Master of Trading Star Card Game

Chapter 14 – Adjudicati

After dinner, by 6:30 p.m. all boosters had entered the game together. As soon as he arrived at his personal space, Xie Mingzhe heard a system notification: “You have new emails. Please check them using the LCD screen in the living room.”

Xie Mingzhe heeded the notification prompt and opened his mailbox —

Official Mail: “The 10th Star Card Professional League Nationals will be officially launched on August 10. Ticket booking channels are now fully open…”

Official Mail: “In order to welcome the coming season, anniversary cards can be obtained after signing into the game for five days during Aug. 1 to 10…”

A sea of official emails dazzled Xie Mingzhe.

Recently, it was a critical period for the new season, so there were many official activities. Looking at the pile of notification emails, Xie Mingzhe didn’t bother to read them and simply turned off the mailbox. The moment Senior Brother Qi sent him a party invite, Xie Mingzhe joined his team and continued to gain experience on Egret Star.

***

At this time, in the black market.

“Hasn’t Uncle Chubby answered you yet?” Can Yang looked at Shuang Shuang and asked.

“I have sent him an email. Maybe he’s offline?” Shuang Shuang looked depressed.

“…” Can Yang frowned and kept silent for a moment, saying, “If he replies to you, tell me straight away. If you find him in the black market, contact him immediately and tell him that I want to buy his cards in bulk, then let him take up the matter with me personally.”

“OK, Vice President.” Shuang Shuang felt guilty about it and anxiously watched as the vice president left. Up until now, she had barely played the game for more than a month, and only had a limited knowledge of the battle cards. In the Adjudication Club, it was her Shifu who should have set up the stall in the black market. But because her Shifu had something to deal with today, she had been asked to act as a temporary replacement. She didn’t realize how special the skills of the [Wu Song] card were, and if she had thought more carefully at that time, she wouldn’t have let Uncle Chubby go so easily.

But now she couldn’t get in touch with Uncle Chubby. Shuang Shuang clenched her teeth and turned around to send emails to Uncle Chubby again.

At the end of the street, because Hong Zhu didn’t see the person who she had been waiting for, she became a little impatient and called some senior members for a private meeting, “From now on, everyone must thoroughly search the black market. Pay attention to the back of all original cards. The moment you find a card with the original LOGO “月半”, track the seller and find out who he is as soon as possible!”

All the people looked at each other – 月半? How did this guy offend sister Hong Zhu? Looking at sister Hong Zhu, with hatred in her eyes and gnashing her teeth in anger, they were really worried that that guy would be cruelly exploited.

***

Can Yang took the [Wu Song] card back to his club base, giving it to Huan Yue, the president of the Adjudication Club.

Actually, Huan Yue had studied a lot about card data and was a card expert in the Adjudication Club. Seeing this card, his eyes instantly brightened and his first reaction was to take the card to his personal space immediately. Can Yang followed him as a matter of course.

They went to the Card Console in the study. Huan Yue withdrew a number of Exp Star Stones of various levels from the display case, using them to upgrade the card to level 20, and then he used two-star fragments on the card to evolve it to a two-star card. He proceeded to continually upgrade and evolve the card…

In an instant, millions of Exp Star Stones and 600 evolution fragments of differing levels were fed to the [Wu Song] card.

The one-star card at level 1 continued to rotate above the Card Console, and gradually the appearance of the card’s back changed color. In the end, the card became a glossy pure black, with its back covered in gorgeous fire-red patterns.

It had risen to level 70 and become a seven-star black card!

Picking up the card, Huan Yue read its data.

Wu Song (Fire)

Card Level: 70

Evolution Level: ★★★★★★★

Available Times of Use: 7/7

Base Attributes: Health 19200, Defense 19200, Attack 19200, Agility 80, Critical Strike Chance 90%

Additional Skill: Wu Song Slaying the Tiger (Wu Song throws punches at the tiger’s head to cause huge damage to it. Has an 85% chance of triggering the instant death effect.)

While reading the data, Huan Yue asked with his eyebrows furrowed, “Do you have Legend Nie’s [White Tiger]?”

