209: Promotion【Emerald 1】

Chapter 209: Promotion to Emerald 1

As the card entered his hand, a Platinum-gold light enveloped Shi Li.

His personal data panel also received an upgrade.

Rank: platinum 15 → Platinum 16

Stamina: 459 / 459 → 470 / 470

Energy: 459 / 459 + 470 / 470

“Comfortable,” Shi Li said.

After admiring his panel, Shi Li looked at the card face of the Abyss Slime.

Perhaps due to its unique nature and Characteristic, this card had very few entries.

Abyss Slime

Balanced, 30 points, three-star attack 30, 100 / 100

Mimic Jelly - Characteristic: Abyss Slime can carry 1 less entry. Upon Appearance, it can copy 1 passive entry on the field.

Advanced Mimicry - Passive: After Abyss Slime copies an entry, it gains all of the target's tags. A three-star card only has 2 entry slots, and then only 1 entry.

“Gaining all tags means that if it mimics the Red Blade Maiden, then it will gain all of the Red Blade Maiden’s tags like Humanoid, Martial Arts, Dragon Card, and so on.”

Shi Li unfolded the simulated card table and experimented.

He discovered a new rule.

“Since it has no Energy, it cannot copy active entries from other skills that consume Energy.”

“And even if it copies an active skill from a Rage card, it can’t use it.”

“I thought I could copy Crimson Blaze and create a dual Crimson Blaze lineup. If that were the case, I could cut 40% of the BOSS’s HP in one turn, which would be amazing.”

“Unfortunately, it can only copy passive entries.”

“I think I saw another task card for a destined hand card just now.”

After putting away the Abyss Slime, he pulled out the Scarlet Slime’s Profound Truth.

Since he now had money and time, he would just complete the task directly.

Another 100 cubic coins and a day and a half later, the Abyss Slime’s destined hand card was also in hand.

Balance System Resonance: 160% → 170%

“I suddenly realized that this isn’t quite according to plan; this money isn’t lasting as long as I thought.”

Shi Li couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

However, the money was well spent, because this destined hand card was very strong.

Scarlet Slime’s Profound Truth: When Abyss Slime leaves the field, it can grant one of its entries to 1 revealed card on the field.

He immediately opened the simulated card table to test it.

The conclusion he reached was quite pleasing.

Granting entries to other cards was inherently a very powerful skill.

What’s more, the Abyss Slime could first copy an entry from one target, and then, when it left the field, grant that copied entry to another target.

He knew he had many unique cards, and some exclusive entries were exceptionally strong.

These exclusive entries were already strong on the cards themselves, but if granted to other cards, they could become even stronger.

For example, granting the Jumping Guard’s Stasis to the Red Blade Maiden.

It’s worth noting that the Stasis entry itself could appear in Steadfast System, Rage System, and Balance System cards.

But due to the Red Blade Maiden’s own card structure, Shi Li had never been able to give her Stasis.

Now with the Abyss Slime, this problem was easily solved.

Another example is the Red Blade Maiden’s Vast, which has very strong self-Healing ability. Transferring it to the Lotus Succubus or bo shan could greatly increase their sustainability.

However, the biggest beneficiary was still the Jumping Guard.

Due to its Characteristic, the Jumping Guard was unaffected by external positive effects.

And because of its card structure, it had never been able to generate entries like Recovery, Damage Reduction, or HP bonuses.

But now, through the Abyss Slime, it was entirely possible to give the Jumping Guard survival entries like the Red Blade Maiden’s Vast (10+10 points of Recovery), bo shan’s Defense Field (10 points of Damage Reduction), and The Diner’s Satiety (100 points of HP bonus), greatly increasing its survival capability.

Additionally, this entry granting did not occupy an entry slot.

This meant that through entry granting, a four-star card with 4 entries could even become a 5-entry card.

In terms of entry count, it was comparable to a five-star card.

Unfortunately, copied entries could not stack with existing entries.

That is, if he copied the Red Blade Maiden’s Abundant and then granted it back to the Red Blade Maiden, it would be as if only one Abundant was effective, still only providing a 50 HP bonus.

But thinking about it, that made sense; otherwise, it would be too invincible.

Copying 10 points of Damage Reduction and then granting it back to the original target would result in 20 points of Damage Reduction, which would be a BOSS-level overpowered entry, likely sweeping everything in PVP card games.

