248: Advance to Diamond 6

Shi Li had encountered two Ace cards before in specialized duels.

The mechanism had not changed much.

The method of revealing them remained the same: an attacked Ace card would be revealed, or all Ace cards would be revealed together after all Regular cards were cleared.

Victory is only achieved when both of the opponent's Ace cards are destroyed.

Now, the evolution of the [cicada wing brave]'s Characteristic is equivalent to giving Shi Li a Double Ace Match setup.

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More accurately, it means his double Ace cards against the opponent's single Ace card.

If he encounters a Double Ace Match, then it would be his three Ace cards against the opponent's two Ace cards.

Having one extra Ace card is not as simple as having one extra Regular card like the [Fennec Fox Girl].

This is because an Ace card has a bonus of 30 Attack points and 100 HP.

In other words, numerically, one extra Ace card is equivalent to two extra Regular cards.

He pulled up the Simulated Card Table and tested it out.

First, the Ace card can only be placed on the Ace Card Slot.

This means if the [red dragon beast master] occupies three slots and uses up the Ace Card Row, even deploying the [cicada wing brave] cannot trigger the double Ace card effect.

But if the [red dragon beast master] only occupies two slots, then it works.

Furthermore, if the double Ace cards were the [hundred mountain vessel] and the [cloud sea vessel], that would be quite formidable.

Because when they combine, their stats are added together.

That would be equivalent to getting one [cloud mountain] with 90 Attack and 400 HP.

Note that ever since the [cloud sea vessel] was upgraded to Four-Star and its cost dropped to 0, their combined form only had 30 Attack and 200 HP, which was considered a nerf to some extent.

Aside from the Characteristic enhancement, the [cicada wing brave]'s other enhancements were all related to countering Fel Energy.

[Fel Purge] was strengthened, increasing its damage from 15 points to 30 points, which is quite significant.

This is equivalent to the opponent's Fel Energy card taking a free basic attack from a Balanced Card every turn.

And if it's doubled against a Derivative card, that's 60 points.

If it were a normal Tier 2 Summon, it would basically be instantly killed.

The newly added [Fel Energy Suppression] is definitely the opponent's nightmare.

For example, if the opponent's first row of Fel Energy cards reveals three, and they are all Balanced Cards, the total score is 90 points.

As soon as [Fel Energy Suppression] is activated, they turn into 105 points.

When six cards are revealed, it is directly equivalent to losing the value of one Balanced Card.

This can undoubtedly disrupt the deployment of Fel Energy Card Players to a great extent.

One must know that once on the card table, no one holds back points.

Just losing 5 points can cause a player to be stuck, let alone 15, 30, or even more points.

[Fel Energy Repulsion], on the other hand, is the energy version of [Fel Purge].

The latter deals damage to HP, the former deals damage to Energy.

With 10 points of [Quantum Entanglement] every turn, Momentum Cards and Chasing Wind Cards are essentially left without usable Energy.

If they are Energy-less Fel Energy Cards, such as Balanced or Berserk types, they take direct HP damage instead.

Coupled with [Fel Purge], this means 40 HP damage per turn.

They would basically be dead in three turns.

In other words, as long as the [cicada wing brave] is on the field, it can essentially wipe out all of the opponent's Fel Energy cards by itself.

In Shi Li's opinion, this was entirely reasonable.

It is expected for a Five-Star targeted counter card to reach this level of power.

After the [cicada wing brave], the fifth unique card Shi Li upgraded to Five-Star was the [Snail Walking Lady].

The [Snail Walking Lady]'s Five-Star upgrade was somewhat similar to the [red dragon beast master]'s, as a new mechanism appeared, leading to a qualitative change.

Furthermore, her Innate Hand Card also received some enhancements.

[Stars Shifting and Moving]: Snail Walking Lady consumes 40 → 30 Energy points, selecting 2 → 3 Martial Arts Cards to swap positions with herself. The energy cost decreased, lowering the barrier to usage.

Furthermore, the position swap changed from three cards to four cards.

Although the [Abyss Slime] cannot copy her because of the Five-Star upgrade, Shi Li felt this was not a problem.

After upgrading so many cards to Five-Star, he was very confident about the [Abyss Slime]'s Five-Star upgrade; it was just a matter of time.

Moreover, after upgrading so many Five-Star cards, his Resonance Level for various card types had almost reached 200%.

Even if it hadn't reached 200%, it was close.

Let's first look at the [Snail Walking Lady]'s new card stats.

[Snail Walking Lady]

Chasing Wind, 20 points, Five-Star Attack 20, 100/100, 0/40

[Snail Walk - Characteristic]: Snail Walking Lady's Movement is upgraded to T0, allowing 1~3 grid Movements per turn without cost.

