Zayn laughed like a maniac, his voice resounding through the office when he finally put the last pieces together. He removed another Card from his Heart Deck and added the Card that completed his Card Set to his deck.
At last, the notification he had been waiting for appeared before him.
Card Synergy has been detected. Create the Rare Card Set [Extraordinary Physique]?
“Go for it!” Zayn immediately declared, his smile widening as a new interface popped up.
Card Set – Extraordinary Physique
Rare – Set of 4
Level 30
1)Physique Boon – Rare – Level 9(53%)
Effect – Enhances the Card Holder’s Physique(Vitality, Strength, Agility, Dexterity).
+C%(+1% at Level 1)
2) Mind Power – Uncommon – Level 5(93%)
Effect – Transforms the User’s willpower and mental power into Mind Power.
Passively augments the User’s mental fortitude.
Accumulated Mind Power can be used to attack the target’s mind actively.
3)Soul Walls– Uncommon – Level 14(34%)
Effect – Creates reinforced walls around the Soul, protecting it from external harm.
Remark – High Synergy with the Class Path. The Card will level up quickly and use a Class Card Slot until the last Class Slot is occupied.
4) Enhanced Existence – Rare(+) – Level 2(84%)
Effect – Grants the Card Holder an overall Enhancement(Physique, Mind, Soul)
The Card effect won’t be shown as a numerical value as the Card affects the quality of the existing Foundations.
–
Set Effect – Effective Card Level of all linked Cards will be combined.
-–
Energy consumption decreases with increase in Card Level.
Effect of Cards will increase with the increase in Card Level.
–
Even though the Card Set was only a Set of four instead of five, like his Nature Set, the Cards of the Extraordinary Physique Set were much better. Of course, most Cards in the Set relied on their passive effects, but the set bonus transformed the Card Set into something miraculous. Physique Boon was only at Level 9 before, but the Card Set ensured that the Physique Boon’s effect would be at Level 30.
His Vitality, Strength, Agility, and Dexterity were boosted to [+30%] instead of their former [+9%]. And that was just the beginning. The potency of his Foundation Stars increased now that he also obtained Enhanced Existence. The degree of the potency increase depended on the Card’s Level, registered as 30 due to Enhanced Existence being part of the Extraordinary Physique Card Set.
The potency of his Foundation was higher than before, elevating his combat prowess to another level. Once again, he was slowly getting closer to his former combat prowess. It might not be impossible for him to reach Tier-3 before Forgotten Lands would go offline. If that happened, Zayn might even be able to discard some low-efficient plans and take everything to an even higher level!
He took a deep breath and flashed his bright teeth.
“This time, you won’t become a powerhouse, you disgusting bastard,” Zayn declared, thanking the idiot who’d released a video about the Extraordinary Physique Card Set in his past life. The video was only uploaded after Forgotten Lands closed, enraging many Players. However, even if that Player released the video earlier, only a few would have spent hundreds of hours grinding the same types of physically attributed monsters hoping to procure Enhanced Existence.
Fortunately, Michael remembered Enhanced Existence and the video from that douchebag, who ended up a powerhouse in his last life.
‘I wouldn’t have remembered this if not for the Bloodhound Mercenaries. To think that they dropped Soul Walls and Mind Power. I don’t call myself lucky, but that was a little fortunate!’
Zayn shuddered. His Heart Deck was slowly transforming into a treasure trove. A few more Rare and Epic Cards and his Heart Deck would be better than in the last cycle. That thought made him chuckle.
He summoned his Heart Deck’s interface to inspect it again. He had to ensure he did not make any stupid mistakes by replacing the wrong Cards.
Blink
Uncommon - Level 33(63%)
Card Set – Nature
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Uncommon + – Set of 5 – Level 114
Florakinesis
Uncommon – Level 29(3%)
Nature’s Little Wrath
Uncommon – Level 30(54%)
Aegis Natura
Common – Level 20(MAX)
Poison Augment
Uncommon – Level 19(5%)
Origin Lifeforce
Rare – Level 15(53%)
Lifeforce Conversion
Uncommon - Level 35(5%)
Draining Touch
Uncommon - Level 26(0%)
Double Impact.
Uncommon - Level 35(1%)
1x Spirit Card (Empty)
5x Spirit Card (Occupied)
Soul Sense
Unique – Level 57(0%)
Soul Link
Unique – Level 61(0%)
Thorn Attachment.
