Shiller had a bad habit when feeling anxious; he would fidget with whatever was in his hand, arrogantly shifting round objects and greedily shifting square ones.
Normally, Greed held a medical record in his hands, and he liked to flip through it when anxious. But now, instead of a medical record, he held a rectangular card. He hadn't even noticed that he had been constantly rearranging the cards in his hand.
By the time he set the cards down, it was already too late.
"Wait! I played the wrong one!" Shiller immediately said, attempting to retrieve the card, but Dream Power Doctor Strange promptly pinned his hand down with magic.
"Sorry, no take-backs."
Shiller glared at him, and he defiantly glared back. After a few seconds, Shiller gave up.
"Who is this? What skills does he have?" Wanda curiously asked.
"Mediocre, no skills."
His stats weren't strong either, just a very average support figure, without any synergies with other cards.
Everyone else looked at the card in shock.
Wanda paused to recall, then turned to Jarvis and whispered, "Did I print it wrong? Does this card have no skills?"
"It did before, but Doctor Schiller erased them."
"Erased them? Why?"
"I don't know."
Their quiet conversation did not escape Stark's ears. Stark asked Shiller, "Why did you play this card?"
"I played it wrong." Shiller said with some helplessness.
"It's weird, how can this card have no skills?" Matt, who was watching nearby, leaned over and said, "Such a weak card, what's even the point of it?"
His observation was spot on. After several rounds, many cards' values had already stacked up, their attack and health several times that of the starting cards. Even the cards not yet played, like the old men Wanda held, were boosting each other in hand, poised to awe everyone as soon as they were played.
What was the use of playing such a weak blank card at this point by Shiller?
Shiller inwardly sighed, mediocrity was not weak; it was his trump card, but unfortunately, it was played too soon.
"I think we should worry about the situation on the field for now," Shiller very diplomatically suggested.
Seeing that Shiller did not want to explain, others did not press further; after all, they were used to the doctor making big moves.
Shiller kept his sorrows to himself, this time it wasn't a big move, he was just unlucky.
"My turn, my turn," Peter exclaimed, raising his hand. "Watch me handle this monster!"
After his declaration, he played a card, indeed, it was Spider-Man 2099. The greatest skill of this card was equipment creation, capable of crafting any equipment, which included Shiller's umbrella among the card library contents.
Furthermore, the drawable card library contained gear from Thor, Odin, Captain America, and even Iron Man. Any card drawn could potentially turn the tides.
Peter excitedly rubbed his hands; he loved drawing cards!
A stack of cards lay before him; 2099 could draw three times upon entering the game, surely that meant he could draw a good card?
Peter randomly tapped three cards.
When the cards flipped over, he was dumbfounded.
The first card was Squirrel Girl's nut, depicted with a Hawaiian nut image; it had no attack power or any skills.
This card was only useful to Squirrel Girl since her own skill was to collect nuts, which provided her enhancements, but the nut itself had no function.
The second card was somewhat better; it was Captain America's shield, but the problem was that the shield would inevitably return to Captain America, regardless of who played it and which shield card sequence it was. This card was essentially a waste.
The third card turned out to be his Spider Silk Launcher, which on paper was the most useful. However, the Spider Silk Launcher needed materials to function, and Peter had no material cards left, so it still amounted to a wasted draw.
After seeing these three cards, Peter was completely exasperated. He didn't expect to draw Mjölnir right off the bat, but at least one useful card would have been nice?
Everyone else was speechless. Stark began to rant, "Peter! What kind of luck is this, just randomly grabbing a gun would have been better!"
"This might as well have not drawn at all," Wanda said. "You'll just have to wait and see if you can sell them in the market later."
Peter was on the verge of tears, but Stark got cocky again, saying, "I also have a Mecha that can make equipment, just wait and see my smartphone."
With sufficient points gathered, Stark was finally ready to start purchasing Mechas. Although he could spend a large amount of points to buy powerful Mechas directly, it was still more cost-effective to combine lower value Mechas.
Because low-value Mechas also count as character cards, they can either absorb damage or deal it. And as long as they are not directly removed from the field, the amount of remaining health doesn't affect the synthesis process.
Thus, the most cost-effective strategy is to first buy cheap Mechas, utilize them to their fullest, and then use them for synthesis.
Stark bought four Mechas in one go, one of which had the skill to craft equipment, allowing him to draw equipment just like Peter.
