"All right, the card draw begins." The system's smiling voice rang out, seemingly pleased with itself for having just made a sale.
A huge round table appeared in Yu Luo's mind, silver electricity flickering across its surface. Then, a ring of silver light appeared out of nowhere, and a bronze card leaped out. Yu Luo glanced at it:
1-star Noble Phantasm Card. Effect: Slightly reduces damage received.
Immediately afterward, a second card leaped out. It was another 1-star Noble Phantasm Card:
Effect: Increases the user's damage.
As he watched the paper cards appear, Yu Luo asked curiously, "I know Heroic Spirit Cards are used for transformation, but what are Noble Phantasm Cards for?"
"One type grants a temporary state. You can equip one Noble Phantasm Card at a time and receive its effects while it is equipped. It can be removed at any time, but there is a time limit."
"What about the other type?"
"The other type can be used as material to enhance Heroic Spirit Cards. You can feed Noble Phantasm Cards to Heroic Spirit Cards, and the Heroic Spirit Card will gain part of the Noble Phantasm Card's effects. However, the Noble Phantasm Card will disappear, and the enhancement won't be as strong as equipping it directly. The advantage is that there's no time limit, it can stack infinitely, and eventually surpassing the Heroic Spirit's original template is possible."
"So one is passive, and one is active." Drawing upon his understanding as an Opening-rank Master, Yu Luo gave a concise explanation.
"Correct."
In the blink of an eye, nine cards had appeared from the free Friendship Ten-Pull. They were all one-star and two-star Noble Phantasm Cards with various effects, making Yu Luo grimace. "I suspect you lowered the drop rate."
"How can you slander me out of nowhere?!" The system sounded as though it had suffered a grave injustice.
"I'm someone who can mooch off four supports. How could a Friendship Pool possibly treat me this badly? Not even a single three-star!"
"Being unlucky isn't the system's fault. Maybe the feng shui here is bad?" The system shamelessly shrugged off the blame.
Amid their banter, the final card finally appeared amid three streaks of silver light. Yu Luo immediately stared at it nervously. Sure enough, it was a Heroic Spirit Card. A bronze card bore the image of an archer. Yu Luo's heart skipped a beat. A low-star Archer—there could only be that one card, couldn't there?
Clinging to the one-in-ten-thousand possibility that the system had modified it, Yu Luo watched helplessly as the card flipped over.
"No!" Yu Luo clutched his head and cried out in despair. Sure enough, the Heroic Spirit he had once loved most, but now least wanted to see, appeared before him—
Archer Arash!
"Pfft." The system laughed wickedly in Yu Luo's mind. Yu Luo had already recovered from the blow dealt by the great hero and asked expressionlessly, "What are you laughing at?"
"I wasn't laughing."
"You were clearly laughing at me. You never stopped."
"It's like this, Mr. Host. We've undergone professional training. Under normal circumstances, we won't laugh unless we can't hold it in."
"You!"
"How about this, Mr. Host? Do another Friendship Ten-Pull, and I guarantee a three-star card will come right after."
"Hurry it up." Yu Luo urged impatiently, while stuffing Arash's card into the deepest corner of the Heroic Spirit Codex. He probably would never use that card.
"Good luck." The system said slyly. The second Friendship Ten-Pull soon passed, and Yu Luo watched with a serious expression. When three streaks of silver light appeared, his heart rose into his throat. The light quickly faded, revealing a bronze card with a masked assassin depicted on it. It was an Assassin-class card.
Please don't be Mata Hari! Yu Luo prayed frantically. If the system hadn't altered the rarity rankings, there were only four low-star Assassin Servants. The other three were all quite suitable for the current situation, but if it was Mata Hari, Yu Luo felt his mentality would completely collapse.
Fortunately, Yu Luo's bad luck did not continue to the bitter end. When the card face was fully revealed, he jumped up in delight. "Kojiro! Nice!"
And that was not the end of his good fortune. Three more streaks of silver light appeared immediately afterward. Once the light dispersed, a silver card back appeared before Yu Luo's eyes, bearing the image of an archer. Yu Luo swore that this was the first time he had ever found a silver card so beautiful.
When the card flipped over, a young man holding revolvers entered Yu Luo's sight. "Archer Billy the Kid. Too bad it's not Kid Gil." Yu Luo sounded rather greedy.
"How do I use Servant Cards?" Yu Luo asked the system. Perhaps because Yu Luo had finished spending money, the system returned to its indifferent manner. "Read the instructions yourself. I'm not some old grandpa living inside a ring. Don't come asking me every random little thing."
Veins bulged across Yu Luo's forehead. "Do you understand even the most basic after-sales service?!"
"You've already paid, and I'm not giving you a receipt. Report me if you can. Play or don't play, I don't care."
"Pah, I can't be bothered with you." Yu Luo looked at the information beside Sasaki Kojiro's card. It recorded the method of use and the techniques available. It was simple and clear, and Yu Luo understood it in minutes.
