223: The eighteenth unique card

Chapter 223: The Eighteenth unique Card

He said he would save cards for two or three rounds, but it was actually more than that.

The Withered Saint Lord's hand was a bit clogged.

Among them was a crucial card, of which there was only 1 in the deck.

What kind of situation did this lead to?

Cards in the Ladder are divided into recyclable and non-recyclable types, and this crucial card actually belonged to the recyclable type.

However, for recyclable cards to refresh, all cards in the deck must be drawn, and only then will all used recyclable cards be replenished.

How to draw all of them? It essentially means spending rounds.

This led to a relatively long period during which he couldn't launch any effective attacks against the Demon-Defeating Dragon.

But precisely because of this prolonged engagement, he discovered a problem.

Or, to put it another way, as he played, he suddenly felt something was amiss.

Anyone who could reach this PVP stage had gone through eighteen major progress points: nine yesterday and nine today.

But the cards Shi Li had shown so far, both in strength and quantity, were not particularly high.

To give a more intuitive analogy, it felt as if the Withered Saint Lord had gained 500 cubic coins and spent 500 cubic coins across the eighteen progress points, while Shi Li gained 500 cubic coins but only spent 300 cubic coins.

Yes, that was exactly the feeling.

But this feeling, paradoxically, was unrealistic.

Who would save money before a final match like this?

"You lose."

Regardless, the Withered Saint Lord's hand had formed again.

He was about to unleash another burst in this round.

First, a buff card to increase his side's damage this round.

Three attack action cards were played consecutively, bringing the Demon-Defeating Dragon to 80/100 HP.

One draw card was played, gaining 2 new cards.

One exchange card was played, discarding 1 card for 2 new cards.

One draw card was played, gaining 2 new cards.

Another three attack action cards were played, bringing the Demon-Defeating Dragon to 40/100 HP.

But this alone was not enough to instantly kill the Demon-Defeating Dragon.

And the Withered Saint Lord's hand was completely empty.

However, at this point, the round was not yet over.

"Angel's authority, I now command you to descend."

"[Angel's Chaotic Authority]: Based on the number of attacks dealt this round, unleash the same number of additional attacks."

At the very end, he played his unique card.

"Oh?"

Shi Li hadn't expected his opponent to have such a card.

Including his Characteristic, his opponent had launched a total of 12 attacks this round so far.

So, playing this unique card now meant another 12 attacks?

Thus, under the Fel Angel's continuous attacks, the Demon-Defeating Dragon's health began to rapidly decrease.

It was on the verge of reaching 0.

"Alas—"

Facing this situation, Shi Li shook his head.

This shake of the head wasn't because he was about to lose.

It was because his trump card was about to be used.

When the Fel Angel's combo reached its 8th hit, the Demon-Defeating Dragon's health was down to just 4/100.

With just one more attack, its HP would be reset to 0.

But at that moment, a golden aura burst forth from its body.

"Hmm?"

The Withered Saint Lord raised an eyebrow.

0

The 9th attack, however, showed this damage.

[Full Moon's Radiance]: When taking fatal damage, immune that damage and gain Invincibility for the current round.

"I originally wanted to save it for climbing the tower tomorrow, but you forced me to use it.

Pay me back."

Shi Li said faintly.

This was a one-time Blessing, completely gone once used.

"Consider yourself lucky."

The Withered Saint Lord snorted upon hearing this.

His second wave of burst damage was actually blocked like this.

"But I don't believe you can block it twice, let alone three times."

In reality—he also had [Full Moon's Radiance]!

And his burst damage methods were not yet exhausted.

As long as he gathered another wave of trump cards, he could still kill this guy!

The reason he was so confident was because he understood that with the abilities the Demon-Defeating Dragon had shown, it couldn't possibly threaten his Fel Angel.

He had numerous Recovery methods.

"Don't you understand the saying 'third time's the charm' (literally 'no more than three')?"

But Shi Li didn't think that way.

How could he not understand a principle his opponent grasped?

He also had a backup plan.

This backup plan was also one-time use, but it wasn't a Blessing, it was a hand card.

When his turn arrived, the Demon-Defeating Dragon recovered to full health.

He also played the card he had been holding in his hand, unused.

