“Check cards.”
Her starting deck of six cards immediately appeared before her:
Three Attack cards and three Defense cards. With just a glance, she saw they were exactly the same as when she’d activated her golden finger in her previous life. Back then, she’d called them chicken ribs—now her opinion hadn’t changed.
So-called Attack cards had this effect: Cost 1, attack an enemy, deal damage equal to 1x your attack.
What did 1x attack mean?
It meant, whatever damage she’d deal swinging a sword herself, that’s the damage dealt by the card—the only benefit was she wouldn’t have to expend any energy.
And yet, even this card cost 1 and took up a draw slot. She could only draw three cards per turn, recovering 2 points of energy.
She’d rather not have starting cards at all.
***
Sovinia gave the Forcefield Sphere a push with her foot. The Forcefield Sphere rolled again, wandering among the “Question Mark Cards.”
She quickly inspected the “Question Mark Cards”—[Slime Mucus], [Weak Regeneration], [Pseudopod Attack], [Slime Mucus]…
What a pile of random trash cards.
Right now, if she didn’t want to become food for the Slimes, she’d better pray that fate favored her for once and gave her a good card.
Please.
Fate, you bastard, you’ve toyed with me so many times, but at least favor me just this once.
A strand of golden light fell before her eyes, making her hold her breath. Could killing a normal little monster really yield a gold card?
She immediately examined that “Question Mark Card.”
The Question Mark Card wrapped in gold light immediately split into three cards, and she looked at the gold one.
[Demon Form]: Cost 2, increases Strength by 1 each turn; every point of Strength increases your damage by 10%.
What a garbage card! Usually, a battle only lasts four to five turns, and this one clogs up your hand. Maybe it’d be promising in the future, but if you’re dead now, there’s no future. Who would want this card?
Sovinia grumbled as she remembered, many, many years ago, she’d seen it was a gold card and chosen it for the sake of the future, only to end up with a useless card in her deck, which she had to spend 2 energy to get rid of.
The second card was a silver card.
[Reckless Charge]: Cost 0, charge at the target enemy in melee, deal 1x attack damage, and add a [Stun] card to your deck.
[Stun]: If you draw this card, you will be stunned; at the end of the turn, [Stun] disappears.
A typical fight for the present, at the cost of the future.
The third card was a white card.
[Sacrifice]: Cost 2, draw two extra cards next turn, and increase Defense by 2x.
Yet another card for the future.
Without hesitation, Sovinia picked [Reckless Charge]. Overdraw the future? Survive to see the future first.
***
After picking her card, Sovinia glanced over the rest—nothing but worthless rubbish.
The Slime horde was catching up, paying no attention at all to Wohard, who was still pummeling their mother.
“Truly monsters with no sense of filial duty.”
Sovinia cursed under her breath as she pressed her foot to the Forcefield Sphere, rolling from left to right like a hamster ball.
Right now, she needed an area-of-effect damage card. She missed, more than anything, when she was still Kimi the Coldhearted and had that gold card called “Burn,” which could torch an entire soccer field for 5x attack damage.
After searching, still not a single area damage card. Second-best would be a good defense card—was that possible?
No.
A glimmer of silver caught her eye—a silver “Question Mark Card.”
She rolled the Forcefield Sphere over, praying in her heart that it would be a good card.
As she got close, the “Question Mark Card” unfolded into three cards to choose from.
Her eyes went straight to the lone silver card.
[Blazing Strike]: Cost 2, deals 2x attack damage, can be upgraded infinitely.
Another card for the future.
Cards could be upgraded, but chances to do so were rare—you had to defeat powerful foes. Meaning, even in the future, this wasn’t a particularly great future.
And the rest of the cards?
[Slime Mucus]…
Why were there so many Slime Mucus cards?
Sovinia cursed silently.
Thud—a purple Slime leapt onto the Forcefield Sphere, and its semi-transparency faded toward clear. Not because it was durable, but because its time was almost up.
