183: Promoted to [Platinum 10], [Withering Dragon] strengthened

Chapter 183: Promoted to Platinum 10, Withering Dragon Enhanced

“The mission is already complete?”

Shi Li was somewhat caught off guard.

It seemed that as long as he teleported back to Ashiro, he would receive the reward and unlock the next mission.

However, Shi Li was not in a hurry to leave; he chose to stay and observe the battle.

Actually, the Water Dragon's stats were not bad; it followed a support route.

【Azure Lake Water Dragon】

Listen to the Wind, Attack 50, 3000 / 3000, 0 / 100

Movement Distance 7, Attack Distance 1

【Aquatic - Passive】: Azure Lake Water Dragon recovers 10 Energy per round in [Water] terrain.

【Azure - Passive】: Azure Lake Water Dragon takes 20% less damage in [Blue] terrain.

【Grace - Passive】: Allied units affected by Azure Lake Water Dragon's buff gain 10 Charge.

【Nourish - 10 Energy】: Azure Lake Water Dragon grants 10 Healing to allied units within its Movement range.

【Life - 40 Energy】: Azure Lake Water Dragon Revives 1 allied unit (Range 7).

It followed a support route for its allies, and the strength of its minion chess pieces was slightly higher than that of the Black Dragon.

If a chess player were to play PVE, this Azure Lake Water Dragon might not be easier to deal with than Araga's Offspring.

But with two monsters fighting each other, its disadvantage was obvious.

Araga's Offspring's attack was high enough to instantly kill one minion chess piece per round.

Even with Revival, it couldn't keep up.

However, when the two sides fought to the end, the Black Dragon, which clearly had the upper hand, did not deliver a killing blow.

After reducing the Water Dragon's HP to 20%, it actively Retreated.

【Roar, roar, roar!】

The chess game ended, and after demonstrating its power, it once again began its courtship dance.

【!】

But the proud Water Dragon still seemed unwilling to agree, plunging straight back into the lake.

The Black Dragon seemed to have some reservations about the Water Dragon in the lake.

So, after observing for a moment, it did not act rashly. Instead, it drank a large amount of water with a gurgling sound before spreading its wings and flying away.

Before leaving, it even urinated into the lake.

“After urinating, will it not come back to drink anymore?”

The habits of these dragons were truly incomprehensible.

【Gather some lake water with residual Araga's Offspring urine; it might be helpful to Ashiro.】

A line of text popped up, prompting Shi Li to take new action.

So, he pulled out a large mineral water bottle from his storage card, poured out the water inside onto the ground.

Then he filled the bottle to the brim with lake water.

As soon as he completed this action, he felt the lake surface vibrate.

【——】

The Water Dragon's huge head emerged.

Clear battle scars could be seen on its body.

Now was the time it needed to eat some small meat to replenish its Stamina.

“Uh—”

Shi Li instinctively wanted to use Instant Movement to escape, but his gaze involuntarily flickered to the tag above the opponent's head.

【Azure Lake Water Dragon ☆☆☆☆☆, 1 / 18】

Whoosh!

He immediately changed his mind and shot out a marker.

“Strike when the iron is hot. Consider it eliminating a menace for the people.”

He had to admit that he wouldn't have been confident in defeating the original Water Dragon.

But now that it was just a lone commander, wouldn't it be easy to deal with?

After the chessboard was set up, Shi Li saw that apart from a small portion of “shore” on his side, 90% of the entire map was covered by [Water] terrain.

【Water】: Non-aquatic chess pieces consume an additional 2 Movement distance.

“It doesn't matter; at most, it's just a few extra steps.”

Shi Li was indifferent to this terrain obstacle.

The opponent had no offensive skills, and no allies to heal or Revive it.

He could let it Charge casually; he wasn't afraid at all.

He directly used Jumping Guard + bo shan + Withering Dragon as the front line.

Fluorescent Vine + Crow Warrior + Lotus Succubus + Snail Walking Lady as support.

Red Blade Maiden + Flower Cudgel Leader for output.

With this chess set, defeating the lone Water Dragon was a piece of cake.

Whoosh~

When the game ended, a ball of light flew into Shi Li's hand.

【Azure Dragon Gallbladder】: Charge material (synthesis detected)

“Good stuff, I can actually use it?”

Shi Li was delighted.

However, this was not a good place to linger; he was afraid the Black Dragon would return.

