Translator: Star River from w.a.n.gmamaread
Proodreader: Rhith
Liu Jingxu was a scholarly player who was obsessed with card research. Usually he didn"t care about every big club"s gossip. Even if some big events had happened and were well known by everyone, he still gave a "what happened" face. In addition, he was also the one who always lurked in the group chat and never said anything. As long as things didn"t concern the Ghost h.e.l.l Club, he wouldn"t bother to think about it even if the outside world was turned upside down.
But at that moment he had to pay attention to the recent IDE card event——because the card [Sha Wujing] directly aimed at his whole demon card set!
What made the demon cards strong and powerful was that all demon cards were dual-shaped, which meant that they were unpredictable and it was hard to kill them instantly.
However, the appearance of [Sha Wujing] completely changed the situation. The skill, "Staff Quelling Demons", could trigger the instant death effect on demon cards no matter which shape it was in, human or demon. A master player just needed to summon Sha Wujing at the critical moment and instantly kill his key cards, such as fox demon and cat demon, then his game tempo would be entirely broken, and his control chain would be destroyed.
Liu Jingxu frowned, carefully observing the card, [Sha Wujing].
When seeing him being deep in meditation, Gui Sirui couldn"t resist asking, "Brother Xu, do you have any ideas to crack it?"
The Ghost h.e.l.l Club didn"t have professional card designers, and the superintendent of designing cards was Liu Jingxu. He was in charge of the card arrangement as well as the card pool setting every time there was a group race because of his comprehensive understanding of cards. The problem was that he was a typical slowpoke who always reacted slowly. He was suddenly lost in thought as if his spirit had already left him, and of course he didn"t listen to Xiao Gui at all.
Gui Sirui continued to call him, "Brother Xu? Can you hear me? h.e.l.lo?"
Liu Sirui kept thinking, bowing his head……
Gui Sirui helplessly looked at his Shifu who asked with a puzzled look, "I wonder how the skill, Cao Chong Weighing an Elephant, is going to work. How about this, you first upgrade the three cards to the maximum level, then we can try them in the Arena."
Gui Sirui wanted to test the actual effect of these cards too, so he called the president of the Ghost h.e.l.l Club right away in order to directly use the club"s materials to upgrade the cards.
The two people turned away and went to seat themselves in the training room. After putting on their helmets, they logged into the game.
At that time, Liu Jingxu finally regained consciousness, "I just thought of an idea……Wait. Where is everybody?"
He looked around, his face puzzled. Then he realized that Lao Zheng and Xiao Gui were not around. The president saw his bewildered face and didn"t know whether to laugh or cry, "Brother Xu, they went to the training room. The boss said he wanted to test the actual effect of those cards."
"Okay." Liu Jingxu responded briefly, then he immediately turned in order to follow their steps.
In the training room, Zheng Feng and Gui Sirui had just occupied an Arena in the Phoenix galaxy. As usual, the code was 7895.
Liu Jingxu logged into the game and found the two"s Arena in his buddy list, then he input the code to watch their game. At that time they had already started to battle, with Xiao Gui holding [Cao Chong] targeting his Shifu and Lao Zheng holding [Zhong Kui] targeting the ghost cards.
In the beginning, Xiao Gui randomly summoned a Hanged Ghost. Accordingly, Zheng Feng immediately applied [Zhong Kui]"s skill, Hunting Ghosts——Zhong Kui opened his Qiankun Bag and directly pushed Xiao Gui"s Hanged Ghost into the bag.
The spectator, Liu Jingxu gave a hint, "Try to kill Zhong Kui, and see if the ghost in the bag would be freed."
Gui Sirui happened to have the same idea, so he summoned a fierce ghost with the highest attack attribute. The fierce ghost landed a blow on Zhong Kui whose defence attribute was extremely low. Then Zhong Kui converted into a plume of smoke right away and eventually disappeared, taking the ghost in the bag with him.
The three people looked at each other, speechless.
After a moment, Liu Jingxu conjectured, "This character, Zhong Kui, designed by 月半 must be the envoy of the underworld. If he caught a ghost and got attacked, he would disappear with his quarry. This skill of hunting a ghost and imprisoning it is actually a derivative of the instant death effect."
After all, 月半 was famous for making IDE cards, so there was no reason that he would be merciful and release a sitting duck. Gui Sirui originally wasn"t expecting that he could get his ghost card back. However, it was really a b.u.mmer to see his ghost card being caught like this.
Zheng Feng frowned, "Now try [Cao Chong]."
