238: Advance to [Jadeite 12], [Open Dragon Spine], [Golden Body Talisman]

After the card match was won, Shi Li returned to his room from the previous round to wait.

His match against the four-eyed woman was actually one of the longer ones.

Therefore, many people had already finished their duels by this time, and he didn't have to wait long before receiving a notification.

【All contestants have completed this round of duels.】

【Next is the review and rest period.】

【You may return to your own room, or choose a new room.】

"No need to change rooms this time."

Shi Li pushed the door open and walked in directly.

His previous setup was still preserved there.

In this round, he earned several thousand points.

Allowing his points to officially exceed 50,000, leaving only half the distance to his goal of 100,000.

Then he also gained quite a few cubic coins, a full 30,000,000.

"30,000,000..." Shi Li looked at this money and suddenly felt a bit dazed.

"If there are a few more rounds, could I manage to scrape together 100,000,000?"

"But it's a pity that Star Ascension to five requires 1,000,000,000, which is still quite far off."

"And don't look at the point shop thinking 100,000 can buy all the materials; they might not necessarily be for sale outside."

"Even with 1,000,000,000, I doubt I could gather them all on Blue Star."

So he dismissed the idea of saving money.

Who knows what the subsequent modes will be; it's better to focus on strengthening his power.

After thinking about it, Shi Li had several directions for strengthening.

First, he still had quite a few three-star unique cards that hadn't done their Star Ascension to four tasks.

He could buy Token Cards in the point shop and then perform Star Ascension.

Secondly, he could work on his existing cards.

For example, the Star Ascension to four card crafting recipe for 【Fleeing Ink】, and its signature hand card Token Card.

For example, the two signature hand card Token Cards for 【Jumping Dragon Guard】.

"Let's do the latter two first."

Shi Li thought about it; the latter was more stable.

The former, he didn't know how much it would cost, and it wasn't certain to yield results immediately.

Thus, spending some points, Shi Li purchased the materials needed for 【Fleeing Ink】's Star Ascension to four.

After some refreshing, he spent 2,000,000 in refresh fees.

"Comfortable."

【Rank】: Emerald 11 → Emerald 12

【Stamina】: 920 / 920 → 950 / 950

【Energy】: 920 / 920 → 950 / 950

Following this trend, he would be able to break into triple digits for both stats once he leveled up one more time.

【Fleeing Ink】 Balanced, 30 Points, Four-Star, Atk 30, 70 / 70

【Timid Instinct — Characteristic】: Fleeing Ink Max HP — 50 → 30, re-Face-down Card at the start of every new round (T0)

【Charming Ink — Passive】: On the turn Fleeing Ink is revealed, causes 1 non-Ace target to become 【Blindness】 (T2)

【Protective Coloration — Passive】: When Fleeing Ink performs its first re-Face-down Card, it becomes an untargetable target for 1 turn.

【Deep Sea Immunity — Passive】: Fleeing Ink is immune to all delayed effects.

【Water Wave Impact — Passive】: On the turn Fleeing Ink is revealed, releases 1 shockwave with 10 Atk → 【Fixed Damage】 (T0)

【Bubble Membrane Shield — Passive】: After Fleeing Ink performs a Face-down Card, the card revealed in that position next turn can gain 30 【Shield】.

"The 【Characteristic】 has been strengthened, and the HP has increased by 20 points, which is pretty good."

"The improvement to 【Water Wave Impact】 is also quite strong; 10 Atk and 10 【Fixed Damage】 are completely different concepts."

"Relying on this 【Fixed Damage】 entry, plus its own attack power, it can be said to have decent output capability. The theoretical maximum per turn can reach 30 points of normal attack + 10 = 40 points of 【Fixed Damage】."

"As for this new entry—"

Shi Li felt that this 【Bubble Membrane Shield】 was a bit useless.

Because, how should he put it, its usage scenario is quite harsh.

For example, in a PVE card match, in order not to waste the reveal quota, the conventional usage of 【Fleeing Ink】 is to reveal it as the last conventional card.

Reveal it, then Face-down Card, then reveal it again next turn.

Because at this time, there are no other conventional card slots to reveal, so it seems that revealing it won't cause waste.

If it is not revealed last, it will delay the process of subsequent conventional card reveals.

Moreover, this 【Bubble Membrane Shield】 skill can only continue if 【Fleeing Ink】 is revealed continuously.

Otherwise, if you change to another revealed card next turn, you can only enjoy the 【Shield】 once and then it's gone.

So this skill, strictly speaking, is just a damage-taking type entry that puts a Shield on 【Fleeing Ink】 every turn.

To say that 【Fleeing Ink】 should be used as an Ace, there isn't actually much of an advantage.

