In the sky of the border city-state, a few stars still shimmer faintly, as if they are poems about to disappear from the night sky.

Until the dawn of the morning quietly fell, a faint flush on the horizon covered the Ranch family's mansion with a hazy color.

In this moment of tranquility, Ranchi's bedroom is particularly peaceful, with light pouring in through the light curtains, as if wisps of pure spirits are dancing.

However, Lanch has woken up.

He moved his body, pushed the quilt to the side, hung his feet, and gently placed them on the carpet, feeling the soft touch under his feet.

"How can I dream that I am in the underworld, the king of Hades is on a long vacation, and I will sign the book of life and death......

He rubbed his eyes, recalled the dream, and muttered to himself,

"By the way, the borrowed code can be returned."

After stretching hard, a sense of relief spread throughout his body, and Rankie straightened his back and stood up from the side of the bed.

After washing, he didn't go downstairs for today's breakfast as soon as possible.

Instead, he opened the curtains next to his desk and bathed in the warmth of the early morning to the right amount of the morning sun.

The breeze caresses the leaves outside the window, and birds chirp in the treetops not far away.

Strings of crisp notes drifted along the windowsill into Lanchi's bedroom, permeating the pleasant morning light.

It's been two weeks since I borrowed the code from the desk at the Border Library.

These days, the books on his desk are piling up more and more.

In addition to the Codex, he also bought him several basic books that were sold directly by the city-state's Card Makers Guild.

The learning and use of magic in this world is obscure, just like mathematics in the field of PhDs, if you can't learn it, you can't learn it.

Ranch was probably convinced that he didn't have the talent to become a "traditional mage who could use magic on his own."

But the world is just right - everyone can use magic through "magic cards".

However, there is a limit to the number of magic cards that can be bound to souls.

Therefore, they do not affect the particularity of the combat class, but only make the strong stronger.

Ordinary people can also use a variety of convenient small life magic through magic cards.

Because of this, the Magician, who can make magic cards, is a very popular profession!

Compared with making other types of magic items, card making requires a thorough understanding of the principles of magic engineering, as well as a high level of creativity and brainpower, as well as a high level of drawing skills.

Fortunately for Lan Qi, the knowledge of magic engineering, similar to the production of magic props and the principles of magic equipment, he was surprisingly easy to read, and he could quickly understand even if he glanced at ten lines.

"Of course, it is also possible that the level of the compiler of the textbook is relatively high."

Ranch sighed as he looked at the stack of reference books on his desk.

Coincidentally, these textbooks are all written by the same author:

Hutton's Kingdom Fundamentals of Magical Engineering, 7th Edition - by Bolau

Common Misunderstandings in the Making of First-Order Magic Cards by Bolau

"The Code of Ethics for Card Makers" - by Bolau

I heard from the Card Makers Association that this Professor Borao was the instructor of the Magic Workshop of the Ishrita Academy.

It's a pity that Professor Bolau doesn't take students with him.

Otherwise, Lan Qi would have wanted to work hard for a hundred days and apply for the magic academy.

However, he still prefers the free and loose curriculum structure of the Sage Academy and the Knight Academy to the Magic Academy, which is complicated and heavy in his studies and has a special tutor: there are few compulsory courses and many elective courses, and he only needs to complete all the required courses and take enough credits to graduate.

As for those courses that suit you, you can just add them to your own curriculum as elective subjects when the time comes.

This was the conclusion that Ranch had come to after carefully studying the information from the Ikritic Academy.

"Alright, now that you've studied the theory, it's time to experiment with the making of magic cards."

Ranchi felt that the so-called "mana" that he had consumed to draw the portrait of Talia a few days ago should have recovered almost now.

Today, you can go to the Card Makers Association to rent a card making workshop and try to practice.

And.

Since he was going to leave the city-state and go to the royal capital after two and a half months.

Things have to be arranged on Talia's side, too.

Although she is a demon, she has mutual needs with herself.

Perhaps, the two of them will become good trading partners in the future.

Ranch looked out the window.

Soon, his eyes found a gray figure outside his own courtyard.

On the corner of the street where the sun had not yet arrived, a young girl stood as dignified as a statue of a vivid work of art, her figure delicate and soft like fine porcelain.

In the breeze, the dark gray cloak that concealed Talia's body fluttered slightly, adding to the mystery.

In this moment of tranquility, she seems to merge with her surroundings into a painting, as if her presence is the only one in the painting.

Lanki held his chin and looked at the demon princess who was perfectly disguised as a human from afar.

"It's a pity that he's too old, or a few hundred years old."

He sighed.

Although in the demons, Talia is also a young demon.

But according to the concept of human age, it seems that it is not wrong to call her an old woman.

Of course.

Ranch didn't know what would happen if she really called Talia an old woman.

……

Distance.

As if sensing Lanchi's gaze, Taria's eyes also glanced in the direction of the second floor of the mansion.

"Good morning."

After meeting his gaze, Lanchi smiled and waved lightly at distant Taria.

Talia ignored him.

Her gray hair slid like silk over her shoulders and fell quietly on her cloak, her eyes staring indifferently ahead.

She just wanted to confirm any movement that might pose a threat to the mansion's occupants.

Since it was Ranchi himself, and not someone else who would threaten Ranchi, she had no intention of paying any more attention.

It's like she only cares about getting her job done – protecting her employer.

And don't care about the employer itself.

But......

For some reason, she always felt that the inner activity of the young man just now was extremely active.

And he seems to be thinking about something damn good.

But Talia couldn't tell where her instincts came from or what was going on in the teenager's head.

Obviously, no matter how you look at it.

He was just saying hello in a friendly way.

Maybe it's a delusion.

After all, since the fall of the demon kingdom...... I began to hate human beings.

Even for a docile and harmless human like Rankie, she occasionally had the illusion that he might be perfectly disguised by an extremely bad character.

But his own deception detection spell, as well as his own observations, have proved that this human has absolutely excellent conduct.

"Ugh."

Talia sighed softly.

I thought that after wandering in the human kingdom for so many years, I already had a little understanding of human beings.

But now it seems that he wants to endure humiliation and perfectly integrate into human society in order to seek an opportunity to restore the country.

There is still a lot of work to be done.