MSC: Chapter 26

At 9 o’clock in the evening, the Nirvana Studio’s power levelers gathered at the dungeon entrance under Brother Chen’s summons.

Xie Mingzhe was now proficient at various dungeons. He knew exactly when to use skills with his eyes closed, so he was constantly thinking about how to create new cards while playing dungeons.

If the card Baochai Catches Butterflies could be successfully implemented, he had several other ideas that could also be made into instant death cards.

During a dungeon run, Xie Mingzhe chatted privately with Pang Yu. “Brother Yu, are there many butterfly-type cards in this game?”

“Of course! Butterfly cards are an important branch of insect-themed cards and they are very popular with girls! However, the one who actually pioneered the butterfly style was a male player, Ye Zhu from the professional league’s Dark Night City Club. He especially loves butterfly cards and has a whole deck of butterfly cards of all colors and skills. During matches, the butterflies fluttering everywhere are so beautiful. Ye Zhu is a very unique player. He absolutely loves butterflies. I heard he has many butterfly specimens at home.” Pang Yu gave an enthusiastic introduction.

“Okay.” Xie Mingzhe agreed verbally but in his heart he thought, ‘Ye Zhu, I’m sorry but I might have to make a butterfly instant death card. Your butterflies will probably be instantly killed by my Baochai. Please don’t blame me!”

At the Dark Night City Club, Ye Zhu kept sneezing.

Pei Jingshan looked at him helplessly. “Are you sick again?”

“No, it is probably allergic rhinitis.” Ye Zhu rubbed his red nose vigorously. “Speaking of which, Tang Muzhou isn’t participating in the individual competition this year, right? He just won the championship last season, so he probably feels too embarrassed to participate. He will probably send his apprentice instead. We can take this opportunity to snatch a trophy!”

Pei Jingshan asked, “You want to sign up?”

Ye Zhu confidently replied, “Of course! That little brat Shen An definitely isn’t a match for me. Achoo! Achoo! What’s wrong? Is someone cursing me?”

Pei Jingshan suppressed a laugh. “You just love to talk big. Don’t be so sure of yourself.”

After finishing a round of dungeons at 11 p.m., Brother Chen told everyone to disperse on time.

Xie Mingzhe returned to his personal space and sent an email to Hongzhu: Guild Leader, I’m back. Let’s arrange a meeting to discuss the Daiyu card.

Hongzhu heard the ding-dong sound and immediately replied after checking the email. “Chubby Uncle, just come to our guild territory. I’ve granted you access, so you should be able to find it on the star map.”

Xie Mingzhe went to the star map and really did see another small planet marked ‘Fenghua Guild Territory.’ It was around the same size as the Judgment Guild Territory next to it, just a different color.

Chubby Uncle clicked the teleport button and instantly arrived at the Fenghua Guild’s territory.

Unlike the fiery red architecture of the Judgment Guild, the Fenghua Guild’s territory in the game was filled with flowers, trees and even the walls of the guild building were covered in green vines. It looked like a lush green forest from a distance.

Hongzhu had given him VIP access, so Xie Mingzhe went directly to the guild building via the VIP corridor.

He saw a woman wearing a red dress and black high heels. Her ID was Hongzhu. The woman was somewhat short, but her voice was clear and crisp. “Chubby Uncle’s here. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. LEt’s talk in the office.”

“Okay.” Xie Mingzhe followed her and took the elevator to the top floor office.

He pushed open the door and saw a badge hanging on the wall in the center of the office. It was a round badge with the words ‘Fenghua’ written in an artistic style. Light green vines were wrapped around the words, and small flowers decorated the center of the badge. The Fenghua Guild’s badge looked very fresh and artistic compared to the domineering sword-piercing flames font of the Judgment Guild.

Xie Mingzhe walked into the office and saw a man and a woman standing inside.

The woman was very tall, wearing a light gray suit dress. Her hair was tied up in a neat bun, giving her the appearance of a capable businesswoman. The man leaned against the desk, tall and upright. He looked to be over 1.85 meters tall, but his face was covered by a mask so his features weren’t visible.

