Claude Begins to Demand

[You informed Alice of the significance of these two items.]

[And made a request to Alice.]

[You wish to absorb the power of the Evil God to mend your severely wounded soul.]

Shen Sui had initially approached Alice under the pretense of being severely injured and in need of help. He needed to instill in Alice the idea that he wasn't free labor, so she wouldn't become dependent on him.

This would be more beneficial for Alice's growth.

Damn it, why does this feel more and more like raising a daughter? Shen Sui grumbled inwardly.

Any gain requires a price.

Now was the time for Alice to pay the price for asking Claude to intervene in the City of Sin incident.

[Alice agreed to your request, but she would not allow the sacrifice of the entire city to happen. You explained to Alice how to bypass the third condition and how to guide the Evil God's power for you to absorb.]

[Alice used Arson on the completely annihilated Thunder Knights, destroying the evidence.]

[Alice continued her journey to Anlud.]

Taking advantage of the time Alice was heading to Anlud, Shen Sui clicked on the un-downloaded Soul Card section. This contained the Soul Cards that Shen Sui hadn't yet loaded onto physical cards. Before loading, Shen Sui could modify them.

At this moment, only six un-downloaded Soul Cards remained. Besides the three God Cards and Holy Relic Cards that couldn't be obtained due to insufficient Soul Card rank, there were also [Evil God's Eye], [Sok Fatis's Contract], and [Raise the Price].

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Card Name: [Raise the Price]

Category: Spell Card

Star Rating: 7 Stars

Effect: When your opponent pays Soul Points to use a Soul Card, you can reveal the top card of your deck, show it, and add it to your hand to activate this effect. Your opponent must pay an additional X Soul Points, otherwise the effect of the used Soul Card is negated and it is destroyed. If your opponent pays the additional cost due to this card's effect, the Star Rating of the Soul Card added to your hand due to this card's effect is reduced by X. (X is the Star Rating of the revealed card)

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After glancing at the effect of [Raise the Price], Shen Sui suddenly had an idea.

He had many storage boxes scattered across the continent. Besides a large number of skill books and equipment, they also contained various ores he had collected. Alice would definitely need to sell these things in the future.

So, could he take this opportunity to try and cultivate a "greedy merchant" persona for Alice?

Upon seeing [Raise the Price], Shen Sui had already thought of the effect: a greedy merchant Alice could increase the cost the opponent had to pay.

What Netherworld or not Netherworld?

Shen Sui was exploring the possibilities of Soul Card effects.

[Sok Fatis's Contract], on the other hand, was a Spell Card that could only summon Sok Fatis. It was temporarily useless to Shen Sui. However, the [Evil God's Eye] card gave Shen Sui a surprise.

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Card Name: [Evil God's Eye]

Category: Equip Spell Card

Star Rating: 9 Stars

Effect: Target one Follower on your opponent's field and equip this card to it. You gain control of the equipped Follower. When this card leaves the field, the equipped Follower is destroyed.

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Although it was just a simple and brutal "bull-headed" card, in Soul Card duels, this type of card was far more powerful than imagined.

This was because the concept of "tributing" in Soul Card duels was much easier to achieve than in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Yu-Gi-Oh required having a high-level monster in your hand to tribute monsters on the field.

In Soul Card duels, you could directly tribute Followers to exchange them for Soul Points.

Taking control of your opponent's powerful Follower and then tributing it to exchange for your own cost was a form of "cheating in front of the husband."

After looking at the cards, Shen Sui quickly switched back to the main page.

At this moment, Alice had just entered Anlud City.

[Alice entered Anlud City, but she always felt a sense of unease.]

Anlud City was a typical mountain city. Looking up from the city gate, buildings rose directly along the mountainside. The architectural style of this city was a very uniform red roof and white exterior wall style, forming a red and white landscape before Alice's eyes.

[Alice decided to first go to Anlud's underground sewage system to find Claude's treasure chest.]

[However, Anlud's underground sewage system was under maintenance.]

Such a coincidence?

[Alice didn't believe it, and she became more suspicious of the Thunder Church here.]

[You used Divine Probe on Anlud City.]

[You detected the divinity of the Lord of Thunder and Sok Fatis.]

[Alice began purchasing materials in Anlud City according to your recipe.]

[Looking up at the Anlud Thunder Church located on the mountaintop, Alice felt a sense of indifference, a high and mighty indifference that disregarded the lives of the lower class.]

[Thinking of this, Alice finally understood what the unease in her heart was.]

[The city gates of Anlud City actually didn't have nobles collecting entrance fees.]

[This is unreasonable. Alice made this judgment based on her personal experience. The nobles in these small cities would not give up any income.]

[Alice began to explore Anlud.]

[In Anlud, all shops opened by nobles were closed.]

[The nobles seemed to have disappeared from Anlud City.]

Seeing this, even Shen Sui, slow as he was, saw the problem. Could it be that the ritual to summon the Evil God was nearing its end, and all that was needed was the item in Alice's hand to complete the final puzzle?

Considering the time, if the Thunder Knights transporting the Evil God's Eye and the contract followed their normal plan, they would indeed arrive at Anlud City around this time.

[Alice guessed that the Evil God's ritual had begun.]

[Her plan needed to accelerate.]

[Alice began to move through Anlud City, following your method.]

[Under your guidance, Alice began to set up a magic array.]

[She planted a long sword at the city gate.]

[She placed a kettle in the well.]

[She hung a pocket watch on the clock tower.]

[She handed a bowl of rice to a beggar by the roadside.]

[...]

[Alice ran around all day, but seemed to be doing some inexplicable things.]

[But she still carried them out resolutely, believing that your method would surely save Anlud City from destruction.]

[At night, under the cover of darkness, Alice sneaked to the summit of Mount Anlud, the highest point in the city.]

[Looking up at the stars in the sky, Alice clasped her hands together, closed her eyes tightly, and recited the incantation you taught her:]

[Stars above, night as witness, may I bear the hardships of this world with my body.]

[Alice put on a sapphire necklace.]

[The moment the necklace was put on, a mysterious power surged into the sapphire. Immediately after, before Alice's eyes, silver lines threaded through Anlud City. They followed the path Alice had walked during the day, connecting the people Alice had interacted with and the items she had placed. Finally, a massive magic array, encompassing the entire Anlud City, appeared before Alice's eyes. And all of this was silent and invisible to others.]

[Ding! You have obtained a permanent spell card: Twilight Saintess's Protection]

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Card Name: [Twilight Saintess's Protection]

Category: Permanent Spell Card

Star Rating: 10 Stars

Effect: As long as this card is on the field, when a follower on your field is attacked or affected by an opponent's card effect, you must activate this effect. Negate that attack or card effect, then you take 1000 points of damage.

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Next, it was time to create the sacrifice for Sok Fatis.

Shen Sui's mouth curved upwards. Whether I can replenish a large number of follower cards at once depends on you, Alice.