Rock-Shattering Vicious Rat
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Lin Qi spread out his cards one by one until they covered half of it.
"I've finished fusing all the cards I bought at the Ten Thousand Cards Pavilion this morning. Now I have two Skeleton Warrior cards, so I can try changing my Natal Card's aptitude."
On the Source Card Continent, changing a Natal Card's aptitude had always been as hard as ascending to the heavens.
Normally, only when a Card Master advanced from a two-star Card Apprentice to a three-star Card Master, with the help of various precious materials and a suitable path, was there a tiny chance for their Natal Card to undergo a transformation.
A case like Lin Qi's, where a mere one-star Card Apprentice had transformed a colorless Natal Card into a white one-star card, was extremely rare on the continent.
Lin Qi took a deep breath, placed the two two-star Skeleton Warrior Summoning Cards beside his Natal Card, the Skeleton Soldier, and concentrated on activating the Rule Card.
"Fusion."
A few seconds passed, but the vortex he had imagined did not appear. Instead, a cold message abruptly surfaced in his mind.
"The cards' star levels do not match and do not meet the fusion rules."
Lin Qi froze with his Natal Card in hand.
"What does that mean? I can't fuse cards across star levels?"
His Natal Card was one-star, while the Skeleton Warriors were two-star. Because their star levels differed, they couldn't be fused!
"Good thing I still have the ten one-star Skeleton Minion Cards I just bought. Their star levels match."
Lin Qi quickly composed himself, set the two two-star cards aside, and picked up a Skeleton Minion Card, placing it beside his Natal Card once more.
"Fusion!"
This time, a vortex appeared instantly, swallowing both the Natal Card and the Skeleton Minion Card.
Only a few seconds later, the vortex dissipated, and a brand-new card fell into Lin Qi's hand.
Summoning Card: Sword-Wielding Skeleton Warrior Star level: one-star Quality: green Skill 1: Fearless Charge. Grants a temporary boost to attack and speed. Skill 2: Basic Swordsmanship. Attack +10 Evaluation: A warrior who wields a sword and a comrade you can trust on the battlefield.
(A Natal Card's star level corresponds to its Card Master's level. Lin Qi was a one-star Card Apprentice, so no matter how his Natal Card's quality changed, its star level would remain one-star. If Lin Qi advanced to a two-star Card Apprentice, his Natal Card would also become two-star.)
"Hahahaha! Green quality! I finally did it!"
Lin Qi excitedly pumped his fist, and an even bolder idea immediately sprang to mind.
"Since I've reached green quality, why not try breaking through to blue quality in one go?"
He immediately picked up the two two-star Skeleton Warrior cards from the bed and placed them beside his newly fused green Natal Card.
"Fusion!"
Lin Qi stared intently at the vortex without blinking, hoping to see the light that signified blue quality. But when the vortex dissipated, the card that fell into his hand was still green. It had only gained a talent.
Summoning Card: Sword-Wielding Skeleton Star level: one-star Aptitude: green Talent: Brave Heart Skill 1: Fearless Charge. Grants a temporary boost to attack and speed. Skill 2: Basic Swordsmanship. Attack +10. Mastery of simple cleaving, slashing, and thrusting techniques. Evaluation: A Skeleton Warrior with exceptionally strong bones. His great strength has given him a fearless heart. (If skeletons have hearts...)
"Still green? Two two-star green cards weren't enough?"
Lin Qi frowned and, unwilling to give up, gathered all nine remaining one-star Skeleton Minion Cards and placed them beside his Natal Card in one pile.
"Fusion! I refuse to believe nine white cards and two green cards can't break through to blue!"
The vortex fused all the Skeleton Foot Soldiers into the card. This time, there was no problem with star levels preventing fusion.
"So that's how it works. Low-star cards can't be fused into higher-star cards, but high-star cards can absorb lower-star cards."
But once again, no blue light appeared inside the vortex.
Summoning Card: Sword-Wielding Skeleton Star level: one-star Quality: green Attribute: hardness +10 Talent: Brave Heart Skill 1: Fearless Charge. Grants a temporary boost to attack and speed. Skill 2: Basic Swordsmanship. Attack +15 Evaluation: A Skeleton Warrior with exceptionally strong bones. His great strength has given him a fearless heart, if skeletons have hearts.
"That's it?"
Holding the card, Lin Qi was utterly dumbfounded.
He had put in two green-quality cards and nine white-quality cards, eleven cards in total, yet he hadn't seen so much as a glimmer of blue light!
"Before, five white Skeleton Minion Cards could be fused into one green Skeleton Warrior card. When I fused four white cards, the result was still a one-star white card, but even its surface gave off a green glow. How come there's no sign of a breakthrough to blue after I put in so many cards this time?"
Lin Qi stared at the card, lost in thought.
"Could it be that advancing from green to blue quality takes more than five two-star green cards?"
Although he hadn't succeeded in raising his Natal Card to blue quality, Lin Qi wasn't discouraged. At least he had figured out the Rule Card's fusion rules.
He organized his thoughts.
"Fusing cards probably takes five cards of the same quality as a baseline. Fusing a blue card probably takes ten green cards. Then wouldn't fusing a purple card take at least ten blue cards? Maybe even more!"
Lin Qi was shocked.
A two-star green Skeleton Warrior card could sell for three thousand Ka'en.
