MSC: Chapter 16

At the entrance to the Jupiter team dungeon, Xie Mingzhe joined the raid group. Chen Xiao immediately gave him two cards, a level 70 full-star Storm Goddess and Ice Goddess. One was for gathering monsters with a tornado and the other was a freeze crowd control.

Xie was thrilled to receive a seven-star black card for the first time and carefully put it away. “Brother Chen, I’ll return it to you after I use it!”

“No need to return it. It is yours,” Chen Xiao said in a straightforward manner.

“Thank you, Brother Chen!” Was this good boss sent by heaven to save him? Xie Mingzhe looked at the other person with gratitude, only to find that Brother Chen had already entered the dungeon without hesitation, seemingly unconcerned. Perhaps seven-star cards were common for power levelers.

This was a ten-person team. In addition to Chen Xiao’s group of five power levelers, the other five had unfamiliar IDs. They were random people recruited by Chi Qing.

Full-immersion games didn’t allow multiple accounts and the studio had limited manpower. If they didn’t have enough people for raids, they had to recruit from the world chat. Fortunately, dungeon materials dropped per player, so there were no disputes over materials. It didn’t matter if they teamed up with a few random people.

This wood-attribute raid dungeon was called Dark Forest. The moment a person entered, the surrounding monsters were alerted and countless tree spirits would swarm towards the group. Their feet would be covered in dark green veins that relentlessly attacked the intruders.

Xie Mingzhe was caught off guard and his feet were bound by the vines. Seeing the vines crawling up his body towards his neck, Xie Mingzhe struggled to back away. The more he struggled, the tighter the veins bound him until he was completely bound. He really wanted to burn these vine monsters.

Just then, a soft glow appeared on his body. Someone had used a card skill.

Xie Mingzhe felt the vines loosen and his feet could finally move. He immediately jumped back and turned around to see Chi Qing walking over with a card that had a purification skill. She warned him, “Watch your step. Player characters can’t die in a dungeon but they can be controlled.”

“Thank you.’ The rescued Xie Mingzhe immediately followed Sister Chi Qing.

“Xiao Pang, pull away the bunch of vines on the north side first,” Chen Xiao ordered.

“Understood!” Pang Yu released the Rhino card. The massive rhino roared and charged into the pile of vines, pulling away a large number of vines. The dense, snake-like veins on the ground quickly wrapped around and encased the rhino, instantly killing it!

Xie Mingzhe was shocked by this scene. Was the combat power of wood-type vines really this terrifying? The Rhino card had over 150,000 HP, yet it was instantly killed?

Just as he was in shock, he heard Chen Xiao say, “Xiao Xie, freeze all these vines.”

The vines that had killed the rhino realized they had been tricked and collectively turned around as if they were sentient. They quickly surrounded everyone.

Xie Mingzhe hurriedly summoned the Storm Goddess, aimed carefully and a tornado gathered them all together. Then he summoned the Ice Goddess. Snowflakes fell from the sky, freezing all the vines within range. The frozen vines were intertwined, encased in ice and snow. It resembled ‘frozen twisted dough sticks.’

Chen Xiao glanced in Xie Mingzhe’s direction, feeling quite impressed. “Everyone, hurry up!”

The group immediately followed Chen Xiao into the forest to burn the tree spirit monsters. The constantly burning flames quickly reduced the monsters in the game to ashes.

After dealing with the first wave of monsters, everyone was bound by vines again. The chubby Pang Yu couldn’t help complaining. “This dungeon is full of vines that interfere with everything. These vines don’t drop any materials. They’re just deliberately designed to annoy people. The most annoying thing about wood-type dungeons is the vines. I hate running wood-type dungeons…”

Xie Mingzhe deeply agreed.

One step and they were bound by vines. Two steps and they were bound again. Were they even allowed to run a dungeon in peace?

After being bound and tied up the whole way, the group finally managed to defeat the final vine boss, even if it was with some difficulty. Xie Mingzhe asked with a headache, “Should we keep going?”

Chen Xiao said, “Let’s go clear the other five-person dungeons and finish all the Jupiter dungeons.”

