218: Advance to [Jade 6]

Chapter 218: Promoted to Emerald 6

These two Lifebound Hand Cards were very strange; they actually specified that only one could be chosen per game.

That means the other one should also be very strong, strong enough to rival [Invincible].

You know, the [Invincible] of [Lotus of the Staff] was truly [Invincible].

When necessary, it could be used at a critical moment to block an ultimate skill from the opponent.

Especially when acting as an Ace Card, if the Ace Card is revealed first in a one-on-one situation, the side that reveals first often suffers a disadvantage.

Because the Ace Card revealed first must first clear the opponent's last regular card before the main card can be revealed.

That's equivalent to taking one normal attack from the opponent's regular card, falling behind by one turn.

However, with [Invincible] on the revealing turn, [Flower Cudgel Leader] can eliminate the opponent's last regular card without taking damage.

This way, it can compensate for the loss in turns.

If both Ace Cards are revealed simultaneously, or if it's revealed later, the advantage would be even greater.

[Flower Cudgel Leader]'s [Invincible] can take one hit of damage from the opponent, and then as a main card, it can deal 180 points of damage with a 90 attack combo, almost instantly killing the opponent's Ace Card.

However, Shi Li's tactics generally involve revealing the Ace Card first, which makes [Flower Cudgel Leader] less suitable.

Because unlike [Red Blade Maiden], it doesn't have [Overlord Body] and is vulnerable to crowd control.

Even with 180 points of combo damage, it would still take two turns to defeat the opponent's Ace Card.

If an opponent simply plays an Ace Card with 10 special attack + two [Stun] + 30 Wisdom, they can easily overpower you.

"[Lotus of the Staff] can be said to have changed or broadened the usage of [Flower Cudgel Leader], so what about [Lotus of the Staff]?"

Shi Li looked at the second Lifebound Hand Card.

[Lotus of the Staff]: Flower Cudgel Leader attacks 1 target, with 100% [Full Penetration] effect ([Full Penetration]: When attacking a target that is not [Defense], all targets directly behind it receive damage).

"Hmm?"

The effect of this Hand Card was something he had never expected.

Because unlike other Lifebound Hand Cards, and similar to the regular Hand Card [Defense], this was actually an action card.

In other words, using it would consume an action slot, and he wouldn't be able to attack or defend this turn.

To be more precise, it's a skill card.

A Lifebound Hand Card that allows [Flower Cudgel Leader] to use a skill.

Don't underestimate this effect; [Full Penetration] is rarely possessed by character cards.

Monster cards and BOSS cards often carry this effect, but when these monster cards and BOSS cards become a player's character card, the [Full Penetration] effect is often weakened to [Penetration], or even directly removed.

Or, what was originally 40 points or 30 points of [Full Penetration] is weakened to only 10 points.

And 100% [Full Penetration] like [Flower Cudgel Leader]'s is very rare.

It means that whatever damage [Flower Cudgel Leader] deals to the target, an equal amount of damage is transferred to every card behind it.

This transfer is not considered an attack, so attack-based Damage Reduction is ineffective; mainly [Shield] and [Defense] can reduce it.

What's even more crucial is that [Flower Cudgel Leader] is a 40-point high-attack card.

In the early game, when Energy is not full, this one Penetration attack would deal a total of 603 damage.

If the revealing mechanism of [Cicada Wing Patrol] is used to reveal it as an Ace Card early on.

That would be an exaggerated 903 damage.

You need to know the advantages of this [Full Penetration].

First, in a PVP card game, if you reveal cards early, when you use [Full Penetration], most of the targets behind are face-down cards.

Face-down cards can only take the damage, completely unable to fight back.

If they are not face-down cards, with a different approach, you can also attack enemy Rage cards hidden behind outer cards.

The damage of [Flower Cudgel Leader] is so high; as long as it hits the opponent's Rage card once, the opponent's Rage card's HP should not be used to cast skills casually.

Second, [Full Penetration] is a divine effect for [Flower Cudgel Leader] in terms of damage, maximizing its output capability.

Because the damage transferred to the back is not an attack, [Flower Cudgel Leader] will not gain Charge.

It's equivalent to only paying the "cost" of gaining 10 Charge for attacking one target, in exchange for the result of attacking three targets.

Just looking at the paper, [Full Penetration] is definitely not as good as [Invincible].

But from a specific perspective, for a card like [Flower Cudgel Leader], [Full Penetration] might not be inferior to [Invincible].

It can only be said that each has its pros and cons.

However, it's important to note that [Full Penetration] isn't that easy to use either.

One careless mistake could help the opponent reveal their Ace Card early.

Then again, thinking about it carefully, it's indeed a loss for others to use a 10-point [Full Penetration] to reveal an opponent's Ace Card.

