*But how am I supposed to access the Dark Web?*
Having mentally prepared himself, Gu Xin was now faced with a new headache: the so-called ‘Dark Web’.
Gu Xin had heard that you could buy many special ‘things’ on the Dark Web, and one of them was demi-humans.
In the Great Xia Empire, human trafficking was strictly prohibited, and this included demi-humans.
It was an illegal black-market industry.
Although the vast majority of people didn’t consider demi-humans to be fully human, they were still barely protected by human rights here in Great Xia.
Therefore, it was naturally impossible to buy a demi-human through legitimate channels.
If you bought one in the morning, the Enforcers would likely be raiding your house by the afternoon.
*Should I ask Old Chen?
No.*
The first person Gu Xin thought of was Uncle Chen.
Given his vast knowledge and mysterious connections, he definitely knew about the Dark Web.
However, the Dark Web was a sensitive subject, and Gu Xin didn’t want to expose his intentions.
After all, it belonged to the criminal underworld.
Anyone sourcing goods from the Dark Web probably wasn’t buying anything decent.
There was no way Uncle Chen wouldn’t realize that.
Although the two of them had a pleasant working relationship right now, Gu Xin wanted to play it safe.
*If only I could run into someone from a cult or a dark faction,* Gu Xin thought, feeling rather distressed.
Dawn broke, and the golden-red morning clouds rose, driving away the last of the darkness.
A new day had begun.
At nine in the morning, Gu Xin put on a casual outfit and took the magic subway to Yin City University.
“Morning, Gu Xin.”
“Morning~”
When Gu Xin arrived at the Class 4 classroom, he found that quite a few people were already seated.
Seeing him walk in, the classmates he was closer with greeted him.
Gu Xin was actually quite popular.
He wasn’t abrasive and was very approachable, able to easily chat with just about anyone.
Yeah, he was practically born to be a store manager.
Furthermore, Gu Xin’s class was Card Crafter, which was a very rare profession!
Most importantly, Gu Xin had an excellent ‘character model’.
His tall, handsome appearance, combined with the harmless, friendly smile constantly hanging on his face, made it very easy for people to like him.
“Gu Xin, you didn’t even come when we invited you out for dinner yesterday.
Are you really that busy?”
Just as Gu Xin sat down, the blond-haired guy sitting to his right leaned halfway over and complained.
“I invited several pretty girls, but the whole thing fell through.”
“I had some inspiration yesterday, so I was cooped up in the lab the whole time,” Gu Xin said apologetically.
The blond guy’s name was Wang Quan.
He was somewhat handsome and had a good relationship with Gu Xin.
He was also the one in the class group chat with the username ‘She Went to Learn Skills’.
“That’s fine then.
So, how did it go?
Did you make a new card?”
“I made a little progress.” Gu Xin smiled and nodded.
“That’s good.
I’m still counting on you to pull your bro up when you strike it rich in the future.”
Wang Quan grinned.
Although his class was Mage, that didn’t mean Mages couldn’t use magic cards.
Magic cards weren’t exclusive to Card Masters.
Normal classes could actually use them too, though it was true that they faced more restrictions compared to Card Masters.
“That [Bandit Goblin] you gave me last time is seriously too good, bro.”
“You tried it out?”
“Hahaha, yeah!
I ran into two idiots from the Knight Academy on the road yesterday, and the [Bandit Goblin] snatched their underwear right off them!”
Wang Quan was overjoyed.
Just thinking about the scene of those two big oafs covering their butts and running away in a panic yesterday made him want to laugh.
Gu Xin’s expression turned a bit weird.
[Bandit Goblin] was a 1-Star Green card.
Its tier wasn’t high, and it only had one star.
In Gu Xin’s eyes, it was the kind of card that was useless to keep but a pity to throw away.
It wouldn’t even sell for much money.
So generally speaking, he would give these magic cards that he looked down upon to people in his social circle, treating it as a way to build good karma.
“Then you’d better be careful lately.
You’ve offended them pretty badly this time,” Gu Xin reminded Wang Quan.
He remembered that the [Bandit Goblin] was only supposed to snatch things like wallets.
How did it end up stealing men’s underwear?
Just what the hell did this guy Wang Quan do to the [Bandit Goblin]?
“Hmph, why would I need to be careful around those meatheads who trained their battle aura until their brains turned to mush?”
Wang Quan was extremely arrogant and looked down on the students of the Knight Academy with utter disdain.
“I’m not bragging, but a grand Mage like me could take on ten of them at once!”
“…”
Gu Xin glanced at Wang Quan, who had started to blow his own trumpet.
Mages and Knights had never gotten along.
Mages felt that Knights were a bunch of vulgar barbarians with nothing but muscles and no brains, while Knights felt that Mages were a bunch of shady, scrawny monkeys who only knew how to hide in the back and sneak-attack with magic, too cowardly to fight head-on.
Anyway, in Gu Xin’s memory, he had seen far too many conflicts between these two classes growing up.
It was worth mentioning that Card Masters equally despised both Mages and Knights, but at the same time, Mages and Knights also hated the Card Master class.
In short, the web of relationships between these three classes was very delicate and couldn’t be explained in just a few words.
“Oh, right, the amazing Big Gu, are you free tomorrow?”
Having finished expressing his contempt for the barbarians of the Knight Academy, Wang Quan, who fancied himself an elegant gentleman, rubbed his hands together and leaned in again with a sleazy smile on his face.
“?”
Gu Xin twirled the ballpoint pen in his hand, giving Wang Quan a sidelong glance.
“If it’s a party, I don’t have time.”
“Tsk~ Gu Xin, you’re really wasting that good-looking skin of yours,” Wang Quan clicked his tongue in pity.
“I have no interest in women,” Gu Xin replied calmly.
*Women?
How could they be as interesting as crafting cards?
Outsiders simply couldn’t understand the exhilarating joy of successfully creating a card.*
*Besides, once he crafted a humanoid card, wouldn’t she be much prettier than a normal woman?*
Gu Xin felt that he would definitely be able to craft a perfect goddess card that would stun the world in the future!!
“Also, instead of spending all your time organizing dinner parties every day, you’d be better off meditating and cultivating more.
Old Wang, the academy tournament is almost here.”
“No big deal.
Speaking of which, Gu Xin, are you participating?” Wang Quan appeared very confident.
“I’m not participating.
I’m just a Card Crafter.
Unlike you Mages, I don’t have that kind of powerful strength.” Gu Xin shook his head.
Hearing Gu Xin’s words, Wang Quan’s face couldn’t help but twitch.
Yes, Card Crafters indeed didn’t have much combat power themselves.
But as everyone knew, the cards made by Card Crafters were far from powerless.
Anyone with half a brain would know that, right?
How could an excellent Card Crafter possibly be easy to deal with?
Oh, maybe those barbarians from the Knight Academy really did think Card Crafters had no power.
“Big Gu, jokes aside, I actually received some news.
A Tier 2 Secret Realm recently appeared north of Yin City.”
“What kind of Secret Realm?”
Gu Xin asked.
If it wasn’t a special Secret Realm, he still wouldn’t be interested.
Because he could just buy normal alchemy materials outside; there was absolutely no need for him to make a trip there himself.