[Bear the Brunt - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the First Row Zone, adjacent Martial Arts Cards on her side gain 10 → 20 points of Shield.

[Core Strength - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Middle Column Zone, adjacent Martial Arts Cards on her side gain 10 → 20 points of Healing.

[Snail Power - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Right Column Zone, she automatically enters Defense.

[Ox Power - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Left Column Zone, her Attack Power increases by 10 →

20

[Wait for the Opportunity - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Secondary Row Zone, one Martial Arts Card on her side can attack in her place. [Last Position Support - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Last Row Zone, she can take damage for one Martial Arts Card on her side. [Ace Row - Passive]: During the turn Snail Walking Lady passes through/enters the Ace Card Row Zone, Martial Arts Cards on her side gain 1

0 → 20 points of Encouragement.

[Hardworking Snail - Passive]: The passive effects triggered by Snail Walking Lady can stack. [Shifting Position - 20 Energy Points]: Snail Walking Lady can perform a [Swap] with one Martial Arts Card.

([Swap]: Cards exchange positions)

First, the Characteristic was greatly enhanced.

She can move 1 to 3 grids without cost.

This is heaven-defying; her mobility is maximized.

She can walk directly from the Ace Card Row to the First Row.

Furthermore, all numerical entries received doubled numerical effects.

But the most crucial thing is that the mechanism of all her entries was changed.

They trigger upon passing through, not just upon entering.

Shi Li immediately pulled up the Simulated Card Table and tested it.

First, [Displacement] involves selecting an endpoint.

The Character Card then automatically chooses the shortest path to arrive.

Therefore, trying to make the [Snail Walking Lady] take a long detour before reaching the endpoint is impossible.

He also discovered a new mechanism that wasn't displayed in the entry description.

That is, the opponent's zones also trigger the entries.

For example, when passing through his own First Row, [Bear the Brunt] can be triggered once.

And when entering the opponent's First Row, [Bear the Brunt] can be triggered again.

Triggering it twice.

What does this equate to? It means that, ideally, she can grant one of her Martial Arts Cards 40 points of Healing, Shield, or Encouragement in a single turn.

Or, she could add 40 Attack points to herself this turn.

However, the conditions for [Encouragement] are relatively strict.

It requires moving from her own Ace Card Row to the opponent's Ace Card Row, which is too difficult.

Currently, in his Deck, this can only be achieved via [Stars Shifting and Moving].

However, [Stars Shifting and Moving] is a direct position replacement and does not generate a path.

“If the [Abyss Slime] also upgrades to Five-Star, that would be incredible.”

“If two [Snail Walking Lady] cards trigger together, they can directly stack 80 points of Healing or Shield.”

Shi Li was already starting to imagine the possibilities.

Thus, he set his next Five-Star upgrade target as the [Abyss Slime].

Leaving aside the [Abyss Slime]'s Card Creation Mission for now, its Action Mission was extremely exaggerated.

It actually required obtaining the First Kill for floors above 60 in the [Abyssal True Realm].

Several years had passed since the [Abyssal True Realm] opened.

Initially, its record was quickly pushed to floor 30+.

But subsequently, it fell into stagnation.

However, this period of slow progress did not last long, as [Diamond] Card Players began joining in succession.

This included Shi Li, who gradually raised his rank later on.

Everyone competed fiercely, pushing the floor record to 60+.

However, the concepts of the 60th floor and the 30th floor are incomparable; it is not simply one plus one, nor one times one, and certainly not one divided by one.

Imagine how exaggerated a card would be if it possessed 30 entries.

Even if they were all Ordinary Entries, it would be enough to deter people.

What's more, they are not necessarily all Ordinary Entries; sometimes, especially for Ace cards, special mechanisms appear.

If 30 entries are like this, 60 entries are even more exaggerated.

Therefore, at this record level, even [Diamond] Card Players found it difficult to advance further.

As far as he knew, he heard that if no further progress could be made, [Transcendent] Card Players might step in.

Before this, Shi Li hadn't known that Blue Star had its own [Transcendent] Card Players, but once he entered the [Diamond] rank, his social circle naturally changed, and he learned of the existence of the [Transcendent] level.

Returning to the [Abyss Slime]'s mission.

It required a First Kill.

Shi Li had indeed obtained the First Kill several times before floor 60.

But later, his focus was no longer on the Abyss, so he wasn't involved in the subsequent First Kills of new floors.

He heard that other [Diamond] Card Players had to camp in the Abyss for a long time just to break through a single floor; he didn't have that much time.

But now things were different; the [Transcendent] Card Players were about to step in.

Moreover, as the floor count increased, obtaining the First Kill became increasingly difficult.

