"Tsk, another 'Beast' card. Kid, I think there's something wrong with your deck," the old wizard Gandalf clicked his tongue as he "scratched" twenty mysterious cards in front of Mason's shabby stall, but still couldn't complete a set.

There were all sorts of messy cards in his hand, including Beasts, Elements, Commanders, and Entrances.

The old gambler was a little annoyed as he picked up a card and infused it with magic, revealing its true face with intricate patterns.

He looked at Mason, who was sitting on a chair studying something, and said with a stern face, "Tell me honestly, is there any trick to this? Or is it all a scam? I feel like I've been fooled."

"I've already said that this is mystical stuff, and even I can't control the probabilities," Mason shrugged and said, "But as you can see, sir, these cards are indeed magical items."

"What's the use of that?"

The old man sneered and casually threw the Element card in his hand, causing a big fireball to appear and explode on the ground, startling a few nearby "rat people" who were wandering around.

"The power is mediocre at best, just a basic Fireball spell. It's really hard to believe that these eight cards with magic can be combined to become high-level magical items."

The old wizard snorted, rolled his eyes, and said, "How about you give me a backdoor? You should have some unsealed cards there. Come on, give me the ones I'm missing, so I don't have to go out and spread the word that there's another scammer in the market."

"Up to you."

Mason also snorted and spread his hands, saying, "I'm just a junk collector here, not after your money. But if you really want them, it's not impossible."

He took out a messy deck of cards from his pocket, which he had dismantled and played with when he made these mysterious cards before.

He wasn't lying; these things were indeed unpredictable.

"This thing!"

Mason stood up, rubbed the small item that the old wizard had just given him, and said, "If you have more, give me a few more. I promise that even if I die tired here today, I will help you complete four magic accessories."

"You said it, kid."

The old wizard suddenly became interested, he grinned and took out two more "small stones" and threw them to Mason. The young man smiled and took the two items in his hand.

Information tags immediately popped up:

Twelve Talismans: Yin-Yang Tiger.

Quality: Legendary Jewelry Processing/Inscription Creation·Perfect Craftsmanship.

Condition: Severely damaged.

Item Effect: When the Tiger Talisman is activated, it balances the conflicting forces within the holder, temporarily separating the good and evil aspects of the holder into independent entities.

Attention!

This item is severely damaged and its abilities are temporarily unavailable until repaired.

Attention!

This item is one of the "Twelve Talismans." Collecting all twelve talismans can summon the Dragon Lord, who will bestow the treasure of the Golden Rooster King to the unsealer and then devour them in one bite.

Creator: Unknown.

Item Description: Take this, you crow sitting on a plane! Ha, Afuo beat that guy!...

Prompt: Talent "Photographic Memory" activated, Twelve Talismans blueprint being recorded... Estimated completion time: 554 hours. Jewelry processing branch skill level 7 is required for production, skill level 4 and natural magical power source are required for repairing this item.

Mason looked at the other two damaged talismans in his hand, one was the Life-Binding Rat and the other was the Healing Horse. The former could give life to inanimate objects, while the latter was said to be able to heal all ailments.

Unfortunately, they were both in such a damaged state.

Mason couldn't feel any energy flowing from them when he held them in his hand. No wonder the old wizard treated them as junk and exchanged them with Mason.

But the young man didn't mind. He carefully put away the three talismans and looked at the guy in front of him who had already started searching for mysterious cards to form a deck.

He hesitated for a moment and asked in a low voice, "May I ask, where did you find these three talismans?"

"From a garbage dump."

The old man opened a "blind box" while casually saying, "In a world that had fallen into ruin, the people there were transferred away when the disaster struck, leaving behind a world ravaged by a rampant virus. Do you want to go treasure hunting too?

No, there's no chance anymore. It's already finished.

The Star Alliance considers that place worthless and has sealed off the path to it. I heard that they want to offer that world as a sacrifice to a 'Great Demon King.'

Well, it's just talk. There's no such thing as a Great Demon King. If sacrificing can really solve the apocalypse, then it would be a good thing.

Oh... I got it!"

The old wizard happily pulled out a fierce Lion card from the cards Mason gave him and combined it with seven different Beast cards in his hand.

Then, in the gaze of Mason and him, the eight Beast cards quickly merged together under the resonance of their respective magic, and with the roar of various beasts, they finally transformed into a crystal-clear card with a blue glow, floating in front of the old wizard.

