It was a sunny morning the next day.
Lin Xin woke up bright and early, a renewed excitement to her behavior. She seemed exuberant and unphased by the incident with the vampire.
However, Lin Huang did not sleep a wink. His mind was preoccupied with the card he had yet to draw.
After all that happened, their dining table and most of the furniture was destroyed by the vampire. They did not put much effort into preparing breakfast with the ruckus all around. While they ate, Lin Huang watched the news he projected from his ring. The news reporter was the same middle-aged man he saw on the news the day before.
"Yesterday afternoon, the Virtual Eye that was opened near foothold No.7D101, closed automatically, one hour after the incident. Currently, more than 30 Monster Hunters are hunting down the monsters within a 300-kilometer radius around the Virtual Eye. More than 3,000 monsters, bronze-leveled and above were killed as of late. Based on reports, monsters that are Iron-levelled in the area will be killed soon enough. It is safe for residents who stay near the foothold to head out now…"
The Hunter Association were at the top of their game that day. They had managed to kill all the monsters that came out of the Virtual Eye in less than 24 hours. Although they had yet to kill the Iron-level monsters in the area, they were not worried. They were confident that such creatures were not a hazard to such a small foothold. Many residents too had taken the matter of killing the monsters into their own hands. They formed teams of six armed adults so that killing an iron-level monster would be a breeze.
"Brother, I’m going to school!" Lin Xin shouted.
"Alright, be careful when you’re on the road, Xin Er," he replied.
Lin Xin headed off to school right after breakfast. After following her to the door, Lin Huang finished his breakfast and got ready for the day ahead.
"Xiao Hei, since I still have a chance to draw a card, let me do it now!" Lin Huang said to the black card within his body. He could not wait to draw the card.
"Are you sure you would like you to draw your card now?" Goldfinger inquired.
"I’m sure!" Lin Huang confirmed the request and nodded hard. He was excited to see what kind of card he would get.
"12 cards have been randomly chosen. Please draw one from the 12 cards as your reward card for being the host."
"Warning: You only have one chance. Once chosen, no changes are allowed!"
After the sentences were explained to Lin Huang, 12 black cards appeared floating in front of him. They were arranged in a circle, like the numbers on the face of a clock.
Lin Huang scanned through the cards carefully. They all looked exactly the same to him. Each card was black with a single gold question mark in the middle which looked like a golden flame in contrast to the dark background.
Xiao Hei did not rush him. Not getting any hints, Lin Huang shook his head and mumbled, "It seems like I will have to randomly choose one then…"
He raised his hand and pointed at the card that sat at the 12 o'clock mark on the circle. "I want that one!" he said confidently.
Just as he finished his sentence, the card he chose burst into flames and a new card rose from the ashes.
"Congratulations, you got a Mission Card!" Xiao Hei announced.
He ignored Xiao Hei’s notification and looked closer at the card.
It was a golden card with a blonde lady in a black, maid's costume illustration. She had a voluptuous figure and the costume looked incredibly seductive on her body, especially her cleavage. Although the dress was not revealing, a third of her fair breasts were showing. It was hard to not look at.
"Congratulation, you’ve gotten yourself a Mission Card!" The lady in the card started talking and winked at him. Lin Huang was shocked, but soon he was again distracted by her bouncing boobs.
"Now, let me read you your mission!"
"The Mission: Become a Reserve Hunter in a month's time!"
"Mission Reward: Flawless Card x1"
"If the mission is not completed within the time limit, you will be punished: You will lose Goldfinger!"
"The mission announcement is conveyed, please read the back of the card for more information."
The lady then returned to her original form, motionless on the card.
Lin Huang did not even bother as to what a Flawless Card was. To him, he had to complete the mission or else he would lose Goldfinger! If that happened, there was no hope for him to survive the world alone.
He then turned to the back of the card. The description was exactly the same as what the blonde lady had said to him. He then tapped on the card and it became golden dust that was absorbed into his body.
"To become a Reserve Hunter, I must be at least Iron-level to be eligible for the application. Although I’m not capable yet, I will apply as an Imperial Censor for now and see what happens," Lin Huang thought. He had surveyed into the eligibility of becoming a Reserve Hunter before. He knew there were several occupations that offered exceptions and being an Imperial Censor was one of them.
An Imperial Censor could influence monsters to obey him. Not many people had the talent, therefore, an Imperial Censor was a niche and respectable occupation.
Lin Huang had a Monster Card that he could summon to disguise himself as an Imperial Censor.
"The Iron-level rank-3 vampire was considered the strongest one among all those who applied for the Reserve Hunter position, but its weakness was too obvious. If someone was to use weapons that were contaminated with a septic divisor, the vampire would be at great risk in a battle…"
After some analysis, Lin Huang looked at his second card - the cross-ranking card.
"This cross-ranking card would be wasted if I was to use it on an ordinary card. But there’s no other way. I have limited time to collect all the materials to maximize my chances to be a Reserve Hunter! After the rarity of the vampire was upgraded, its ability should be on par with a bronze-level entity. It would definitely strengthen my chances of passing."
With a Cross-Ranking card, the higher the rarity of the card, the higher the value. A normal card can be upgraded to a Rare Card with the use of a cross-ranking card. Likewise, if it was used on a Rare Card, that same card would be upgraded to an Epic Card. If it was used on an Epic Card, it would be upgraded to a Legendary Card of an extraordinarily high value.
Initially, Lin Huang planned to use it when he achieved a better card but it seemed like he had to utilize it now.
"Xiao Hei, how do I summon the monster out of the Monster Card?" Lin Huang asked.
"Focus your attention and the card you want would appear on your hand. Smash the card and the summoning would be complete!" the instructions appeared slowly on the black card just as he inquired.
"Would people see if I summon the card?" Lin Huang questioned Xiao Hei.
"Only the host can see the cards, nobody else would be able to see or sense the existence of your cards."
"That’s great!" Lin Huang was relieved. He was worried that Goldfinger would be seen by someone with bad intentions if they could see his cards.
After clearing his doubts, Lin Huang focused his attention on the task at hand.
He imagined the Monster Card he wanted from his Life Wheel and willed it to appear on his outstretched hand.
Soon, a white-crystal card that was the size of half of his palm appeared on his right hand.
The card was exactly the same as the one he pictured on his Life Wheel. Now that it became physically present on his palm, he could feel the cooling sensation that was flowing from the card.
If Xiao Hei did not assure him that nobody else could sense his cards, he would have asked anyone else around him to confirm this, if they could see what happened. However, he knew what Xiao Hei had said was true.
Following Xiao Hei’s instructions, Lin Huang crushed the card as hard as he could. He was worried that he did not squeeze hard enough but with just a slight amount of effort, the card shattered into a thousand pieces and soon, it started to put itself back together again. In less than a second, a young man, about his age, appeared before him.
Lin Huang was skeptical at first. It seemed like he had summoned another human being instead of the monster he imagined.
"Your Monster Card has been activated. Do you want to randomly extract the monster’s skills?"