If he didn't seize the opportunity soon, he might miss out.

Because he entered Blue Star's [Abyssal True Realm], he could no longer enter the [

Abyssal True Realm] of other Civilizations.

To upgrade the [Abyss Slime] to Five-Star, he had to hurry.

Fortunately, although the process was difficult, he achieved a good result.

[Abyss Slime]

Balanced, 30 points, Five-Star Attack 30, 100/100

[Mimic Jelly - Characteristic]: Abyss Slime's number of entries carried is -1. Upon appearance, it can copy 1 target on the field. [Advanced Mimicry - Passive]: After copying an entry, Abyss Slime gains all of the target's tags. [Ultimate Mimicry - Passive]: When the quality of the target copied by Abyss Slime is not higher than its own, it can transform into an identical card. "Amazing."

Although no new entries were added, the [Abyss Slime] received a massive enhancement.

Its mechanism was already a very unique one.

Now that it has been further strengthened, this mechanism has become even more powerful.

First, its Characteristic no longer directly copies passive entries, but instead directly copies the target.

Second, after copying the target, it transforms into an identical card, and the one-turn time limit has disappeared.

Most importantly, after reaching Five-Star, it can now transform into his other Five-Star Character Cards.

This can be described as absolute power, making unique Cards no longer unique.

Imagine having two [Red Blade Maiden] cards, and after performing Deep Crimson Liberation: Ultra, no one can withstand that power.

With 500 HP, one [Vast] AOE attack can guarantee 140 points of Absolute Damage.

Those two [Red Blade Maiden] cards would deal 280 points of Absolute Damage.

If they were double Ace cards, it would be 360 points of Absolute Damage.

Crucially, 360 points is just for a single target, but the [Red Blade Maiden]'s skill after Deep Crimson Liberation: Ultra is calculated per row.

Absolutely no one can withstand this.

He knew that as soon as he acquired this card, the number of floors he could clear in the [Hell Trial] would increase again.

He had currently cleared up to floor 23 of the [Hell Trial].

What does floor 23 represent? It means the opponent has 23 Five-Star Character Cards.

That's right, 23 cards.

But these 23 don't all appear at once; they appear in a 9+1 format.

Every time he destroys one card, a new one is supplemented.

The opponent's cards are all Five-Star, including entries like [Reflect] and [Invincibility].

Relying solely on the Output Capability of one [Red Blade Maiden] couldn't solve the problem effectively.

But now it was different; he had the [Abyss Slime].

If two [Red Blade Maiden] cards weren't enough, he could use two [Dragon Tiao Tiao] cards; if two [Dragon Tiao Tiao] cards weren't enough, he could use two [red dragon beast master] cards.

Especially two [cicada wing brave] cards—wouldn't that mean he had 60 extra points and two extra Ace cards compared to others?

In any case, he would find a way to deal with it.

However, after testing it on the Simulated Card Table, Shi Li still discovered the [Abyss Slime]'s weakness.

That is, the Copy it produces reverts to its original form once subjected to [Seal].

However, this wasn't a difficult problem either.

Because through the [Snail Walking Lady]'s [Stars Shifting and Moving], he could change the positions of the two [Red Blade Maiden] cards, making it impossible for the opponent to determine which one was real and which was fake.

Furthermore, the [Abyss Slime]'s Innate Hand Card also changed.

[Slime Secret Art]: When Abyss Slime leaves the field, it can grant its entries to 1 revealed card on the field. Previously, it granted 1 entry to the target; now it grants all entries, which greatly increases its maneuverability.

As mentioned before, under the blessing of double Characteristics and her Innate Hand Card, the [Red Blade Maiden] is equivalent to an 11-Entry Card, and could even be called an Eleven-Star Character Card.

If the [Abyss Slime] copies another Five-Star card's 5 entries and grants them to her, the [Red Blade Maiden] would directly become equivalent to a Sixteen-Star Character Card.

Unlike the Abyss, a Card Player's Sixteen-Star Character Card's power would absolutely not lose out to the Deep-seated Evolution of their 60th floor opponents.

In addition, it gained a new Innate Hand Card.

[Slime Truth]: When Abyss Slime leaves the field, it can grant 1 of its Characteristics to 1 revealed card on the field. In Shi Li's opinion, this Innate Hand Card is even more powerful than [Slime Secret Art].

For example, if he copied [The Diner]'s [Self-Devour - Characteristic] and granted it to the [Red Blade Maiden], wouldn't she instantly become invincible?

Or, if he copied the [Snail Walk - Characteristic] of the [Snail Walking Lady] and granted it to the [Moonlight Werewolf], his previous hypothesis would come true.

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