Master of Trading Star Card Game

Chapter 16 – Shifu and His Apprentice

At the entrance of the Jupiter group instance, Xie Mingzhe joined the group. Chen Xiao directly gave him two seven-star cards at level 70, the [Storm Goddess] that could use tornadoes to attract mobs and the [Ice Goddess] which had crowd control by freezing the mobs.

It was the first time that Xie Mingzhe had received black seven-star cards. Being thrilled, he took the cards carefully and said, “Brother Chen, I’ll give them back to you after clearing the instance.”

“No, keep them. They are yours now.” Chen Xiao said without hesitation.

“Thanks, Brother Chen!” Was such a kind boss sent by God to help him? Being moved, Xie Mingzhe looked at Chen Xiao, only to find that he had entered the instance vigorously without caring about those two cards. Perhaps boosters had seen many seven-star cards.

In their team, except for the five boosters, Chen Xiao included, the other five IDs were all unfamiliar to Xie Mingzhe because their owners were ordinary players recruited by Chi Qing.

In the holographic games, players were not allowed to use multiple accounts at the same time. Since the number of boosters in a game studio was limited, when they were short on staff, the game studio would recruit some players in the world to help clear group instances. Luckily, each player in the instance would get an equal amount of materials, so there wouldn’t be any disputes over materials.

The Wood group instance was called Midnight Forest. As soon as they entered the instance, the mobs around them were alerted. Countless small Treants encircled them, attacking them with dark green vines under their feet.

Xie Mingzhe was careless and bound by the vines. Seeing the vines were about to climb up to his neck along his body, he backed up while struggling. However, the harder he struggled, the tighter the vines would be. His whole body was bound; he wanted to burn those vines.

At this moment, he was surrounded by a soft glow. Someone had used a card skill.

Xie Mingzhe felt that the vines had loosened and his feet could move. He jumped backwards immediately and turned his head, seeing Chi Qing walking towards him with a card that had a cleanse skill. Then Chi Qing warned him, “Mind your step. Although players won’t die in the game, they can be controlled.”

“Thanks.” Xie Mingzhe, who was saved, followed Chi Qing immediately.

“Xiao Pang, pull the vines on the north side first.” Chen Xiao directed.

“Got it!” Pang Yu released the [Rhinoceros]. The huge rhinoceros sprinted towards the vines and pulled away a great amount of vines while roaring. However, it was bound and wrapped up by the vines that were as dense as a group of snakes, then it was torn into pieces directly by the vines.

“…” Seeing that, Xie Mingzhe felt stunned. The Wood vines were so powerful that they killed the [Rhinoceros], whose HP was over 150,000, in an instant.

While being stunned, he heard Chen Xiao’s words, “Xiao Xie, freeze these vines.”

The vines perceived that they were cheated, turning around collectively and heading towards Xie Mingzhe and the others swiftly, as if they were conscious.

Xie Mingzhe hastened to summon the Storm Goddess, aiming at the vines and herding them together with a tornado, then he summoned the Ice Goddess, freezing the vines within its range with snowflakes falling from the sky. The frozen vines twined around each other and were covered with snow, which made them look like fried dough twists.

Chen Xiao looked in the direction of Xie Mingzhe and thought highly of him, saying, “Everyone, be quick.”

Others immediately followed Brother Chen to the forest, burning those Treant mobs. The flames soon burned the mobs into ashes.

After they beat the mobs, those vines tangled around them again. Pang Yu couldn’t help but complain, “There are vines everywhere in this instance blocking our way. These vines don’t drop any materials – they just disgust players. They are the most disgusting of all the Wood cards. I hate Wood instances…”

Xie Mingzhe shared the same feeling.

Everytime they stepped forward, the vines would tie them up… couldn’t the vines just let them complete the instance successfully?

After constantly being entangled by the vines, they finally beat the final vine BOSS. Xie Mingzhe asked, feeling a headache, “Will we continue?”

Chen Xiao said, “We will go to other instances requiring five players. We have to complete all the instances on Jupiter.”