[Live Experiment - 0]: Temporarily fuse a new character and temporarily add its corresponding cards to the deck.

"Hmm?!"

The Withered Saint Lord was stunned when he saw this card played.

"If two-in-one couldn't kill you, what about three-in-one?"

Among his unique cards, Shi Li had already decided on his choice.

What he needed now was output capability.

In Ladder mode, the character with the strongest sustained output capability was actually—the Breaker.

[Roar!!!]

The Bone Dragon's appearance changed again, with sharp bone spikes growing all over its body.

Especially the one on its forehead, like a hideous horn.

[Demonbane Dragon]

Wither, 100/100, 0/0, LV50

[Immortal - Characteristic]: Demonbane Dragon's maximum HP is fixed at 100, and HP resets every round.

[Demonbane - Characteristic]: Demonbane Dragon has Magic Immunity.

[Strike - Characteristic]: Demonbane Dragon converts every 10 points of attack damage into 5% of the target's maximum HP.

"This—!"

The Withered Saint Lord's pupils contracted.

His Fel Angel had a maximum HP of 666, so 5% was 33 points.

10 points of attack damage becoming 33 points meant the Demon-Defeating Dragon's output capability had more than tripled.

This was indeed a huge improvement.

And from the opponent's previous displayed output capability, at 3x, his own Recovery capability truly couldn't withstand it!

So, undoubtedly, before his third wave of burst damage arrived, the opponent would absolutely be able to kill him several times over.

"Unless you get lucky and every card you draw next is a crucial burst card, allowing you to unleash the third burst in the shortest number of rounds.

Otherwise, I win."

Shi Li spread his hands.

"You—are too naive."

The Withered Saint Lord smiled upon hearing this: "I won't give you the chance to defeat me."

After saying this, his figure began to tremble violently.

The next second, he vanished directly from Shi Li's sight.

"Hmm?"

Shi Li didn't understand what had happened until a line of text popped up in front of him.

[You have defeated your opponent.]

"Well, I'll be."

This move left him speechless.

His opponent directly surrendered and retreated?

So this was what he meant by not giving me a chance to defeat you?

A scholar can be humiliated but not killed, right?

But what happened next quickly interrupted his thoughts.

A rift suddenly appeared in the void, and then a ray of light floated before him.

[You have obtained the Black Angel.]

"Oh?"

What Shi Li didn't know was that the will to duel was relative.

Since the Withered Saint Lord had infused the will to kill Shi Li into this duel, he himself had to pay a corresponding price upon defeat.

This card was the secret anchor he used to summon his clone.

Now that the clone was dispersed, the card fell into Shi Li's hands.

"Such a good thing?"

Shi Li looked at the card face and immediately rejoiced.

Its projection was an angel with a pair of black wings.

Its appearance was eight parts similar to the Fel Angel, but not as mighty, after all, that one was a fusion of two characters.

[Black Angel]

Wither, 30 points, 2-star attack 30, 100/100, 0/30

[Soul Drain - Characteristic]: Black Angel's attacks come with 10 points of Exhaustion.

[Punishment - Passive]: When Black Angel's Exhaustion fails, the target loses corresponding HP (Exhaustion: Lose a corresponding amount of energy cap this game, stackable).

"What a good card."

This made his eyes light up.

And perhaps because Wither cards were rare, this time the Resonance still gave him a 20% boost, going from 100% to 120%.

If this trend continued, he might be able to skip the Wither Trial entirely and have his Wither cards enter the Hell Trial.

This would definitely be a huge help for conquering the Hell Trial.

Returning to the card's face.

It could apply a negative effect similar to the Withering Dragon, essentially an energy version of Wither.

However, the value was lower than Wither, but the effect was still very good.

Especially the Punishment, which felt like an exclusive entry, was incredibly powerful.

After this PVP match, today's Ladder was over.

So Shi Li quickly left the Chess Domain, pulled up a simulated card table outside, and tested this card.

The result was almost exactly what he had expected.

The effect of Punishment was almost identical to Quantum Entanglement.

The so-called "Exhaustion failure" had two layers of meaning.

The first layer was for cards like Balance System and Rage System that had no energy.

When they suffered Exhaustion, it would convert into irreducibly lost HP, similar to Quantum Entanglement.

