Who said this card is outrageous?

He paused, then added, "Of course, I will buy it at market price; I won't take it for free."

After listening, Pan Yue remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he smiled, the most genuine smile he had shown in a long time.

"Deal." Pan Yue held out his hand.

Zhang Che shook hands with him, then pointed to two cards on the table, indicating that to show his sincerity, they were his investment.

"invest?"

“Yes.” Zhang Che sat down again, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, “My investment in this war in Hezhou City yielded spoils and a stable supply channel.”

Pan Yue paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Great! On behalf of the entire Hezhou City, I welcome your investment!"

……

By the time I got home, it was already dark.

The information Pan Yue revealed today has given him a new assessment of the war, and every signal points in the same direction: the situation is deteriorating.

And the deterioration was happening faster than he had anticipated.

However, Zhang Che himself wasn't that worried. Now, with the Black Rhino Armor in hand, plus the great treasure he obtained in Binhai City, Zhang Che had no fear whatsoever, even when facing a fifth-tier extraordinary creature!

So what he needs to do now is to gain as many benefits for himself as possible in this war, such as materials from fourth-tier harpies or fourth-tier undead creatures. He's counting on using these materials to research new cards.

Chapter 184 Guests at Home

After introducing the option of the [Black Feather] series cards, Zhang Che's workload increased significantly.

Over the years, Hezhou City has accumulated an enormous amount of dark-elemental materials in its warehouses.

Pan Yue took him to the warehouse once, where several large shelves were filled with dark-colored materials.

These are all assets that Hezhou City has accumulated little by little over the years from the Dead Zone Rift. They are all items with low market demand, and they can't be sold for a good price, so they can only be left to gather dust.

Now that Zhang Che has arrived, these materials finally have a use.

With sufficient materials, in addition to the cards [Black Feather - Gale] and [Black Feather - Black Spear], Zhang Che successively created some other types of [Black Feather] cards, including both Tier 2 and Tier 3 cards.

After all, Hezhou City is just an ordinary small city, and there are not many superhumans who can wield Tier 3 cards. Therefore, in order to enable more people to contribute to the war, some low-level cards are also necessary.

The second-tier blue [Black Feather - Sharp Beak] is an offensive summon card whose skill is a high-speed dive and peck attack, which is extremely effective against first and second-tier harpies; and the second-tier blue [Black Feather - Iron Feather] is a defensive summon card that can deploy a shield made of black feathers to block attacks from the air.

Etc., etc……

While these cards may not be particularly strong individually, their advantage lies in their ability to be mass-produced and equipped, creating a significant scale effect that is still quite substantial.

Meanwhile, hearing that Zhang Che could use these materials to create cards to counter the harpy's attacks, even the Adventurers' Guild came to join in the fun.

Although we are currently in a state of war, theoretically the city hall and the adventurers' guild should be on the same side.

But people are always selfish, and now that there's finally a chance to turn inventory into fighting power, no one will easily let it go.

While the Adventurers' Guild's inventory wasn't as large as the City Hall's, it still added up to a considerable sum.

Everyone knew that Zhang Che would not stay in a small place like Hezhou forever. The only reason he hadn't left was because the war had started and it was inconvenient for him to leave.

It will be too late to regret it once the war is over.

So while Zhang Che is still around, they should hoard as many as they can.

Pan Yue had a similar idea.

Especially when Chang Cheh expressed his intention to invest in the war, the relationship between the two sides immediately changed from ordinary cooperation to a relationship of mutual interest.

In the adult world, mutual interests are the greatest guarantee of trust between people.

When they were just partners, to put it bluntly, Zhang Che, an outsider, could have easily withdrawn from the conflict. There was no need for him to get involved in this war: if Hezhou City won, he would receive his agreed-upon payment; if Hezhou City lost, he could simply walk away and move to another city with Wang Xinran's family to continue their lives as before.

Now, however, Zhang Che's investment activities have made him a stakeholder in this war. If Hezhou is suppressed or even defeated in the future, Zhang Che's interests will inevitably be harmed, thus giving him more reasons to support Hezhou in winning the war.

It was from this moment that Pan Yue and other high-ranking officials in Hezhou officially accepted Zhang Che into their inner circle.

In terms of its specific manifestation, when Zhang Che finished working in the basement and came to the living room, he saw Wang Xinran entertaining Pan Yue and a young woman who looked to be around twenty years old.

She wore an elegant dress, her long, jet-black hair cascading down to her waist; she was tall and had delicate features.

With distinct facial features and a hint of arrogance between her brows, she looked like a pampered young lady.

Upon seeing Zhang Che emerge, after exchanging brief greetings, Wang Xinran knew the three had something to discuss, so she rose to excuse herself, leaving the living room to them.

Pan Yue then formally introduced the young woman to Zhang Che.

“Mr. Zhang Che, this is my niece, Pan Tingting, a third-tier card maker.” Pan Yue’s tone carried a hint of pride.

Of course, he couldn't compare to a prodigy like Zhang Che, and Pan Yue wouldn't want to make a fool of himself.

"Pantene..."

Upon hearing the name, Zhang Che couldn't help but think of a shampoo brand from his previous life.

Although he quickly suppressed the thought, the fleeting strange look on his face was caught by Pan Tingting, who had been focusing her attention on Zhang Che since the beginning.

