Translator: Star River
Proofreader: Rhith
As Nie Yuandao's only apprentice, Shan Lan's set of playing cards were all beast cards.
Nie Yuandao liked using critical strikes in close combat. His cards were all fierce beasts such as white tiger, male lion, black rhino, and wild wolf. Using beast cards to violently suppress enemies was Nie Yuandao's style – simple and clear-cut. And he never talked nonsense in compet.i.tions.
But Legend Lan preferred air raids. He had beautiful card holograms, such as the crane, white haw, skylark, peac.o.c.k, and the strongest air combat cards in the league – [Fire Phoenix] and [Ice-crystal Phoenix]. These were all made by him under the guidance of his Shifu.
Cooperating with each other well in air and land battles, they were highly compet.i.tive in doubles.
They lived together, and were inseparable, because Legend Lan deeply admired his Shifu. He was clingy, following behind his Shifu wherever the latter went to. To the staff of the Adjudication Club, Legend Lan, who was particularly fierce when competing with others in the game, was more like Nie Yuandao's “little follower”.
After taking [Wu Song] from his Shifu, Shan Lan looked at the card data carefully and asked softly, “Where did President buy this card?”
Huan Yue said, “In the black market. I got it today by accident.”
Shan Lan a.n.a.lyzed, “The card maker did not take it to the auction to sell at a high price; instead, he sold it in the black market at a low price, which shows that this player does not know the value of the card and its market price. Maybe he did not see the official announcement, so he doesn't know the instant death effect has been recently added to the database - is he a newbie who just started playing this game?
Huan Yue immediately replied, “Yes, according to Shuang Shuang, who bought the card, the card maker is a level 15 newbie named Uncle Chubby.”
"Uncle Chubby?" Shan Lan heard this strange name and looked back at Legend Nie, "What is Shifu going to do?"
Nie Yuandao kept silent for a moment, and then spoke, his voice low and calm, “At last season's summary conference, Tang Muzhou suddenly proposed to add the instant death effect to the skill database. Do you know why I agreed with him at that time?”
Shan Lan seriously speculated, “Is it because many players in the league follow the example of Zheng Feng, to keep increasing the HP of their cards? They often make the cards' HP higher than 150,000. If the trend continues, the game would become more and more boring.”
Nie Yuandao looked at his apprentice with praise and nodded, “In fact, Tang Muzhou did not propose that because of Zheng Feng. It's quite reasonable for players using Earth cards to take the path of defensive counterattack, so it's natural that Lao Zheng makes cards whose HP are high. And we have many ways to deal with him. But the problem is seeing that Lao Zheng's cards can survive for a long time, many players imitated him, making cards with high HP.”
Having said that, there was a slight regret in his eyes, “Newcomers who have just entered the professional league in recent years only follow the trend and imitate the set of playing cards of their predecessors, but they have never had their own ideas. But in the fifth season, many genius players came to the fore, creating so many special styles.”
Shan Lan made his debut in the seventh season. While in the fifth season, he was only a little boy learning from his Shifu. Thinking about his past glory, he couldn't help but yearn to go back to that period, "A large number of outstanding people appeared in the fifth season, including Tang Muzhou who improved the Wood set of cards; also Fang Yu and Qiao Xi, who created a completely new way of playing Water cards and the creators of the Ghost cards, Spell cards and the Witchcraft cards, etc. The creative ideas of today's players are no match for that of the players' ideas from that time."
Nie Yuandao said distantly, "Some of the newbies want a quick victory, so they simulate and even copy other legends' sets of playing cards directly, instead of creating their own original cards and playing styles. Tang Muzhou only wants to change the atmosphere of the league by putting forward the 'instant death' proposal. In recent years, the game has become increasingly boring and the league needs some new gifted players."
Shan Lan said, "That's why most experienced players supported Legend Tang during last season's conference. Those who opposed Tang were newly raised players from the most recent two years, having no distinctive styles. They fear that if the instant death cards are allowed to be used in the game, they will have no idea of how to deal with the situation once their trump cards are killed. However, a professional player's set of cards only provides a foundation for winning the game, he has to depend mostly on his reaction speed and adaptability. Shifu, you won't be afraid of the instant death cards with your awareness."
Nie Yuandao nodded, saying, "Yes. I'm interested in this card's creator."
Huan Yue, "…"
Who am I? Where am I? What should I say?
The two legends discussed this as if there were no one else present. Huan Yue felt that he was a useless person being shut out of the dialogue at that moment.
Luckily, Legend Lan was a thoughtful man, he noticed Huan Yue and changed the topic back, "President, my Shifu and I have been studying the instant death cards recently. Since Uncle Chubby can make instant death cards, his Inner Spirit is surely as high as ours."
The database had a high requirement for the skills of an instant death card: they must conform to common sense and be related to the card itself. For example, instkilling Tang Muzhou's 'trees' by making a fish card casually was not allowed. This [Wu Song] was ingeniously designed because, theoretically speaking, if the man was strong enough, he could beat the tiger's brains out.
Shan Lan appreciated the design of this card's skills, looking at Nie Yuandao and saying, "Shifu, should we invite Uncle Chubby?"
Nie Yuandao stood up directly from the sofa, picking up his helmet and saying peacefully, "Uncle Chubby is absolutely a talent. Find him quickly, I want to meet him."
Seeing that Nie Yuandao had turned around and was headed towards the game center, Shan Lan followed at once, saying, "Shifu, I'm going there too."
Huan Yue followed the two legends, feeling worried and saying, "We're looking for Uncle Chubby. We'll find him as soon as possible!"
***
Xie Mingzhe, who was concentrating on studying cards in the game, had never expected that due to their extremely strange skills, his [Wu Song] and [Lin Daiyu] cards, with their tiger and plant instant death effects, would get the attention of Nie Yuandao and Tang Muzhou, two big bosses in the star card league.
More importantly, the two legends had come to find him in person.