CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: CLAUDE BEGINS TO DEMAND

[You informed Alice of the significance of these two items.]

[And you made a request to Alice.]

[You want to absorb the power of the evil god to repair a severely injured soul.]

Shen Sui initially approached Alice under the pretense of needing help due to severe injuries, hoping to instill in Alice the idea that he was not free labor, so she wouldn’t become reliant on him.

This was more beneficial for Alice’s growth.

Tch, why does it feel more and more like raising a daughter? Shen Sui grumbled internally.

Any reward requires a price to be paid.

Now it was time for Alice to pay the price for enlisting Claude’s help during the City of Sin incident.

[Alice agreed to your request, but she would not allow the entire city to be sacrificed. You explained to Alice the way to circumvent the third condition and how to guide the evil god’s power for your absorption.]

[Alice used arson on the destroyed Thunder Knight Order to obliterate the evidence.]

[Alice continued her journey to Anlud.]

While Alice was heading to Anlud, Shen Sui opened the unloaded Life Card slot, which contained Life Cards Shen Sui had not yet loaded onto physical cards. Before loading, Shen Sui could make modifications to them.

At this time, only six Life Cards remained unloaded, besides the three Divine Cards and Sacred Artifact Cards that could not be obtained due to not reaching the Soul Card Tier, there also were the Eye of the Evil God, Sokfatris’ Contract, and Sitting on the Ground and Raising the Price.

******

Card Name: Sitting on the Ground and Raising the Price

Category: Spell Card

Star Level: 7 Stars

Effect: When the opponent pays Soul Points to use a Life Card, you can reveal the top card of your deck and add it to your hand to activate this effect, forcing your opponent to pay extra X amount of Soul Points, otherwise, the used Life Card’s effect is negated and destroyed. If the opponent pays extra costs due to this card’s effect, the star level of the Life Card added to your hand by this card’s effect is reduced by X. (X is the star level of the revealed card.)

******

Reading the effect of Sitting on the Ground and Raising the Price, Shen Sui suddenly had an inspiration.

He had many storage boxes scattered across the continent filled with a large number of skill books and equipment, as well as various ores he collected; Alice would undoubtedly need to sell these items in the future.

Perhaps this was an opportunity to test if he could foster a "merchant personality" for Alice.

Upon seeing Sitting on the Ground and Raising the Price, Shen Sui had already figured out its effect, as Merchant Alice could increase the costs the opponent has to pay.

What about the underworld and above are irrelevant.

Shen Sui was exploring the potential of Life Card effects.

Sokfatris’ Contract was merely a spell card capable of summoning Sokfatris, temporarily useless to Shen Sui, but the Eye of the Evil God surprisingly pleased him.

******

Card Name: Eye of the Evil God

Category: Equipment Spell Card

Star Level: 9 Stars

Effect: Choose one of the opponent’s followers on the field as a target to equip this card, gaining control over the equipped follower. When this card leaves the field, the equipped follower is destroyed.

******

Although this is simply a direct Minotaur Card, it’s far more formidable than imagined in Life Card duels.

Because, in Life Card duels, the concept of liberation is much easier to achieve than in Yu-Gi-Oh.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, you need to have higher-level monsters in hand to release field monsters.

Whereas, in Life Card duels, you can directly release the follower in exchange for Soul Points.

To take the opponent’s powerful follower, then release and convert it into one’s own resources, this might not be a mere advance exploration.

After viewing the cards, Shen Sui quickly switched back to the homepage.

At this moment, Alice had just entered Anlud City.

[Alice has entered Anlud City, but she always felt a strange sensation.]

Anlud City is a typical mountain city, with buildings climbing straight up the hillside as seen from the city gate. The architectural style of the city is uniform, with red roofs and white walls, forming a red and white scenery before Alice’s eyes.

[Alice decided to head first to Anlud’s underground sewage system to find Claude’s treasure box.]

[However, Anlud’s underground sewage system is under maintenance.]

Such a coincidence?

[Alice didn’t believe it, and she began to suspect the Thunder Church here even more.]

[You used divine investigation on Anlud City.]

[You detected the divinity of the Master of Thunder and Sokfatris.]

[According to your formula, Alice began collecting materials in Anlud City.]

[Looking up at the Thunder Church at the mountain’s peak in Anlud, Alice felt an indifference, an aloof disregard for the lives of the people below.]

[In light of this realization, Alice finally understood the root of her unease.]

[There were no nobles collecting entry fees at Anlud City’s gates.]

[This was unreasonable. Alice’s personal experience led her to discern that nobles in these small cities would not relinquish any potential revenue.]

[Alice began exploring Anlud.]

[In Anlud, all stores established by nobles had tightly closed doors.]

[It was as if nobles had vanished from Anlud City.]

At this point, even Shen Sui, no matter how slow, could see there was something wrong. Was the evil god’s summoning ritual reaching its climax, with only the items in Alice’s possession needed to complete the final puzzle?

Judging by the timing, the Thunder Knight Order transporting the Eye of the Evil God and the contract should indeed be arriving at Anlud City around this time according to the original plan.

[Alice suspects the evil god’s ritual has already begun.]

[She knows her plan needs to accelerate.]

[Alice began threading through Anlud City by following your method.]

[Under your guidance, Alice began setting up the magic array.]

[She stuck a sword at the city gate.]

[She placed a water kettle in a well.]

[She hung a pocket watch on the clock tower.]

[She handed a bowl of rice to a beggar by the roadside.]

[...]

[Alice spent an entire day seemingly doing things with no apparent meaning.]

[Yet she persistently carried out her actions, believing your method would indeed prevent Anlud City from destruction.]

[At night, under the cover of darkness, Alice infiltrated the peak of Anlud Mountain, the highest point of the city.]

[Gazing at the starry sky, Alice clasped her hands together, closed her eyes tightly, and recited the incantation you taught her:]

[Stars above, under the witness of the night, with my body, I bear the trials of this world.]

[Alice donned a sapphire necklace.]

[The moment the necklace was worn, a mysterious power surged into the sapphire. Then, before Alice’s eyes, a series of silver threads flowed through Anlud City, tracing the path Alice had walked during the day, connecting various individuals and items Alice had interacted with, ultimately forming a massive magic array that enveloped the entire Anlud City. All of this transpired silently to others.]

[Ding! You obtained the Permanent Spell Card: Twilight Saintess’s Protection]

******

Card Name: Twilight Saintess’s Protection

Category: Permanent Spell Card

Star Level: 10 Stars

Effect: As long as this card remains on the field, when a follower on your field is attacked or affected by an opponent’s card effect, this must be activated, negating the attack or card effect, then you receive 1000 points of damage.

******

Next, it’s time to prepare the sacrificial offering for Sokfatris.

Shen Sui’s lips curled upward; whether or not he could replenish a large number of Follower Cards in one go was up to you, Alice.