Can Yang nodded, “Yes. Legend Nie asked me to repair it after it was damaged due to his frequent use in the last season. I have just repaired it.”

Huan Yue replied, “Let’s go to the Arena and test its power.”

They glanced at each other and transferred from the galaxy map to the Phoenix Galaxy, creating a private battle arena.

The battle had begun. Can Yang summoned the seven-star [White Tiger] that leapt forward and pounced on the Wu Song hologram aggressively. However, Wu Song briskly clenched his fists and punched the tiger on its head when it had just approached him, which knocked the giant tiger down to the ground.

It was an instant kill!

Being frightened, Can Yang browsed through the battle record.

[Wu Song] used its [Wu Song Slaying the Tiger] skill, triggering instant death and killing the [White Tiger].

That was all on the record.

It was too simple to be evaluated.

Huan Yue had also seen the battle record, saying thoughtfully, “Triggering the instant death effect can kill the other card in one round as expected. Is this the first time it’s happened in the game?”

Can Yang was shocked, “I have never seen such a strange skill like ‘trigger instant death’!”

Huan Yue thought for a moment and said, “Do you have any other high-level cards? Try another one.”

Can Yang said, “Legend Lan’s [Fire Phoenix].”

The seven-star [Fire Phoenix] summoned a phoenix coated in a flaming red. Its huge wings spread out, almost covering the sky. Fire Phoenix suddenly opened its wings and let out a shrill cry. It quickly swooped down to Wu Song on the ground, just like a huge ball of flame!

Wu Song immediately fought back by punching it, but his Defense, less than 20,000, was too low. Fire Phoenix’s AOE skill with the fire attribute, Dance in the Heavens, insta-killed him!

Looking at the hologram of Wu Song burned into ashes, Can Yang and Huan Yue then looked at each other, speechless.

After a moment of silence, Huan Yue analyzed, “This instant death skill is a very limited skill, which means that it only works for tiger cards and has no effect on other types of cards. Its Attack and Defense can only be regarded as third-rate, but it’s not a useless card, because once it meets Nie Yuandao, it will be a trump card.”

“Why would someone create such a card against Legend Nie’s [White Tiger]?” A weird look appeared on Can Yang’s face, “Was there enmity between them?”

“Who created this card?”

“A level 15 newcomer called Uncle Chubby.”

Uncle Chubby? What a strange name. Huan Yue groaned to himself, and turned the card over, looking at the “月半” LOGO in the lower right corner of the black card. He suddenly felt a little uneasy, and then immediately called out the database, saying, “I want to know how many cards Uncle Chubby has made.”

He searched the LOGO, and the database quickly gave the result: 20.

Huan Yue felt a shiver down his spine, “Are all the remaining 19 cards [Wu Song]? Have they all been sold out at the black market?!”

Can Yang’s face fell, “If other clubs have bought this card, will Legend Nie’s [White Tiger] become useless?”

“………” They exchanged knowing glances.

As the long-standing president of the Adjudication Club, Huan Yue had always been very calm, but now he couldn’t maintain his composure.

– Fucking instant death effect!

This kind of card effect had never appeared in the game before. Many players may not understand what “trigger instant death” meant. They thought that “instant death” was similar to the “instant disablement” effect of the Metal attribute card. Therefore, players who bought and sold cards at the black market were not very clear about the value of [Wu Song].

However, professional players and senior executives of major clubs knew about this type of skill effect.

Because, this was a brand new skill effect that had only been added into the database recently!

During last season’s summary convention, Tang Muzhou suddenly proposed the idea of a one-for-one function card that has the concept of instant death.

It was said that there was a raging debate amongst the professional players at the summary convention, in which people were divided into two parties. One party approved of Legend Tang’s idea, that the database should include the cards possessing instant death, while the other opposed it strongly, as they believed it was unreasonable and such cards would break the balance of the game.

Tang Muzhou listed a number of arguments for his idea with a graceful smile, saying in the end, “The instant death cards will greatly enrich the tactics in the competition. Don’t you want to create an instant death card and sec-kill my [Thousand-year-old God Tree] unexpectedly?”

