Soul Cards

Lying in Duanmu Huai's palm were eight cards of varying forms. They emitted a faint glow as they appeared before him.

Improvement Experiment (Bronze)

Cost: 0

Add one Improved Puppet to your hand.

Puppeteer's Cloak (Bronze)

Cost: 1

Whenever a puppet enters your battlefield, add two puppets to your hand.

Puppet Surgery (Bronze)

Cost: 1

Randomly grant one puppet in your hand +4/+0.

Artisan's Belief (Bronze)

Cost: 1

Choose two of the following three cards and add them to your hand: Puppet, Improved Puppet, Armed Reinforcement.

Selection of Scrap (Silver)

Cost: 2

Add destroyed cards with an odd cost from this battle to your hand.

Puppet Room (Bronze)

Cost: 3

Add one puppet to your hand every turn.

Waste (Bronze)

Cost: 3

Attack: 1

Defense: 2

When it enters play or takes its final bow, add one puppet to your hand.

Doll Maiden. Augis (Legendary)

Cost: 6

Attack: 5

Defense: 5

Whenever she fuses with a puppet, she may summon one puppet onto the battlefield and gain +2/+0.

If the number of puppets fused with this card is 1, summon one 'Okegis's Puppet.Lloyd' onto the battlefield.

If it is 3 or more, automatically evolve two cards.

Why do humans love humans? Why do humans hate humans? The answer---must lie somewhere in this world.

Quest "Puppet Master's Legacy" completed.

Quest Evaluation: Beyond expectations.

Reward: Soul Cards +6, bonus +2.

Follow-up quest "Puppet Maiden's Heart" triggered.

Quest Objective: Travel with Doll Maiden. Augis and guide her toward her future path.

Quest Reward: Puppet Master's Legacy.

Current Progress: 1/5

"I see."

After reading through the Soul Cards in his hand and the quest description, Duanmu Huai nodded. Soul Cards were manifestations of materials from Fragment Worlds within the real world. As long as he activated these cards with Psychic Power, he could gain the abilities contained within them and use them in reality.

However, the quality of the first batch of cards he had received was not particularly high. Card quality was divided into Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Legendary. The cards he had been given were all Bronze, except for one Silver. As for Doll Maiden. Augis, although she was Legendary, she was clearly a card designated for story mode. The reason was obvious from the Puppet Maiden's Heart quest. That Puppet Master had probably worried that Duanmu Huai would take the goods and refuse to honor his promise, so he had used this method to place restrictions on him. As long as he traveled with Augis as promised, showed her the vast world, and helped her gradually understand her own existence and meaning, the progress would increase, allowing him to obtain the Puppet Master's other legacy.

As for that cost...

As mentioned before, when Psykers used too many spells, they triggered Warp Space Anomalies. This cost had been designed around that. Duanmu Huai's current maximum Warp Space Heat was 100, while Doll Maiden. Augis cost 6. In other words, when Duanmu Huai summoned Augis, his heat cost would increase by 60. According to Warp Space overheating standards, anything below 40% was within the normal range. Between 40% and 80% counted as overheating, and all sorts of Warp Space Anomalies could occur. At 100%... that depended on what kind of Demon boss spawned.

So if Duanmu Huai summoned Augis directly, his Warp Space Heat would remain at an overheated level of 60%. He would become a walking Disaster, causing Warp Space Anomalies wherever he went---and there really had been players in the past who used themselves as humanoid nuclear bombs this way.

Fortunately, he was a Soul Walker, and... he had Warp Armor!

"Humph!"

Duanmu Huai clenched his hand tightly and put away several cards. Then, Doll Maiden. Augis's cost instantly dropped from 6 to 3, reduced by a full half!

That was right. This was the most incredible part of Warp Armor. It could not teleport, nor did it possess formidable defensive power, but it could halve the cost of every Soul Card!

Half!

One had to know that Soul Card costs did not use stingy decimals. In other words, if a card cost 3, Warp Armor could reduce it directly to 1 rather than 1.5. As for cards costing 1, they could be reduced straight to 0!

That meant the costs of Puppet Surgery, Puppeteer's Cloak, and Artisan's Belief had fallen from 1 to 0. Selection of Scrap, Puppet Room, and Waste had fallen to 1, while Doll Maiden. Augis had dropped to 3.

Among these cards, the puppets summoned by them had a cost of 0 to begin with. Improved Puppets cost 1, but under the suppression of Warp Armor, that too became 0. Although these puppet cards would automatically be destroyed after battle, as long as they remained on the battlefield, they were combat power that cost nothing!

