Chapter 297: One-Second Speed-Run

Two more clusters of secret knowledge entered his eyes, both brand new, divine entities he had never seen or heard of before.

As the progress bar rose significantly, Li Yu also discovered the difficulty and the interesting nature of the "Chaos Cards."

"To maximize the utility of a card, one usually needs to express approval for the divine entity imprinted within it; one must flatter and please it."

"Every card is different."

"If a user has only one card, they can still focus their efforts... but once the number of cards is two or more, the user is forced to actively split their heart and soul."

"Take this Troll King, for example; if he wants to perfectly unleash the power of the 【Witch】 and 【Gnome Spirit】 cards, he must act as if he is consumed by lust while also praising the greatness of the Gnome Spirit."

"Can he do it?"

"I'm afraid it's very difficult."

"And that's only with two cards. By the time a player possesses a dozen Chaos Cards, the soul power required will be an astronomical figure, and the operational difficulty will be at a hellish level."

"But for a practitioner of the Spirit Venerable path who is proficient in 'role-playing,' this is a massive advantage."

"Could the Chaos Cards have been invented by 【Spirit Venerable】 or 【All-Changing】?"

Li Yu posed this question in his heart while looking at his eyelids.

This was a trick he used time and again!

Using the Truth Bubble to verify his guesses.

However, this time, it was denied.

The progress bar didn't move an inch, proving that the Chaos Cards were not invented by these two gods who loved to stir up trouble.

He was conjecturing and reasoning in his mind, while his hands moved without the slightest delay.

Ten seconds to play a card!

It was extremely unfriendly to a player playing for the first time.

But Li Yu was doing it on purpose.

He hadn't just turned on a wallhack; he had a full-function cheat.

Using only a second or two, he made his "soul power" appear incredibly delicious and appetizing before pouring it into the only Chaos Card in his hand, 【Child of Hunger】.

In a trance, projections suddenly emerged within Li Yu's heart and soul.

Behind a vast bronze gate embedded between two universes... crouched a scarlet evil god with twenty arms, bloated and fat, its mouth wide open like a black hole, as if it intended to devour the universe.

When this "divine projection" appeared, it meant that all the functions of this Chaos Card had been activated.

And, it was under Li Yu's control.

Perfect state!

Li Yu realized this, and seven or eight seconds later, the Troll King had also finished pouring in his soul power.

Although he couldn't cheat like Li Yu and see through the best way to use the Witch and Gnome cards in his hand.

But after all, he was an experienced player; just by looking at the external appearance of the divine entities imprinted on the cards, as well as their names, he made similar moves.

He muttered to himself, clearly engaging in flattery and appeasement.

At the same time, two similar but distinct expressions appeared on his face.

One was lecherous.

The second was sleazy.

Sure enough, under his diligent performance, both cards showed obvious changes.

Intense divine Qi surged out in unison.

And so, the next moment, the Troll King played his cards with full confidence.

At the same time, he did not forget to mock and belittle the foolish human player before him:

"Little thing of the human race, it is perfectly normal for a first-time player of Chaos Cards to have their sanity wiped clean and become a raving imbecile."

"Take a deep breath and prepare to welcome that delicious taste."

"Take a deep breath... hiss!"

The Troll King's mockery was not finished.

On the card table, which was condensed purely from the Mist of Eternity, a scene appeared that left him, and all the onlookers, in utter shock:

The moment the three Chaos Cards were played and landed on the table, they simultaneously condensed into different divine projections.

Because the Troll King was considered an old hand, he had arranged a strategy for his two cards.

The Witch would charm from the front, and the Gnome Spirit would sneak around for an ambush.

The idea was good, but the opponent simply didn't play by the rules.

Accompanied by terrifying roars, an indescribable storm of hunger surged out; the Child of Hunger, far larger than both the "Witch" and the "Gnome," condensed into form, violently burst out of the mist, and its twenty giant arms instantly grabbed the "Witch," stuffing her directly into that black-hole-like scarlet maw.

It didn't even chew; it swallowed her whole.

The next second, the Gnome Spirit suffered the same fate; despite having divine abilities like invisibility and stealth, the divine entity before him was the 【Child of Hunger】, for whom all things, even the universe itself, had only one definition: food.

A slight sniff was enough to know its location, and it was snatched from the mist and swallowed into its belly as well.

The scene was so brutal that it was like a "red, fat, gluttonous ogre" with many hands eating a beautiful, mature woman first, then a sleazy old man.

