10: The Greatness of Motherly Love

It was late at night and all was quiet.

The dinner on the table had been eaten, and the dishes and chopsticks were cleaned up.

Lu Yuan sat on the old sofa in the living room, his mind still rapidly calculating the details of his card purchases and future card selling plans.

He had just checked online; a one-star common gold card could be auctioned for over ten million, and even then, they were rarely available.

Not to mention his beast taming card.

Just then, a faint click of a key turning in the lock came from the door.

Click.

The door opened.

A slightly tired figure walked in.

It was his mother, Lin Zhihui.

She was wearing a simple work uniform, with an unconcealable weariness in her eyes, but upon seeing Lu Yuan in the living room, a gentle smile immediately appeared on her face.

“Xiao Yuan, you’re still awake?”

Lin Zhihui took off her shoes and casually placed a white paper box on the shoe cabinet by the door.

“Mom, you’re back.” Lu Yuan stood up, “Was overtime very tiring?”

“It’s alright, same as usual.” Lin Zhihui smiled and waved her hand, her gaze falling on the paper box, “Oh, right, look what I brought back.”

Lu Yuan walked over, puzzled.

It was a square cake box, with the logo of a well-reputed cake shop nearby printed on it.

Cake?

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment.

Is today a special day?

He subconsciously recalled, in the original owner's memory, his own birthday was still several months away.

Could it be… he remembered wrong?

“Mom, today…”

“Silly boy.” Lin Zhihui saw his confusion, playfully patted him, and the smile in her eyes deepened, “It’s your mom’s birthday, did you forget?”

Lu Yuan instantly froze.

Mother’s birthday?!

Not you, original owner???

A mix of guilt, surprise, and warmth surged into his heart.

“Mom, I…” Lu Yuan opened his mouth, his face feeling a bit hot.

This was a bit awkward.

“Alright, alright, Mom knows you’ve been under a lot of study pressure lately, and it’s rare for you to come home on a weekend, so forgetting is normal.” Lin Zhihui smiled carelessly, picking up the cake box, “Come quickly, try the cake Mom bought, it’s a new flavor from this shop, I heard it’s good.”

She opened the box; inside was a small fruit cake, the cream frosting was simple, but the fruits decorating it were fresh, all the ones Lu Yuan loved to eat.

It was her own birthday, she worked hard overtime until late at night, yet she still thought of bringing him a cake.

Lu Yuan looked at Lin Zhihui’s back, his nose inexplicably stinging.

Recalling his past self on Earth, how was she?

[Ding!]

[Detecting strong mental fluctuations from the host, activating conditions met...]

[Identity: Earth Human (Hidden) Activation: 17%]

[Talent Advancement Conditions Activation: 4%]

Lu Yuan’s pupils constricted; he had always thought the hidden option in the identity column was his past life.

But it seems the truth was far more than that!

…“Oh, right, Xiao Yuan.” Lin Zhihui took out two plates, suddenly remembered something, turned around, and carefully pulled out an item from her somewhat faded canvas bag.

It was a card, gift-boxed.

But it was different from the saber-toothed turtle, Swamp Crocodile, or even Raging Waves Sea Soul cards Lu Yuan had seen before.

The card face of this card did not depict a specific creature or scene, but rather showed a flowing, nebula-like light blue mysterious halo, the card's edge was plain milky white, without any star rating identification.

The card emitted a gentle and pure energy fluctuation.

“Mom knows you’re about to have your College Entrance Examination, and it’s when you need to improve your Source Power the most.” Lin Zhihui handed the card to Lu Yuan, her eyes full of anticipation and encouragement.

“Take this card.”

Lu Yuan looked at this unique card, somewhat puzzled.

“Mom, this is…?”

“This is a white ‘source card’.” Lin Zhihui explained, “Your homeroom teacher recommended it in the group. Isn’t the College Entrance Examination approaching? Your dad and I thought about it and decided to grit our teeth and buy it for you to give you a boost.”

Lu Yuan’s mind recalled what the teacher said in class —

“The cards on our Card Continent are diverse, mainly divided into five major categories.”

“The most common are [Common Cards], like some basic tools, materials, or even weapon equipment, and so on.”

“Then there’s the current mainstream [beast taming card], which can summon demon beasts to fight for you, and this is also one of the main sources of combat power for Card Masters.”

“Next are [Skill Cards], which contain various powerful skills that can be used directly. Envious that your beast taming card has skills? As long as you equip a Skill card in your source card slot, you might even be stronger than your beast taming card. Of course, it’s not recommended for beginner Card Masters; the combat power of beast taming cards is in a league of its own in the early stages.”

“There are also [Material Cards], which contain a large amount of materials, such as food and water. The teacher tells everyone a small life-saving trick: when you encounter danger, you can insert a Material card into your source card slot, and with its slow recovery characteristic, you’ll never starve to death.”

“And the last category, which is the rarest, most precious, and cannot be slotted, is called [Rare Cards]!”

Lu Yuan’s gaze fell on the white card in Lin Zhihui’s hand.

“Rare cards have all sorts of strange functions; some can permanently improve physical fitness, some can grant special abilities, and some… for example, [source card].”

“[source card], it cannot be used for combat, nor can it summon anything, but it has a very important function — to improve the efficiency of your Source Power absorption during meditation! And a white source card contains about 10 points of Source Power. It’s no exaggeration to say it can help a first-tier apprentice quickly advance stars!”

“It’s just a bit expensive; it’s already been hyped up to about 30,000 per card on the market. However, the teacher happens to have a channel, so students who are interested can find the teacher after class to purchase one. It’s at cost price, 28,888…”

The memory abruptly stopped, and Lu Yuan extracted two keywords —

Improve Source Power absorption efficiency!

30,000 per card!

He knew the family’s financial situation; such a rare card was worth half a year’s salary for his parents.

“Mom… this… this card is too valuable!” Lu Yuan’s voice was a bit dry.

Lin Zhihui’s smile held a hint of satisfaction and relief.

“It’s nothing, it’s not expensive. Go on and try it, your teacher said in the group it sells for 40,000. Mom asked an old master from your dad’s factory to help, and we got it through a legitimate channel for just over 30,000. Although it’s only the lowest-grade white card, it still has an effect and should help you improve your cultivation speed significantly.”

She gently patted Lu Yuan’s shoulder, her eyes tender,

“Xiao Yuan, your mom and dad aren’t very capable; we can’t give you the best resources. This card is your mom and dad’s birthday gift to you… well, consider it an early coming-of-age gift!”

It was clearly her own birthday, yet she said it was a gift for him.

An indescribable warmth surged, his eyes, uncontrollably, moistened.

He was not the original Lu Yuan, but the heavy motherly love he felt at this moment was so real, so burning.

“Mom… in the future, I’ll take you all to live in a big villa.”

“Silly child.” Lin Zhihui wiped the corner of his eye, “Mom doesn’t want any repayment from you.”

“As long as you can get into a good university, become a true Card Master, and live a good life in the future, not as hard as your dad and I…”

“That, to Mom, would be the best birthday present.”

Her words were simple and unadorned: get into a good university! Become a Card Master! Live a good life!

This was not only his mother’s hope but also the original owner’s unfulfilled obsession, and even his own foundation for standing in this world!

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, nodded vigorously, and forcibly pushed back the moisture in his eyes.

“Mom, don’t worry.”

“I definitely will!”

“I will definitely get into the best Card Master University!”

“Definitely!”

…