16: Promoted to Gold Rank

Five days later, after 10 refreshes, Shi Li finally managed to defeat the final BOSS.

【You have completed this simulation, with a completion rate of 63%.】

【You can obtain character card Red Blade Maiden (Two-Star) x1.】

【Do you wish to reset this mission for 1200 cubic coins? Yes/No.】

“Let me see the card’s details first.”

After previewing the Red Blade Maiden’s card, he immediately frowned.

This unique card, when upgraded to two-star, only gained an additional empty slot for a Trait.

“There aren’t even any bonus Traits.”

Clearly, Shi Li, who had spent over ten thousand cubic coins, was not satisfied with this result.

It seemed that only a higher completion rate would lead to a better final card.

So, he did not choose to complete the mission, but instead chose to continue refreshing.

With the successful experience of the first time, the subsequent process became much smoother.

On the 18th refresh, he finally got the result he wanted.

【You have completed this simulation, with a completion rate of 100%.】

【You can obtain character card Red Blade Maiden (Two-Star) x1.】

【You can obtain hand card Healing (LV1) x2.】

【You can obtain item cards Dimensional Intervention x1, Crimson Trial · True x1.】

【Do you wish to reset this mission for 1200 cubic coins? Yes/No.】

“That was really not easy.”

Shi Li let out a long breath and clicked confirm.

It could only be said that it was worthy of a two-star token card; 100% completion actually gave two hand cards and even two item cards, which he had never encountered before.

【Congratulations, you have been promoted to Gold 1.】

Along with the confirmation, Shi Li felt a warm current, accompanied by a strong golden light, surge through his body.

Wherever the light touched, his body felt indescribably comfortable.

He felt his perception of the outside world become sharper, his body coordination improved, and his strength increased.

Thump thump thump!

He could even clearly hear footsteps approaching outside the door.

“Shi Li! Did someone throw a flashbang into your room?!”

Soon, Shi Yuan’s voice rang out from behind the door.

“Don’t yell, no one would do such a thing except you.”

Shi Li opened the door.

“Then you…”

Shi Yuan thought of something, so he checked through the Card Player system.

“Gold 1?! You actually got promoted?!”

He gasped in surprise on the spot.

“For a genius, isn’t that to be expected?”

Shi Li lifted his chin.

“If this continues, how will I ever defeat you?!”

“Dream on in your next life.”

After chasing his brother away, he began to check the specific card rewards.

First was the Red Blade Maiden.

From its projected appearance, this card hadn’t changed much, except that her attire seemed a bit more refined, and the gleam of her weapon was brighter.

【Red Blade Maiden】

Rage, 40 points, Two-Star

Attack 40, 120/120

【Tenacity - Trait】: Red Blade Maiden possesses the 【Invulnerability】 effect

【Abundant - Passive】: Red Blade Maiden’s max HP +20

【Crimson Blaze - 50 HP】: Red Blade Maiden attacks 1 target, dealing damage equal to 20% of the target’s max HP (T4)

(【Invulnerability】: Immune to all crowd control)

“It actually brought out the skill from the simulation mission, amazing!”

After reading this new Trait, Shi Li couldn't help but exclaim.

The reason he was able to smoothly defeat the final BOSS, Lord Horned Dragon, was precisely because he had obtained this skill, which dealt damage based on the target’s maximum HP, during the roguelike process.

Otherwise, that terrifying 10,000 HP was simply not something a regular deck could handle.

Undoubtedly, Crimson Blaze was the absolute bane of such high HP targets.

However, in a PVP card game, it was somewhat inferior.

When attacking a regular 100 HP card, it would consume 50 HP from Red Blade Maiden and deal 40+20 = 60 points of damage.

That wasn't particularly cost-effective.

If the target was a 200 HP ace card, it would deal 40+40 = 80 points of damage.

That would be acceptable.

“As the level of monsters increases, their base stats might also increase.

This skill would be a good choice for fighting those high-HP monsters.”

Shi Li stroked his chin.

At the same time, he also noticed that his resonance panel had changed again.

【Rage Resonance】: 20% → 40%

“As expected, my guess was correct. As long as I continue to strengthen this unique Rage card, Red Blade Maiden, my resonance will continue to increase.”

This was also very important good news.

It clearly pointed Shi Li in the direction of his efforts.

In addition to the character card’s star upgrade, the other two hand cards also enriched his hand card deck.

But compared to the hand cards, what interested him more was the item card.

Item cards were a third category of functional cards, different from character cards and hand cards.

For example, token cards belonged to a type of consumable item card.

He heard that some item cards could increase the success rate of card creation, while others could increase the drop rate of monsters, and so on.

Also, only item cards could be transferred between Card Players.

“Item cards are also divided into consumable and permanent types, and this one seems to be permanent.”

Shi Li checked the card back pattern and came to a conclusion.

Seeing the type, he then looked at the specific effect.

【Dimensional Intervention】: When holding this card, you can add 1 of your character cards to the deck of a simulation mission (bound).

“Perfect!”

Seeing this effect, Shi Li was delighted.

This meant that in future simulation missions, he could bring Red Blade Maiden into the simulation mission’s deck for use.

It should be known that in simulation missions, the final BOSS’s base stats were often overpowered.

One of the difficulties, like the Lord Horned Dragon, was having extremely high HP.

If he could bring Red Blade Maiden into the deck, his strategy efficiency would greatly increase.

After all, each refresh and reset cost a lot of hard-earned money.

As for the other item card, it was a token card.

He heard that there were several sources for token cards, and one of them was from simulation missions.

【Crimson Trial · True】: Can be used when Red Blade Maiden reaches three-star.

“It seems this is an exclusive token card for Red Blade Maiden, but I’m still a bit far from meeting the conditions right now.”

Currently, this was not something he could consider.

“The first round of the city-wide unified exam adopts a ‘melee’ mode to determine the top 32, and deck sustainability is a crucial point.

What I need most right now is 1 Healing character card.”

Looking at his balance of just over 2500, Shi Li gave a wry smile.

Token cards for Healing character cards were among the more expensive ones of the same rank.

This amount of money was clearly not enough to purchase one.

“But at least I finally made it.”

He opened another message.

It was a unified notification message sent by the Show Card Hall a few days ago.

The contract assessment date was set for the day after tomorrow, and the location was the Monster Training Ground.

So he didn't plan to go to school tomorrow either; he would get a good rest and then go to the assessment.

…

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