Chapter 4: Judged Entirely by Looks

Lin Huang focused his mind inward, probing his own body. Within his life wheel, aside from the original black card, there were now three crystal cards.

Right next to the black card was the newly established exclusive card for himself. The card was white and crystalline, its front displaying his own image, identical in appearance and attire.

On the reverse side of the card were the details that had just flashed before his eyes:

[Host: Lin Huang]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 15]
[Combat Power: None (Below evaluation threshold)]
[Battle Skills: None (basic skills mastered are not within evaluation range)]
[Summoning Authority: Activated]
[Summonable Quantity: 1]
[Assessment: You’re pathetically weak!]

The second card was also white and crystalline, with three black metallic stars at the bottom. The image on it depicted a bloodthirsty creature, its eyes glowing red, appearing about Lin Huang’s age.

After viewing the front, the card flipped automatically, revealing text on the back:

[Monster Card]
[Rarity: Common]
[Monster Type: Bloodthirsty Kind]
[Combat Level: Black Iron Three Stars (Bronze Three Stars)]
[Skill 1: Blood Energy (Level 2)]
[Skill 2: Regeneration (Beginner)]
[Status: Summonable]
[Card Evaluation: This one’s trash!]

“Xiao Hei, how many tiers are there for rarity?” Lin Huang guessed this was similar to the classifications in Earth’s ‘XX Master’ games—N, R, SR, SSR, and so forth.

[Currently, monster card rarity from lowest to highest are: Common (white crystal card), Rare (green crystal card), Epic (blue crystal card), Legendary (purple crystal card), Mythic (orange crystal card)]

Upon seeing this classification, Lin Huang was speechless. “Even ‘XX Master’ games give you an SR at the start, but here I’m even worse off—just a basic N card… Does rarity make a big difference in monster strength?”

[Monsters of the same combat level, rare ones are roughly three to five times stronger than common ones.]

“What about epic and legendary tiers?”

[Host lacks authorization to know.]

“When drawing monster cards from you, what’s the chance of getting rare or above?” Thinking of Xiao Hei’s description and knowing he still had another draw, Lin Huang felt a trace of anticipation.

[Depends on luck.]

“Seriously? Just luck, no rough percentage?” Lin Huang’s eyes widened. For someone as unlucky as him, this wasn’t the answer he wanted.

[None, it’s all luck.]

“That’s tragic…” Lin Huang couldn’t help but press his hand to his forehead. “Even playing card games I ended up as the ultimate unlucky player—no one in the server was unluckier than me. Now, in the real world, the draw rates are still based on luck…”

Calming himself, Lin Huang continued to examine the cards and soon noticed something odd.

“Why does the monster card’s combat level have a parenthesis?”

[Host’s power is insufficient, so the card auto-downgrades; the level in parentheses is the original level.]

“The card shows it’s summonable—can I bring this bloodthirsty kind into the real world?” Lin Huang’s eyes brightened and he was about to try, but then he saw a white-feathered surveillance bird perched on a nearby rooftop. Who knew when it had arrived. He immediately suppressed the urge to summon the creature.

The surveillance bird, originally called a Three-Eyed Bird, was a bird monster with three eyes. Its field of vision covered 360 degrees with no blind spots, and it could see up to thirty kilometers. Its third eye on the forehead could project images, reproducing everything it had seen. Because of these abilities, many Three-Eyed Birds were captured and tamed by human experts, set in safe zone outposts to monitor abnormal activity and prevent danger.

Lin Huang didn’t want his golden finger’s secret exposed. He squatted, feeling for any loot on the bloodthirsty kind, and quietly asked, “Xiao Hei, who gives the card evaluations?”

[I do!]

“Alright then…”

Seeing Xiao Hei’s straightforward answer, Lin Huang felt helpless. Already unlucky, offending his golden finger wasn’t wise, so he obediently checked the third card.

This card was made of golden crystal, its front bearing only a golden staircase image. The description on the back was simple:

[Advancement Card]
[Usage: Can promote a monster card, item card, or skill card one tier up!]
[Note: Usable cumulatively. If a card is at max tier, usage is invalid.]

