Card Making: My Card Game Starts with the White Dragon

The sun shines brightly, and the blue waves surge.

Zhou Hao drove the jet ski at high speed across the waves.

Feeling the push-back sensation from the fullness behind him, he struggled to suppress the restlessness within him.

Zhou Hao thought to himself, "It's a good thing I didn't choose to sit in the back, otherwise it might have been quite awkward."

Ma Ling'er, however, was focused on observing the environment of the sea and did not pay attention to the minor friction between the man and woman.

She had entered a secret realm and witnessed life and death when she was eight years old, so she took a much less serious view of these worldly ties.

The journey was long, so the two chatted idly.

Zhou Hao also gained a lot of information from it.

For example, the content of the second phase of military training is basically semi-public, and the battles will adopt a randomized mode of naval and land warfare.

For this very reason, many people choose to make up for their shortcomings in naval warfare when creating a second card, and Ma Ling'er is no exception.

For example, Xiao Huohuo from Class 2 and Liu Adou from Class 3 are rumored to have both killed [boss-level] monsters, which is why they are able to consistently rank in the top three.

It was also mentioned that Zhang Yaoyang, Xu Miaomiao, Zhao Lei, and others have greatly improved their strength and have already headed to the nearby red-area clearing zone, [The Abyss of Mad Sharks].

They also mentioned that the reason everyone was working so hard was because they heard that the bottom five students in the credit ranking would be directly cut off and have to return to school early.

Although this wealthy young woman from another city has an unapproachable appearance, she can be very talkative when she starts chatting.

Zhou Hao didn't find the journey boring at all, and before he knew it, he had arrived at his destination—the Howling Sea.

As the furthest red-controlled area from the dormitory, no students have set foot here yet.

Above the sea, fog lingered, and the surroundings were shrouded in a gray haze, with the outline of a colossal building faintly visible in the distance.

"That's the ship of the [Sea Crying Woman]. This ship itself is also a monster's lair, with many boss-level and elite-level monsters on board. Be careful."

Upon hearing the word "monster's lair," Zhou Hao instantly woke up; this thing was priceless.

"What if we take down this monster's lair as well?"

Ma Ling'er looked at Zhou Hao as if he were an idiot and said, "My God Hao, this is the lair of a leader-level sea monster, not a real estate development!"

It contains dozens of boss-level sea monsters, hundreds of elite-level sea monsters, and possibly more than one boss-level sea monster.

Once we've lured out the [Sea Crying Woman] and successfully sealed her away, we need to run away quickly. Do you still want to take over this monster's lair?

If you really have that ability, I'll buy it at market price, or I'll trade you another scene resource card.

That day, she only saw a huge sea monster causing a waterspout from afar on the mountain, without seeing the details clearly.

Therefore, she only knew that Zhou Hao was very strong in naval warfare, but she didn't know just how strong he was.

Zhou Hao smiled without saying a word, and followed Ma Ling'er's plan, putting away the motorboat and giving her a skill card for [Hidden Dragon in the Abyss/Avoiding Water].

The two jumped directly into the sea and made their way towards the giant ship.

"Your skill is truly amazing. It's exactly the same as being on land, and you even move more lightly."

Zhou Hao felt relieved: "It seems the core function hasn't been cut, but I wonder how long the skill lasts."

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"

Suddenly, the sound of water flowing through the stream interrupted Zhou Hao's thoughts.

One by one, barbed harpoons cleaved through the water and attacked from the front.

Just as Zhou Hao was about to summon Ao Lie, he saw a flash of blue light and the valiant [Hua Mulan], wielding a giant sword, stood in front of him.

It was still that same black greatsword; with a single sweep, it cut down all the attacking harpoons.

Looking up, they saw several half-human, half-fish sea monsters hiding among the rocks a hundred meters ahead, baring their teeth and roaring at Zhou Hao and his group.

These sea monsters were covered in seaweed, had fish scales on their bodies, and had shell armor on their heads and vital areas for protection.

Although it has a fish-like face, it is basically still human in shape.

"This should also be a sea monster that was recently transformed from a Grey Clan member, so it's not very strong."

"Leave these peripheral cannon fodder to Mulan. Save your mental energy for dealing with the Sea Crying Woman and the other leaders later."

Zhou Hao thought so too, so he gave [Hua Mulan] a Water Avoidance Skill card.

Under Ma Ling'er's instructions, the other party reached out and caught it, then crushed it. Instantly, a transparent film appeared on Mulan's body.

"As expected, there's no problem using cards to cast skills."

Zhou Hao felt relieved, and at the same time felt once again that the randomly obtained skill [Hidden Dragon in the Abyss/Avoiding Water Technique] was fantastic.

Ma Ling'er's tactical deployment was reasonable, and Zhou Hao had no objections. He also wanted to see the strength of [Hua Mulan].

Along the way, they encountered mostly the same half-human, half-fish sea monsters as before, only differing in height, weight, and the weapons they used.

There are ranged archers with harpoons, melee tanks with shields, and mid-range riflemen wielding long spears.

The troop types were quite complete, but none of them could survive a single round under Mulan's black greatsword.

Throughout this process, Mulan demonstrated remarkable versatility.

It has a full range of skills, including charging forward, ranged sword energy, and greatsword parrying.

Zhou Hao and Ma Ling'er felt much less pressure, and they chatted as they made their way towards the large ship.

"Goddess Ma, what are these 'gray people' you just mentioned?"

Ma Ling'er smiled and said, "Just call me Ling'er. The Greys are beings that are half-human and half-monster."

Although Zhou Hao had already guessed, he was still somewhat surprised to hear this answer: "Half-human, half-monster? Born from a combination of human and monster? Or a mutation?"

Ma Ling'er pondered for a moment, then her expression turned serious: "I don't know. The history of Blue Star is cut off. We can only try to reconstruct history by searching for traces in the old lands and various secret realms. This is not only inefficient, but also full of errors. Therefore, there is still no conclusion about the origin of the Greys."

Zhou Hao looked at the sea monster that had been beheaded by Mulan with a single sword strike and asked:

"So, their ancestors might have been humans? Or perhaps they were once humans?"

Ma Ling'er paused for a moment, then continued, "I don't know, but my father said that most of the monsters we are dealing with now are transformed from Grey Citizens."

Zhou Hao recalled the memory of [Aoshan Taro] that he saw when creating the Legion Card [Crab General], and he had no doubt about this.

As for any sudden outburst of maternal instinct, Zhou Hao wouldn't do that.

He always understood the principle that those who are not of his kind must have different hearts, and that his parents in his previous life had died at the hands of a sea monster.

Even if these things were once human, they stopped being human the moment they became Greys and monsters.

Furthermore, being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to oneself, so Zhou Hao had no psychological burden about killing these things.

He just felt that there was probably a huge secret hidden behind these things.

"What exactly are the Greys? Are they the offspring of monsters and humans? Or is there something that can transform people into Greys?"

If the vast majority of monsters are transformed from Grey Folk, then what about the monsters of the Old Lands?

Along the way, Zhou Hao was filled with a myriad of thoughts, and countless terrifying conspiracy theories flooded his mind.

When he looked up again, a huge, dark, dilapidated wooden ship came into view.

The ship, which had been floating on the surface of the sea, was now anchored on the seabed.

……