This card had a different appearance.

The blue dragon depicted on it was lifelike, and when the old wizard touched it with his finger, it would emit a dragon's roar and project an illusion of ice crystal magic around it.

It was like a super cool holographic projection.

"Magic... The magic has been activated."

The old wizard held the Blue Dragon card in his hand, his expression became serious as he sensed the inner power of this thing. After a few seconds, he said, "Holding it can adjust magic and absorb the surrounding free elements to replenish the caster's consumption and enhance the magic effect. When necessary, it can even be destroyed to summon a projection of a magic dragon to assist in battle.

Perhaps for high-level spellcasters, this card is still just a toy, but it has indeed become a high-level magical item. And a very exquisite one at that."The old wizard, who felt like he had found a treasure, blinked his eyes and stood up straight. He slightly bowed to Mason and said, "I take back what I said earlier, young man. You are not a fraud. In fact, I am surprised by the quality of your inscription. I really struck gold tonight."

"To be honest, this is the first time I've seen a complete set of cards. Before this, I just played it as a card game for fun..."

Mason rubbed his forehead and said, "And the commotion is a bit too much..."

"This is a good thing."

The old wizard looked at the people who were attracted by the appearance of the Blue Dragon card and smiled at Mason.

"Your business is open now. I won't disturb you anymore, young man. I am very satisfied with this exchange tonight. I hope you can bring me more surprises when you come to the Star Castle next time."

"Hmm? You still have three sets of cards to collect."

Mason raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't you want to try? I can make the cards on the spot. It's not difficult."

"I would love to, but I am short on funds."

The old wizard shrugged and put away the Blue Dragon card. He said, "It's already a great deal for me to get this for free today. If I don't stop now, I'll be captured by greed. That would be a terrible outcome for an old man like me."

"Look at the greed in their eyes, young man. It has been awakened. Your mysterious little cards will have no trouble finding buyers."

After saying that, the old man took a step back and quickly disappeared into the crowd, while the cards on Mason's stall were quickly bought up by the low-level members who had heard the news.

The enthusiasm of the crowd for this kind of gambling-like low probability event left Mason speechless for a while. He watched as more people wanted to exchange cards and had to put aside his alchemy experiments to focus on making cards.

Fortunately, it was not difficult to make these things.

All he needed was enough magic ink and some inscription materials, and he could make a lot of them. He himself was not interested in this kind of "blind box" probability game.

But the crowd liked it.

Especially after the second set of Commander cards and the third set of Gateway cards were continuously opened, the people gathered around became more lively.

Previously, only a small number of people were genuinely looking for good items, while most people were just joining in the fun. However, after seeing the imposing aura of the shiny magic cards, many people's attitudes changed.

They ignored the difficulty of opening eight cards of the same series in a completely unknown situation and became enthusiastic about gambling their luck.

After more than an hour, Mason's stall was filled with various styles of damaged items.

From torn magic books to broken mysterious armors, from "magic carriages" with only two wheels left to bird feathers that were said to be able to fly, even several broken lightsabers were collected.

But that was not the point.

The point was that while Mason was organizing his stall, he saw several sneaky guys showing off the various cards they had in their hands to the crowd.

Well, even scalpers have emerged!

It was only now that Mason realized that he had underestimated the desire of Star Castle members for these gains.

Especially these low-level members.

The reason why the K Team didn't lack these little things was because they had been lucky and had Mason, the master craftsman, with them. But for other exploration teams, obtaining power items was not easy.

The news of a stall that could produce good items and only accept junk quickly spread throughout the entire Star Castle, and more and more people flocked here. As a result, the inscription materials that Mason estimated could last for a long time turned into mysterious cards and were bought up within a few hours...

Mason's hands were almost sparking during the whole process, but he still couldn't satisfy the appetite of the crowd.

"That's it, I'm out of materials. Let's call it a day!"

Mason, whose fingers were twitching, had to shout to announce the end of the stall. In the disappointed gazes of the crowd, he quickly packed up his stall and escaped from here.

On the way, Mason calculated that he had made at least three hundred cards in the past few hours, and his inscription skills had even reached Level 3, but he hadn't even noticed.

"It seems that the sales of the Dark Moon cards are pretty good, but the fact that everyone is so obsessed with this kind of luck gambling makes me feel sad about the future of the Star Castle."

