As the instructor spoke, everyone turned their gaze toward the door.
A young man entered, wearing sunglasses and a red jacket, strutting in with a confident, almost cocky gait.
"Did you all miss me?" he asked with a grin.
"Malite! You brat finally came back."
"I heard you sealed a monster card on the first day of the game. A Golden-tier Phantom Leopard, right? I thought you'd already forgotten about us."
"The boss is back!"
"Please, take a seat, boss."
The class was abuzz with excitement.
The newcomer, Malite, was originally part of the class, but he had been lucky enough to awaken a C-grade talent—one related to combat, called Ice Blade Congeal.
He successfully captured his first monster card on the first day of the game and became a player.
In the domestic scene, he was considered a relatively strong player.
Everyone in the class looked at him with a mix of envy, admiration, and even jealousy.
A group of more mature girls sent flirtatious glances his way, while the boys were just as eager, calling him "bro" or "big boss".
All hoping to be taken under his wing.
Only Moste remained calm, unfazed by the excitement. It wasn't that he considered himself too good for them, but with his SSS-grade talent, he didn't need to flatter anyone.
Moste, with interest, checked Malite's information.
[Malite]
[Level: 10]
[Class: Gray-tier Warrior]
[Skills:]
Charge (A powerful displacement move that causes enemies hit by it to enter a stun state.)
[Held Cards: Phantom Leopard, Fireball, Mirror Image]
"Impressive. As expected from one of the first players—he's well off."
Moste mused. Malite had already reached level 10, obtained a class, and in addition to his first monster card, he also had two extra spell cards.
In the Earth's Star Domain, he was definitely considered a top-tier player.
No wonder Malite was walking around with his head held high.
Moste decided to use the Evolution Core's detection ability to check the information on Malite's three cards. The Fireball and Mirror Image were simple spell cards—one dealt damage while the other created illusions to confuse enemies.
The real highlight was—
[Phantom Leopard]
[Type: Shadow]
[Level: 9]
[Quality: Low Bronze-tier]
[Talent Ability: Phantom Claws (D-grade)] – Additional minor shadow damage with attacks.
[Skill: Shadow Lunge] – Uses shadow energy to pull a target towards the user. Once the target is pulled, the user will instantly teleport behind the target to attack. During the teleportation, the user is in the Shadow Realm, making ordinary attacks miss.
[Loyalty: 50 (Indifferent)]
[Evolution Path — 1. Phantom Leopard Leader] The player needs to provide the following materials: Three Dark Spirit Flowers, five Elementary Energy Crystals. The Phantom Leopard must kill at least three of its own kind and reach level 15 to evolve.
Shadow Beast— The player needs to provide the following materials... Radiant Beast— The player needs...
[Description: A monster born prematurely. After being sealed by a player, it barely grew, but its potential was greatly limited.]
"Whoa, this is so powerful!"
Moste was stunned.
The Evolution Core's detection ability had practically laid out all the details of the Phantom Leopard for him!
What was even more shocking was that Card Realm didn't typically offer such detailed numeric descriptions.
Moste knew from the information he had found online that even the owners of monster cards could only learn a few basic details about the monster, such as its quality and skills.
The monster card's talent?
That was something players would need to slowly uncover over time.
As for the loyalty value, no one in Earth's Star Domain had ever mentioned it.
Most people assumed that once they captured a monster, it would remain loyal to them forever.
But the most crucial point was:
"I can actually see the Phantom Leopard's evolution paths! And there are three different routes, one of which even reverses its attributes, turning it into a Light-type monster card!"
"That's insane!"
Moste couldn't help but feel excited. Even though Card Realm had only recently launched, top-tier scientists around the world were already beginning to research the possible evolution paths for various monsters.
Globally, at least a hundred major companies had poured massive resources into researching the genetics, evolution, and gene mapping of the monsters in Card Realm, trying to simulate the monsters' potential evolutionary paths.
But even so, most monster cards hadn't had their evolution paths uncovered, and those that were discovered didn't necessarily guarantee a successful evolution.
On the other hand, Moste could casually analyze three precise evolutionary paths for any monster card!
