Card Making: My Card Game Starts with the White Dragon

Principal Zhu's question really hit the nail on the head for Zhou Hao.

He currently has a wealth of material cards, including the purple material card [White Cow Flesh and Blood], the blue scene material cards [Abyss Shrimp Nest], and [Mysterious Mountain Crab Den].

Also coming soon are the purple material card [The Orphan of the Xiang Clan of Great Chu], the blue special material card [Heart Sea], and the purple scene material card [The Ruined Royal City of Fuxian], which comes from the same monster nest as [Heart Sea].

With just a few more materials, Zhou Hao could make three or four cards.

However, Zhou Hao was still somewhat worried about his weakened mental strength, especially since he had recently consumed a [Mental Strength Enhancement Potion].

Zhou Hao wasn't sure if drinking it again in a short time would cause any side effects.

Principal Zhu laughed and said, "It's because you've progressed so quickly that our school's theoretical courses seem to be a weakness."

He took a sip of tea and continued, "You must have just advanced to intermediate card maker yesterday, right?"

Zhou Hao nodded: "But I feel that apart from the increase in total mental strength, there haven't been any major changes in other aspects."

In terms of physical fitness and reflexes, the improvement is far less significant than when a card-making trainee advances to a junior card-making master.

Principal Zhu said, "The transition from a card-making trainee to a junior card maker is a breakthrough from 0 to 1, so there will naturally be a very noticeable difference."

However, the journey from junior card maker to senior card maker is simply a matter of accumulating experience.

The intermediate level is more like a milestone, signifying that your mental strength and mental capacity are sufficient to handle the creation of purple-level cards, but no qualitative change has occurred.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hao understood: "No wonder when I became an intermediate card maker, I only suddenly felt refreshed and then had no further reaction."

Principal Zhu continued, "That refreshing feeling is the key, even though your mental strength has not undergone a qualitative change."

However, advancing to the intermediate card maker level can stabilize the mental space and reactivate the resilience of mental power.

Zhang Shan added from the side, "It's not that complicated. Just think of mental power as that thing."

"Using it too much in a short period of time will cause it to become weak. Advancing to intermediate card maker is like taking a little blue pill... Ah!!"

Before Zhang Shan could finish speaking, Principal Zhu kicked him out of the window.

"Bang!!"

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground, accompanied by Zhang Shan's scream, echoed throughout the command island.

Zhou Hao was also somewhat embarrassed.

Zhang Shan's explanation wasn't wrong; the words were rough but the reasoning was sound, though the words were indeed a bit too rough.

Principal Zhu acted as if nothing had happened and continued chatting with Zhou Hao.

"Advancing to the intermediate level of card maker cannot cause a qualitative change in mental power, but it can indeed restore the strength of mental power."

Furthermore, a more stable mental space can reduce the threat posed by the phantoms of the material cards.

Furthermore, as far as I know, you probably traded some items with Ma Ling'er using the [Sea Crying Woman] lair's scene resource cards.

He knew that his entire battle was being monitored, unless whispered in his ear like Ma Ling'er did.

A normal conversation about a transaction couldn't be kept secret from the school, so Zhou Hao readily admitted it.

Principal Zhu laughed and said, "Good lad, you're quite capable! The Ma family's airship in Shenzhen set off yesterday."

However, a monster riot occurred when they passed through the S-rank secret realm [Mechanical City].

In addition, the sea monster riot in the [West Sea] secret realm of our city has not yet ended.

What used to be a three-day journey will probably take five days now, and the Shanhai City Truck Drivers Association will likely have to send someone to pick them up.

Zhou Hao knew that Da Shen City was far away from Shan Hai City and fraught with danger, so five days was actually a very short time.

But the key point is that the second phase of the military training, student-versus-student battles, will begin tomorrow.

Having solved the problem of mental exhaustion, Zhou Hao was still unable to create cards, which frustrated him.

Principal Zhu seemed to sense Zhou Hao's frustration and smiled:

"Don't worry, basically all the students have made new cards. Your problem of mental fatigue has been resolved. You can make cards as soon as the materials arrive in five days."

But the others haven't advanced to intermediate card maker yet; their mental energy will be weakened for at least another half a month. You're already much faster than them.

Seeing that Zhou Hao was still sullen, Principal Zhu continued, "Moreover, the combat strength of you, Xiao Huohuo, and Liu Adou is far ahead of others. There are very few people who can fight against you."

So, it was also to better test the abilities of the other students. Wasn't it because the three of you were given a bye for the first two days? What's there to worry about?

Zhou Hao knew that Principal Zhu was telling the truth.

He recalled his battle with Zhang Shan and finally couldn't help but ask about card advancement.

"Your cards are about to be upgraded? And there's more than one upgrade path? What a wonderful dilemma!"

Principal Zhu seemed to sense the flavor of Versailles.

Zhou Hao asked worriedly, "But what if the advancement path doesn't fit the card's role in my deck? That might affect our combat power."

Principal Zhu looked at him with a very strange expression:

"You're even more of a genius than I imagined. Most card makers' cards only have one progression path."

Some genius card makers may be able to create cards with two advancement paths.

The advancement paths for cards are not mutually exclusive, but rather can be stacked.

Zhou Hao asked in confusion, "Overlapping?"

"Yes, superimposed, or rather, activated."

When your card advances on a different path, it only means that that part of its traits has become stronger; it doesn't mean that other traits have disappeared.

If the upgrade conditions for that trait are met, the card will still upgrade and become stronger. In other words, the level cap for a blue card on an advancement path is ★★★★.

The level cap for blue cards on both advancement paths is ★★★★★★★★, but the ★★★★ rating won't be displayed on the panel.

Zhou Hao thought of the four advancement paths of [Ao Lie, the Third Prince of the Jade Dragon of the West Sea], and his heart burned with excitement:

"Wouldn't Ao Lie's potential be four times that of other cards of the same tier? That's way too overpowered."

Principal Zhu didn't press Zhou Hao about how many advancement paths his cards had, but simply said:

"Regarding card upgrades, each card and each advancement path is different, so it's difficult to generalize."

However, each card maker will combine the stories they added when creating the cards to figure out how to upgrade and advance them during the card's development process.

No one can do this for you; the card maker has to figure it out themselves.

Zhou Hao was still slowly processing this information, and at the same time, some daydreams began to form in his mind.

Just as he was thinking, Principal Zhu suddenly took out a yellowed piece of kraft paper from his storage card and handed it to him:

"I saw you sealed that strange [Undying Bull Demon] this afternoon, so I'll give this to you as well."

Zhou Hao opened the kraft paper and saw that it seemed to be a map, but it was drawn rather hastily and had many inexplicable marks.

Principal Zhu explained, "This [Undying Bull Demon] came from [Sun and Moon Island]. We captured it and its clan here for use as a trial."

This map was found on the body of the Undying Bull Demon.

……