Raising his Natal Card's aptitude to blue would cost him thirty thousand Ka'en.
Worst of all, when he wanted to raise its aptitude to purple later, wouldn't that mean...
"Thirty thousand times ten..."
"Three hundred thousand Ka'en!!"
Lin Qi swallowed and instinctively felt for the stored-value card in his pocket. There were only a little over seventy thousand Ka'en left on it.
What gave him an even greater headache was that the Ten Thousand Cards Pavilion simply didn't have that many Skeleton Foot Soldier cards for sale.
"Kane said before that Skeleton Minion Summoning Cards hardly ever sell. If I hadn't bought them, those twenty cards would still be gathering dust in the warehouse. There's no telling whether they'll be able to get more stock in the future."
"Without Skeleton Minion Cards, do I have to buy two-star green cards to fuse?"
A two-star Summoning Card cost at least three thousand Ka'en. Lin Qi could buy twenty if he emptied his coffers, but killing the goose that laid the golden eggs was clearly not something a businessman could do.
"No, I need to set aside half the Ka'en on the stored-value card to keep the shop running. Only the rest can go toward buying cards..."
Lin Qi steeled himself. "I'm only a few two-star cards short anyway. Tomorrow I'll buy six two-star cards and change its aptitude first. I'll still have twenty thousand left, enough to keep the card business running."
After putting away his Natal Card, Lin Qi took out two more stacks of cards.
Beast Taming Card: Gold-Digging Rat Star level: one-star Quality: white Skill: digging Card description: An ocher-colored rat card beast with a keen sense of smell and sharp foreclaws. It can help find and dig up metal ores buried at shallow depths. Evaluation: A rat with no combat power whatsoever, though it should taste good roasted. Magic card: Small Fireball Star level: one-star Quality: white Card description: Fires a fist-sized fireball powerful enough to ignite firewood or injure a small beast. It is the most basic single-target attack spell. Evaluation: The most basic fire-element magic card and a good companion for a one-star Card Apprentice.
"I'll fuse these cards first. Once I sell them, I can recoup some of my funds."
Lin Qi stretched. Fusing cards repeatedly had consumed a lot of Source Power, so he decided to rest for a while and continue once it had recovered.
An hour later, Lin Qi felt that the Source Power within him had fully recovered. He sat cross-legged again and picked up ten Gold-Digging Rat Beast Taming Cards.
"Fusion!"
The vortex swallowed all ten Gold-Digging Rat cards. This time, it glowed brighter than it had when he fused the skeleton cards. Fusing Beast Taming Cards seemed somewhat more complicated than fusing Summoning Cards.
A moment later, the vortex dissipated, and two Beast Taming Cards glowing green fell into Lin Qi's hand.
Beast Taming Card: Rock-Shattering Vicious Rat Star level: two-star Quality: green Attribute: penetration +3 Skill 1: Rock-Shattering Claw Strike. Concentrates Source Power in the foreclaws to deal heavy physical damage to an enemy. Can tear through ordinary armor. Skill 2: Rock Armor Skin. Consumes a small amount of Source Power to temporarily petrify the skin, greatly increasing physical defense for thirty seconds. Evaluation: A card beast evolved from a Gold-Digging Rat, with astonishing destructive power.
Looking at the rat beast on the card, which was as large as a hunting dog, and its sharp claws gleaming with a metallic sheen, Lin Qi thought even a Wind Chime Cat might not be able to beat it.
"A Wind Chime Cat sells for ten thousand Ka'en, so this Rock-Shattering Vicious Rat has to be worth at least that much!"
A one-star Gold-Digging Rat Beast Taming Card cost only three hundred and thirty Ka'en, a price that put it among the lowest-tier Beast Taming Cards.
After all, the Gold-Digging Rat's main use was helping miners extract ore. No one used them for combat.
Those ten Gold-Digging Rats had cost a total of three thousand three hundred Ka'en, but the two Rock-Shattering Vicious Rats they produced could bring in a return of at least twenty thousand Ka'en.
"Beast Taming Cards really are valuable."
Lin Qi grinned from ear to ear as he put away the Rock-Shattering Vicious Rat cards and picked up the ten Small Fireball magic cards, ready to continue fusing.
He couldn't wait to find out what kind of powerful card the magic cards would become after fusion.
Card trivia:
A detailed explanation of the relationship between card quality and star level.
Suppose a one-star white-quality Skeleton Foot Soldier had a base attack of 5.
Then a one-star green-quality Sword-Wielding Skeleton would have an attack of 10.
A two-star green-quality Sword-Wielding Skeleton would have an attack of 20. Adding one star doubled its strength.
But secondary cards were not subject to this restriction.
If a one-star Card Apprentice had a three-star blue secondary card, he could even trounce a two-star Card Apprentice with two white cards.
But this wasn't absolute. It also depended on the Card Master's familiarity and coordination with their cards. Some five-star Card Masters could defeat opponents with green-quality decks of the same level using only white-quality decks.
Although a one-star Card Apprentice could link a three-star secondary card, he absolutely could not link a four-star one.
Just as a baby could only drink one bowl of milk, even an exceptionally gifted giant baby could only drink two bowls, and absolutely could not drink five. Drinking too much would result in being stuffed to death.
The same principle applied to Card Masters.)