217: Advance to [Jade 5], [Lotus of the Stick]

Chapter 217: Promoted to Emerald 5, Lotus of the Staff

After obtaining City of Chaotic Corpses, Shi Li temporarily left the Chess Domain.

He set up a simulated card table outside to test it out.

“Not bad,” he said.

After the experiment, he expressed his approval.

Perhaps because this item originated from the Chess Domain, the effect of the tactical card was slightly stronger than the effect of the hand card.

On the chessboard, each Zombie Clone summoned this round could block 1 attack for its teammates.

Three Zombie Clones meant three attacks.

However, on the card table, its effect only provided a positive effect equivalent to 30 Shield points.

And it also specified requirements: it had to be an Undead-type card and an outside card, a dual condition.

But for Shi Li, he was more optimistic about its effect on the card table.

First, let's look at which cards in his main deck currently have the Undead tag.

Jumping Dragon Guard, Withering Dragon, Exploding Zombie, and barely one Abyss Slime that can copy tags.

Among them, Jumping Dragon Guard and Withering Dragon were more likely to be outside cards.

Especially for Jumping Dragon Guard, this scene card was a significant buff.

Because the scene card's mechanism bypassed the Characteristic negative mechanism of Jumping Dragon Guard.

A better understanding is that although the numerical effect is equivalent to 30 Shield points, the actual activation mechanism is different.

From the perspective of a tactical card, Shi Li believed that this scene card could be seen as temporarily summoning 1 Zombie Clone to block 30 damage when his Undead outside cards were attacked.

This effect was not a positive effect applied to Jumping Dragon Guard, but a neutral effect belonging to the scene card.

It's worth noting that Shi Li had always regretted that Jumping Dragon Guard couldn't be given a Shield; otherwise, it would be very powerful.

And now, this City of Chaotic Corpses could theoretically negate a total of 90 damage for his three Undead outside cards.

This effect was far superior to LV2 and LV3 Shield hand cards.

Of course, strictly speaking, this was still an ordinary hand card.

It possessed the attributes of an ordinary hand card.

Unless specified, it only took effect for 1 round and could be Countered.

But Shi Li still felt that this was definitely something his deck needed.

There were two reasons.

First, under the single hand card rule, it was equivalent to giving himself an additional hand card that could at least rival an LV1 Shield.

Second, in situations where the opponent had means to break through Defenses, preventing Jumping Guard from Defense, using this scene card could significantly enhance its survivability.

After completing the test of this scene card, Shi Li returned to the Chess Domain.

After clearing the City of Chaotic Corpses, the pioneering group disbanded on the spot.

However, Shi Li's journey was not over yet.

Because Leo had sent him an invitation, still for a gold group.

He had just used the excuse of needing to rest to temporarily leave the Chess Domain.

This time, Leo organized a small-scale gold group, a 20-person dungeon.

For Shi Li, it perfectly met his needs.

Because the final boss of a 20-person dungeon was usually a Overlord-level.

And because Shi Li was such a powerful member, the gold group could confidently recruit five more bosses.

More bosses meant higher bidding.

For Shi Li, it was comfortable to both complete quests and earn money.

So, his action plan for the next month was arranged like this.

He would run gold groups during the day and climb the ladder at night.

Anyway, with the physical quality of the Emerald rank, he was very durable.

During the day, while waiting for people to gather, Shi Li would take a quick nap on the spot, which was enough to maintain his sleep.

If no bosses could be found, they would go for some high-difficulty 10-person dungeons.

High-difficulty 10-person dungeons also had Overlord-level final bosses.

Moreover, 10-person dungeon maps were smaller, took less time, and were more efficient.

For Shi Li, his only demand was to complete a large number of quests.

None of the drops from these dungeons were worth his attention.

And Leo and the others were thrilled; with such a powerful member as a fallback, they were guaranteed not to fail in dungeons.

Some dungeons they previously had to treat cautiously or even dared not challenge were now cleared completely.

Even Captain 21 and a few other captains couldn't resist joining for several days.

However, because Shi Li was overly selfless and didn't demand anything, it made everyone feel a bit awkward.

Especially for non-gold group 10-person dungeons, there was no income and no gold to share.

So, after discussion, everyone would contribute some money after each run to give Shi Li a token of appreciation.

It usually wasn't much, only tens of thousands of cubic coins per run, certainly not comparable to gold group dividends.

But don't underestimate the power of accumulating small amounts.