Uncommon – Level 12(0%)
Physique Boon
Rare – Level 9(53%)
Mind Power
Uncommon – Level 5(93%)
Soul Walls
Uncommon – Level 14(34%)
Enhanced Existence
Rare(+) – Level 2(84%)
Sleight of Hand
Common - Level 10(0%)
Blade Qi
Uncommon - Level 10(53)
Blade Strikes
Uncommon - Level 11(0%)
Armor Penetration
Rare – Level 6(0%)
Reinforce
Uncommon - Level 18(0%)
Clear Mind
Uncommon - Level 4(0%)
Power Up
Rare - Level 8(0%)
Since Soul Walls also fit into a Class Card Slot, Zayn didn’t have to remove many Cards. The only Card he’d to remove was Agility Augment. He could have released Sleight of Hand instead, but Zayn wanted to keep those Cards to replace them with others in the future. He’d upgraded the Common Card, Sharpness, to the Uncommon Card, Blade Qi, using one Condition Removal. It wasn’t unlikely that he would also use another Condition Removal to upgrade Sleight of Hand. His Dexterity Foundation was his lowest Foundation Star, but that wasn’t notable with Sleight of Hand. Zayn could continue to neglect his Dexterity and instead integrate more Soul Essences into his other Foundations to grow stronger exponentially.
Overall, he was very satisfied with his Heart Deck. His Cards fit well together, allowing him to display great variety.
It was not unlikely that he could have done something better, but with so many things happening around him and his remaining time decreasing rapidly, Zayn was trying to figure out the best path to create the best results. Extraordinary Physique would greatly help him shortly, especially Mind Power and Soul Walls, and the potency increase of his Foundations.
To be precise, every card in his possession would make a massive change, but Zayn hoped the Empty Spirit Card would have the biggest effect. His Soul had more than enough space to occupy a few more Spirit Souls – stronger Spirit Souls than the current batch he controlled. However, Zayn was unwilling to switch his Spirit Souls now that he was getting closer to one of his biggest goals.
**
Igor Brecht attained a sudden breakthrough one day from forging with the new materials Golden Age received from the Magma Goblin Lair. They sold a bunch of resources to the Merchant Guild to expand their businesses, but Zayn left enough for Igor Brecht and the other blacksmiths to work tirelessly.
At last, Igor Brecht advanced to a Master Blacksmith. However, he was not the only one who advanced in the ranks of the artisans. Old Farthma moved to the Guildhall in Spyro a long time ago. She demanded her building, a massive tower called Old Alchemy Tower, where Old Farthma, Zayn’s mother, and the other Alchemists concocted their potions for Zayn and the members of the Golden Age. The excessive materials and potions were sold to Millenial alongside the surplus armaments.
Old Farthma advanced to a Grandmaster Alchemist by creating a new set of potions. She replicated the recipe and handed it to Zayn’s mother and a few more Alchemists, who transformed the Old Alchemy Tower into a piggy bank.
Over the last few weeks, Zayn might have been busy trying to progress rapidly, but the same applied to everyone else. Nobody stopped progressing, and it is evident to the people who paid attention to the Golden Age that they had the financial means and necessary training regimen to create professional Players.
More Players joined the guild, requiring more funds to be invested in them.
Everyone was growing stronger. Players procured better Cards and learned how to level them quickly.
It was only a matter of time before Zayn noticed a pleasant change in the people around them. When he started playing Forgotten Lands in the recent cycle, he had hoped to reach this stage near the end of Forgotten Lands time. He never expected to have a few more months to strengthen the people around him and protect Earth against invasion and descent.
He was still worried about the outcome, but watching everyone grow rapidly filled him with pride and hope.
Even the changes outside Forgotten Lands were pleasant. More Golden Age members moved to the workshop, where they spent most of their time in the Gaming Pods and the Dragon Lair Gym trying to improve their physique, become better Players, and become filthy rich as long as Forgotten Lands generated so much money.
Zayn knew it wasn’t going to be long, but the drive for money and wealth was important. It was the reason Zayn could reach this point.
Without greed and desire, Zayn would have never gotten this far.
But now it was time to take the next few steps.
Was it time to return to the Demons…or vice versa?