New Companion

Tang Muzhou was only twenty-three years old. The young man possessed a uniquely refined air; every gesture was elegant, like the gentlest prince from a comic. He was already handsome to begin with, and his smile was even more heartwarming. Meeting that smile made it easy for people to lower their guard.

However, only those who knew him understood—Tang Muzhou was not as mild-tempered as he appeared.

Beneath that graceful smile lay a ruthless, decisive fighting style and merciless attacks. He wielded wood-element plant cards with incredible mastery, especially his signature card, [Millennium Sacred Tree]. Its large-scale Death Strangulation had crushed the trump cards of countless professional players.

Smiling as he strangled his opponents with all manner of vines—on the arena, Tang Muzhou was undoubtedly the most terrifying wood-element player!

Author's Note: The five-element setup was meant to enrich the distinctive card decks in the later stages. Tang Muzhou was the strongest wood-element player, vine-and-tentacle bondage play—you know what I mean.

A gentle yet scheming top who could bind people with vines × an unbelievably powerful, wildly imaginative bottom.

Whenever Xie Mingzhe got so mischievous that he gave Tang Muzhou a headache, Tang Muzhou could tie him up with vines :)

New Companion

Inside the Misty Forest instance.

After the Boss died, it dropped a pile of loot: five Seven-Star wood-element fragments, as well as a complete four-star wood-element card, "Flower Demon."

Chen was in an excellent mood, and his voice carried a hint of laughter. "Not bad luck! We got fragments and a complete card on our first run."

Xie Mingzhe asked curiously, "Chen, is the drop rate for this Flower Demon card really low?"

Chen nodded. "Yeah, the drop rate for a complete card is under ten percent. Usually, it just drops Flower Demon fragments, and you have to synthesize it yourself."

As they chatted, Chi Qing suddenly said, "Chen, I just received a private message from the client. Besides the hundred Seven-Star wood-element fragments, he wants to add a hundred water-element ones and a hundred fire-element ones. If we can deliver within a week, the three orders together will be worth sixty-six thousand, paid in full at once."

Everyone was stunned.

Chen was the first to react, his tone full of surprise. "Which expert is this? He wants so many Evolution Fragments at once?"

Pang Yu guessed, "Is he trying to upgrade three Seven-Star Cards? Could a guild be buying them?"

Chi Qing shook her head. "It should be an individual buyer. When he posted the job at the Trading House, his ID was a string of gibberish. Obviously an alt account."

Sixty-six thousand gold coins—there was no way they could pass up such a huge order. Chen thought for a moment and said, "Take the order first. A-Qing, post a team recruitment notice. We'll run the group instance at nine tonight. Over the next two days, clear every material instance and collect all the fragments we can. If we're still short, we'll figure something else out."

"Can I help?" Xie Mingzhe asked. Like tagging along and making up the numbers? He was a very professional freeloader and definitely would not cause trouble.

Chen gave him a disdainful look. "Your level's too low. You can't enter a ten-man group instance. Go level up by yourself first, then come find me when you reach level thirty-five."

"Oh!" Xie Mingzhe had expected that answer. He waved goodbye to Chen, then hurried back to level up.

The moment he returned to his personal apartment, the system's voice sounded by his ear. "Welcome back! The wondrous Star Card World is vast. Would you like to follow me and learn about this world?"

System options: 1. I'm willing. 2. You have to be willing even if you aren't.

Xie Mingzhe: "..."

System, you're pretty cheeky! It seemed the game's copywriting genius was a joker too.

He selected the first option. The system's voice sounded light and cheerful. "Now, let me introduce you to the wondrous Star Card World! The planets in Star Card World fall into three categories. The first is [Functional Planets], the second is [Resource Planets], and the third is [Open Planets]. Please go to the stellar navigation cloud map and locate the four major functional planets."

Following the prompt, Xie Mingzhe walked over to the interstellar navigation map. Sure enough, among the vast cosmic map were four enormous planets—each as large as his head, impossible to miss.

As soon as he approached them, detailed text descriptions appeared.

The entire Gemini Star Domain was the residential area of the game, where every player's personal apartment was located. The Aquarius Star Domain was the commercial district, where auctions, shops, and stalls were all conducted. The Peacock Star Domain was the entertainment district, with a movie city, amusement park, food city, bar street, and other leisure venues. The Phoenix Star Domain was the competitive district, where all competition-related events were held.

The four major planets had different functions and could be accessed directly from one's personal space.

System voice: "Now that you understand the four functional planets, let's look at the resource planets—there are five resource planets in the game: Venus, Wood Planet, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn. Countless smaller planets orbit these resource planets, and they are all entrances to Star Card Phantom Realm instances. The five resource planets drop corresponding attribute cards, Evolution Fragments, enhancement materials, and more. If you want to make your cards stronger, you'll need to visit the resource planets often to obtain materials!"

System voice: "Star Card World also has two open planets, called White Egret Star and White Crane Star. White Egret Star is inhabited by illusion creatures of all kinds and levels. You can defeat them to gain experience and material rewards. White Crane Star has abundant natural mineral resources. You can gather Nebula Paper, Repair Stones, furniture lumber, and other game resources there."

System voice: "Introduction complete. Please proceed to White Egret Star to explore."

Xie Mingzhe teleported from the stellar map to White Egret Star.

This planet was equivalent to an open-world field zone in an online game. It was fully open, and players could freely PK whenever they encountered one another. Unlike instances, which gave players death protection, players could die in the wilderness and had to be especially careful. There were forests, deserts, and oceans, as well as swamps, grasslands, and snowy mountains. Countless exotic beasts and plants were scattered throughout these rich natural environments. To players, they were all ordinary monsters, and killing them granted experience.

Xie Mingzhe was still a level-five beginner, so the system thoughtfully brought him to a lakeside area filled with low-level monsters.

The moment he reached the lake, he saw a thin, petite girl in the distance being chased by several Stone Spirits. Her health was plummeting, and she stumbled with every step as she ran, shouting, "Help! Help!"