So he quickly used Instant Movement to return to Anchor Town, and only then did he open his card library to check which card was compatible with this material.

In his understanding, he felt that three cards were more likely.

Red Blade Maiden and Withering Dragon, after all, they both had the Dragon card tag.

And then, there was Snail Walking Lady.

Because she was timid, and this was a gallbladder.

Well, that was a bit far-fetched.

After some final checks, he found that it was compatible with Withering Dragon.

【Please place the main chess piece.】

【Please place the main material.】

【Calculating results】

【Success rate is 10%. Do you wish to synthesize?】

“This success rate is much higher than the last time with Red Dragon's Blood.”

With money still in hand, Shi Li directly clicked synthesize.

This time, he got lucky.

With a 10% success rate, he succeeded on the first try.

As a result, Withering Dragon gained a new additional entry, which was indeed somewhat similar to the Water Dragon's entry, belonging to the support category.

【Old Death, New Life - Passive】: When Withering Dragon leaves the field, it grants 30 Charge to 1 target.

“Absolutely good stuff.”

The moment he saw this entry, Shi Li immediately made a connection.

Firstly, the Deathrattle entry still fit Withering Dragon's positioning. If you didn't clear it, it could pose a threat.

If you cleared it, its Deathrattle would make things difficult for you.

30 Charge was absolutely perfect for activating bo shan.

In his current tactics, Synchro - Yunshan, whether as the Persistence main body or the Listen to the Wind main body, was an absolutely crucial link.

However, a recurring problem in actual combat was the difficult balance between bo shan's HP and Energy.

This was not a problem that cloud river faced, as cloud river's Charge was very efficient, and it could both attack and defend. Even if its Energy wasn't used for fusion, it could be used to deal high Quantum Entanglement damage.

As for bo shan, the moment its Energy was almost fully charged was often the moment its life was in peril.

Once it was killed prematurely, it lost the chance to fuse.

If he tried to Charge in the first few rounds of the game, it was easy to be Countered.

If he placed it in the back row to find opportunities to Charge in the mid-to-late game, it wasted its damage-absorbing attribute.

Now with this 30 Charge as a base, fusion would become much smoother.

“An unexpected gain, how delightful.”

Shi Li put away the cards and then walked towards Ashiro's material shop.

Ashiro was still alone in the shop.

“You—you slaughtered another dragon?”

He sniffed, and his expression became strange.

“Just lucky, just lucky.”

Shi Li waved his hand.

Then, he informed the other party about the clues regarding Araga's Offspring.

And, incidentally, a bottle of lake water.

Because it contained the Black Dragon's urine.

“Good! Very good!”

When Ashiro saw this bottle of urine, he was as excited as a thirsty traveler seeing water in the desert: “With this, I can create magic tools to track it!”

“You've done very well, my friend!

A small token of my gratitude, it's nothing!”

【You have gained 100,000 cubic coins.】

Shi Li was a little surprised.

He didn't expect this old scoundrel to be so generous; even a phased mission could give so much.

And the reward for the previous mission was a question mark, which meant that based on the information and items he brought back, the reward might be variable.

“But before that, I still lack a few crafting materials, and I need your help to collect them.”

The familiar feeling of an NPC quest struck. 【Mission Updated】

【Search for the Evil Dragon Araga】

【Mission Content】: Ashiro is preparing to create items to track Araga's Offspring and needs some materials.

Red-type Dragon's Boogers, 0 / 1

Green-type Dragon's Armpit Hair, 0 / 1

Blue-type Dragon's Foot Skin, 0 / 1

White-type Dragon's Scalp Dander, 0 / 1

Black-type Dragon's Tooth Mud, 0 / 1

【Enemy Level】: ???

【Recommended Rank】: ???

【Reward】: ?

“—Is it interesting to make such gross things?”

Shi Li couldn't help but complain, and at the same time, expressed his confusion: “I can barely understand the others, but the question is, do dragons have armpit hair?”

“There's no other way, these are the materials needed. You can find a green-type dragon with armpit hair.”

Ashiro expressed his apology.

“To facilitate your search, I also have an item here.”

Saying that, he handed over a card.

“Oh?”

The style of this card was actually that of a cubic card item card.

What did that mean? It meant that even if it wasn't in the Chess Domain, it was still effective.