That's right—he was getting paths that were far more accurate than the ones produced by Earth's research!
"Then in the future, even if I just help others analyze their evolution routes, I don't need to guarantee 100% success. If I can manage a 60% success rate, that'll be enough to make me rich!"
Excited, Moste couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.
"A low-level bronze Phantom Leopard?"
"Wasn't it supposed to be a gold-tier monster…?"
The first part of his sentence was barely audible, while the second part was only spoken in his mind.
From the information provided by the Evolution Core.
Moste had a pretty good idea of why Malite had been able to capture the Phantom Leopard. It was likely a premature monster he had "lucked into."
Naturally, the Phantom Leopard's quality was terrible.
Moste then recalled how Malite used to act in class—always boasting.
"Probably... he thought that with such a low-quality bronze tier, it would be too embarrassing to admit, so he pretended it was a gold-tier monster?"
Moste understood.
Who didn't want to show off a little in front of their friends, after all?
He naturally chose to let it slide.
However, what Moste hadn't expected was that Malite, upon hearing this, furrowed his brow and looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression.
When the whole class was gathered around him, someone standing off to the side, indifferent and unconcerned—it was just too noticeable!
Unfortunately.
For Malite, as he was about to say something to put Moste in his place, he suddenly heard a low, rumbling voice.
"Low-level Bronze Phantom Leopard!"
Wait, who said that?
What's going on? "Out of the mouth of babes"—but the listener took it to heart.
The quality of the Phantom Leopard was Malite's biggest sore spot, his most unwillingly exposed secret. At that moment, he was thrown into a panic.
Forget about trying to trouble Moste; even his urge to show off in front of his classmates was immediately shattered, and cold sweat started to pour down his back.
After all, he had received plenty of Earth's Star Domain support resources because of this gold-tier initial monster card!
If this was exposed, he'd be in serious trouble!
...
Thus, Malite hurriedly waved his hands, trying to cover up his flustered state. "Alright, everyone, stop crowding around. Teacher, I came back to apply for a spot in the official breeding zone, to select a monster egg or a young monster for my second monster card."
"I have other things to do. Can we wrap this up quickly?"
Upon hearing this, Vainette nodded seriously, her chest lightly heaving as she did so.
Then, she looked around with concern.
"Are there any other students who want to apply for monster eggs or monster younglings?"
"Everyone can take advantage of Malite's good fortune, and it'll probably speed up the approval process."
Naturally, Moste stepped forward right away.
"Teacher, I want to sign up."
"Me too! Me too!"
"I also want in!"
Immediately, many students eagerly raised their hands.
Vainette waited a moment until the excitement settled down and then took out her phone to start compiling the list.
At the same time, she glanced at the young man standing next to her.
"Alright, Moste, looks like you're finally ready to take action."
"But waiting's fine too. Now that we have the official breeding zones, almost everyone can become a Card Apostle. You just need to focus and condense your first sealing card."
The sealing card was a tool that all Card Realm players could create through meditation in their personal space.
However, you had to at least have one card before you could begin to meditate on the sealing card.
So, those who hadn't awakened their talent yet would have to wait.
After Moste had pre-created his character, he immediately awakened his talent, meaning that he had already begun to meditate and store up his sealing card. Some of the others in class, whose talents awakened later, hadn't yet condensed their sealing cards, meaning they'd have to give up on this opportunity to go to the breeding zone.
"Alright, I think it would be best if everyone went together."
Vainette suddenly suggested.
"Even if you haven't condensed your sealing card yet, you can still take a look at the different monster eggs. This way, when you come next time, you'll have a better idea of what to choose. With so many of us going, we might get lucky. I estimate we'll be able to find a White-tier professional to guide us, helping us select better monster eggs."
"Really?!"
"Yay! Long live the teacher!"
"Long live Malite the legend!"
The class erupted in cheers.
Moste also joined in with a few loud cheers, his eyes filled with anticipation.
At that moment, he suddenly realized something important.
The Evolution Core's detection function could actually check the quality of the cards!
This meant that…
He had the perfect opportunity to find a monster with top-tier quality in the breeding zone to be his initial partner!