consumed 32 points of energy was shockingly simplistic, with only a dilapidated two-story tavern and a rusty knife.
The tavern’s signboard had no name but a time number—00:00.
That was all.
Lu Ming looked around.
The realism was about the same as the VR from his past life before it became widespread.
Very vague.
But also somewhat real.
On the right was a wooden sign with simple rules written on it.
Pick up the knife, and the game begins.
You need to cut every fruit and avoid bombs.
Note: Each fruit contains a large amount of terrifying energy. After landing, the fruit will explode, ending the illusion if forced.
“Start!”
Lu Ming grabbed the knife.
On the second floor of the tavern, fruits began to fall, not too fast. Lu Ming sliced the fruits in half with one strike, making them disappear.
The time on the signboard also kept ticking.
One second.
Two seconds.
……
Soon.
The fruits fell faster and faster, and Lu Ming struggled to keep up. When a fruit hit the ground, the entire illusion froze, leaving only the time on the signboard.
Swish!
Swish!
The time on the tavern signboard continued to climb.
21 seconds.
That was Lu Ming’s score.
“Not bad.”
Lu Ming was quite satisfied.
Although it looked very fake, it still provided enough fun.
According to his settings, the speed of falling fruits would increase rapidly, almost to the point of being unrecognizable, which was the limit of this card!
A very pure game.
A very simple setup.
So…
The next thing was how to sell this card.
Is it easy to sell?
Clearly not!
Why is there no entertainment in this world?
Is it due to low cultural levels?
Clearly not.
It’s because this world is truly dangerous, and there’s no time for leisure. Over time, entertainment naturally hasn’t developed!
So, if he really promotes it as entertainment and relaxation, Lu Ming estimated he wouldn’t be able to sell a single card.
Unless…
He linked entertainment with cultivation!
“Cultivation…”
Lu Ming had an idea.
Of course, before that, he needed to stock up sufficiently.
- Writer
