Calamity Messenger

Chapter 371 - 304: Dragon Attendant

"Yellow Springs Old Guard: Activate this transformation, you’ll discover a Second-Turn Puppet Card and add the Trait: Resurrection to the card (if it doesn’t already have it)."

In front of the tower roulette, Yan Qing looked at the transformation card on his wrist and thought his luck wasn’t bad. Although it couldn’t match Ye Si’s ’Who dares claim invincibility after seven days?’ challenge, at least it could be immediately used now.

He activated the transformation, and the card instantly turned into three puppet cards to choose from:

"Second-Turn Mysterious·Soul-Split Spirit"

"Attack: 200"

"Health: 200"

"Trait: Soul Scattering - The touched target dies instantly, can only trigger once."

"Ascend: Obtain thirty identical puppet cards"

/

"Second-Turn Demon·Werewolf"

"Attack: 600"

"Health: 300"

"Trait: Gluttony - At the end of each day, randomly consume one puppet card from your hand and gain its attributes."

/

"Second-Turn Corpse Ghost Dragon Race·Dragon Servant"

"Attack: 400"

"Health: 200"

"Trait: Death’s Return - Every time you summon a Dragon Servant, it permanently gains a 100/100 attribute boost (no matter where the Dragon Servant is)."

Yan Qing’s eyes widened as he clicked on the Soul-Split Spirit’s trait description, realizing he wasn’t mistaken—once it touches a target, triggering the Soul Scattering trait, the target dies instantly regardless of its level or attributes, even Fourth-Turn Puppets are no exception. Yan Qing wasn’t sure if such demons existed outside, but in the Demon Gathering Land, Soul Scattering was an almost conceptual-level ability, defying all rules and fate!

Although terrifying in appearance, it was indeed very frightening; however, as a messenger, there was no need to fear, since the prerequisite for triggering Soul Scattering is the Soul-Split Spirit touching the target, and the messenger, protected by a full-body defense barrier, wouldn’t be touched by it.

But once he calmed down, Yan Qing realized the huge flaw of the Soul-Split Spirit: its attributes were too low, capable of ensuring the kill of one enemy, but useless thereafter. In battles with multiple enemies, the Soul-Split Spirit wouldn’t be of much use.

If dealing with some ridiculously high-attribute puppets, finding similar mysterious puppets as counter-cards might be an option.

The Werewolf resembles the Fourth-Turn Puppet Taotie, but unlike Taotie which absorbs all monsters’ hand cards, the Werewolf can only absorb its own, making it a promising development puppet for the future.

The Dragon Servant is a dual-race card, being both Dragon Race and Corpse Ghost. Just like the Steam Master which can only arm the mechanical race, Yan Qing would definitely find some puppet cards next, which only enhance specific races. With dual-race cards like the Dragon Servant, there are naturally more possibilities.

Moreover, the Dragon Servant is quite similar to Undying Bone, with the difference being that Undying Bone gains enhancement from merely dying, whereas the Dragon Servant needs to be summoned, meaning a single Dragon Servant puppet can’t trigger its Death’s Return trait.

Among the Soul-Split Spirit, Werewolf, and Dragon Servant puppet cards, the Soul-Split Spirit is the most lethal, the Werewolf strongest in development, yet only the Dragon Servant’s trait is overly complex and almost a blank slate. However, due to the "Yellow Springs Old Guard" effect, the Dragon Servant becomes Yan Qing’s best choice!

The other two cards dissipated, leaving only the Dragon Servant card, with blue cracks appearing on its surface, indicating it had been endowed with the Resurrection trait.

"Trait: Resurrection - Revives post-death with just 1 health point, can only trigger once."

Placing the Dragon Servant card into the puppet slot, Yan Qing suddenly felt a cold mist sweeping in from behind. Turning his head, he saw a small skeleton flying dragon hovering in the air, draped in heavy burial cloth, with four skeletal dragon claws hanging down, green flames flickering in its eyes, its body exhaling grey-black mist that seemed like death breathing.

It must be said that the design of the "Messenger" is indeed impressive—it’s clearly a skeleton flying dragon, yet not even a bit scary, rather exuding an inexplicable coolness.

