74: Jump Jump New Entry

“These material cards aren’t cheap.”

Shi Li checked the price through the Card Hall’s internal account and realized Hu Lan was more generous than he thought.

Except for the [Firmness Medium], which was a relatively common and cheap item, the other three cards were all expensive.

They weren’t the mediocre material cards he usually obtained from hunting.

Especially the [Bronze Clown Mask] and [Potent Energy Core], which could be called top-grade Two-Star material cards.

They were material cards that powerful Two-Star Demons, or even Three-Star Demons, had a small chance of dropping.

Their price was even higher than ordinary Three-Star material cards that weren’t considered dregs.

In total, this set of four cards would cost around 50,000 cubic coins on the market.

Clearly, these were materials for Firmness-type cards.

He had two Firmness-type cards: [Stone Demon] and [Jumping Guard].

Of course, he planned to use such expensive material cards on the [Jumping Guard].

Moreover, he had a feeling that Dean Hu had given him this set of cards specifically for the [Jumping Guard].

He had gained a lot of practical experience recently, so his card-making skills had improved significantly.

The process felt much smoother than before.

However, to his regret, this first synthesis still ended in failure.

“Detected material card circuit change. This card will be destroyed after completion.”

“Consume 2500 cubic coins to reset this card creation? Yes/No.”

“So expensive. This price is comparable to refreshing a Two-Star simulation mission.”

Shi Li’s eye twitched.

But after a moment of thought, he still chose to click “Yes.”

Because from the previous attempt, he had already figured out some tricks.

Maybe he could succeed on the next try.

“Detected material card circuit change. This card will be destroyed after completion.”

“Consume 2500 cubic coins to reset this card creation? Yes/No.”

Thirty minutes later, he faced the same result again.

“Again!”

Shi Li refused to accept defeat.

He was clearly only a little bit away!

However, it was precisely this “little bit” that still blocked his path to success.

Helpless, Shi Li could only go to bed with resentment.

Early the next morning, he headed to the Monster Training Ground.

Work, he had to work.

Only by working hard to earn money could he save enough for the refresh fee.

Just one more chance, and he was sure he could complete the keyword creation!

Before that, however, Shi Li first went to the Card Hall exchange to deal with the spoils from his trial hunting.

All the Two-Star material cards were identified as worthless, selling for a total of 8,000.

Although the drop rate for Three-Star Demons was much lower than for Two-Star Demons, hunting so many Three-Star Demons still yielded Shi Li three Three-Star material cards.

Two of them were unremarkable dregs, which he sold directly for 2,000.

One card of good quality remained, but he didn’t need it.

Following Director Hou’s suggestion, Shi Li chose to put this material card up for consignment.

Consignment meant selling it directly to another Card Master as a Card Master.

This type of transaction bypassed the Card Hall, incurring only a very low management fee.

The advantage was a higher price than selling directly to the Card Hall, while the disadvantage was that it took some time to sell.

Shi Li set the price at 15,000, leaving no contact information and no room for negotiation.

With the 10,000 he had, he once again challenged keyword creation.

It still failed; it seemed he had underestimated the difficulty of creating this keyword.

So, Shi Li could only return to his old profession—becoming an emotionless and tireless Demon hunter.

He hunted Demons for two weeks, repeatedly, until he finally achieved his goal.

“Circuit modification successful, a new keyword has been obtained.”

“Consume 2500 cubic coins to reset this card creation? Yes/No.”

“Finally… it wasn’t easy.”

He looked at the text indicating success and let out a long breath.

During these two weeks, he had hunted only Two-Star Demons.

Selling materials had brought in approximately 15,000 cubic coins.

It was evident that there were differences even among Two-Star materials.

All the cards he had farmed for two weeks combined were not as valuable as Hu Lan’s four-piece set.

This also indirectly showed that the Show Card Hall had not cultivated overly high-quality Demons.

In any case, the good news was that the new keyword had finally been successfully created.

[Jumping Guard]

Firmness, 30 points, Two-Star

ATK 30, 50/50+50/50, 0/40

[Provoke - Passive]: On the turn Jumping Guard is revealed, it can [Taunt] 1 target (T2)

([Taunt]: Forces the target to attack itself)

“Good keyword.”

Shi Li admired the keyword, overjoyed.

This was a hard crowd control that didn’t require energy and activated upon revealing the card.

Hard crowd control activated upon revealing a card typically didn’t affect the character card’s own actions.

The presence of [Provoke] greatly enhanced the tactical value of the [Jumping Guard].

Originally a damage-absorbing Firmness card, with this keyword, it gained strong threat potential.

Hard crowd controlling the opponent could prevent them from using [Defense].

This function was especially important when having two or three cards in the front row.

Just imagine the scene: at the start, it [Taunt]s one target, and then his front-row cards collectively focus fire.

“Now there are two weeks left until the city-wide unified exam starts again. If I hunt for another 15,000 and consign another 15,000, that should be enough money.”

Shi Li certainly hadn't forgotten the enhancement mission for the Red Blade Maiden.

He had already completed all the hunting missions at the trial training base; now he just needed three Three-Star [Berserk Mediums].

He had consulted Director Hou about these three, and they had already been stocked.

They were specifically reserved for Shi Li, just waiting for him to gather enough money.

Moreover, with the C-Level Contract discount, the final price wasn't as high as 30,000, but only 24,000.

The reason he set the financial goal higher was to account for refresh fees.

After all, the success rate for that enhancement mission was only 19%.

After a short rest, Shi Li left his private lounge, ready to continue fighting.

“Shi Li, the curator is looking for you.”

As soon as he opened the door, he ran into Director Hou, who seemed to be waiting specifically for him.

“Looking for me?”

“The Otherworld has opened.”

Hearing this, Shi Li immediately understood.

The curator had mentioned to him that a Level 3 Otherworld would open a month later.

Now, looking at it, it was indeed almost exactly a month.

So, the two immediately went to the rooftop and took a flying vehicle towards their destination.

“This is your first time in the Otherworld, right? Are you nervous?”

“Not really.”

Actually, for Shi Li, hunting in the training field and hunting in the Otherworld were not much different.

He even had a feeling that, for hunting Two-Star Demons, the gains from the Otherworld might be greater than from the training field.

And in the Otherworld, besides material cards and character cards dropped by Demons, there was one more thing that was particularly attractive to Card Masters.

That was—Token Cards.

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