CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 5: THE UNBEATABLE COMBO HAS BEEN FORMED!

[Alice decided to head to the City of Sin to rescue Anna.]

[Alice packed her bags and set off; she found her stash buried in the ruins and bought a horse from a lady preparing to flee.]

[Ding! You’ve acquired a Follower Card: Alice’s Little Mare]

City of Sin?

Just hearing the name makes it sound extremely intriguing.

Thinking of this, Shen Sui pulled out the information Lin Ke’Er had given him and searched for details about the City of Sin.

As one of the most dangerous cities on Dawn Continent, the City of Sin is filled with criminals from all over the continent, powerful mages, wicked men doing evil deeds, and omnipresent malevolence. This is the domain of the Lord of Sin—the evil god, and for three hundred years, people have almost forgotten its original name: Modena City.

Wait? Modena City?

What the hell! Isn’t this the city I built in my game? How did it become the City of Sin?

Of course Shen Sui knows the Lord of Sin, a somewhat formidable BOSS in the early stages of the game who ultimately ends up defeated by Shen Sui once he’s leveled up.

Damn, how did my city become the headquarters of crime?

But looking at the information, the current Modena City is indeed dangerous, as the Lord of Sin’s domain, it’s the only city in Dawn Continent that forgives all crimes, virtually all the disasters on Dawn Continent can be traced back to its residents.

Three gods once formed an alliance to launch a divine war against the Lord of Sin, but unable to kill it because of its nature, the city has continued to exist to this day.

Of course, there’s another more important reason: the gods believe that if Modena City were destroyed, the missing Twilight Bishop would return.

Having read the information, Shen Sui wasn’t willing to let Alice venture into the City of Sin. If she ended up getting herself killed, Shen Sui would be left without tears to cry, so he immediately inputted a command.

[You explained the dangers of the City of Sin to Alice, employing every intimidating phrase you could.]

[However, Alice’s resolve became even stronger; she couldn’t let Anna fall into such a desperate situation.]

[Anna’s mother had already given up on saving her, but Alice was determined to bring Anna back.]

This girl, how is she so stubborn!

Shen Sui was frustrated, but he had no choice but to change tactics in guiding Alice.

[You persuaded Alice citing insufficient strength.]

[Alice found it reasonable and asked you how she could quickly improve her strength.]

That’s more like it, isn’t it nicer to level up before tackling the City of Sin quest?

Shen Sui was pleased.

Wait? Did I fall into this girl’s ploy? Did she plan from the beginning to get ways to boost her strength from me?

Shen Sui slapped his forehead and looked over at Clyde’s character backpack.

As a powerful level 16 figure surpassing the gods, Shen Sui naturally didn’t keep many low-level skill books in his backpack during the game. This Fireball Technique skill book was dropped from monsters before his save file was deleted. He remembered there should be a storage box near Lake Paiyiga not far from Andrew City, which he left there years ago.

Lake Paiyiga is the only place in the game where you can fish the Springtime Fish King. As a collector of a full index, Shen Sui certainly wouldn’t miss it.

"Dawn Link" really incorporates many gaming elements; mining, fishing, and storage systems have a style reminiscent of games like "Stardew Valley" and other farming games. When fishing, treasure boxes will appear, containing various items and skill books. Backpack space is limited, so Shen Sui casually placed a storage box near Lake Paiyiga specifically for these things.

Shen Sui remembered when he fished up the Springtime Fish King he was around level 55, thus at the 5th stage, so the contents of the storage box would certainly benefit Alice greatly now.

So, Shen Sui immediately inputted the words into the dueling device.

[You informed Alice about the storage box you left by Lake Paiyiga, and Alice decided to head to Lake Paiyiga before going to the City of Sin.]

[She rode off on her little horse, Alice is on her way.]

Seeing this dialogue meant Shen Sui could hang up for a while, it was already late at night, Shen Sui planned to sleep. But recalling last time when he hung up for less than an hour, Alice was almost at the brink of death, Shen Sui wouldn’t be careless this time.

He opened the skills panel and activated the skill [Star Magic Array].

This is a level 13 skill, extremely powerful, even at level 16, Shen Sui often used it while tackling new DLC.

The Star Magic Array can record up to two spells, eliminating all usage costs, and allowing them to be immediately reused.

While the spell he loaded onto the Star Magic Array was [Recovery].

[You applied the skill: Star Magic Array on Alice.]

[Ding! You’ve acquired a Permanent Spell Card: Star Magic Array]

Finally, I can take a breather.

Looking at the rewards, Alice was indeed quite impressive, ever since drawing her card, she had brought Shen Sui a total of eight Life Cards aside from herself.

[Magic Ring], [Recovery], [Fireball Technique], [Show Weakness], [Dying Faith], [Thunder Strike], [Alice’s Little Mare], [Star Magic Array]

Although three of those were spells used by Shen Sui, it was already quite a haul.

Shen Sui glanced at the three Life Cards obtained later.

[Thunder Strike]’s effect is simple and straightforward, it destroys one opposing follower on the field. Shen Sui was actually considering modifying it to destroy all opposing followers on the field, but unfortunately, [Thunder Strike]’s star level was only 3, unable to carry such a modification.

[Star Magic Array] on the other hand is a 13-star Permanent Spell Card, giving Shen Sui plenty of room for modification.

Fortunately, Shen Sui already had an idea for tactics in the dueling exam, so he began modifying [Star Magic Array].

[Magic Apprentice: Alice]’s effect allows her to cast spells during the opponent’s turn.

Through the effect, spells from the deck, graveyard, and hand can be cast without paying a fee, and given Alice’s effect timing, Shen Sui planned for her to cast [Recovery].

The opponent summons a follower, then Alice activates her effect to destroy it, subsequently when Alice goes to the graveyard, she casts [Recovery] from the deck to revive Alice onto the field—a very flawless underworld combo.

So, what’s missing now?

Of course, it’s the means to retrieve the spell card [Recovery] from the graveyard back to the deck!

With a clear purpose, modifying card effects naturally became much quicker, coupled with the surplus from the 13-star card face, Shen Sui completed the modification of [Star Magic Array] with hardly any effort.

******

Card Name: [Star Magic Array]

Type: Permanent Spell Card

Star Level: 13-star

Effect: ① As long as this card is on the field, when your spell card settles outside of your turn and enters the graveyard, you can return it to the deck, removing its usage limit;

② At the beginning of your turn, you can choose a spell card returned to the deck via effect ① from the deck to add to your hand;

******

Great! Perfect!

A seamless closed loop has formed!

Shen Sui grinned, even his sleepiness faded a bit, he even felt an urge to duel someone immediately.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough Life Cards yet to form a deck.

As long as I go first and deploy this setup, the inevitable combo’s completion, although likely to be reported for forbidden card review, Shen Sui could already pass the dueling exam before that happens.

The next issue is how to quickly get Alice and [Star Magic Array] into hand in a duel.

So, his subsequent cards should focus on search strategies.

Just like a deck of Dark Grandmaster, after acquiring the surefire strategy, the goal is to unconditionally search it out.

Moreover, how to clear the field for Alice in case of drawing second.