Other professional players, “…”

Tang Muzhou managed to provoke them. Anyone whose cards had been strangled by his God Tree wanted to kill this annoying tree immediately.

To everyone’s surprise, Nie Yuandao, who had been at odds with Tang Muzhou, supported Legend Tang’s idea.

Nie Yuandao explained calmly, “The instant death card won’t be as powerful as everyone fears. It will be a one-for-one function card, at most, if the game officials regulate and control its data. Killing others’ god cards with instant death cards will introduce more varied tactics into the game. Therefore I agree with Legend Tang.”

Qiao Xi, who used cards with the Water attribute, said with a smile, “I think Legend Tang’s idea is reasonable. The instant death cards will enable players to win with shock tactics at the critical moment. Otherwise, if I have to compete with someone who is using a card with over 200,000HP, I would would rather give up the competition.”

Being mentioned by Qiao Xi , Zheng Feng, who was the representative of players using cards with the Earth attribute, said, “Legend Xi, are you talking about my [White Elephant] that has 200,000HP? Actually, I also think its HP is too abundant, so that my opponents have to spend a long time fighting with it, which makes me embarrassed.”

Other players, “Get out of here!”

In order to avoid a fight, the president of the league tried to keep order, immediately saying, “Quiet. We now have to vote.”

Finally, Tang Muzhou’s proposal was approved by the league professionals attending the convention.

The league submitted his proposal to the game officials, who accepted it, after some consideration.

In order to regulate and control the balance of the instant death card, and determine the limits of its HP, Attack and Defense, the official data team had several meetings and it took them more than half a year to produce a detailed formula inference, before an announcement was promulgated last month.

It stated that the effect “instant death” had been included into the skills database, but the requirements for triggering it were harsh.

Firstly, the instant death card could only haveone instant death skill that was not directed against an extensive range of cards, namely it could be directed against no more than one subcategory of cards. For example, a card having the skill to cause the simultaneous instant death of plants, animals and humans wasn’t allowed to be created.

Secondly, any card having the instant death skill effect would be included into the category of disposable function cards, whose Attack and Defense were weak. In other words, after using its skill, the card would be killed immediately, which avoided breaking the balance of the competition.

In addition, the league had also introduced a regulation – for each match, players could use only one card with the instant death effect, like a secret weapon.

The official announcement had only just been posted online, and many players may not notice it. After all, every time the game updated, there would be a lot of announcements at one time. Players who didn’t specialize in battle cards would not pay attention to the news of the instantaneous death effect being added to the skill database.

At present, experts studying cards in major clubs were all trying to make such cards with the “instant death” effect. Huan Yue didn’t know how the other clubs were faring, however he didn’t expect that a player named “Uncle Chubby” would be the first to create such cards- not even the Adjudication Club’s Legend Nie and Legend Lan had created such cards successfully. What’s more, Uncle Chubby made [Wu Song] against tiger cards – directly against Legend Nie!

If Legend Nie knew that someone had made a card that could trigger the instant death effect against his [White Tiger], so soon after he had agreed with Tang Muzhou to add the instant death effect to the database, would he be mad?

He must stop other clubs from getting this card!

Huan Yue frowned and quickly made a decision, “Send our members to search the black market inch by inch! Buy all the original cards bearing the ‘月半’ LOGO, especially the [Wu Song] cards. We can’t miss a single one! ”

***

The black market had not been so lively for a long time.

The players in the black market were extremely confused – so many managers of the Fenghua and Adjudication Clubs were gathered in the black market. What were they doing?

Hong Zhu saw the familiar IDs coming and going, which was a headache for her. Many old players of the Adjudication Club suddenly appeared in the black market, searching carefully at the stalls that were selling cards, and they seemed to be looking for some certain cards. She became uneasy, guessing that Adjudication Club bought all the other [Lin Daiyu] cards. Can Yang had the same idea as Hong Zhu. He thought that the Fenghua Club bought the other [Wu Song] cards and was looking for the creator.

