My Card Beast Taming Game

We emerged from the secret realm around 6 PM, and since it was summer, the sun had not yet set.

It wasn't until Hua Ning escorted the two home that the sky in the distance began to turn slightly yellow.

He and Lu Qingning didn't chat; they each went home, washed up, and rested until they received a text message from the bank.

It's 9:30.

The whole village was quiet, with only the chirping of crickets.

Zhou Chen washed his face, wandered around the kitchen, and prepared to go out and get something to eat.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, he saw Lu Qingning sitting in front of her house eating watermelon not far away.

After changing into casual clothes, she returned to her beautiful self.

"Awake? Where's your chicken? I didn't hear it clucking." Lu Qingning picked up a piece of watermelon and handed it to her.

Zhou Chen took it and said, "I sent it to a pet store for boarding, it's 100 yuan a day."

"You're quite willing to do that."

Lu Qingning snorted and casually spat watermelon seeds into her palm, not paying much attention.

The two ate watermelon for a while, chatting idly.

After finishing her meal and washing her hands, Lu Qingning said, "Want to take a walk with me?"

"Ah."

Zhou Chen nodded.

The two walked along the village road into the fields and arrived once again at the wasteland where they had met on the day they reunited. In just ten days, there had been little change here.

There were only two people left.

Lu Qingning looked up, her eyes reflecting the starry sky. "I'm leaving tomorrow, with Hanbao."

"..."

Zhou Chen pursed his lips. "So fast?"

"Shen Du Academy only admits students for two months each year, from July to the end of August. It's the end of May now."

Lu Qingning paused for a moment, then said, "We chose special admissions."

Shen Du Yuan?

Isn't it Shanghai University?

Zhou Chen swallowed his doubts and asked another question, "What is special admissions?"

Lu Qingning calmly said, "The Youth Card Master Summer Camp is a special admissions program that requires a letter of recommendation to join."

In other words, it was exclusive to the major aristocratic families of the various Xia states.

Zhou Chen didn't harbor much resentment, only a sense of loss at the impending separation from Lu Qingning.

The two fell into a long silence.

A few minutes later.

He suddenly spoke, "Lu Qingning—"

"If you have anything to say, tell me when you get to Shintoin Temple."

Lu Qingning interrupted him directly, "If you didn't come, then there's no point in saying anything."

she left.

Regardless of what those words were, she wasn't going to listen to them anymore.

Zhou Chen stared at Lu Qingning's departing figure, standing there for a long time before finally rubbing his face.

"Three months..."

Can I become a junior card master in three months?

If White Ape can successfully obtain his exclusive weapon and advance his rank, he should have no problem getting into the top tier, let alone defeating all the heroes in the world.

Zhou Chen was stunned.

He suddenly realized that because of Lu Qingning's words, he had changed his original goal for Yuzhou Academy to Shendu Academy.

The difficulty level has increased several levels.

Zhou Chen walked home slowly, completely forgetting what he had originally planned to do when he left home.

He sat in the courtyard, his back to the pacing Captain Changming, contemplating his current situation, his future, and Lu Qingning.

There's nothing wrong with admitting it. How could a withdrawn and introverted boy not develop feelings for the pretty girl next door after she helped him so much?

Even with the game control panel at his fingertips and numerous buffs on the surface, such as being a commoner, an orphan, and a trainee card master, he was still extremely far from being a privileged young lady like Lu Qingning, who came from a distinguished family.

The Golden-Rank Spirit Card Captain Changming that he relied on was nothing compared to the behemoth that was the Shen family in Shanghai, and even less compared to his father, Chief Shen.

But my life has only just begun, hasn't it?

The game panel gave him what is equivalent to talent, and talent needs time to be honed before it can be gradually revealed.

It's time to put in the effort.

As long as he can continue to live peacefully in Zhuxia, one day he will be able to surpass Lu Qingning, surpass the Shen family of Shanghai, and surpass Chief Shen, who is known as the strongest Special Grade.

This future gradually became clear in his mind.

More importantly, Zhou Chen asked himself honestly, had he been happy these past few days?

Very happy.

It was Lu Qingning who showed him many things he had never seen before, helping him grow from a naive child.

Life used to be easy, but...

It was a bit boring after all.

After a long while, Zhou Chen stood up leisurely.

"alright."

It's time to give it our all.

Whether it's expanding one's network, earning money and gaining experience in secret realms, or even future prospects, Shen Du Academy is superior to Yu Zhou Academy.

Since Lu Qingning has already chosen that place, why doesn't he go and follow suit?

Being teammates with Sister Lu is definitely better than being with strangers.

Half an hour later, Zhou Chen went out again, but not to eat anything. Instead, he summoned Captain Changming to run a dungeon.

We need to hurry up and get the White Ape's exclusive weapon!

……

Perhaps it was a stroke of good fortune, or perhaps it was divine intervention.

