Chapter 57: Return

"Brother, you're finally home!"

At Outpost 7D101, as soon as Lin Huang pushed open the door to his house, a figure in pink leapt straight into his arms.

It was already past eleven at night. Lin Huang had assumed Lin Xin would have been asleep by now, but the moment he opened the door, the girl had rushed to greet him.

She was dressed in pink pajamas adorned with all sorts of cartoon puppies.

"Still not asleep at this hour?" Lin Huang feigned a stern face as he pinched her cheek.

"You said in your message that you'd be back very late. I was planning to go to bed early and check if you'd come home when I woke up, but I was too excited and just couldn't fall asleep..." Lin Xin clung to Lin Huang, refusing to let go, as if afraid he might leave again. "You know, when I heard about the beast tide the other day, I was scared to death. I tried to call you with the Imperial Heart Ring, but I couldn't get through."

"The beast tide must've interfered with the signal," Lin Huang shook his head with a smile, then changed the subject. "By the way, I brought you a gift."

As he spoke, Lin Huang took out a recording stone from his storage space and handed it to Lin Xin.

"What is this?" Lin Xin asked, looking a bit puzzled.

"I had Yi Zheng help me record it. He even signed it on the back," Lin Huang said as he flipped the stone over, showing Yi Zheng's name and the date written there.

"Is that the Yi Zheng from the Gold Hunter Rankings?" Lin Xin's eyes lit up.

"That's right, that Yi Zheng," Lin Huang nodded.

Lin Xin immediately snatched the recording stone from him and dashed upstairs.

"Don't stay up too late watching it! You still have school tomorrow!" Lin Huang called after her.

"Yeah, I know!"

"This girl..." Lin Huang shook his head with a smile. He knew that the young girls at the Hunter Academy idolized the handsome and talented youths from the Hunter Rankings, much like girls on Earth adored movie stars and pop singers.

Yi Zheng ranked eleventh on the Gold Hunter Rankings in District Seven. Young, handsome, and an ardent protector of his sister, he was adored by many girls. Some even called him the National Big Brother of District Seven. That was why Lin Huang had gotten Lin Xin this signed recording stone.

It had been a day since the beast tide incident at Snow Mountain Town. After the Aoki Gate was destroyed, Lin Huang and his companions spent most of the day riding wind eagles back to the medium-sized Outpost 7C87. Registration at the Hunter Association took them even longer. By the time everything was done, night had fallen. Yi Yeyu and Yi Zheng invited the group to dinner.

Yi Yeyu's memory of the destroyed Aoki Gate had been altered. Now, she remembered it as the gate being drawn out by two extraordinary forces and vanishing into the void.

After dinner, Lin Huang didn't linger at the outpost but rode a wind eagle directly home.

Once Lin Xin was sent off, Lin Huang took a shower and returned to his room.

But lying in bed, he found he couldn't sleep. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for a while, then remembered he still had unfinished business.

"Xiao Hei, organize the card fragments. Synthesize any complete cards that can be made."

[Host currently has 3,657 card fragments. Beginning organization and synthesis.]

[Synthesis complete...]

[Obtained Monster Card: Lion-headed Troll (Common) x3]

[Obtained Monster Card: Minotaur (Common) x3]

[600 card fragments used. The remaining fragments are insufficient to synthesize a complete monster card.]

[Duplicate card types detected. Do you wish to have the monster cards devour each other to upgrade their skills?]

"Devour them," Lin Huang answered without hesitation. Duplicate cards couldn't yield new skills, and since he could only summon one monster at a time, there was no point in keeping extras. It was better to fuse them and upgrade the monster's skills, so that the abilities he extracted would be improved as well.

[Devouring complete. Lion-headed Troll's skills upgraded. Minotaur's skills upgraded.]

Lin Huang opened the two cards. They were both white crystal cards, with images of the two monsters on the front. He flipped them over to check the details.

[Monster Card]
[Rarity: Common]
[Monster Name: Lion-headed Troll]
[Type: Demonized Species]
[Combat Level: Iron Black, Three Stars]
[Skill 1: Magic Eye Intimidation (Intermediate)]
[Skill 2: Straight Slash (Level Three)]
[Summoning Permission: Unlocked]
[Card Evaluation: Trash]

...

[Monster Card]
[Rarity: Common]
[Monster Name: Minotaur]
[Type: Demonized Species]
[Combat Level: Iron Black, Three Stars]
[Skill 1: Herculean Strength (Intermediate)]
[Skill 2: Savage Charge (Level Three)]
[Summoning Permission: Unlocked]
[Card Evaluation: Trash]

...

