236: Advance to [Jade 11]

Chapter 236: Promotion to [Emerald 11].

Not long after settling into his ambush, Shi Li welcomed his first guest.

Upon seeing the [Collector's Grade Doll] worth 1,000 points, the person actually acted quite cautiously.

He only sent out one character to step forward and retrieve it.

The other three characters remained in the back, holding the line and maintaining vigilance.

However, Shi Li had already anticipated this situation.

The moment he saw the opponent only had one character, he immediately had his other three characters circle around from the other side to find the enemy's remaining characters.

Although his side lacked strong damage dealers, they had tanks and healers, making a three-on-three fight definitely winnable.

As for the [Red Blade Maiden], the moment the opponent took the [Collector's Grade Doll], she suddenly appeared, initiating with [Vast] + A + A + A + [Vast].

After completing the combo cycle, the opponent was instantly eliminated.

Shi Li then had her quickly rush to the main battlefield to participate in the encirclement.

After finishing off this team in the shortest possible time, he immediately used the fastest movements to re-lay the trap, then returned to his hidden position.

"Not bad."

Only after completing this series of actions did he begin taking stock of the spoils of war.

The opponent was very cautious, so their collection efficiency was likely slow.

He only gained 800 points in total.

"That's still decent. There are plenty of fish anyway."

Shi Li told himself not to rush and continued to lie in wait.

As time went on, enemies arrived in wave after wave.

Of course, they wouldn't arrive sequentially one after another like the Calabash Brothers rescuing their grandfather.

However, teams that arrived simultaneously had to fight each other first.

Sometimes, those people didn't even have time to pick up Shi Li's bait before they were already beating each other's brains out.

In the relatively confined space inside the building, a head-on confrontation, even if won, resulted in a crushing defeat.

Shi Li only needed a slight sneak attack to take care of the victor among them.

His team was already strong, had a major healer, and held the advantage of a surprise attack.

Therefore, after all the fighting, he suffered zero casualties.

[You are the last team remaining. If you do not enter the evacuation point within 10 minutes, you will be automatically forcibly evacuated.]

Shi Li received the notification after eliminating another team.

"10 minutes!"

His expression tightened, and he immediately controlled his four characters to scatter.

First, of course, was to retrieve all the bait he had previously set up.

Next was looting.

Not only did he have to loot all the corpse bags inside the house, but he also had to loot the surrounding area outside the house.

Since some teams had been encountered outside the house, there might be some overlooked bags there to loot.

However, Shi Li forgot one thing.

That was, there were definitely teams that had already looted the outside area before coming in and being taken out by him.

And after being eliminated by him, those items were already in his pocket.

Therefore, since the outside had already been looted, his gains were minimal, finding only one remaining bag.

Having finished these tasks, he left the mode.

[All participants have completed this round of the duel.]

[Next is the review and rest period.]

[You may return to your room or select a new room.]

The moment he exited the duel mode, Shi Li immediately received the notification.

"It seems I was the last one out."

He smiled.

After this battle, many people would likely hold a grudge against him.

As long as they exchanged a little information, they would know that their eliminations were all caused by the same person.

"But offending over twenty people in exchange for generous rewards is definitely worth it."

Quickly finding a room, Shi Li began calculating his gains from this round.

First, the points obtained from collecting spoils of war.

On average, each team carried around 1,000 points, so by dealing with over 20, nearly 30 teams, he directly obtained 30,000 points.

"If this mode allows the winner to take everything, it truly feels fantastic."

"Adding the duel reward for safe evacuation, my points are now close to 50,000."

"The goal of 100,000 is about halfway complete."

"And there are also cubic coins; I was rewarded 25 million, which is probably related to my sole victory."

Shi Li's appetite had now grown considerably.

25 million cubic coins was not considered a large amount in his eyes.

Because his refresh fees were now also rising sharply.

"In addition, I actually gained this—"

He pulled out one item card.

[Momentum Truth]: While holding this card, your Po Shi system resonance increases by 40% (Bound).

"I didn't expect there to be an item card like this. It's eye-opening."

"I also didn't expect that the third system I might have a chance to reach 200% resonance with would be the Po Shi system."

Shi Li shook his head and sighed with a smile.

Currently, his Po Shi system resonance is 150%, and adding 40% makes it 190%.

He only needs either [Breaker] or [Lightning Flash] to reach four stars, and he'll be golden.

Compared to the Balance System reaching 200%, he would definitely prefer the Po Shi system to reach 200%.

Because he had already experienced the third floor of the [Hell Trial].

What was lacking was not the Support functions of the Balance System.

