As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 51 Bull-Headed Iron Guard
The old woman's eyes finally cleared.

"You said yesterday that this 'Black Horn Iron Bull' was inserted into the tractor to act as a machine spirit and increase its output, correct?"

Xu Yan continued to ask, "You just bought the tractor with a loan last year. How much money do you still owe?"

The old woman nodded.

"Then this card really can't be used anymore, and don't repair it anymore."

Xu Yan said seriously, "Believe me, there is no other card maker on this street who can fix the spiritual card that I can't. Those who claim to be able to fix it are just scammers.

"Scamming a little repair money is a small matter, but if you think the 'Black Horn Iron Bull' is fixed and you plug it back into the tractor and put it into high-intensity operation, it will go berserk in a matter of minutes and turn your tractor into a racing car. It might even cause a car wreck and kill people!"

Maybe it was his expression.

Perhaps it was the icicle-like light in the mirror.

The old woman was really scared.

"But buying a new card costs a lot of money..."

She had a sad face.

Xu Yan sighed.

"Well, grandma, our Star Store has been running a 'Old Store Reopening, Trade-in for New' promotion for the past two weeks. Your card itself is just excessively worn, and there's no major problem with the hardware. As long as the pattern is re-engraved and the talisman ink is added, it should still be usable for another three to five years.

"Leave the card here. I'll recast it for you, inject a new spirit into it, and fine-tune the rune array. It should be able to reach 75% of the output power of the 'Black Horn Iron Bull'.

"To be honest, for your usual load-bearing work, if you don't pursue speed, the requirements for maximum output power are not high, and many civilian spirit bodies can meet the requirements.

"That way, the price will be much cheaper. What do you think?"

The old woman lowered her head and thought for a long time.

His wrinkled face was all filled with smiles.

"No wonder everyone says that Mr. Li from the Starry Sky Store has found a treasure. The new card maker is energetic, skilled, and kind-hearted. Oh, young man..."

I finally got rid of the nagging old woman.

Xu Yan didn't even have time to take a sip of hot tea before the second group of customers arrived.

A middle-aged man with gray hair, over fifty years old, wearing orange work clothes and his co-workers.

"Excuse me, little master, can you help me take a look at this [Bull-Headed Iron Guard]?"

The uncle activated the seal card.

A translucent energy body with a bull's head, a human body, bulging muscles, and extremely strong appeared behind him.

With the help of the guardian spirit, the uncle's muscles became swollen and white smoke came out of his nostrils like a bullfight.

The uncle said he was working as a porter at the construction site next door.

It is all thanks to this "Bull-Head Iron Guard" that one can increase strength by more than 300%, allowing one to carry objects weighing thousands of pounds in a small space with complex terrain.

But in the past six months, I have always felt uncomfortable all over my body, and my muscles and joints are very sore.

Sometimes, when the "Ox-Head Iron Guard" is activated, one will become irritable and angry, unable to stand the pain of being in trouble, and can't help but want to pick a fight.

Even if the guardian spirit is taken back, the symptoms will last for a long time.

I went to many repair shops and they all said that there was nothing wrong with the card, it was just normal wear and tear.

Just come regularly for maintenance, strengthen the seal, and add talisman ink.

At the beginning, a maintenance session can indeed last for ten days to half a month.

Gradually, the duration of each maintenance session becomes shorter and shorter.

From ten days to half a month to now, maintenance must be done every three to five days.

Maintenance costs are a small matter.

The key is that time cannot be wasted.

The uncle is a construction worker who works to make a living. Every three to five days, he has to take a break for most of the day. Who can stand this?
"That's it..." Xu Yan asked the uncle to take back the guardian spirit, pulled out the seal card, and stroked the intricate patterns on the card.

The problem was quickly found.

It’s actually not complicated.

It's just that this seal card has passed through too many hands, storing and releasing too many different kinds of spirits, and too many residual soul ripples of different natures remain deep in the structure.

In a big city like Dawn City, there is the Spirit Card Association and the Imperial Spirit Academy, and there are formal procedures for sealing the residual souls of the past and manufacturing and repairing spirit cards.

Local residents are also relatively wealthy and can afford brand new genuine sealed cards produced by large companies.

One seal card corresponds to one spirit, and the patterns on the card surface will be fine-tuned according to the characteristics of the spirit to ensure perfect compatibility between hardware and software.

When the seal card is excessively worn out and the spirit gradually dims and disappears, it will be scrapped together.

But in a "planned area" like Rolling Stone Castle.

Residents have limited economic conditions.

Not to mention a brand new card, even a second-hand card is unaffordable.

Those who can afford it often buy counterfeit cards that have been passed through seven, eight, or even more than ten hands and are constantly refurbished.

The spirits sealed in such cards often have not been identified or approved by the Spirit Card Association. No one knows where they were captured from or how they were sealed.

The problem is coming.

When unscrupulous vendors refurbish these cards, they often have neither the skills nor the need to do so, so they completely clean out the originally sealed spirits and then inject new spirits into them.

You have to know that the relationship between spirits is not harmonious and solid.

Not to mention the laws of power in each era, there are differences and even conflicts.

Even the ancient remnants of the same era may belong to different camps and have a tit-for-tat, life-and-death relationship.

Take this photo of the uncle “Bull-Head Iron Guard” as an example.

It belongs to a faction in the early First Era that calls itself "The Horde".

What if this counterfeit card, which has been refurbished countless times, once sealed the remnant soul of the "Alliance", which also came from the early First Era but was hostile to the "Horde".

It would be strange not to start a fight.

I believe other spiritual card stores have also noticed such a simple problem.

The proposed solution is not too bad.

Carry out maintenance every now and then, fill the talisman ink up, let the residual soul eat and drink enough, and it will naturally be quiet for a while.

But this is like adding more water to stop a boiling pot, or even drinking poison to quench thirst.

As the residual soul is nourished, it will definitely become more and more active, and the conflicts will become more and more intense.

There is a permanent solution.

That is to invite the guardian spirit out, clean the seal card thoroughly and carefully, and completely clean up the residual soul ripples remaining inside. Then invite the guardian spirit back, open the card and restart it, and you're done.

But Xu Yan didn't think the card makers on this street would do that.

There are two reasons:

First, the technical difficulty is relatively high.

Whether it is humans, animals, plants, or sophisticated mechanical bodies and man-made objects, they all have souls, and deep within the souls lie infinite mysteries.

Even for the simplest Black Iron Civilian Card, it would take a lot of time, effort, and resources to completely eliminate the residual soul ripples hidden deep within the structure.

Second, and more importantly, cost.

It takes most of the day to carefully purify a fake Iron Card, causing stars to appear in my eyes, fingers to twitch, and lumbar muscle strain. And then, how much are you going to charge?

If you have this spare time, you can find big clients to do maintenance on their bronze or even silver cards, and you can make more than ten times the profit.

(End of this chapter)