But if it's [Flower Cudgel Leader]'s [Full Penetration] dealing such high damage, it doesn't matter if the opponent's Ace Card is revealed.

"It's a pity these two Lifebound Hand Cards cannot be used in the same game.

Otherwise, starting with [Invincible] and [Full Penetration] would be absolutely amazing."

After putting away these two cards, Shi Li began to plan the subsequent card arrangements.

The acquisition of [Lotus of the Staff] went smoothly, costing him over 1 million.

Now he has nearly 9 million left, and the refresh fee has increased to 75,000 per attempt.

At this rate, assuming all subsequent cards follow the recipe path rather than the quest path.

Then 9 million would probably only be enough to Star Ascension 3 or 4 cards to four stars.

"I don't know what kind of deck my opponents in the New Star Cup will have, so I can't do targeted Star Ascension right now."

"Perhaps I can first Star Ascension [The Diner] or [red dragon beast master], which would make it easier for me to challenge [Rampage Trial] and [Hell Trial]."

"But right now, [Rampage Trial] and [Hell Trial] are not the main priority; the New Star Cup is."

"Perhaps I can try a different approach."

Thinking this, he made a decision.

First, select 5 or 6 three-star unique cards and complete their first step of simulation tasks.

This would have two benefits.

First, it would broaden his options.

Then, he could decide which card to upgrade to four stars based on the opponents he encountered in the New Star Cup.

Second, it would speed up the process.

First complete the simulation tasks to see which cards require the recipe path and which require the quest path.

Quest path cards should naturally be started as early as possible.

Especially since some cards' Star Ascension quests might overlap, completing them all at once is better than doing them in several parts.

So Shi Li spent 1.8 million to purchase 6 Star Ascension token cards corresponding to [The Diner], [red dragon beast master], [bo shan], [cloud river], [Demonbane Dark Hunter], and [Abyss Slime].

[The Diner] and [red dragon beast master] were mostly for [Rampage Trial] and [Hell Trial].

[bo shan] and [cloud river] were for deck strength, as they are Collaboration cards.

[Demonbane Dark Hunter] was for deck functionality.

[Abyss Slime] was because it is the most variable card, and perhaps after Star Ascension, it would be suitable for more scenarios.

The next plan was to do simulation quests during the day and climb the ladder at night.

Regarding the ladder, he was already quite comfortable with it.

After the initial three days, he was able to stably farm Nightmare 7.

He never encountered the [Moon Crystal Essence] he wanted, but he did collect fragmented [Moon Crystals], which were useless.

On this point, Shi Li also asked Leo and others.

The answer he received was that although the theoretical drop difficulty for [Moon Crystal Essence] was Nightmare 7, the drop rate was very low.

It only has a relatively high drop rate in the Full Moon Ladder, which unlocks after clearing Nightmare 8.

And Nightmare 8 is the top floor of the Pre-Moon Ladder.

However, when challenging Nightmare 8, Shi Li found that he couldn't beat it.

The final BOSS of each Nightmare level is different.

And the BOSS of Nightmare 8 happened to be quite strong against the wide-open style of [Red Blade Maiden].

So after trying for half the night, Shi Li could only temporarily give up using [Red Blade Maiden] as his character choice.

He switched to trying other unique character cards, hoping to unearth potentially better tactics.

With great difficulty, he managed to beat Nightmare 8 with [Jumping Dragon Guard] and obtained the Full Moon qualification.

However, that successful run had a bit of luck involved.

So afterwards, he continued to change his approach, frequently switching characters.

He wanted to see who was more suitable for conquering the ladder.

And during the day, Shi Li was not idle either.

The day before the Full Moon Ladder opened, he completed the first step of the simulation tasks for all 6 selected three-star unique cards.

Some simulation tasks went smoothly, others didn't, but overall it was smooth.

Because the total cost was 5.5 million, he originally thought it would cost at least 8 million to complete them.

Among them, [red dragon beast master], [bo shan], [cloud river], and [Abyss Slime] all followed the quest path.

[red dragon beast master]: Defeat different beast monster cards, 0 / 1000

[bo shan] [cloud river]: Trigger the [Characteristic] of Linkage in PVE, 0 / 5000

[Abyss Slime]: Use Lifebound Hand Cards and win the card game: 0 / 1000

As Shi Li had guessed, several quests overlapped to some extent.

[red dragon beast master] was a bit more troublesome, requiring beast monster cards.

This requirement was difficult to fulfill even in the Abyssal.

Because there weren't many monsters with the beast card tag in the Abyssal.

The quests for [bo shan] and [cloud river] were indeed shared, as he expected.