There was no processing procedure, no skinning or deboning; it was all swallowed raw.

Resistance?

A duel of card skills?

None of the above.

All that appeared was a crushing defeat and a hasty end to the confrontation.

With the two divine entities swallowed whole, the Child of Hunger rarely felt a hint of long-lost "satiety" and was just about to pat its belly and let out a burp.

But immediately, apart from the two clusters of soul power, its belly was empty.

The Witch and the Gnome returned to the Chaos Cards, then immediately turned into two beams of light that shot toward Li Yu.

A two-on-one defeat, and the Chaos Cards changed owners as a result.

When this scene occurred!

All the onlookers were stunned.

What happened?

It ended in one second?

What did this human player do?

The Troll King was equally confused; even though he hid a cunning heart beneath his seemingly savage and crude exterior, he couldn't wrap his head around it for a moment.

But before these questions could be answered, his mood turned to terror.

"Roar!"

Accompanied by the dissatisfied roar the Child of Hunger directed at him, the two clusters of soul power from the Troll King were digested.

Added to the backlash from the Chaos Cards, he didn't even have time to say anything, let alone take a deep breath, before falling directly into a negative state.

His sanity was wiped clean.

The madness and pain brought by the damage to his soul filled his body and spirit.

Under the watchful eyes of the onlookers who were there to enjoy the show, the Troll King suddenly became insane, his eyes blood-red, his face twisted, and unintelligible roars and whispers issued from the depths of his throat, while foul-smelling saliva poured down like a waterfall...

"A raving imbecile, what an accurate description."

Li Yu held the three Chaos Cards, looked at the Troll King in front of him, and couldn't help but praise.

Going from one to three, although it couldn't be counted as a huge haul.

After all, after the first round ended, there would inevitably be players with four or five Chaos Cards, or even more.

But without a doubt, he had instantly become the focus of the entire venue.

One must know that the Troll King had quite a reputation in the Spirit Realm; he was the king of the Troll Kingdom, having launched countless slaughter wars over the years and killed who knows how many so-called heroes. And afterward, he would enjoy their corpses.

And Li Yu was just a human who looked vulnerable.

Before this, although Li Yu's persona had been noticed by many distinguished guests because of his "Ancient Trick" ability that could move and transport others indiscriminately.

They only thought of him as an amusing member of the human race and never felt he was an opponent or a thorny powerhouse.

Now, it was different.

The other duels in the arena were still ongoing, and not a single one showed signs of ending quickly.

Li Yu was the exception.

He finished the first round in one second.

So fast that even the Spirit female prophet who had bet on his victory hadn't reacted.

But soon, screams and discussions about Li Yu rang out one after another:

"How could this be? How did he do it?"

"Isn't this his first time playing Chaos Cards? Ten seconds after starting, he could trigger the divinity of the only card in his hand?"

"What card is that? It doesn't seem to have been seen before."

"It's clear that it's a top-tier card; I reckon that even if it's not as good as the Blood God card or the Crucible card, it won't be far off."

"One-second speed-run of the first round... this record can rank among the top in the entire history of Chaos Card games in the Spirit Realm."

"It's over, I'm going to lose everything. Spirit female prophet, you must have bought him as the final winner just because that human looks good."

"Why ask such a thing? Didn't the two of them do it for a long time in front of us on the battlefield? You must have been satisfied, right?"

"It's only the first round. Players advancing to the next round will start with at least four Chaos Cards. He only has three, and his experience is insufficient; it's impossible for him to win again."

Li Yu couldn't hear a word of the chaos outside the arena.

At this moment, he actually wished that other matches would also have speed-runs.

The duration of the Truth Bubble is quite long now, but if he keeps delaying round after round, his cheat will expire prematurely.

Even though he has some confidence now that he could defeat other players even without borrowing the "Truth Authority."

For no other reason!

The flawless, perfect role-playing method inherent to the Spirit Venerable path is simply a divine ability tailor-made for the 【Chaos Cards】.

That is to say, no matter how many Chaos Cards Li Yu holds, he can perfectly unleash the divine authority of every single card; how are his opponents supposed to beat him?

He is simply the heaven-chosen, invincible Chaos card player.

However, recharging the Truth Bubble is difficult, and Li Yu does not want to waste any of it.

Every extra second he can use it is a second gained.

For instance, at this moment, he is stroking the two newly acquired cards in his hand: "Witch" and "Gnome."

