Chisel had to admit that Woland was a devil of his word.After completing the deal, Woland not only revives Chisel's parents, but also takes Chisel back for a look.

Chisel saw them, the couple living happily with the other Chisel, as if no one had ever left.

It must be said, Chisel was deeply saddened by his absence and his future fate, but he was at last relieved.

Since the demon had given him his reward, Chisel was obliged to keep his promise. He picked a deck that he had used most recently, and then, following the demon's instructions, with his eyes closed and his eyes open, he came to the new world with the demon's blessing.

It was efficient and convenient.

Chisel's first feeling was that there was something wrong with the light falling. When he looked up, he saw great trunks pushing up great canopys, and he thought he had reached forset. These trees grew so high that their leaves and branches cut into the sky. The falling shade gave Chisel the illusion that he was in a primeval forest. It took him a few seconds to realize that something seemed wrong.

The first thing that didn't seem right was the large number of stones that surrounded him. They showed signs of being cut, and some of them had patterns, and were even sculptures of some kind. The stones with these artificial marks were dumped everywhere, and the weathering was obvious. Chisel looked around, and all he could see were these huge stones.They clustered and scattered in a chaotic fashion.

Turquoise vines cling to their surfaces. At the top of these vines grow some kind of woody part, which grows upward, gathers and joins with its kind from other vines, and eventually forms a "trunk". These trunks continued to grow, spreading their branches and leaves toward the sky, and eventually formed the "forest" that Chisel had first seen when he looked up.

It was wonderful, but also strange, so strange that Chisel shuddered. The vines and their woody tops reminded Chisel of the air roots of mangroves, but this was no beach or lake. The white stones that seemed to be everywhere looked like the remains of some great building or even a city. And the trees, the new giants, stepped on top of the huge corpses.

The ground between the boulders was covered with weedy green vegetation. When Chisel crouched down to look, he saw that what he thought was grass was closer to moss. He looked around and saw this all around him: the collapsed boulders and the plants that surrounded them, beneath them, outside them, and above them, interwoven into all that was visible, and nothing else.

Chisel began to sigh, partly because he didn't know what to do with the strange sight. And partly because Woland promised that Chisel's clothes would also receive a blessing that would self-repair. So he wore nothing more than a sweatshirt and jeans for mobility.

If he knew he was coming to a place like this, he should have worn something more professional.

The humidity in the air is very high here. A thin, thin mist hovered among the trees. Chisel felt a slight coolness, and began to wonder if it would turn cold as the night wore on.

It was not a good place to stay.

But there may be something worth waiting for.

So thought Chisel, whispering a word in his head to the ruins: "Collect."

[Pale Ruins Covered by Woodland] has been successfully collected by the collector "Kong XuanSu", so your collect is invalid

The prompt tone in his head makes the Chisel frown and then relax.

The deal he made with the demon was recording the story of the world for the demon. To record the story of the world was a very abstract description, for which the demon gave him a more specific command.

Collect enough cards for one edition of the world.

Before we can understand what this means we need to understand what the game is all about.

Collector's Catalog is an online CCG game. The "Collector" is the player's character, a kind of super creature who lives in an endless void and likes to record the specialties of each world.

Collectors have the power to infiltrate troubled or dying worlds. They can copy creatures, props, techniques and even events they see that they consider "collectible" onto a thin piece of card for their "collection."

In addition to being collected, these collectibles can also be played against according to certain rules that have been established within the collectors. The winner will gain a higher reputation among the collectors. So collectors keen to fight card duels with their kind.

This is the background to the Collector's Catalog, and most of the game mechanics are based on it.

Let's review the mission the Demon gave Chisel: Collect enough cards for one edition of the world.

In general, one edition of a CC card will tell the story of an entire world, currently there are only rare cases where a plural card pack is required to tell the story of a world.

In order to tell the story of the world, up to 120 new cards are released for each edition.

Divided by card nature, the 120 cards are made up of 24 Universal Cards and 96 Aptitude Cards. The 96 Aptitude Cards are divided into six aptitude cards of 16 each.

