Anime Card System

Hearing that they could move freely, Russell didn't hesitate. He summoned Pidgeot.

Seeing the great bird appear, Nancy Whitemore was surprised. "You made a second creature card so quickly?" She had assumed that, at most, Russell would have made a simple vehicle-type prop card.

Russell just shook his head slightly, his expression calm. "It's just a green-quality card. Nothing special."

Nancy was left speechless by his casual, almost Versailles-like humility. She knew how many aspiring cardmakers struggled their entire lives just to create a single green-quality card. Thinking of this, she just smiled slightly. "A flying mount is perfect for a mountain forest secret realm like this." Indeed, a flying mount was an advantage in almost any terrain.

At this moment, the other students in the class couldn't help but cast envious glances in his direction. "As expected of Russell." "I want to ride a bird, too. My family only got me a mountain bike for this trip." "You're lucky. I've got nothing. I'm relying on my own two legs."

Hearing his classmates' discussions, Russell sighed inwardly. If it weren't for Nancy's reminder, he probably wouldn't have thought of making a rideable card either.

In the crowd, Darren stared at Russell, his eyes burning with jealousy and unwillingness. Russell again, always Russell, he thought bitterly. Is he so perfect!? A dark thought flickered through his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. No, if I try something here and get caught, I'm dead.

As if sensing his hateful gaze, Russell turned and looked directly at him. Darren immediately flinched, quickly turning his head away and pretending to be interested in a nearby tree.

Russell couldn't help but sneer. He gave Darren a third mental label: bullies the weak, fears the strong.

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked, noticing his expression. "What's so funny?"

Russell just waved his hand. "Nothing. I just saw a clown." Without waiting for her reaction, he hopped onto Pidgeot and soared into the sky.

Seeing Russell leave, the other students didn't linger, heading off in various directions to begin their own exploration.

One of the Association staff members leading the group looked up at the small black dot that was now Russell. "It seems New Metro First High has produced a real seedling this time," he said with emotion. "By the way, Walter," he said, turning to his colleague. "Didn't you take leave to take care of your mother?"

The cardmaker known as Walter was silent for a moment, then gave a wry smile. "People like us, who've spent half our lives just to become Iron-level cardmakers, don't save much in a year. Besides, my mother's illness requires a lot of money. If I don't work, we don't eat."

The secret realms that had been completely controlled by the Association, like this one, were generally staffed by retired or older cardmakers, those who had no hope of advancing beyond the Black Iron level. It was a waste of resources to have high-level cardmakers babysitting a place like this.

The leader sighed and clapped Walter on the shoulder. "Let's not talk about such unhappy things. Let's head back to the monitoring room. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong today."

Russell rode Pidgeot high above the forest, soon reaching the halfway point of the mountain. In the air, he carefully considered his goals for this trip. The joint examination for the four schools is in half a month. I need to get more materials during this training. Relying on Yoriichi alone might be difficult.

Although he was now the top student at his school, he knew there were countless other talented people in the world. He wouldn't be as arrogant as Darren and assume he was the best. Perhaps when he made his first card, he was just having fun, trying to pay off his loan. But after experiencing the [Demon's Nest] riot, he deeply understood that this was a dangerous world. He didn't even dare to think about what tragedy would have befallen New Metro that day if Master Blake Whitmore hadn't been there. Now, more than anything, Russell craved power.

Pushing the complicated thoughts from his mind, he began to survey the forest below. A dark, thick canopy of trees blocked his vision, making it impossible to see the ground clearly. In desperation, he could only control Pidgeot to land.

After putting Pidgeot away, Russell summoned Yoriichi Tsugikuni. "Yoriichi, be careful. It's dangerous here," he whispered. Yoriichi gave a slight nod, his right hand resting on the hilt of his katana, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

Crack. The sound of their footsteps stepping on dry, fallen leaves echoed in the quiet woods.

SNAP.

Suddenly, Yoriichi drew his blade, stopping Russell's forward movement with the flat of the sword. Russell wasn't a fool; he immediately realized Yoriichi had detected an enemy. He instantly summoned Pidgeot again and flew up into the air for a better vantage point.

The thick layer of leaves on the ground was now being pushed up from below by some long, unseen creature, leaving a moving trail. Yoriichi's eyes were fixed intently on its trajectory.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a set of ferocious mandibles erupted from the leaves. But how could Yoriichi be hit by such a simple ambush? He shifted his body slightly to the side, easily avoiding the bite. The blade in his hand glowed red, and he brought it down in a fierce, vertical slash, cutting the unknown creature clean in two.

From the air, Russell could now see that the creature was a slender, black centipede. Just as he was about to land and condense the materials, he noticed several more trails arching through the leaves on the ground.

"Be careful, Yunyi! There are more of them!" Russell quickly warned.

The next moment, four dark figures burst from the leaves, rushing towards Yoriichi from all sides. But for Yoriichi, who had access to the Transparent World, this was no problem at all. In his eyes, the speed of the centipedes was pitifully slow.

"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"

Yoriichi's expression was calm. He unleashed a single, circular red slash that swept away the leaves on the ground. The four centipedes, caught in mid-air, were instantly diced into pieces of various sizes. Purple blood dripped onto the ground, making a soft "sizzling" sound as it hit the dirt.

Russell hovered in the air, not in a hurry to descend. Who knew if there were any more of them lurking? After a long moment, seeing that there was indeed no more movement, he slowly landed next to Yoriichi.

"As expected of you, Yoriichi. You're so strong," Russell said with a smile, patting his arm.

Hearing this, a rare, faint smile appeared on Yoriichi's usually stoic face. Russell was a little surprised. It was the first time he had seen his card show a different expression. So Yoriichi can smile. The next moment, the swordsman's face had returned to its usual expressionless look.

Scratching his head, Russell didn't dwell on whether he had imagined it. He turned and slowly wrapped his mental power around the centipede corpses on the ground. As his power contracted, the bodies dissolved, condensing into five pieces of material.

[Poisonous Centipede] (Green).

"A man cannot get rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot get fat without wild grass," Russell muttered to himself. He had only been in the secret realm for a short time, and he had already obtained five black iron-level green materials. And this was just the lowest-level, safest secret realm controlled by the Association. If he were in a large, high-level, unexplored realm... he didn't even dare to imagine the potential rewards. No wonder high-level cardmakers were willing to risk their lives.

"It seems that only green materials are produced on the mountainside," Russell thought to himself, his gaze drifting upward. "I wonder what's at the top of the mountain."

(End of this chapter)