“Xiao Hei, does this mean I can use advancement cards to raise the bloodthirsty kind’s rarity from common all the way to mythic?” Lin Huang asked quickly after reading it.

[Correct.]

Lin Huang hesitated, looked at the bloodthirsty kind monster card, and decided to hold off using the advancement card.

After searching the creature thoroughly, Lin Huang found nothing. He stood up, about to leave, when a white figure instantly appeared before him.

It was a handsome young man, looking just over twenty, dressed in a pure white suit, his hair slicked back and shining.

“A vain narcissist!” Lin Huang mentally labeled him. In informal situations, most men wouldn’t dress so meticulously; comfort was priority. Men who liked to dress up often were narcissists. But Lin Huang soon added another label—“subtle show-off.”

The man’s neck bore a flamboyant red tie, carefully crafted, adorned with rings of golden patterns, as if tiny gold beads had been attached one by one.

While Lin Huang sized him up, the man did the same to Lin Huang.

“Hello, I’m Li Lang. Did you kill this bloodthirsty kind?” Noting Lin Huang’s weapon and the creature’s head wound, Li Lang quickly inferred as much. What puzzled him was that the boy before him hadn’t even reached the Black Iron level, and his life wheel seemed inherently flawed, with lifelight dissipating at an alarming rate.

“I suppose so. He was already badly infected by the blood plague factor—I only managed to kill him by luck,” Lin Huang replied truthfully. He wasn’t sure what the surveillance bird had captured and didn’t dare lie.

“You’re the one who sent the distress signal?” Hearing Lin Huang’s voice, Li Lang recognized him.

“That’s right, Mr. Li Lang.” Lin Huang forced a smile and nodded, surprised to be recognized.

“Since you’re not a trainee hunter, I’ll handle the corpse recovery. You killed the bloodthirsty kind; I’ll make a report, and the reward will be mailed to you by the Hunter Association.”

Lin Huang wasn’t worried about the reward being taken; the surveillance bird was recording, and Li Lang hardly needed the money.

Seeing Lin Huang’s quick agreement, Li Lang took out a nearly two-meter-long leather bag. Who knew what monster the leather came from—it was glossy black and finely crafted. Putting on gloves, Li Lang placed the corpse inside, zipped the bag, and stowed it in his spatial equipment.

Watching Li Lang’s meticulous approach, Lin Huang felt speechless. To him, it was just a corpse—shouldn’t it just be tossed in a storage space?

“Well… since you’re done, I’ll head home now. Otherwise, my sister will worry.”

“I’ll go with you and assess the damage to your house. This monster clearly caused quite a bit of destruction, right?” Damage assessment was hardly something requiring a professional hunter; Li Lang simply wanted to see the battle site and understand how Lin Huang killed the creature.

“No need to trouble you. I’ll shoot a video tomorrow and send it to the Seventh District branch of the Alliance Government. They can send someone to do the appraisal.” Lin Huang knew the rules. A silver-level hunter volunteering for damage assessment was odd; he suspected Li Lang had other motives.

“I prefer to get things done in one go. Since I’m here, if I don’t finish the assessment, I’ll feel uneasy. You won’t need to apply again; I’ll record the whole process and send it to the Alliance. Don’t forget, our Hunter Association is part of the Human Alliance Government, so there’s no need for them to waste time sending someone. That way, your insurance payout will arrive sooner.” Li Lang remained earnest.

Lin Huang hesitated, seeing Li Lang’s determined expression, and reluctantly agreed.

“Let’s go!” Seeing Lin Huang nod, Li Lang led him toward a house with lit windows nearby.

“Not that way, this direction…” Lin Huang pointed, helpless, to another path.

~~~~~~

[During the new release period, the book urgently needs your collections and recommendation votes! As for the update rules, let’s set it at one extra chapter per ten thousand recommendation votes—though you probably won’t reach that number (the author, Bullet Fungus, uses mass taunt skill on readers), hmph~ By the way, about the update schedule: two chapters daily during the new release, tentatively at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. If there’s an extra update… the third chapter will be at 10 p.m.]