They were suspicious and jealous of each other. Can Yang pretended to be calm and greeted Hong Zhu, “Sister Hong, you are still in the black market?”

Hong Zhu appeared to be calm, “Well, I am bored and just strolling around.”

Can Yang put on a false smile, “Me too! What a coincidence!”

Hong Zhu, “Yeah, what a coincidence.”

They greeted each other politely on the surface, but in their hearts, they had brawled with each other countless times.

A moment later, the news that many managers of the Fenghua Club and the Adjudication Club had appeared at the black market, had spread throughout the spy network.

The presidents of the other clubs were very confused after receiving the news.

What happened? The two major clubs suddenly started searching the black market inch by inch. Was there a strong card in the black market?

As a result, other major clubs also began to act –

“Although I don’t know why, but we’d better step in,” said the president of Flowing Frost City.

“Go to the black market and see what they are looking for.” The president of Capital of Darkness calmly ordered.

“Is there a genius card creator in the black market?” Lei Li Feng Xing (meaning swift and decisive reaction), the president of Pantheon, came over.

In ten minutes, hordes of club managers arrived at the black market.

Hong Zhu was on the verge of crying and racked her brain to think who bought the other [Lin Daiyu] cards. At the same time, Can Yang also wanted to swear. The system had displayed that Uncle Chubby had made 20 cards, but he only got one [Wu Song]. Had the rest of the 19 cards been privately bought by other major clubs?

There was a muddle over in the black market.

In the street, there were many great figures titled “XX Club Vice President” and “XX Club Manager”, which attracted all the stall owners to take pictures with them. While at that same moment, Xie Mingzhe, the culprit who completely messed up the black market, was levelling up delightfully with his buddies in the Egret Cave.

Senior Brother Qi asked, “Uncle Chubby, I remember that you wanted to make original cards and had bought many Nebula papers before. Have you tried it?”

Xie Mingzhe said with a smile, “I made two cards, but their base attributes aren’t good. So I sold them at the black market and earned some pocket money.”

Sisi asked excitedly, “Uncle Chubby, what cards did you make? Could you show me the cards?”

“Both are character cards and I have sold them all. If I have a chance, I’ll make more and then give you some for collecting.”

Senior Brother Qi advised in the tone of an old player, “Character cards with low attributes are hard to sell at a good price, but it’s a way to earn money. Making cards would consume lots of Inner Spirit, so don’t make too many at once in case you put too much pressure on your brain.”

Xie Mingzhe nodded, “In that case, I’ll make ten more tonight, then I’ll stop.”

… If Hong Zhu and Can Yang heard his words, they would die of rage.

Actually, Xie Mingzhe was innocent, because he was absolutely in the dark.

Xie Mingzhe was just a beginner who had just started playing the card game. Therefore, he believed that there were just as many high-priced cards as there are hairs on an ox in the World of Star Card, and the base attributes of these cards should be more than thousands of points, such as the [Tuberose] with 100,000 Health and 50,000 Defense. Even if his [Lin Daiyu] was evolved to a seven-star card, its defense couldn’t rise from 15 to 1,000 points; the attack and defense of [Wu Song] were not high, so it couldn’t be sold at a good price either.

He didn’t even know that the instant death skill effect had just been added to the game database a few days ago, and that it had never previously appeared in the game – Xie Mingzhe thought it was a common skill.

The people of the Fenghua and Adjudication clubs were frantically searching everywhere for cards with the LOGO “月半”.

Hong Zhu and Can Yang, as well as the other presidents, were going to explode.

However, Xie Mingzhe was leisurely and carefree.

Xie Mingzhe gossiped with Senior Brother Qi and Sisi as they farmed mobs.

He had to grind up to level 35 as soon as possible, and then join Brother Chen’s team. After all, he was employed to be a game booster and couldn’t neglect his work.

As for cards, he intended to make another ten [Wu Song] cards tonight and then sell them at the black market for some pocket money.

Half a loaf of bread is better than no bread at all. The money from selling a batch of cards was enough for his meals.