Because 【Charming Ink】 itself cannot be used on Aces, it has no effect at all in Ace duels.

So its Ace duel is purely just comparing stats with the opponent.

Of course, the 【Bubble Membrane Shield】 skill is quite useful for Ace duels.

"Overall, its Star Ascension to four is quite average."

Shi Li cast his gaze toward the signature hand card Token Card of 【Fleeing Ink】.

"Since I'm here, I might as well do it."

Keeping it in his hand without doing it always made him worry, which was annoying.

So he spent another 3,000,000, and this signature hand card was also done.

At this point, his Balance System resonance reached 190%, just a little bit away from 200%.

It's a pity that neither 【Zen Cruise】 nor 【Abyss Slime】 can temporarily perform Star Ascension to four, because their post-requisites are action tasks.

Let's first look at this signature hand card of 【Fleeing Ink】.

【Perfect Debut】: After Fleeing Ink performs a Face-down Card 2 times, the card revealed in this position next turn will have full HP and full Energy.

"This signature hand card—is powerful."

Shi Li had already envisioned its usage.

He opened the simulation card table to test it, and it was indeed just as he had guessed.

First, the most important part of this signature hand card is that the Energy is full.

It can turn any card that replaces it when revealed into a card that is fully charged upon reveal.

Just this point alone is already very powerful.

And the price that needs to be paid is merely needing 【Fleeing Ink】 to perform a Face-down Card 2 times.

And the point about full HP is actually quite difficult to achieve.

In Shi Li's deck, there are two situations.

The first situation is that 【Fleeing Ink】 itself has lost HP, and then it automatically recovers to full HP when revealed again the next turn.

The second situation is a bit more complicated.

It needs to be used in conjunction with 【Breaker】.

That is, 【Breaker】 first Face-down Card one of his own low-HP cards, and then let it be revealed at the position where 【Fleeing Ink】 is.

But the benefit of this method is actually average.

Because 【Breaker】's Face-down Card has damage, and he has to be careful not to let this card be instantly killed by 【Initiation Break Strike】.

The better usage Shi Li could think of is to use this method to instantly restore full HP to 【The Diner】 that has accumulated a high HP deficit.

But the problem is that 【The Diner】 itself already has a signature hand card that fills it up in one go.

However, in his deck, there are some that are quite dependent on high Energy, which can form a synergy with 【Fleeing Ink】's signature hand card.

For example, 【Exploding Zombie】 which requires high Energy for self-destruction.

For example, 【Lightning Flash】 with an Energy cap of 100 points; this card is actually quite Energy-hungry.

For example, 【cloud sea vessel】 which also has an Energy cap of 100 points, allowing it to start fully charged and use 100 points of 【Quantum Entanglement】 to finish off the opponent.

For example, 【Moonlight Werewolf】, which can transform immediately upon entry.

"Overall, just like its usage rate, 【Fleeing Ink】's signature hand card is not too brilliant, but it will have great use in special situations."

Shi Li put the cards away and took out two other cards.

The signature hand card Token Cards for 【Jumping Dragon Guard】, 【Opening Dragon Spine】 and 【Golden Body Talisman】.

The refreshing of these two Token Cards cost 5,000,000 in refresh fees.

Bringing his Persistence System resonance to 150%, but it was still a bit far from 200%.

Unless he gets another Persistence System unique card, it's probably hard to reach.

"As expected, this kind of signature hand card Token Card given at the same time is conflicting."

"Just like 【Lotus of the Staff】 and 【Splendor of the Staff】, only 1 can be used per match."

"However, the effects of both are very strong."

Shi Li felt that the strength of these two signature hand cards could be said to be no less than 【Deep Crimson Liberation: Ultra】.

They both belong to the type of signature hand card that reaches the five-star standard strength.

【Opening Dragon Spine】: When Jumping Dragon Guard is in 【Stasis】, sacrifice all Tiao Tiao cards to reset HP to 100 / 100, and gain their attack power.

After he opened the simulation card table, he tested it.

Because of its mechanism, 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 itself can forcibly survive for 3 turns.

If it carries the 【Staying Five More】 entry, it can activate 【Opening Dragon Spine】 at the T0 stage of the 4th turn, before 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 leaves the field, allowing it to stand on the field again.

After activation, the talismans all over 【Jumping Dragon Guard】's body will all fall off, and the original 【Multi-core — Characteristic】 will be converted into 【Opening Dragon Spine — Characteristic】.

【Opening Dragon Spine — Characteristic】: Jumping Dragon Guard Atk + X, unaffected by any external buff effects.

This X is the sum of the attack power of the sacrificed Tiao Tiao cards.

