In Moste's eyes, a new panel had already appeared.
[Dathumon]
[Type: Lightning/Shadow sys]
[Level: 10]
[Potential: Platinum High (Initial: Platinum Low)]
[Talent Ability: Soul Steal (Special): After defeating a target, can steal the opponent's potential...
Current potential limit: Legendary Beginner]
[Skills: Thunder Cage, Thunder Strike, Dark Spikes, Shadow Walk]
[Evolution Routes: [Meditate to View Details]]
[Description: A monster whose potential has been enhanced by a mysterious force. When its potential reaches the Legendary level, it has the chance to awaken its bloodline ability (an additional talent).]
"Woah!"
"It worked!"
"Wait! No! I hit the jackpot!"
Moste's expression was filled with surprise. Initially, he just wanted to use his talent to increase Dathumon's potential and its upper potential limit, but unexpectedly, he had triggered the monster card's hidden ability!
When the potential reached the Legendary level, it would awaken an additional talent!
To think that, originally, Dathumon could level up to Legendary potential through its talent. However, this made it weaker than other Legendary potential monster cards since it lacked an additional combat-enhancing ability.
Now, thanks to the so-called bloodline awakening, Dathumon's last flaw had been patched up!
Victory!
Moste felt exhilarated. Dathumon, still unaware of what had just occurred, was equally excited, bolstered by the high loyalty value.
However, the two of them didn't have much time to celebrate.
Soon, the disturbances and noises around them caught their attention.
Moste looked around and saw that they were surrounded by three or four different types of common wild monsters.
It was clear that the enormous noise from Dathumon's enhancement had attracted them.
Moste could see clearly—
Giant wild boars covered in scale armor, wild wolves with vine-like plant life growing on their bodies, and the usual goblins commonly found in fantasy stories...
"Perfect."
Moste smirked slightly. Dathumon's ability to absorb potential was incredibly domineering.
It didn't need to look for monsters with particularly strong potential to absorb; it could simply overwhelm with numbers and stack its potential all the way to Legendary!
These wild monsters… weren't they just here to deliver experience and rewards?
Moste casually glanced at them and activated Evolution Core's detection ability.
In his vision.
He saw that the wild monsters only had combat power around level 5 or 6.
Meanwhile, Dathumon, with the increase in its potential, had already shown faint signs of a bloodline awakening, raising its level by two additional ranks. It was now at level 10!
The power gap between the two sides was immense!
Moste issued a command: "Thunder Cage!"
He gave the command.
Dathumon let out a joyful roar, and then its mist-like body swirled!
In an instant,
violent thunder mixed with dark purple energy waves surged rapidly!
The monster system in Card Realm was incredibly realistic.
When wild monsters encountered enemies, they didn't blindly rush in to attack. Instead, they behaved like real creatures, testing the waters or trying to flee.
However…
With Dathumon's Platinum-grade potential, it was far beyond the average level 10 monster!
Under the raging thunder, the group of monsters that came to attack was swiftly devoured, unable to make any move in time!
Testing the waters? Running away?
Dream on!
The moment they showed themselves, they were wiped out in an instant!
In the midst of the thunder, within just a brief moment, the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
After one second, the electric light faded, and all that was left were the corpses of the monsters.
A series of messages appeared in front of Moste:
[You have killed the monster 'Forest Stone Boar' and gained 11 Card Energy!]
[You have killed the monster 'Vine Wolf Beast' and gained 9 Card Energy!]
As the notifications popped up, white orbs of light surged into Moste's body.
"Not bad."
He nodded.
Card Energy, in the Card Realm game, was equivalent to a player's experience points. Accumulating enough Card Energy would allow for leveling up.
However, as a game akin to a second world, leveling up in Card Realm was a slow process.
Moste had just killed over a dozen monsters, earning 197 Card Energy, but to reach level 2, he needed 1,000 Card Energy. This meant that someone like Malite, who reached level 10 and became a Gray-tier Card Apostle in just a month, truly had some skill.
After tallying the experience points, Moste wasn't satisfied and glanced down at the ground. As expected, it was empty.
