Chapter 356
Chapter 356
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 356
What Rank of Card-Crafter Is Lan Qi?
The soft light of the afternoon sun slanted across the old cobblestone road as Lan Qi and Sid, who held the Cat Boss in her arms, walked toward the Kingston Manor, the estate of Viscount Levin Kingston in Kingston City.
The red-brick residence stood tall behind wrought-iron gates, its walls draped with ivy and geometric carvings worn smooth by time. Twin oak doors, broad and imposing, bore the Kingston family crest — a soaring kingfisher with wings spread wide.
Viscount Levin Kingston himself, already home, greeted them and ushered the guests inside.
On the second floor of the manor, beside his study, lay a fully equipped crafting workshop—a space used to create magical instruments.
When they reached the door, Levin said:“Once the prison completes the formalities, Shaya will deliver the criminal’s identification papers here.”
The Governor had requested all documentation and every confiscated magical card stripped from the prisoner’s person.
“Understood. Thank you,” Lan Qi replied from the doorway.
With Shaya temporarily taking over the Great Poet of Love’s tutoring duties, Lan Qi could focus on his own work — crafting new cards.
As he pushed open the aged door, an ancient, mellow hum of energy rippled through the air. The enchantment woven into the workshop’s threshold came alive, spreading a thin veil of blue light across the doorway.
A crest carved deep into the metallic door began to glow, signaling that the protective barrier safeguarding Card-Crafters had activated.
Inside was a room wholly unlike the rest of the manor —clean, orderly, and austere. There were no ornate carvings or showy decorations, only a timeless calm that radiated precision and structure.
Lan Qi turned toward Sid.“Sid, when I start crafting, I can’t really tell how long I’ll take. You might get bored waiting, you know?”
He remembered back home in the Southern Mantina Territory, when Talia would sometimes wait half a day while he worked on cards.
Of course, for a demon who’d lived centuries, time passed differently — an afternoon to her was the blink of an eye. Perhaps that was why she never realized how fleeting youth was… and how easily the years slipped past the age of marriage.
Sid, however, was another story. She was a normal woman — brilliant, confident, beautiful — the kind whose single status came not from age but from being too exceptional for anyone to match.
“…I don’t know about boredom,” Sid said dryly, “but I do know that before dinner tonight, you’ll probably make me want to punch you.”
She fixed him with a sharp look. Lan Qi’s mischievous grin told her he was thinking something outrageous — she just didn’t know what yet.
Thankfully, no one around here could read minds. Otherwise, he’d be in the hospital… or skipping straight to the funeral.
“How could you say that?” Lan Qi sighed with mock innocence and gestured politely for her to enter.
The workshop was impressively well-equipped for a small frontier city: neatly arranged tools, magical calibration devices, and storage cabinets filled with crafting reagents.
Soon, the manor’s steward arrived, bringing the full list of materials Lan Qi had requested — blank white cards, mana crystals, imprinting stones, alchemical fluids, and even a selection of demon-type materials that were much easier to obtain here in the Protos Empire than back in the Kingdom of Hedon.
“You can leave anytime if you get restless,” Lan Qi told Sid as he dragged a cushioned chair to one corner. “I’m fine working alone — card-making’s a pretty relaxed process for me.”
“Alright,” she said, lounging into the seat like a queen watching a play. Her chin rested on one hand, her golden hair catching the amber glow of the lamps as she gazed lazily toward the workbench.
“By the way,” Sid asked after a pause, “you Southerners have a Cardmaker’s Association, don’t you?”
Lan Qi nodded.
Sid tapped her chin thoughtfully.If she remembered correctly, the Association ranked its members across seven tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Magic Crystal, and finally the honorary Grandmaster.
Only the first six had official examinations — the last, “Grandmaster,” was more of a lifetime title.
Even without such an association, the Protos Empire had its own system: Card-Crafters were considered a specialization of Magitek Engineers.A high-ranking Magitek Engineer earned a fortune.
By her estimation:
Iron-tier equaled a competent Imperial engineer.
Bronze-tier was an elite.
Silver-tier could easily craft rare-grade (purple) artifacts.
Gold-tier was the realm of Royal Magitek Engineers, capable of producing sacred-grade (pink) works.
Above them, Platinum-tier artisans — be they scroll-makers, artificers, or card-crafters — numbered fewer than ten across the entire Empire, all personally protected by the state.Even the Ba’tian Branch wouldn’t be allowed to approach them.
After all, General Sigrid valued martial strength over scholarship; true researchers under her command were rare, and the few capable engineers she did have were handpicked.
As for her Saint Son…She had always known he possessed some engineering talent, but she’d never expected him to also be a certified craftsman.
Only today, after confirming he hailed from the southern continent and witnessing his absurd card — [Forged Tablet – Wind] — did she realize she had no idea what level his cardcraft truly reached.
The south’s most respected discipline was Cardmaking.If Lan Qi Wilfort was trained there… then he might be extraordinary even by Imperial standards.
“Yeah,” Lan Qi said casually, adjusting his instruments, “the Association’s great. Lots of privileges, though with privileges come duties too.”
The workshop filled with the soft hum of mana-powered devices and the gentle clinking of glass.Lan Qi stood at the table, checking his materials one by one. Under the amber light, his calm focus made him look less like a scholar and more like an artist — poised before his canvas.
He wondered idly if he’d manage to pass the Platinum-tier examination when he returned south. If he did, he’d be required to serve as an examiner himself — one of the highest responsibilities a crafter could earn.
Since arriving in the north, most of his time had been consumed by travel, duties, and crises.It felt good to be back at the workbench again.
Sid stayed quiet, letting him fall into rhythm.
After a moment, she whispered to the Cat Boss on her lap,“So… how good is he, really?”
“I’m… not too sure,” the cat muttered nervously. “But I think… ridiculously good.”
At first, the Cat Boss had thought Lan Qi was a fraud — a walking explosion hazard masquerading as a professional.
But then it saw him create [Fusion Wolf], an epic-grade card.
It hadn’t dared tell Sigrid the truth — that Lan Qi might be a Platinum-tier Card-Crafter.
After all, there were only a few dozen of those in the entire southern continent.If Sigrid ever learned his real rank, the Resurrection Church’s Cardinals might start paying visits to its restaurant!
And if the clergy mistook the Cat Boss’s little café for a heretical altar of worship…
—No, no, no! That must never happen!