The term "aptitude" refers to a concept that represents the different power characteristics of different collectors. Collectors do not have classes. They rely on a mechanism called aptitude to form build in relative balance.

The aptitude of collectors are divided into six: dominate, prosper, struggle, invade, circulate and maintain. These aptitudes are divided into five rank: based, learned, refined, sublimated and completed. Players can assign a total of 9 points to any of these aptitude. A point assigned to an aptitude propensity increases one rank. The more points an aptitude is assigned, the higher the rank, and the stronger the effect it has on the aspect it represents. Collectors can either choose two aptitudes, assigning 4 points to one and 5 points to the other, in exchange for two powerful abilities. It is also possible to assign one or two points to all aptitudes, getting balance without the power of the short board.

In the background of the story, any collector can adjust the point allocation of his or her aptitude at any time. In the game, it is the result of the allocation of points corresponding to each deck binding.

By the way, Chisel's card pack is allocated by adding three points to each of the aptitude of dominate, prosper, and invade. But that news doesn't matter at this point. What we need to know is that most of these propensity cards correspond to a certain flavor within the propensity, so collectors like Chisel have to focus on the diversity of their collections, not just one type, one ethnic group, one power. Because they tend to produce only one type of card.

In terms of card rarity, these 120 cards are made up of 21 Miraculous cards, 30 Great cards, 31 Elite Cards and 38 Ordinary cards.

The other cards are not difficult to collect, but the focus is on the 27 "Miraculous cards".

Ordinary Elite, Great, and Miraculous are the four preciousness levels of CC cards, and their status in the back story is vastly different.

Generally speaking, the ordinary counterpart represents something that is ubiquitous in the world of cards, a certain race or a specialty with flavor. Elite corresponds to a powerful army, talented people, famous weapons, and reliable magic. What qualifies as a Great achievement card is a person or thing that leaves enough legend in the world of the card.

As for a "Miraculous" card, with some exceptions, it must be a hero at the top of the world.

In addition to their significance in the card world, Miraculous cards also have special value within the game. Miraculous cards have far more performance than any other level card. So much so that unlike the other three level cards, which can carry three cards of each type in the deck, Miraculous cards are not allowed to carry one.

This card does sound and actually sound cool, but it's a hassle to think about for Chisel, who needs to collect them in person in the card pack world.

According to the demon professor, doing a "collect" and turning something in the card world into a "card" is not just a matter of seeing or touching it.The collector must have a deep enough understanding and knowledge of the objects to "collect" them into cards after reaching a certain level of contact, understanding and cognition.

That sounds cumbersome, inefficient, and unpleasant.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

With enough familiarity, Chisel's reciting the word "collect" in his head would have been enough to print a card about the ruins.But that's obviously not possible.So Chisel never entertained the idea in the first place.

What he wanted was a name for the ruins, and news of his companions.

Chisel was not alone. Before Chisel left for the New World which not yet into the card world, Woland told him that of the three remaining men, Nightmare and Apprentice had agreed to the deal. Lady also shows some interest in working together.

All told, almost all six accepted Woland's offer.

This might have been good news for Chisel, since it was easier to work with more people, but it led to bad news: Feeling that he had recruited more people than expected, Woland decided to split the six into two groups and explore both worlds.

This evil, greedy, shameless, depraved capital demon.

How can your name be Woland? You should be called Mammon.

Chisel sneered at the demon.

Maybe Chisel should be grateful to Woland for not letting things get to the point where he doesn't have to collect a world of cards by himself.The job went down from 120 to 40, but it could have gone down to 20.

Now let's ignore Chisel's complaint for a moment and get back to where we were.

Before Chisel came into this world, Voland showed him a few ways to use the ability to collect.

The first is success.

Collect success, get [XXXX]

The second is failure because collectors don't know enough about the objects they're collecting.

Collect fail, did not obtain [XXXX]

The third is a failure, where the item has already been collected into a card by someone else, which Chisel has just encountered.

