200: No Limit Game

Chapter 200: Infinite Card Game

Chi Ou arranged a transfer for Shi Li and sent him to the entrance of Mang Domain.

The entrance base of Mang Domain is located in the Great Northwest, a rather desolate area.

On the aircraft, Shi Li could see vast stretches of loess land with few buildings.

The entrance base was situated beside a river.

Since it only opens once every three years, no residential or commercial areas could form around the base.

Its scale was quite large, and regularly renovated facilities didn't appear old.

Following the staff's guidance, Shi Li quickly settled down and soon contacted his liaison.

Shang Haojia, a senior student from Po Shi Academy.

“Junior, you're finally here.”

Senior Shang was very kind-faced.

She had long, emerald green hair tied in a large braid and spoke softly.

“Hello, Senior.”

Shi Li also greeted her.

The school's seven academies each formed their own teams, and this senior, whose rank reached Platinum 22, was the captain of their Po Shi Academy team.

For Qingchuan University, reaching Platinum 22 in their senior year was only considered upper-middle level.

The truly outstanding students had generally already advanced to Emerald, but they didn't meet the entry requirements for Mang Domain.

Between Level 4 Mang Domain, where the opening time couldn't be fully determined, and Level 5 domains, most people would still choose to advance.

However, Po Shi Academy choosing Shang Haojia as their team captain indicated that she was definitely trustworthy.

Her rank might not be high, but she was experienced in domains.

In fact, the most crucial factor was her actual combat strength.

Despite only being Platinum 22, she ranked among the top 5 of Po Shi Academy's senior students.

It should be noted that Po Shi Academy had more than 5 Emerald-ranked seniors.

After Platinum 10, everyone had a 9+1 deck, and the difference between ranks didn't necessarily fully reflect combat power.

Deck composition and foundation, tactical arrangements, and playing style also accounted for a significant portion.

“Actually, your timing is perfect. Come with me to the joint meeting of the school's seven teams.”

After exchanging pleasantries, Shang Haojia led Shi Li to the conference room. The limited slots for Mang Domain meant their Po Shi Academy team was relatively small, with only 5 members.

Shang Haojia's decision to only bring Shi Li naturally indicated her recognition of him.

This recognition stemmed from both the academy leaders' prior instructions and Shi Li's verifiable combat record.

She had personally watched the finals of the freshman placement competition and knew that this junior's strength was not to be underestimated.

If she were to duel him herself, she felt she might only win 3 or 4 out of 10 matches.

“The biggest difference between Mang Domain and other domains is that it contains various variant card games.”

As they walked towards the conference room, Shang Haojia introduced Shi Li.

“Variant card games—”

“Yes, the free-for-all mode we often use in the preliminary stages of competitions is actually a variant card game.”

“The rules of variant card games often differ greatly from ordinary card games, so they cannot be treated with conventional thinking.”

“Furthermore, each time Mang Domain opens, its content changes, and we cannot predict in advance what variant card games and modes will be present this time.”

“However, as teams from Qingchuan University, it's good to communicate in advance.”

“After all, there are quite a few card players entering Mang Domain, so we, our own people, still need to stick together.”

As they spoke, they arrived at the temporary conference room belonging to Qingchuan University.

Inside the conference room sat over a dozen seniors wearing Qingchuan University uniforms, their respective academies identifiable by the emblems on their chests.

Each academy had sent two or three representatives. After their arrival, only the Kuangbao Academy representatives had yet to arrive.

Shang Haojia was an old acquaintance of theirs and, after greeting each one, introduced Shi Li.

However, everyone present actually knew Shi Li and their attitudes were quite friendly.

No one looked down on him for being a freshman; after all, he was the freshman chief, with extraordinary strength.

If they were to have a card game with Shi Li on the spot, they wouldn't dare to say they could definitely win easily.

After sitting down for a while, the Kuangbao Academy people finally arrived.

There were two of them, a man and a woman.

The male senior wore a baseball cap, pulled low over his eyes.

His rank was somewhat astonishing, reaching Platinum 35.

“Lu Zailai.”

