Icy Snake was a pure white snake about one meter long. It was covered in ice and snow, emitting coldness as it crawled on the ground. It looked quite cute, while Thunder Bird resembled a crow surrounded by bolts of lightning.
Icy Snake could freeze a single target, so Xie Mingzhe tried to use it to freeze the half-woman, half-snake monster. He also used Thunder Bird's AOE skill "Interlinking Thunder"—the monster and its surrounding snakes took damage as expected.
Xie Mingzhe was a science student on Earth and was sensitive to data. He deliberately observed the damage points—"Interlinking Thunder" caused about 80 points of damage to all targets. According to the description of Thunder Bird's base attributes and additional skill, its base attack was 100 points, and its skill could deal 80% attack damage, which perfectly matched the algorithm of 100×80%.
In other words, the ultimate damage a card could deal depended on its base attack and skill coefficient.
As an experienced player, Xie Mingzhe quickly concluded that this card was just a common one not worth wasting resources to level up to seven stars. Cards given to newbies by the system were definitely not good cards. As he played more, he might find better cards with higher coefficients, like 200%, 300%, or even higher base attack.
Good cards couldn't be obtained easily, so Xie Mingzhe decided to take his time and get familiar with the rules of the game first.
This simple instance wasn't difficult for Xie Mingzhe. He counted the data while playing, and soon he killed all the small snakes, reducing the half-snake monster's health to just 1%.
At this moment, the monster suddenly detonated itself, killing both [Icy Snake] and [Thunder Bird] in seconds.
——Congratulations! You have completed the mission in the illusion land.
——The levels of [Icy Snake] and [Thunder Bird] have been increased to Level 3. Bonus: 10 Green Star Stones and 2 Green Repairing Stones.
When Xie Mingzhe thought about how to use the Stones, the considerate game system explained: [Star Stones] contain a lot of experience and can be used to level up your favorite cards. Every Star Card has a limited lifespan, which decreases after death. When the number reaches 0, the Star Card will be damaged. At that time, [Repairing Stones] of the same level can fix those damaged Star Cards.
"Your [Icy Snake] and [Thunder Bird] have been damaged. Please fix them with Repairing Stones!"
No wonder the half-snake monster detonated itself to kill these two Star Cards. It was meant to teach players about the repairing function of Star Cards.
After fixing these two cards, Xie Mingzhe followed the system's guide and continued to gain more experience in different instances.
Outside the door, as Brother Chen had just walked out, a tall girl told him, "Brother Chen, we've received a big order."
Brother Chen's eyes lit up, and he asked, "What order?"
The girl replied, "Someone posted a rewarding task on the Exchange. They need a total of 100 seven-star wood attribute fragments in three days, and the reward is 20,000 gold coins. I took the order."
Cheers rang out from all around: "Aqing, well done! A hundred fragments—this will be a lot of work!"
Brother Chen waved his hand, "Get ready to collect materials in Jupiter."
"The required squad for the Jupiter instance is five people. We only have four, so we can't enter. Ask someone else to join us," she said.
Thinking of the new recruit, Brother Chen returned to the next room and said to Xie Mingzhe, "Xiao Xie, our studio is shorthanded. Do you understand the game rules? Come and clear an instance with us."
Xie Mingzhe immediately ran over, greeted his "colleagues" with a smile, and sat down next to them.
The others, immersed in the game world, didn't pay much attention to his greeting. Wearing helmets, they didn't even look at him.
"Jupiter," Brother Chen said, "assemble at the entrance of the Misty Forest."
Xie Mingzhe shamelessly asked, "Brother Chen, where is the Misty Forest?"
Brother Chen patiently answered, "There's a world map in one room of your apartment. It can teleport you wherever you need to go."
Xie Mingzhe, while clearing an instance under the system's guidance, entered the study. He left his unfinished task aside and walked to the next room. His apartment had three rooms and a living room. On the wall of the last room was a world map—a vast galaxy map with twinkling stars marked with labels.
Was this galaxy map the World of Star Cards? How spectacular!
Xie Mingzhe stood stunned for a few seconds, then he found "Jupiter" among the dense swarm of stars.
In the game, there were Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, and Mars in the solar system, except for Earth. Xie Mingzhe noticed that there were also attribute marks on the cards: Water and Metal. Did this mean that Jupiter and Mars were related to the attributes of the cards?
With this doubt in mind, Xie Mingzhe was teleported to Jupiter and arrived at the entrance of the Misty Forest. Brother Chen sent him a team invitation. As Xie Mingzhe joined the team, a clear female voice asked, "Are you the newcomer? What cards do you have? Tell me, and I'll allocate the tasks."
Xie Mingzhe summoned two cards, "I only have [Icy Snake] and [Thunder Bird]."
The girl looked at the cute little white snake crawling around and the thunderbird with spiky feathers hovering above them. She almost choked on her breath, "You want to clear a seven-star instance with these two one-star cards? Are you serious?"
A man with glasses tried not to laugh, "The attack power of [Thunder Bird] is only 100, but the boss in the seven-star instance has 10,000,000 HP."
A flock of crows flew overhead...
In the game world, Xie Mingzhe felt innocent: wasn't it you who called me here?
Brother Chen, the culprit in the matter, was embarrassed but just touched his nose, "I forgot, he's a beginner. It's his first day playing the game."
An awkward silence descended on the team...
After five seconds, Brother Chen rubbed his temple lightly, "Well, Xiao Xie, treat it as an exercise!"
Xie Mingzhe excitedly rubbed his hands and sat up straight, like a good student listening carefully to a lesson, "Okay, Brother Chen, I'll just watch and won't cause any trouble!"