139: [The Old Prisoner]

Chapter 139: Olden Cage Dweller

The day before the official start of the second day of the competition, the matchups for the Round of 64 to 32 were finalized.

“How about it, do you two have confidence?”

Below the stage, Huo Guang smiled as he asked Shi Li and Chang Zhun.

“If every match before mine ends on time, then my match time will be exactly when I’m in my best state.”

Chang Zhun spoke some nonsense about being on time.

“As long as we don’t run into a conceptual god, everything will be fine.”

Shi Li, on the other hand, glanced at A Ya Jun not far away.

This was the only Platinum 8 player in the tournament, and he was not his opponent in this round.

He and Chang Zhun both drew a Platinum 6 genius from the Banlan Tribe.

“Then I hope you perform well.”

Huo Guang wasn’t too worried about these two, especially Shi Li.

Basically, as long as they didn’t draw a player above Platinum 7, it was considered a good draw.

After all, when Shi Li was Platinum 3 in the college entrance exam, he could already defeat Platinum 6 opponents.

As for Chang Zhun, there was even less to say. Huo Guang had played a few sparring matches with Chang Zhun these past few days.

Although he had an overwhelming rank advantage, he just wanted to say that he wouldn't want to encounter such a card player.

The two members of the Lanxing team had relatively late draw positions.

The Round of 64 to 32 was played over two days.

Shi Li was scheduled for the morning of the second day, and Chang Zhun for the afternoon of the second day.

On the first day, both of them could relax and watch other people’s matches.

Shi Li’s most watched target was naturally A Ya Jun.

Having drawn the 4th match on the morning of the first day, he was definitely the most watched player by all contestants.

The first 3 matches had some exciting ones and some uneventful ones.

Two of them were internal conflicts within the Banlan Tribe, and the remaining one was an outsider fighting the Banlan Tribe.

After watching these 3 matches, Shi Li could only say that he felt that the card players in Gan Territory were actually not much different from those on Lanxing.

Unlike the closed world of Yu Yu Hui and her companions, Gan Territory was connected to multiple card player civilizations, and various card goods had naturally circulated freely for a long time.

They also mainly obtained character cards through token cards.

Moreover, because the local area was rich in magical beasts, they had an additional channel for obtaining character cards compared to Lanxing.

After much anticipation, the first 3 matches finally ended, and the highly anticipated A Ya Jun finally made his appearance.

His opponent was a Platinum 7 player from an outside tribe.

The opponent’s face looked rather grim, clearly unwilling to have drawn A Ya Jun.

There were a total of 21 Platinum 7 players at this stage, 4 of whom were from outside tribes.

He was the unluckiest of those 4, having drawn the King.

“Although both are a difference of 1 deployable character card, the gap between Platinum 8 and Platinum 7 is much larger than the gap between Platinum 6 and Platinum 5.”

Watching the two take their positions, Huo Guang suddenly spoke, “Because Platinum 8 has a 7+1 deck, having already opened the third column of card slots.

So, in his first round, he can reveal 3 cards at once.

Starting directly with 3 versus 2, the advantage is huge.

Because the base attack power of 3 cards has already reached 90 points, only 10 more points need to be added through other means to instantly kill a 100-health card.”

After hearing this, Shi Li looked around, puzzled, “Did anyone ask you?”

The match hadn’t even started yet, so why was he possessed by a phantom commentator?

Soon, A Ya Jun’s match against his opponent officially began.

Perhaps knowing that all contestants were watching him, his 3 initial revealed cards did not include a three-star character card.

Three two-star character cards—this was clearly aimed at hiding his deck’s true strength.

However, among the 3 character cards, one balanced card came with Momentum, and one Rage card came with a damage-boosting Smite that increased output at the cost of health.

The theoretical output value of the 3 cards in the first round directly reached 130 points.

Then, the last Wise card carried Stun.

This meant the opponent couldn’t use Defense, and their health would only survive if it exceeded 130 points.

