"The initial career recommendations suggest that the mage class has a higher power curve, but it's harder to master. The warrior class, on the other hand, has cheaper equipment and skills early on, making it suitable for casual players."
"The Earth Star Domain birthpoints are allocated to the Losrick Federation and the Moore Dynasty."
"The types of low-level monsters that are easier to deal with early on include low-tier slimes and basic magic puppets."
Sunlight bathed the desk, and Moste was carefully studying the information on his phone.
...
"Moste, are you still researching that game?"
Moste's thoughts were interrupted by a soft female voice. A girl dressed in home clothes walked over to him.
The girl wore a light pink outfit, giving off an energetic vibe. Even in loose home attire, her graceful curves were subtly noticeable.
She slightly bent down, gazing at Moste with a gentle smile on her face.
Her bright, beautiful features were enough to dispel some of Moste's fatigue.
"Didn't they say that this game can help develop one's mental faculties, as it's a virtual second world beyond the universe?"
"Earth's Star Domain is starting late anyway."
"I need to research it thoroughly so that I can get a head start."
Moste explained.
What he had been studying was a large virtual reality online game that was popular throughout the Galactic Federation, called Card Realm.
This game had appeared 500 years ago and had spread across the universe.
As an ordinary person in the Earth Star Domain, Moste had heard the official advertisements. Apart from its game content, Card Realm also promised many mysterious benefits!
The official line was that it could help develop mental faculties, while the unofficial rumors were even more exaggerated. Some short videos online claimed that powerful players in Card Realm could bring the game's power into the real world!
That's why, when Moste learned that Earth's Star Domain would soon be launching Card Realm, with everyone getting a free virtual reality headset to create an account ahead of time, he threw himself into it.
He devoted himself completely to his research!
Moste felt that this could be the opportunity to change his and his adoptive sister Morrian's fate!
As for why he was so confident...
The main reason was that he had crossed over into this world 18 years ago, and, having just turned of age.
He had lived through enough hardships in this reality to abandon most fantasies. But still, sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if there was something special about him.
Card Realm was his chance to prove his uniqueness!
"You're still trying to get a head start..."
"The game's been open for almost a month now. Trust me, give up... Others have already sealed monster cards, while you're still stuck with just your initial talent card."
"Moste, with your abilities, getting into a good university shouldn't be a problem. Life isn't just about Card Realm."
Morrian couldn't help but speak, her tone heavy.
As a big sister who had always acted like a mother, she tried her best to pamper Moste. The household expenses were also her responsibility, as she took on freelance programming contracts to support the family.
Morrian didn't mind Moste's plan to make money through Card Realm, but so far, Moste hadn't shown any real potential to grow stronger in the game…
Just as she finished speaking, Morrian felt a twinge of regret.
She imagined her brother's expression of disappointment and hurriedly tried to soften her words.
"It's not that I don't believe in you…"
"It's just, you need to set a deadline for your research, right? Otherwise…"
"Forget it, forget it, what matters most is that my Moste is happy. Worst case, I'll just keep supporting you."
Morrian's delicate face shifted through several shades of color in quick succession.
Moste watched her carefully adjusting her words to spare his feelings and couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.
"Don't worry, sis. I should have results from my research today."
"I'll let you know later, I'm heading to school now."
"Ah? Alright, alright."
"Oh, and remember to take your water bottle."
"Come home early tonight."
Moste closed the door behind him, hearing his sister's sweet voice calling after him.
...
Moste arrived at the gates of Blue Ink Academy, where he could see a new domed hall among the campus buildings. This hall was specifically designed to allow students to log into Card Realm at school, with shared virtual reality headsets available inside.
He quickly walked into the teaching building by the hall and made his way to Class 17.
As soon as Moste pushed open the door, he was greeted by the noise of excited chatter.
"I did it! I did it! I finally sealed a monster card!"
"Congrats, congrats! Now you can become a real card apostle and go level up in the wild!"
"What's all the excitement for? It's been a month since the servers opened, and you only sealed your monster card now. Your progress is pretty slow."
"Of course I'm excited! At least I'm not like Moste, who awakened a trash talent card and will never be able to seal a monster."