And the number 5000 didn't seem as difficult as he thought, even relatively simple.

[bo shan] triggers [Characteristic] 1 time when attacked, [cloud river] triggers [Characteristic] 1 time while maintaining [Still]; this turn counts as 2 times.

If [bo shan] takes a lot of damage, it could even be more than 2 times in 1 turn.

Getting 10 or so times in one game is not difficult.

However, this quest cannot be done in simulated card tables or PVP, which is a bit of a shame.

But in Shi Li's opinion, the most frustrating one was [Abyss Slime].

Because if the holder hasn't completed the Lifebound Hand Card quest, they can't even start the quest.

However, he thought there might be a possibility that because he obtained the Lifebound Hand Card, the quest became this way.

If he hadn't obtained the Lifebound Hand Card, the quest might have changed, but it probably wouldn't have become simpler.

This quest not only requires a win but also the use of a Lifebound Hand Card, which means [Abyss Slime] must be retired from battle.

The prerequisites are indeed a bit numerous.

However, it can be completed through PVP card games, not necessarily PVE card games.

After a small test, Shi Li found that even the same player could accumulate counts.

He would go back and team up with his roommates, specifically playing the simplest 2+1 card games; 1000 times shouldn't be too difficult to grind.

As for those requiring recipe materials, they were [The Diner] and [Demonbane Dark Hunter].

With 1.7 million remaining, Shi Li chose to first upgrade [Demonbane Dark Hunter] to four stars.

Purchasing materials cost 1 million, leaving 700,000 for refreshing.

With only 30,000 left in his pocket, he successfully acquired the new four-star card.

[You can obtain character card [Demonbane Dark Hunter (Four-Star)] 1.]

[You can obtain Hand Cards [Retaliation (LV3)] 1, [Charge (LV3)] 1.]

[Yes / Consume 110,000 cubic coins to reset this quest.]

"This refresh fee is too exaggerated."

Fortunately, the Star Ascension of [Red Blade Maiden] provided Shi Li with a lot of experience.

He clicked "Claim" and received the cards.

[Wisdom System Resonance]: 80% → 100%

"Finally, all eight system resonances have been achieved."

Shi Li knew this was not easy at all.

Among his unique cards, [Demonbane Dark Hunter] was the only Wisdom card, making the Wisdom system resonance particularly difficult to achieve.

The same situation applied to [Withering Dragon].

It also just happened to reach 100% when it was upgraded to four stars.

However, although [Wither Trial] was activated, Shi Li couldn't really play it much.

Because he only had 1 Wither card, he could only clear [0-1].

A jade-colored light washed over his entire body, and his personal panel was further enhanced.

[Tier]: Emerald 5 → Emerald 6

[Stamina]: 740 / 740 → 770 / 770

[Energy]: 740 / 740 → 770 / 770

Now let's look at the card face of [Demonbane Dark Hunter].

[Demonbane Dark Hunter]

Wisdom, 30 points, Four-Star Attack 30, 100 / 100, 60 / 60

[Demonbane - Characteristic]: Demonbane Dark Hunter possesses [Magic Immunity] effect. [Source Interception - Passive]: When Demonbane Dark Hunter reveals a card, it can prevent 1 target from recovering Energy this turn. [Mana Corruption - Passive]: Demonbane Dark Hunter's attacks carry 10 points of [Quantum Entanglement].

[Magic Weapon - Passive]: Demonbane Dark Hunter's pursuit-type damage converts to [Absolute Damage].

[Conditional Counter-Curse - 10 Energy]: Demonbane Dark Hunter automatically initiates 10 points of [Echo].

[Eliminate Evil - 10 Energy]: Demonbane Dark Hunter automatically initiates 10 points of [Finishing Blow].

[Anti-Magic Tattoos - 10 Energy]: Demonbane Dark Hunter makes its side immune to enemy Hand Card effects this turn (T0).

[Demonbane Seal - 60 Energy]: Demonbane Dark Hunter selects 1 target and applies the corresponding effect for this game ([Magic Immunity]: Immune to non-control negative effects).

([Echo]: When an enemy target uses a skill, immediately launch 1 attack).

([Finishing Blow]: When an enemy target's HP first drops to or below 50%, immediately launch 1 attack).

"Nice, this improvement is quite significant."

Shi Li expressed his approval.

First, the Energy cap increased by 20 points.

But it was actually a bit debatable.

Because [Demonbane Dark Hunter] has too many ways to consume mana, increasing the cap by 20 points doesn't really mean much.

There was also another issue: the slower its Energy was depleted, the later it could use its Lifebound Hand Cards to chain onto the opponent.

From this perspective, it was even a slight nerf.

But the other aspects of its enhancement were formidable.

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