Who said this card is outrageous?

Then there's the development project concerning the island connected by the hollow fissure.

Besides the support from the provincial capital, another key factor was the giant shark created by Zhang Che.

These cards are extremely powerful underwater, but their use is limited to third-tier transcendent beings with sufficiently high mental strength. Their high cost-effectiveness and practicality make them a crucial asset for Binhai City in securing a share of the island development project.

To this end, Zhong Huaiyuan, Yu Xingye, and others directly gathered a full eight sets of fourth-tier water and dark attribute crystals for Zhang Che, keeping him busy for quite some time. In the end, he produced five third-tier purple card Giant Tooth Shark cards.

This level of success rate surprised Lin Jiming, who seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of Zhang Che's talent.

Not long after, Lin Jiming directly expressed his thoughts in front of Zhong Huaiyuan and the others: "Shallow waters cannot nurture true dragons. I think Zhang Che should not stay here with you anymore, otherwise his talent will only be buried."

Although Zhong Huaiyuan was unwilling, he knew in his heart that this was indeed the truth.

Resources at the mid-level transcendent tier, especially card recipes, are not as easy to obtain as those at the lower-level transcendent tier.

After all, there aren't many card makers who can reach this level. Every time they research and create a new card, it requires a huge investment, so the results are naturally not something they can easily tell others.

Even for a relatively loosely organized large power like the Adventurers' Guild, the control over fourth-tier card recipes is extremely strict.

If Zhang Che wants to continue to progress at the intermediate extraordinary level, relying solely on the resources of Binhai City is far from enough.

He needs a bigger stage to fully unleash his talents, but given the size and resources of Binhai City, it can only support him for a short time at most, and may even hinder his progress.

Finally, there's the series of rewards Zhang Che received.

After exchanging glances, Zhong Huaiyuan and the others made a decision. Since they couldn't keep him, they had to cultivate a good relationship with him and make Zhang Che remember the good things about his hometown.

However, Binhai City has just suffered a major disaster, and it also needs to invest a lot of manpower and resources to develop the islands connected by the Void Rift, so the rewards it can offer are really limited.

After much sorting and compilation, everyone managed to put together a list that was reasonably acceptable, which they then handed to Zhang Che for him to choose from.

The list contains many treasures and finished extraordinary items accumulated by the city guards over the years. There are quite a few, but there are not many truly top-tier items.

To show their solidarity, Binhai University and the Adventurers' Guild added some good things to the package: on the one hand, because Zhang Che's contributions were indeed significant enough to warrant such an effort; on the other hand, both sides wanted to take this opportunity to build a good relationship with him.

After all, Zhang Che's potential has already been fully revealed, and with the addition of the spiritual crystal he obtained, it can be said that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will witness the birth of a fourth-tier card maker who is not even twenty years old within a month at most.

Even if Zhang Che only retains half of the growth rate he had when he was a lower-level extraordinary being, this investment would still be worthwhile.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Zhang Che began to carefully select items from the list.

First and foremost, there are definitely various Tier 4 card recipes—although it's unknown whether his fusion ability will change after he advances to Tier 4, it's always good to have more recipes.

As long as the fusion ability remains, you need enough fusion materials to obtain stronger cards.

Unfortunately, there aren't many recipes; there are only seven in total, a drastic reduction compared to the lower-level transcendent level.

Secondly, regarding materials, based on the chosen card recipes, Zhang Che selected almost all the materials needed from the list.

The value of the materials was not within his consideration.

Only in this way can one quickly create their own cards after advancing to the fourth tier and enhance their combat power.

After a rigorous selection process, Zhang Che used his remaining quota to exchange for some high-yield props made by Su Ran as trump cards before finally ending the game.

Chapter 146 Advancement to the Fourth Tier

Three fourth-tier white cards, four fourth-tier green cards, plus a total of seventeen fourth-tier and three fifth-tier extraordinary materials—that was Zhang Che's entire harvest from this trip.

Everything on the list was packed into a magic pocket, filling it to the brim.

The previous alchemy cart took up one space, this one filled another, and the last one only had less than half the space left.

Zhang Che originally thought that three [magic pockets] would be more than enough, but he didn't expect that after only two months, he would already be running out of money.

It seems that developing a more advanced spatial artifact needs to be put on the agenda.