The touch brought about a deeper level of prying, especially since the status of the Witch and the Gnome is far inferior to the Child of Hunger, making them even less capable of resisting the Truth Authority.

Two clusters of secrets, which he had failed to see when peering from afar earlier, surfaced in Li Yu's mind.

The first cluster concerns the secret history between the Slaanesh God and the Spirit race.

And the second cluster is a massive surprise.

"As a subordinate, secondary god of the Slaanesh God... the Witch's birth node occurred during a major event in the distant past, an event that is also one of the dark histories of the now extremely powerful Sin God, carved onto the pillar of shame."

"After the Slaanesh God devoured ninety percent of the Spirit race's souls, for some reason, it was captured and imprisoned by several Spirit race demigods, who attempted to extract those devoured Spirit souls from its belly."

"In order to save itself, the Slaanesh God gave birth to the secondary god 【Witch】..."

"Although the Gnome was expelled and forced to flee after failing a theft and facing the Ancient Ones directly."

"It is extremely vengeful and cannot break its own strange habit of having itchy hands."

"So, after the incident, it hid and endured for many years; this time, taking advantage of the Ancient Ones being away, it snuck directly into their divine kingdom and secretly read some secret books left behind by the Ancient Ones."

"Yes, this time it did not steal any physical treasures, but rather a secret: the Grand Plan of the Ancient Ones."

"It is just that the secret was too shocking; even after just reading the beginning, the Gnome was still terrified."

"To prevent itself from being silenced by the 【Ancient Ones】, the Gnome should have completely destroyed this memory."

"But it felt that it was a great and shameless thief, always adhering to principles such as 'a thief never leaves empty-handed,' 'what I steal is mine,' and 'stolen goods must never be returned.'"

"So it sealed this memory separately deep within its soul and set a secret activation command, then destroyed the memory of the command itself... thus it achieved the feat of forever keeping this stolen secret without being discovered and silenced by the Ancient Ones."

"That secret command is now in my possession."

"As long as I set up an altar and prepare the offerings, I can summon the 【Gnome】, and then I can use the secret command to extract that memory from its divine soul."

"And the Gnome won't even notice a thing."

"It is simply the perfect safe."

It is fortunate that the current Li Yu is in a state of absolute rational truth.

Therefore, after peering into the second cluster of information, he remained completely calm.

If he were in his normal state, he would likely be excited already.

What is called an unexpected gain?

This is clearly it.

Li Yu even feels that the value of these two clusters of memories alone is enough to break even, and even exceed that.

The twenty-fourth Truth Bubble has already completed two-thirds of its recharge progress thanks to these secrets.

At the same time, as if hearing his expectations.

The first round of duels began and ended rapidly one after another.

Besides Li Yu, there were four other winners.

They were the Child of Taboo, Joseph, the Rat Demon, and a strange person wearing tattered yellow robes.

Clearly, this means one player will be very unlucky and receive a bye.

Without having to fight, they will advance directly to the third round.

"Given the nature of Joseph, that Changer of Ways, I am bound to be that unlucky person."

"A bye in the second round allows for a longer rest and saves some soul power, but in the third round, I will have to face two opponents who each have at least seven or eight cards; how is that winnable?"

"I have the fewest Chaos Cards, only three."

"In the eyes of others, if it is arranged this way, I will have no hope."

These thoughts of Li Yu became reality in the next moment.

Although Joseph's charming, neither-male-nor-female voice did not ring out, who knows what means he used again.

The casino, which is also the "Chaos Box" used for gambling, made this arrangement without any surprise.

Li Yu received a bye.

When this scene occurred, the other gamblers opening side bets in the carriages outside began howling again.

"This human player is truly the top unlucky person; he even ran into this kind of thing."

"In the third round, he will have to use three Chaos Cards against others' seven or eight; if he can still win that, then I will recommend him to participate in the 【Chaos Card Gods Tournament】."

"There will be no miracles; he is sure to lose. The four players currently dueling all have top-tier cards."

"I'm opening another betting pool regarding this human player; that Spirit race prophet, do you still want to bet?"

"Bet!"

PS: If everyone doesn't like this way of expanding the world-building, I will finish this section as soon as possible. Also, I shamelessly ask for monthly votes. This book has passed one million words; it's not easy. Fatty Fish really has the mindset of a newcomer now. I will continue to work hard; the goal is to finish the book properly.

(End of chapter)