Five-person dungeons were easier. Chen Xiao and the others were quite scared, so Xie Mingzhe quickly finished all the five-person dungeons with them.

After their trip to Jupiter, he deeply felt the power of wood-type cards. Besides the powerful vines, there were various seemingly beautiful flowers with control effects such as illusion and blindness. Many plants also had negative status effects such as poison, weakness and confusion.

Wood was just one branch of the Star Card World. The water, fire, earth and metal type cards must have their own characteristics.

They successfully completed the wood-type dungeons and Chen Xiao said, “Everyone, let’s disband for now. Get some sleep early and we can do the other dungeons tomorrow.”

Xie Mingzhe nodded, glanced at the time and said it was 11 o’clock. The team had disbanded, so Xie Mingzhe simply went back to his personal space to continue studying the cards.

***

At the same time, the Judgment Club’s office.

Nie Yuandao returned to the club after a late-night snack and frowned slightly when he saw the Wu Song card handed to him by the guild president, Huanyue.

The man’s features were naturally strong. He gave off a stern impression when his brow furrowed.

The man in his thirties possessed a calm and composed air, a testament to his experience with life’s trials. Perhaps due to his daily dealings with beast cards like wolves, tigers and lions, his eyes had a sharp, almost predatory quality that made it difficult for others to meet his gaze directly.

Nie Yuandao also had the nickname ‘Beast King’ because the entire beast card pool had been influenced by him. Before his appearance, the number of beast cards in the Star Card world was small and their skills were relatively simple. Nie Yuandao perfected the entire beast card pool. The tiger, leopard, wolf and lion cards he created possessed extremely powerful attacks. His beast-encircling attack style was unique and distinctive.

Huanyue didn’t dare look at him.. He just lowered his head and softly asked, “God Nie, what do you think of this card?”

Nie Yuandao handed the tablet to the person next to him. “Xiao Lan, come and take a look.”

The man sitting next to him was named Shan Lan. He was 22 years old this year, and was also a famous card player in the league. He was called God Lan by his fans.

If God Nie’s gaze was so sharp that people didn’t dare to meet it then God Lan was a particularly gentle person. His eyes curved when he smiled and his voice was also very soft. In addition, he had fair skin, delicate features and a particularly good temper. He gave people the feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze.

Shan Lan was Nie Yuandao’s only apprentice and his deck was full of beast-type cards.

However, Nie Yuandao preferred a close-range critical strike playstyle. The cards in his hand were all fierce beasts like white tigers, lions, a black rhino and wolves. It was a beast deck that violently crushed enemies. This was Nie Yuandao’s characteristic. He was simple and straightforward without wasting words.

God Lan preferred an air-based attack strategy. His card illusions were beautiful cranes, white eagles, larks, peacocks and the league’s strongest aerial combat cards, the Fire Phoenix and Ice Crystal Phoenix. They were all created under his master’s guidance.

This master-apprentice duo had excellent air and ground combat coordination, making them an extremely powerful combination in duo matches.

The two of them lived together and were inseparable. God Lan greatly admired his master and liked to stick close to him, following him wherever he went. To the staff members of the Judgment Club, God Lan was more like Nie Yuandao’s little follower despite how fiercely he played in matches.

Shan Lan took the Wu Song card from his master and carefully examined its stats. He softly asked, “Where did the guild leader buy this card?”

Huanyue replied, “I just happened to receive it today at the black market.”

Shan Lan analyzed it. “The fact that he didn’t sell it at a high price at the auction, but instead sold it for a low price in the black market indicates that the card’s creator doesn’t understand card values or market conditions. He probably didn’t read the official announcement and doesn’t know that the instant death judgment was only recently added to the database. Is he a newcomer who hasn’t been playing the game for very long?”

Huanyue immediately agreed. “That’s right. According to Shuangshuang, the girl who received the card, the creator is a level 15 newbie called Chubby Uncle.”

“Chubby Uncle?” Shan Lan murmured the strange name before turning to look at God Nie. “What do you plan to do, Master?”

