As the S-ranked score for the first indicator of “Rune Quality” lit up, Welding Gun found himself losing most of his initial doubts about the rather ordinary-sounding spell, “Arcane Wind Blade.”

However, the subsequent test for the second indicator, “Stability,” made his breath catch in his throat.

【Calculating Stability…】

This indicator measured the probability of a magical failure, distortion, breakdown, or abnormality due to issues inherent to the spell itself, often linked to the “method of operation” and “casting environment.”

For instance, improper handling might lead to exceeding the spell’s designated magical pressure, or casting in hazardous elemental contamination zones would also affect results.

Thus, compared to “Rune Quality,” the stability score bore much greater weight. After all, nobody wanted their magic to suddenly fizzle out mid-cast.

Moments later, a striking letter appeared on the screen—

“A!”

“A…” Welding Gun muttered to himself, his gaze unintentionally shifting toward Yvette.

Although not as high as an S, achieving an A in stability still placed her in the top 10%—a notably impressive result!

Is she really a top-tier rune compiler? Welding Gun couldn’t help but glance at Yvette again. Seeing her remain expressionless and calm made him slowly retract his gaze and continue observing.

The third indicator was the “Magic Consumption Ratio,” perhaps the most crucial performance metric. It measured the efficacy of internal magical energy to leverage external magical energy, representing how much impact each unit of input magical energy could produce.

This indicator yielded yet another S-rated result!

At this point, Welding Gun could no longer contain himself and took a deep breath. This was the first time he had seen an S rated in magic consumption ratio, especially for a medium-sized formula with nearly 50,000 runes. If this wasn’t the work of a master, then what could be considered mastery?

Even the thugs loitering at the entrance who knew nothing of runes became aware of the abnormality, whispering amongst themselves.

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

“You don’t get it! This is definitely a masterpiece!”

The only one who appeared entirely composed was Rosalyn. Confident in the “Arcane Wind Blade” spell, even more than Yvette herself, she took the results in stride, feeling it was completely predictable and unremarkable.

—After all, this is my teacher’s spell; how could it not be impressive? Fresh chapters posted on Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Not to mention, I am her only student… she added proudly in her heart.

…

After surpassing the critical “Magic Consumption Ratio,” nearly everyone expected an S-rated performance for the overall spell to be revealed soon.

But…

The last indicator, “Safety Protection,” went straight to a J rating, leaving everyone present in a state of shock, their expressions frozen in disbelief, feeling a wave of absurdity and humor wash over them.

“Miss Mage, this…” Welding Gun was astonished; he couldn’t believe that someone who achieved an S-level score in magic consumption could end up at the bottom in the safety protection category—this was a level of incompetence he might expect from himself!

Is there something wrong with the machine?

Meanwhile, Yvette took a moment to gather her thoughts before calmly stating, “I apologize; I forgot to design for firewalls or anti-hacking features.”

“……”

Welding Gun was momentarily speechless. A top-tier Cyber Mage forgetting such a vital detail was akin to a student failing to write their name on an important exam…

“I can fix it, but it will take some time,” Yvette finally said after a moment’s thought.

“No… this works better.” Welding Gun suddenly replied.

At that moment, the comprehensive score was calculated. With the zero score in the safety protection category, what was likely an S-rated spell was now downgraded to an A-. Even so, it was still the best level seen in the Scrapyard Black Market—truly a standout among fresh talent.

“My clientele mainly consists of local gang bosses,” Welding Gun explained, a hint of mockery in his tone, “Though they’re also mages and have learned a bit about runes, they only manage to grasp basic formulas; they’ll never reach a level of skill to utilize ‘spell hijacking,’ making safety design quite superfluous.”

He then gave a wry grin, continuing, “To be honest, even an A- might be too extravagant for them… if you could downgrade it to a B-, they’d be much happier.”

“……” Yvette parted her lips, finding it peculiar to hear a demand for reverse optimization after researching rune group enhancements for years.

However, there was no need for such concerns in the dream; she simply replied, “That’s fine. I allow you to sell it at B-grade pricing.”

“……Really?” Welding Gun’s eyes instantly brightened—S-grade performance, A-grade rating, and a B-grade price?

Shouldn’t I buy a few for myself first? Although I lack capabilities to defend against hacks, it hardly matters!