"Don't talk about that unlucky guy, alright? After pre-creating his account and using the virtual reality headset to enter his personal space, he awakened a talent card in less than a day. But who would've thought it would be the worst one—a non-rated talent?"
"Guess it's just the way things are now. There's no luck for someone like Moste in this new era."
"Wait, stop talking…"
...
The group, which had been chatting lively, suddenly lowered their voices, feeling a bit embarrassed.
The students noticed Moste walking into the classroom.
And immediately felt awkward.
They were all classmates, and although they secretly felt superior with better talents than Moste, no one wanted to make things awkward by creating tension. After all, they'd see each other every day.
Moste, however, remained calm and collected.
The talent cards the other students were talking about were the first cards everyone received after pre-creating their characters using the virtual reality headsets a year ago. These cards were the most important base cards in the game!
After awakening their talent cards, players could use the power of their cards once the game officially launched to seal monster cards.
Thus, he became an official card apostle.
And with that, he was ready to embrace the start of the Card Realm game.
Those with stronger talent cards could face wild monsters head-on and start the game early. Those with weaker talent cards, on the other hand, could only wait for a chance to snatch a monster with low health, but without strong talent, even low-health monsters were likely to fail to be sealed.
And those with terrible luck, whose talent cards are rated E, F, or even unranked...
Sorry, Card Realm. You're just not worthy of playing it!
You won't even be able to seal monster eggs!
At this moment, Moste took out the virtual reality headset, preparing to put it on, when he heard his classmates once again bring the conversation back to him.
"By the way, what's your talent card? How are you supposed to seal monster cards? Last week, the official hunting team specifically gathered a bunch of monster eggs to help players with weaker talent cards. Why are you still waiting until yesterday?"
The excited boy from earlier sighed helplessly as he responded to the group's questions.
"Alright, alright, since I've already become a card apostle, I'll tell you. My talent is called 'Endurance.' It makes all the cards I hold more resilient to pain."
"It's just an E-grade talent, and I failed several times while trying to seal the monster eggs…"
After he finished speaking, someone couldn't help but comment.
"Ah? That bad? The monster cards we seal aren't even afraid of life or death, they just fight for us."
"Your talent is almost as useless as Moste's Strengthen the Body!"
...
[Ding! Welcome to Card Realm.]
Moste's consciousness sank into the virtual world, and he didn't pay much attention to his classmates' teasing.
On one hand, Strengthen the Body simply enhanced Moste's physical attributes. It didn't offer any extra bonuses. Even though his physical constitution had been improved, it wouldn't help him defeat wild monsters.
And with such a low-rated talent, the chances of failing to seal a monster egg were high.
So, it was only natural that people would make fun of him.
On the other hand...
Moste's previous talent card had indeed been Strengthen the Body.
That had been the talent he received after pre-creating his account a year ago.
But the next day, Strengthen the Body unexpectedly underwent an evolution and became Resilient Body, an E-grade talent card.
A week later, Resilient Body evolved into Adamantine Body, a D-grade talent card.
After that...
Every so often, Moste's talent evolved again, and the time until the next evolution was always displayed.
Three months before the official launch of Card Realm...
His talent had evolved into an SSS-grade talent card: Spirit Body.
The effect was incredibly powerful!
Spirit Body could boost the attributes of Moste and any monsters under his control across the board, while also greatly increasing the chances of sealing cards. Additionally, all units under Moste's command would have a shield that immunized them from the first instance of damage and control effects, refreshing every half-day.
Furthermore, this talent card came with a skill:
Radiant Beam—which dealt massive single-target damage to enemies.
In essence, this talent card wasn't just extremely powerful on its own; it was almost like an extra magic card!
It was explosive in its power!
Moste had researched online, and the most powerful talent card currently known in the world was indeed the SSS-grade, and there was no other SSS talent that could compare to Spirit Body.
But a month had passed since the game launched, and Moste hadn't gone out to kill monsters.
Because...
Spirit Body showed that it would evolve again in three months.
And killing monsters required formally entering the game world. Moste couldn't afford to gamble whether the talent evolution phenomenon present in his personal space would continue once he entered the game world.
So, Moste had waited until today.
And now...
As the countdown on Spirit Body slowly ticked down to zero, a blinding flash of light suddenly erupted!
The original card, filled with shimmering threads, suddenly transformed!