Isabella Was Impressed

Isabella looked at Alice in surprise.

But she still paid five thousand Magic Crystals.

Isabella's favorability toward Alice increased.

Hey, hey, hey! She was blatantly hiking up the price, so why did her favorability go up instead?

Sitting there, Shen Sui felt that even the air-conditioned room had turned chilly.

A question suddenly occurred to him.

If Alice raised Isabella's favorability to a certain level, could he get a Follower Card from Isabella? After all, Isabella was someone else's Soul Card now.

Fortunately, Isabella and Alice's encounter ended there.

Having recovered the ruby Claude had given her years ago, Isabella seemed to be in a much better mood.

"You will surely become renowned across the continent one day. I look forward to the day we meet again."

Isabella bid Alice farewell. She had no idea that the blonde, blue-eyed girl before her had long since become famous across the continent.

Hozeville's fearsome reputation had even reached the ears of the gods.

The Rebellious Witch had been placed on every church's blacklist, and all followers were forbidden from contacting her.

Alice gained a great deal of money. She bought new clothes for herself and Anna to evade the pursuit of the other churches.

Alice had not forgotten her original goal, nor had she indulged in material pleasures. She began seeking out intelligence brokers and buying information about Vivian.

Just as Ariana had said, there seemed to be an inexplicable current sweeping through the continent, trying to portray Vivian as a powerful woman who had initiated Twilight of the Gods in order to become a god.

A movement to slaughter the gods had been reinterpreted as a ritual for ascension.

Bargus, was this your goal?

The gods could accept a new god, but they would never permit another Vivian to appear.

Alice failed to obtain any further information about Vivian. Everyone knew of Vivian, yet no one knew anything about her, as though every trace of her had been erased, leaving only her lofty statue.

From an intelligence broker, Alice unexpectedly received a piece of news.

A girl named Alice had led a band of brigands into Pa Yin Jia City, killed the sixth-rank mage Rhine Ze Lai, and looted the Zelei Family's property.

The Rowling Empire and the Church of the Lord of Thunder had already dispatched troops to suppress those bandits.

Alice was baffled.

She did not think she was capable of causing such a huge mess.

No, your ability to cause trouble was far greater than that.

Alice immediately thought of Harley, her magical beast follower. It seemed she really had sent Harley to lure Rhine Ze Lai away back then.

"Oh. Right. I nearly forgot about that."

Shen Sui coughed twice. He freely commanded Harley during duels, yet he had completely forgotten about that wolf in the Soul Card World.

Still, this had little to do with Alice. It was better to let her follow the original plan and search for Twilight City first.

From Shen Sui's perspective, if it was only a five-star magical beast, then he should sell it if it could be sold and abandon it if it had to be abandoned.

Alice was only third-rank. Getting involved in an imperial campaign was far too risky.

Alice was worried about Harley's situation and decided to go to Pa Yin Jia City to investigate first.

You appeared and tried to persuade Alice not to put herself in danger for the sake of a low-rank magical beast.

Alice thought your reasoning made sense.

But she refused!

Alice would never abandon her companion, even if it was only a magical beast.

Alice rejected your suggestion and decided to head to Pa Yin Jia City.

Seeing this, Shen Sui was helpless.

The Soul Card World was a real world, not a game world. Therefore, instructions entered by Soul Card Masters could only serve as guidance. Whether the Soul Card accepted or heeded them depended entirely on its own willingness.

People in a real world always had thoughts of their own.

They were not protagonists in some trashy system novel who only followed quests and orders.

He activated the Time Regulator. Since Isabella had already left, he could use it once more.

Without a point of comparison, Alice could not detect the difference in the passage of time.

Looking at the pending download, Price Gouging, Shen Sui let out a sigh of relief. This sequence had yielded only one Life Card. He should have been upset, but instead, he felt unusually reassured.

Price Gouging was not a weak card, either. It could be activated when the opponent used a Life Card, increasing the cost they had to pay. Under the rules of Soul Card Duel, any effect that forced an opponent to spend extra resources could not be considered weak.

But Shen Sui, who had experienced the banning of the Star Super Magic Array, knew all too well that to a Soul Card Master, Soul Cards were the most important thing. The rest of the cards were more like decorations, like footnotes.

Soul Cards could not be classified as Forbidden Cards.

Therefore, if your Soul Cards were strong enough, no matter how the rest of your cards were banned, it would never affect your true strength.

You could even use Forbidden Cards to squeeze gold from the Soul Card Association.

Dongye Youzai's powerful return shortly after half his deck had been banned was the best proof of that, which was also why many people suspected he had done it deliberately.

After all, during duels for Forbidden Card review, as long as you held back a little and did not appear too overwhelming, the reviewers would still show a champion some respect. They would not go so far as to ban half a deck.

Alice, you have to grow stronger!

Shen Sui rapidly searched his memories. Then he suddenly remembered that there was a Storage Box in the sewer system of Anlud, not far from Emerald City, so he told Alice about it.

"Why do you have a Storage Box in a sewer?" Alice asked in confusion.

"Because you can catch a Mutated Fish King in Anlud's sewers."

????

Alice's head was full of question marks. She was utterly shocked.

"Can you fish anywhere there's water?" Alice asked, confused.

Shen Sui coughed twice. Though they were not face-to-face, he still felt a little guilty.

In truth, because of Dawn Link's game mechanics, he had developed the habit of casting a hook even when he saw a bucket of water.

Alice decided to go to Anlud first.

She mounted her pony and set off for Anlud with Anna.

Finally, that was settled.

Shen Sui asked a staff member about the current state of the tournament.

Amateur competitions did not have too many complications, so each duel ended quickly. By the end of the morning, the Top Eight Tournament had concluded, and even the semifinal bracket had been announced.

Shen Sui glanced at his opponent. She was a girl named Tang Lili.

Then he looked at the other semifinal matchup and, sure enough, saw Yuan Youxin's name.

I wonder if I'll get to face him in the finals.

Shen Sui looked forward to it.

His duelist's soul was already yearning to challenge a strong opponent.

"Are you my opponent?"

Shen Sui looked toward the voice and found no one behind him.

"Look down! Don't ignore me!"

Only then did Shen Sui lower his head and discover that the newcomer was a white-haired catgirl.

She had a petite, adorable figure and a fair, cute face.

The corners of her lips naturally curved upward in a sweet smile.

Her silver-white short hair was a little messy, but the most eye-catching feature was the cat ears atop her head.

"Holy crap! Catgirls actually exist in real life?"

"They're hair accessories! Hair accessories!" The little girl seemed to have guessed what had shocked Shen Sui. She raised a hand and removed her cat-ear accessories. They were so realistic that he had not been able to tell at all.

"And didn't you notice that I also have a pair of ears?" Tang Lili said as she tucked the hair at her temples aside.

"Don't beastgirls usually have two pairs of ears?" Shen Sui said as though it were only natural.

"Grrr!" Tang Lili shot him a sharp glare, revealing her tiny fangs.

So tiny.

She would probably be even cuter if she cried.