Folk Card Maker: Starting from Painted Skin

After Zhang Jingtian clearly analyzed his situation, his top priority was to obtain a card of his own.

There are four types of cards that a card maker can create. The most common type, which can summon various virtual characters to fight for oneself, is called a Heroic Spirit Card.

The second type is the Spell Card, which is disposable but diverse and highly functional.

Being able to create Spell Cards is what distinguishes ordinary card makers from elite card makers.

The third type is the Equipment Card, which can be used by the card maker themselves or by the summoned Heroic Spirits.

More rare and more expensive, being able to create Equipment Cards is an examination item for card makers advancing to Gold rank.

The fourth type is the Field Card, which is expensive and cannot be repaired once destroyed.

This type of card is mostly used in various team battles.

Besides these, there is also a special type of card that can only be produced in secret realms: Skill Cards.

Both card makers and Heroic Spirits can use this type of card, and after use, they can automatically inherit the special abilities contained within the card.

It is very rare and even priceless on the black market.

Zhang Jingtian wasn't being overly ambitious. What he needs to do now is to first obtain a card so that he can become a Pre-Card Maker.

Even as a Pre-Card Maker, he would receive resource allocation at school.

If he could create a Blue quality card, he could even directly jump into the best Panda Class.

Yes, in the original owner's memory, the difference in treatment between the Ordinary Class and the Panda Class was like heaven and earth.

Fortunately, the original owner's basic skills were quite solid, and his mental strength was also good, having reached the Bronze level early on.

The reason he hadn't created his first card yet was because he hadn't thought of a suitable story.

Zhang Jingtian leaned back in his chair and slowly closed his eyes.

He knew the various gods and monsters in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" like the back of his hand. The familiar myths and legends from his childhood also made his heart surge.

But these were beyond his current ability to handle.

Sometimes having too much inspiration in his head wasn't a good thing either, as it gave him decision paralysis.

On the desk, neatly stacked, were ten blank cards, the card-drawing pens uniformly purchased by the school, and the runestones that had been color-adjusted into paints.

He had the most basic tools.

Besides the story, he also needed materials to create the card.

He turned on the computer, intending to take a look at what materials were available, which would also give him some inspiration.

The location automatically switched to Lanruo City, where he was located, and the local material library was also more convenient for transportation.

Accompanied by the sound of a suona horn, Zhang Jingtian's gaze fell on the dazzling shopping interface.

These materials mostly came from the card makers in the city, who put their collected materials online in exchange for points.

Points were also the universal currency in this world.

But after looking at the materials in the city, Zhang Jingtian couldn't help but shiver.

Those lifelike ghost and monster card faces made him worry that the evil spirits in the cards would drill out from the air.

He couldn't even find a few materials that were a bit more "yang" (positive/normal) on the entire website!

Well, the Lanruo City where he was located actually had another name: Lanruo New City.

The real old city wasn't called a "shi" (city), but a "si" (temple), as in Lanruo Temple.

It's just that the former Lanruo Temple had long been buried beneath the lake.

Which is their city's largest and most dangerous Joy Lake.

Lanruo Temple is a ghost town, and the most common things in the current Lanruo City are various ghosts and specters.

Obviously, the most materials obtained by the local card makers came from this aspect.

But after the initial fear passed, Zhang Jingtian also became rational.

Don't mention it, these materials actually complemented the various folk stories he was most familiar with.

[Starving Ghost] (Green), [Wrongfully Dead Person] (White), [Corpse Cat] (Blue), [Evil Woman] (Blue), [Red-Clothed Dried Corpse] (White)...

These were character materials. Zhang Jingtian filtered them, only selecting materials below Blue quality.

The next page was item materials.

[Embroidered Shoes] (White), [Severed Hand] (Blue), [Yellow Paper Wedding Dress] (Green), [Complete Human Skin] (Green), [Evil Spirit Paintbrush] (Blue), [Viscera-Piercing Knife] (White)...

In addition to these, he was even more out of touch with the higher-end scene materials.

Not only were they expensive, but they also required formal card maker certification before they could be purchased.

Zhang Jingtian looked at these materials, arranging and combining them in various ways, while mobilizing the memories in his mind.

Finally, he pieced together an answer he wanted.

[Evil Woman], [Complete Human Skin], [Evil Spirit Paintbrush].

These three seemed to combine perfectly into a figure from folklore: the Painted Skin Ghost.

That was a sinister and terrifying evil spirit with a hideous face.

It sits in front of a mirror, picks up a paintbrush, and carefully copies onto a human skin.

After a moment, a portrait of a beautiful woman appears on the human skin.

The evil spirit drapes the human skin over its body, and when it turns its head, it has already transformed into the appearance of the woman in the painting.

This is the Painted Skin Ghost.

She should be one of the most widely circulated ghosts, and there are quite a few film and television dramas, games, and novels that have spun off from her.

And her strength also varies depending on the adapted works. What is certain is that she is definitely not bad among ghosts, and should also have divine skills such as charm.

Having such a broad mass base, the Painted Skin Ghost would definitely be successfully drawn.

Moreover, her own positioning should also be something Zhang Jingtian could currently bear.

So Zhang Jingtian didn't hesitate any longer and directly added these three materials to his shopping cart.

When he came to the checkout page and saw that it would cost a total of 180,000 points, Zhang Jingtian almost fainted.

This is too expensive!

In this world, apart from those real card makers, ordinary people and pre-card makers, as well as some low-level card makers without much talent, do not live well.

Most of them are just living a meager existence.

And the original owner that Zhang Jingtian transmigrated into had his father disappear before he was born.

His mother was a card maker, but she died three years ago during an invasion by the Scourge Legion.

All that was left to Zhang Jingtian was this old house and 200,000 in savings.

Plus the Card Maker Association's condolences to his mother, totaling less than 500,000.

After deducting tuition fees and living expenses for these years, there was about 250,000 left.

After buying these materials, Zhang Jingtian was directly penniless.

But he had no choice, if he wanted to change his fate, he had to become a card maker.

So these 180,000 were absolutely not something he could save on!

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Jingtian decisively clicked Confirm.

Purchase successful!