[XXXX] has been successfully collected by collector [XX], so your collect is invalid

Chisel knows very well that he will not succeed, but whether he succeeds or fails, he will be able to learn the name of the object of his collection.

He didn't know whether it was Woland or the natives of the world who named his target, but there was always something in a name, more or less. As long as it exists, there is a chance it will be analyzed.

It's just that the name "Pale Ruins Covered by Woodland" is too simple and straightforward to be informative. The only information that was available was the ecology of trees growing on vines in a world that could be referred to directly as woodlands. And that these rocks were indeed ruins, not some sort of park setting, some inexplicable art creation.

So Chisel frowns, but his brow relaxes because of the other name in this message.

"XuanSu Kong".

"XuanSu Kong" is the player known as "SaintKing". XuanSu Kong is the name she uses in the game, and "SaintKing" is the nickname given to her by other CC players. She has twice been the runner-up in the CC World Series and won the championship in the third, so she can be called the strongest CC player in terms of her achievements.

Chisel and she don't know each other so well that they barely know each other. She was an indescribable Chinese woman who, was intelligent and incisive, with a playful smile. To tell you the truth, Chisel was slightly afraid of that woman.He'd rather meet an old friend, "Lady" or "Poet."

But in any case, the fact that the "SaintKing" had managed to collect the card was a sign that Chisel's team had done one or more things to show him that he was not alone, that he had company, that he had someone to share the work with.

And she must have been here or thereabouts, check. Maybe she was sent to this ruin by the demon and then she went out and explored the world.

Unless place like this more than one part of the world, she can't be too far away from him.

He wanted to look for her, but he didn't know where she was going.

Chisel thought for a moment. He tried to climb up a large rock and use its height to look around. As he climbed, he felt some vines. Vines that should be soft were as hard as rocks. He tried to discern the difference in each direction, how the white stones were not evenly distributed, more in one direction and less in the opposite.

If this was once a city, wouldn't the denser areas of debris be closer to the original city center? Chisel lingered for some time. After some hesitation, he chose to go in the direction where the ruins were concentrated.

Before setting off, he said to himself another command, "Game on."

This is what Woland had mentioned earlier, to give him and the other collectors the power to explore and survive in the new world.

Collector Catalog System

As the order came down, Chisel felt something more before his eyes. Five visional cards came into his vision.

[Hand of Akasha] [Court Sage] [Imperial Elite] [Bonfire of Hope] [Gloomy Noble Mage]

In CC's battle, each player draws five cards at the beginning of the game.After drawing cards, players can replace any card.

Chisel stared at the last card for a while, then eventually left it, replacing Hand of Akasha and Court Sage.

CC has a cost concept called "interference value," which represents the power the collector can wield in the cardpack world. The player spends interference value to play a card.

In the game, players receive a certain number of IV per turn. The first round is 1 point, the second round is 2 point, and the third round and beyond is point. For every Prop Collection or Zoetic Collection on the player's battlefield at the beginning of the turn, an additional IV is awarded.

These two are the most common ways to gain intervention value, but there are also abilities and special cards that can be used to gain it.

The swapped cards require too much IV to be useful in the short term.

The newly drawn cards are Cross Blast and Fearless Vanguard.

The former is a low cost event card that casts a good spell. The latter is a zoetic collection card that works consistently on the battlefield.

Fearless Vanguard only costs 1IV and can be used directly.

By the way, its rarity is miraculous, although it doesn't deserve a miraculous in terms of effect or name, it's only roughly elite .But it is a miraculous card.

After all, it comes from the only odd card set so far that any card is given the "Miraculous" but that doesn't really matter in this context.

In this way, the game began to draw cards and replace the end, it is time to start the game.

In the game, at the beginning of each turn, players draw a card. Because Chisel puts 3 point on the aptitude "Prosper" to raise it to level 3, he can draw two extra cards and shuffle one of them back into the library. Then three new unreal cards appear in his view.

Prosper - Refine: At the draw of the turn, collector draw two additional cards and shuffle one of the cards back into the library.