This is pure profit, isn’t it?

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, stirring his long-dormant ambition.

…

Obtaining an A- rating wasn’t the final outcome since further specialized tests remained to measure the Arcane Wind Blade’s penetration power, coverage area, firing speed, range, and each result was summarized by the three words “Value Freak.”

However, when it came to the last step—“Encrypted Packaging”—things became a bit tricky. It involved a supersized technical aspect of rune compilation that wasn’t feasible for an individual creator; Yvette had never interacted with anything like it before.

“Let’s use Blacktower Pharma’s remote encryption service,” Welding Gun sighed, pulling up a holographic interface. “It’ll be 5,000 credit points, payable in digital currency, and it generates a spell package with an activation code.”

“5,000? That’s so expensive!” Yvette hesitated, realizing she only had 2,800 credit points on her.

Welding Gun chuckled as he explained, “Their encryption binds to the user’s ‘spirit’ upon activation, making it almost impossible to crack. Of course, more importantly…” He lowered his voice, “This is Blacktower’s encryption—who would dare to hack? Certainly, this is the emperor of Ish Island!”

“Then… let’s start with five,” Yvette replied, “But I have no money; could you front me the cost? Thank you.”

As a result, due to the Mage Miss’s lack of funds, Welding Gun was reluctantly forced to cover the expenses, but he purchased two rounds of the Arcane Wind Blade spell packages on the spot—priced at 50,000 each, totaling 100,000. His cash flow was limited, or he would have bought more outright.

After deducting the 25,000 packaging fee, he transferred 75,000, and with Yvette’s 0.28 remaining, she now had a total of 77,800 credit points on her account.

It seemed significantly more ample, but she was still quite far from the 500,000 required for the “Elemental Replenishment Technology.”

Just as they were leaving, Welding Gun personally escorted them through the long air raid shelter.

The bullet marks remaining on the rock walls were faintly visible under the dim yellow lights, and noticing Rosalyn curiously looking around, Welding Gun smiled slightly, explaining, “This place 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 clashed with the global government, and Ish Island became a key target for the New Eden Commonwealth,” he kicked aside some rubble at his feet, a nostalgic expression crossing his face, “I was only this high back then, hiding in here, nibbling on ration bars…”

Yvette wasn’t particularly familiar with the historical event of the “Silent War.” She hadn’t prioritized gathering such information after the apocalypse, but she had a general idea that it involved the eight major corporations teaming up against the global government of Origin Star in a prolonged hot war.

Ultimately, both parties called for a ceasefire, leading to an abrupt conclusion.

It seemed that “Corporate Alliance” and “Global Government” were the names of the conflicting factions.

As for the “New Eden Commonwealth,” it straightforwardly referred to Ish Island’s governing body. However, it was predominantly controlled by Blacktower Pharmaceuticals, leaving the presence of the New Eden government obscure.

“I know about Blacktower Pharmaceuticals; what other corporations are there?” Rosalyn asked after listening for a while, unable to suppress her curiosity.

“There are also Lingman Corporation, Sky Arch Technology, Rin Duro Bio, Gravity Group, Ashen Chemical, Void Rift Group, and Black Tide Corporation. In total, that makes the eight major corporations,” Welding Gun listed them with a hint of scorn, adding, “Of course, since the war ended, they’ve probably become the eight new kings of this planet.”

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

While puzzled at how the Mage Miss could be so ignorant of history, Welding Gun didn’t dwell on it, saying, “Nobody knows; both sides keep quiet, but it was suddenly declared a ceasefire with no victor. Oddly, before the ceasefire, the ‘Global Government’ was at a considerable advantage… After peace was restored, conspiracy theories sprang up; there are at least tens of thousands—doomsday weapon theories, mind-control theories, population depletion theories, and even alien invasion theories… rumors were rampant.”

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

Welding Gun pondered briefly before answering, “I recall hearing about a super bomb that could destroy the world by being sent to the earth’s core, thus threatening the government troops to cease hostilities. There were also claims of other doomsday weapons; all things considered, it’s reasonable to believe they aimed for mutual destruction.”

I thought it was some aberrant virus… Yvette shook her head internally, though she made a mental note of the incident.

Hmm, while still in this dream state, perhaps I should consider looking for some information on the Silent War…