Ultimately, by the time Shi Li completed the monster-slaying quest, he had accumulated nearly 3 million cubic coins.

As a result, his personal assets once again reached 10 million.

After completing the quest, Shi Li didn't delay, having already given prior notice, and then temporarily left the Chess Domain again.

“Finally, it wasn't easy,” he exclaimed, looking at the quest completion panel.

One hundred Overlord-level monsters meant he had run nearly a hundred dungeons.

Quest completed.

You can obtain 1 Character Card [Flower Cudgel Leader (Four-Star)].

As the card came into his possession, an emerald light instantly enveloped his entire body.

Rank: Emerald 4 → Emerald 5

Stamina: 700 / 700 → 740 / 740

Energy: 700 / 700 → 740 / 740

His personal stat panel was enhanced once again.

“I feel like I could mine in the Alien Domain for a full day and night without getting tired now,” Shi Li joked, feeling strange as both his Stamina and Energy broke the 700 mark.

Momentum Resonance: 100% → 110%

“The progress of the Momentum system is quite behind. Don't even think about activating the Momentum authority for the Hell Trial for now.”

What he was more concerned about now was, of course, the card itself.

Flower Cudgel Leader

Momentum, 40 points, Four-star Attack 40, 100 / 100, 0 / 30

Weight of the Flower Club - Characteristic: Flower Cudgel Leader has no Energy consumption. Cannot use skills when Energy is full. Latent Power - Passive: When Flower Cudgel Leader's Energy is not full, Attack +20.

Overwhelm - Passive: When Flower Cudgel Leader attacks a target with fewer points than itself, Attack +10.

Unstoppable - Passive: When Flower Cudgel Leader's Energy is full, attacks become True Damage.

Gun Shadow Combo - 0 Energy: Flower Cudgel Leader attacks the target an additional time. Hammering Mountains and Shaking Peaks - 0 Energy: Flower Cudgel Leader attacks one target, with an additional 10 points of Knockback effect. Heavy Flower Storm - 0 Energy: Flower Cudgel Leader attacks targets in one row individually. (Knockback: Forces the target to Movement if there is an empty space behind it; if there is no empty space, it takes Collision damage.) (Collision: The side with less health takes damage; if health is equal, both sides take damage.)

“Comfortable.”

This card fully met Shi Li's expectations.

What Flower Cudgel Leader lacked most was an Energy cap.

This Star Ascension, allowing it to increase its Energy cap by 10 points, was already satisfying.

As for the new active skill, it was also very strong.

Now Shi Li only wanted to know if the Mang Domain National War mode was still available.

If he unleashed this full-row AOE, his score would directly skyrocket.

However, this was basically a skill that could only be used once per game.

If there were three targets in one row on the opponent's side, he would gain 30 Charge, immediately reaching full Charge.

If there were only two targets in one row, he would gain 20 Charge, which was still decent.

“Now I should be able to do the fated card quest, right?”

Shi Li knew he had to change his battle plan.

He would do the fated hand card quest during the day and continue to climb the ladder at night.

So, temporarily returning to the Chess Domain, Shi Li greeted Leo and declined his invitation to join another gold group.

He had to admit, he found that the people in this area seemed quite wealthy.

There were many bosses, and it was normal to get hundreds of thousands of cubic coins from a single gold group run.

However, he also understood that there were two main reasons for this: first, his deck's combat power had already increased.

With increased combat power, the speed of earning money naturally also increased.

It was no longer like before, earning tens of thousands, and occasionally getting a hundred or two hundred thousand would make him happy for a while.

Second, his standards had gradually risen, and he basically didn't care for the drops from ordinary gold groups.

If he were still in the lower ranks of Gold or Platinum, he might have been quite tempted by those gold group drops.

But now, he didn't care for them.

And the bidding model in gold groups, where damage dealers could also bid, and damage dealer wages could offset bidding costs, also made the final dividend amount "inflated."

But if he didn't participate in bidding or consumption at all, this inflated amount became genuinely high.

In 80% of cases, he was one of the few people in the group who received the most dividends.

“There will be plenty of opportunities to earn money, and I'm not short on money right now.

The key is to quickly convert money into substantial combat improvements.”

He asked Director Chi for a rest room, and Shi Li began the Flower Cudgel Leader's fated hand card simulation quest.

Taking out the card, he clicked to use it.

Lines of text immediately popped up.

“This quest is named: Lotus of the Staff.”

