124: Advance to [Platinum 2], B-level contract

Chapter 124: Promoted to Platinum 2, B-rank Contract

However, just before losing consciousness, a warmth suddenly enveloped him.

Then, he heard a deafening roar.

When Shi Li opened his eyes again, he was already lying in the private Healing Room of the Show Card Hall.

Pure white ceiling, somewhat dazzling lights.

As his consciousness gradually cleared, a figure walked in.

"Curator."

Shi Li opened his mouth, realizing a heavy sense of fatigue.

But other than that, there was no other discomfort.

"You're awake."

Xiu Qingshan stood with his arms crossed.

"What's going on?"

"I've learned everything that happened inside. Now, to make a long story short..."

Xiu Qingshan began to explain to him.

It turned out that the foreign land had been successfully closed. The Grand Priestess hadn't entirely lied about this matter.

The Divine Stone Array was originally the Yu Clan's method to close the Space-Time Trace, but she had interfered, turning it into a path leading to the Fel Energy world.

After the Grand Priestess was gone, the Divine Stone Array returned to its proper function with the collective effort of the Yu Clan.

Ultimately, the Space-Time Trace was perfectly completed, and the threat from that foreign land was thoroughly resolved.

As for Shi Li himself, he had been unconscious for a full 24 hours.

It turned out that when he was attacked by the black giant hand, it was the World Will of that world that saved Shi Li.

Otherwise, he might have been directly refined on the spot.

And to thank Shi Li for defeating the Grand Priestess, the World Will also gifted Shi Li a present.

"A present?"

Shi Li checked his card deck and found that there was indeed one extra card.

The card's image was a pink glowing heart.

【Will of Yu Yu'an】: Using this card allows a specific two-star card to directly Star Ascension to three stars. This is a three-star Star Ascension token card, and it's clear that the 'specific card' refers to 【Cicada Wing Patrol】.

"Comfortable."

Even though he was still feeling unwell, Shi Li still had to say he was comfortable.

The description of this item was completely different from ordinary Star Ascension token cards.

Other Star Ascension token cards initiate a simulated mission.

This one, however, allows for a direct Star Ascension!

Is this the Healing for a Unique Character Card from its native world?

"The doctor said your body has no major issues. How do you feel yourself?"

Xiu Qingshan inquired.

"I'm actually fine."

Shi Li shrugged.

He was just a bit tired, and another half-day of rest should be enough to Recovery him.

"You were quite lucky this time. There's something I must tell you."

Xiu Qingshan's expression was not as relaxed as his: "Because Fel Energy wanted to borrow our Space-Time Trace, for a short period, the passages of the three worlds overlapped unstably.

During this overlap, our instruments detected an extremely strong fluctuation.

This fluctuation came from the 【Transcendents】."

"What is a 【Transcendent】?"

Shi Li remained unfazed.

So, you didn't know, kid.

So Xiu Qingshan began to explain to him.

Above the 【Emerald】 rank is 【Diamond】.

After reaching the peak of Emerald, obtaining a five-star Character Card, commonly known as an S-rank card, allows one to advance to 【Diamond】.

However, above 【Diamond】, there actually exists another rank.

【Transcendent】.

"The 【Diamond】 rank only goes from 1 to 9. For every additional five-star Character Card, the rank increases by 1 level.

When you possess 10 five-star Character Cards and can place them all into a 9+1 deck, you can advance to 【Transcendent】.

However, this rank is too distant, not just for you, but even for me."

Xiu Qingshan explained the meaning of 【Transcendent】.

A Character Card upgrading from four stars to five stars is not as simple as the previous one-to-two, two-to-three, or three-to-four Star Ascension.

The lifelong dream of countless 【Emerald】 card players is merely to advance to 【Diamond】.

Even across the entire Blue Star, Xiu Qingshan didn't know if any 【Transcendent】 card players existed.

"Comfortable, so am I doomed then?"

Shi Li directly showed Xiu Qingshan his card player panel.

Several lines of text information were recorded on it.

【You have attracted the attention of someone from the Blacklight Society.】

【He has marked you.】

"!"

Upon seeing these two lines of text, Xiu Qingshan's pupils couldn't help but contract.

"It seems this Blue Star-connected foreign land might not be that simple—"

He said in a deep voice.

The worlds invaded by Fel Energy are countless, and the number of failures is innumerable.

