Southern Continent, Creise Empire.

  Hidden deep underground was a pitch-bck pace, a symbol of absolute power.

  This super-ancient underground city was surrounded by darkness, yet magical devices cleverly mimicked the blood moon's deep shadows. Along the wide and spacious streets, buildings constructed of dark stone stood tall and heavy, their outlines depicting shadows of ancient art, silently lying in this dark city, frozen in endless years of dust.

  At the end of the underground city-state, emanating cold and eerie powerful magic, stood a majestic castle. Its outer walls were built of natural obsidian, inid with cold silver edges and medieval-style red crystal transparent decorations.

  A figure wearing a long robe arrived at the castle entrance, stepping deeper inside. After passing through yers of luxurious decorations and corridors, he pushed open the heavy bck iron doors before him, revealing a magnificent pace like a council hall, accompanied by a deep sense of power and heavy historical presence entering his vision.

  Under the immortal crystal-covered rose windows at the top, cold iron chains suspended chandeliers emanating luxurious halos. The carpet extended like red water to the end of sight, light scattered through crystals like countless stars, adding a touch of dark beauty to the entire space.

  In this vast high-ceilinged council hall, the center was occupied by a dozens-meter-long banquet table. The long table was forged from ink-bck refined iron, decorated with complex vampire magic script patterns, also symbolizing vampire world artistic style. On both sides of the long table, each high-backed chair was like a throne, with corresponding gem totems engraved at the top of the chair backs.

  However, at this moment.

  The council hall seemed particurly quiet, with only one figure sitting among the thirteen high-backed chairs.

  The figure who entered the pace stood gracefully at the end of the long table, without taking a seat.

  "Marchioness Helitier, the Revival Church's followers encountered that half-demon but failed."

  He bowed and spoke in a male voice.

  In the distance.

  The figure sitting in the seventh high-backed chair kept her eyes closed, slowly raising her head, as if able to see through the dome to the totem woven by stars glowing in the deep night sky.

  "This shouldn't be."

  She murmured,

  "That half-blood demon's death omen has appeared twice, yet both were dissolved."

  "..."

  The man remained silent, naturally knowing which two death omens the Marchioness referred to.

  The first time, Huberrian should have failed to enroll and died miserably in Heydon capital.

  The second time, Huberrian should have been killed by Revival Church followers in the Shadow World.

  But these seemingly inevitable events didn't happen, instead having their outcomes reversed.

  Everything, everything was reted to a human freshman who appeared out of nowhere at Icerite Academy.

  "The remnants of demon-kind must be eliminated, no matter what."

  The vampire Marchioness's voice was distant and cold, seeming like sighing, seeming like resentment, seeming like helplessness, and seeming to carry a trace of regret that even time couldn't erase,

  "Historical experience tells us that only when human and demon powers converge can power threatening to us be born."

  The Marchioness finally opened her deep red blood eyes, under the shadows, no one could see exactly what ancient memories spanning past and present were hidden within.

  In the current era, demons had already been destroyed by humans themselves.

  Under infinitely expanding desires, cults run rampant, the north and south continents are falling apart, and humans continue internal wars for power.

  These foolish actions only mean one thing—

  "The golden age of the blood moon will return, and humans need to remember their servile nature."

  The Marchioness's now cold and beautiful face was completely calm, yet carrying a distant majesty that no one dared to profane.

  Each word echoed in the pace like the crisp tinkling of melting icicles before winter's end.

  ......

  Heydon Kingdom, Capital Icerite.

  When the golden rays of the rising sun gently spilled over the ancient Icerite Academy campus, those brick buildings were dyed with a yer of warm yellow afterglow, surrounded by and emanating a sense of historical precipitation.

  The Sage Institute dormitory building also seemed to awaken, with students occasionally entering and exiting through the entrance.

  It was now the morning of the third day of school.

  Lanqi held a cup of coffee, leaning against his balcony doorframe, listening to birds chirping among the trees, watching cssmates go to school.

  Yesterday morning after returning from the Shadow World, he slept for a long time, only waking up at dawn today.

  After leaving the dormitory at midnight to eat a meal that could be called either breakfast or te-night snack, he returned to his desk to study card making, with "South Continent Card Makers Association Registration Regutions" pced beside the table.

  Now he had reached third rank, possessing the most basic qualification for reference.

  Only by becoming a registered card maker of the South Continent Card Makers Association could one obtain official patent protection, avoid various complicated authentication guarantee procedures, and reduce handling fees.

  The extent of benefits was also reted to the card maker's level.

  If he wanted to open a shop that could sell exclusive magic cards in the future, besides the license that needed to be sorted out on Huberrian's side, he also needed to obtain registered card maker status on his side, the higher the level the better, directly determining their startup speed.

  The next registered card maker exam to be held in Heydon capital would be in more than a month.

  Although it seemed quite long perceptually, even if Lanqi was given another month, he wasn't very confident about passing directly.

  He still needed to learn about third-rank magic card making from Talia.

  His card-making craftsmanship was still not stable enough; whether he could make finished cards during the exam would depend too much on luck if he couldn't significantly improve.

  However, it wasn't without hope.

  Lanqi remembered Talia telling him that if he wanted to pursue the highest card-making success rate, he should choose [Magic Types] with the highest compatibility with himself during the exam.

  Because this would directly affect the card maker's success rate.

  This was also why card makers would choose their own specialization direction in ter stages.

  For example, Talia's three best types were [Curse], [Mental], and [Poison] magic, which were also her three most compatible types.

  Among them, [Curse] was excellent, while [Mental] and [Poison] were both good, which led to Talia's specialization direction being curse-system magic card maker.

  As for other types of magic, such as elemental magic and some special category magic, her compatibility wasn't very good.

  And according to Talia's observation, Lanqi had good compatibility with [Mental] magic, poor with [Poison], extremely poor with [Curse], and she didn't bother looking at the rest.

  If he also had excellent or good compatibility with certain magic types like Talia.

  Then he could just make those during the card maker exam!

  Moreover, these magic types might also become his potential specialization directions in his future card-making career.

  (End of Chapter)