20. The More You Buy, the More You Profit

As the first indicator, "Rune Quality," lit up with an S-grade rating, the welding torch no longer doubted the seemingly mediocre name "Arcane Wind Blade" for the spell.

But the next test—the second indicator, "Stability"—made him hold his breath.

[Calculating Stability…]

This metric represents the probability that the magic will collapse, distort, fail, or behave abnormally due to its own flaws, and it often correlates with the "operation method" and the "casting environment." For example, improper operation that causes the output magical pressure to exceed the rated limit, or harsh surroundings such as areas polluted by elemental contamination.

Therefore, compared to "Rune Quality," the weighting of "Stability" is significantly higher. After all, no one wants their magic to suddenly collapse in the middle of use.

Moments later, a striking letter appeared on the screen—

"A!"

"A…" The welding torch murmured softly, his gaze involuntarily shifting toward Yvette.

Though not an S-grade, the "Stability" score still ranked among the top 10%, far ahead of the competition!

Could she really be a top-tier rune compiler? The welding torch couldn’t help but glance at Yvette again. Seeing the mage remain expressionless and composed, he slowly withdrew his gaze and continued reviewing.

The third indicator was the "Mana Efficiency Ratio," the most important performance metric. It’s the art of using inner mana to leverage outer mana, representing how much effect each unit of input mana can produce.

This metric also returned an "S" grade!

At this point, the welding torch could no longer contain himself and took a deep breath. It was the first time he had ever seen an S-grade mana efficiency ratio, especially on a medium-sized spell with nearly 50,000 rune specifications. If this wasn’t the work of a master, then who else could be called one?

Even the thugs standing by the door, clueless about runes, sensed the abnormality and whispered.

“Why does the boss look like he’s seen a ghost?”

“You don’t understand! This has got to be a masterpiece!”

The only one who remained calm was Rosalind. She had the utmost confidence in the "Arcane Wind Blade," even more than Yvette herself. Seeing the results, it was all as expected—nothing surprising at all.

—After all, this is the teacher’s spell; how could it not be powerful!

And I am the teacher’s only student… she added proudly in her heart.

...

After surpassing the "Mana Efficiency Ratio," the most critical, technically demanding, and eye-catching metric, nearly everyone believed that a spell with a comprehensive performance ranking at the "S" level was about to be born right before their eyes.

But...

The last indicator, "Safety Protection," produced a result of "J" grade, freezing everyone present in disbelief, overwhelmed by a profound sense of absurdity and irony.

“Mistress Mage, this is…” The welding torch was stunned. He couldn’t believe that a master-level compiler who achieved an S-grade mana efficiency ratio would come last in safety protection—that was the kind of mistake only he himself would make!

Damn, did the machine malfunction?

Meanwhile, Yvette remained silent for a moment before calmly admitting, “Sorry, I forgot to design any firewall or anti-hijacking measures.”

“…”

The welding torch was at a loss for words. Such a top-tier cybermage forgetting something so crucial was like forgetting to write your name on the college entrance exam.

“I can add it later, but it will take some time,” Yvette said after some thought.

“No… that’s better,” the welding torch suddenly responded.

By then, the overall score had been tallied. Due to the zero score in "Safety Protection," the spell, which had been almost certain to be rated "S," was downgraded to an "A-." Yet even so, this was the most advanced spell ever seen on the black market in the scrapyard—a true little tyrant of the beginner’s village.

“My clients are mostly local gang leaders,” the welding torch explained with a hint of mockery. “Although they’re also mages who have learned a bit about runes, their level barely allows them to read spells, and they could never master ‘spell hijacking.’ So safety design is totally unnecessary.”

He chuckled bitterly, “Honestly, even an A- rating is too generous for them… If you could ‘degrade’ it to a B-, they’d be even happier.”

“…” Yvette opened her mouth. After years of studying rune group optimization, it was the first time she heard a request for reverse optimization.

But in this dream, such things didn’t matter much. She simply said, “It’s fine. I allow you to sell it at a B-level price.”

“…Really?” The welding torch’s eyes lit up instantly—S-grade performance, A-level rating, and B-level price?

Maybe he should buy a few copies himself? Though it lacked hacker defense, that was irrelevant!

