The Source Card Continent

Legend had it that when the universe first came into being, all that existed was a churning, chaotic Sea of Source Cards.

The rules governing all things, the energy surging through heaven and earth, and the souls of living beings all existed in the form of cards engraved with mysterious patterns.

Thus, this world, woven together from countless cards, came to be known as the Source Card Continent.

In the central heartland of the Source Card Continent, four mighty nations occupied the four directions like lions, keeping one another in check.

The strongest among them was the Holy Empire, which held the core of the central plains.

The Holy Empire bordered the perpetually snowy Winter Kingdom to the north, the Lava Kingdom, where furnaces never went out, to the west, and the Hundred Beasts Kingdom, where beasts and spirits lived together, to the south. Only to the east lay a vast blue sea with no end in sight.

Let us slowly descend from high above, pass through the Lava Kingdom's endless Iron Ore Mountain Range, and finally come to rest on a small city at the border, surrounded by the walls of Stone Iron City.

Stone Iron City

Stone Iron City, Iron Anvil Duchy.

Today, Stone Iron City was even livelier than on a market day.

Pedestrians hurried along the streets, and vendors had packed up their stalls early. Everyone's gaze turned, as if by agreement, toward the tallest building in the city.

It was a furnace church built of red stone, its spire piercing the clouds. Runes symbolizing the God of Source Cards covered its walls, giving off a faint, warm glow.

"Great God of Source Cards! I beg you, please bless me with a powerful Natal Card!"

A long line stretched outside the furnace church, and people could be seen kneeling in prayer everywhere.

Some prostrated themselves, some hung upside down, and others threw themselves on the ground and rolled about. In short, everyone was the protagonist, yet everyone was also a supporting character.

At the back of this crowd, filled with awe and anxiety, a boy of about fifteen stood out.

He wore a short gray cloth shirt washed soft, and stood straight as a pine, his arms loosely folded across his chest. There was no trace of humble pleading in his dark eyes. Instead, he surveyed the scene with a somewhat casual air, as if the bustling ceremony before him had nothing to do with him.

"Son, son! Hurry up and get on your knees to beg the God of Source Cards! Stop standing there, it looks disrespectful!"

Lin Feng, who was kneeling in prayer beside him, poked Lin Qi's calf, trying to persuade him to clutch at the God of Source Cards' feet at the last minute too.

Lin Qi looked down at his father and thought his prayers were worse than useless.

Forget showing respect by prostrating himself—he couldn't even say a proper prayer. All he did was repeat, "I want a green card," and "I want a blue card."

How is that praying? You're just asking for stuff!

"If the God of Source Cards pays you any attention, my name isn't Lin Qi!"

Seeing that Lin Feng was still sticking his butt up in the air and sneaking peeks at a woman kneeling in front of him, Lin Qi promptly gave him a light kick.

Lin Feng jumped in fright and hurriedly buried his head even lower. He clenched his hands into fists against his chest and rattled off a jumble of words.

"God of Source Cards, bless us! Bless my son with a good card! Bless our family's business with prosperity! Bless... uh, bless the lady in front so the wind doesn't blow up her skirt!"

All that babbling gave Lin Qi a headache.

"Dad, get up already. All your fancy tricks are useless."

Lin Feng secretly raised his head and quickly glanced around. Only when he saw that no one was paying attention to him did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Then he put on a stern face and began lecturing his son.

"How is it useless? Your Uncle Wang's son next door is the same age as you. Didn't he awaken his Natal Card at twelve because he worshipped the God of Source Cards devoutly back then? He's almost a Two-Star Card Apprentice now!"

"You mean Wang Teng?"

The image of a cocky boy instinctively surfaced in Lin Qi's mind.

He curled his lip in disdain.

"Wang Teng hasn't managed to break through from Card Apprentice to Card Master in three years. I'd say he's probably a lost cause."

"You little brat, what kind of talk is that? If he works hard, he'll definitely become a Card Master before he's forty."

Although Lin Feng scolded him, there was no anger in his voice.

After all, his son was a genuine genius, and everyone in Stone Iron City recognized it.

At an age when other children couldn't even hold their pee, Lin Qi could already pee by himself.

When other children had only just learned to call for their parents, Lin Qi could already bargain with the neighbors. He even used his childhood cuteness to mooch food and drinks.

It could be said that Lin Qi was ten steps ahead in everything he did, even when it came to dating.

If that wasn't genius, what was?

His judgment was especially keen. When he was nine, he had insisted on persuading Lin Feng to quit his dangerous job with a mercenary group, spend all their savings on a small shop in town, and become a secondhand dealer, buying and reselling goods.