"Mr. Zhang Che, do you have any advice for me?" Pan Tingting asked.

His voice was clear and cool, carrying an air of neither servility nor arrogance.

She spoke in a very polite tone, but the fact that she chose to speak at this moment clearly indicated that it wasn't just a simple greeting.

Sorry, I don't have any advice, but I do have a vague impression of the shampoo.

But Zhang Che certainly wouldn't say that aloud. He didn't even glance at Pan Tingting, instead focusing his gaze on Pan Yue standing to the side, the meaning clear: What are you doing bringing this girl here to see me?

Pan Yue immediately understood.

Before he could even speak, Pan Tingting's expression changed slightly. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but was stopped by a look from Pan Yue.

"Children shouldn't interrupt when adults are speaking." Pan Yue's tone wasn't harsh, but it carried an undeniable authority.

Pan Tingting bit her lip and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

Her back was ramrod straight, her hands clasped on her knees, her posture impeccably dignified, but her eyes clearly showed a hundredfold resentment.

Pan Yue then turned around and gave Zhang Che an apologetic smile.

“Mr. Zhang Che, I’m here today for two main reasons.” His tone returned to its usual politeness. “First, I want to thank you for creating those [Black Feather] cards, which have played a crucial role in the recent battles against the Harpies.”

Zhang Che nodded, but didn't reply, waiting for him to continue.

This is not a compliment.

The performance of the Blackwing series cards on the battlefield has indeed exceeded everyone's expectations.

Humans, relying on the advantage that summoned cards don't actually die, have recently been driving the Harpies into a series of defeats, giving them the first advantage in the battle.

It's obvious that Pan Yue's visit to Zhang Chi wasn't about this matter, otherwise there would have been no need for him to bring Pan Tingting along.

So Zhang Che forced himself to listen to Pan Yue's words, and then his attention was rekindled by the gift the other party presented as a token of gratitude.

“This is a card recipe left by my father.” Pan Yue sighed as he pulled an exquisite box from his pocket. “We unworthy descendants are incompetent, and all we’ve been able to do all these years is keep it in the box.”

He then added that there was basically no hope for his generation, but fortunately, Pan Tingting, a promising young woman, had emerged from his nephews and nieces, who might have the potential to reach the heights his father had achieved.

Before that, Pan Yue still hoped that Zhang Che, the fourth-tier card maker, could give him some pointers, and it would be even better if he could leave some insights behind.

Chapter 185 Domain Card

Hearing Pan Yue speak so seriously, Zhang Che's attitude became even more upright. He then carefully opened the box, inside which lay a yellowed recipe.

The paper has turned slightly yellow, but the writing on it is still clearly legible.

His penmanship was vigorous and powerful, and every character was written meticulously, showing that the person who wrote this recipe must have been a very serious person.

The card listed above is a fourth-tier blue skill card, which at first glance doesn't seem particularly special.

But after Zhang Che carefully read the contents, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"Is this a domain card?"

Just like the item cards have an equipment card category, skill cards also have more detailed categories.

Domain cards are the strongest type of skill cards, and are recognized as one of the few card types whose value surpasses that of summon cards.

A domain card is a card that, when used, can change certain rules within a specific area.

Because it works across the entire field, the more people there are, the better the effect, making it an extremely powerful support card.

The powerful effect makes the Domain Card, like the Humanoid Card, at least a mid-level extraordinary card. Card makers of level three and below simply cannot access this domain.

Of course, powerful effects mean extremely high consumption.

The fourth-tier blue card that Pan Yue took out actually consumes at least three times the mental energy of an ordinary fourth-tier blue card.

Basically, once it's used, the user is no longer able to fight, not to mention having to constantly expend mental energy to maintain its existence.

Therefore, it is undeniable that Pan Yue gave this card formula to Zhang Che, hoping to take advantage of his "reduced mental energy consumption" trait to see if he could create a domain card with even lower consumption.

"no problem."

Zhang Che agreed without hesitation.

It goes without saying how rare the recipe for Domain Cards is. Even places like Binhai City, which is much stronger and wealthier than Hezhou City, don't have a single Domain Card.

However, the most important reason is that the existence of this domain card reminded Zhang Che of a card called "Field Spell".

This might be the opportunity to recreate the Field Spell Cards from Yu-Gi-Oh! in this world through Fusion!

"By the way, Mayor Pan, I have a question." Zhang Che carefully put the formula back into the box. "Many of the materials in this domain card seem to be special products of the Dead Zone Rift?"

Upon hearing this question, Pan Yue first sighed, then fell into reminiscence—

His father, who is also Pan Tingting's grandfather, was once a brilliant card maker.

"Back when my father was a fourth-tier card maker, he personally participated in the establishment of Hezhou City and joined forces with his teammates to repel the dead zone that had expanded its erosion range to hundreds of kilometers."

"Back then, there were no cities on this land, only endless wilderness and undead creatures covering the mountains and plains. It was my father and his comrades who carved out this living space bit by bit and established the original Hezhou City."

As he recounted these stories of his father's generation, Pan Yue's tone was frighteningly calm.

Unfortunately, after his father advanced to the fifth rank, he went to a higher-level rift in pursuit of greater power, but ultimately died.

From then on, the family, which had been showing signs of improvement, fell into a complete downturn.