Chapter 80: Return and Drawing Cards

Above the Atlantic, the wings of a colossal transport aircraft sliced through the clouds, tearing white scars into the blue sky.

After more than a month of war, the officers who had fought on the front lines were exhausted both in body and spirit. Seated in the soft chairs of the cabin, they quickly drifted into sleep. The captured scientists, regarded as important hostages, sat under the watchful eyes of armed guards, their faces heavy with worry, keeping silent amongst themselves.

This left the cabin of the transport aircraft so quiet that only the faint sounds of internal machinery and the gentle rush of air currents could be heard.

Kyle, sitting by the window, closed his eyes to rest, letting his mind descend into the vast space of his cards.

Following the Allied forces’ massive campaign to occupy Germany, he was likely the greatest victor among them all—the spoils he had gathered from the battlefield and the underground military vaults reached a staggering quantity!

Within the immense card space, tens of thousands of item cards hovered in the materials area awaiting processing, each shining with the white, green, or blue hues of their rank, like a myriad of stars vying for brilliance in a prairie night sky.

In truth, the white item cards occupied the smallest share, mostly cheap, common equipment that Kyle had drawn during the early phase of the campaign. Later, as green-ranked weapons became abundant on the battlefield, he scarcely bothered with the white cards, let alone drew them.

Kyle began sorting through the materials area, transferring gold, gemstones, and valuable collectibles into the item card region for storage, laying the foundation for future power and wealth. Most of the German military gear remained in the materials area; to him, these obsolete weapons were too precious to discard but too useless to keep. Following his usual practice, he sacrificed them as material cards.

Sacrifice and draw—

With a thought, over ten thousand selected green item cards rose and began to shatter, vanishing in turn. In their place, a thousand new cards of various kinds emerged.

A thousand consecutive draws!

‘You have sacrificed [German-made Mauser Pistol] ×1023, [German Rifle] ×2046… [Mauser 98K] ×59, [Squad Machine Gun] ×49… [Reconnaissance Equipment] ×26, [German-made Grenade] ×186…’

Though all were green item cards, it was the first time Kyle had drawn such a huge batch at once, and even he felt a twinge of apprehension.

‘Draw successful. Congratulations, you have obtained [Life Enhancement] ×34, [Piranha], [Golden Lion], [Mastery of Galactic Alliance Language], [Military Tank], [Laptop], [Unhatched Monster Egg]…’

As the thousand newly drawn cards appeared, radiating dense green light, a deep blue card shot forth from among them.

“It wasn’t easy. A thousand draws, and finally a card of higher rank,” Kyle sighed, reaching out to take the rare blue card.

[Unhatched Monster Egg]: A gene-mutated giant monster egg. Rare blue creature card.
Suspected to be the offspring of an ancient lizard and dinosaur hybrid, it has not yet fully hatched and must be placed somewhere warm and secure for a long period of incubation.
Current status: Can be manifested physically, cannot be summoned.

“What kind of strange thing is this?” Kyle was dumbfounded; it was his first time drawing a creature card of this kind.

Whether it was the summonable [Blue Eagle], [Ancient Giant Turtle], or the one-time-use [Venomous Wasp Nest], they were all mature and summonable upon drawing. Only [Initial Venom Symbiote] had started out as a baby in its growth stage.

But this—an egg, requiring time to hatch? That was even more peculiar.

“Still, if the mere egg is of rare blue rank, then whatever hatches from it might reach the purple rank—a dinosaur monster? An alien creature?” Kyle touched his chin, lost in thought, before finally storing the card at the top of the creature card section.

Who knew how long it would require to hatch—perhaps a century or two, and still remain unbroken; that would be ridiculous.

Kyle then sorted the thousand new green cards by their attributes, allocating them to ability, creature, item, or material regions. His gaze settled upon the fifty blue-ranked [Gem Residue] cards.

It proved that relying solely on low-ranked item cards for sacrifices was unreliable—the chance of drawing a superior rank card was pitifully low.

To obtain high-rank cards, one had to use cards of the same rank as sacrifices!

“Once again, it’s up to you,” Kyle said with anticipation, sending all the [Gem Residue] into the sacrificial materials.

‘You have sacrificed [Gem Residue] ×50!’
‘Draw successful. Congratulations, you have obtained [Clinging], [Alien Bomb], [Elven Blessing], [Life Enhancement], [Aerial Dash]’

Two deep blue, three light blue—five new cards appeared, glowing with blue light, suspended quietly in the card space.

“These all seem to be good things. Is Lady Luck finally smiling on me?” Kyle excitedly licked his dry lips, quickly inspecting the four unfamiliar blue cards, aside from the familiar [Life Enhancement].

[Clinging]: Freely cling to any cover. Blue ability card.
For half an hour after activation, one can easily attach and secure themselves even to the smoothest glass walls of skyscrapers, moving freely at any angle. Cooldown time: three hours.
Current status: Skill-type ability card, does not affect physique or genetics.

“This is similar to that little spider’s ability from the future,” Kyle mused. But since it was drawn as an independent skill, Clinging seemed even stronger, allowing walls to be treated as level ground for free movement.

The only drawback was that skill cards required cooldowns. Yet the venom symbiote, capable of learning host abilities, could conveniently fill that gap.

After [Stealth], this was the second skill-type blue card—a decent addition.

Kyle stored [Clinging] and moved on to examine the remaining three new cards.

[Alien Bomb]: An alien bomb from extraterrestrial technology. Blue item card.
A small round bomb containing devastating explosive power. Once the activation button is pressed, it irreversibly begins a ten-second countdown, after which it consumes and destroys everything within a hundred-meter radius.

“A miniature nuclear bomb?” Kyle’s eyelid twitched; even a slight touch from this would leave him in shreds if not dead.

[Elven Blessing]: Blessing granted by a nature spirit. Blue creature card.
Summon a nature spirit to bestow a blessing upon another, granting the recipient affinity with nature and the favor of the wild.
Current status: One-time use. Can be used on another person. Cannot be used on the card owner (too strong a murderous aura).

“Another bizarre creature card, right after the monster egg,” Kyle frowned, placing it alongside the egg card.

He glanced at the last new card and his heart skipped; excitement shone in his eyes.

[Aerial Dash], the third skill-type ability card!