To create a card from your imagination through the card pool, it must be recognized by—the world will.
Wen Jiang opened her eyes, a glimmer of realization flashing through them. Just as I suspected.
The world has its rules. In her original world, there was the Heavenly Dao; in this world, it's the world will.
The world will itself doesn't possess human-like thought; it is the incarnation of all things in existence. Since cards must be constructed, they naturally require its recognition.
Fabricated cards, if not recognized by the world will, simply cannot be created.
Therefore, the beings inside the cards are called Card Spirits.
Card Spirits that already exist cannot appear again because the world will has already acknowledged an identical or similar spirit.
Spirits are gathered by drawing upon the elemental energy of Heaven and Earth.
Each spirit is formed from different pathways of the world's elemental energy. The reason no duplicate cards appear is that the specific creative thought process of others is unknown, making it impossible to replicate their cards. Furthermore, the established rules in this world prevent people from stealing others' creative concepts.
For a spirit to be recognized by the world will, one must firmly believe in its genuine existence and meticulously construct every detail, including its abilities.
This is also a formidable test of one's spiritual power.
No wonder so many Spirit Card Masters are incapable of creating original cards and can only copy those made by others.
If one lacks conviction when imagining a Card Spirit out of thin air, how could they possibly create it?
Even Wen Jiang would find this difficult.
However, creating something that has genuinely existed before is much simpler.
The Rabbit Demon, for instance, was vivid in her memory.
The System doesn't know that, though.
It only saw Wen Jiang, seemingly without much effort, conjure a brand-new Card Spirit. With closed eyes and two rabbit ears on its head, the spirit slowly took shape within a card frame constructed of blue light...
Zero Egg: HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! LORD OF HEAVEN! OH MY GODS! It has witnessed a legendary super genius!!
Has it hit the jackpot?
The System was utterly baffled. It had clearly chosen a tortured female protagonist, so how on earth did she suddenly transform into such an awesome character?
Meanwhile, as Wen Jiang was creating the Rabbit Demon Card, a forum post had started to gain significant traction.
The shocking promise by the user 'No Friends Ahead'—to eat shit if a Dual-Change Card was created—combined with the extreme difficulty of creating an original B-Rank Dual-Change Card, made the whole thing seem like a joke. Wasn't it?
Some people shared the post in various Spirit Card Master groups for entertainment, quickly attracting many Spirit Card Masters to the thread to watch the spectacle, pushing the post to even greater popularity.
"An original Dual-Change Card?"
Inside the Mountain Ghost Association headquarters, Luo Juerao, who had just secured third place with his teammates in the Spirit Card Master Professional Grand Prix, remarked with interest to his captain, Tan Heming, "Captain, don't dwell on it. Look at this, it's quite interesting. Teacher Li's Dual-Change Card has certainly caused a stir. People on the Spirit Card Master forum are already asking about an original Dual-Change Card. It's just a shame it's specified as B-Rank."
"B-Rank?"
Tan Heming pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is this some kind of joke?"
The more complex the form, the higher the card's rank. It's simply impossible to create a Dual-Change Card at B-Rank.
"That's what I thought too," Luo Juerao replied. "But someone was actually bold enough to accept the challenge. And that other person said that if they succeed, he'll livestream himself eating shit."
Such vulgar words made the usually refined Tan Heming frown. Seeing this, Luo Juerao sighed. "You shouldn't worry too much. It's not just your fans; actually, all fanbases are the same. There's always an extremist group, and we can't control them or stop them from posting whatever they want."
Tan Heming shook his head. "This time, it even caused trouble for the seniors at the Broken Heart Association. My dad just called and scolded me, telling me to go and apologize."
Even if he was arrogant, he wouldn't dare compare himself to the seniors who had once helped the Yunxia Empire win its sole world championship in the card tournament.
"It's not like you were the one who did it..." Luo Juerao muttered, then added, "But there's no helping it. If you have to apologize, then just apologize. The seniors know it wasn't you; they won't hold it against you."
Back in their day, there weren't so many extremist fans.
Tan Heming sighed lightly. "I know."
He felt quite helpless.
As one of the most notable Spirit Card Masters of the new generation, he could only do his best to try and restrain his own fans.
「*」
Wen Jiang's card-making process was flowing smoothly, but her access to the world's vital energy was limited.
The Rabbit Demon wasn't a simple B-Rank Card. She had only completed half of it when her vital energy was completely drained, forcing her to pause.
Because she had a clear design in mind, the card remained unaffected despite the interruption, lying quietly within the card pool.
The beautiful rabbit girl on the card kept her eyes closed, hugging her knees, as the card itself slowly rotated in mid-air.
Wen Jiang paused to catch her breath. It was evening now, and she needed to eat. After ordering takeout, she admired her Rabbit Demon masterpiece with satisfaction. "In my original world," she mused, "if this were made into a mobile card game, its beauty alone would definitely trick a bunch of perverts into frantically spending money."
Zero Egg also clicked its tongue in agreement. [Indeed, it's beautiful.]
At the same time, its core programming whirred with excitement. [Once it's created, we'll definitely rake in a huge amount of Points!]
Just imagine! When those who looked down on Wen Jiang actually witness the Rabbit Demon Card's debut, their shock probably wouldn't be any less intense than the so-called jealousy of those women. If the emotions of just a few more people reach that critical point...
Wouldn't it quickly gain a surge of energy, and the host would earn Points too?!
Ah, they both have such a bright future ahead!
Yet, just this afternoon, when it saw Wen Jiang verbally annihilate Song Yingchen, it had glimpsed a bleak future.
Wen Jiang wasn't particularly interested in Points. What truly intrigued her was the world the System originated from. Is it as powerful as my own world? And what exactly is this energy derived from human emotions?
After all, she didn't cultivate using such things. She could only sense the fluctuations of human emotions; absorbing them as energy was indeed a novel concept she'd never encountered.
The System... it mentioned high technology. Could it be that in its era, human technology had advanced to the point where it could probe the human spiritual world?
That would be a completely different path of development compared to her own world.
The System had no idea what potentially terrifying thoughts were swirling in Wen Jiang's mind. It used to be able to peek into its host's thoughts, but Wen Jiang had forbidden it, and the System lacked the authority to override her.
The takeout arrived, and after eating dinner, Wen Jiang absorbed more of the world's vital energy. Once she had mostly recovered, she resumed working on the Rabbit Demon Card.
She didn't need to sleep. For cultivators, once they began their practice, sleep became redundant.
Naturally, she wouldn't waste time.
After taking one more break, the Rabbit Demon Card was finally completed.
The moment it was finished and the card fully materialized, a gentle light entered her body. An image of the card appeared in her sea of consciousness. Simultaneously, Wen Jiang felt the vital energy within her stir, and her speed of absorbing the world's vital energy increased ever so slightly.
Her theory was correct: creating cards did help her recover faster.
However, to achieve even faster recovery, she would likely need to create higher-rank cards.
After making a few more B-Rank Cards and amassing a large sum of money, she could move on to creating A-Rank Cards and officially begin her new life in this world.