193: Advance to [Platinum 13]

Chapter 193: Promotion to Platinum 13

At the spot where the BOSS disappeared, various items were left behind.

The captain of this team was Leo, and since there was no special setting, the distribution was defaulted to the captain.

One of the items was a fragment of a turtle shell emitting a watery glow.

【Alligator Turtle’s Reverse Scale】: A top-grade material containing blue and water. This is a four-star item.

The words 'top-grade material' made it hard not to be tempted.

“This is Kairala’s quest item.”

Leo didn’t say much and directly allocated it to Kairala.

If she hadn’t had a quest, they wouldn’t have encountered this BOSS, nor would this item have dropped.

“Thank you, everyone!”

Kairala accepted the quest item, overjoyed: “Having this is enough for me. You don’t need to count me in for the rest of the items.”

She was very content, knowing that without everyone’s help, she wouldn’t have been able to complete this quest.

“Next are the cubic coins.”

Leo didn’t stand on ceremony with her and said to the other four: “Let’s split these 400,000 cubic coins evenly, how about it?”

Each person would get 100,000, plus the 100,000 just obtained from completing the quest, making it 200,000.

No one had any objections to this.

“The remaining items…”

As for the remaining few items, Leo pondered for a moment: “A portion of them dropped from the BOSS, and another portion is the dungeon’s reward.

My suggestion is that the dungeon rewards be split among the three of us, and all the BOSS drops go to Brother Wang Defa. What do you two think?”

“I have no objections.”

“I think it’s great.”

Kane and Lanshu’s attitudes were clear.

They certainly contributed to defeating the BOSS.

But the main credit still went to Shi Li.

To take down this BOSS, they could be replaced; many people could do it.

However, Shi Li’s position was irreplaceable.

“Then many thanks.”

Shi Li didn’t delay.

There were only three items that dropped from the BOSS in total.

【Blue Tactical Blind Box】: Use this card to randomly open 1 ☆☆ Blue Tactic 【Soul of the Top of the Food Chain in Water】: Title Material 【Alligator Turtle’s Hardest Spine】: Persistence-type Counter Material (Synthesis detectable)

The three items were all different.

After splitting the spoils, the group directly teleported back to Tianshan City.

Shi Li booked a room in the inn to process the spoils in a quiet environment.

First, he opened the blind box.

【You have obtained 1 Blue Tactic Card.】

“Oh?”

Shi Li raised an eyebrow; it was actually a three-star Tactic Card.

【Inspiration Overflowing - Blue ☆☆】: Select 1 target located in 【Blue】 to fully Charge its Energy.

“Comfortable.”

There was actually such a Tactic Card.

Full Charge was truly excellent.

If he could use this kind of hand card in a Chess Domain game, it would be invincible.

It was equivalent to the strength of a Fated Hand Card.

Then he looked at the Title Material and found that he needed to purchase some auxiliary materials.

Shi Li thought for a moment and decided to go to the nearest material shop.

Finally, following the system’s instructions, he spent 200,000 cubic coins to purchase some auxiliary materials.

The income from this dungeon run was immediately gone.

He previewed it, saw a 100% success rate, and proceeded to synthesize it.

【Water Overlord ☆☆☆】: Increases the attack power of Chess Pieces in 【Water】 terrain by +50.

“A three-star title, 50 attack power is great.”

If he had this card earlier, the Breaker could have dealt 35% of the damage with one slap.

It was important to note that such high attack power bonuses were rare in Chess Domain games, and even if they existed, they probably wouldn't appear as a Characteristic on the Breaker.

As for the last material, 【Alligator Turtle’s Hardest Spine】, there was no need to purchase additional materials.

Because Shi Li looked at the synthesis panel and felt that buying materials to increase the success rate might not be as cost-effective as simply refreshing.

Among his many Persistence cards, only the Jumping Guard and bo shan, these two unique cards, were compatible with it.

The synthesis success rate with Jumping Guard was 8%, and with bo shan, it was 10%.

“If the synthesis is successful, I will get a Characteristic similar to the 【Counter Bite】 of the 【River Alligator Turtle】.”

“While increasing the card’s Counter ability, it will also consume Energy.”

“bo shan has more Damage Reduction methods, and in normal conditions, it is my toughest card.

Theoretically, giving it this Characteristic could allow it to perform more Counters.

However, its other task is to quickly accumulate Energy to meet the conditions for fusion.”

“In contrast, Jumping Guard and Withering Dragon are often targeted as the primary focus in PVP Chess Domain games, and when Jumping Guard is the first to leave the field, there are often not many empty spaces on the field for it to summon, ultimately leading to unused Energy.