Such instances were relatively simple to complete, not to mention that Brother Chen and the other members were very strong, so they quickly completed all the instances requiring five players.

After that, Xie Mingzhe deeply felt the power of Wood creatures – in addition to vines having high attack power, there were various seemingly beautiful flowers with illusions, blindness and other control effects; many flowers and grass could inflict negative statuses, such as poisoning, weakness, and confusion, on cards.

Wood cards were just one branch in the world of Star Card. Water, Fire, Earth, and Metal cards certainly had their own characteristics.

After successfully completing some Wood instances, Chen Xiao said, “Let’s disband first and go to bed early. We will go to other instances tomorrow.”

Xie Mingzhe nodded and looked at the time – eleven o’clock at night. Since the team was disbanded, Xie Mingzhe returned to his individual space to continue studying the cards.

***

At the same time, the Adjudication Club office.

Nie Yuandao, who had just returned to the club after dinner, looked at [Wu Song] that Huan Yue handed him, and frowned slightly.

His features were strongly defined and when his brows drew together in a frown, he looked rather harsh.

As a man in his thirties, he had an air of calm which indicated that he had experienced twists and turns. Perhaps because he stayed with beast cards such as wolves, tigers, and lions every day, he had a beast-like, penetrating gaze, which other people dared not meet.

Nie Yuandao also had a title of “Beastmaster” because he had an effect on the entire beast card pool. Before he played this game, the number of beast cards in the world of Star Card was small and their skills were relatively simple. Nie Yuandao perfected the beast card pool; his beast cards, such as tigers, leopards, wolves, and lions, were extremely powerful, and he had a unique style – using his beasts to beiseige the enemies.

Huan Yue didn’t dare to look at him; instead, he lowered his head and asked softly, “Legend Nie, what do you think of this card?”

Nie Yuandao handed the optical tablet to the person next to him, “Xiao Lan, have a look at this.”

The man sitting next to him was 22-year-old Shan Lan, who was also a well-known player in the league. His fans called him “Legend Lan”.

If Legend Nie’s eyes were so sharp that people dared not look at them, then Legend Lan was a very gentle man. When he smiled, his eyes curved into a crescent moon-like shape. He had a soft voice, fair complexion, and fine features. His equable temperament gave others the feeling of being fanned by a spring breeze.

As Nie Yuandao’s only apprentice, Shan Lan’s set of playing cards were all beast cards.

Nie Yuandao liked using critical strikes in close combat. His cards were all fierce beasts such as white tiger, male lion, black rhino, and wild wolf. Using beast cards to violently suppress enemies was Nie Yuandao’s style – simple and clear-cut. And he never talked nonsense in competitions.

But Legend Lan preferred air raids. He had beautiful card holograms, such as the crane, white haw, skylark, peacock, and the strongest air combat cards in the league – [Fire Phoenix] and [Ice-crystal Phoenix]. These were all made by him under the guidance of his Shifu.

Cooperating with each other well in air and land battles, they were highly competitive in doubles.

They lived together, and were inseparable, because Legend Lan deeply admired his Shifu. He was clingy, following behind his Shifu wherever the latter went to. To the staff of the Adjudication Club, Legend Lan, who was particularly fierce when competing with others in the game, was more like Nie Yuandao’s “little follower”.

After taking [Wu Song] from his Shifu, Shan Lan looked at the card data carefully and asked softly, “Where did President buy this card?”

Huan Yue said, “In the black market. I got it today by accident.”

Shan Lan analyzed, “The card maker did not take it to the auction to sell at a high price; instead, he sold it in the black market at a low price, which shows that this player does not know the value of the card and its market price. Maybe he did not see the official announcement, so he doesn’t know the instant death effect has been recently added to the database – is he a newbie who just started playing this game?

Huan Yue immediately replied, “Yes, according to Shuang Shuang, who bought the card, the card maker is a level 15 newbie named Uncle Chubby.”

“Uncle Chubby?” Shan Lan heard this strange name and looked back at Legend Nie, “What is Shifu going to do?”

