199: Advance to [Platinum 14]

Chapter 199: Advancing to Platinum 14

One must know that the previous Zombie Sheriff had already sold for over 1,000,000 cubic coins. Shi Li didn't even know how much the Exploding Zombie would fetch.

After all, this was a unique battle chess piece.

Even if they cleared the BOSS again in the future, it wouldn't drop anymore.

However, when the bidding actually started, Shi Li found the situation a bit strange.

"Next, the Exploding Zombie will begin bidding. According to Scarlet Flame Group custom, the battle chess piece starts at 100,000 cubic coins."

After Captain 21 announced this, the field was silent.

Shi Li wasn't sure what was happening, then Leo quietly tugged at his sleeve.

"100,000 cubic coins?"

So he offered the reserve price.

At this point, no one else bid.

"100,000 cubic coins — once."

"100,000 cubic coins twice."

"100,000 cubic coins thrice. Congratulations, Brother Wang Defa."

Then Shi Li saw the group leader allocate the battle chess piece into Shi Li's pocket.

"This—"

He finally understood, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"This is what you deserve, Brother Wang Defa."

"Without you, we wouldn't have been able to clear this fifth zone at all."

"So this battle chess piece rightfully belongs to you. If it weren't for the Scarlet Flame Group, you wouldn't even have to pay."

"Now our group has become the second team to successfully clear the fifth zone. Just having this is enough for me."

The group members offered their Blessings.

It turned out that they intentionally let Shi Li have this unique battle chess piece.

Even those few bosses tacitly agreed.

One could only say that the people in this Chess Domain, or rather, the members of this group today, were quite pure-hearted.

"Then many thanks."

Shi Li accepted this favor.

"This is what you deserve."

Captain 21 allocated it to Shi Li, also breathing a sigh of relief.

In fact, she wasn't entirely without selfish motives.

They weren't just clearing this fifth zone once; they would definitely come every cooldown.

Without Shi Li, it would be impossible to defeat it.

Now Shi Li had acquired the Exploding Zombie almost at no cost or minimal cost, which meant he owed the entire group a favor.

If they invited him to continue in the City of Chaotic Corpses again, he would surely find it hard to refuse.

This way, it would be easier to build a relationship and recruit him as a permanent group member to challenge more high-difficulty dungeons. As a group leader, Captain 21 valued dungeon clearing more.

The value of a unique battle chess piece was less important to her than a super powerful group member.

Subsequently, the other spoils of the fifth zone also began to be auctioned.

Perhaps because everyone was achieving first clear, the drops in this stage were quite generous.

Even without counting the Exploding Zombie, the quantity and value of the spoils were equivalent to the previous two or three stages combined.

There were 3 other battle chess pieces alone.

Ultimately, the total amount bid for this stage reached over 3,000,000 cubic coins.

At this point, even after deducting the 100,000 cubic coins bid, Shi Li could still receive about 200,000 cubic coins.

However, since they had cleared the fifth zone, everyone naturally wanted to check out the sixth zone.

But the sixth zone wouldn't be easier than the fifth floor. They were, after all, still carrying five bosses whose battle chess piece skill levels were not up to par, so they ultimately couldn't clear it.

Thus, the Scarlet Flame Group ended, and Shi Li was full of gains.

At the same time, inside the Blacklight Group's Black Mountain City branch.

A group member came to Mora's room and began to report the situation.

"Captain, I had my subordinates investigate."

"This Wang Defa's background is very strange; no past deeds can be found."

"The most recent information only traces back to his appearance in Radiant City a few months ago."

In short, there was hardly any information.

"It seems he might have been an unknown nobody before, perhaps he got some great opportunity and only recently started to emerge…"

Mora tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table.

"Report!"

Just then, a group member rushed in frantically.

"Latest intelligence! The Scarlet Flame Group has successfully cleared the fifth zone of the City of Chaotic Corpses!"

"Hmm?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Mora's eyebrows shot up.

As far as he knew, the Scarlet Flame Group only had one team clearing the City of Chaotic Corpses. Weren't those guys still running Scarlet Flame Groups?

Where did they get the cooldown to clear the fifth zone?

"And they even cleared the fifth zone with a Scarlet Flame Group lineup!"

The group member's next words astonished Mora.

"What? Clearing the fifth zone with bosses in tow?"

As the person in Charge of the Blacklight Group's pioneering efforts in the City of Chaotic Corpses, he deeply understood the difficulty of that stage.

