Who said this card is outrageous?

However, he is, after all, a warrior, and Agumon, who has already been promoted to a purple card, occupies a significant portion of his mental energy, so the new card can only be limited to the level of a second-tier blue card.

Having a purple card would be ideal, but Zhang Che doesn't have a clear idea yet and needs to do some research first.

Chapter 142 Angel Investor (Two Updates)

The next day, Zhang Che went to work as usual, and when he went to Xu Jing's office to sign in as usual, he found that someone was already there.

Curious, Zhang Che knocked on the door. After receiving permission, he entered the office and discovered that besides Xu Jing, there was also a strange middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties.

The man was tall and slender, wearing a dark gray overcoat, with a thin face and a gentle smile in his eyes.

Just sitting there, he gives off a very comfortable feeling.

This person is no ordinary person!

"Dean, have you finished your business?" Zhang Che glanced at the man curiously before greeting Xu Jing.

"Hmm." Xu Jing stood up from behind her desk and walked to the man's side. "You've come at the right time."

She pointed to Chang Cheh: "Mr. Lin, this is Chang Cheh."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man's gaze fell on Zhang Che, and he then revealed a gentle smile.

"So you're the little hero who saved Binhai City. It's nice to meet you." His voice wasn't loud, and his pace was neither fast nor slow, carrying a kind of approachable charm that made people unconsciously relax.

"Mr. Lin, you flatter me." Zhang Che bowed slightly.

Although he couldn't see through the man's background, Zhang Che's intuition told him that the man was even more dangerous than Zhong Huaiyuan.

This means he is at least a fifth-level superhuman, and it's not impossible that he is even a sixth-level superhuman.

Moreover, his aura was calm and reserved, clearly indicating that he was a high-ranking figure who had held a high position for many years.

This person was clearly not from Binhai City; he was most likely returning from the provincial capital with Yu Xingye.

“I forgot to introduce you.” Xu Jing sat back down in her chair. “This is Mr. Lin Jiming, a special advisor to the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters.”

Lin Jiming, Zhang Che silently repeated the name in his mind, feeling that it sounded somewhat familiar.

Soon, a thought flashed through his mind, and he finally remembered that when he was chatting with Shen Yan, the other party had mentioned this person, saying that he particularly liked to invest in talented people, regardless of whether they were from the Adventurers' Guild or not.

The nature of the so-called "investor" remains questionable, but the title of special advisor to the Adventurers' Guild headquarters should be genuine.

Regardless of whether he was an investor or not, he must be a very powerful figure, someone Zhang Che couldn't afford to offend right now, so Zhang Che quickly paid his respects.

"No need to be so nervous." Lin Jiming waved his hand with a smile. "Uncle Mo and I are old friends. Since you are his disciple, we can be considered half-brothers."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Jing, who was standing to the side, became somewhat displeased. She immediately retorted that she had never heard of Master Mo taking on disciples, and that Zhang Che hadn't formally become his apprentice yet.

"It's bound to happen sooner or later, it's bound to happen sooner or later..." Lin Jiming tried to laugh it off, a smile on his face, his tone carrying a hint of intimacy that "we're all on the same side."

Unfortunately, Xu Jing did not buy it. She insisted that Zhang Che and Mo Yuncheng were only in a working relationship, and that his current official job was still as her assistant to the dean.

What else could Lin Jiming say? He could only smile wryly and admit his mistake, saying that he had just blurted it out. In his heart, however, he cursed Mo Yuncheng several times over—the old man didn't explain things clearly enough, leaving them vague and causing him to misunderstand and create such a big blunder.

However, Zhang Che's talent is undeniable. Lin Jiming has already seen the [Giant Shark] he created after arriving in Binhai City, and it is indeed a very good purple card.

While the fact that it needs to be in water to unleash its full combat potential is a minor drawback, it is not so important for a coastal city like Binhai.

After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Jiming then asked to see another Tier 3 purple card that Zhang Che had used when he was rescuing people all over the city that day, namely Fitz.

Although Ahri was the main force that day, Fizz, who was able to unleash his full combat power on land, also deserves credit, and indeed many people have seen him.

Since that's the case, Zhang Che had nothing left to hide. He reached into his pocket, took out a card, and infused it with his mental energy. A purple magic circle unfolded in the office.

Fitz's small figure leaped out of the magic circle, trident in hand, its dark blue scales shimmering with a faint glow of water-attribute energy.