Hongzhu introduced them. “This is our Sister Xue, the player agent for the Fenghua Club. This is Tang Muzhou, a professional card player for the Fenghua Club.”

Xie Mingzhe greeted them politely. “Hello, Sister Xue, Master Tang.”

Tang Muzhou walked up to Xie Mingzhe and asked with a smile, “Sister Xue really wants to buy the copyright of your Daiyu card. Are you willing to sell it?”

It was probably because professional players didn’t like to show their true faces. Tang Muzhou’s alternate account used the system’s default random face while his main account wore a mask and the voice was the system’s voice.

Xie Mingzhe scratched his head. “God Tang, you should know that I won’t sell the card copyright.”

Tang Muzhou shrugged and looked back at Xue Linxiang. “I told you so!”

Xue Linxiang was still unwilling. “1 million crystal coins? I mean 1 million real-world crystal coins, which is 10 million gold coins. Are you still unwilling to sell?”

Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath, not moved by the huge sum of money in front of him. He said firmly, “Sister Xue, if you just want to buy cards then I can make as many as you want. However, I’m sorry, I won’t sell the copyright for my cards again.”

Tang Muzhou’s ears were very sharp. He heard the word ‘again’ and immediately asked, “Did you sell the copyright for one card before? Was it to Old Nie?”

Xie Mingzhe nodded in a straightforward manner. “Yes, that was the first and last one. At that time, I didn’t know a lot about the market and was too short of money. I thought the price God Nie offered was reasonable so I sold the copyright. I won’t sell it again in the future.” As long as he had the copyright in hand, he could draw a hundred or a thousand Daiyu cards and he could modify them at any time. It was obviously wiser to keep the copyright as long as the cards were well made.

Xue Linxiang almost laughed in anger. “What is the point of me buying a hundred Daiyu cards from you if you aren’t going to sell the copyright? You can just sell them to others.”

“Yes. That’s why I came here this time to make things clear to you personally.” Xie Mingzhe’s voice was serious. “I didn’t mean to target God Tang, and I know that God Tang isn’t afraid of this Daiyu card. After all, with God Tang’s awareness, many players might not even be able to use their instant death skills in front of him.”

“Yes.” Tang Muzhou chuckled. “I said long again that you wouldn’t sell the copyright, but Sister Xue insisted on confirming it in person.”

A large circulation of Daiyu cards would be very disadvantageous for Tang Muzhou, but Tang Muzhou was obviously confident in dealing with instant death cards. He said he wasn’t afraid so why was she, his manager, worrying about it? Xue Linxiang gritted her teeth. “Since Xiao Tang said so, let’s forget about the copyright for now.”

Xie Mingzhe was overjoyed. “Thank you for your understanding, Sister Xue. I promise I won’t make any more cards targeting plant types in the future.” After all, he didn’t want to completely offend the Fenghua Club and God Tang had been quite good to him. It wouldn’t be right for him to target plants again.

Tang Muzhou suggested, “You can make more instant death cards such as those targeting various insects, fish, wild elephants, birds, demons, ghosts, talismans and weapons. Use your imagination and try making instant death judgments.”

Xue Linxiang, “……”

Tang Muzhou, are you trying to make everyone suffer with you?

Xue Linxiang finally understood what mischievous idea Tang Muzhou was plotting. He wanted to use Chubby Uncle to increase the number of instant death cards in the deck, changing the entire rhythm and tactical approach of the game.

Xie Mingzhe heard this and naturally understood Tang Muzhou’s meaning as well. He found this expert quite amusing. God Tang actually pointed out so many sneaky ways for him to make instant death cards to trap these players. Xie Mingzhe suppressed a laugh. “God Tang is indeed very thoughtful. I’ve noted down all the card types you mentioned and I’ll do my best.”

Tang Muzhou smiled and extended his hand. “I look forward to you creating more great cards. Once you have a new creation, remember to save one for me. I’ll buy it from you.”

Xie Mingzhe shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll notify God Tang as soon as I finish it. Thank you for your guidance.”

