Soul Cards

Lying in Duanmu Huai's palm were eight cards of various forms, each emitting 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

When a puppet enters your field, 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 to add to your hand: Puppet, Improved Puppet, Armed Reinforcement.

Selection of Scrap (Silver)

Cost: 2

Add cards destroyed during this battle with an odd-numbered cost to your hand.

Puppet Room (Bronze)

Cost: 3

Add one puppet to your hand each turn.

Waste (Bronze)

Cost: 3

Attack: 1

Defense: 2

When played or destroyed, add one puppet to your hand.

Doll Maiden. Augis (Legendary)

Cost: 6

Attack: 5

Defense: 5

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

If she fuses with one puppet, summon an "Okegis's Puppet. Lloyd" onto the field.

If she fuses with three or more puppets, automatically evolve two cards.

Why did humans love humans? Why did humans hate humans? The answer—surely it lay somewhere in this world.

Quest "Puppet Master's Legacy" completed.

Quest Rating: 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 in the real world. As long as he used psychic power to activate them, he could gain the abilities within 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. Most of his cards were Bronze, with only one Silver card. As for Doll Maiden Augis, although she was Legendary, she was clearly a card designated by the story mode. The reason was obvious from the quest Puppet Maiden's Heart. That Puppet Master had probably been worried Duanmu Huai would take the goods and refuse to honor his promise, so he had used this method to impose a restriction. As long as Duanmu Huai traveled with Augis as promised, showed her the wonders of the world, and gradually helped her 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, if Psykers used too many spells, they would trigger Warp Space Anomalies. This cost was calculated for precisely that reason. Duanmu Huai's current heat limit was 100, while Doll Maiden Augis cost 6. That meant when Duanmu Huai summoned Augis, his heat consumption would increase by 60. According to Warp Space overheating standards, anything below 40% was normal. Between 40% and 80% was considered overheating, where all kinds of Warp Space Anomalies could occur. At 100%... that depended on what kind of demon boss got rolled.

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

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

"Humph!"

Duanmu Huai clenched his fist and put away several cards. Immediately afterward, Doll Maiden Augis's cost changed from 6 to 3, reduced by a full half!

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

A whole half!

One had to know that Soul Card costs were not stingy little numbers with decimal points. In other words, if a card cost 3, Warp Armor could reduce it directly to 1 instead of 1.5. As for cards costing 1, they could be reduced directly to 0!

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

Among these cards, the puppets they summoned already cost 0, while Improved Puppet cost 1. Yet under the suppression of Warp Armor, that too had become 0. Although these puppet cards would automatically be destroyed after battle, as long as they remained on the field, they were combat power that required no cost!

The quality might not have been high, but their numbers were still terrifying!

The puppets' attack power might only have been 1, and Improved Puppets only 3, but that 3 did not simply mean 3 points of damage. It referred to the level of enemy they could eliminate!

In fact, among Soul Cards, 1 point of attack meant being able to eliminate enemies within level 10, while 2 points meant enemies within level 20. Likewise, their defense represented the level of enemy attacks they could withstand.

Duanmu Huai himself was only a level 10 Inquisitor at the moment. As for his attack power—well, he was definitely stronger than the puppets, but he was absolutely no match for Augis. After all, Augis had 5 attack and defense, which became 7 after enhancement and awakening. In other words, she could fight a level 70 enemy to mutual destruction.

The puppets had 1 attack and defense, but after fusing with Augis's card, their attack could increase to 2, meaning they could eliminate enemies within level 20. That meant Duanmu Huai had now gained an army capable of farming level 20 enemies in groups! And at almost no cost!

This was only a Novice Planet. Based on Duanmu Huai's experience, the strongest people here would not exceed level 40. Level 20 already counted as the backbone.

"Sure enough, Soul Walkers were ridiculously good in the early stages..."

After mapping out the entire process, Duanmu Huai felt unbelievably good. Before his transmigration, he had only figured out the purpose of the Soul Resonance skill after reaching level 30. By then, his enemies were all level 30 or 40, and ordinary low-level cards could no longer inflict enough damage on them. Duanmu Huai had always thought that if he had gotten a set of Soul Cards like this at level 10, farming monsters above his level would have been absolutely amazing.

A level 10 player farming a level 20 dungeon—how awesome would that be?

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

At 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 circuit around the area. Twenty minutes later, he returned to the spot where Elisa was sitting atop a rock, blankly staring up at the sky before her.

After washing away the grime covering her body, Elisa's true appearance was finally revealed to Duanmu Huai. Before this, in his eyes, Elisa had been nothing more than a messy-haired, filthy little brat. But after the dirt and blood had been cleaned away, the girl revealed her beautiful side.

She had smooth, silky golden hair fit for a shampoo commercial, a petite and adorable face, delicate features with a hint of fragility, and a pair of large sapphire-blue eyes. She looked every bit like the daughter of a noble family.

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

"Ah, Black Knight."

Perhaps the bath had lifted her spirits considerably. When Elisa saw Duanmu Huai approaching, she hurriedly stood up and gave him an obedient bow.

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

Duanmu Huai's gaze swept over Elisa's reddened eyes—though with his helmet on, she could not see it 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?"

"We're not running anymore."

"Huh?"

Elisa was greatly surprised by Duanmu Huai's answer.

"We're not running?"

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

With Soul Cards in hand, Duanmu Huai no longer had anything to fear. Combined with his own strength, the Soul Cards would be more than enough to deal with the Evil God Believers pursuing them. Now it depended on how much those Evil God Believers were willing to sacrifice.

"..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's reply, Elisa seemed somewhat uneasy. But soon, as if she had figured something out, she 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 when she reached this point, but she still made up her mind.

"If we truly can't hold them back, then please kill me!"

"Oh?"

Duanmu Huai could not help glancing at Elisa.

"Kill you?"

"Yes. Whatever those Evil God Believers want me for, it definitely can't be anything good! If I fall into their hands, not only will I suffer torture, I may even end up harming other people. So... if there really 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. Please don't make it hurt too much..."

What an interesting little girl.

Duanmu Huai smiled as he looked at Elisa with her head lowered. Then he reached out and patted her head.

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