Inside the Endless Library, the corridors were wide.

As Lan Qi and Zestiria walked forward beneath the towering, multi-meter-high ceiling, the surrounding lamps flickered on, as if drawing back a curtain.

The library, with its classical theater-like atmosphere, was filled with tall bookshelves laden with all sorts of magic tomes, shrouded in dim light. Occasionally, ghostly pages could be seen floating in the air.

The floor was inlaid with gold-edged black marble, reflecting a faint light. Sometimes, they would suddenly realize that the floor was actually a giant magic crystal screen capable of displaying various psychedelic colors and guiding information.

The first area that wouldn't easily lead to getting lost was the open reading area hall. Further on, a red carpet stretched from the end of the hall all the way to the reception desk of a conference room.

The two walked straight ahead until they entered the conference room.

Above the reception desk hung a huge chandelier, emitting a soft yellow glow that illuminated its smooth surface.

"Do, you, need, help?"

The artificial beauty behind the reception desk, with her doll-like snow-white skin, spoke.

Zestiria was slightly startled; she hadn't expected the magic puppet to speak.

"We're here to exchange a collection."

Lan Qi smiled at Zestiria, signaling her not to be afraid, and then said to the magic puppet.

"Okay, please, browse."

As the conference room door closed, the magic puppet slowly activated the magic formula on the reception desk. Soon, dark text appeared on the surface.

Zestiria followed the instructions and removed her bracelet, placing it in the sensing area.

After a few seconds of reading time, new information was displayed:

[Exchangeable Content: One pink sacred-grade magic item.]

The pink sacred grade, above the white, blue, and purple grades, and second only to the orange epic grade.

"Please, select, from, the, overall, catalog, of, the, vault."

The magic puppet spoke again.

Zestiria felt her blood pressure rising just listening to the thing talk.

But Lan Qi was clearly in a good mood and didn't care at all. He simply thanked the magic puppet and began touching the search directory.

Some were ancient relics from the Demon Realm collected throughout the empire's history, others were powerful magic cards created by masters, and there were also products of the Shadow World and confiscated treasures.

"Teacher, do you want to choose a magic device or a magic card?"

Zestiria took a deep breath and asked.

Lan Qi was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

It should be noted that they were not required to choose a magic card for the promised reward.

Pink sacred-grade magic cards, magic devices, scrolls, and materials were all options.

The disadvantage of magic devices was that they could not be soul-bound and brought into the Shadow World, and their portability was also slightly worse, with the risk of being lost. However, they were more diverse than magic cards and did not take up a card slot.

In the Northern Continent, where real-world combat and resource contention were more frequent, magic devices and magic cards were equally popular.

Only in the Southern Continent, which was peaceful and stable and focused on conquering the Shadow World, were magic cards overwhelmingly more popular than magic devices.

Scrolls could be used once or as materials for making spell cards.

As for other materials, it depended on the skill of the magic craftsman who used them. If only the quality was specified for selection, materials would only be chosen if there were no good magic cards or magic devices.

"If I had to choose from the pink sacred grade, I would probably prefer a magic card."

Lan Qi replied.

After all, he was from the Southern Continent.

Also, if there were no restrictions on the card category, he would try to find a spell card.

Summon cards, equipment cards, and spell cards were all equal, but according to Lan Qi's personal understanding, spell cards were the most noble.

Because high-quality spell cards were difficult to make, and only specific people who had mastered the spell themselves or could master it could create them. Epic-level spell cards were almost impossible to make, and could only be produced in the Shadow World.

And those heaven-defying magics that one could never learn in their lifetime, such as the blood clan's abilities, could sometimes directly reverse the course of a battle if mastered through an epic spell card.

It's not that equipment cards and summon cards were bad. Equipment cards consumed little mana and had continuity and basic attributes, but their functions were relatively weak. Summon cards, on the other hand, consumed a lot of mana and required one to divide their mind to control or command the summoned creatures, and they would become invalid once the summoned creatures were destroyed.

Therefore, after filtering for the [Seal] category and sorting the rank from high to low, Lan Qi's eyes were mainly focused on spell cards.