Tang Muzhou said, “Then I won’t stand on ceremony. From now on, I will be your VIP customer and I’ll reserve and purchase your instant death cards in advance.”

Xie Mingzhe readily nodded. “No problem!”

Xue Linxiang, “……”

The way these two were conspiring to trick the entire league was chilling to hear.

It wasn’t until Chubby Uncle left that Xue Linxiang asked with mixed feelings, “What exactly did you guide him about on your alt account? He seems to have suddenly figured it out.”

Tang Muzhou shrugged. “Nothing much. I just went to the arena a few times to demonstrate to him, telling him that instant death cards are tactical cards. The casting speed must be fast enough. I told him to pay more attention to the card’s attributes and to stack his initial agility to 30.”

Xue Linxiang couldn’t help complaining, “If you continue to guide him, the entire league will be in trouble!”

Tang Muzhou’s lips curved in a smile. “I look forward to that day.”

Hongzhu, “……”

It was better for the entire league to be in trouble than for one person to be in trouble alone.

God Tang’s awareness… what could she say? She could only give God Tang a thumbs up.

After Xie Mingzhe returned, he organized his thoughts and wrote down all the card types that Tang Muzhou mentioned.

Then he connected his mental power to the Nebula Paper and started to create Xue Baochai.

He remembered Jin Baoyu saying that men were made of clay and women were made of water. Then he might as well set the card to the water attribute.

Compared to Lin Daiyu’s uniquely elegant and proud demeanor, Xue Baochai possessed the dignified grace of a well-bred lady with a more cheerful and open-minded personality. His depiction of Lin Daiyu was a classic oval face that looked pitifully charming. Xue Baochai’s face was slightly rounder, with a full forehead and bright, expressive eyes.

Xie Mingzhe quickly sketched out Xue Baochai’s image in his mind before drawing it on the Nebula Paper.

Thanks to his experience with the Lin Daiyu and Wu Song card, he drew Xue Baochai very quickly. The front of the card featured only important elements like the person, fan and butterflies, with no extra decorations.

However, the card data still wasn’t ideal.

After communicating with Tang Muzhou, Xie Mingzhe learned that the key to this type of tactical card was still the skill check probability and agility attribute. The 30% instant death rate he created for Xue Baochai was sufficient, but the agility was only 15. At max level, it would only be 85.

How could it be improved?

Xie Mingzhe stroked his chin and started to think carefully. Suddenly, he remembered what Senior Brother Qi had said during his newbie days. The higher the level of Nebula Paper, the better the card data, but the key was still talent.

By the way, Nebula Paper!

In order to save money, he always used the cheapest first grade Nebula Paper, which cost 7 gold coins per sheet.

Now he had money in reserve and naturally wasn’t short on the cost of these raw materials. Therefore, Xie Mingzhe teleported to the Aquarius star region and came to the familiar boss in the black market. That boss had been selling him Nebula Paper lately. He said when seeing Xie Mingzhe, “Chubby Uncle, do you want ten sheets of first grade Nebula Paper again?”

Xie Mingzhe answered, “Give me 100 sheets of the highest grade Nebula Paper.”

“!!!” 100 pieces of the highest grade paper? Had he misheard?

Xie Mingzhe saw that the boss was lost in thought and continued, “Boss, the market price for the top-grade paper is 500 gold coins each. I’m a regular customer, so can you give me a discount? I’ll buy 100 sheets directly for 40,000 gold coins. How about a long-term partnership?”

The boss was excited about a big deal and immediately nodded. “Okay, okay!” He quickly grabbed a stack of fifth grade Nebula Paper and counted it. “Chubby Uncle, you’ve struck it rich! Why are you suddenly buying the highest grade paper?”

“I haven’t made much money,” Xie Mingzhe said modestly. “I just want to test if cards made of high-grade paper will have better data.”

After buying 100 sheets of the highest grade Nebula Paper, Xie Mingzhe returned to this personal space and started redrawing Xue Baochai.

The top-grade paper had a much better gloss than the low-grade paper. It required less mental power to draw and was smoother.

Sure enough, the data had improved. Agility went from 15 to 20, but it still couldn’t reach the 30 limit.