Of course, the opponent was no pushover either.

His first row of 2 Persistence cards uniformly carried 10 points of damage reduction and an initial 30-point Shield.

Surprisingly, this actually exceeded the 130-point death line.

After one round, although A Ya Jun gained a significant advantage in health, he failed to successfully defeat the opponent’s card.

But when the second round arrived, A Ya Jun directly showed his opponent what despair meant.

He revealed 4 card slots at once.

“Buzz—”

As the cards were flipped over, the 4 card slots transformed into a vast ocean.

On the surface of the sea, a massive dark shadow slowly rose.

It was trapped in an even larger rusty iron cage, looking somewhat like a round-headed octopus, but its tentacles were excessively numerous, densely packed together, some even intertwined.

Olden Cage Dweller

Wise, 120 points, two-star attack 120, 400/400, 100/100

Olden Rules - Characteristic: Olden Cage Dweller can carry 1 additional keyword

Giant - Passive: Olden Cage Dweller occupies 22 card slots, maximum health +300

Inspiration - Passive: Olden Cage Dweller's energy cap +50

Magic Shock - 50 Energy: Olden Cage Dweller attacks 1 target, with Stun effect

Huo Guang: “Characteristic Giant card!”

Chang Zhun: “Such high stats.”

Shi Li: “This card is really ugly.”

From the number of keywords, this card was comparable to a four-star or even a three-star character card.

The keywords Inspiration and Magic Shock are common in the Wise series.

However, when paired with a high-score Giant card, they received a numerical boost.

This is a relatively common phenomenon.

While identical skills are not absolutely fixed, they sometimes undergo adaptive adjustments.

For example, high-attack cards have high skill energy consumption, while low-attack cards have low skill energy consumption.

Another example is how the Inspiration, originally with a 10-point cap, becomes 50 points when placed on a Giant card.

Of course, a 50-point Inspiration keyword on a Giant card would also consume several times more materials during card creation than a regular Inspiration.

High attack, high health, plus hard control that bypasses Defense.

Clearly, A Ya Jun was preparing to end the battle without revealing his trump card.

The final result was as he wished; the foreign genius couldn’t organize any effective offense and the battle was quickly concluded.

The first day’s matches thus ended with spectators watching.

That night, Huo Guang found Shi Li’s room late at night.

“Your performance in the first stage was too outstanding, so your opponent in this battle might be well-prepared.

We spent a lot of effort to get your opponent’s usual deck. You should also get ready.”

Although Shi Li’s ranking in the first stage wasn’t high, his reputation had already been established.

Because everyone else was fighting with all their might, while he was leisurely hunting hunters in reverse.

One should know that those hunters were not just anyone could deal with. Any attentive person collecting information would know the value of Shi Li’s points in the first stage.

“Alright, I’ll take a look.”

Shi Li actually had a plan.

When dueling those hunters, he deliberately held back.

Red Blade Maiden was never taken out from beginning to end; this was one of his biggest trump cards for this competition.

After all, Lanxing and Gan Territory were separated by a Space-Time Trace, so it was much harder for outsiders to obtain information about him than for him to obtain information about them.

Tomorrow’s opponent was Ayaya, a Platinum 6 card player.

Her deck mainly focused on a Momentum + Chasing Wind warm-up followed by sustained output tactics.

After understanding his opponent’s deck and usual playstyle, Shi Li went to bed early to rest.

The next morning, he arrived at the competition venue full of energy.

When it was his turn to step onto the stage, he saw a timid-looking Banlan Tribe girl.

“Hello, Shi Li Lan.”

Ayaya greeted him politely, not even daring to look him in the eye.

She seemed quite nervous.

“Hello, let’s begin.”

However, Shi Li Still caught a hint of cunning in her eyes.

Her acting wasn’t good enough, and this feigned weakness was too poor.

Soon, both sides finished placing their cards.

