226: The first battle is the decisive battle

Chapter 226: First Battle is the Decisive Battle

After obtaining the unique card for Black Angel, Shi Li still had nearly 3 million left, specifically 2 million.

Because after obtaining the unique card for Black Angel, his Wither System resonance had already reached 180%.

He only needed to Star Ascension Black Angel to four stars to reach 200%.

Reaching 200% would unlock the Hell Trial access for Wither cards.

With Hell Trial access for Wither cards, he could pass the second stage of Hell Trial and obtain the second fragment of the four-to-five Star Ascension token card.

However, that was for later; for now, he still needed to continue improving his immediate combat power.

So, he spent another 2 million to complete The Diner's unique card quest, 'Food is Heaven'.

"Now I've basically used up all my funds. Star Ascension for Black Angel from three to four stars costs 5 million, and other cards also need money for Star Ascension to four stars."

Shi Li's gaze turned to the New Star Cup.

This was currently the fastest way for him to get money.

So, he returned to school and rested for a few days.

During these days, the academy sent a new batch of opponent data.

Compared to the previous data, most of these 127 opponents had made significant progress.

It seemed that most of them hadn't been idle during the past two months.

Of course, some people's data remained unchanged.

Shi Li felt that they shouldn't have been stagnant; it felt more like their information hadn't been leaked, just like his own.

He had spent most of these two months in the Chess Domain, without any deck exchanges with the outside world, so it was very normal for his intelligence information not to have leaked.

Returning to the top 128 this time, according to known intelligence, the average rank of the participants had reached the Emerald 3 stage.

People like A Ya Jun and Chi Xi were now Emerald 5 and Emerald 6.

However, in this kind of setting, Shi Li believed that A Ya Jun's conceptual divine power would likely be unable to manifest.

Moreover, in his opinion, the quality of their Emerald 5 and Emerald 6 ranks wasn't actually very high.

Because, as far as he knew, both of them only had 3 unique four-star cards.

And as soon as they reached Platinum 10, they stopped further horizontal development and quickly advanced to the Emerald rank.

It could only be said that this was understandable; after all, with the New Star Cup approaching, non-unique cards that were easier to Star Ascension to four stars could help them improve their immediate combat power faster.

In fact, Shi Li even thought that his own promotion to Emerald from platinum 15 was a bit fast.

However, his deck was all unique cards, so he didn't pay too much attention to the speed in this regard.

It could only be said that even the top ten freshmen of their Qingchuan University were like this, so the quality of other people's Emerald ranks was imaginable.

Therefore, Shi Li didn't place much importance on this point.

What he cared more about was Li Wan, the one from Star Card Hall with an S2-level employee contract, whom Instructor Xiu Qingshan had mentioned.

More than two months ago, Xiu Qingshan had said that the opponent had already reached the Emerald 10 rank.

Now, two months later, the opponent's rank in the intelligence had not changed.

But Shi Li knew that such stagnation was clearly impossible; it was just that the opponent's information hadn't been revealed.

The few days of rest ended, and the offline New Star Cup officially arrived.

It could be said that this was the biggest event in the colleges this semester.

Because there was no such thing as the New Star Cup for older students.

To host this New Star Cup, Qingchuan University even specifically renovated its gymnasium.

The gymnasium was very large and could accommodate tens of thousands of spectators simultaneously.

It was no smaller than the venues for top sports league events.

After the Vice President of Qingchuan University took the stage to deliver a concise speech, the offline competition officially began.

128 first-year students simultaneously took the stage for a random draw.

According to the rules, all participants were not allowed to use item cards that hid their rank when on stage.

So, Shi Li also took this opportunity to finally see Li Wan's rank clearly.

Why he could confirm that the opponent was Li Wan was because it was simply too obvious.

Among all the participants, no one's rank exceeded Emerald 10.

So the person whose rank was higher than Emerald 10 was naturally Li Wan.

This guy's rank had already reached Emerald 13.

As for the players who had reached Emerald 7, like Shi Li, or higher than Emerald 7, there were a total of 10 people.

Shi Li felt that this was acceptable; he probably only needed to worry about Li Wan as an opponent.

So, one by one, they came up to draw lots.

As a student of the host university, Shi Li had not received any prior notice.