Oh, and there are two more one-time alchemical tools whose power is comparable to the peak of the fourth rank. They are both exquisite products made by Su Ran, a fourth-rank alchemist of the city guard. Zhang Che carefully put them away as a life-saving trump card.

Compared to cards, one advantage of alchemical items is that their usage requirements are relatively low. Even for mid-level extraordinary items, the usage requirements can be compressed to the second or first tier, or even ordinary people can use them.

Just like the two disposable props Zhang Che chose, one of them is a manual mechanical trigger, which can be used by an ordinary person simply by pulling the trigger.

The only drawback is its immense explosive power. Even a low-level transcendent with average strength could be fatal, let alone an ordinary person. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, it's safest to use this level of alchemical tool by a mid-level transcendent.

No need for words of thanks. Zhang Che respectfully thanked Zhong Huaiyuan and the others present, then took the materials he had just received and prepared to go home to study the matter of advancing to the fourth rank.

However, before leaving, Lin Jiming suddenly came looking for him.

"I've been studying the cards you've made these past few days, and I've noticed that you seem to really enjoy collecting existing cards and then creating entirely new ones through deduction." Lin Jiming leaned against a pillar in the corridor, hands in his pockets, speaking casually as if chatting with a friend.

In a sense, it can also be considered an "advanced" card.

Lin Jiming spoke these words without any malice, because compared to creating entirely new cards out of thin air, Zhang Che's method of card creation was actually not much simpler.

After all, even the creators of the cards find it extremely difficult to research and develop corresponding advanced cards, let alone others.

It can only be said that Zhang Che's talent leans more towards the latter than the first method of "creating new cards".

This can be seen from the fact that he has created so many advanced cards.

From [Six-Tails] to [Nine-Tails], [Eevee] to [Eevee], as well as [Fishtooth] and [Sharknadot]—the current official explanation is that Zhang Che created new advanced cards of the same series for Su Wanqing and Zhu Yingqi, but the evolution details have not yet been revealed.

Each upgraded card has a clear skill inheritance and attribute connection with the original card, which is something that not just any card maker can do.

“Come with me to the provincial capital,” Lin Jiming suddenly said. “You have a card-making blueprint book, so you should know that card makers can also obtain some fourth-tier public card recipes from the Adventurers’ Guild after advancing to the mid-level extraordinary level. However, the procedures are quite complicated. The Adventurers’ Guild in Binhai City definitely can’t handle it; we have to go to the provincial capital.”

Lin Jiming gave a brief explanation, but Zhang Che did not show any emotional fluctuation upon hearing it.

Mo Yuncheng had mentioned it to him a few times before, but Zhang Che was still far from advancing to the fourth rank at that time, so he didn't take it too seriously and thought he would talk about it when he advanced.

Unexpectedly, this delay has brought me to within one step of reaching the fourth tier.

"Okay, thank you for letting me know. I will consider it carefully." Zhang Che left these words, then nodded slightly to Lin Jiming and left the city hall.

Lin Jiming watched Zhang Che's figure gradually disappear and clicked his tongue softly: "Sigh, why do geniuses always seem to cluster together among these reclusive guys?"

He shook his head, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Luckily, Xiao Li has me, her own brother, to keep her company, otherwise she probably would have ended up like this too."

Lin Jiming sighed slightly, then turned and left.

……

After returning home, Zhang Che began to shut himself away from visitors. He then spent several days preparing diligently and also made a few cards, further enhancing his already near-full mental energy.

Only then did he sit cross-legged in the studio and begin absorbing the spiritual crystal of the intermediate-level extraordinary.

Advancement in this world, at least from lower-level transcendent to mid-level transcendent, is actually not complicated.

All the seniors told Zhang Che that success or failure could be decided in a single moment.

For extraordinary individuals like card makers who focus on spiritual power, success means breaking through to the mid-level extraordinary realm and becoming a true upper-class being in this world; failure means their spiritual power shatters and dissipates, requiring them to cultivate and replenish their dissipated spiritual power before attempting to advance again.

Of course, there are also some unlucky ones whose mental strength limit is directly cut when their mental strength is shattered, and they will never have the possibility of advancing in this lifetime.

The probability of failure gradually increases with the number of times you try to get promoted. Generally speaking, if you fail to get promoted after three attempts, you basically have no chance anymore.

However, Zhang Che, aided by the spiritual crystal, did not need to worry about these issues. As streams of pure spiritual energy flowed into his body, they guided his original misty spiritual energy to begin to compress further.