Even they, as they were now, couldn't guarantee a 100% clear of the fifth zone every time.

"I know one of the bosses in their Scarlet Flame Group. It's said that a new group member named Wang Defa led everyone to clear it by himself!"

"Wang Defa—why is it him again?"

Now Mora was thoroughly interested.

If they could recruit this person into their Blacklight Group, he would undoubtedly become a powerful combat force.

"Group leader, should we try to poach this person?"

"If we act too late, I'm afraid he will become more deeply tied to the Scarlet Flame Group."

"It will be even harder to poach him then."

The subordinate understood Mora's expression.

"Alright, I understand. You all may leave."

But Mora didn't take any action, waving his hand to signal his subordinates to leave.

Recruiting talent was important, but at the moment, they no longer had the time and Energy to do so.

Because just now, he had received a notification from the group leader.

The great Withered Saint Lord was about to descend with a clone, personally coming to their world to search for "Wandering Fragments."

To ensure the Saint Master's smooth descent, they needed to do a lot of very important preparatory work.

During the following period, Shi Li basically acted with Captain 21's group.

He cleared several dungeons and participated in more Scarlet Flame Groups.

Especially after the battle in the City of Chaotic Corpses made his name, many Scarlet Flame Groups in the Scarlet Flame Group invited him to be a damage dealer.

Shi Li's Energy also far exceeded others.

An ordinary chess player would have to rest for several days after a large dungeon, but he didn't need to; he could work continuously.

Coupled with his high standards, apart from occasionally bidding for a favorite tactical card, he generally didn't bid on other spoils.

So he was almost purely a laborer, earning a full fortune.

As for Ashiro's mission, it was temporarily put on hold.

Actually, it couldn't be said to be put on hold; at this point, one couldn't help but marvel at the power of the collective.

In less than a month, he had already successfully obtained two mission items through in-group bounties.

At this rate, perhaps the next time he returned to the Chess Domain, all the mission items would be collected.

However, the money spent on bounties was considerable.

But under the feedback from the Scarlet Flame Groups, Shi Li's assets only increased.

So he ultimately left this Chess Domain trip with 1,500,000 cubic coins.

With money in hand, Shi Li naturally had many things to do.

First was the Withering Dragon's signature hand card.

This task cost 350,000 cubic coins and was finally completed.

Then, for Red Blade Maiden's Star Ascension materials, he wasn't in a hurry. He planned to go to Mang Domain first to see what he could gain before deciding.

Perhaps he could acquire some related materials, which would save him from having to buy them.

Then, what remained was naturally the Star Ascension of the Exploding Zombie.

Because of his identity as a card player, when Shi Li obtained the Exploding Zombie, it was automatically card-ified.

At the same time, he also learned about the methods for battle chess piece advancement in the Chess Domain.

battle chess piece advancement required less funding but more time compared to card advancement.

One needed to go to the specialized battle chess piece temple of the corresponding major system to accept a general advancement quest, and then complete the quest.

The threshold for advancement quests was low, but they were time-consuming, which was another form of high cost.

Moreover, Red Blade Maiden and other cards whose origin was a card, and only became battle chess pieces through chess-ification, could not be generally advanced using the Chess Domain's method.

They could only be generally advanced through the card method.

Shi Li took advantage of the convenience of Scarlet Flame Group dungeons and tried to do the Exploding Zombie's advancement quest.

But the advancement difficulty of a unique chess piece was very high, and he only barely completed the two-star advancement.

So, the quest for three-star advancement still had to be done back here.

Finally, after spending 700,000 cubic coins and having 450,000 cubic coins left, he successfully obtained a three-star Exploding Zombie.

Wind Chasing System Resonance: 100% → 110%

At this time, the Wind Chasing System's resonance had already met the requirements for the Wind Chasing Trial.

However, he couldn't activate the Wind Chasing Trial when he was in the Chess Domain before.

So he hadn't tried it yet.

A warm current swept through his body, and Shi Li's personal panel also changed.

Rank: Platinum 13 → Platinum 14

Stamina: 429 / 429 → 444 / 444

Energy: 433 / 433 → 447 / 447

But most importantly, he had to look at the card first.

Exploding Zombie

Wind Chasing, 30 points, Three-Star Attack 30, 100 / 100, 0 / 100

Pain and Pleasure - Characteristic: For every 10% of its initial health Exploding Zombie loses, it gains 10 Energy.

Acute Proliferation - Passive: Each time Exploding Zombie is fully Charged with Energy, it gains 10 stackable Blessings.

