After modifying so many cards, Shen Sui had more or less figured out the pattern behind altering card effects.
Cards obtained from the Soul Card World could not have their star ratings changed, and a star rating represented the strength of effects it could contain. If he wanted a card with stronger effects at the same star rating, Shen Sui had to bear some kind of cost himself.
But what kind of cost looked the most severe while actually having less impact on the outcome of a duel than it appeared to?
Several entries immediately flashed through Shen Sui's mind.
Pay Half of Life Points, Pay All Soul Points, Discard All Hand Cards.
Pay Half of Life Points—if he paid half every time, then it was practically no cost at all.
Pay All Soul Points—so long as he had already played every card he wanted to use, paying all his Soul Points was not unacceptable. He could even pull off something like activating a 15-star Life Card with 1 Soul Point.
Discard All Hand Cards was more situational. For an ordinary deck, such a cost was quite steep, but for a graveyard-stacking deck, this entry was simply incredible!
Shen Sui first changed the number of targets for Multi-Chain Berserk Fireball Spell from five to three. That way, he could give this 2-star card more possibilities, then followed his previous experience and added the three entries above.
After completing the modification, the Duel Instrument briefly froze. It seemed that this operation had exceeded the program's computational capacity, and it could not determine whether this card's effects exceeded its 2-star rating.
Fortunately, after quite some time, the Duel Instrument finally resumed normal operation. His card had succeeded, naturally!
Card Name: Multi-Chain Berserk Fireball Spell Category: Spell Card Star Rating: 2 Stars Effect: Randomly select up to 3 followers on the field as targets and activate. Their Spirit Value decreases by 500, and followers whose Spirit Value falls to 0 are destroyed. After that, you may choose to execute one of the following effects once per turn, then activate this card's effect again: ① Pay Half of Life Points; ② Pay All Soul Points; ③ Discard All Hand Cards.
Perfect! This gave me a Spell Card with at least a little field-clearing ability. It was somewhat weak, but it was only 2 stars. It should be enough for the Duel Exam.
Combined with Lightning Strike, Crushing Blow Targeting the Groin, and Arson, Shen Sui basically had the ability to create practical opportunities for Alice's Infinite Death Chain.
Besides, their Alice had a second form.
In Soul Card Duels, form transformation was exclusive to Soul Cards.
As Soul Card Followers grew, they would certainly acquire many forms corresponding to their states and professions at different stages. Under the rules of Soul Card Duels, one could pay the cost for a corresponding form to transform a Soul Card Follower on the field into a form of the appropriate star rating. One could also directly pay the corresponding cost to summon that form of the Soul Card from hand.
Not long ago, Alice had obtained her second form in Pa Yin Jia City: Novice Magician Alice.
A 2-star Life Card, and Alice was a magician with little inheritance to begin with, so it naturally could not have been a form with any notable effects. But who told her that Shen Sui was her guide?
Shen Sui quickly gave Novice Magician Alice an entirely new appearance.
Looking at the second-form Alice in his hand, Shen Sui saw the beautiful blonde girl riding a little white horse amid the blazing flames of Zelai Mansion. She held down the magician's hat on her head, an excited smile on her lips. Firelight reflected in her pale blue eyes, lending her a touch of wicked charm.
Card Name: Novice Magician Alice (Form Transformation) Category: Follower Card Star Rating: 2 Stars Effect: ① When this follower enters the field through form transformation, you may choose one Spell Card from your deck and add it to your hand. When this follower leaves the field due to form transformation, you may choose and destroy one Life Card on your opponent's field; ② Once per turn, when this follower is destroyed by battle or effect and enters the graveyard, you may pay half your Life Points to Special Summon this follower to the field. Then, its form transforms into Magic Apprentice Alice. Spirit Value: 600
Shen Sui had actually intended to use this card together with Friendly Fire. Friendly Fire's effect was to destroy one follower on his own field, then activate a Spell Card from the graveyard or deck. It was originally a one-for-one trade, but with Alice's second form, Shen Sui could gain much more.
Furthermore, when modifying effects in the future, Shen Sui could treat the entry of destroying one follower on his own field as an entry leaning toward a positive effect.
After finishing all this, Shen Sui turned his attention back to the Duel Instrument that was still running.
He had already experienced Alice's knack for causing trouble, so he did not dare relax in the slightest while printing cards.
Opening the homepage and seeing no conspicuous alerts, Shen Sui let out a small sigh of relief. It seemed Alice could be quiet after all. Shen Sui quickly browsed through Alice's experiences during this period.
Time did not flow at the same rate in the real world and the Soul Card World. Time passed much faster in the Soul Card World, and Shen Sui could often review five or six days of Alice's activities in a single day. This also allowed a Soul Card Master's guidance to receive timely feedback.
Miss Oshana Price thanked Alice for saving her.
Alice held a barbecue and entertained the beautiful noblewoman.
Oshana grew fond of barbecue and developed a favorable impression of Alice.
"Damn! What kind of fantasy novel protagonist barbecue harem-building technique is this?" Shen Sui could not help complaining when he saw this entry, but the next line on the Duel Instrument immediately made him focus.
Alice asked Oshana about Clyde Modena.
Shen Sui had originally been half reclining on his bed, but he instantly sat upright upon seeing those words. He was also very curious about how, a thousand years later, the people of this game continent viewed Claude, the former Twilight Bishop. In this Twilight of the Gods route, Claude had actually been one of the rare good guys. He had not done the sort of things the Fourth Calamity would do, and had earnestly worked to rid the Dawn Continent of the threat of the gods. Moreover, in this main route, he had rarely avoided being a scumbag. After finishing this second playthrough, Vivian was the only female character he had pursued.
Vivian was my only sun!
Oshana fearfully recounted Claude's deeds.
Claude Modena, Twilight Bishop, the root of chaos in the Dawn Continent, had thrown the entire continent into turmoil for the sake of his own desires.
He had been debauched and indulgent, surrendering to his instincts.
He had once snatched the Empress of the Empire from the Empress's own wedding.
He had once defiled the goddess of nature beneath the statue of a goddess.
He had once violated a beautiful White Dragon in order to study the Dragon Race's bloodline.
He had once killed all the gods in order to please the Twilight Saintess.
.
Slander! Pure slander!
Shen Sui was so furious that he nearly jumped out of his skin.
His hand slammed fiercely against the ladder to the upper bunk, producing a series of loud bangs.
"Shen Sui, are you all right?" The dorm manager poked her head through the observation window in the door, looking slightly worried.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Shen Sui hurriedly smiled and reassured the dorm manager.
When he turned back to look at the Duel Instrument, his anger surged up again.
Damn it, who exactly was slandering him?!
Shen Sui was absolutely certain that he had not done such things in this playthrough!
What he hated most about playing games was doing the same thing twice.
He would never do again in this playthrough anything he had done in the previous one.
Before you continue