Summon cards and equipment cards could also be considered, but pink sacred-quality cards, once bound, were difficult to unbind. He already had few flexible card slots, so binding a pink sacred magic card required careful consideration.

However, sealing magic was a relatively rare magic category, and the highest-level pink sacred-grade sealing spell card in the vault was only fifth-order.

[Night Ban Zone]

[Category: Spell Card]

[Grade: Pink Sacred]

[Order: 5]

[Effect: Creates a barrier that blocks all vision centered on the user. Releasing and maintaining the barrier consumes a large amount of mana. When units within the barrier touch the barrier's edge for the first time, they will be briefly imprisoned.]

[Note: That was the last time you saw the light.]

"..."

Lan Qi skipped over this familiar area-of-effect vision sealing card with a slight glance.

This card's magic categories were sealing and darkness, and its effect was similar to his [Radiant Virtue], but [Radiant Virtue]'s magic categories were sealing and light.

Comparing the cards alone, [Night Ban Zone] seemed stronger, but the essence of [Radiant Virtue] was a blood clan-specific card.

There were only two fifth-order cards in the sealing category.

And there was only one fourth-order card.

[Forbidden Seal]

[Category: Spell Card]

[Grade: Pink Sacred]

[Order: 4]

[Effect: With the other party's consent, a temporary subordinate contract can be signed with them, turning them into your familiar and granting them an attribute bonus equal to one-eighth of your own.]

[Note: Give me your life, and there won't be any problems.]

"This card's effect is a bit weak, isn't it?"

Zestiria said from the side, after seeing it.

If a support used it, it would only increase a small amount of non-attack attributes for the damage dealer. If a damage dealer used it, they would be taking up a card slot with this support card.

"This card is hard to say."

Lan Qi muttered with a frown.

It was essentially a curse-type magic card with a small amount of sealing principles.

Although it seemed a bit meaningless, it could be used to great effect when combined with spells that could "transfer familiars" or "grant familiars powerful buffs."

However, accepting this forbidden curse was quite dangerous. After becoming a familiar closer in nature to a summoned creature, one might be subject to instant-death effects and run the risk of being further controlled.

"It's actually quite worth exchanging..."

After thinking about it, Lan Qi still scrolled down.

The forbidden nature of this magic lay in its extended possibility of transforming living creatures into magic cards.

But Lan Qi always felt that the core material of the [Loving Poet], the [Compassionate Poem], contained some more profound and similarly ingenious magic principles.

Maybe if he exchanged this card, he would be laughed at by the Loving Poet.

It would be awkward if she said something like, "You need to exchange for this trash card? This miss will just help you research it."

Scrolling down, he quickly reached the end.

Sealing magic cards were rare in general, and pink sacred-grade cards were even scarce in the Proton Empire's vault.

Lan Qi's eyes also lingered on the last sealing magic card, and he seemed very hesitant.

[Sound Elimination Zone]

[Category: Spell Card]

[Grade: Pink Sacred]

[Order: 3]

[Effect: Eliminates sound in any area around the user. The larger the area, the more mana is consumed, and maintaining it will continuously consume a large amount of mana.]

[Note: Those indifferent golden pupils. When he appeared, the sound of the world disappeared.]

"Is there anything special about this card?"

Zestiria felt that the teacher had skipped over more powerful offensive and control-type sealing magic, but his gaze had lingered on this interference-type sealing magic.

"This magic completely counters musical magic. Although it can't stop chanting spells and is ineffective against word magic, it's mainly used to block the opponent's information exchange."

Lan Qi explained.

After looking at the appraisal details, he could confirm that this was definitely a demon's magic.

And there were no signs of modification. He hadn't heard Talia mention this kind of sealing magic either, so it was probably a product of the ancient Demon World Shadow World.

Choosing this would eliminate the indiscriminate negative effects of [Wonderful Notes].

Or rather, it was originally magic designed to counter [Wonderful Notes].

If the Purgatory Corridor Academy had this spell, it might even be able to stop the hellish sound nuclear fusion in that classroom.

"..."

Zestiria was confused and thinking.

She always felt that the teacher's perspective on magic cards was quite strange.

The cards she thought were bad, the teacher thought were okay.