[Cao Chong] at maximum level had low HP and Defence attributes as well as zero Attack, this kind of card obviously was the disposable strategy card.
The battle began again. Zheng Feng summoned his White Elephant which was a tremendous giant. The animal made its opponents tremble with fear. It was over three meters in height with four legs as thick as stone pillars, and the ground was shaken when it ran.
When seeing Shifu"s White Elephant appear, Gui Sirui immediately used [Cao Chong]"s "Weighing an Elephant" skill.
The boat model in the prodigy"s hand suddenly enlarged in proportion and got the whole White Elephant onto it. Their sizes matched perfectly and the poor giant animal was stuck on the boat, without even a tiny bit of extra s.p.a.ce left. The elephant couldn"t move nor release its skills. Then Cao Chong squatted down beside the boat and observed the mark of water level on the boat.
The three people, "………"
This is a serious game. Why do we need to confront a naughty kid? Hey! Kid, would you stop? Do you really think it is appropriate to weigh an elephant in an Arena?!
Zheng Feng almost laughed in exasperation when he saw this weird scene, "What was the card creator thinking? Letting a kid weigh my elephants with a boat???"
Liu Jingxu suggested, "Try to kill Cao Chong?"
Zheng Feng casually summoned a Golem. As expected, one Attack Damage was enough to kill Cao Chong as its defence attribute was impressively low.
——However, Cao Chong"s boat still existed, so did the elephant who was stuck on it.
Gui Sirui suddenly thought of a crucial point, "I remember that there is a sentence in the skill description of [Cao Chong]——until Cao Chong finishes his work, which means now his work hasn"t been done yet?"
Zheng Feng freaked out, "How long will this weighing stuff take?"
Liu Jingxu calmly said, "Your elephant is very heavy, so maybe he needs several hours."
Zheng Feng, "…………"
So when he plays the game in the future, the kid Cao Chong will use the boat to slowly weigh his elephant, and all he can do is to watch other players fiercely fighting. The authorities are so ridiculous. How could this evil card setting pa.s.s their examination?
The elephant couldn"t move or use skills in the boat. It was not the instant death effect since the elephant was still alive with full HP. But its function as a tank ceased. So what was the difference between being alive and being dead?
Liu Jingxu explained, "[Cao Chong]"s skill, Weighing an Elephant, is similar to [The Exile], which is to exile particular cards from the Arena and banning the cards" fight effect. This is a "one for one" strategy card which, I remember, the premier card designers of Pantheon once made."
Zheng Feng sighed, "I have to admit that this card creator is really awesome."
Liu Jingxu was very interested in this card creator, so he turned his head and asked, "President, have you got clear information of this creator?"
The president of the Ghost h.e.l.l Club was a man with a low-key att.i.tude who always did things secretly. He answered as soon as he heard the question, "My secret investigation is complete. 月半"s ID is Uncle Chubby. He is an original card designer who started his business in the black market. His game image is a chubby uncle who smiles warmly. As we all know, recently he opened a card store specializing in the IDE cards. So far we haven"t found his relationship with any other clubs."
Gui Sirui scratched his head, "Shifu, what do we do?"
Liu Jingxu said seriously, "This Uncle Chubby has undoubted talent as a card creator. Since he hasn"t cooperated with any clubs, we should try to attract him with the best conditions. Plus, I would love to exchange ideas about making cards with him."
The first thing that the research freak eagerly wanted to do when encountering a talented card creator was to communicate with him.
Zheng Feng was deep in thought, rubbing his chin. After a moment, he said, "You mentioned "the best conditions". You didn"t only refer to the salary, did you?"
Liu Jingxu nodded, "In my opinion, other clubs must have tried to sign him before and obviously their offers must be attractive too. Then why is he still a freelancer nowadays? The only solid explanation is that their conditions were not attractive enough to make him really think about this cooperation thing. If my guess is correct, the card copyright is the most important issue in his mind. It was inevitable that other clubs didn"t want to risk themselves to let him keep the copyright. Lao Zheng, it all depends on whether you have the guts to give him the copyright."
Zheng Feng was silent for a while, then he nodded determinedly, "I can delegate the copyright to him. However, in case he leaves with the cards or leaks our club"s confidential information someday, we need to add some restrictive clauses in the contract. What do you think?"
Liu Jingxu thought for a minute and said, "I think your idea makes sense. In that case he will enjoy the same treatment as the top card designers in the whole National Star Card League."
Gui Sirui asked worriedly, "Will he agree to be on board?"
Zheng Feng said, with a smile, "We"re giving him the best and the most attractive offer. I can"t figure out any reason for him to say no."
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