Nie Yuandao kept silent for a moment, and then spoke, his voice low and calm, “At last season’s summary conference, Tang Muzhou suddenly proposed to add the instant death effect to the skill database. Do you know why I agreed with him at that time?”

Shan Lan seriously speculated, “Is it because many players in the league follow the example of Zheng Feng, to keep increasing the HP of their cards? They often make the cards’ HP higher than 150,000. If the trend continues, the game would become more and more boring.”

Nie Yuandao looked at his apprentice with praise and nodded, “In fact, Tang Muzhou did not propose that because of Zheng Feng. It’s quite reasonable for players using Earth cards to take the path of defensive counterattack, so it’s natural that Lao Zheng makes cards whose HP are high. And we have many ways to deal with him. But the problem is seeing that Lao Zheng’s cards can survive for a long time, many players imitated him, making cards with high HP.”

Having said that, there was a slight regret in his eyes, “Newcomers who have just entered the professional league in recent years only follow the trend and imitate the set of playing cards of their predecessors, but they have never had their own ideas. But in the fifth season, many genius players came to the fore, creating so many special styles.”

Shan Lan made his debut in the seventh season. While in the fifth season, he was only a little boy learning from his Shifu. Thinking about his past glory, he couldn’t help but yearn to go back to that period, “A large number of outstanding people appeared in the fifth season, including Tang Muzhou who improved the Wood set of cards; also Fang Yu and Qiao Xi, who created a completely new way of playing Water cards and the creators of the Ghost cards, Spell cards and the Witchcraft cards, etc. The creative ideas of today’s players are no match for that of the players’ ideas from that time.”

Nie Yuandao said distantly, “Some of the newbies want a quick victory, so they simulate and even copy other legends’ sets of playing cards directly, instead of creating their own original cards and playing styles. Tang Muzhou only wants to change the atmosphere of the league by putting forward the ‘instant death’ proposal. In recent years, the game has become increasingly boring and the league needs some new gifted players.”

Shan Lan said, “That’s why most experienced players supported Legend Tang during last season’s conference. Those who opposed Tang were newly raised players from the most recent two years, having no distinctive styles. They fear that if the instant death cards are allowed to be used in the game, they will have no idea of how to deal with the situation once their trump cards are killed. However, a professional player’s set of cards only provides a foundation for winning the game, he has to depend mostly on his reaction speed and adaptability. Shifu, you won’t be afraid of the instant death cards with your awareness.”

Nie Yuandao nodded, saying, “Yes. I’m interested in this card’s creator.”

Huan Yue, “…”

Who am I? Where am I? What should I say?

The two legends discussed this as if there were no one else present. Huan Yue felt that he was a useless person being shut out of the dialogue at that moment.

Luckily, Legend Lan was a thoughtful man, he noticed Huan Yue and changed the topic back, “President, my Shifu and I have been studying the instant death cards recently. Since Uncle Chubby can make instant death cards, his Inner Spirit is surely as high as ours.”

The database had a high requirement for the skills of an instant death card: they must conform to common sense and be related to the card itself. For example, insta-killing Tang Muzhou’s ‘trees’ by making a fish card casually was not allowed. This [Wu Song] was ingeniously designed because, theoretically speaking, if the man was strong enough, he could beat the tiger’s brains out.

Shan Lan appreciated the design of this card’s skills, looking at Nie Yuandao and saying, “Shifu, should we invite Uncle Chubby?”

Nie Yuandao stood up directly from the sofa, picking up his helmet and saying peacefully, “Uncle Chubby is absolutely a talent. Find him quickly, I want to meet him.”

Seeing that Nie Yuandao had turned around and was headed towards the game center, Shan Lan followed at once, saying, “Shifu, I’m going there too.”

Huan Yue followed the two legends, feeling worried and saying, “We’re looking for Uncle Chubby. We’ll find him as soon as possible!”

***

Xie Mingzhe, who was concentrating on studying cards in the game, had never expected that due to their extremely strange skills, his [Wu Song] and [Lin Daiyu] cards, with their tiger and plant instant death effects,  would get the attention of Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou, two big bosses in the star card league.

More importantly, the two legends had come to find him in person.