And the cards she thought were good, the teacher quickly skipped over after taking a look.

Lan Qi considered it. Although there were acceptable pink sacred-grade sealing cards, he decided to see if there were any better options first.

So he changed to the [Mental] category, and Lan Qi began to quickly scroll through the detailed appraisal information of one magic card after another.

Zestiria watched quietly from the side.

"Teacher, wouldn't it be better to choose a magic card that you can use first?"

She asked softly, with some confusion.

Whenever she saw Lan Qi browsing magic items, he always chose the ones with the highest to lowest rank.

In the entire vault's pink sacred grade, high-order magic items were far fewer than low-order magic items.

Although high-order items were definitely much more expensive than low-order items, the problem was that high-order magic cards, not to mention whether there were channels to trade them, were difficult to trade in the first place.

"Actually, when it comes to high-order cards, they're not easy to get. Not only are the materials difficult to find, but even for card makers, the difficulty for an eighth-order card maker to create an eighth-order finished magic card is far greater than the difficulty for a third-order card maker to create a third-order magic card. If you have the opportunity to get a magic card, unless you urgently need to improve your combat power, you should try to choose a high-order card."

Lan Qi said to Zestiria while browsing.

She probably hadn't seen the effects of high-order magic cards, so she thought that low-order cards could be very effective.

Low-order epic cards could indeed be used for a lifetime.

There were also many low-order countermeasure cards that could produce outstanding effects in special situations.

But in terms of strength and magnification, there was always a difficult-to-surmount gap between low-order and high-order cards.

First, second, and third-order cards were all considered low-order cards, focusing on countermeasures and system filling. Fourth and fifth-order cards were the mainstay of functional cards. Sixth-order cards were the watershed, and there were many powerful purple rare quality general-purpose cards at the sixth order.

For example, the sixth-order purple rare spell [Designated Purification] could remove a specific abnormal state or control effect on the body, and would not be affected by this abnormal state or control effect again for a certain period of time.

And there was [Spell Counter], which could be triggered when an enemy cast a low-order or low-quality spell, causing their spell to fail and enter a doubled cooldown, and [Forced Dispel], which could forcibly dispel all states on oneself or the opponent.

These three were the most popular sixth-order rare quality magic cards, easy to flexibly combine and replace. Once you reached the sixth order, you would almost have one if you could afford it.

This was also the reason why they couldn't use hard control to continuously contain the Destruction Saintess in the Saint Church villain's dinner party Shadow World back then.

They almost entirely relied on soft control to hinder her.

The seventh and eighth orders above that were the real strength domain. Even blue precious quality magic cards were difficult to buy at the seventh order, and they were so strong that it was difficult to target them.

"I see."

Zestiria nodded with some understanding.

She thought that the teacher wanted to convert the reward into cash, so he was trying to look at the high-order magic cards as much as possible.

But even if the teacher really found a seventh-order magic card, how long would it be before he could use it?

Zestiria was still a little confused.

What she was curious about now was gradually becoming what kind of card the teacher would finally choose today.

Another ten minutes passed.

Lan Qi had read them one by one, but still hadn't made a decision.

Unfortunately, whether it was sealing, mental, or the light and fire he had later switched to, he hadn't seen any seventh-order pink sacred quality magic cards.

He seemed to symbolically look at the healing attribute, and then turned it off.

He didn't even look closely at the healing magnification of healing magic.

She didn't know what he was looking at this category for.

Zestiria was sure that the teacher only had these few magic affinities, and they were also the optimal choices for his system. It was even possible that he would analyze the principles and even decompose and remake them in the future.

It was normal not to find high-order cards in small categories like sealing and mental, for example, there were few people who were good at sealing in the first place.

As for light and fire, these popular element categories, it was just a matter of luck that he couldn't find high-order cards. They might have been chosen a few years earlier.

"..."

Lan Qi thought with his chin in his hand.

Then he changed the filtering column to [Wind].

Zestiria: "?"

At the moment when the teacher suddenly made this inexplicable choice, she inexplicably felt that someone was going to suffer.

I learned the God of War of Hell, so not only did I revive, but I also wrote 4000 words in this chapter

(End of this chapter)