No good. Picking and choosing like this, dissatisfied here and there, is just fighting for the future. Better to get through the present trouble first.
Sovinia quickly surveyed the battlefield—the charging Slimes were scattered, numerous, but disorganized.
Which meant, as long as she maneuvered well, she could create plenty of one-on-one or one-on-two chances.
She needed to finish the fight quickly, lest she end up surrounded.
Sovinia calculated quickly—if she took [Blazing Strike], the deck’s damage output should be enough.
Fine, then, [Blazing Strike] it is.
Sovinia immediately picked [Blazing Strike], thus adding both [Reckless Charge] and [Blazing Strike] to her deck.
***
Outside, the purple Slime pounced again, making the Forcefield Sphere roll and almost toppling Sovinia.
After regaining her balance, she severed her magical link to the Forcefield Sphere and kicked it; the Forcefield Sphere vanished instantly, as if she’d shattered it herself.
She opened with a demon-style taunt at the purple Slime: “What’s with this purple dung? Are you the color of a succubus’s feelings?”
The purple Slime gave no answer, instead waving sticky pseudopods at Sovinia’s smooth thigh. Behind it, a calf-sized Slime was rushing over.
‘Infinite Change Cards, activate! Draw!’
Sovinia guessed, just one [Blazing Strike] would split this one—then she could handle the second.
“Shua shua shua.” Only she could hear the sound of cards being dealt. Three cards appeared before her—three [Defense] cards.
Good grief.
Sovinia quickly used two [Defense] cards by thought. Two thin ice shields materialized, floating in the air around her.
This effect was ugly. Compared to my old flaming bone shield, this was much worse.
Sovinia turned and ran.
Bang!
The sound of two ice shields shattering.
Not just ugly—worse than my old flaming bone shield in every way.
As she thought this, Sovinia dashed into the wide Bowl-shaped Cave. The rim above was where, in the battle at the Throne Room, back when she was Kimi the Coldhearted, she’d burned open a “bowl rim” with Burn.
It once housed the Slime King, so it was naturally vast—and didn’t stink as badly, either.
Sovinia ran ahead, Slimes chased behind. At the end, Sovinia stuck close to the wall and circled back; the Slimes kept chasing.
The purple Slime seemed to have gained sentience, bubbles surging from within as it let out an angry roar: “Old Wu! Old Wu!”
Must have eaten a cat.
Sovinia mused.
At this moment, the second turn began—shua shua shua.
Three cards appeared before her: [Reckless Charge], [Blazing Strike], [Attack].
Good, no bad luck. But then again, with only eight cards, how unlucky could she get?
Several Slimes came in a straight line, led by the purple Slime, which intercepted Sovinia and lunged with a roar of “Old Wu! Old Wu!”
There were a few more Slimes blocking the way ahead.
Sovinia didn’t stop—stop, and she’d be surrounded.
[Blazing Strike]
Sovinia swung the heavy demon one-handed sword with both hands, flames blazing along the blade. Before the purple Slime could reach her—
Fire and blade burned and sliced it in half, and it split upon hitting the ground.
Behind it, more Slimes squirmed closer, but Sovinia kept running without pause.
Up ahead, a few chair-sized Slimes leapt at her. Sovinia aimed past them at a calf-sized Slime in the distance and jumped.
A little Slime’s pseudopod brushed against her knee-high leather boots.
[Reckless Charge]
As soon as she landed, strength filled her legs as she charged at the calf-sized Slime, raising her sword for a savage blow.
A dent appeared in the calf-sized Slime. Its pseudopod swung—but before it could land, Sovinia struck again, splitting it in two and sending the pseudopod thudding to the ground.
Sovinia’s long legs strode past the split Slime, stepping over the many charred Slime corpses at the cave’s entrance. Just like that, she escaped the Slimes’ pursuit without a scratch, not even out of breath.