The next day was the weekend.
Taking advantage of the store sales, Kenji bought a fridge full of discounted ingredients and made himself a Sukiyaki at home.
As the broth boiled and he added the ingredients, he casually turned on the TV.
“Shocking!
City Z attacked by a monster again, the truth is actually…” “Follow our channel’s perspective to recreate the thrilling scene at Senmoku Pedestrian Street…” “Exterminate all monsters; the world belongs to humanity!” “Hero recruitment is in full swing!
If you possess extraordinary strength or a special skill, please contact our hotline immediately at 18888888888.
I repeat, 18888888888…” “Breaking news: The Hero Association has announced the establishment of branches in all major cities…” “Special Report…” …
As advertisements for the Hero Association gradually took over the screen, Kenji ate and watched, a question naturally arising in his mind.
Three years from now, Saitama still wouldn’t know about the Hero Association.
Did that guy not watch TV?
‘Oh right, he could only get a few free channels.
That made sense.,’ Watching the relentless propaganda on TV, Kenji ate with great relish and couldn’t resist opening another bottle of chilled ’82 Cola.
Glug, glug, glug…
Refreshing!
By the time he finished cleaning up, it was already late at night.
Stepping out onto the balcony, Kenji let the night breeze wash over him, quietly emptying his mind.
Perhaps becoming a part-time hero outside of his day job wouldn’t be a bad idea.
As the thought crossed his mind, the blue monster card appeared in Kenji’s hand.
[Fantasy Card: Lizard Monster] [Card Type: Character Card (Monster)] [Rarity: R] [Introduction: A reptilian monster mutated from a human.
Disaster Level: Demon.] [Note: A disgrace to Demon-level monsters and incredibly ugly.
Deconstruction recommended.] [Effect 1: Night Vision] [Greatly enhanced vision in the dark or in low-light environments.] [Effect 2: Ambush] [Instantly closes the distance to prey for a lethal strike.] Seeing the special note added to the card’s information, Kenji couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
A Stand was essentially the manifestation of spiritual power, so the content of the note naturally reflected its user’s subconscious thoughts.
Unlike Item Cards, Character Cards sealed the power the monster possessed while alive.
They could be equipped by the user or applied to other humans, but only one could be equipped at a time.
Once equipped, the user gained that character’s ability system and could also choose to apply their physical appearance as a “skin.” Correspondingly, when the card was unequipped, the acquired abilities would disappear.
It was similar to pay-to-win skins in certain games that came with their own stats and skills.
The advantage was immediate effectiveness; the disadvantage was that they couldn’t be stacked.
Ability Cards, like Spider Sense, had no limit on the amount that could be equipped at once.
As for the “deconstruction” mentioned in the note, it was a more permanent, drastic usage.
It involved breaking down specific Fantasy Cards as consumables to randomly extract a portion of their attributes or abilities as upgrade materials to permanently enhance the user’s own body.
As a veteran card player with a month and a half of practice, Kenji knew full well…
Playing cards was just for fun; true strength lay in one’s own physical power.
The Lizard Monster’s fate was sealed the moment it was turned into a Fantasy Card.
As the gaze of a certain terrifying hairless ape shifted towards it, the Lizard Monster’s soul trapped in the card desperately wanted to scream “Yamete” one last time.
Unfortunately, being trapped in a two-dimensional card, it couldn’t make a sound.
The next moment, the Stand’s ability was activated.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the card, connecting into a shattered spiderweb pattern before completely crumbling apart.
A cloud of dust-like blue light specks burst from the fragments.
Most dissipated into the air, but a few, like iron filings drawn to a magnet, flew directly into Kenji’s broad chest.
[Strength +1, +1, +1…] According to the feedback from his Stand, the enhancement materials extracted this time didn’t include the Lizard Monster’s special abilities, but rather its basic physical attributes.
The entire enhancement process was quite brief, and the loss was significant.
If the Lizard Monster’s power was an iceberg, the portion successfully used for enhancement was likely just the 10% floating above the surface.
With such a massive loss rate, Kenji momentarily suspected that his Stand was acting as a middleman, skimming off the top.
With a few breaths, his strength, which had long hit a bottleneck, received a slight boost.
It wasn’t enough to trigger a qualitative change, but it was better than nothing.
Still, there were subtle, underlying improvements.
His pectorals, lats, biceps, and other muscle groups became even more robust.
He was one step closer to becoming a real-life version of Star Platinum.
While pondering, Kenji opened his hands and summoned a deck of blank Fantasy Cards.
Including the draw count contributed by the Lizard Monster yesterday, he had exactly enough for a ten-pull.
[Current Destiny Draw count: 10.] Having experienced the nightmare of doing daily single pulls and only getting N-tier Strength cards, Kenji decisively joined the “ten-pull” army.