【Dragon Seeking Art】: When a dragon or its traces appear nearby, this card will display a prompt.

“OK, not bad.”

Shi Li accepted it, another pleasant surprise.

After completing this mission handover, he bid farewell to Ashiro.

Next, it was time to return to school.

Taking the airship, Shi Li returned to Hua Du City.

However, there were still a few days until the ranking match began, so he didn't go back immediately.

Instead, he chose a quiet private room in the Card Hall of District 11 to continue refreshing tasks.

After a day of refreshing, spending 500,000 cubic coins, he finally completed the task.

[Can obtain character card [Lotus Succubus (3-star)] x1.]

[Can obtain hand cards [Healing (LV2)] x1, [Healing (LV2)] x1, [Recovery (LV2)] x1.]

[Do you want to reset this task for 24,000 cubic coins? Yes/No.]

"No."

After clicking, text appeared.

[Rage System Resonance]: 120% → 130%

A warm current brought by the light swept through his body.

[Rank]: Platinum 9 → Platinum 10

[Stamina]: 372 / 372 → 387 / 387

[Energy]: 382 / 382 → 393 / 393

"Comfortable."

Let's take another look at the 3-star card face of the [Lotus Succubus].

[Lotus Succubus]

Berserk, 30 points, 3-star Attack 30, 100/100

[Whip of Pleasure - Characteristic]: Lotus Succubus's attack transforms into [Healing], consuming an equal amount (-10) of health (T5).

[Forced Love - Passive]: Lotus Succubus's Recovery effect ignores reductions. [Narcissism - Passive]: Lotus Succubus gains 10 points of [Healing] each turn (T5).

[Kiss of Betrayal - 30 Health]: Lotus Succubus grants 1 target 1 turn of [Defection] effect (T0).

[Pure Baptism - 30 Health]: Lotus Succubus grants 1 target [Purification] (T2).

([Defection]: Forced to attack an adjacent target behind it.)

([Purification]: Purifies negative effects on the target.)

"Finally, I have [Purification]."

This new entry pleased Shi Li greatly.

His deck was just missing something like this.

[Purification] was something hand cards couldn't provide.

Moreover, in single-hand card rules, the role of hand cards was greatly reduced, and there was also the worry of being [Countered].

The more these buff effects on character cards, the more this risk could be reduced.

In addition, her Healing conversion rate also increased.

Previously, it was 30 health, 60 health for 30 points, 60 points of [Healing]; now it has become 20 health, 50 health.

Quite good.

The [Characteristic] being strengthened was also the first time Shi Li had encountered it in his unique card deck so far.

Most importantly—he finally unlocked a complete card slot.

"I still have 225,000. Now, immediately, I'll do the task."

Just a few days ago, he received a salary subsidy from the Card Hall contract right after leaving the Chess Domain.

After clearing Abyss Layer 7 last time, his contract was upgraded to A+ rank.

His salary also increased from the previous 50,000 to 75,000.

Shi Li had been waiting for this task for a long time.

The good news was that he had refreshed this task once before.

So, its refresh cost remained at the initial 12,000 cubic coins.

Compared to the current refresh fee of over 20,000, this price was simply angelic.

He had enough money to refresh 19 times, so the chances of success were high.

So, he opened the panel, clicked to start the task, and the text popped up.

[Yu An has been having nightmares recently.]

[In her dreams, she is surrounded by countless Fel Energy.]

[Stage 1]

[You can freely assemble your deck.]

What appeared before him was a 9+1 card table.

And the monsters on the opposite side were still the same.

[Chaotic Nightmare]

Balanced, Attack 30, 100/100

[Nightmare Oppression - Passive]: When Chaotic Nightmare attacks 2-star and below cards, its attack power +50.

[Weakness Absorption - Passive]: For every 2-star and below card on the field, Chaotic Nightmare's maximum health +10.

Since a 3-star deck was the optimal solution, Shi Li had no choice for his deployed cards.

He could only optimize the lineup.

First row: [bo shan] + [Snail Walking Lady] + [Jumping Guard].

There was no other way; the Withering Dragon was not suitable, so he could only temporarily make do with the Snail Walking Lady.

At least when she carried [Right Column Defense], she could still patch up and absorb damage.

Second row: [Lotus Succubus] + [cloud river] + [Tao Tao Mo].

All three were support cards, nothing much to say.