“If possible, I should try to make the Abyss Slime gain some regular entries. Then, even without copying, I could add these regular entries to the cards that need them.”

However, Shi Li knew from experience that this would likely be very difficult to achieve.

Special card structures like the Abyss Slime’s are not easy to add entries to.

He could only see if it would spontaneously generate some powerful passive entries when it reached four stars.

After finishing with the Abyss Slime, Shi Li once again reviewed his situation.

The Star Ascension conditions for the Red Blade Maiden were all met; she only needed to be crafted.

Jumping Guard: 966 / 1000. He could complete this by finding a few Monster Training Grounds.

Withering Dragon: 49861 / 50000. This could also be completed along with the Jumping Guard.

He still had one Perfect Star Ascension card quota remaining, which he hadn't claimed from the school, and he hadn't yet thought of who to use it on.

He currently had 9.72 million cubic coins, and there were still ten to twenty days until school started.

The New Star Cup would begin within a week of school starting.

So, he still had enough time to Star Ascension a few more cards to four stars.

“I was a bit careless and impulsive. I should have finished grinding the Jumping Guard and Withering Dragon in the Abyss first, and then advanced to Platinum 16.”

“But it’s fine; they’re both almost done.”

“Perhaps I should Star Ascension the Lotus Succubus and The Diner first. That way, I’ll have a better chance of continuing to challenge the Rampage Trial.”

“But before that, I should finish the 3 cards that are almost done with their tasks.”

Shi Li pulled out the Red Blade Maiden.

Card crafting was a very Energy-intensive task.

And it was his first time crafting a three-to-four-star card, so he didn’t know how much time it would take.

So, he pulled out the recipe card and clicked to use it.

Buzz—

The card emitted a large blue holographic pattern with nodes, almost filling the entire room.

What appeared before Shi Li now was like a starry sky.

There were several empty slots, and the nodes and lines were disconnected.

He understood and took out the required cards one by one.

First was the main card, the Red Blade Maiden.

After placing the Red Blade Maiden in, she immediately transformed into a complex card circuit, filling the largest gap.

The remaining smaller gaps were not so easy to handle.

Shi Li knew he had to extract the necessary circuits from within and fill those gaps.

Of course, this involved four-star card operations, so it certainly wasn't that simple.

Just 5 minutes later, he failed.

Even with a very steady hand, he was still just a millimeter short during extraction.

Synthesis failed, materials are about to be destroyed.

Yes / No to consume 60,000 cubic coins to reset this synthesis.

“This cost is too exaggerated—”

While complaining, Shi Li still clicked refresh.

The cost was exaggerated, but the cost of these materials was even higher.

The part where he failed corresponded to a secondary material.

Its value was around 100,000 cubic coins.

No matter how much 60,000 was, it was still cheaper than the material cost.

So, it wasn't a loss.

Continuing this operation, this round of card crafting took Shi Li a full 5 days.

The refresh cost even exceeded 1 million.

You can obtain 1 character card Red Blade Maiden (Four-Star).

You can obtain 1 hand card Healing (LV3) and 1 hand card Healing (LV3).

Yes / No to consume 60,000 cubic coins to reset this task.

“Finally—”

Shi Li let out a long breath.

He rubbed his temples, feeling exhausted.

Rage System Resonance: 140% → 150%

At the same time, a jade-like glow enveloped his entire body, and he felt an unprecedented sense of comfort.

Even the fatigue he had just felt was completely swept away.

Rank: Platinum 16 → Emerald 1

Stamina: 470 / 470 → 620 / 620

Energy: 470 / 470 → 620 / 620

The rank promotion brought a significant improvement to his personal physical qualities.

“This feels really good.”

Shi Li reached out and bent the stainless steel desktop, actually leaving fingerprints on it.

The two hand cards he obtained were also very powerful.

LV3 Healing was actually quite similar to LV3 Healing.

LV3 Healing: Causes 2 cards to each recover 20 HP. (T5)

The Recovery amount didn't increase, but it gained an additional target for release.

This would be very useful under single-hand card rules.

As for LV3 Recovery, it was slightly stronger than LV2.

LV3 Recovery: Causes 1 card to continuously recover 20 HP for 4 turns. (T1)

The duration was extended by 1 turn.