If merely because an invasion plan was disrupted, they would target a small 【Platinum 1】 card player, then the other party must be truly bored out of his mind.

"Is it possible that it's not a problem with the foreign land, but rather that I'm too outstanding and aroused his jealousy?"

"That's not impossible either."

Faced with Shi Li's optimistic demeanor, Xiu Qingshan couldn't help but smile wryly.

If it were anyone else being targeted by a 【Transcendent】 card player, they might have been scared out of their wits.

This kid, however, still had the presence of mind to be boastful.

But it was precisely this kind of temperament that was most rare, causing Xiu Qingshan to secretly raise his evaluation of Shi Li once more.

After the college entrance exam duel, he would have a good talk with him.

"Aren't you worried?"

He couldn't help but ask.

"If that guy was truly capable, I should be a corpse by now, right?"

Shi Li shrugged.

"You're right. This foreign land had a World Will, and our Blue Star also has one, even at a much higher level.

The existence of Fel Energy is intolerable to every world.

If the opponent truly is an influential figure in the Blacklight Society, then under the obstruction of the Blue Star's Will, he would certainly be unable to descend personally."

What Xiu Qingshan said was true.

While 【Transcendent】 card players represent formidable strength, they also represent a scale that cannot easily travel to other worlds.

Otherwise, if he could solve the problem by acting personally, why would he need an agent like the Grand Priestess?

So offending the Blacklight Society is not terrifying; there are many card players on Blue Star who have grudges with the Blacklight Society.

Though it might not be to the extent of being marked like Shi Li.

"However, in the future, if you encounter anything related to Fel Energy in a foreign land, you still need to be careful."

"No problem."

Shi Li nodded, eagerly looking at Xiu Qingshan.

He felt that this topic had been discussed enough, and it was time for the next one.

"The rest of the matters will be handled by Director Hou for you."

Xiu Qingshan knew exactly what Shi Li was thinking, patted his shoulder, and then left.

Half an hour later, while Shi Li was still devouring the hospital meal.

"Little Shi! You've made a great contribution this time!"

Director Hou walked in, carrying bags of gifts.

"Brother Hou, you've finally arrived."

Shi Li reluctantly put down his lunchbox.

Subsequently, Director Hou explained everything to Shi Li one by one.

Firstly, his cultivation contract had been upgraded again.

Aside from some trivial benefits, the main improvements were as follows:

C → B-rank contract, monthly payment of 12,000 → 20,000 cubic coins.

8 → 7 discount on purchasing material cards under the Show Card Hall.

One three-star material card issued every month.

One three-star token card issued every three months. The 70% discount on sales to Shi Li was actually lower than the Show Card Hall's acquisition price.

This means that if Shi Li purchases material cards at the Show Card Hall, the Show Card Hall would be losing money.

Shi Li could even use this channel to buy cheap materials for Shi Yuan.

However, if he intended to exploit the Card Hall by reselling materials in large quantities for profit, it would be prohibited.

Actually, the quality of the three-star material card issued each month was not very high, so he temporarily stored it on Director Hou's advice.

In principle, the Card Hall allowed accumulating several slightly inferior ones to exchange for a high-quality one.

"It's the beginning of the month, so 20,000 cubic coins will be transferred to your account shortly."

After announcing the details of the B-rank contract, Director Hou expressed a slight regret: "It's a pity you haven't achieved card resonance yet, otherwise you could have joined our Card Hall's university."

Three-system card resonance, 【Platinum】 rank, B-rank cultivation contract—Shi Li only lacked the first one.

"You just mentioned that a benefit of the B-rank contract is that family members can have a private tutor from the Card Hall."

Shi Li, however, was concerned about something else.

"Yes, but I don't think your brother has any time left."

Director Hou was initially stunned, then gave a wry smile.

Shi Yuan's summer courses were already fully booked; he had personally arranged them at Shi Li's suggestion.

"It's fine, more classes won't hurt.

Are there any drugs that allow people not to sleep?"

"I still advise against taking such drugs. I'll see if we can try to fit it in wherever possible."

Director Hou had already begun to mourn for Shi Yuan.

After handing over the contract upgrade matters, Director Hou began to announce Shi Li's performance points settlement for this foreign land mission.

Shi Li's performance points came from three aspects.

Firstly, his contribution to the 【Core Event】 mission.

Although he single-handedly over-completed the Divine Stone Gather, strictly speaking, of the red, yellow, green, and blue that the Pioneer Team was responsible for, he only gathered green and blue.