Mason shook his head and muttered, "This is because the production of these cards is completely random. Otherwise, I could just play a little probability game and take out every coin from their pockets."

"Hey, that idea is dangerous. Do you know that gambling is prohibited within the Star Castle?"

A familiar voice sounded next to Mason.

When the young man turned around, he found that it was the alchemist brothers he had met before.

The two of them were walking towards the Star Castle with a bunch of snacks in their arms, coincidentally meeting Mason here.

"Hey, Edward and Alphonse, you both seem to be in a good mood."

Mason reached out to greet them.

He had a good impression of these two brothers, but he never thought he would see them in person. Looking at the alchemist brothers in front of him, Mason couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

If the Fullmetal Alchemist were here, would I have the chance to meet the Giant of Light from the M87 Nebula?

"How did you know our names?"

When he heard Mason mention their names again, the young man with golden hair became displeased. He put the snacks in his arms into the arms of his armored brother and walked towards Mason with big strides.

Then he looked up and glared at him.

Well, the height difference was really despairing...

"Since we joined the Star Castle, we have been using false names. Our world has long since disappeared, and as far as I know, those who escaped never use their real names."Edward Ellerik crossed his arms and said, "So don't tell me you heard it from someone else. How can a C-level rookie like you know people like us? It's impossible."

"Oh, I did hear it from someone else."

Mason tilted his head and whispered, "That person is quite influential. He told me that there are two alchemist brothers in the Star Group who travel through different worlds collecting interesting things.

Well, enough joking. My team is directly under Mr. Hunter, so..."

"Tsk, so you're just a 'hound'! Disgusting!"

Edward snorted, as if losing all interest in talking to Mason, and with a disgusted expression, he planned to leave with his brother. "Did you call me a 'hound'?"

Upon hearing this word, Mason narrowed his eyes. Mr. Hunter used this term to describe those who were devoted to the Star Group, and it seemed that these brothers also knew this term...

He took a step forward, blocking Edward's way, and asked, "What gives you the right to say that about me? You two B-level individuals, I'm sure you've done your fair share of killing and arson to get to this position."

"My brother and I have never been involved in such terrible things!"

This time, it was Al Feng Si, the armor-clad brother, who answered. This alchemist, who was like a ghost but had a good personality, held a pile of food and coldly emphasized to Mason, "Our B-level status was obtained through doing peaceful tasks for rewards. That's why we've been wandering through different worlds. We never intended to join you or form a team.

Our hands are clean, unlike you bastards who cause trouble everywhere you go, leaving ruins behind. Move aside! Otherwise, I'll take action."

"So there are 'pacifists' like you in the Star Group. It seems my understanding of this organization is indeed shallow."

Mason rubbed his forehead and ignored Al's dissatisfaction. He looked at Edward and said, "Interested in having a chat? Let's consider it professional exchange between alchemists."

"Not interested!"

The blond alchemist clenched his fist, and a red light was already shining on his metal-made fist.

The short-tempered alchemist, Feng Si, said coldly, "Move aside! This is your last warning."

"I'll give you a gift."

Mason blinked, but the two brothers were unmoved. They pushed him aside and walked towards the Star Castle, but after taking two steps, they stopped.

Both brothers turned back as if sensing something peculiar, something that bound their souls.

Behind them, a small blood-red crystal fragment the size of a pinky finger was jumping between Mason's fingers. The dazzling light refracted by it made Edward Ellerik's eyes light up.

"Philosopher's Stone..."

The armor-clad brother next to the short-tempered alchemist was previously indifferent, but now he was furious. Amidst the sound of armor clashing, he scolded, "You bastard! Such a big piece of Philosopher's Stone, how many people did you kill for it? You hound that deserves to go to hell! If it weren't for being here..."

"Hey, don't accuse me without evidence! I am a traditional alchemist who doesn't practice those creepy methods of human transmutation. And if I may say, no one died during the production of this thing."

Mason concealed the magic stone fragment in his bag as if performing magic.

He spread his hands and said to the two brothers, "I know how your world produces Philosopher's Stones, but believe me, that is a pitiful path. I have a method of producing Philosopher's Stones using orthodox alchemy.

I am more than willing to share it with you. Of course, you'll have to give me something that interests me in return. If you're willing to talk, we can find a quieter place."

Mason paused, then lowered his hat and added with a more serious tone, "Also, I am not a hound! And I won't become one, so don't call me that, friend. It makes me feel...insulted."

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