“Seventh has gained a lot in the Ancient Land of the Chief. The battle with the Seven-Colored Glazed Beast has given her new insights into staff techniques.”

“Facing the escaped Glazed Beast, she decided to continue the pursuit.”

“But just before a fork in the road, a hallucination-like whisper suddenly echoed in her ears.”

“To cultivate this skill, one must first—”

“Although it only sounded once, if it wasn't a hallucination, she could confirm it came from the right ancient path.”

“Please help her make a choice.”

“A. Ignore the whisper.”

“From the tracks, the Glazed Beast should have fled to the left ancient path.”

“B. Follow the whisper.”

“There are rumors that the souls of past Martial Chiefs from various countries exist in the Ancient Land of the Chief. Perhaps there's some serendipity hidden within.”

“C. Respond to the whisper.”

“It's impolite to not finish a sentence. To cultivate this skill, one must first what?”

“Choose B.”

Shi Li was a little worried that this simulation quest would be like Red Blade Maiden's fated hand card quest, where choosing the wrong option might lead to immediate failure.

Ignoring it was out of the question.

After making his choice, new text popped up.

“Seventh made a decisive choice to follow the whisper.”

“But it was a dead end, with nothing there.”

“The Glazed Beast was also lost.”

“This quest has ended.”

“You can retry in 30 days.”

“Yes / No to consume 75,000 cubic coins to reset this quest.”

“Damn it.”

So the goal of this quest line was the Glazed Beast.

This quest was indeed of the same nature as the Crimson Trial.

It was a lesson bought with money.

Chess Domain, Blacklight Mercenary Group Headquarters.

The Withered Saint Lord sat in a small courtyard, drinking tea and enjoying the sunset.

“Saint Lord, I have obtained the Full Moon qualification.”

The General Leader knelt before him on one knee.

“Not bad,” the Withered Saint Lord nodded.

Full Moon Ladder was the final stage of the ladder.

It would only begin on the last three days of the ladder month.

According to the information received, the Wandering Fragment he was looking for might be at the top of that Full Moon Ladder.

However, unlike the single-player mode, the Full Moon mode had a chance of encountering chess players from the same tier.

Only those who stood until the end had a chance to reach the top of the Full Moon Ladder.

Of course, he didn't believe that his subordinate in front of him had the ability to reach the top.

If he had that strength, he would have already achieved it, and there would be no need for his avatar to descend.

However, after obtaining the Full Moon qualification, he could at least help clear some time-wasting obstacles on the way.

There were still about ten days until the Full Moon Ladder opened.

This quest has ended.

“It wasn't easy,” Shi Li exclaimed a few days later, looking at the pop-up panel.

You can obtain Hand Card [Lotus of the Staff] 1, [Flower of the Staff] 1.

You can retry in 30 days.

Yes / No to consume 75,000 cubic coins to reset this quest.

Momentum Resonance: 110% → 120%

“Hmm?”

Shi Li hadn't expected to receive two fated hand cards at once.

Even Linked Cards like bo shan and Yunying only had one fated hand card.

Clearly, such a reward piqued his curiosity.

So Shi Li quickly took the cards in his hand and checked their panels.

Lotus of the Staff: When Flower Cudgel Leader is revealed, gains 1 round of Invincibility. (Only 1 of Lotus of the Staff and Flower of the Staff can be selected per game.)

“Oh my, isn't this invincible?”

Seeing the effect of the first card, his eyes immediately lit up.

He knew that in his self-evolving tactical deployment, there was a preset.

That was to reveal Flower Cudgel Leader in the first row.

It would start with a two-hit Gun Shadow Combo, dealing 120 damage directly.

With an Encouragement, it could even reach 140 points.

Combined with the Counter hand card, there was a high probability of instantly killing one of the opponent's cards.

However, this was a very aggressive, strong opening playstyle.

Because it meant trading one for one at the start, and the opponent would also instantly kill Flower Cudgel Leader.

Considering the value and points of Flower Cudgel Leader, Shi Li was not very willing to accept such a one-for-one trade, so this tactic was almost never used.

Moreover, what if the opponent's key card had the ability to Defense autonomously at the start, or was a giant card with 200+ health?

But now, with this Lotus of the Staff, the situation was different.

Invincibility: Immune to hits/damage. With this effect, he could stably gain a lead of one card over the opponent at the start.

It wasn't a one-for-one trade, so it was perfectly acceptable.

The only drawback was that Invincibility was vulnerable to crowd control.

“Let's look at the other one.”