Nie Yuandao was silent for a moment before speaking, his voice low and calm. “During last season’s summary meeting, Tang Muzhou suddenly proposed adding an instant death judgment to the skill database. Do you know why I agreed at the time?”

Shan Lan seriously speculated, “Is it because many players in the league are imitating Zheng Feng, constantly piling up the card health and pushing the card health to over 150,000? If this continues, the game will become increasingly boring?”

Nie Yuandao looked at his apprentice approvingly and nodded. “Actually, Tang Muzhou isn’t just making this suggestion against Zheng Feng. Earth-type decks are inherently about defensive counterattacks, so Zheng Feng’s approach is reasonable. We have plenty of ways to counter him. The key issue is that seeing Zheng Feng’s cards survive longer, other players are starting to imitate him and stacking health on their cards.”

At this point, the man’s eyes flashed with regret. “The newcomers entering the professional league in recent years only follow trends and imitate, learning from their seniors’ decks. They never have their own creativity. It is different from season 5, which saw so many talented players emerge and created many unique deck styles.”

Shan Lan only debuted in season 7. He was still an apprentice under his mentor in season 5. The young boy recalled the glory days and couldn’t help feeling a pang of longing. “Season 5 truly produced a lot of talent. Tang Muzhou perfected the wood-type deck, Fang Yu and Qiao Xi pioneered the water-type playstyle, Gui Yuanshan wielded his ghost cards, Ling Jingtang had his cold steel weapons and all types of talisman cards, Gu insect cards, etc. The creativity back then is something today’s players can’t even begin to compare to.”

Nie Yuandao coldly said, “Some newcomers are too eager for quick success, directly imitating or even copying other top players’ decks to achieve results. They are too lazy to use their brains and think for themselves. Tang Muzhou proposed the concept of instant death simply to change the current state of the league. In recent years, the league has become less interesting and it truly needs fresh talent.”

Shan Lan said, “This is why in last season’s competition, most of the veteran players sided with God Shen, opposing the newcomers who had risen in the last two years without having their own unique style. They were afraid that once the instant death card appeared, their ace would be instantly killed and they wouldn’t know how to deal with it. For professional players to win, the deck is just the foundation. The more crucial thing is reaction speed and adaptability. Master, with your awareness, you naturally aren’t afraid of the instant death card.”

Nie Yuandao nodded. “Yes, I’m more interested in the creator of this card.”

Huanyue, “……”

Who was he, where was he and what should he say?

The two experts started discussing, oblivious to everyone else. Huanyue couldn’t get a word in and felt like a third wheel.

Fortunately, the considerate God Lan noticed him and smiled, changing the subject. “President, my master and I have been researching cards with instant death judgments lately. This Chubby Uncle can make cards with instant death judgments, so his mental power is definitely no less than ours.”

The database had very high requirements for the skill design of instant death cards. Creators couldn’t just make any card and let it eat Tang Muzhou’s tree. Instant death skills must be related to the card itself and conform to common sense. This Wu Song Smashes the Tiger card was cleverly designed. A strong and muscular man punched a tiger in the head. Theoretically, as long as the man’s strength was great enough, it was possible to make the tiger’s brains splatter and let it die instantly.

God Lan admired the card’s skill design and looked at Nie Yuandao. “Master, should we try to win this person over?”

Nie Yuandao stood up from the sofa, turned around, picked up his helmet and calmly said, “The creator of this card is definitely a rare talent. Find this Chubby Uncle as soon as possible. I want to see him.”

Shan Lan saw Nie Yuandao turn and walk towards the club’s game lobby, so he immediately followed. “Master, I’m going too.”

Huanyue followed the two experts with a headache. “We are looking for Chubby Uncle and will find him as soon as possible!”

***

Xie Mingzhe was studying cards in the game and never imagined that his casually created Wu Song and Daiyu cards, with their tiger-type and flower-type instant death judgments, would actually alarm the Star Card League’s boss-level figures, Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou, due to their bizarre skills.

Even more surprisingly, the two masters personally came to the game to find him!