One of the pitfalls of Card Realm as a second world was that the chances of monsters dropping gear, skills, or materials were incredibly low.
On average, it took killing over a hundred monsters before even the least valuable material would drop.
As for gear and skills, they were only reliably dropped by elite monsters and bosses.
"Well… I can't say I didn't get anything," Moste muttered.
He approached the corpse of the Forest Stone Boar, pulled out a beginner's short knife from his inventory, and sliced it open.
Pffft!
The knife pierced through the monster's body.
Moste was planning to cut some meat off.
Card Realm had a hunger mechanic: if players didn't eat periodically after entering the game, their character would die from starvation.
Most monster cards also required food to maintain their combat power.
However, since Dathumon was in a mist form, it didn't have to worry about this.
But Moste, being human, needed to eat.
"Come on, Dathumon, give me some electricity. I'm going to make an electric barbecue."
Crackle! Crackle! Zap!
Soon, a rather strange scene unfolded in the wilderness.
A young, handsome boy was crouched on the ground.
Next to him was a terrifying dragon beast, its body crackling with black mist and thunderous light. Anyone could tell at a glance that this was an incredibly powerful monster card!
Yet, this beast, which looked fierce and intimidating, was quietly emitting a faint current to help its master…
Roast meat.
"Not bad, not bad. Looking good."
Moste picked up a skewer he had made by smashing the tusk of a Forest Stone Boar, and flipped the pork that had been skewered on it.
As the current surged, generating intense heat, drops of oil dripped onto the ground, releasing an irresistible aroma.
Moste then smeared some simple spices he had gathered from the wild on the meat, and in no time, a perfect piece of roast meat had been made.
Crunch.
Crunch.
He eagerly bit into the meat, savoring it as it was crushed between his teeth and swallowed.
The soft texture flooded his mouth, and the fat gradually melted, turning into a flowing warmth.
"So this is the effect of monster meat?"
Moste sighed while eating.
The reason he was cooking the roast meat wasn't just to satisfy his hunger.
According to the experiences of many Card Apostles, the hunger system in the game wasn't just a punitive mechanic that forced players to gather food.
On the contrary, the hunger system was actually a useful buff that enhanced one's abilities.
After eating monster meat, players could permanently boost their stats.
Generally speaking, monster cards could mostly enhance strength or constitution.
Some rare monster meats even increased mental power, improving one's ability to sense and control various elemental forces.
As Moste reminisced about the game mechanics he had studied in the past, he suddenly noticed a burning gaze staring at him.
He chuckled.
"What's up? You want to try some too?"
Looking at Dathumon, who had shrunk its body like a little cat, rubbing against him with an eager expression.
Moste smiled. "Go ahead, eat."
Dathumon excitedly grabbed a piece of meat, tilted its head back, flung the meat into the air, and then opened its mouth to catch it.
Nom!
The piece of roasted Forest Stone Boar meat was swallowed by Dathumon.
However, since Dathumon was a mist-like life form, even though it wanted to eat when it saw Moste enjoy his meal, it couldn't taste anything at all…
So…
Dathumon, a bit confused, shook its head and then lay down next to Moste's hand, looking sulky and somewhat emotional.
Moste found this quite amusing.
"Right now, none of the other players on Earth have ever shared that monster cards can have such a cute side," Moste muttered to himself.
"Maybe it's because their monster cards don't have high loyalty values?"
"Monster cards don't even show their loyalty values, so who would've thought that you need to build a relationship with them to unlock their true combat potential?"
"So the cards of other players aren't as friendly to them?"
Moste pondered this quietly, then continued roasting the meat while once again opening Dathumon's attribute panel.
This time, he wasn't focused on the stats.
Instead, he was looking at something far more important.
The evolution path of Dathumon, as detected by the Evolution Core!
After all, Moste had a special item in his possession, one that could replace the raw essence of darkness required for early evolution of any Shadow sys monster card!
If all went well, he'd soon be able to evolve Dathumon for the first time.
However…
The moment Moste opened Dathumon's evolution details.
He was completely stunned.
Holy crap!
Six evolution paths!?