However, this Mecha wasn't very strong, and the range of equipment it could conjure was limited, basically restricted to drawing types of machine guns.
But a shallow card pool also meant fewer chances for errors; at the very least, he could draw submachine guns, and those produced by Stark Group packed quite a punch.
Just as Stark was about to draw a card, he heard an annoyed sigh from Steve.
He turned and asked, "What happened?"
"Hawkeye's shot didn't kill Red Skull but instead triggered a transformation. Matt was hit earlier and was killed outright by a counterattack."
Everyone turned to look and saw that Red Skull had transformed, much stronger than before. Matt had been eliminated from the game, Hawkeye was critically wounded, Captain America was slightly injured, and The Hulk's Hulk form was about to run out.
"Nick, what are you doing?" Stark immediately yelled, "You started this mess, and now you're slacking off in the background!"
"Who says I'm slacking off?" Nick retorted, saying, "What are you talking about? I'm saving up for a big move!"
With that, he played a card, Sharon Carter.
Everyone's expressions were a spectacle—they all wanted to say, is that your big move? But considering Carter herself was present and not feeling well, they mostly held their tongues.
Steve knew even though Carter's position in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't very high, not to mention not matching Black Widow or even Coulson.
Although she was one of the few agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. with a relatively clean background, her capabilities were limited. She lacked Coulson's tactfulness and Black Widow's combat skills, being a normal person without superpowers, yet it was impressive she held the rank of a Level 7 Agent.
However, Nick scoffed and said, "Don't be afraid to find out, Agent Carter's strength doesn't lie within S.H.I.E.L.D."
Everyone immediately looked at the skills listed on the card.
When they saw the word "Sky Sword Bureau," Steve somewhat understood.
The so-called Sky Sword Bureau was actually Nick's personal project.
It's well known that Nick was a master at filing expenses, but those funds had to go somewhere, which was the Sky Sword Bureau.
Carter had been managing the Sky Sword Bureau for Nick all along, Steve thought, no wonder she always said she was busy when they were dating. It didn't make sense for her to be so occupied with no real position in S.H.I.E.L.D., but if she was busy with the Sky Sword Bureau, then it made sense.
And with Carter's entry, a construction card fell into Nick's building column—a Space Battleship.
Others widened their eyes in surprise; Nick really played that card?
Most superheroes present more or less knew what Nick was meddling with, but only a few knew specifics. Even Stark, an expert in the field, had only heard the name but didn't know exactly what it entailed.
Some might think no mechanical creation could escape the notice of Iron Demon God, but Nick indeed could, because the technology he used wasn't Earth-based but a novel technology blending Asgardian and technology from the Three Great Empires.
The funds he embezzled were not for nothing; at present, humanity's two major starports, Neptune and Pluto, with Neptune under China's control and Pluto almost entirely Nick's.
He used the Three Great Empires' technology and cooperation with Asgard's technology there, already going beyond the prototype of human starships.
Starships hold a special category in the cosmos; they are not merely spacecraft. Humans can now build spacecraft, which includes a broad range, from merchant ships to Kree escort ships and flying saucers.
But a starship is different; its status is somewhat like a carrier in human terms, worthy of being called a "cosmic fleet." Having mere ships isn't enough; a flagship starship is essential.
A starship can accommodate spacecraft, serving as a docking harbor, launching firepower in combat, and deploying shields while docking to protect the entire fleet.
Most critically, a starship can lead a fleet to jump.
Not every spacecraft can perform a direct jump; this requires special technology and materials. Even the Three Great Empires wouldn't outfit every small craft with a jump device, aside from some special scout ships, with most combat vessels relying on a starship's jump device.
Overall, starships are not only large and powerful but also serve as comprehensive mobile bases for cosmic combats.
There are clearly established standards in the cosmos that define a starship; currently, Asgard has 126 active starships, meaning they can deploy 126 fleets at any time.
The number of starships among the Three Great Empires is much higher, though no specific figures are available. It's estimated that even the Xia Empire, the smallest fleet-wise, owns thousands of starships.
Of course, maintaining such a vast domain as ruled by the Three Great Empires indeed requires many fleets. Most fleets patrol their respective territories, unlikely to be mobilized unless in dire situations and not promptly available.
To think that Nick had already formed a prototype of a starship.
And what Schiller thought was, this guy must definitely be colluding with SWORD, otherwise how could he have the manpower to turn out a starship so quickly? I know well enough about American efficiency.