That was a card game focused purely on damage output.

Only by eliminating the opponent faster could he prevent himself from being eliminated by them.

Therefore, [Flower Cudgel Leader] was definitely the perfect choice for the third floor.

He had already planned out the path forward for this route.

First, reach 200% Po Shi system resonance, then clear the third floor and obtain the five-star token card.

The [Red Blade Maiden] already had a token card, so he planned to use this extra one on the [Jumping Dragon Guard].

"Fortunately, I came prepared and don't need to spend points."

Since he didn't know how long he would stay in the Divine Realm, Shi Li had prepared in advance before entering.

He had prepared several token cards for Star Ascension from one to two, two to three, and three to four for various systems.

Anyway, the total cost wasn't much, just a few million.

Although he could exchange points for them here, points needed to be saved for the more critical five-star Star Ascension, so he had to save where he could.

Thus, he started with [Breaker].

After spending 1.5 million in refresh fees, [Breaker] successfully completed the prerequisite simulation mission.

However, the subsequent post-Star Ascension to four stars was a mission.

Activate skills 1,000 times while battling different opponents or monsters.

So, he temporarily put that aside.

Next, he focused on [Lightning Flash].

The refresh fee for [Lightning Flash] was slightly higher, just over 2 million.

The good news, however, was that its post-requisite mission was card-making related.

This time, he had no choice but to spend points.

He directly exchanged the necessary materials in the mall, and the card-making refresh cost him another 1 million.

"Comfortable."

As the emerald green light swept over his entire body, his sense of fatigue instantly vanished completely.

His personal panel also changed.

[Tier]: Emerald 10 → Emerald 11

[Stamina]: 890 / 890 → 920 / 920

[Energy]: 890 / 890 → 920 / 920

Next, he looked at [Lightning Flash]'s four-star panel.

[Lightning Flash] Momentum, 0 Points, Four-Star Attack 0, 100 / 100, 0 / 60 → 100

[Rhythm — Characteristic]: Lightning Flash's Attack increases by 5 points every 2 attacks this match. [Fighting Thunder — Passive]: If allied combat cards attack 10 → 7 times this round, Lightning Flash can attack 1 extra time next round.

[Thunder Shield — Passive]: Every time Lightning Flash's Attack increases by 10 points, it gains 10 points of [Shield] next round.

[Explosive Light Flash — 20 Energy]: Lightning Flash attacks 1 target, applying the [Blindness] effect.

[Crescent Flash — 20 Energy]: Lightning Flash's attack this round can bypass obstacles without affecting action.

[Flying Stream Flash — 30 Energy]: Lightning Flash deals 3 instances of 5 points of [Fixed Damage] to the target.

[Furious Splitting Flash — 30 Energy]: Lightning Flash attacks 1 target, applying the [Stun] effect.

First, [Fighting Thunder] lowered its trigger condition, helping it Charge faster.

Additionally, the Energy cap increased by 40 points, allowing for better Energy storage.

A life-saving passive that absorbs damage was also added.

[Lightning Flash] continuously increases its Attack power, allowing it to continuously gain [Shield].

Originally, its weakness, besides needing time to warm up, was that it was prone to dying during the warm-up process.

Don't underestimate this 10 points of [Shield]; it might not be much in PVE, but it is very effective in PVP.

Shi Li immediately opened a simulated card table to test it.

He discovered that if [Lightning Flash] was granted [Encouragement], it could also trigger the [Thunder Shield] passive.

This greatly improved its survivability.

Furthermore, a very powerful active skill was added.

It granted [Lightning Flash] the ability to bypass obstacles and attack the back row.

If paired with [Blindness] or [Stun], the effect would be very significant.

It could directly control the opponent's key card hiding in the back row at a critical moment.

However, the downside was that this combo consumed a lot of Energy.

Bypassing with [Blindness] required 40 points, and bypassing with [Stun] required 50 points.

In fact, he didn't necessarily need to use the combo; once the Attack power stacked up, using high Attack power for a bypass instant kill was also a good strategy.

Now that his Po Shi system resonance reached 200%, Shi Li was still not in a hurry to immediately challenge the [Hell Trial].

"Next up is this—"

He looked at the card in his hand.

[Lightning Flash]'s Destiny Hand Card.

Although he didn't know what the effect would be, obtaining the Destiny Hand Card would surely help him clear the third floor better.

The mission for [Lightning Flash]'s Destiny Hand Card was surprisingly smooth, taking neither much time nor much money.

He obtained it with a refresh fee of less than 1 million.