Therefore, he believed that this draw was absolutely fair and just, with no possibility of manipulation.

The facts proved that the draw was indeed absolutely fair and just.

Because—he drew Li Wan!

This result naturally caused an uproar in the entire venue.

"This draw result is interesting."

"Li Wan and Shi Li, the only two recognized favorites to win the championship this year."

"Doesn't that mean this first match is highly likely to be the championship decider?"

"Good thing I came today; those who planned to come for the top 16 or top 8 would have missed a good show!"

"Holy moly, exciting! Let's start quickly!"

According to the competition rules, the pair with the higher combined rank would play first.

Shi Li + Li Wan was, without a doubt, the pair with the highest total rank throughout.

So their match was scheduled as the first one.

It must be said that this New Star Cup was quite interesting; the first offline match would decide the champion, which was unprecedented.

"I don't know whether to say we're lucky or unlucky."

Standing opposite the card table, Li Wan showed a wry smile.

"Let's begin."

Shi Li also smiled, but he didn't mind too much.

So, both sides quickly set up their respective decks.

The first round arrived, and Li Wan was the first to reveal his front-row cards.

Three cards, all unique four-star Steadfast cards.

Each possessed strong survival capabilities from different angles.

One was a Damage Reduction card, one was a Stasis card, and one was a Shield card.

Of course, Defense was just a basic for them.

All had the Characteristic of revealing Defense or rapidly accumulating energy for Defense.

Shi Li, on the other hand, revealed a relatively new combination.

Flower Cudgel Leader + The Diner + Jumping Dragon Guard.

His previous set of Withering Dragon + bo shan + Jumping Dragon Guard had been used too many times, and he was worried others might be prepared.

"Oh?"

As expected, the moment this formation was displayed, Li Wan immediately felt surprised.

He had researched Shi Li's deck beforehand and knew that the opponent's cards were all unique.

But being all unique also had a drawback: the character cards were relatively fixed, as unique cards weren't that easy to find after all.

In his intelligence, Shi Li's all-unique deck, only Withering Dragon + bo shan + Jumping Guard, was a relatively good damage-taking front-row set.

He had already prepared countermeasures, but he didn't expect the opponent to change formations.

He brought out the high-output Flower Cudgel Leader and a 0-attack, 200-HP damage-taking card that wasn't in the intelligence.

After both sides revealed their cards, the action phase arrived.

Li Wan chose not to play LV3 Defense, because since the opponent had already put Flower Cudgel Leader on the table, he had no reason to let it go.

His front-row set was also just passable; the burst damage of the 3 cards in the first round added up to exactly 100 output, enough to instantly kill a hundred-HP card without survival ability.

So he played LV2 Shield, providing protection for his two front-row cards.

This way, even if the opponent's Flower Cudgel Leader wanted to instantly kill one of his front-row cards with a single card, it wouldn't be able to; it would require at least two cards to focus fire.

And his three cards focusing fire would be enough to instantly kill the opponent's Flower Cudgel Leader.

But since Shi Li dared to present such a front-row, he naturally had preparations.

The first card he played was LV3 Counter.

Especially at times like this, it was crucial to seize the initiative.

Then Jumping Dragon Guard Taunted one target, and together with Flower Cudgel Leader, who activated a combo, focused fire on it.

The Diner had no attack power, so it could only watch.

As for the safety of Flower Cudgel Leader, there was no need to worry, because he had Lotus of the Staff, which directly applied Invincible to Flower Cudgel Leader.

"unique card—"

Li Wan frowned at the sight.

This way, his turn was completely wasted.

He gained nothing and lost a front-row card for nothing.

The second round arrived, and Shi Li revealed Cicada Wing Patrol.

"What an overbearing playstyle."

Seeing this revealed card, Li Wan couldn't help but smile wryly again.

"Using Cicada Wing Patrol to help Flower Cudgel Leader take another hit once, it gains two more turns of output time."

"And it can also take this opportunity to reveal the ace card early."

"To reduce the threat, the opponent can only focus fire on Flower Cudgel Leader."

"You can even have Flower Cudgel Leader use Defense to absorb my damage."

He had already seen through Shi Li's tactical intention.

However, since he had seen through it and even articulated it, it meant that Li Wan was not unprepared.