Of course, the price is that all these Tiao Tiao cards must leave the field, and they leave at the T0 when 【Opening Dragon Spine】 is activated.

Due to surviving for 3.5 turns.

【Jumping Dragon Guard】 can completely play the signature hand card 【Dead's Talisman】 in the 3rd turn to double the attack power of his own Tiao Tiao cards.

And then 【Opening Dragon Spine】, that way it will gain double the attack power bonus.

Shi Li guessed that if he had other conventional card-level Tiao Tiao cards, they could definitely be sacrificed too.

However, he didn't have this type of conventional character card, and these types of Tiao Tiao cards, because they weren't summoned by 【Jumping Dragon Guard】, couldn't enjoy the attack power bonus from 【Dead's Talisman】.

But even so, this signature hand card is already very strong.

Theoretically, its upper limit is extremely high.

Assuming in an extreme state, 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 and the opponent's Ace are in a 1V1 duel.

At the same time, all remaining slots on the field are filled with 【Jumping Girl】, and 【Dead's Talisman】 has been activated.

Then it will gain 20 * (11+11) * 2 = 880 points of attack power, which is absurdly high.

Of course, this is just a theoretical upper limit.

It is difficult to achieve under normal circumstances.

In a conventional card match, even reaching an attack power bonus of 100 points is very difficult.

But undoubtedly, it not only extends the damage-taking turns of 【Jumping Dragon Guard】, but also allows 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 to have decent output capability.

As for the other signature hand card, its usable timing is not that free.

【Golden Body Talisman】: When Jumping Dragon Guard is revealed, converts into a new Characteristic.

This signature hand card is equally powerful, and Shi Li even thinks it is fiercer than 【Opening Dragon Spine】.

After activation, the talismans on 【Jumping Dragon Guard】's body will increase, covering every corner of its body.

And the 【Multi-core — Characteristic】 will also be converted into the new 【Golden Body Talisman — Characteristic】.

【Golden Body Talisman — Characteristic】: Jumping Dragon Guard HP — 50, unaffected by attack damage, unaffected by any external buff effects (Thanks to the designer).

What is the concept of being unaffected by attack damage? That is to say, all attack damage cannot cause HP loss to it.

Only non-attack damage such as 【Quantum Entanglement】, 【Poisoned】, 【Ignite】, 【Bleeding】 can cause it to lose HP.

Shi Li tested it, and even 【Red Blade Maiden】's 【Crimson Blaze】 couldn't take away a single point of HP from 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 in the Golden Body state.

50 HP seems very weak, but if it is immune to attack damage, then that is a lot.

Negative HP-loss effects like 【Quantum Entanglement】 cannot cause HP loss at all when the opponent has Energy.

Delayed effects like 【Poisoned】 themselves can allow 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 to exist for an extra turn due to the delay.

Moreover, it is also difficult for these delayed effects to quickly accumulate 50 points of damage.

In a PVP card match, if you activate 【Golden Body Talisman】 when revealing the first row, the opponent wanting to make a countermeasure would have to wait until the start of the second turn.

Moreover, 【Golden Body Talisman】 does not conflict with 【Stasis】.

Shi Li believes that when the Jumping Dragon Guard in the Golden Body state appears, the damage-taking turns will definitely be able to exceed the original 3 turns.

And in a PVE card match, as long as the opponent doesn't have corresponding solutions, 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 is directly equivalent to an invincible existence.

No matter how high your attack power is, you can't kill me.

"Thinking about it this way, I feel I have a lot of hope when the Abyssal True Realm opens."

"Just relying on the 【Golden Body Talisman】 move, I can dominate everywhere."

However, Shi Li knows that things might not be so ideal.

When the opponent in the Abyss has seven or eight or even ten or more entries, it is very common for them to carry things like 【Poisoned】 or 【Ignite】.

But indeed, 【Jumping Dragon Guard】 will be able to stand longer, providing him with higher controllability.

After finishing all this, Shi Li still had 20,000,000 in hand.

He thought about it, idle is idle.

So he simply did all the Unique Character Cards that hadn't done the Star Ascension to four prerequisite simulation tasks.

After this wave, he spent all his funds cleanly.

After completing the prerequisite tasks, some cards need behavioral post-requisite tasks, and some are card-crafting post-requisite tasks.

But he had no money left, so he could only give up for the time being.

The rest is to have a good rest.

【A new round of duels has begun, please leave the personal room as soon as possible.】

Until the reminder sounded, Shi Li walked out of the room.

Only after walking out of the room did he discover that the surrounding scene environment had changed.

It seems this is the regional merging mentioned before.

This time it doesn't seem to be a card duel, but to let them continue looking for light gates.

Shi Li casually found the nearest light.