This was pure profit with every purchase!

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, igniting a long-dormant entrepreneurial spirit within him.

...

The comprehensive rating of "A-" was not the end of the test. There were also specialized tests on the Arcane Wind Blade’s penetration power, coverage area, firing speed, range, and so forth, and the results mostly had the words “numerical anomaly” written across them.

However, the final step, “Encrypted Packaging,” was a bit troublesome. This was an ultra-advanced technique in rune compilation, beyond the capability of an individual developer. Yvette had never encountered it before.

“Use Black Tower Pharmaceutical’s remote encrypted packaging service,” the welding torch sighed, pulling up a holographic interface. “It costs 5,000 credit points each, payable by digital currency, and generates spell packages with activation codes.”

“Five thousand? That expensive?” Yvette hesitated, currently having only 2,800 credits on her.

The welding torch smiled and explained, “Their encrypted packaging binds the activated spell to the user’s ‘spirit body,’ making it nearly impossible to crack. More importantly…” He lowered his voice, “This is Black Tower’s encryption. Who dares to break it? That’s the emperor of Ish Island!”

...

“Then… five copies for now,” Yvette said, looking at him. “But I don’t have the money. Could you front the cost for me? Thank you.”

So, because the mage was short on funds, the welding torch had to cover the fee. Still, he bought two pre-packaged Arcane Wind Blades on the spot—each priced at 50,000, totaling 100,000 credits. He didn’t have much liquid capital, or he would have bought them all.

After deducting the 25,000 packaging fee and transferring 75,000 credits, plus the 2,800 already in Yvette’s account, she now had a total of 77,800 credits.

It seemed much more ample, though still far from the 500,000 price tag of the “Elemental Decay Completion Technology.”

Upon leaving, the welding torch personally escorted them through the long air-raid shelter.

The bullet marks left on the rock walls shimmered faintly under the dim lights. Seeing Rosalind curiously looking around, he smiled slightly and explained to the young lady, “This was dug out by the residents of Pixel Street with their bare hands during the ‘Silent War’ twenty years ago.”

“At that time, the corporate alliance and the Global International went to war. Ish Island became a key target for the New Eden United States.” He kicked aside some rubble, gesturing as if recalling, “I was this tall back then, always holed up here gnawing on compressed biscuits…”

Yvette was unfamiliar with the historical event known as the “Silent War.” After the apocalypse, she wouldn’t prioritize gathering such materials, only roughly knowing it was a prolonged, brutal conflict between the eight super-corporations allied against the global government of the Origin Star.

In the end, both sides signed a ceasefire with no clear resolution.

She guessed that the “Corporate Alliance” and “Global International” were the opposing factions.

As for the “New Eden United States,” that was the country Ish Island belonged to. However, the island was largely controlled by Black Tower Pharmaceutical, so the New Eden government’s presence was minimal.

“I know Black Tower Pharmaceutical. What about the other corporations in the alliance?” Rosalind asked after listening for a while.

“There’s Lingman Corporation, Sky Vault Technology, Lin Tui Bio, Gravity Group, Ashmark Chemical, Rift Sky Group, and Black Tide Corporation. Counting Black Tower, those make the eight super-corporations.” The welding torch counted them off on his fingers, sneering, “Of course, since the war ended, they might as well be the eight new kings of this planet.”

“How did the Silent War end?” Yvette asked.

Though puzzled by the mage’s scant historical knowledge, the welding torch didn’t think much of it. “I don’t know. Neither side disclosed anything, but suddenly they announced a ceasefire with no victor. Strangely, before the truce, ‘Global International’ had a clear advantage… After peace was restored, conspiracy theories flooded in by the thousands—doomsday weapons, mind control, population depletion, even alien invasion… rumors everywhere.”

Yvette frowned slightly. “Doomsday weapons? What kind of weapons?”

The welding torch thought for a moment. “I remember it was supposed to be a super bomb that could be sent to the Earth’s core to destroy the world, used to threaten the government forces into ceasing combat. There were other theories too, but the idea of mutual destruction seems at least somewhat plausible.”

I thought it was a mutation virus... Yvette shook her head inwardly but still made a mental note of the event.

Hmm, while still in this dream, maybe I should look up information on the Silent War…