Shang Haojia quietly introduced the baseball cap senior to Shi Li.

“His strength ranks among the top 5 in the entire senior class, and there's even a saying that if he were to advance to Emerald, he might even have a chance to compete for the senior chief position.”

“He is also the only person in our school's team this time who has experienced Mang Domain twice.”

“He participated in Mang Domain once during his sophomore year.”

“I heard that he deliberately didn't advance to Emerald just to participate in Mang Domain again.”

“He is undoubtedly the strongest person in our team this time.”

Hearing her introduction, Shi Li couldn't help but take a few more glances at this senior.

His expression was a bit cool, like the unsmiling type.

“Everyone, I will be chairing the upcoming meeting.”

Seeing that everyone had arrived, the female senior from Kuangbao Academy, who had accompanied Lu Zailai, began to speak.

“First, I want to state that although our teams will act independently during this trip to Mang Domain, there should be solidarity between the teams.

On some crucial information, I hope everyone will not hold back.

I will lead by example and promptly inform you of our Kuangbao Academy's exploration progress.”

This statement received nods of approval from everyone.

There was actually an underlying competition within Mang Domain, so those from the same collective should naturally stick together.

Only by uniting could everyone's interests be maximized.

“Second, I hope you can always remain vigilant.

Although Mang Domain is a harmless domain, and card players cannot engage in private duels with each other.

Still, beware of those with ulterior motives.

Especially those mercenary groups and pioneering groups who have been active in various domains for years.

Due to the reputation of our Qingchuan University, they certainly wouldn't dare to cause trouble openly, but it doesn't rule out them secretly setting traps.

Besides our own people, it's best to keep a few reservations about everyone else.”

Regarding this, there were vivid examples every time Mang Domain opened.

Students were thin-skinned and inexperienced.

Although as students of one of the Four Famous Universities in the country, their theoretical strength was in no way inferior to those in society.

However, students often suffered hidden losses at the hands of these cunning individuals.

“Third, regarding the Mang Domain ranking.

As everyone knows, completing each variant card game mode in Mang Domain will earn corresponding points.

These points will ultimately determine the rewards from the world will of that domain.

Furthermore, the school will provide rewards for phased rankings to encourage us to achieve higher rankings.

The team with the highest points ranking among the seven teams in this phase will receive a reward of 5 million cubic coins.”

At this, everyone's interest was piqued.

The school also offered ranking rewards, which they hadn't known about before.

However, this point seemed to slightly conflict with the first point mentioned earlier.

Both unity and internal competition were required.

It looked a bit contradictory.

It would depend on how each team managed this balance.

Because there wasn't much content, the meeting quickly concluded.

Under Shang Haojia's guidance, Shi Li met the other 3 seniors from Po Shi Academy, getting to know their faces.

Then he went to see A Ya Jun and Chi Xi.

These two, representing their respective academies, also received slots to participate in Mang Domain.

Unfortunately, he wasn't on the same team as them this time, so there probably wouldn't be many opportunities to interact.

Thus, after a brief two-day rest, Mang Domain officially opened.

Due to the limited capacity of the entrance and exit, all participating card players entered in batches.

Shi Li and his team drew a relatively late slot, and by the time they arrived at the entrance hall, many people had already gone in.

“Form teams first. Mang Domain will randomly teleport card players to landing points.

If you're not in the same team, you'll inevitably be separated.”

Under Shang Haojia's lead, the five formed a team.

Entering the teleportation gate, accompanied by a sensation of Stun, the scene before Shi Li's eyes changed.

“This—”

He was slightly taken aback.

Because this place was not quite what he had imagined.

They were currently standing on the edge of a square, and beyond the edge was actually a clear blue sky.

Looking down from the railing, he could see the distant ground.

They were on a floating island.

And judging by the subtly Movement of the ground below, this island was flying.

Looking deeper into the island, it resembled a sky garden built of large stones.

There was no ceiling, and white stone buildings were visible everywhere.

Stone paths and pillars were covered with green plants, not appearing dilapidated, but rather natural and harmonious.

“It seems we're in luck this time; we've actually landed on Sky Island Paradise.”