It's a bit of an overflow and waste.”

After careful consideration, Shi Li still decided to give Jumping Guard this Characteristic.

【Please place the main Chess Piece.】

【Please place the main material.】

【Calculating results...】

【Success rate is 8%. Proceed with synthesis?】

“Synthesize.”

【Synthesis failed. Material is about to be destroyed.】

【Yes/No to consume 26,000 cubic coins to reset this synthesis.】

“Yes.”

Shi Li refreshed without hesitation.

After refreshing 4 times and spending over 100,000 cubic coins, he finally succeeded.

His luck wasn’t bad.

Thus, Jumping Guard gained a new Characteristic.

【Corpse Jump Reflection - Passive】: When Jumping Guard takes damage, it consumes 10 Energy to perform 10 【Counter】.

（【Counter】: Attacks the source of attack damage once.）

This Characteristic was the same for both the card and the Chess Piece, with no changes.

What surprised Shi Li the most was that after adding this Characteristic, Jumping Guard’s tags actually changed.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be called a change, but rather it gained a new “Martial Arts” tag.

“It can actually be like this.”

He had indeed seen in books that certain new Characteristics or Star Ascension changes might trigger new tags for character cards.

But he didn’t expect to encounter it himself here.

Comfortable.

After finishing these, Shi Li continued to try and complete Ashiro’s collection quest.

Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the material shop, he ran into Kairala and Leo.

“What a coincidence.”

This surprised Shi Li a bit.

“This isn’t a coincidence, Brother Wang Defa, we came specifically to find you.”

Leo patted his shoulder.

“I went to the inn to look for you, and the front desk said you had gone out.

I guessed you would be at a nearby material shop.”

Kairala chuckled.

“Is it convenient to find a place to chat?”

Leo made a gesture of drinking.

“I was just thinking of having some coffee myself.”

Shi Li didn’t drink alcohol and misunderstood the other party’s meaning.

However, playing along, the three still went to a coffee shop.

“What do you think about the matter I told you about last time?”

As soon as they sat down, Kairala proactively asked.

“I am willing to join the mercenary group.”

Shi Li didn’t make it difficult for her and nodded.

“That’s truly wonderful.”

Leo breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

He knew that the sincerity he expressed that morning had not been in vain.

“Here is an agreement, please read it carefully.”

Saying this, he pulled out an agreement and pushed it over.

“Monthly salary 20,000?”

Shi Li was a little surprised to see the benefits section.

This was double what Kairala had previously promised him.

“This is the offer Leo and I renegotiated, and this number will increase with your participation in group activities.

Please don’t think it’s too little.”

After the morning’s dungeon, Kairala felt that her previous offer had been presumptuous.

“Alright.”

Shi Li readily signed his pseudonym used in the Chess Domain.

This was a magic contract, which only recorded soul ripples, was unrelated to names, and had real binding effects on both parties.

“Let’s reintroduce ourselves, I am Leo, captain of the Scarlet Mercenary Group’s 44th squad.”

Leo smiled and extended his hand.

Anyone he signed would naturally be automatically assigned to his team.

“Wang Defa.”

Shi Li shook hands with him.

After the contract took effect, he noticed that a mercenary group panel had appeared in his Chess Player panel.

“You asked me to look for clues about the evil dragon before, right? I posted about it in the mercenary group channel.”

At Kairala’s prompting, Shi Li found the channel’s exclusive message board forum.

Then he saw the post Kairala had published earlier, which was actually a bounty post.

It seemed that in order to win him over, she had spent real money to buy goodwill a long time ago.

He then also posted a bounty, offering rewards for the strange dragon materials needed for Ashiro’s quest, as well as the pure dragon materials required for Red Blade Maiden.

Providing information or directly providing the actual items were both acceptable.

He believed the latter might be harder to find than the former, but he would give it a try. It seemed the mercenary group members were quite idle, as he received a pile of messages shortly after posting.

They were all “Marked,” “Received,” “I’ll keep an eye out,” and similar, without much practical significance.

But Shi Li also knew that having so many people help him look would definitely be much faster than searching alone.

“In a few days, we will be organizing a gold raid with other squads. I wonder if you’re interested in joining.”

Leo’s words were a request for opinion, but his face was filled with eagerness.

Having recruited such a powerful Chess Player, he was already impatient to show off in front of the other squads.

“No problem.”

Shi Li was quite interested in gold raids as well.