His 4 Characteristic cards, besides Red Blade Maiden, had already been displayed during his duels with hunters, so there was no need to hide them.

He immediately revealed 3 cards in a row.

They were a Jumping Guard with Stasis + Taunt + Big Jump.

A cloud river with Linked Reveal + Quantum Entanglement + Revival.

And a white mountain with Shield + Barrier.

However, unlike his previous formation, this time the cloud river was placed behind the white mountain, rather than behind the Jumping Guard.

Ayaya was not surprised by this, revealing 2 Momentum cards carrying control keywords.

Ayaya's card reveal already showed her aggressive intent before the fight even began.

Two Momentum cards, even if one is prioritized for attack, the other will definitely be able to warm up.

However, Shi Li's deck, with the Jumping Guard having no cards behind it, likely means his ace card isn't in that column.

Is he trying to use a 'no-threat' tactic to make the Jumping Guard deal more damage?

In the conventional 4+16+1 tactic, the player places a highly threatening character card in the first row of a non-ace column.

This forces the opponent to deal with that threat first.

This indirectly buys more survival time and a more lenient output environment for the character card in the ace column.

But occasionally, players will adopt an unconventional, counter-intuitive tactic.

They place a low-threat character card in the first row of a non-ace column, making it easy for others to ignore it.

However, it is precisely this neglect that allows the low-threat card to survive for a long time and get more opportunities to deal damage.

Shi Li's current card placement is a typical 'no-threat' tactic.

"But placing a Persistence card here doesn't seem appropriate."

"That's right, if others don't actively attack it, it can't even charge."

"By the time it's dealt with at the very end, it won't be able to cause any trouble."

However, Shi Li's 'no-threat' tactic was so utterly unthreatening that it made the audience a bit skeptical.

Soon, both sides played their hand cards, and the character cards exchanged basic attacks.

Although Shi Li revealed three cards first, he didn't gain an advantage in the card game this round.

Because his choice was to keep cloud river Still.

As the second round arrived, Shi Li revealed his fourth, and final, regular card.

Unexpectedly, he didn't reveal Cicada Wing Patrol.

Instead, he revealed the two-star Thunderhorn Deer.

"This move, a very good reveal."

"The earlier a character card that needs to warm up is revealed, the more likely it is to be effective."

"Don't just look at it being a two-star character card; I think it's very suitable for this last row position."

Although the audience thought it was suitable, Ayaya didn't see it that way.

Seeing this card reveal, a hint of displeasure appeared in her eyes.

The opponent is Platinum 4, but so far, she has only received information on three three-star character cards.

Yet, even with only three, the opponent has only revealed two in this card game so far.

There are Still two two-star character cards, which clearly indicates he is conserving his strength.

It also shows that he looks down on her, believing he can win without using his full main deck.

However, to maintain her persona, she remained silent.

She continued to meekly reveal her third regular card.

Although cloud river remained Still, Shi Li Still gained a clear advantage this round.

Because white mountain had 10 Shield, making it tougher than the opponent, and in the previous round, the Jumping Guard had revealed Taunt, helping to divert firepower.

Therefore, one of the opponent's front-row cards fell first, while white mountain stubbornly held on with low health.

"Shi Li is temporarily ahead, but the situation isn't good."

"Indeed, this round he has no more regular cards to reveal, while the opponent Still has two."

"It's hard to say. cloud river has already charged 50 energy. Next round, it might use Quantum Entanglement to instantly kill someone."

"Even if it can't instantly kill, it can deplete the opponent's energy."

"Thinking about it carefully, this cloud river is quite effective against warm-up cards.

A typical Momentum and Chasing Wind only Recovery 10 energy per round, while its 20 energy for Quantum Entanglement is always more efficient than the opponent's.

So, it means the opponent's Charge speed can't keep up with Quantum Entanglement's energy-draining speed, causing them to constantly fail to warm up successfully."