The quality might not have been high, but the quantity was just as terrifying!

A puppet's attack power might only be 1, while an Enhanced Doll's was only 3, but that 3 did not simply mean 3 points of damage. It indicated the level of enemy they could eliminate!

In fact, in Soul Cards, 1 point of attack represented the ability to eliminate enemies within level 10. Two points of attack meant enemies within level 20. Likewise, their defense represented the level of enemy attacks they could withstand.

Duanmu Huai himself was currently only a level 10 Inquisitor. In terms of attack power---well, he was certainly stronger than a puppet, but he was absolutely no match for Augis. After all, Augis's attack and defense were both 5, and after Enhanced Awakening, they became 7. In other words, she could perish together with a level 70 enemy.

A puppet's attack and defense were both 1, but after fusing with Augis's card, its attack could rise to 2, meaning it could eliminate enemies within level 20. That meant Duanmu Huai had now obtained an army capable of farming level 20 enemies in groups! And at almost no cost!

This was merely a Novice Planet. Based on Duanmu Huai's experience, the strongest people here could not possibly exceed level 40. Level 20 was already considered the backbone.

"Sure enough, Soul Walkers were ridiculously satisfying in the early game..."

After mapping out the entire process, Duanmu Huai felt unbelievably pleased. Before his transmigration, he had not figured out the use of the Soul Resonance skill until level 30. By then, his enemies had all been level 30 or 40. Ordinary low-level cards could no longer deal sufficient damage to them. Duanmu Huai had often thought that if he had gotten a set of Soul Cards like this at level 10, farming monsters above his level and leveling up would have been incredible.

A level 10 player farming a level 20 dungeon---how satisfying would that be?

Now, it seemed he finally had the chance to put that old fantasy into practice.

With that thought, Duanmu Huai raised his head and stared into the distance, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

Next, let's see just how much experience you can bring me!

Afterward, Duanmu Huai made another round of the area. Only after twenty minutes had passed did he return to where he had been before. Elisa was sitting on a rock, blankly gazing at the sky before her.

After washing away the grime on her body, Elisa's true appearance was finally revealed to Duanmu Huai. Before this, in Duanmu Huai's eyes, Elisa had been a messy-haired, filthy little girl who stank. But after washing away the dirt and bloodstains, the girl revealed her beautiful side.

She had silky golden hair, so smooth it could have been used in a shampoo commercial; a petite, lovely face with delicate features carrying a trace of fragility; and a pair of large azure eyes. She looked like a young lady from a distinguished family.

Unfortunately, the tattered clothes she wore somewhat ruined that impression.

"Ah, Black Knight."

Perhaps the bath had lifted Elisa's spirits considerably. When she saw Duanmu Huai approaching, she hurriedly stood up and obediently curtsied to him.

"Mm. How are you? Feeling all right?"

Duanmu Huai's gaze swept across Elisa's reddened eyes---though she could not see it through his helmet anyway.

"I'm all right."

Elisa lowered her head somewhat embarrassedly. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she looked at Duanmu Huai again.

"Black Knight, what should we do next?"

"Next, we stop running."

"Eh?"

Elisa was shocked by Duanmu Huai's response.

"Stop running?"

"That's right. We can't get away anyway, so we might as well wait here for them. We'll hit them hard and wipe out every one of those bastards!"

Now that he had Soul Cards, Duanmu Huai no longer had anything to fear. With his own strength combined with the Soul Cards, dealing with the pursuing Evil God Believers would not be a problem. Next, it would depend on how many sacrifices those Evil God Believers were willing to make.

"..."

Elisa felt somewhat uneasy after hearing Duanmu Huai's answer. But soon, she seemed to figure something out and clenched her fists tightly.

"I-I understand, Black Knight. Since you say so, then that's what we'll do... Also, I have a request..."

"What request?"

"If..."

Elisa seemed hesitant at this point, but she still made up her mind.

"If we really can't stop them, then please kill me!"

"Oh?"

Duanmu Huai could not help glancing at Elisa.

"Kill you?"

"Yes. No matter what those Evil God Believers want me for, it definitely can't be anything good! If I fall into their hands, not only will I be tortured, I might even end up harming other people. So... if there truly is no other way, Black Knight, you can kill me and escape on your own."

As she spoke, Elisa lowered her head again.

"N-No, but I hope you can be gentle, Black Knight. Don't make it hurt too much..."

What an interesting little girl.

Looking at Elisa's lowered head, a faint smile appeared on Duanmu Huai's lips. Then he reached out and patted her head.

"Don't worry. No matter who comes, I'll protect you."