After agreeing on the time and place, Shi Li bid farewell to the two and packed a few bottles of coffee to take back to the inn.

Since so many people were now helping him keep an eye out, and he had an appointment in a few days, he wasn't in a hurry to search for quest clues himself.

He now had 600,000 cubic coins, so he might as well do some simulation quests.

The Star Ascension from two to three stars for Breaker, and the Fated Hand Card quest for Withering Dragon, hadn’t been done yet.

With 600,000 cubic coins, even if luck didn’t explode, he should be able to get the three-star Breaker with normal performance.

So Shi Li took out the Star Ascension Token Card and used it on Breaker.

【This quest is named: Striker Biography. (Star Ascension)】

【After Chen Guang graduated, she became a new Striker mentor.】

【But she quickly felt that this was not the life she wanted.】

【So she decided to cast everything aside and return to her true self.】

【Only to become the strongest Breaker who can break through all things in the world.】

【However, cultivation is a gradual process, and she needs to set a goal for herself.】

【Please help her make a choice.】

【A. Break a mountain constructed of solid rock.】

【This is a daunting task, but not impossible to complete.】

【B. Break a continuously flowing waterfall.】

【This sounds a bit outrageous.】

【C. Break the first ray of morning sunlight.】

【Setting a completely impossible goal for oneself also seems good.】

“One is more unreliable than the last.”

Shi Li thought for a moment and chose C.

The first attempt naturally failed.

However, he didn’t get discouraged and continued to operate.

After two days of refreshing, and spending almost all 600,000 cubic coins, he finally achieved 100% completion.

“Comfortable.”

【You can obtain 1 Character Card 【Breaker (Three-Star)】.】

【You can obtain 2 Hand Cards 【Charge (LV2)】 and 1 【Counter (LV2)】.】

【Yes/No to consume 27,000 cubic coins to reset this quest.】

It gave him 3 LV2 Hand Cards at once, which wasn’t bad.

However, Shi Li was encountering more and more single-hand card rules, and he no longer felt much about these conventional Hand Cards.

PVE games, on the other hand, didn’t limit Hand Cards, but his current Hand Card depth was sufficient to handle them.

Unless it was an LV3 Hand Card, it wouldn’t be very meaningful.

“No.”

After clicking, text appeared.

【Momentum Resonance】: 80% → 100%

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

【Rank】: Platinum 12 → Platinum 13

【Stamina】: 415 / 415 → 429 / 429

【Energy】: 419 / 419 → 433 / 433

“Finally achieved Momentum Resonance. I’ll go in and check later.

First, let’s look at the card face.”

Shi Li took out the Breaker.

【Breaker】

Momentum, 20 points, Three-Star Attack 20, 100 / 100, 0 / 60

【Break - Characteristic】: For every 10 points of attack damage Breaker deals, it converts to 5% of the target’s maximum health.

【Breakthrough Strike - 10 Energy】: If Breaker’s target is a Persistence card, it applies 【Fragile Mind】 (T2).

【Break-Open Strike - 20 Energy】: Breaker attacks 1 target, causing it to 【Cover Card】 (T5).

【Break-Giant Strike - 20 Energy】: If Breaker’s target is a Giant card, attack power +20.

【Break-Life Strike - 30 Energy】: Breaker attacks 1 target, dealing damage equivalent to its lost health (max 100 points).

（【Fragile Mind】: Prevents Persistence card targets from recovering Energy upon taking damage.）

（【Cover Card】: If the target is a conventional card, it returns to the covered card state.）

“Oh?”

This special active skill effect was something he had not expected.

Looking at the Chess Piece-ized Characteristic, it was slightly different.

【Break-Open Strike - 10 Energy】: Breaker attacks 1 target, causing it to redeploy.

“Redeploy? That’s only useful in PVP Chess Domain games, right?”

Ignoring the Chess Domain for now, he temporarily left the Chess Domain and returned to reality.

He pulled out the simulation card table and conducted tests.

Soon, he reached a conclusion.

This 【Break-Open Strike】, despite only costing 10 Energy and being easy to activate, was not a skill that was entirely beneficial to him.

In fact, it was more like a double-edged sword with both advantages and disadvantages.

Firstly, it attacks the target, and then causes it to Cover Card on T5.

This means the target’s original actions will not be affected in any way; it cannot be used to break defenses or interrupt target attacks.

Secondly, it gives the opponent an opportunity to profit from this skill.

For example, if a Wise card is covered and then revealed, its Energy will be fully restored.

Or, for instance, re-triggering a battle cry, replacing a substitute card, etc.