Ordinarily, when a Spirit Card Artisan focused on repairing cards, it was the most relaxed time for apprentices.
Duke planned to wander around the shop, brainstorming ways to make money.
Bobby and Thomas, the two apprentices at the adjacent workbenches, also took advantage of the artisans' concentration.
They sneaked into a corner and started sharing their candies with each other.
Duke had no interest in such trivialities.
He glanced around Little Sam's Spirit Card Repair Shop.
At the counter, Bob the full-timer was attending to business.
In the repair area, there were four workbenches—three occupied by the artisans, and a spare fourth one usually used by the shop owner himself.
Today, however, the owner wasn't around.
He'd gone to the city's discarded card depot to hunt for valuable scraps.
"How am I going to make money?"
He frowned, feeling a twinge of frustration.
As a transmigrator, he naturally had a wealth of knowledge from Earth, but when it came down to it, most of it was useless here.
Iron smelting, brick-making, and distilling alcohol were basic skills in this world.
Products like soap, glass, and perfume were hardly rare either.
While high-tech gadgets like computers and phones didn't exist, Duke couldn't build them even if he wanted to.
His gaze drifted to the warehouse window, staring into the distance.
Beyond the low bungalows, tall chimneys loomed, belching thick black smoke.
Unknown birds circled the smoke, diving occasionally to peck at the spiritual energy rising from it.
For mortal beasts to evolve into Spirit Beasts, they had to devour massive amounts of spiritual energy.
"That's the Black Serpent Spirit Gold Refinery—property of the Black Serpent Clan.
They extract spiritual metal from ordinary iron ore… the pollution is terrible."
From an Earthling's perspective, the factory was practically a toxic waste dump.
But Serpent's Head Town was the Black Serpent Clan's fiefdom.
No one dared to complain about the pollution—
Or, for that matter, cared.
The Seven Spires Federation had no concept of environmental protection.
The dominant ideology was to develop spiritual energy industry, strengthen human power, and constantly expand into the wild jungles.
"Spiritual energy… spirituality… a transcendent world!"
A flicker of eagerness crossed Duke's eyes.
After the initial panic of transmigration, he now yearned to explore the breathtaking wonders of this transcendent realm.
Of course,
To experience that transcendence, he first needed to unlock his Spirit Core.
Otherwise, he'd be stuck as an ordinary person, barely scraping by at the bottom of society.
"It seems there's no invention that can make quick money… Wait, gunpowder!"
A lightbulb went off in Duke's head.
"The Seven Spires Federation is an alliance of Arc Mages, and Arc Mages represent the world's transcendent power system—Spiritual Arcane Arts.
So black powder has never been invented here!"
People in this world believed that the earth beneath their feet possessed unparalleled spirituality.
It was this spirituality that granted all living things on the Wilderness Continent immense transcendent power, forming the foundation of the "Spiritual Arcane Arts" system.
Spirituality was harvested and refined into spiritual energy.
This magical energy, more versatile than electricity, had sparked a massive industrial boom.
"Powerful Arc Mages can level mountains and destroy cities, so black powder is definitely less valuable here than on Earth.
But it still has its uses.
I can try to formulate it in this transcendent world!"
He racked his brain, recalling the approximate ratio: one part nitre, two parts sulfur, three parts charcoal.
Finally, noon break arrived.
Duke wolfed down his boxed lunch, then hurried to another street, turning into a wide alley lined with shops selling all kinds of materials—from spiritual ingredients to ordinary commodities.
After asking around,
Duke's brows furrowed deeply.
"Nitre, a substance that grows even in toilets, costs one Silver Sovereign per pound!
Sulfur is thirty Copper Sovereigns per gram—they're practically robbing people!"
Developing black powder would require countless experiments.
The cost of materials for enough trials would far exceed the twenty-three Silver Sovereigns needed for the Spirit Awakening Elixir.
"With that kind of money, I could just buy the elixir directly… Wait, why don't I scrape nitre from toilets myself?"
Plan A failed, but Duke quickly came up with Plan B.
Since a pound of nitre sold for one Silver Sovereign, scraping it himself would be faster than earning wages as an apprentice—even if it was a dirty job.
But after visiting several filthy, sewage-covered toilets, Duke returned to Little Sam's Spirit Card Repair Shop, disappointed.
The toilets were certainly dirty enough, but there wasn't a trace of the white, frost-like nitre he'd imagined on the walls—only yellowish stains that made his stomach turn.
"Why isn't there any nitre?"
"Did someone else scrape it all?
No, there are no scratch marks on the walls… Could it be because the toilets in Serpent's Head Town are built with stone instead of adobe?"
He remembered that nitre grew in the earthen outhouses of rural areas on Earth.
Perhaps some component in the soil reacted with urine to form nitre.
With stone walls, that reaction couldn't occur—hence no nitre.
In any case,
His plan to make money by scraping toilet nitre was shattered.
By the time he finished work in the evening, he still hadn't found a viable way to earn money.
Back home, he cooked another pot of white rice and steamed some sausages—those were the only foods left in his impoverished house.
The Spirit Storage Card inserted into the cooker's panel glowed dimly.
"If I don't get money soon, I won't even be able to afford spiritual energy."
Duke sighed, pulling a slightly tattered Spirit Card from his pocket and staring at it blankly.
It was his Spirit Dragon Card—
The equivalent of a bank card on Earth.
Dragon Coins, issued by the Seven Spires Federation, were inconvenient for transactions, so Arc Mages had developed Spirit Dragon Cards.
Payments could be made with a simple swipe.
"The balance is only fifty-seven Copper Sovereigns… Pathetic!"
"Still, these Spirit Cards are amazing."
Duke pushed aside his negative thoughts, shifting his attention to the Spirit Dragon Card in his hand and the Spirit Storage Card in the cooker.
Both were types of Spirit Cards.
Their technical principle was to seal spirituality into closed energy circuits, then inscribe those circuits onto a card for storage.
Spirit Storage Cards held large amounts of stable spiritual energy, while Spirit Dragon Cards were directly linked to banks.
These magical cards were merely the simplest applications of the Spiritual Arcane Arts system.
"This is the only transcendent power I can touch right now.
If I don't unlock my Spirit Core, it will probably be the only one I ever touch."
"I must unlock my Spirit Core soon!"
After eating, washing the dishes (with no nightlife to speak of), Duke went to bed.
He tossed and turned for a long time before finally drifting off to sleep, filled with dreams of a better future.
...
In a daze,
Duke felt himself floating to a starry place.
Countless stars twinkled in the boundless darkness, like an endless ocean.
"This is it—I'm back!"
Duke's thoughts cleared.
He realized he was in a dream.
"Just like last night, I've entered my Spirit Core through a dream."
He looked toward the direction where the stars were most dense.
Surrounded by the stars were two dazzling orbs, as bright as stars.
When Duke "flew" closer, he saw that one orb was shaped like a smartphone, and the other like a handgun.
"My cheat code!"
"Wait for me!"