"Xiao Hei, extract the skills." After reviewing the cards, Lin Huang gave another command.

[Skill extraction successful. Host has acquired new skills: "Magic Eye Intimidation (Intermediate)," "Herculean Strength (Intermediate)"]

[Host also has a monster card (Sand Butcher) eligible for devouring. Proceed with devour?]

"Devour it," Lin Huang nodded. He had initially kept the Sand Butcher card as a night guard, but now that he had other monster cards, there was no need to keep a duplicate of the same type as the Tyrant.

[Devouring complete. Sand Butcher (Tyrant) has received a skill upgrade.]

Lin Huang checked the Sand Butcher's details: its "Sturdy" skill had been upgraded from basic to intermediate.

With the cards synthesized and devoured, he opened his personal exclusive card to check his own stats.

[Host: Lin Huang]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 15]
[Combat Level: None (Below evaluation threshold)]
[Skill 1: Blood Energy (Level 2)]
[Skill 2: Desolate Blade Scripture (Blade Technique)]
[Skill 3: Sturdy (Intermediate)]
[Skill 4: Snowless Step (Movement Skill)]
[Skill 5: Magic Eye Intimidation (Intermediate)]
[Skill 6: Herculean Strength (Intermediate)]
[Summoning Permission: Unlocked]
[Number of Summons: 1]
[Evaluation: No matter how many skills you have, it doesn't change the fact that you're still pathetically weak.]

Ignoring Xiao Hei's comment, Lin Huang turned his attention to the two new skills he had gained.

[Magic Eye Intimidation (Intermediate): Releases mental pressure through the eyes. When making eye contact with a target, there is an 80% chance to stun and bewilder them. (Ineffective against beings two or more realms above the user.)]

[Herculean Strength (Intermediate): Passive skill. Increases strength fourfold.]

These two skills had just been extracted from the Lion-headed Troll and the Minotaur cards.

Lin Huang also noticed his "Sturdy" skill had been upgraded to intermediate. He couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Hei, when a monster card's skills are upgraded, does that also upgrade the skills I've extracted?"

[Yes. When a monster card's skill is upgraded, the skill the host extracted from it is upgraded as well. If the monster card is lost, the corresponding skill will disappear.]

"Monster cards can disappear?!" Lin Huang was stunned.

[Yes. If the monster dies, the monster card vanishes, and any skills acquired from that card also disappear.]

This caught Lin Huang off guard. He had thought this was just a card game—if a summoned beast died in battle, it would simply revert to a card and become unusable for a while. He hadn't expected that when a summoned beast died, the card itself would be lost, and any associated skills would vanish, too. Only now did he realize that he wasn't playing a card game—he was in a real world. Just like on Earth, things that die are gone, destined to be forgotten...

"Show me my remaining function cards." Lin Huang remembered that in addition to the nine cards he received as cross-rank rewards, he had also earned a Perfect Card for completing the reserve hunter's mission.

[Host currently holds: 1 Advancement Card, 3 Reward Doubler Cards, 3 Temporary Transformation Cards, 1 Mission Card, 1 Treasure Card, 1 Perfect Card.]

Lin Huang ignored the mission card and opened the two unfamiliar cards.

[Treasure Card: After using this card, it will guide the user to the nearest treasure location. Treasure locations may include mineral veins, burial grounds, void caves, etc. Once activated, the guidance lasts for one month.]

[Perfect Card: Using this card will repair the user's body, eliminating all hidden dangers, including but not limited to destiny, life wheel, bloodline, etc.]

"The treasure card has a time limit. I'm busy lately, so I'll leave it for now. But the perfect card is really something. My life wheel is already repaired and my body should be fine, but as for bloodlines... Bai's bloodline has a flaw and is easily affected by the septic factor. If I use this for Bai, his blood energy will no longer be susceptible to it," Lin Huang mused, then summoned Bai.

Bai stood quietly at the bedside, gazing at Lin Huang. Lin Huang sat up, took out the perfect card, and crushed it. Gold fragments swirled around his fingertips, and he pressed a finger to Bai's forehead.

Bai's body was soon enveloped in a golden glow, wrapped as if in a cocoon of light.

After a long time, the glow faded. Bai's two wings unfolded on their own, now a brilliant crimson gold. Lin Huang checked Bai's details—there were no notable changes, but he knew Bai's blood energy must have been repaired, or else the color of his wings wouldn't have changed like that.

"I'll test it with a septic potion when I have the chance."

After a careful look, Lin Huang recalled Bai and collapsed back onto the bed.

This time, drowsiness finally overcame him, and the exhaustion of the past days washed over him, carrying him swiftly into sleep.