"But no matter what, if Shi Li can't cause an opponent's casualty this round, it will be bad."

"Next round, Ayaya can reveal one more regular card, which will definitely give her a card count advantage over him."

Although Shi Li had the upper hand on the field, considering what was to come, everyone was not optimistic about his outcome.

At the end of this round, white mountain was taken off the field after absorbing all the damage.

However, Shi Li wasn't able to eliminate any of the opponent's cards this round.

As the new round arrived, Ayaya revealed her fourth regular card.

The game was Still 3 cards versus 3 cards.

Shi Li was at a disadvantage in terms of card count.

However, his 'no-threat' tactic, at this moment, successfully created a change of pace.

Using a Movement hand card, the 20/50+50/50 Jumping Guard was moved to white mountain's original position.

But what surprised everyone was that cloud river remained Still and did not make a move.

Under Ayaya's Treatment hand card, Shi Li's side didn't even manage to deal effective damage this round.

"How is it — the situation seems different again."

At this point, some astute observers had noticed the signs.

"The Jumping Guard can withstand output for two more rounds, and the Thunderhorn Deer has already finished Charge with Shi Li's help."

"This round, he will definitely be able to take out one of the opponent's character cards."

Sure enough, under Thunderhorn Deer's Flaw + Double Strike, Ayaya's other front-row card with less than full health was also eliminated.

By the time she revealed her last regular card, the card situation was Still 3V3.

At this point, the Jumping Guard truly began to play its role.

With its current health, it could Still withstand three more rounds of output before being removed from the field.

"My goodness, this is no 'no-threat' tactic at all."

"I think it's more like a 'big threat' tactic."

"Who can withstand these two Persistence cards taking damage in turns?"

"Ayaya was careless, did she not expect the opponent to move the front-row card?"

"No, the real big threat is probably Still to come—"

Amidst the discussions, someone pointed out a more crucial issue.

After several rounds of Still and white mountain's 'power bank' role, cloud river's energy had reached a terrifying 75/100.

It only needed to remain Still for one more round, and it could even unleash Revival!

Clearly, Ayaya had also thought of this.

At this moment, she had forgotten to maintain her persona, her face etched with disgust.

What kind of person is this guy?

Is he going to make her play three Persistence front-row cards in a row?

She was practically fed up.

The key was that if this continued, the situation would truly turn against her!

But even knowing the direction the card game was heading, she had no way to resolve it.

Later, Shi Li didn't choose Revival. Instead, he finally let cloud river make a move, instantly eliminating one of Ayaya's full-health cards with Thunderhorn Deer's Flaw.

And by this time, the Jumping Guard Still hadn't left the field.

Eventually, the final situation became cloud river + Thunderhorn Deer against Ayaya's one regular card.

In a corner of the arena, sat the geniuses of the Banlan Tribe and A Ya Jun.

"Lan Shan, what do you think?"

With Ayaya's defeat certain, A Ya Jun looked at his companion.

Lan Shan, Platinum 7.

Although there were many Platinum 7 players now, he only thought highly of this rival and friend.

In A Ya Jun's eyes, Lan Shan was the only player in this Torch Raising Ceremony capable of threatening his championship.

The other Platinum 7 players were not yet capable.

"The Movement of the Jumping Guard is key.

The mechanism of staying on the field for at least three rounds is truly too strong, and Shi Li's timing was also just right."

Lan Shan expressed his approval.

"If it's just the first three rounds of the card game, it's actually not that important.

But by the mid-game, when all character cards are revealed and the enemy's deck output reaches its maximum, for the Jumping Guard to then withstand three more rounds, that concept is different."

A Ya Jun understood what the other party meant: "And cloud river, despite being just a 20-point Listen to the Wind card, also performed as the MVP in this card game."

"You're right."

Lan Shan nodded, battle intent flickering in his eyes: "However, if he were to meet me, this tactic wouldn't work.

He has specialized counter cards for Shi Li's tactics."