Card Making: My Card Game Starts with the White Dragon

Zhou Hao looked at the hastily drawn map and asked, "So, this might be a map of the interior of the [Sun and Moon Island] secret realm?"

Principal Zhu pondered for a moment and said, "Yes, and since you've already secured a spot in the Mountain and Sea Class, it's fine to tell you. No one has ever entered this [Sun and Moon Island] secret realm before."

"So, the school sent the students from the Mountain and Sea Class to explore a completely unknown secret realm?"

Zhou Hao was stunned. What was the difference between this and making new recruits scouts?

These are all outstanding members of the next generation of card masters in Shanhai City. Is the Card Master Association trying to undermine its own foundation by doing this?

Principal Zhu seemed to have noticed Zhou Hao's question and quickly explained:

"Although no one has ever entered the [Sun and Moon Island] secret realm, the Card Master Association has determined that the danger level of this secret realm is very low."

The main reason for not going in is that this secret realm is extremely sensitive to fluctuations in mental energy.

Even the mental fluctuations of a high-level card maker would cause it to repel; if it were to force its way in, it could very likely cause the secret realm to disappear.

Therefore, after evaluation, the Card Master Association and the school determined that the benefits of exploring this [Sun and Moon Island] secret realm outweighed its dangers.

Zhou Hao understood. Essentially, a newbie dungeon with a level cap and generous rewards had been discovered in Shanhai City, serving as a reward dungeon for the members of the Shanhai class.

"Moreover, when we discovered this secret realm, it was already very unstable. Even if no one went in to explore it, it would probably disappear within two months at most."

Principal Zhu stood up, added some tea leaves to his cup, and continued:

"Therefore, the school and the Card Master Association have decided to take a risk and let the strongest of your freshmen take on this piece of the pie, which will also accelerate your growth."

As he spoke, Principal Zhu patted Zhou Hao on the shoulder and said earnestly, "I've lived for over a hundred years, and the peaceful and prosperous years of the Chinese people have only been these last few decades."

This stability won't last forever, but we old folks will hold on for as long as possible.

"You young people, just stride forward and forge a future for Shanhai City; leave the rest to us."

Zhou Hao was somewhat moved; he saw a deep expectation in the eyes of the centenarian.

He had only seen that kind of expectation in his father's eyes in his previous life, but it seemed a little different.

On the way back, Zhou Hao also asked Zhang Shan a lot of questions about the [Field Card], and also learned about the background and consequences of Tiger Vanguard's advancement.

"So, Brother Zhang, you mean your Tiger Vanguard leveled up by killing enemies while practicing with your sword, but this advancement was due to something called [Mountain Lord's True Intent]?"

Zhang Shan laughed and said, "Yes, I only found out afterward. If you hadn't broken that knife, I don't know when my [Tiger Vanguard] would have advanced."

"So, in the end, you couldn't retrieve the cards because that wisp of the Mountain Lord's true intent was causing trouble?"

Zhang Shan nodded: "Probably. Later, Old Man Zhu told me that this situation would occur if you forcibly put away the cards when advancing to the next level."

Moreover, [Raging Wind Tiger Lord] was, after all, a great demon at the half-step [Overlord Level] level, and it took [Tiger Vanguard] a long time to digest that wisp of residual true meaning.

"If it weren't for your Ao Lie's might, it would probably have dragged on even longer."

As he spoke, Zhang Shan seemed to remember something else and reminded him, "And also, Hao Shen..."

Zhou Hao couldn't stand his instructor calling him "God Hao" anymore: "Stop, Brother Zhang, you can just call me Zhou Hao, or Brother Zhou, whatever you like."

They keep calling him "God Hao" all the time; who can stand such excessive praise?

Zhang Shan smiled and said, "Alright, Brother Zhou, what I was trying to say was that if you're going to make cards next, you should prioritize making field cards."