But what Shi Li cared about most was the Red Blade Maiden’s card face after Star Ascension.

Red Blade Maiden

Berserk, 40 points, four-star attack 40, 100 / 100

Tenacity - Trait: Red Blade Maiden possesses Body Immunity and Resistance effects.

Vast - Passive: Red Blade Maiden gains 10 Healing and 10 Healing each turn. (T1 + T5)

Abundant - Passive: Red Blade Maiden’s maximum HP + 50.

Vast - Passive: Red Blade Maiden’s attacks deal an additional 10 points of Suppression damage.

Crimson Blaze - 40 HP: Red Blade Maiden attacks 1 target, dealing 20% of the target’s maximum HP as Fixed Damage. (T4)

Vast - 20 HP: Red Blade Maiden attacks 1 target, dealing 20% of her own maximum HP as True Damage. (T4)

Surging - 100 HP: Red Blade Maiden unleashes 100 points of Execution on 1 target.

Body Immunity: Immune to all crowd control.

Resistance: After suffering a negative effect this turn, immune to negative effects next turn.

Suppression: Deals additional damage to targets with lower maximum HP than self.

Execution: If the target’s HP is less than or equal to this value, it is immediately reduced to 0.

“An epic buff! Even the Characteristic was upgraded.”

Shi Li couldn't help but exclaim.

And two entries were added.

One was a special attack related to HP.

Under the top-tier Abundant, the Red Blade Maiden’s maximum HP advantage was already easily superior to other cards.

So Suppression was very easy to trigger.

The other was an active skill.

It solved a long-standing problem for Shi Li in PVP card games.

That was the Red Blade Maiden’s insufficient single-target instant kill capability.

With her own 150 HP, Vast’s attached attack dealt a total of 70 damage.

But now, with an active skill that exchanges 100 HP for 100 HP, instant kills became much more potent.

After all, Vast’s True Damage was still afraid of Defense.

And Execution was a special effect that could directly ignore any Damage Reduction methods from the opponent.

As long as the target had 100 HP or less, hitting them meant death.

In a PVP card game, one card being able to reliably instantly kill one opposing card was a very important, or rather, extremely powerful ability.

“But it’s not over yet. I still have this card.”

Shi Li pulled out the card that was almost gathering dust in his card library.

Crimson Trial · Extreme: Can be used after Red Blade Maiden reaches four stars and completes Crimson Trial · True.

“It’s its turn to make an appearance.”

He took a deep breath and contacted staff to refill his coffee.

Shi Li was going to continue his work.

This time, it cost nearly 1 million cubic coins again before he succeeded.

Rage System Resonance: 150% → 160%

“I feel that once Lotus Succubus and The Diner reach four stars, if I get another unique Rage System card, my Resonance will reach 200%.”

Shi Li didn't expect a 200% Balance System Resonance, even though its Resonance had already reached 170%.

Because he was currently allocating more resources to the Rage System, as they could provide stronger immediate combat power.

Cicada Wing Patrol, Fleeing Ink, and Abyss Slime, these three unique Balance cards, were all support cards and couldn't quickly form combat power.

“Alright, it’s decided. The next one to Star Ascension will be the Lotus Succubus.”

Thus, Shi Li made a plan.

However, the time he had left was clearly not enough.

Or not necessarily not enough, but before Star Ascension the Lotus Succubus, he had to first complete the Star Ascension of the Jumping Guard and Withering Dragon.

After all, the Star Ascension of these two cards was more imminent, or rather, more within reach.

So, in his last few days in Durian City, Shi Li chose to enter the Monster Training Ground.

It had been almost a year since he first entered this Monster Training Ground.

All the monsters had long since refreshed.

Although by regulation, his current rank made it inconvenient for him to enter, a word from Director Hou was enough for him to be directly let in.

Of course, to avoid being too conspicuous, Shi Li also used a rank disguise prop card.

Silently, he moved alone within the training ground.

In addition, Shi Li also received news from Director Hou.

That is, after completing Abyss Floor 10, he would likely receive an S-rank cultivation contract.

More accurately, it shouldn't be a cultivation contract anymore, but an S-rank employee contract.

Because Shi Li had already reached the Emerald rank, even though he was still in his cultivation period, he could exceptionally receive an employee contract.

However, an S-rank contract was a significant matter and required him to go to the headquarters to sign and be issued it.