1 stack, or 10 points of Exhaustion, could convert into 10 points of damage.

The same applied to other system cards whose energy cap had already reached 0 under the effect of Exhaustion.

The advantage over Quantum Entanglement was that if the target had energy, they could still block Quantum Entanglement.

But against Exhaustion, regardless of whether the opponent had energy, their cap would be deducted.

The second layer was that, like Wither, it could be Purified.

However, this Purification needed to be handled with care.

Because one wrong move could backfire and cause a lot of damage.

In the first layer, Exhaustion only stacked 10 points at a time, converting to 10 points of damage, which was fine.

But if the target had 10 or so stacks of Exhaustion on them, then once Purification was applied, it would cause all Exhaustion to burst, dealing up to 100 points of damage.

A 100 HP card would be instantly killed.

Of course, if it was a card with a low energy cap, there wouldn't be the aforementioned trouble.

For example, a weak card whose original energy cap was only 30 points.

[Flower Cudgel Leader]: ?

With a 30-point energy cap, no matter how much is deducted, it's a maximum of 30 points. The Exhaustion that can continuously remain on the body is 3 stacks, or 30 points. Any further application of Exhaustion will only directly convert to damage.

And 3 stacks of Exhaustion bursting would only be 30 points of damage.

"I wonder what entries this card will gain after promotion."

Shi Li began to look forward to it.

However, judging from the Withering Dragon's experience, Wither-type cards were difficult to gain new entries purely through card crafting.

It wasn't that unique cards had a unique and complex structure; that was only one point.

The most important other point was that there were simply no related material cards for the Wither system on the market.

Auxiliary materials were generic, which was fine.

But finding main materials for the Wither system was difficult.

If even material cards were so hard to find, then Star Ascension tokens would be even harder.

"But fortunately, like the Withering Dragon, it's also a quest-based Star Ascension card."

The reason he was so sure was because Shi Li had already seen an additional Star Ascension quest panel for the Black Angel.

But after clicking it open, his eyebrows rose.

"Does it have to be so simple and brutal?"

[Star Ascension Quest]: Pay corresponding cubic coins, 0/50000

He could barely afford this amount of money now.

But referencing the Withering Dragon's experience, he was already showing a wry smile.

One-star to two-star already costs 50,000, so who knows how much subsequent ones will cost.

"Never mind, I'll ascend its star first."

Temporarily casting aside his concerns, Shi Li clicked to directly ascend its star.

With this click, his assets were almost completely depleted.

He didn't even have a five-digit sum left.

But the advantage, of course, was that he could immediately see the Black Angel's two-star card face.

Not only that, but it was exactly as he had guessed.

The Wither system's Resonance also jumped another 20%, from 120% to 140%.

If this trend continued, three-star would be 160%, four-star 180%, and getting another unique card would make it 200%, just like with the Withering Dragon back then.

Now, let's look at its two-star card face.

[Black Angel]

Wither, 30 points, 2-star attack 30, 100/100, 0/30

[Soul Drain - Characteristic]: Black Angel's attacks come with 10 points of Exhaustion.

[Punishment - Passive]: When Black Angel's Exhaustion fails, the target loses corresponding HP.

[Redemption - 10 Energy]: Black Angel attacks 1 target and detonates its Exhaustion.

(Exhaustion: Lose a corresponding amount of energy cap this game, stackable).

"An active skill, and quite effective."

"If used well, it can instantly kill someone."

Shi Li pulled up the simulated card table again and tested it.

When releasing Redemption, the Black Angel itself came with 1 attack.

This attack would also trigger Soul Drain.

So, even as a baseline, this skill could cause an additional 10 points of irreducible HP loss.

Considering the difficulty of obtaining energy for the Wither system, this 10 energy cost was acceptable.

It's equivalent to 2 targets leaving the field to gain 30 energy, allowing 3 uses of Redemption.

"It's a pity it doesn't have multi-attack or fast-stacking entries."

"However, it does have the 'Martial Card' tag, so it can use Snail Walking Lady's proxy attack for a second attack, improving stacking efficiency."

Now, let's look at the new Star Ascension quest.

[Star Ascension Quest]: Pay corresponding cubic coins, 0/500000

"500,000—"

What a shame, he didn't have that much money right now.