He had long prepared a way to deal with Cicada Wing Patrol.

He also possessed a unique card.

This round, he revealed a Wisdom System unique four-star card named Sea Wind Archdeacon.

Then he immediately played this unique card's unique card, Sea Storm.

The effect of this unique card was to put a row of cards into Banishment for 1 round.

This caused all of Shi Li's front-row cards except Jumping Dragon Guard to lose their action ability.

And Sea Wind Archdeacon also dealt high damage with Seal, and with the cooperation of the other two front-row cards, it actually instantly killed Cicada Wing Patrol.

Under the effect of Seal, it couldn't even trigger the early ace card reveal.

And because it was killed itself, its substitute unique card became useless.

In this round, Li Wan successfully turned the tide.

Seeing this situation, Shi Li knew that Flower Cudgel Leader was likely gone.

Even if it survived the next round, it probably wouldn't be able to deal any output.

So, as the new round arrived, the card he directly revealed was—Red Blade Maiden.

And he placed this 150 HP card behind Jumping Dragon Guard.

This guy was still at full health now and could last for 4 rounds.

And it wouldn't be affected by Banishment, so it could definitely protect Red Blade Maiden very well.

"Very good."

Seeing Shi Li reveal this card, Li Wan was actually pleased.

This showed that the opponent valued him greatly and was going all out from the start.

And to be honest, he also didn't want to face a Red Blade Maiden as an ace card at the very end; he believed no one would want to.

This round, Li Wan also revealed a high-output card.

Although it couldn't compare to Red Blade Maiden in its regular state, it wasn't far off.

So Shi Li played an LV1 Defense on Flower Cudgel Leader, which was countered by the opponent's LV1 Counter.

After an exchange of damage, Shi Li lost Flower Cudgel Leader, while Li Wan lost Sea Wind Archdeacon.

There was no other way; the threat of Seal was simply too great.

If left unchecked, and it Sealed Jumping Dragon Guard's Stasis Characteristic, he would face huge losses again.

As the new round arrived, Li Wan still revealed an output card.

Facing a big HP tank like The Diner, not playing output cards wouldn't work.

Shi Li actually wanted to play Lotus Succubus to provide survival capability for The Diner.

After this card was Star Ascension to four stars, its unique card also changed because its attack and Defense were reduced by 10/10, and its Characteristic no longer consumed health when attacking.

Power of Love: Lotus Succubus selects 3 targets and provides them with an additional +10 Recovery effect.

This was the first time he had seen a Star Ascension change a unique card, but he had seen it in previous study materials.

Anyway, it was a good thing, changing from 'monogamous' to 'promiscuous'.

But considering that Flower Cudgel Leader was taken out and Cicada Wing Patrol was taken out, there was only one face-down card left in this column, which had to be revealed.

The problem was that revealing Lotus Succubus in this position would expose her to the opponent's firepower, likely leading to a quick defeat, being instantly killed upon entering the field.

So this round, he chose to reveal Moonlight Werewolf.

"Heterogeneous card?"

When he saw this card, Li Wan's eyes couldn't help but freeze.

And then, Shi Li's subsequent operation also gave him a headache.

Moonlight Werewolf used Moon Shadow Step to move in front of Jumping Dragon Guard.

This position of Li Wan's front-row cards had already been taken out by Shi Li, leaving an empty spot.

Coupled with Jumping Dragon Guard's special mechanism, Li Wan hadn't arranged too much output in the first place.

So, that wave of damage was taken by Moonlight Werewolf, and it couldn't be instantly killed.

This caused Moonlight Werewolf to be fully charged directly, and as soon as the new round arrived, it transformed into the Steadfast System's Full Moon Werewolf.

The Steadfast System's Full Moon Werewolf couldn't be said to be incredibly strong; its damage-taking ability certainly couldn't compare to existences like bo shan.

But with the help of its Transformation HP reset, it still became Shi Li's new outer card in full condition.

Full Moon Werewolf + Jumping Dragon Guard, these two damage-taking cards stood in front of Red Blade Maiden, providing immense peace of mind.

Not to mention whether they could last until Red Blade Maiden's second transformation, but at least the first stage, Crimson Liberation: True, was definitely not a problem.