Xie Mingzhe calmed down and thought carefully.

Previously, the Daiyu and Wu Song cards were like blind cats meeting dead rats. They just managed to encounter the system’s instant death judgment.

Now he was actively trying to create instant death skills, so he had to balance the card character image, the skill descriptions and the data allocation. This was like multitasking and the difficulty was noticeably higher.

According to the rules of the Star Card World’s database, different types of cards had a range for each basic stat—health, defense, attack, agility, etc. The official database controlled this range, randomly generating a number within it.

It was a quick-action tactical card, so it was better to go for extreme stats. He would completely ignore health, defense and attack, and just stack agility to the max.

Xie Mingzhe closed his eyes and took a moment to adjust. Then he reconnected to the card-making system, concentrating his mental power to the limit.

At this moment, Xie Mingzhe’s mind was free of all distractions. In his mental world, there was only the Xue Baochai card magnified countless times, every detail of the character’s image clearly presented. Even the individual strands of hair were crystal clear.

The skill description and data allocation floated before his eyes like subtitles.

He tried to redistribute the card’s data with his mental power. Then he saw the numbers constantly changing according to his mental control, like numbers jumping around in a lottery without a specific pattern. Health, defense, attack, agility, critical hit rate… all the attributes were changing simultaneously. He ignored everything else, solely focused on agility. He immediately stopped thinking the moment the agility attribute reached 30.

“Congratulations, the card creation is complete! Please confirm modifications and re-review.”

It quickly passed the review and the familiar Half Moon author logo appeared in the lower right corner of the card.

Xie Mingzhe picked up the card and examined it carefully.

Xue Baochai (Water Attribute)

[Card Level: 1.

Evolution Star Level: ★

Available Uses: 1/1.

Basic Attributes: HP 200, Defense 100, Attack 0, Agility 30, Critical Rate 0%.

Additional Skill: Baochai Catches Butterflies (waves a fan to swat butterflies, dealing severe damage to butterfly-type cards. There is a 30% chance to trigger an instant death effect).]

It was a success!

30 agility and a 30% chance of instant death. The truly qualified instant death card that God Tang spoke of had finally been created!

Xie Mingzhe excitedly picked up the card. The woman on the card was lively and agile, holding a fan to sweat butterflies. There were two fluttering jade butterflies in front of her. The scene was dynamic and perfectly showcased the girl’s open-minded and cheerful personality.

He took out a piece of Nebula Paper, intending to modify the Daiyu card as well.

He focused his mental power once more, magnifying the Daiyu card in his mind and reallocating the data. He prioritized changing Daiyu’s agility to 30. Her defense and health decreased slightly, but the difference between 100 and 80 health was negligible against an attack of tens of thousands.

In a situation where two players were evenly matched, an agility attribute of 100 was the bare minimum for an instant death card. Otherwise, a card with 99 agility would be rendered useless if its skill casting speed was even 0.1 seconds slower than the opponent’s.

Even with a 100 agility instant death card, a skilled opponent with good anticipation could avoid triggering the skull through various means. Similarly, a skilled player could exploit the opponent’s skill gaps and unexpectedly eliminate their ace with an instant death card.

In a skilled player’s deck, a 100 agility instant death card would undoubtedly have a place.

A seven star max-level black card, Lin Daiyu, with the instant death effect on flowers, had 100 agility.

A seven star max-level black card, Xue Baochai, with the instant death effect on butterflies, had 100 agility.

Daiyu and Baochai would surely help him make a name for himself in the card-making world.

Xie Mingzhe held the two cards in his hand and smiled happily.

Thanks to God Tang’s guidance, he had successfully created a qualified instant death card. Next, he needed to participate in tomorrow’s auction, buy a store in a good location and name it the Half Moon Card Specialty Store.”

He would start as a small business owner smelling cards, accumulating enough capital.

He had played a few rounds in the arena today with God Tang and found it particularly interesting. The card-based competitive mode of this game was unlike any game he had ever played before. Later, he would try his hand at competitive play if he managed to create a complete character card deck.