After landing, Fitz first looked around, and then immediately noticed Lin Jiming, the strongest person present, staring at him with wary eyes.

Lin Jiming didn't care about this at all. He just looked down at Fitz, his gaze lingering on the trident for a moment.

"A humanoid card." Lin Jiming's eyes lit up, but he quickly dismissed it, "No, it can't be considered humanoid. It just walks on two legs, and there's still a considerable gap between it and a human. But to have this level of intelligence at the third tier is already quite impressive."

Fitz felt a little uneasy under Fitz's gaze. It raised its trident and gestured at Lin Jiming, making a "Fitz Fitz" sound as if to say, "What are you looking at?"

Lin Jiming smiled, not paying any attention. Instead, he straightened up, took out a card from his pocket, looked at Zhang Che, then at Fitz, and suddenly made a request that surprised Zhang Che.

“Alright, Xiao Zhang, let’s have a match.” Lin Jiming showed off the card in his hand. The blue alchemical patterns on the card were much more complex than those on a Tier 3 card, and quite eye-catching. “If you win, I’ll give you a mid-level transcendent-grade spiritual crystal as a prize. But if you lose, you have to promise me that after you advance to mid-level transcendent, you’ll make me a Tier 4 purple card. Consider this spiritual crystal as an advance payment.”

A spiritual crystallization at the mid-level extraordinary level?!

Zhang Che's first reaction was not to weigh the pros and cons, but to be tempted.

In the past few days, in order to advance to the fourth rank, he has done a lot of research. He knows that the mental power from the third rank to the fourth rank is the watershed between the lower-level extraordinary and the middle-level extraordinary. What is needed is not the accumulation of quantity, but the breakthrough of quality.

This very step has trapped countless people!

A mid-level transcendent-grade spiritual crystal can not only help users significantly increase their spiritual power limit, but more importantly, it can act as a "quality" anchor point in the user's spiritual sea, accelerating the conversion of spiritual power that was originally at the lower transcendent level, and without any side effects.

If one possesses a mid-level extraordinary spiritual crystal, breaking through to the fourth rank will not only be a piece of cake, but will at least increase the success rate by 50%.

Although compared to a fourth-tier purple card, the value of a Spirit Crystal may be much lower.

But that's not how it's done. For Zhang Che, who is eager to break through to the fourth tier, let alone a fourth-tier purple card, he would feel that he was making a profit even if he had to exchange two or three cards for one!

Moreover, Lin Jiming had already made it clear that regardless of the outcome of the battle, Zhang Che would obtain this spiritual crystal. The only difference was that if he won, he would get it for free; if he lost, he would have to pay a fourth-tier purple card in exchange.

At the same time, Lin Jiming did not mention a time limit, so as long as Zhang Che is shameless enough, he can completely postpone this promise until he reaches the fifth or sixth level.

Of course, he definitely wouldn't do that.

"it is good!"

Zhang Che agreed without any hesitation.

It was only at this moment that he finally understood why Shen Yan had praised Lin Jiming so highly. He truly deserved to be called an "angel investor"!

Chapter 143 Ahri's Exposure

The three arrived at the training ground of the Warrior Academy. Since most of the students in the academy had been taken out of the city by the dean, there were not many people around.

The outcome of the battle was not too surprising. Even when the battle actually started, Lin Jiming allowed Zhang Che to use an extra card to make his Frostblade Wolf fight two against one, just to be fair.

However, against a Tier 4 blue card with full combat power, Fizz and Megalodon alone are not enough to defeat it.

Card Name: Frostblade Wolf (Ice)

Type: Summoning Card

Level: Tier 4

Grade: Blue

Skills: Frost Breath, Wolf Howl, Frost Blade Slash

Talent: Power of Frost

Reaching the Blue Card level already equates to being a highly skilled fighter within that tier.

Needless to say, the Megalodon doesn't even reach the standard fourth-tier combat power on land, and it only plays a supporting role throughout the entire process, which is better than nothing.

Fitz, as the main player, performed slightly better, but apart from the initial probing phase, he was basically dominated from the start.

The Frostblade Wolf is not only faster, but also far superior in strength and ranged attack capabilities. Therefore, Fizz cannot gain any advantage in either close combat or ranged attacks.

If it weren't for the Megalodon intermittently interfering, Fizz would probably have been torn to shreds by the Frostsaber long ago.