Destiny Draws didn’t have a pity system, but the superstition surrounding drop rates was something every gacha player believed in.
Let the draws begin!
[Strength (N): Attribute Card.
1 unit of Strength attribute.
Determines melee attack power, physical toughness, and carrying capacity.
Used to enhance the user.] [Speed (N): Attribute Card.
1 unit of Speed attribute.
Determines balance, neural reflexes, and movement speed.
Used to enhance the user.] [Strength (R): Attribute Card.
10 units of Strength attribute.
Description omitted.] [A Punch of Twenty Years’ Cultivation (N): Ability Card.
Charged attack that enhances the fist’s penetrative power.] [Constitution (N): Attribute Card.
1 unit of Constitution attribute.
Determines stamina, various resistances, defense, and vitality.
Used to enhance the user.] [Spirit (N): Attribute Card.
1 unit of Spirit attribute.
Determines perception, mental strength, and energy levels.
Used to enhance the user.] [Speed (N): Attribute Card.
Description omitted.] [Constitution (N): Attribute Card.
Description omitted.] [Senzu Bean (R): Item Card.
A miraculous plant seed from the Dragon Ball world.
Eating one will keep you full for ten days.
Can instantly restore all stamina from extreme exhaustion and heal all injuries.
Ineffective against illnesses.
Quantity: 1.] [The Heart of the Tempest (SR): Character Card.
Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest, a member of the Kinkou Order from the League of Legends world, master of lightning ninjutsu.
Skill Tree: 1.
Mark of the Storm, 2.
Thundering Shuriken, 3.
Electrical Surge, 4.
Lightning Rush, 5.
Slicing Maelstrom.] “Tch, another boring day…
Hm?” Seeing the familiar sea of blue and white cards, Kenji was just about to curse.
But looking closer, he realized that aside from the standard Attribute Cards, he had actually pulled something amazing.
With a wave of his hand, the seven Attribute Cards sank into his chest one after another.
The explosive euphoria brought on by the stat boosts surged continuously through his body.
The R-tier Strength Card, in particular, delivered exactly ten times the joy of a normal N-tier card.
Meanwhile, the remaining three cards landed in Kenji’s hand.
[Fantasy Card: A Punch of Twenty Years’ Cultivation] [Card Type: Ability Card] [Rarity: N] [Introduction: Can you block a punch imbued with twenty years of martial cultivation?] [Effect 1: Charge] [Charged attack that enhances the fist’s penetrative power.] “A Punch of Twenty Years’ Cultivation,” It is a solid martial arts technique for an ordinary person, but unfortunately, it had a long cast time and required charging up.” [Fantasy Card: Senzu Bean] [Card Type: Item Card] [Rarity: R] [Introduction: A miraculous plant seed from the Dragon Ball world.] [Effect 1: Satiation] [Eating one will keep you full for ten days.] [Effect 2: Potent Healing] [Can instantly restore all stamina from extreme exhaustion and heal all injuries.
Ineffective against illnesses.] “Senzu Bean,” the essential life-saving medicine for Super Saiyans when pushing past their limits.
If worst came to worst, it could also serve as emergency rations.
A highly valuable item.
He would definitely keep it safe.
Now for the main event: the Character Card, “The Heart of the Tempest”!
[Fantasy Card: The Heart of the Tempest] [Card Type: Character Card (Hero)] [Rarity: SR] [Introduction: Electric mouse Kennen, a member of the Kinkou Order from the League of Legends world, master of lightning ninjutsu.
Balance!
In all things!] [Effect 1: Mark of the Storm] [Attacks imbued with lightning apply a Mark of the Storm to enemies.
Upon reaching 3 stacks, the enemy will be stunned (Passive).] [Effect 2: Thundering Shuriken] [Throws a shuriken enveloped in lightning to attack enemies, applying 1 Mark of the Storm.] [Effect 3: Electrical Surge] [Every 5th attack is enhanced by lightning, applying 1 Mark of the Storm (Passive).
Discharges lightning to attack all nearby enemies afflicted by Mark of the Storm, applying another stack.] [Effect 4: Lightning Rush] [Transforms into pure lightning to gain movement speed, damaging all enemies passed through and applying 1 Mark of the Storm.] [Effect 5: Slicing Maelstrom] [Summons a magical storm of lightning around the user to continuously strike enemies, applying 1 Mark of the Storm per hit and granting bonus defensive resistances.] Absorbing the card’s information, Kenji’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.
After more than a month, he had finally managed to pull another SR card.
The materialized abilities from the Fantasy Cards were slightly different from how they functioned in games.
There were no rigid numerical values, but the core mechanics of the skills remained largely identical.