New Cards!

Shadow Figure had no face or physical form, so there was no way to tell what it was feeling.

It didn't say anything else. Instead, it swung both blades and flew toward Wu Ziyang.

Wu Ziyang didn't waste words either. He charged straight at it.

The two of them began fighting in the Otherworld.

Meanwhile, Lin Xia was struggling to hold his own.

He had tried several times to attack the Ghost-Light Lion.

But his attacks were no more effective than a tickle.

All he could do was dodge the Lion Pride's attacks while fending off Meng Bo.

At least the Lion Pride only fought at close range. They couldn't fire energy blasts, or else...

The next moment, Lin Xia seized his chance and caught Meng Bo as he lunged at him, hurling him away with all his strength.

Then Lin Xia dashed out of the Lion Pride and straight toward where Meng Bo had landed.

He planned to deal with this wild card first, then take on the Lion Pride.

After all, the LV5 monsters were hard for Lin Xia to deal with.

But an Awakener of the same level was much easier.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!"

Straddling Meng Bo's stomach, Lin Xia rained down punches on his head.

Meng Bo screamed again and again.

Seeing Meng Bo's health bar plummet, Lin Xia pressed his advantage and fired an Energy Bullet at near point-blank range.

When the dust settled, Meng Bo was barely alive.

Lin Xia formed another Energy Bullet, ready to finish him off.

But even though Meng Bo had long expected to die, when the moment finally came, he still tremblingly raised a hand. His eyes were panicked and pleading. "Don't... don't kill me. Please... please!"

Lin Xia ignored his plea, as if he hadn't heard him, and kept forming the Energy Bullet.

"If you kill me, my dad will never let you get away with it!"

When begging didn't work, Meng Bo started threatening him. "Let me go, and I won't say a word about this when we get out!"

"Heh. You think I'd believe that?"

Lin Xia sneered. He wasn't stupid enough to let the man go and invite revenge.

Better to kill him in the chaos and blame it on the monsters.

The moment the thought crossed Lin Xia's mind, a notification appeared before him:

[Vegeta's favorability +15%!]

[Current favorability: 85%!]

"Looks like Vegeta approves of what I did!"

Lin Xia's lips curled into an unconscious smile.

Seeing him suddenly smile, Meng Bo thought he'd changed his mind. He asked excitedly, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing."

Lin Xia's smile vanished. He coldly fired the Energy Bullet in his hand.

"Boom!"

After a dull thud, Meng Bo stopped breathing. His eyes remained open in death.

Almost at the same time, another notification appeared before Lin Xia:

[Buou character Card cooldown complete!]

"Great!"

Lin Xia felt as if all his hardship had finally paid off, and everything was starting to go his way.

He quickly pulled out the Card. Seeing Buou's goofy smile on the card face, now restored to full color, he summoned him without hesitation.

"Woo-hoo!"

Buou appeared before him with his hands on his hips.

Lin Xia had no time for small talk. He immediately gave Buou an order: turn Meng Bo's corpse into chocolate.

Buou nodded and prepared to fire a beam.

Lin Xia could already feel his fatigue about to vanish, his stamina and condition about to return to full strength!

But just as Buou was about to fire, Lin Xia's expression changed. He hurriedly stopped him.

Then Lin Xia turned and ordered Buou to attack the approaching Lion Pride.

"Woo-hoo!"

Buou charged forward.

But with only [1 Strength], his damage was limited. He was hardly any better than Lin Xia.

Before long, he was on the back foot.

Fortunately, Buou had high defense, so he wasn't killed.

Lin Xia had just come up with a new plan.

He recalled the moment Buou had self-destructed on the school field.

That had only been the lower limit of Buou's ultimate move!

But what was its upper limit?

Could it instantly kill level-five monsters?

That was why Lin Xia had stopped Buou from using Chocolateification, so he wouldn't waste energy and weaken the explosion.

The self-destruct skill was a one-time move. Once used, Buou would soon go on cooldown and couldn't be summoned again for a while.

But there was no other choice now.

"Hey, buddy, blow them all away!"

Lin Xia spoke casually, but he ran without hesitation.

He couldn't get caught in the blast. Whether the monsters died or not, he'd be dead for sure!

"Hold them off for a bit. Self-destruct once I'm out of range!"

Lin Xia reminded him again and quickened his pace.

Buou watched Lin Xia's back as he ran farther away and nodded. But the moment he turned around, a lion pounced on his face.

Then the rest of the lions piled on.

Before long, the Lion Pride had completely covered Buou.

The monsters seemed to love the meat on him so much that they gave up chasing Lin Xia altogether.

"Zzz..."

A brightening pink glow began to shine beneath the Lion Pride, as if they were charging up for something.

By then, Lin Xia had reached the edge of the dungeon.

An invisible barrier stopped him from going any farther.

"Boom—!"

The moment Lin Xia stopped, a deafening explosion rang out behind him!

A visible shockwave of immense energy surged toward him like a tsunami!

[Ghost-Light Lion killed, experience +100!]

[Ghost-Light Lion killed, experience +100!]

Countless notifications popped up before Lin Xia like a bugged system!

"Cough, cough..."

As the dust settled, Lin Xia emerged, covering his nose.

He stared in disbelief at the ruins before him. It was hard to imagine this had once been a forest.

"Strange..."

"Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

Lin Xia still felt as if a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness was watching him, even though the place had been reduced to ruins.

Even more shocking was that Buou, with only [1 Strength], had instantly killed the level-five Lion Pride?!

"Is this your upper limit, or..."

Lin Xia swallowed. "Or is that not even close to it?!"

[Level up!]

[Level increased to LV5!]

"I'm level five?!"

Lin Xia grinned in disbelief. If he hadn't been holding himself back, he would have been jumping around like he'd won the lottery!

[New Card unlocked: Tien Shinhan!]

[Tien Shinhan (A-rank): A martial artist with three eyes, equipped with the ultimate move Ki Blast Cannon (A-rank)!]

"Tien Shinhan?!"

Lin Xia knew this guy inside and out. In the original manga, he'd been a powerful boss in the early story.

His Ki Blast Cannon had a long wind-up, but its power was tremendous!

Lin Xia picked up the purple Card floating in the air.

Looking at Tien Shinhan in his green robe on the card face, Lin Xia couldn't help grinning.

In this world, Awakeners had a chance to obtain a skill or Card after leveling up.

Lin Xia was a little disappointed that the Card he'd received was only A-rank.

It was far inferior to SSR, SR, and S-rank Cards.

But just then, the system's voice rang out:

[Congratulations, host, on obtaining a new Card!]

[The Card's rank is very low, but its ultimate move is exceptionally powerful!]

[Would you like to dismantle the Card to learn Tien Shinhan's ultimate move, Ki Blast Cannon, and evolve it into the SSR-rank Neo Tri-Beam?]