"Do you think this is Kamen Rider? That's way too cringe." Yu Luo complained. "I actually have to shout Henshin? Why do you have so much flashy nonsense?"
The system ignored Yu Luo's complaints entirely and said to itself, "Thought acceleration function has ended. This usage cost 1 Saint Quartz. Thank you for your patronage."
"I... That wasn't free? Why didn't you say so?" The instant Yu Luo finished speaking, he discovered that the frozen outside world had begun returning to normal, and he could move his body again. One Zombie Girl after another opened her jaws and lunged at the fallen Yu Luo.
"Henshin!" Yu Luo raised his right hand toward the sky. He could no longer care about embarrassment or being cringe as he hurriedly used Sasaki Kojiro's Heroic Spirit Card. The next moment, blinding silver light shone through the gaps in the horde of Zombie Girls.
"Teacher Yu Luo!" Kiana anxiously kept looking back, wanting to save Yu Luo, who had been surrounded inside and out by the Zombie Girls. She did not spare a thought for how she herself would get out afterward.
Suddenly, a flash of blinding silver light erupted from where Yu Luo had been surrounded. Then the densely packed Zombie Girls were sent flying in every direction, tumbling to the ground like scattered dumplings. A young man wearing a light purple kimono stood proudly with a long Katana in hand, a dark blue ponytail hanging down his back.
Kiana stared blankly, having no idea what had happened. Looking at the sword-wielding young man with the same face as Yu Luo, she asked uncertainly, "Yu... Teacher Yu Luo?"
Yu Luo nodded. The Zombie Girls he had just thrown off were about to surround them again, so he immediately said to Kiana, "I'll get you out of here. Hold on tight."
Facing the Zombie Girls who had lost their humanity and lunged at him, Yu Luo casually swung the Katana Bizen Osafune Nagamitsu, cleanly cutting through their bodies. His left hand grabbed Kiana by the shoulder, and with a light step, he ran at a speed far beyond Kiana's. Kiana had wanted to ask a few questions, but the fierce wind from their sprint prevented her from opening her mouth.
Yu Luo effortlessly cut down these ordinary female high school students who had not been so ordinary in life, while taking the time to inspect his current attributes.
Class: Assassin Name: Sasaki Kojiro Strength: C Endurance: E Agility: A+ Mana: E Luck: A Inherent Skills: Presence Concealment D Possessed Skills: Mind's Eye A Translucence B+ Monohoshi Zao B Noble Phantasm: Anti-Person Demon Sword Maximum Targets: 1
With attributes like these, let alone all of Senba Academy, Yu Luo could even clear every zombie in Changkong City, provided there was no hidden boss. But Yu Luo realized that the unreliable system seemed to have screwed him over again.
In Yu Luo's field of vision, after transforming with the Heroic Spirit Card, there was a battery-shaped icon in the bottom-right corner. In less than a minute, the number on it had already dropped from 100 to 80. Yu Luo also discovered that the more intensely he fought, the faster it drained. Based on that broken system's habits, there was a ninety percent chance that his current state would end once the number reached zero.
Yu Luo had also tried activating Mind's Eye A to dodge a dense wave of attacks. The number on the battery icon plummeted like water pouring from a faucet, scaring Yu Luo so badly that he did not dare engage head-on. He could only rely on A+ Agility to escape the Zombie Girl horde.
Kiana, whom Yu Luo was holding, frantically slapped his arm as well. The airflow caused by Yu Luo's full-speed sprint was too violent, and every time she opened her mouth, the wind choked her words back down. But Yu Luo was busy shaking off the Zombie Girls behind them and ignored her, wondering inwardly:
Did I touch somewhere I shouldn't have? But I didn't feel anything at all. Could she really be that flat?
Following the familiar route, Yu Luo ran all the way back to the classroom where he had first appeared in this world before stopping. He cut down the Archer Girl who had shot him with an arrow earlier, then released Kiana and canceled his transformation, returning to his original appearance.
"Hey, Teacher Yu Luo!" Kiana angrily confronted Yu Luo. Seeing her expression, Yu Luo's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly apologized. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't notice. Things were too urgent at the time." His eyes then flicked toward Kiana's flat chest as he recklessly added, "Besides, I didn't feel anything at all, so forgive me, okay?"
Kiana answered Yu Luo with a flying kick, smashing it viciously into his face. Before Yu Luo could recover from the flash of white before his eyes, Kiana grabbed his collar and shouted furiously, "Idiot teacher, why didn't you just run over the rubble?!"
"Huh?" Yu Luo suddenly realized a very important problem.
"With the state you were in just now, you could have jumped over the obstacles blocking the road! Why did you turn back? If you had just run straight through, we would've left Senba Academy already, you idiot!"
Faced with Kiana's soul-piercing question, Yu Luo had no answer. He felt somewhat broken inside. I actually got called an idiot by the White-Haired Idiot. I'm worse than an idiot...
Before you continue