Local Explosion - 10 Energy: Exploding Zombie loses 30 Health Upper limit, deals 40 Fixed Damage to 1 target.

Flesh Bomb - 100 → 80 → 60 Energy: Exploding Zombie immediately retreats, and deals True Damage equal to Exploding Zombie's current Health to 1 target.

(Blessing: Increases the target's maximum Health by the corresponding value for this round.)

"Hmm..."

This card didn't have many entries, only three in total.

But what Shi Li was more concerned about was, how should he put it, this card's style was a bit off.

It was clearly a Wind Chasing card, and its skills matched the Wind Chasing System's need for warm-up.

But the actual entries gave a feeling of a Rage card, including its Characteristic, which was either linked to Health or maximum Health.

Moreover, its mechanism was a bit complex.

It wasn't the kind of complexity that was difficult to understand or calculate, but rather a tedious process.

Shi Li tested it on a simulated card table.

First, regarding the use of skills.

Local Explosion had very low Energy consumption; after 1 round of Charge, it could be used continuously every round.

The key point of this skill was that it would reduce maximum Health.

And the reduction of maximum Health was always accompanied by a decrease in Health.

In other words, Local Explosion would trigger Exploding Zombie's Characteristic, causing it to gain 30 Energy.

Assuming Local Explosion was used for two rounds at full health, it would be equivalent to losing 60 maximum Health and gaining 60 Charge.

60 Charge in 2 rounds could be said to be absolutely efficient.

The more crucial point was that 60 Charge allowed the use of the Flesh Bomb skill.

This skill's Energy consumption was greatly reduced from 100 points at one-star, to 80 points at two-star, to 60 points at three-star, and the damage was also upgraded to True Damage.

However, Flesh Bomb was linked to current Health. After being deducted 60 maximum Health from using Local Explosion twice, it could at most deal only 40 damage.

In other words, the faster the Charge, the lower the damage of Flesh Bomb.

This was the relationship between Local Explosion and Flesh Bomb.

In addition, Local Explosion and another entry, Acute Proliferation, also had a linkage relationship.

First, he tried it, and this Unique Character Card seemed unable to obtain the common active skills of the Wind Chasing System through card crafting.

This led to the fact that to consume Energy, one had to rely on Local Explosion.

To continuously trigger Acute Proliferation, one needed to repeatedly reach a state of Energy consumption.

For example, using Local Explosion to consume 10 points, and recovering 10 points at the end of the round, would also be considered reaching full Charge once again, triggering 10 Blessing.

But the problem was that Local Explosion itself consumed 30 maximum Health, and gaining 10 Blessing could only be said to be a slight compensation.

So, how the three entries should interact still needed to be weighed based on the actual situation in a card game.

After completing the Star Ascension of the Exploding Zombie, Shi Li took advantage of the remaining time to try the Wind Chasing Trial.

Opening the panel and starting the trial, a few lines of text popped up.

"Entering the Wind Chasing Trial."

"This trial can only use Wind Chasing cards."

"Clearing the enemies within 3 rounds of cards in this game is considered passing."

"Trial 0-1 is about to begin, please select your character cards to deploy."

The content of the Wind Chasing Tower was somewhat similar to the Momentum Tower.

Both restricted the number of turns and required eliminating all enemies.

Shi Li believed that these were the two most difficult systems among the six resonance systems (excluding Wisdom) he had activated so far.

As warm-up series, the overall output capability of Wind Chasing cards was not as good as the overall output of Momentum cards.

And his two Wind Chasing System unique cards were not the kind of truly powerful output types.

Snail Walking Lady was a support card, and it needed to be combined with the Martial Arts card tag to maximize its effect.

The Exploding Zombie was a type that had a long warm-up time and could only deliver one burst.

So, with a not-so-strong deck, Shi Li didn't have much interest in clearing the Wind Chasing Tower.

He barely managed to reach 1-9 before finding it too difficult to proceed.

"Now I am Platinum 14, and the admission threshold for Abyss 68 is Platinum 15."

"It seems that before reaching Emerald or Platinum 16, I must resolve the matters in the Abyss."

"However, this matter is not urgent for now. It's time to depart for Mang Domain."

After finishing these tasks, Shi Li departed directly from the Chess Domain entrance base.

Next, he would head directly to the Mang Domain entrance to liaise with the Qingchuan University representative there.

The Mang Domain would open in a few days, and he would enter it with the senior students selected by the school.