The mist in the spiritual sea slowly rotated under the pull of the crystallizing power, like a miniature vortex, constantly drawing the outer mist into the center and beginning to solidify.

The fog grew smaller and smaller, but its color deepened, eventually condensing into a few drops of hazy liquid at the center of the vortex.

This means that Zhang Che has finally officially entered the realm of mid-level extraordinary beings and become a true fourth-order extraordinary being.

When the last wisp of mist was compressed into liquid and merged into it, Zhang Che's mental sea finally quieted down completely.

The misty spiritual energy that once filled the entire spiritual sea has now dwindled to just a few drops of liquid spiritual energy, suspended in the center of the empty spiritual sea, like a few miniature stars, radiating a soft and profound light.

They floated quietly, rotating slowly, seemingly connected by an invisible thread, forming a precise, stable, and self-consistent energy cycle system.

The spiritual energy condensed from a misty state to a liquid state, resulting in a significant improvement in quality. While both require the same amount of spiritual energy, liquid spiritual energy can produce several times the effect of misty spiritual energy, representing a qualitative leap in both card creation and card manipulation.

Under normal circumstances, the advanced process basically ends here.

A cultivator's mental sea, now empty, needs to be filled as diligently as before, and only then can they prepare to advance to the higher realm of transcendence.

However, this process was destined to be very arduous, after all, the misty spiritual power that filled a spiritual sea the size of a water tank was ultimately reduced to just a few drops of liquid spiritual power.

It's easy to imagine how much effort it would take to fill it up again, which is why, over the past few centuries, the number of high-ranking superhumans on the human side has remained at just over three digits.

However, because Zhang Che had the spiritual crystals to provide subsequent support, his spiritual power continued to grow even after he completed his advancement.

The remaining power of the crystal continued to flow into his mental sea until all the mental crystals were absorbed. The liquid mental power that was originally only a few drops in his mental sea had grown to a volume about the size of a wine cup before it finally stopped.

Chapter 147 The First Tier 4 Card (Two Updates)

"call--"

Zhang Che slowly opened his eyes. The higher quality of his spiritual power made his mind incredibly clear, and his physical condition felt better than ever before.

He stood up from his seated position, stretched his somewhat stiff body, raised his hand, and his spiritual power surged from his palm, condensing into a dense ball of light blue energy in the air.

This is a key characteristic of mid-level extraordinary individuals: the materialization of extraordinary power.

Before this, the extraordinary powers such as the fighting spirit and internal energy of warrior classes, and the magic power and mental power of mage classes, existed in the body of extraordinary individuals in an almost invisible state. They had no destructive power in themselves. To manifest them, one could only mobilize these energies through special means such as skills.

Once you reach the intermediate level of transcendence, you can fight enemies simply by using the extraordinary power within your body, without resorting to other means.

Zhang Che looked around and his gaze fell on the heavy card-making table not far away.

The platform is made of solid wood and weighs at least 200 kilograms. It used to take him a lot of effort to move this thing.

Light blue spiritual energy surged from his palms, transforming into several invisible giant hands. Then, with a gentle lift, the card-making table steadily rose from the ground.

The whole process was easier than he had expected, but it consumed too much of his mental energy. His mental energy, which was only the size of a wine cup, seemed to last only a few minutes.

He had no choice but to gently put the card-making table down again and quickly replenish his depleted mental energy.

About half an hour later, Zhang Che opened his eyes and began to feel a headache coming on from the slow recovery of his mental energy.

After all, he had only used up about 1/20 of his total mental energy. If he were to exhaust all his mental energy and want to replenish it, it would take at least ten hours, or even longer.

"Sigh, it seems I need to find a way to speed up the recovery of my mental strength as soon as possible..." Zhang Che thought to himself.

Having received earnest advice from his seniors these past few days, he knew very well that his successful advancement was just the beginning. To become a truly qualified mid-level transcendent, he still had a lot to prepare.

Before that, Zhang Che, looking at the card-making station not far away, couldn't resist the urge to try out the fourth-tier card-making techniques he had learned from Mo Yuncheng.

Only by creating a truly unique Tier 4 card can he transform from a Tier 4 transcendent specializing in mental power into a genuine Tier 4 card maker.

"I'll use you as a test subject." Zhang Che searched through the seven card recipes and finally found the equipment card that was most suitable for practice.

Card Name: Water Curtain Armor (Water)