Translator: Star River
Proofreader: Rhith
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 compet.i.tion. Don't you want to create an instant death card and sec-kill my [Thousand-year-old G.o.d Tree] unexpectedly?"
Other professional players, "…"
Tang Muzhou managed to provoke them. Anyone whose cards had been strangled by his G.o.d 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' G.o.d 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 compet.i.tion."
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 embarra.s.sed."
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 compet.i.tion.
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 t.i.tled "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.