What did Lin Feng know about business? He couldn't even read the account books. He did everything exactly as Lin Qi told him.

Unexpectedly, the change of trade not only let them buy a house cheaply, but also earned the family more in a month than he had earned in half a year as a mercenary!

Now Lin Feng basically listened to his son on everything at home, big or small. The neighbors all joked that Lin Feng hadn't raised a son, but a living father.

Unfortunately.

Lin Qi was good at everything, except that he was fifteen and still hadn't sensed Source Power or awakened his Natal Card.

That was the only thing that worried Lin Feng.

Ignoring his father's muttering, Lin Qi quietly focused his mind inward.

Deep in his consciousness floated a pitch-black card, its patterns impossible to make out.

In truth, he was not a native of the Source Card Continent, but a "transmigrator" from Blue Star.

In his previous life, while acting as a simp, Lin Qi had seen a dog in a river. Wanting to show off in front of the young lady he liked, he had jumped in without a second thought.

As soon as he hit the water, he remembered that he couldn't swim.

More frustrating still, as Lin Qi drowned, he watched helplessly as the dog leisurely swam ashore with a bone in its mouth.

As it turned out, the dog hadn't fallen in at all. Its bone had fallen into the river, and it had jumped in to fetch it!

Lin Qi had lived a miserable life and died an even more miserable death.

When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived on the Source Card Continent, where cards reigned supreme, and become the son of an ordinary mercenary in Stone Iron City.

For the first few years after transmigrating, Lin Qi had kept hoping a cheat or system would show up. But after twelve years of living here, he hadn't sensed even the slightest special ability.

After that, he placed his only hope in the "Natal Card" everyone on the Source Card Continent had.

He had thought he would awaken his Natal Card at twelve, just like Wang Teng, but three years had passed without him sensing even a trace of Source Power.

Just as Lin Qi was beginning to doubt himself, he had finally, at the beginning of this month, suddenly sensed the Source Power flowing through his body.

Even more shocking, one day he had woken up to find a card in his mind!

But he didn't know whether it was a Natal Card.

According to the rules of the Furnace Kingdom, all children had to awaken their Natal Cards at the furnace church with the help of a Source Crystal. No one had ever awakened one on their own.

To find out the truth, and to see whether he could awaken a Natal Card through the Source Crystal, Lin Qi had brought his father to the awakening ceremony.

While Lin Qi was lost in thought, a gentle voice came from beside him.

"Young man, are you here with your dad while he awakens his Natal Card too? What a filial child!"

The speaker was a man of about fifty, dressed in cloth clothes washed pale. His face was weather-beaten, but he wore a simple, honest smile and looked very friendly.

Lin Qi froze for a moment, then quickly waved his hands.

"Uh, no, I'm the one awakening. My dad came with me."

The man paused at that, then laughed.

"Oh? So that's how it is! I saw your dad kneeling so devoutly just now and thought he was the one awakening!"

Lin Qi was a little confused.

"Sir, what do you mean? Can't you only awaken a Natal Card before you turn twenty? My dad's almost forty. Can he still awaken one?"

The man smiled and shook his head.

"Young man, you don't understand.

"As long as you can sense Source Power, you can awaken a Natal Card. Age doesn't matter.

"It's just that some people are embarrassed when they still haven't awakened by the time they're past twenty, so the church arranges a special awakening ceremony for the overaged on the fifteenth night of every month."

Lin Qi's expression changed. He clearly hadn't expected that.

"Then, sir, are you here to awaken too?"

The man shook his head. "No, I came with my dad!"

As he spoke, he pointed toward the front of the line.

"Look, that old man lying flat at the very front is my dad. He's eighty-seven this year. Yesterday he suddenly said he could sense Source Power and insisted on coming to awaken today. He said he couldn't wait another half a month for the overage ceremony!"

Following the man's finger, Lin Qi spotted a gray-haired old man lying on the ground.

The old man's hands were pressed firmly against the ground, and his head was almost buried in the dirt. Compared with the people around him, his devout prayer was practically at tryhard king level.

Lin Qi couldn't help turning to Lin Feng. "Dad, look how devoutly he's kneeling, then look at yourself."

Lin Feng followed his son's gaze. He froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up as though he had discovered a new world, and he muttered under his breath.

"So you can do that!"

He lay down on the ground and raised his head for a look. Sure enough, he could see up the woman's skirt more clearly.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and muttered to himself, You really do learn as long as you live! This little prayer trick is worth passing down from generation to generation.