At most, this accounted for 50% of the performance quota.

Therefore, it was calculated as 30,000 performance points.

Secondly, the number of demons killed while guarding the Divine Stone Array.

Although the demons were actually there to destroy the Fel Energy formation, the Divine Stone Array ultimately served its purpose of closing the Space-Time Trace.

Therefore, the entire guarding process cannot be said to be meaningless.

Relevant numbers can be extracted directly from the wristbands configured for the Pioneer Team.

For this item, another 20,000 performance points are added.

The third scoring item is one that Shi Li possesses alone.

That is, defeating the High Priest.

This matter is absolutely the top priority for the closing of this foreign realm.

If Shi Li had not defeated the opponent, then the entire Pioneer Team would probably have been annihilated.

Moreover, the various costs invested in solving subsequent problems would also greatly increase.

Therefore, for this item, Shi Li received a full 150,000 performance points.

"So you now have 200,000 performance points. Besides being able to exchange them for 200,000 cubic coins, you can also convert them into Card Hall points."

Director Hou specially explained.

Card Hall points are actually the points for internal employees of their Show Card Hall.

"If I were to give personal advice, converting them into points would be more cost-effective."

Although Card Hall points are certainly not as versatile as cubic coins.

However, for example, something that would cost 100 cubic coins outside can be bought for 95 points inside the Card Hall.

Adding Shi Li's contract discount, it might even cost less than 90 points.

It can be said to be quite a bargain.

Of course, the quantity and variety of goods inside the Card Hall are definitely much less than in the social market.

But relatively, sometimes some special items are only sold in the Card Hall's internal shop.

"Allow me to consider it."

Facing this question, Shi Li fell into hesitation.

Performance points can be exchanged for cubic coins or Card Hall points, but cubic coins cannot be exchanged for Card Hall points.

So after consideration, Shi Li decided to first exchange for 100,000 cubic coins.

The remaining 100,000 performance points would be kept for now to see the situation.

This way, with this month's contract subsidy, he would have 120,000 cubic coins in hand.

After half a day of rest, Shi Li returned home.

"Let's get a Star Ascension done first."

In his room, he pulled out the card, [Yu Yu'an's Will].

[Yu Yu'an's Will]: Using this card allows a specific two-star card to directly Star Ascension to three stars. "Can it really go straight up? It won't give only 60% completion, will it?"

With a hint of doubt, he combined the two cards.

Buzz!

Then a purple light lit up, and text popped up before his eyes.

[You have completed this simulation, with a completion rate of 100%.]

[You can obtain Character Card [Cicada Wing Patrol (Three Stars)] x1.]

[You can obtain Hand Cards [Counter (LV2)] x1, [Shield (LV2)] x1.]

[You can obtain Item Cards [Yu Yu'an's Blessing] x1, [Balance System Optimization] x1.]

[Yes / No to consume 13,000 cubic coins to reset this mission.]

"Comfortable."

When he saw the "100%" text, Shi Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Then another line of text popped up before his eyes.

[Balance System Resonance]: 60% → 80%

Now, the Balance System resonance has directly caught up with the Rage System.

In addition, Shi Li also reached the Platinum 2 rank.

After the warm current swept through, his personal ability panel also received an upgrade.

[Rank]: Platinum 1 → Platinum 2

[Stamina]: 201 / 201 (3.1 ↑) → 216 / 216 (3.3 ↑)

[Energy]: 222 / 222 (1.8 ↑) → 238 / 238 (2.0 ↑)

He now had a feeling that even if an ordinary person rode a bicycle tirelessly for the entire journey, they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with his pace.

"Let's look at the card face."

The numerical panel of [Cicada Wing Patrol] did not change at all.

One of its entries, however, did receive an upgrade.

[Fel Purge - Passive]: Cicada Wing Patrol deals 10 → 15 points of damage to all Fel Energy cards revealed each round, and double for derivative cards (T0).

It deals 15 points of damage to regular Fel Energy cards and 30 points of damage to derivative cards.

This 30 points of damage is particularly significant.

One must know that among summoned cards, few have 30 health points.

And this damage is in the T0 phase, meaning the opponent cannot [Defense] it, and it also does not affect [Cicada Wing Patrol]'s own actions.

"With this strong Counter entry, dealing with Fel Energy cards will be even more effortless."

In addition, [Cicada Wing Patrol] gained a new entry.