[Generous Demon]

[Valiant Warrior] [Guardians of the Tree of Life]

Chisel's eyes moved to the Generous Demon, which face a demon crouching on the eaves and smiling at the outside of the card.It looked submissive and modest.

Chisel's mouth twitched at the sight of the card. He thought of Woland.

It was a strong card, but it wasn't going to be useful to him any time soon, and it wasn't worth as much as the Valiant Warrior, which cost as much. After thinking about it for a while, Chisel shuffled it back into his library.

Chisel currently holds the following cards:

[Cross Blast] [Fearless Vanguard] [Imperial Elite]

[Bonfire of Hope]

[Gloomy Noble Mage] [Valiant Warrior] [Guardians of the Tree of Life]

Since the turn starts, Chisel gains 1 IV, and he can use Fearless Vanguard immediately. He summons Fearless Vanguard, and a figure resembling the face of the card. with a short silver spear in both hands and a knife on her waist, and wearing light leather armor, appears before her.

Fearless Vanguard Zoetic Collection 1IV ATK1/DUR1 Miraculous Benchmark Refactor Legend/Warrior Pioneer: Draw a zoetic collectible.

Fearless Vanguard broke through the blockade of fear and despair.

Her marched bravely, as the legend has it.

Pioneer: If this card is the first card you play this turn, it activates this ability.

At the same time, because of the Fearless Pioneer effect, another card appears in Chisel's vision.

[Azariah the Demon Hunter]

This is a powerful card, the Miraculous Card, with powerful powers. But it requires 9IV, so this is another card that won't be used for a while.

Anyway, let's move our eyes back to the Fearless Pioneer. It was a woman, physically, with her head covered in cloth, and Chisel could not make out her face. She did not say anything when she was summoned, but waited with her long rifle for Chisel's orders.

Chisel raised his hand and pointed in the direction he planned to go. "Help me out."

The pioneer slung his gun to his back, drew a knife from his waist, and headed in that direction. Chisel follows behind her, silently saying "Round's Over." This way, according to Woland, the meditation carries out the instructions in the game.

They made their way through the ruins, some of the wider, long gaps that seemed to have been roads, and they followed the path that had died in the hands of time. After half an hour or so of walking, what looked like complete buildings emerged from the rubble before Chisel. The ruined buildings had no doors, and you could see straight into them. They were empty. Chisel peered at the door of one of the buildings for a moment, then gave up trying to go inside, at least not yet.His instincts told him that it was not a good place to explore.

After a while, Chisel was blocked in front of a vast, church-like ruin, barely shaped like a building. The church was about twenty meters high, and facing Chisel and the Pioneer were two stone "doors" seven or eight meters high. It was the only building with a door that they had seen in all their travels. The door was not completely closed, and there was a gap between the two doors that could let a person through.

It seemed like an object worth exploring, and Chisel hesitated, but he made his way toward it.

As he approached the gate, Chisel was suddenly struck by a strange aroma.It reminded him of rotten fruit, or improperly cooked meat, or sour wine, or some perfume he could not appreciate.

He thought at first that the smell came from some kind of flower, then remembered that he had never seen a single flower there all the time.There were only stones and moss and vines and trees. There are no flowers or fungi, no animals or bugs.

Realizing this, he suddenly felt a chill up his spine and even stopped walking. The green color of these vines is often seen as the color of life, because the forest is the place where all kinds of life are contained. But what about life beyond the vegetation?

Then Chisel thought of some legends. It was said that some trees could grow other branches from their air roots, and that a single tree could grow into a forest. The largest living thing in the world is said to be a piece of seagrass, which replicates itself by spreading its roots, spreading out from a point of origin, and eventually becoming an underwater grassland.

He glanced up and saw the woody structures of the vines twisting in the air, twisting into trees, and the trees forming a forest.Suddenly he had a terrible thought: the whole forest was a living thing, walking itself through its flesh and blood.

He tried to think it over, but his thoughts were interrupted by a rustling.The little noises came from behind the church door. Chisel ordered the Vanguard to stand in front of him with his gun drawn, and when he did so, a crowd of "creatures" ran out between the two stone doors.