Zhou Hao became interested upon hearing this: "Why? Aren't the field cards involved more materials and more difficult to obtain?"

Zhang Shan straightened his back, cleared his throat, and seemed to have finally found his footing as a teacher:

"Because the field card can greatly stabilize the mental space."

A sufficiently stable mental space is equivalent to an increase in your health when encountering material card phantoms.

Even if your mental strength is insufficient at that time, you will still have a high margin for error, and you might even be able to wear down those material card phantoms.

Zhou Hao hadn't expected that the field card had such characteristics. He felt that there were many secrets in the process of card making, and it would indeed be more convenient to have a mentor to guide him.

……

It was already evening when Zhou Hao returned to his dormitory, and the cafeteria was already closed.

Having been hungry all day, Boss Zhou had no choice but to go downstairs and buy a bucket of instant noodles to eat while studying the brown paper map.

But after studying it for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out, and finally had no choice but to give up and start scrolling through his phone.

As soon as I opened the group chat, there were countless mentions and thanks, but the group announcement section had new content:

Military Training Main Mission 3 - [Freshman Competition]:

Each class will head to Duel Island at 10:00 AM tomorrow, led by their instructors, for pre-duel physical examinations, drawing lots, and group assignments.

Failure to arrive on time will be considered a forfeit of the duel, except for Zhou Hao, Xiao Huohuo, and Liu Adou.

If you continue to attack your opponent after they have conceded defeat and lost the ability to fight back, you will be judged to have lost.

The loser in this match will be placed in the loser's bracket.

Two rounds ago, the bottom fifty in the losers' bracket based on academic credits will be eliminated.

The losers can designate one person from the winners' group to challenge them at any time, or designate two people from the losers' group to challenge them.

Those who successfully challenge for the title in the loser's bracket will be promoted to the winner's bracket, while those who fail will be eliminated.

Those who successfully defend their title in the winners' bracket receive no reward, while those who fail to defend their title will fall into the losers' bracket.

After two rounds of this competition, there will be a ranking round, and there will be no more elimination rounds.

This battle will take place in the [Holographic Battlefield], using two random maps: land and sea.

In this duel, players are not allowed to maliciously attack the enemy card maker. The player who eliminates the enemy's cards first wins.

In this duel, apart from the [Turtle Breathing Technique] skill card provided by the school, no other skill cards may be used.

The use of auxiliary drugs such as [Mental Strength Enhancement Potion] and [Mental Strength Replenishment Potion] is prohibited in this battle.

Finally, I wish all students great success in their endeavors and continued prosperity in their martial arts endeavors.

After reading the announcement, Zhou Hao scrolled through the group chat history and found that most of the people were crying out that they were going to be eliminated.

Strangely, those who cried the loudest were all top performers in the academic competition, especially Zhao Lei and Zhang Yaoyang, who were the most excessive.

The two of them kept showing off their collection of emojis, which annoyed Zhang Shan so much that he banned them from speaking.

The rest were mostly meaningless ramblings from aquatic creatures.

Zhou Hao looked at it for a while and then lost interest in continuing to flip through it.

He received a lot of information today, and this information kept generating all sorts of thoughts in his mind:

"There are all sorts of ways to upgrade cards, and some of them are even antisocial or inhumane."

Such card makers are not only not a help, but a huge threat. How should the Card Makers Association deal with this?

"What kind of true meaning is incorporated during card creation? So, is Ao Lie's advancement also lacking something similar? And which path led to Ao Lie's upgrade this time?"

"And this freshman competition, wasn't it always held a semester after military training in previous years? Why is it being held during military training this year?"

Zhou Hao thought for a while and decided to go to sleep. These things can't be understood just by thinking.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Since I want to make great strides, I have to seize every opportunity to grow."

"The credit competition rewarded students with a large number of resource cards and merit points, so the freshman competition will probably offer some benefits as well. Let's try to get all the benefits from this freshman competition first!!"

……