Yan Qing pressed the roulette, attempting to draw again; naturally, the roulette showed no response, as only one draw was allowed per day. He could only return tomorrow to check the situation.

Leaving the high tower, Yan Qing gazed at the empty street, with lampposts providing very limited light. The sky’s demon dragon emitted a deep snort like the roar of a volcano, and strange sounds seemed to come from afar like marbles hitting the ground, which instead accentuated the eerie quietness of the town—so quiet it bordered on the frightening.

Because Ye Si accidentally got teleported to the Fourth-Turn Puppet Warehouse, Yan Qing didn’t explore the Demon Gathering Land much and hadn’t made any long-term plans. After the roulette draw, everything ahead was unknown territory.

Yan Qing grasped the handle of Bingzi Pepper Forest, quietly sensing his own Qi Blood, and counted the tokens on him. The Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror, Hand of Melting Hundred Forms, Wave-Riding Boots, Bodhisattva Pendant... Opening his eyes again, no longer was there anxiety or hesitation in Yan Qing’s eyes, only sharp, unwavering confidence!

Just as nothing brings players more courage to pioneer than Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, nor does anything bolster the courage in a messenger’s heart more than the power held in their palm!

Though there’s no map of Demon Gathering Land, heading towards the town center is definitely the right choice—the outskirts are filled with low-turn puppets, while only the town center houses the core puppets that Yan Qing needs.

Crossing a street, Yan Qing paused in front of a small house. He looked at the house with the "Dimension Bookstore" sign and hesitated momentarily before pushing open the door.

Warm yellow light eagerly spilled from the door crack, the doorframe sounded with crisp wind chimes, akin to entering a café.

Soft sofas, a bar with a coffee machine, varnished wooden floorboards, a freezer filled with various beverages, and bookshelves packed with books and comics—looking at this, Yan Qing fell into a daze, as if time travel was merely his illusion, and he was still back in the twenty-first century, visiting a quaint bookstore with urban chic.

Yan Qing walked cautiously, as if worried about stepping on invisible bubbles. He stood in the center of the lobby, and after a long daze, turned towards the freezer where he saw familiar black sweet water, suddenly recalling the wine Pharmacist’s Wish shared with him, and the delicacies Shang Xinlei shared... He touched the Storage Ring, thinking there might be room to bring a few bottles of cola back?

However, once Yan Qing opened the freezer, his expression turned bizarre. He picked up a can of cola, discovering the name on it was "Coco Cola," instead of "Coke."

Apart from "Coco Cola," the freezer also contained "Thunder Sprite," "Six Joys," "Vitamin Lemon Tea," "Six Kernel Nuts," reminiscent of a countryside-town mix display of fake beverages. Excluding the unlikely scenario of fake goods crossing worlds to sell globally, it was probably by design intent.

Only then did Yan Qing seriously observe the books and comics on the shelves and quickly found something was amiss: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "Complete Tale of Yue Fei," "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio"... none were recent publications, all being ancient books without copyright restrictions! Comics similarly were early comic strips, akin to feudal remnants that might not be found even on the modern internet.

The official is cunning, Yan Qing thought.

This Dimension Bookstore seems compact yet complete, yet all are free resources—the books are open-copyright, the drinks all fake brands. The official hadn’t spent a penny wherever possible, and it’s unclear why they’d set up such a bookstore. Could it be worrying players might find themselves bored in the Secret Realm? But if players can play games, can’t they switch out to watch videos?

On second thought, some people enjoy watching ambiguous plot-lines in mainstream venues and enjoy plots in niche venues. Therefore, if there are players who like reading "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the game, it might not be entirely incomprehensible. Yan Qing for instance enjoyed collecting "Full of Energy Argonian Maids" while playing Elder Scrolls.

At this moment, Yan Qing noticed there were several empty slots on the bookshelves, denoting those slots were meant for "Journey to the West."

Clearly, someone had been to this bookstore and only took "Journey to the West." Yan Qing felt agitated and cold—why didn’t they take "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin"? This local person really doesn’t know the goods!