[Thousand Thunderfalls]: Lightning Flash's Attack power x3 this round, Attack power resets to 0 next round, can be used cyclically.

"Amazing."

Shi Li's eyes lit up.

This Destiny Hand Card represented providing [Lightning Flash] with another damage output mode.

In PVP, if he only needed 4 attacks to stack 10 points of Attack power, he could deal 30 points of damage under the effect of [Thousand Thunderfalls].

20 points of Attack power would directly unleash 60 points of burst damage.

At 35 points of Attack power, he could instantly kill cards with 100 HP.

In PVE, he could stack a massive amount of Attack power and then unleash an even greater amount of output.

In certain situations, [Lightning Flash]'s current burst damage capability was even comparable to the [Red Blade Maiden].

Most importantly, this Destiny Hand Card had a feature that other Destiny Hand Cards lacked: it could be used repeatedly in a cycle.

"With this card, I feel the probability of clearing the Hell Trial's third floor is very high."

However, Shi Li still did not start the Trial.

Instead, he turned his attention to another card.

With ample funds now, he could continue working on the [Red Blade Maiden].

[Crimson Trial: Super] was still waiting for him to feed it.

The rest period this round seemed exceptionally long. After spending several days and using up a full 5 million cubic coins, he finally obtained this Destiny Hand Card.

"I wonder what the effect of this Destiny Hand Card will be."

"Will it extend and strengthen the True effect like the Extreme version, or will it have a separate effect?"

Looking at the floating [Crimson Liberation: Super] in front of him, he reached out to grab it.

Buzz!

As soon as it entered his hand, the card burst forth with a deep red light.

Furthermore, the two cards, [Crimson Liberation: True] and [Crimson Liberation: Extreme], automatically jumped out of his card library.

"Something like this actually happens."

Shi Li looked closely and found that both Destiny Hand Cards had changed.

[Crimson Liberation: True]: When Red Blade Maiden accumulates 5

4 skill uses this match, skills have no cost for 3 rounds and her Life Value resets to 300 / 300.

The activation condition for [Crimson Liberation: True] dropped from 5 skill uses to 4.

To be honest, this was definitely a major boost.

When using it previously, he often felt that 5 skill uses was somewhat clunky.

Sometimes, that single round was the key to victory or defeat.

In some dangerous matches, his non-ace [Red Blade Maiden] had indeed been killed after using only 4 skills.

Especially as part of the Crimson Liberation state activation, the easier it is to activate, the better the subsequent effects can follow up.

[Crimson Liberation: Extreme]: Extends the effect of Crimson Liberation: True and enhances it for 3 rounds, resetting Life Value to 300 / 300

400 / 400.

The enhancement to [Crimson Liberation: Extreme] was also very powerful.

An extra 100 points of maximum Life Value meant an extra 100 points of damage absorption capacity.

Furthermore, the damage from [Vast] would also increase; the extra 100 points of Life Value represented an additional 20 points of damage.

Previously, with 300 Life Value, the [Red Blade Maiden] could deal 100 points of [True Damage]; now it became 120 points.

"Now everything is ready. I can challenge the Hell Trial's third floor."

Shi Li finally opened the interface for the [Hell Trial].

With a lineup of four-star Berserk, Momentum, and Wither unique cards, he finally achieved a difficult victory after nearly 90 challenges.

[grade-up token card]: Can be used to initiate the Star Ascension mission for 1 four-star character card (unique).

"Finally—"

Shi Li felt emotional when the token card was in his hands.

"I still have over 15 million remaining. Maybe that's enough for the refresh."

He immediately pulled out the [Jumping Dragon Guard].

His luck was indeed good this time; just as his funds were almost depleted, he finally secured the prerequisite mission.

Like the [Red Blade Maiden], the [Jumping Dragon Guard] required both a card-making mission and an action mission.

He compared the materials needed for the card-making mission in the mall and found them to be even more expensive than the [Red Blade Maiden]'s, costing around 1.2 billion.

The action mission, however, seemed relatively simpler, "only" requiring him to clear the [Firm Trial], which is [5 — 10].

The crucial thing was—

"What is this situation?"

After completing the prerequisite mission, Shi Li found that he had surprisingly obtained two token cards for Destiny Hand Cards.

[Dragon Spine Opening]: Can be used after [Jumping Dragon Guard] reaches four stars and completes the [Dead's Talisman].

[Talisman Golden Body]: Can be used after [Jumping Dragon Guard] reaches four stars and completes the [Dead's Talisman].

The activation condition was not difficult; he immediately started the simulation mission.

However, judging by their names, these two Destiny Hand Cards seemed somewhat contradictory.