Shang Haojia, however, seemed quite excited.

“Sky Island Paradise?”

“Yes, it's said that when Mang Domain opens, there's a small chance that all personnel will be teleported to a giant sky island.

If we were teleported to the ground, then the main task of the Mang Domain trip would be to explore and collect the rich natural resources there.

But Sky Island Paradise is different; it directly distributes resources in the form of duel rewards.

The advantage is that the efficiency is much higher than self-exploration.

However, with duels, there are naturally winners and losers.

This means only one side can receive rewards.”

She introduced to Shi Li.

“We came in a bit late, we need to hurry.”

At this moment, a senior reminded them.

Everyone opened their panels and found that a Mang Domain Points ranking had been added.

At this time, someone had already earned points on the leaderboard, named “I Am Not A Ya Jun”, prominently displayed at the top.

“This works too.”

Shi Li raised an eyebrow.

This name, at a glance, was A Ya Jun.

It seemed this guy was quite quick to act.

Since it was the first time opening it, he could enter a codename.

Without much thought, he entered “Wang Defa”.

Since everyone was now teleported to Sky Island Paradise, forming teams largely lost its meaning.

So, after some discussion, everyone decided to go their separate ways.

If necessary, they could leave the team and re-team with others.

Thus, Shi Li chose to proceed along the edge of the sky island.

According to the senior's explanation, their current task was to find the so-called “duel points”.

Activating a duel point would initiate a duel and earn rewards.

As he walked, Shi Li noticed a phenomenon.

That was, there were alien race (alien races) on this sky island.

They were Scarlet Slimes, with a jelly-like texture and big, adorable eyes.

They hopped around aimlessly, appearing to have no intelligence.

He tried to communicate with a few, but all he got was a series of “boop boop” responses.

After exploring for about half an hour, before finding anything, text popped up again.

“Phase 1 Ultimate Duel will begin in three days.”

“Phase 1? Ultimate Duel?”

Shi Li indicated he didn't understand.

He asked in the team channel, but even Shang Haojia didn't know.

Since no one knew, they would just have to wait for it to be revealed.

“Found it.”

After exploring for another half an hour, Shi Li finally found his target.

It was a circular magic circle drawn on the ground, emitting light, like a spotlight on the ground shining into the sky.

He looked left and right; it seemed no one else was present.

Quickening his steps, Shi Li stepped onto the duel point.

“Trigger successful. The mode for this duel point is – Infinite Card Game.”

“Starting to wait for the next opponent who triggers the same duel point.”

“So it's this mode. It means it's not about being early, but about being at the right time.”

Shi Li understood and waited patiently.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long, as a card table quickly appeared automatically before him.

Then a blurry, indistinct misty shadow appeared opposite him at the card table.

He couldn't see the opponent's appearance or physique, only a codename and rank.

“Jiye”

“Platinum?”

The specific rank wasn't displayed. He didn't know if it wasn't displayed during duels, or if the opponent used some item card to hide their rank.

He immediately searched the leaderboard for the name; it was a card player with 0 points.

“Hello.”

“Hello, boop~”

Shi Li greeted, and received a response from the other side.

“Let's begin, boop~”

The opponent urged him on.

“But speaking of which, what does Infinite Card Game mean?”

Shi Li looked down at the card table in front of him.

In fact, he had noticed it earlier.

This card table was indeed different from usual.

There were only 2 rows of 6 card slots in front of him, with no trump card slot.

However, his question was quickly answered.

Lines of text explanations popped up.

“This card game is an Infinite Card Game, with a full reveal at the start.”

“If 6 cards on one side's field are retired, the game resets.”

“Retired cards cannot be played again in the next game.”

“The side that runs out of all cards first loses.”

“This—”

Shi Li suddenly seemed a bit troubled.

There was actually this kind of variant card game.

It was a competition of who had more cards.

When it came to the number of cards in reserve, he definitely didn't have an advantage.

Shi Li's self-awareness was very clear.

If he wanted to win, it seemed there was only one way.

That was to assemble his strongest deck and defeat all of the opponent's cards.