Card Making: My Card Game Starts with the White Dragon

Shanhai City.

The wind howled, dark clouds filled the sky, and rain poured down, enveloping the entire Ping'an residential area.

In the small, dimly lit room, Zhou Hao sat at his desk, staring at the computer screen with an expression of disbelief on his handsome face.

#Penguin Group founder Ma Huateng has reached the Grandmaster realm, creating the orange-quality card [King of Nanshan], and attaining the supernatural power [Nanshan Invincible]...#

#Island nation announces official launch of the "Eight Million Demon Gods" card development project...#

# [Lee Hyang-hak, the S15 World Championship winner from the Card Masters Association, is confirmed to miss S16; commentator Guan Zeyuan originally said this year would be his most promising year...]#

#Recently, due to the typhoon, a monster uprising has occurred in the [West Sea] secret realm. Residents along the coast are advised to reinforce their doors and windows and avoid going out as much as possible…#

"Did we really time travel?"

Zhou Hao was originally a popular science content creator on Bilibili (a Chinese video-sharing website), dedicated to explaining mythology for many years.

After finally getting nominated for a top 100 content creator award for a viral video, he stumbled upon a stroke of bad luck on his way to the awards ceremony.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the room right in front of me.

"I haven't left the house for a month, and the moment I stepped out, I stumbled into a time-travel incident?"

Although unwilling, Zhou Hao could only accept reality and then began to sort out the memories in his mind.

In my memory, this is a world called Blue Star.

This world has many similarities to Earth, but it is a world where cards reign supreme.

Initially, like Earth, Blue Star steadily progressed on the path of technology through the Industrial Revolution.

Until one day, a transcendent world called Old Earth descended from the sky.

The collision of the two worlds did not bring destruction, but instead formed a strange fusion.

From then on, all sorts of monsters, zombies, mummies, vampires, and even mechanical life forms appeared in the world.

They regard human flesh and blood as food and hunt and kill humans indiscriminately.

These monsters are born with extraordinary strength, and the technology that humans rely on for survival has little effect on them.

In an instant, humanity nearly went extinct, and even history was cut off.

Those were truly dark times, yet it is in the deepest darkness that dawn can be born.

A prodigy surnamed Ye accidentally wandered into the depths of the Old Land and created the first card in history, thus giving birth to the profession of card maker.

With this card, the man surnamed Ye annihilated tens of thousands of ancient creatures, and even gained extremely powerful strength himself.

From then on, the era of mass card production officially began, and countless cards appeared in the world.

In Zhou Hao's memory, card makers in this world, upon successfully creating a card, not only gain enhanced mental and physical abilities,

Furthermore, one can randomly draw an ability from this card, and even if it is only a weakened version, it is enough to give the card maker combat power far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Some card makers can even create cards that are more powerful than their own cards in the later stages of the game.

However, monsters are endless, and card makers are scarce.

Even today, the monsters of the Old Lands remain humanity's greatest enemy, and the combined territory of the five human nations is far smaller than that of the Old Lands.

Like the nine cities of Yanhuang, the ancient land is dotted with various secret realms, and the transportation network is inconvenient.

Apart from Beijing, the other nine cities are basically under a high degree of autonomy.

In order to gain more living space, every country is sparing no effort to train card makers.

Take the ancient Yanhuang Kingdom, where Zhou Hao is from, for example. Every year, the Card Master Association conducts selections for second-year high school students nationwide.

Only those who pass the selection process have the opportunity to enter a specialized card-making high school and embark on the path of becoming a card maker.

Zhou Hao's original self was a [card-making trainee] who successfully passed the selection and was about to enter the card-making high school.

(Card Maker Ranks: Trainee - Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced - Master - Grandmaster - King - Titled)

As Zhou Hao pondered this, his gaze fell upon the thick stacks of books in front of him:

Three years of card production, five years of simulation

Complete Encyclopedia of Old Soil Organisms

The Complete Edition of "The Myth of Yanhuang 2026"

Origin of marine life in the Old World

He casually flipped through the books and found that each book was filled with dense notes, with thick manuscripts tucked between them.

It's clear that the original owner worked very hard in card making, but hard work alone is far from enough to become a card maker.

Card making isn't something that can be created out of thin air. Card makers need to use auxiliary tools such as card-making materials, blank cards, drawing pens, and spiritual liquids.

Only after going through a complex process such as finalizing the real name, writing the story, and drawing the card can the idea in your mind be turned into a card.

For a card maker, mental strength, knowledge accumulation, logical thinking, and artistic skills are all indispensable.

With such stringent requirements, the number of card makers has remained low.

However, this profession is extremely important, therefore, card makers enjoy a very high social status and generous social benefits.

For the vast majority of people, becoming a card maker is the fastest way to achieve upward social mobility.

"So, I've now completed half of my upward social mobility?"

According to my memory, it was indeed only half.

At least half of those selected each year are disqualified because they failed to produce the first card at the start of the school year.

Even for these lucky, talented individuals, card making is no easy task.

In this era of historical disconnect and mythological dissipation, it may not be difficult to conjure up a logically coherent story with a believable background.

However, cards based on such stories often have limited power and lack potential.

Feedback to card makers is also minimal, and card production is often unsuccessful.

It can't compare to cards that are backed by real historical figures or myths.

This is unacceptable to card makers.

Most card makers would rather die in the depths of a secret realm while exploring the truth of history and mythology than haphazardly create cards and become a useless person who is weaker than others for life.

"Knowledge is power!!"

Thinking of this, Zhou Hao felt a surge of excitement.

It's hard to say about other things, but he understands mythology very well.

He has been a popular science content creator on mythology for several years, and his main area of ​​research is mythology.

He has been immersed in Chinese mythology, in particular, for many years.

Thinking of the [Flame Emperor] whose strange flames blazed across the heavens, and the [Barbaric Demon Lord] who could split mountains with a single punch,

Legends of numerous "titled card makers" flashed through Zhou Hao's mind, his eyes gleaming with boundless pride.

"With Chinese mythology as my guide, I am essentially in a never-ending treasure trove of knowledge, including the Great Sage, the True Lord, and the Third Prince!!"

I even have the chance to obtain legendary abilities like "72 Transformations," "Heaven and Earth Manifestations," and "Three Heads and Six Arms" through card crafting!!

What seems like an insurmountable knowledge barrier to an average card maker is completely nonexistent for me.

Zhou Hao seemed to see a vast road leading to the heavens slowly unfolding before him, and the position of [Title Card Maker] was within his grasp.

But Zhou Hao was not blinded by this excitement; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

He doesn't have his first card yet, and he's not a card maker.

If he fails to produce cards by the start of the school year, he will be expelled from the card-making high school and returned to a regular high school, thus ending his career as a card maker.

Zhou Hao began to ponder: "What kind of card should I make?"

Choosing a suitable subject for card production from the vast treasure trove of Chinese mythology within two days is not an easy task.

Suddenly, out of the corner of Zhou Hao's eye, he caught sight of an ordinary manuscript on the desk.

At first glance, it seemed insignificant, but upon closer inspection, it sent a shiver down Zhou Hao's spine.

In the upper left corner of the manuscript, a few words were scrawled:

【The Giant Serpent of Yanhuang】

……