After a period of training, Most's rank had reached level 5. The distance to linking another card was no longer far. Although after evolving his Destiny Card to the green tier, Most's training speed had increased significantly, compared to those great families with abundant resources, that speed was still far behind.
Take Voga for example. His awakened Destiny Card was blue, not to mention he was the young master of the Maxwell family. Not long ago Voga had already reached level 10 and linked another blue card. His combat strength could be said to be the strongest among the younger generation of Star City. If nothing unexpected happened, Voga was destined to become the champion of the trial and be granted special admission into one of the prestigious universities of the Alliance.
Today was the day the trial examination was held. All the young students gathered around the plaza of Moonlight. The atmosphere was lively and tense. Everyone was excited, eagerly anticipating their first time entering a Space gates.
The Space gates of the trial was a D rank gate. This meant that the strongest monsters inside this gate were only Green Color rank. However this should not lead anyone to underestimate them. Unlike summoned beasts, these monsters possessed a certain level of autonomy and intelligence. If a Card Master was careless, their ending would most likely be death. All the students here were only Candidate Card Masters. Only after completing a Deck and becoming official Card Masters would they receive permission from the Alliance to participate in the exploration of wild space gates.
The old principal watched the groups of students chatting attentively with one another. A faint smile appeared on his face before he slowly shook his head. Youth was truly wonderful. They had no idea how cruel the wild space gates truly were. The old man straightened his robe and slowly stepped onto the podium.
"All students pay attention. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Melor, the principal of Moonlight High School."
The old man's voice echoed throughout the hall, drawing the attention of every student and teacher present.
"I will briefly explain the contents of this trial examination. First, the space gates used for this trial is a gate that has already been explored and had its Memory Core retrieved. The level of danger has been greatly reduced and it will soon disappear from the real world. According to spatial structure analysis and expert evaluation, this gate will exist for one week."
"Therefore the trial duration has been set by the organizers to five days. During that time the participating students will hunt and eliminate the remaining monsters inside the space gate. You may act alone or form teams as you wish, but I recommend cooperating in teams."
"A rank F monster is worth one point. A rank D monster is worth ten points. During the trial, if you discover any resources left behind that the exploration team failed to collect, you have the right to keep them. On the other hand, to ensure your safety, Moonlight has hired a D rank exploration team to supervise and provide emergency rescue if necessary. All you need to do is activate the distress signal integrated in your Memory Card."
"Alright. I have said everything that needs to be said. I wish you all a brilliant and successful trial."
…
Most slowly approached the space gate. He carried a small backpack filled with dry rations and essential supplies. Most did not plan to form a team. Everyone knew he had awakened a White Card. It would not be a good thing if others discovered that his card had evolved after such a short time. Most had too many secrets, and it was best not to let them be exposed.
The spatial gate rotated before him like a blurry whirlpool, emitting a faint green glow. If one looked closely, it was possible to see that behind the gate was a vast field of deep green grass. Most did not hesitate and stepped inside. His figure quickly vanished under the watchful gaze of a pair of sharp eyes nearby.
"Daring to go alone huh? Truly seeking death."
Voga sneered and shook his head in disdain. Most might possess the technique Link, but in Voga's eyes he was nothing more than an insect. No matter how strong he became he could never rival a Blue rank Card, not to mention Voga possessed two of them. The championship of this trial was already in his hands, though he hardly cared about the reward.
A flash of light appeared and Most emerged at a deserted location near the edge of a forest. His sudden arrival startled the nearby deer. They raised their heads and stared at him cautiously before quickly running deeper into the forest. Ordinary wild animals were not counted as monsters. Their bodies had not undergone the transformation of Memo. Killing them would only waste time and bring no benefit.
Most had enough dry rations for the next five days. There was no need for him to waste energy hunting. Walking to a nearby river, he filled a large bottle with water and began planning how to gather points.
The monster distribution inside spatial gates followed certain patterns. The closer one moved toward the Memory Core, the more numerous and powerful the monsters became. Since this was a D rank gate, its area would not be very large. If Most guessed correctly, the center of this space should be somewhere inside the forest ahead.
Following a narrow trail, Most ventured deeper inside. The deeper he went, the weaker the light became. The forest stretched endlessly like a dark green ocean, filled with towering ancient trees reaching toward the sky. The air was damp and silent. Gusts of wind rustled through the branches, causing them to sway aimlessly.
Along the way Most encountered a group of Goblins out hunting. There were three of them. The leader carried a small axe, while the other two dragged the corpse of an unfortunate deer. Most silently observed them from behind a small bush. He did not rush to attack but carefully assessed the situation.
Before level 50, the body of a Card Master was only slightly stronger than that of an ordinary human. Carelessness could easily lead to disastrous consequences. After all, monsters possessed intelligence. They could ignore summoned beasts and directly attack the Card Master.
"Two young Goblins and one adult."
Based on the color of their skin, Most could roughly judge the strength of the three Goblins before him. The two smaller ones dragging the deer had pale green skin, clearly weaker than the one in front. Their strength was only equivalent to rank F. The Goblin in front had rough dark green skin, equivalent to rank D.
A D rank monster possessed a Skill. If that Goblin used its skill on Most, he would surely die in a single blow. A faint light appeared in Most's palm as Sol silently appeared beside him.
After dragging the deer corpse for a while, the two smaller Goblins collapsed in exhaustion. Seizing the opportunity, Sol burst out from the bushes and unleashed a Heavy Strike that severed both of their heads. Their bodies crashed to the ground before quickly dissolving into particles of light that merged into Most's body.
The sudden attack startled the leader, but it quickly roared in anger. Gripping its battle axe tightly, the Goblin charged toward Sol to avenge its companions. It swung its axe wildly, each strike cutting through the air with a sharp whistle. But against the superior combat instinct of the Skeleton, all its attacks were easily evaded.
After a long exchange, the Goblin began to tire. At that moment Sol unleashed another Heavy Strike aimed at its throat. The sharp iron sword slid through flesh with deadly smoothness.
Pfft.
The Goblin collapsed in despair, its eyes gradually fading.
After everything ended, Most calmly stepped out from the bushes. The two Heavy Strikes had consumed more than half of his Memo energy. His face looked pale from the expenditure, yet a bright smile appeared on his lips.
"Ability 2. Sol's Memory."
Monsters defeated by Sol can be transformed into Consumable Cards. (Consumable cards are limited to Green rank.) (3 out of 10).
"Only ten cards can be stored?"
In Most's hand were three consumable cards representing the monsters Sol had just defeated. One green card and two white cards. Unlike normal cards, these three cards were covered in cracks across their surface. Most quietly used one of the white cards to test it.
Sss.
The card vanished, and immediately a skinny Goblin with pale skin appeared before him. Most gave it several basic commands such as jumping, running, and doing push ups. Surprisingly, even though he directly controlled the Goblin, it did not consume any of his Memo energy.
"This is a bug. This must be a bug."
Most then spent some time experimenting with the remaining two cards and reached several shocking conclusions. First, Consumable Cards did not affect his own Memo energy. Second, monsters summoned from Consumable Cards retained the same strength and abilities they had in life. Finally, if the monster did not suffer a fatal wound, it could exist for a maximum of five minutes.
"This is absolutely a divine skill."
Most breathed heavily. The limit of a Card Master was five cards. Unless they possessed special abilities, a Deck could only store five cards. Furthermore, summoning monsters depended greatly on the Memo reserves of the Card Master. Sol's ability could become Most's ultimate lifesaving card in the future. He could not imagine what his enemies would think when they saw him casually summon ten monsters at once.
"They will definitely feel despair."