On the twenty-first day since his first dungeon run, Zhou Chen stood before countless corpses of evil mountain demons, the long-awaited light flashing on the game panel before him.

Hidden rewards for the levels, including White Ape's exclusive weapon...

It finally appeared!

【Name: Wind and Thunder Blade (Spirit Item)】

[Basic Effect: Increases attack, speed, and critical hit damage]

[Special Effect: Changes the passive skill [Combo] to [Infinite Strike]]

"Infinite Strike: When an ally attacks an enemy, a mark is added. Each mark increases critical hit rate by 50%, and can stack multiple times."

[Additional Active Skill: Wind and Lightning Escape]

Enters a brief stealth state, during which speed is greatly increased, the next attack is enhanced, and imbued with lightning power.

The Critical Strike Build African God of War - Pseudo-Complete Form, with the core damage skill [Infinite Strike]!

This skill is terrifying for two reasons—

Firstly, it is an attack by one's own side, meaning that attacks by teammates will also add marks.

Secondly, it adds a mark when attacking, meaning the effect occurs instantly upon attack, rather than being added after the attack.

Simply put, as long as there are teammates to cooperate, its base critical hit rate of 50% will immediately result in a critical hit on the first strike!

A critical hit will deal 200% of the enemy's base damage, which is equivalent to doubling it!

Every time Zhou Chen sees this exclusive weapon, he can't help but think that if the developers had given the White Ape a higher stat, it would be a top-tier weapon that no one else could take.

It's possible that even when the White Ape is upgraded to the Gold tier, its stats are still inferior to those of a naturally born Gold card, which is why this special effect was given to it.

However, with its basic effects of increasing attack and critical hit damage, it won't deal low damage when fighting monsters.

You could even consider killing monsters of a higher level!

As Zhou Chen thought about it, he suddenly felt a bit arrogant.

"How about we start with the weaker monsters?" He glanced around and thought that he might be able to start by killing the two-star Evil Mountain Demon and Charming Mountain Demon.

Let Captain Changming kill most of them and leave a small number—it wasn't possible before, but now that Brother Chicken is smarter, he should be able to do it.

Anyway, now that the exclusive weapon has been successfully released, there's no need to pursue monster-killing efficiency like before.

Do what you want to do.

After Zhou Chen exited the instance, he installed a spirit item on the White Ape.

"grumble!"

The summoning animation of the White Ape King remains unchanged; the only difference is that the crude long staff in its hand has now been transformed into a long sword engraved with lightning marks and emitting a bluish light.

Since the longsword is almost as long as it is, it has to carry it on its shoulder, which, combined with its hunched figure, gives it a somewhat childlike appearance as it wields a large sword.

Chapter 44: Special Member

Head east along the mountain road.

Before long, Zhou Chen encountered a group of monsters led by three evil mountain demons and two enchanting mountain demons that roamed around the edges and launched sneak attacks.

"Whoa whoa--!!"

They let out mournful howls, trying to intimidate the enemy before them, but clearly failed.

At Zhou Chen's instruction, Captain Changming instantly killed four monsters, leaving only one alive.

He didn't hold back and controlled the white ape to fight.

But Zhou Chen soon discovered a problem—

It's a bit difficult to control.

The Wind and Thunder Blade was simply too long. Zhou Chen's imagination in wielding it against the White Ape was too rudimentary, like a child picking up a roadside twig, unable to form any structured routine.

In the fundamentals of card manipulation, imagination is a crucial factor. As described in the basic common sense of card players, a sufficiently rich imagination determines the upper and lower limits of a card player's abilities.

That's why humanoid monsters command a premium.

On the one hand, it is easier to control, and on the other hand, it is easier to imagine it making various movements.

Zhou Chen was subconsciously used to scenes of monkeys twirling sticks, and his concept of monkeys wielding knives, especially large ones, was relatively weak.

In addition, the invisibility effect of Wind and Lightning Release is also effective on him as a card master, which makes it impossible for him to accurately detect the location of White Ape after he uses it.

Only after he becomes a junior card master, or masters behavioral synchronization in advance and has a closer connection with the spirit cards, will he be able to confirm it without the naked eye.

When the white ape, who had nearly crashed into a tree using the Wind and Thunder Escape technique, dodged a cannon punch from the evil mountain demon, Zhou Chen decided to abandon this practical exercise and go back to reshape his basic skills.

"Hopefully, there will be related knife techniques online."

Soon, exhausted Zhou Chen lay down on the bed and opened a short video app.

The gains from this dungeon were not only the White Ape's exclusive weapon, but also his mental strength, which had increased to Lv.10. However, there was no swelling between his eyebrows, indicating that he was still far from achieving the vaporization of his mental strength.

Surprisingly, he found many videos of monkeys wielding knives, and it was clear that these monkeys were generally spirit cards.

Clearly, in this world, monkeys are not strongly associated with sticks.

Maybe I should find a martial arts teacher or something and learn some basic swordsmanship?