Last row: [Flower Cudgel Leader] + [Demon-Defeating Dark Hunter] + [Cicada Wing Patrol].

Originally, the role of [Cicada Wing Patrol] should have been in the first row, as most of its entries were reveal-based passives, completing its mission once revealed.

But in this simulated task, it wouldn't work. It was the MVP among all damage dealers, so it had to be placed in the safest position.

Ace: [Red Blade Maiden].

If it weren't for the Red Blade Maiden needing the Ace's health bonus for damage output, this position should have been reserved for the Cicada Wing Patrol.

After the deck was arranged, the card game officially began.

It's worth noting that during his first challenge, Shi Li only had 1 three-star character card, the Red Blade Maiden.

This resulted in the opponent's health reaching 190 points.

Moreover, the Cicada Wing Patrol at that time did not have the [Fel Purge] entry.

This time, the first stage proceeded quite smoothly.

This was also the first time Shi Li had cleared the first stage.

The Cicada Wing Crisis seemed to be a type of task with no plot, only continuous stages.

The second stage was still the Chaotic Nightmare, with no changes in its entries.

It was just that its stats and panel were a bit stronger.

From the previous base stats of 30 Attack and 100 Health, it increased to 40 Attack and 120 Health.

The third stage still had unchanged entries, with even stronger stats and panel.

Upon reaching the fourth stage, the enemy finally changed.

[Chaotic Nightmare]

Balanced, Attack 30, 200/200

[Nightmare Oppression - Passive]: When Chaotic Nightmare attacks 3-star and below cards, its attack power +50.

[Weakness Absorption - Passive]: For every 3-star and below card on the field, Chaotic Nightmare's maximum health +10.

"Are you kidding me?"

Seeing this, Shi Li was displeased.

What kind of lousy task was this? Even Platinum 10 wasn't enough to beat it. Did he have to wait until Emerald 10?

However, times were different now. Back then, he only had three unique cards, with only one 3-star.

Now, not only were all his cards 3-star, but they were all unique cards.

Since both 2-star and 3-star cards would be suppressed now, he simply made a change in formation.

He swapped out the Snail Walking Lady for the Withering Dragon.

He swapped out the Lotus Succubus for the Thunderhorn Deer.

He swapped out the Withering Dragon for the Crow Warrior and exchanged positions with cloud river.

He no longer used [Defense] at the start, as the opponent's attack power was as high as 800, instantly killing anyone.

All 3 cards in the first row were committed to damage output.

But unfortunately, this round still ended in failure.

[Unfortunately, this task failed.]

[Do you want to reset this task for 12,000 cubic coins? Yes/No.]

However, when Shi Li refreshed, he found good news.

That was, this simulated task would retain his progress.

Meaning after refreshing, he would restart the challenge from the fourth stage.

This gave him some new ideas.

"The monster cards on the opposite side don't have much intelligence, especially the opening attacks, which are completely random."

Shi Li began to analyze: "Their full attack is 800 points. If one is inflicted with [Blindness] by Tao Tao Mo, it's 720 points per card, each with 200 health.

My deck's total output is:

[Red Blade Maiden]: 130 points. [Flower Cudgel Leader] + 10 points [Encouragement]: 140 points. [Jumping Guard] + [bo shan] + [cloud river] + [Thunderhorn Deer] + [Crow Warrior] = 140 points. [Demon-Defeating Dark Hunter] = 30+10+10+10 = 60 points. [Cicada Wing Patrol] only counts external card damage = 15+15+15+30 = 60 points. [Tao Tao Mo] = 10+10+10+30 points. Even without counting overflow, the total is only 590 points.

Only enough to instantly kill 2 cards."

This situation was indeed very difficult.

And the opponent could easily instantly kill bo shan and Crow Warrior.

The only feasible way, or the most ideal state, was for most of the opponent's damage to hit the Jumping Guard.

To keep bo shan or cloud river alive.

In the next turn, the Crow Warrior, having consumed a [Charge] hand card, could unleash [Stun] to control one more target.

And in the next turn, he could destroy 3 of the opponent's cards.

After two turns, when the opponent only had 5 cards left, their total output would "only" be 400.

This would give him room to maneuver.

"Should I gamble?"

Shi Li hesitated slightly.

The key was that there was no guarantee of success, and he also didn't know what the later stages would be like.

He hoped it wouldn't end up with entries that even suppressed 4-star character cards.