The only way to win is to have Ahri play.

However, this was not worthwhile for Zhang Che. Even if he lost, the only cost would be that he wouldn't be able to get the spiritual crystal for free and would have to make a fourth-tier purple card for Lin Jiming in the future.

Compared to revealing his trump card, Zhang Che felt this price was acceptable.

While Zhang Che was still pondering this, Lin Jiming seemed to sense his thoughts and said meaningfully, "It's okay, I can give you another chance. Use your real trump card."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Che's expression hardened, and he looked at Lin Jiming, instinctively wanting to explain something, but ultimately he couldn't bring himself to speak.

Lin Jiming was not surprised to see this, but gently explained to Zhang Che a common sense that was not common sense: a superhuman who has reached the intermediate level of superhuman is very conspicuous in a city where most people are ordinary.

The reason why those fourth-tier superhumans who were lurking in the city were able to hide their identities was because they had a high-ranking mole, Ke Yuanzhou, helping them cover up.

Even so, those people lived cautiously in their daily lives, afraid of being exposed by accident.

However, the fox-like demi-human next to Zhang Che, who was suspected to be a mid-level extraordinary being, was quite different. Over such a long period of time, she had not left any trace of her existence, which was obviously very illogical.

"These past two days I've been trying to satisfy my curiosity, and after getting nowhere, it suddenly dawned on me—why must it be a demi-human?" At this point, Lin Jiming's smile faded slightly. "After all, the existence of fox demi-humans has always been our speculation. No one has stipulated that she can't be a card."

"Am I right, Zhang Che?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Che's body tensed up instantly, but he quickly realized that he seemed to have no ability to fight against the person in front of him.

Moreover, since Lin Jiming spoke to him to this extent, it proved that the other party did not have any ill intentions towards him. Otherwise, he could have just taken action directly instead of beating around the bush here.

After figuring out these issues, Zhang Che didn't say anything, but silently took out Ahri's card from his body.

Seeing the purple light in Zhang Che's hand, Lin Jiming and Xu Jing both showed an expression of "I knew it".

The two exchanged a glance. Xu Jing shook her head slightly, while Lin Jiming nodded gently, as if exchanging some unspoken signal.

Clearly, the speculation that "the fox clan's demi-human powerhouse is actually a card" is already a consensus among the upper echelons of Binhai City, but no one has directly stated it.

After all, Zhang Che's previous performance has shown that he is definitely one of our own, and the combat power he controls is naturally part of Binhai City's combat power. There is no need to affect the relationship between the two sides because of this small matter.

It wasn't until the arrival of Lin Jiming, an outsider with no taboos and exceptional abilities, that they dared to break through this barrier.

"Alright, alright, don't look so bitter and resentful." Lin Jiming smiled and smoothed things over, his tone tinged with helplessness. "You kids, I don't know if you've been reading too many stories, you always think that others want to harm you."

In this world, every strong person who has grown up has their own kind of luck.

Especially since Zhang Che's "luck" is a card, there's even less to worry about others stealing it.

“You’re a card maker, so you should know very well how strong the mental link that Master Chen Mu set up for the cards was. Even if I kill you, I’ll only get a completely destroyed card.” Lin Jiming’s last words dispelled Zhang Che’s considerable worries.

Although after so many years of development, no one can guarantee that there is no way to forcibly break the mental bond of a card, but firstly, Ahri's card level is too low, so even if there really is such a method, there is no need to waste it on her.

Secondly, that "super card maker" is still alive. If anyone dares to do something like undermining a card maker's foundation, then you'd better be a supreme powerhouse at the super-level, otherwise don't blame them for dealing with you.

Moreover, judging from what Lin Jiming said, he seemed to think that Ahri in Zhang Che's possession was a serendipitous encounter, rather than a card that Zhang Che himself created.

However, this is not surprising, or rather, it should be considered a kind of "curse of knowledge": because they know too much, they naturally do not believe that Zhang Che, a card maker who came from an unorthodox background, could create humanoid cards at the lower level of the extraordinary realm.

The threshold for creating humanoid cards is Tier 4. This is an ironclad rule recognized in the card-making industry. A 19-year-old Tier 3 card maker who can make Tier 3 purple cards is already a genius among geniuses. If he can also make humanoid cards, then he is not a genius, but a monster.

Moreover, it is a monster that even the legendary card maker of the same level back then could not compare to.