After spending several hours browsing the survival game website, Perry Yates reluctantly logged off. Then, as if heading to her execution, she started toward the fifth floor.

’Sigh, what’s coming is coming.’

Perry Yates trudged upstairs, her steps heavy.

Those few hours on the survival game website hadn’t been a waste. Sifting through all sorts of miscellaneous posts, Perry Yates had actually seen quite a few game modes she’d never experienced before: zombies, parasites, alien invasions, Interstellar wars, and even modes like cosmic horror and hide-and-seek.

After reading the game descriptions from players who had made it out, Perry Yates had only one thought: never be fooled by a game’s name.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, Perry Yates first glanced at the Card Furnace. At the moment, the Card Furnace was extremely unstable.

Looking at the Card Furnace in this state, Perry Yates could already foresee the fusion failing in a few days.

Seeing this, although she had expected it, she decided to try and salvage it to keep the past few days from being a complete waste.

Coincidentally, after the butler had cataloged all the cards into the item system, there were some with attributes so rare they had no market value and could only serve as fusion materials.

But even as fusion materials, it was unclear what attributes they should be combined with, and she didn’t want to fuse them herself. This was the perfect opportunity to add them in.

With that thought, Perry Yates opened her palm. A moment later, a box on a nearby shelf began to tremble slightly.

The box then opened, and several Alien Cards transformed into a streak of light, flying into Perry Yates’s hand.

The contents of these cards were all more or less related to shapeshifting.

After tossing these cards into the Card Furnace all at once, the originally highly unstable furnace instantly stabilized.

Perry Yates glanced at the fusion time. Unsurprisingly, it had increased by another five days.

’Sigh... oh well. I saw this coming.’

She moved to an empty spot nearby and, with a wave of her hand, a mountain-like animal carcass appeared a short distance away.

Looking at the carcass, Perry Yates performed Ascension on it several times in a row, only stopping when she had completely exhausted her internal energy.

Then, once her energy had recovered, Perry Yates took out a card from a nearby box and began pouring a steady stream of energy into it.

「Ten days later.」

Perry Yates looked at the four gleaming golden cards that had finished their Ascension and couldn’t help but let out a breath. ’Finally, it’s done.’

After putting away the four item cards, Perry Yates didn’t contact Evan Fuller immediately. She planned to finish the Ascension for all the cards first, then get paid upon delivery.

Perry Yates stood up and notified the butler to come up and clean the area.

The animal carcasses she had prepared for energy had all turned to dust after being drained, piling up around her.

Soon, the butler appeared before Perry Yates, vacuum cleaner in hand, and began to clean up with swift, practiced movements.

Seeing this, Perry Yates couldn’t help but marvel. ’As expected of an all-purpose butler. There’s nothing she can’t do.’

"By the way, Butler, would you like a colleague?" Perry Yates asked suddenly.

"A colleague? Are you referring to Sylas Sawyer?" the butler asked.

"Not that kind of colleague. One just like you."

Although Character Cards were extremely rare, as luck would have it, the last time she was browsing the survival game website, she had seen a player abroad who owned one—though it was only a two-star card.

Perry Yates felt that it was too much work for the butler to run the entire Card Tavern alone, which was why she wanted to find her a partner.

However, to Perry Yates’s surprise, the butler flatly refused her offer. "Thank you for your kind intentions, Master, but it is not necessary. It is my honor to serve you, so I do not need another card to share this honor."

Seeing this, Perry Yates shrugged. "Alright, then."

She had only been casually asking the butler anyway. Since the offer wasn’t needed, she wouldn’t press the matter.

While the butler was cleaning, Perry Yates went over to the Card Furnace.

"Did it... fail again?"

Perry Yates stared at the Card Furnace. Its current state was a little different from a successful fusion, but it didn’t look like a failed one either.

She looked at the card inside.

As everyone knows, a card’s rank can be judged by its color. But the color inside the Card Furnace right now was neither red nor gold. It was gray, speckled with points of silver light, giving it an air of mystery.

Perry Yates took the card out of the Card Furnace.

The face of the card showed five faceless clay figures that looked identical, as if copy-pasted. Below them, in the space that displayed the rank, four golden stars shone brilliantly. However, next to the last star, a fifth star flickered in and out of existence.

"Five Stars... no, wait. It’s not a Five-Star card yet."

The fifth star hadn’t fully materialized; it was just a phantom image. So it couldn’t be considered a Five-Star card, only four-and-a-half stars.

After figuring out the situation, Perry Yates couldn’t help but give herself a thumbs-up. ’Perry Yates, you’re amazing! You actually managed to create a four-and-a-half-star card. Who else could do this? WHO! ELSE!’

After the fusion, Perry Yates also learned the card’s function.

Its original ability to transform into and merge with any mineral it touched had evolved. Now, it could transform into any mineral it had *ever* touched, freely control its size, mimic the form of other objects, control the growth and shape of minerals, and even create certain minerals out of thin air.

Simply put, it was an incredibly useful Defense Skill.

As for the latter ability to control the growth and shape of minerals, that was probably because she had fused quite a few Wood Attribute and Water Attribute cards into it earlier.

And the ability to create minerals out of thin air wasn’t exactly from nothing; it could only produce metallic elements that exist within the human body.

After putting a new card into the Card Furnace, Perry Yates turned and went to find Sylas Sawyer.

"You’re saying you want me to help you collect minerals?" Sylas Sawyer, who had been in the middle of work before Perry Yates dragged him into a corner, looked at her in surprise.

"Not you, specifically. The Survival Game Administration behind you," Perry Yates said.

"But haven’t you already collected a ton?" Sylas Sawyer asked.

He was willing to bet that the number of gemstones Perry Yates currently had was second to none.

"I don’t know much about this stuff. It’s best to leave professional matters to the professionals. Besides, what I’m looking for this time is different from before," Perry Yates said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Alright, fine. What are your requirements? We’ll do our best to meet them," Sylas Sawyer said with a hint of resignation.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter