“Modern Girl · Flower Shop Girl,” flower Moon 7. When this card is drawn, if the total number of cards in hand is not more than two, then if the opponent holds a King or Queen this round, the King and Queen are nullified and count as 0 points.
This card was a special card from a new deck released last year. Xia De had only heard Baron Lavende mention it and didn't expect to see it himself. Due to the development of the printing industry driven by steam industry in recent years, the card faces of rhode cards have become increasingly exquisite and pretty. The girl on the card face of “Modern Girl · Flower Shop Girl,” holding a watering can and wearing an apron, watering plants in pots in a flower shop, perfectly fit Xia De’s aesthetic:
“But the luck of this card is built upon the opponent’s luck. Unfortunately, I’m not that lucky.”
Xia De said humbly, then asked in confusion:
“Since this card can’t take effect temporarily, you didn’t really need to flip over the face-down card. Now, I know your bottom card.”
“What’s the difference between drawing a special card and not flipping it over, and not drawing one at all?”
The middle-aged man asked, craning his neck. Xia De paused, not responding, and drew the second card with Mr. Walker.
Mr. Walker had Sun 9, totaling 16 points in his hand. Xia De still had Flower, 2 points, totaling 15 points in his hand.
“I’ll continue.”
“I’ll continue too.”
Mr. Walker drew Sun 4, totaling 20 points, which made him smile. Xia De drew Moon 5, also totaling 20 points, and he narrowed his eyes.
“How about it, Mr. Hamilton, want to continue?”
Mr. Walker asked. He didn’t know Xia De’s bottom card, so he wasn’t clear about the current situation. But no matter Xia De’s choice, Mr. Harry Walker would most likely not continue to draw, which meant that unless Xia De went crazy and continued to draw, this round would most likely be a draw.
Xia De thought for a moment, glanced at Miss Louisa, and then quietly said:
“Want to gamble on luck with me? A draw is too boring.”
He also flipped over his bottom card, revealing 20 points, and looked at Mr. Walker:
“Both are 20 points, I imagine neither of us will choose to continue drawing. So why not try our luck, and each draw one more card? Although it’s highly likely to bust, maybe someone will be lucky enough to draw a 1-point card.”
Mr. Walker thought about it and felt it was fair:
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss such an exciting gamble. So we agree, we both have to draw a card in the next round.”
He reached out and flipped over his fourth card, flower star 3, undoubtedly a bust:
“Oh, it’s as expected.”
His tone was quite regretful, seemingly also hoping for the favor of the god of luck.
Xia De also reached out to draw a card, but instead of taking the card from the top of the deck, he pressed it onto the top of the deck and flipped up a corner. His plan was to take a look, then make a sighing expression, press the card down, and then draw “Carson Rick Southern Folklore · Moon Dance Festival.”
Moon Dance Festival is blessed by two ghosts. When the card is in the deck, as long as he wants to draw it, he can draw it even if he has already seen the card. In contrast, although 【Genesis · Balance】 has a similar effect, it doesn't even need to be in the deck; Xia De can draw it whenever he wants.
When drawing “Carson Rick Southern Folklore · Moon Dance Festival,” if you hold Moon-suited cards and their sum does not exceed 7, then if you bust this round, your total points are adjusted to 1. Xia De now only had one Moon 5, which perfectly met the requirements.
Although this counted as cheating, there was no money at stake this time, and Mr. Walker wouldn't suffer much loss even if he lost. So Xia De, according to his plan, flipped up a corner, and immediately sighed after seeing the suit and number.
The plan failed; he couldn't press the card down anymore.
Xia De looked up at the middle-aged man he was playing cards with, frowned tightly, narrowed his eyes, and flipped over his fourth card, using a spell to control it to float in the air and display it to the other party: flower Moon 1, Xia De 21 points.
“How could this happen?”
The middle-aged man was very puzzled, grabbing the card and looking at it for a long time.
As for Xia De, he finally understood what kind of luck in a card game holding two Founding series cards could bring.
Mr. Walker was a good sport and accepted his loss, of course, also because the stakes were not high. He took the 13 pounds from Miss Louisa and handed over the rolled-up parchment.
When mentioning the information about the out-of-control angel-level relic, although he appeared reluctant, he still revealed the news:
“This angel-level relic isn’t a specific item; this time, the relic is a kind of event, do you understand?”
A relic is not necessarily a precisely existing item; it can also be a piece of information, an event, or something even harder to describe in human language. Xia De had heard about this when he first met Dr. Schneider, but only now did he truly learn about a relic that wasn't an item.
“An event? What exactly is it?”
Miss Louisa asked, while Xia De stood aside, looking down the corridor behind the group, preventing anyone from suddenly appearing.
“My information isn’t necessarily correct; just listen to it as something new.”
Mr. Walker said, counting his money:
“The location is a small town in the southeast of Tobesk City, but I can’t tell you a more specific place. The manifestation is darkness, a darkness that envelops the entire area. Outside the area covered by that darkness, in the normal world, all information about the area covered by the darkness disappears. At the same time, within the area covered by darkness, indescribable creatures will continuously appear, and those creatures will gradually migrate out of the dark area, carrying the darkness to further places.”
Mr. Walker shrugged, stuffing the counted money into his pocket:
“If left unchecked, sooner or later, the darkness brought by those monsters will engulf the entire world. Fortunately, a routine patrol team from the Orthodox Church discovered something was amiss in time. To be precise, a plain inexplicably appeared on the map of Tobesk City, but the Church’s geographers believed that a plain could not exist in southeastern Tobesk. Although even a Ring術士 could not observe that darkness, as long as the approximate range was known, the Church used its methods and still found clues. I don’t know the specific name of the relic, nor more detailed information about it, but at least that darkness has been contained.”
“Are you sure it’s contained? From your description, if something like this gets out of control, we should think about applying to the Academy to leave this area.”
Miss Louisa said.
“The news I heard is that it’s contained, Louisa. You’re also a local of Tobesk; you should know how powerful Mr. Steel Right Hand truly is. Although the evil god incident a few days ago showed that the Orthodox Church isn’t omnipotent, that was an evil god after all, and this matter is different.”
The middle-aged man waved his hand at the two; he was about to leave:
“Even if the sky of the material world collapses, the Orthodox Church and the Academy will still support it. Even if they can’t hold on, there are the rumored Summoner or similar High-Ring Sorcerer. For Letter-based Ring術士 like us, we should still seriously think about our studies. Although the exam week is over, there are only five months until the year-end exams in winter.”
He walked past Xia De and left. From the complaints he was muttering, it seemed that the exam week for the Three Great Arcane Academies was at a unified time, and this gentleman's grades were clearly not ideal.
“Xia De, what do you think?”
Miss Louisa ignored the departing Mr. Walker and instead asked Xia De.
“If the sky collapses, I won’t be able to hold it up.”
He said with a smile, then spoke seriously:
“Although the Church failed to successfully stop the Summoning Ritual, if it’s just an angel-level relic, I think it should be fine. A few days ago, I met Mr. Stan, the head of the Prophet Association, at the Prophet Association. That gentleman was recently conscripted by the Orthodox Church to assist in dealing with an out-of-control relic. Since he has returned, the matter should be close to being resolved.”
“I don’t think the Church can’t control out-of-control relics; it’s just that so many things have happened in the Tobesk area in just one month. I grew up in this City and have never felt this City was so dangerous.”
The Golden-haired girl sighed.
The Outsider did not believe that all of this was due to his arrival, after all, when that darkness appeared, he hadn't arrived yet.
Tonight was calm and peaceful, just as Priest Augustus had said, Ring術士 don't easily encounter out-of-control relics, and the divine descent incident had frightened the Ring術士 of the entire City, so no strange people were encountered that night.
He had spent a week at home with nothing happening. If he encountered an accident right after leaving home, Xia De would really have to check if something was wrong with himself.
Xia De sat beside Miss Louisa, chatting idly with the voice in his mind about the story and singing style of the opera performance, and quietly discussing the situation of other Letter-based Ring術士 in this City with the Golden-haired girl.
The opera ended at 9:30 PM. Tonight's “lesson” was over. Xia De took a carriage to send Miss Louisa back to Feather Pen Street in the University District, where she lived.
Miss Louisa hoped Xia De wouldn't forget that the true purpose of going out tonight was to study “Kiss of the Tree,” so on the way, she talked to him about some content regarding the impact of the “inspiration” element on a Ring術士’s mind and spirit.
Later, they talked about Xia De’s Mystic Lock. Everyone was very tired tonight, so she didn’t have a chance to interact with the Mystic Lock again to gain inspiration, but the Writer thought of another matter:
“Xia De, since your Mystic Lock was obtained because you left traces in the past, have you activated the second time key? Did you have any special experiences this time? Or was this time just like an ordinary investigator?”
She finally asked this question. Xia De glanced at the City night view outside the window. Today was the first day the curfew was lifted, and there were especially many people out drinking, and especially many people leaning against walls and vomiting:
“It’s activated. It’s the key from the fifth epoch, 3002.”
Xia De said, guessing what the cat might be doing alone at home:
“I met Miss Mana Feilianna in the past.”
“Who? Huh? Oh! I see.”
The Golden-haired girl sitting opposite Xia De said softly, covering her mouth; that exclamation just now was a bit too loud:
“Miss Felianna… Xia De, don’t talk to me about your experiences in the past. The mysteries of time are too profound for me. I don’t have the power of time, and listening too much to your experiences might cause problems for myself.”
In a world where mysticism exists, Xia De's unusual time travel experiences themselves are already considered part of abnormal Knowledge. Due to the fragility of mortal Xia De, the Old God, The Innocent Creator, cannot reveal more secrets of epochs and gods to him. And now, Xia De should also ideally not disclose too much of his time travel experiences to others, also considering the fragility of mortals.
“However, if you also want to influence the future from the past this time, so as to gain another inspiration Ling Rune, you can tell me what you did afterwards.”
Miss Louisa said.
“No, this time inspiration probably won’t work. But if things go smoothly, I might gain a Miracle Ling Rune. Oh, and the youth everlasting leaf; I’ll still need to trouble you to help keep a piece then.”
There were no Ling Runes among the rewards from the Old God, but once the Summoning Ritual succeeded, he might gain power from contacting the Old God, yaobian gate.
The Golden-haired girl showed a gentle smile:
“That’s really good. Miracle comes from the past, inspiration comes from our lessons… Are you preparing to advance from Two-Ring to Three-Ring in just one month again?”
Xia De shook his head:
“I don’t have any reason to gain power quickly. Rather than rapid advancement, I’d prefer to make my foundation more solid.”
“That’s right, our path is still long, so there’s no need to walk so fast.”
Xia De always felt that this sentence seemed strange.