[Spiritual Leader - Passive]: After Cicada Wing Patrol leaves the field, it reveals an ally's ace card. "This entry is good."

In the future, he wouldn't have to rely on [Movement] to reveal his ace card early.

After all, that was a T3 hand card, with too many variables.

If someone blocked the path or hard CC caused [Movement] to fail, the plan would fail.

"As expected of a functional Character Card, it has so many entries."

Even without counting the special attack type [Fel Purge], [Cicada Wing Patrol] has a full 4 entries, allowing for ample entry combinations.

After viewing the card face, it was time for the hand cards.

[LV2 Counter]: Makes 1 LV1~2 hand card played by the opponent this round ineffective.

To deal with LV2 hand cards, one must rely on LV2 [Counter].

[LV2 Shield]: Blocks 20 points of damage for 2 cards separately within this round. (T1)

Although the Shield value decreased, it gained 1 target.

The total Shield value increased, theoretically capable of blocking more damage.

Finally, there was the item card.

[Balance System Optimization]: When holding this card, it can reduce the score of 1 card in [Balance System Trial] by 10 (bound).

"Good card. My resonance has now reached 80%, so activating [Balance System Trial] is not too far off."

After organizing the gains from [Cicada Wing Patrol], it was time for the Red Blade Maiden.

"120,000 small cubic coins are enough to refresh 10 times. I don't believe I can't get you."

Shi Li once again took out [Crimson Trial · True].

Now, there was less than a week until the next stage of the college entrance examination duel, so this mission had to be completed.

So, this endeavor casually spent another 55,000 cubic coins.

When the 6th refresh arrived, Shi Li, relying on the strategy he had explored, passed through all obstacles and arrived at the place where he had failed last time.

["Come on, attack me." The mysterious person said to Lin for the tenth time, with his hands behind his back.]

[Please help her make a choice.]

"Just feeding moves took 10 steps. When will this mission end?"

Shi Li grumbled as he looked at the options.

[A. Burn yourself out and unleash a sword strike.]

[B. Comprehend the mysterious person's teachings, achieving unity of spirit and form.]

[C. Tell the other party, "I'm not playing with you anymore, goodbye."]

Previously, Shi Li had chosen A and B, both ending in mission failure.

Option C had appeared in the previous 9 options, and choosing it would definitely end the mission.

Who would have thought that this time, it was the true correct answer?

So he chose C, goodbye.

[Lin informed the other party of her thoughts.]

["Not bad, knowing how to control your emotions is the mark of a qualified martial artist," the mysterious person said.]

"Hey, hey, you didn't say that when I chose 'goodbye' before."

["I have a secret manual here, take it and comprehend it."]

["The future hope of the Dragon Horn Clan."]

[The mysterious person left something behind and turned to leave.]

[Only Lin remained, gazing at his retreating figure, deep in thought.]

[This mission has ended.]

[You can obtain Hand Card [Crimson Liberation: True] x1.]

[Can be redone after 30 days.]

[Yes / No to consume 11,000 cubic coins to reset this mission.]

"Can't you make up any more? This ending is truly without warning."

Shi Li sighed deeply while grumbling.

No matter what, it felt good.

This simulation mission, which only had options, had cost him over a hundred thousand cubic coins in total.

It finally bore fruit.

"Is this a fated hand card? It's too strong!"

Looking at the text description of the hand card, even Shi Li couldn't help but gasp.

It could be said that this hand card of the Red Blade Maiden was something all Rage System Character Cards dreamed of.

With it in hand, it would definitely become his strongest killing move, a decisive blow in the next stage!

So Shi Li clicked "No."

A red light suddenly shone on his body.

[Raging]: 80% → 100%

As the text popped up, Shi Li felt a sudden enlightenment, as if his entire aura had changed.

It was as if something full of vitality swept through every cell in his body.

Achieving resonance did not bring him any substantial changes, but it seemed as if a trace of Abundant spirit had been added to his aura.

"It wasn't easy."

At this moment, Shi Li was filled with mixed emotions.

By now, even if he ultimately did not reach an agreement with Qingchuan University, he would still be fully capable of applying to the Four Famous Universities.

However, if an agreement was reached, the rewards would still be quite substantial.

So he still needed to continue working hard.

"The Rampage Trial has opened."

Opening the card player panel, Shi Li saw that an additional option had appeared.

Rubbing his hands like a fly.

He had to try this immediately.