Chapter Seventy-One: World Scenario Card

Since Linda’s wish did not include the dark warriors summoned by her skill growing stronger as her level increased, Wang Ling decided not to spend more currency points on upgrading that item for now. Although the other badge did grant an impressive increase to life points, compared to the Heart of Peachy, which offered a comprehensive boost to all attributes and included a hidden skill, and the Crimson-Gold Mask, which was ranked D-tier, these were more pressing candidates for enhancement.

The White Iron Musket also warranted upgrading, but resources were limited. After some thought, Wang Ling opted to focus on just one piece: the Heart of Peachy, a Rainbow Dream item. Spending three thousand currency points, he strengthened the E-tier Heart of Peachy to Level 4. Upon upgrading, its stats improved, and it gained a new skill, though the equipment prerequisites also rose significantly:

“Heart of Peachy: Type: Necklace accessory; Rating: E; Attribute: Rainbow Dream item; Abilities: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence +4; Life and Spirit: +40 each; Enhancement Level: LV4;”

“Skill: Pink Heart: Consumes 10 Spirit points. From your lips, a pink heart-shaped peach flies toward the target. The heart’s damage matches your physical attack, but is considered energy damage.”

“LV4 Skill: Pink Shield: Consumes 10 Spirit points. Forms a heart-shaped energy barrier around you, lasting 60 seconds. It absorbs 100 points of melee damage and 300 points of ranged damage. If any single attack exceeds the shield’s absorption, the barrier shatters.”

“Equipment Requirements: Base stats—Strength 25, Agility 25, Constitution 25, Intelligence 25.”

This shield-type skill was extremely practical, especially against sneak attacks from a distance. When facing gun-wielding enemies, the Pink Shield could prove invaluable.

Wang Ling calculated that if he tried to enhance it to Level 7, where new skills appear, his base stats would be insufficient, and the currency cost would be exorbitant. Moreover, from LV4 to LV7, enhancement attempts could fail, wasting currency points; from LV7 to LV9, failure could drop it back to LV1; and from LV9 to LV10, the equipment could even be destroyed. Thus, he decided against further upgrades for now.

With over 9,700 currency points left, he still needed to unlock the Kung Fu Summon Card and face challenges, purchase healing potions for the next world, and reserve some points for emergencies.

He put on the upgraded Heart of Peachy, donned the Crimson-Gold Mask, and equipped all of Linda’s dream gear. Satisfied, he opened the status page of the Dream Badge and reviewed his personal stats:

“Strength 45 (+1), Agility 44 (+1), Constitution 45 (+1), Intelligence 39 (+1), Life: 281 (+5), Spirit: 235 (+5)”

E-tier skills: Accelerated Sprint LV4, Iron Head LV4, Iron Leg LV4; C-tier skill: Plum Blossom Seat LV1; B-tier skill: Immortal Aura Activation LV1.

Basic skills: Footwork LV2, Melee Combat LV4, Ranged Combat LV3, Parry LV4, Stamina LV4.

Unique talent: Troublemaker LV1; Bloodline: Dragon’s Lineage; also acquired: Spiritual Energy System.

Such data would make any dreamer in the novice zone envious—after all, Wang Ling had only completed two main missions!

To achieve such power in so little time, the key lay in his unwavering courage during missions. In the Mario World, his daring plot against Mario allowed him to inherit Mario’s skills. This led to scavenging three extra-life mushrooms, providing the currency needed to purchase advanced skill books and the costly White Iron Musket. Bravely entering the final stage and earning an S-rank evaluation granted him the Kung Fu Scenario Card, his greatest asset for surviving the second world.

In the Double Dragon world, teaming up with Blackie was another gamble—after all, that agile fellow was strong enough to have killed twenty-seven other dreamers in the past!

Taking down the big boss A** was an even riskier bet. If not for the sudden outbursts from Cheng Fu and Wang Long, Wang Ling might have died in that world.

Had he wasted his remaining time after completing the main missions, opting for comfort over risk, and not ventured into the headquarters of the Dark Warriors or the research facility, he would never have acquired the Heavenly Dragon Soul.

Of course, familiarity with game plots was another vital factor in his success—something he owed to his upbringing.

Wang Ling’s family was not wealthy. He never owned high-end consoles like the PS, NGC, or XBOX series, nor could he afford handhelds like PSP or NDS. The only console he ever had was a modest FC, and the only handheld he could afford was a cheap GBA. As for phones, he didn’t have an iPhone—just a basic ZTE Android given as a freebie with a phone plan.

Being a fan of games, he played countless titles on FC, GBA, and Android. With classics like Mario and Double Dragon, his familiarity was second to none.

Safe within his exclusive room, Wang Ling, whose nerves had been taut for days, finally felt the deep fatigue settle in. After a shower, he collapsed onto the soft bed, clutching a Shiori Fujisaki pillow, and sank into a deep sleep.

When he awoke, it was already the next day. Having slept until he naturally woke, he lay comfortably in bed, eyes half-closed, pondering how to spend the remaining six days of rest.

“My current stats thoroughly outclass a martial arts master of Wang Long’s level. Though I still fall short in combat experience, psychological resilience, and adaptability in battle, with Plum Blossom Seat and Immortal Aura Activation, I shouldn’t lose a challenge. Hmm… As for the final president, Wang Long mentioned that Peach Immortal, Chen Heng, and Blue Moon were only slightly stronger than him, yet even the four of them combined couldn’t defeat President Wu Tian alone.”

Feeling the substantial boost in his power, Wang Ling anticipated that the difficulty of the next world would rise accordingly, making it essential to gather more powerful allies.

“Activating a Kung Fu Card costs 1,000 points. To play it safe, I should spend four days training in the novice zone gym, at least to master my current skills and reach a level where I can harness spiritual energy before challenging the Kung Fu Tower. That way, my odds will be much better.”

Having decided, Wang Ling got up, tidied himself, and first headed to the entertainment district’s casino. There, at the recycling station, he discarded the unsellable “Shoulder Charge” skill book, netting 1,300 currency points. Then he went to the free market to browse the weapons and equipment on offer.

This time, he checked every stall with patience. Most items were still white-grade equipment, with blue-grade being less common, red elite gear rare, and green or purple growth equipment even rarer. As for dark-gold or rainbow dream items, none were for sale.

In terms of consumables, he did spot some rare and precious items.

Though the odds of drawing a rare item from a mission chest were only one percent, with over five thousand dreamers in the novice zone, enough people had completed missions and opened chests for rare items to appear. Yet, even when obtained, dreamers were loath to sell them, so rare items in the market remained a rare sight.

There were many types of rare items. The most common were full recovery potions, large stamina potions, senzu beans, attribute-boosting potions, and other consumables. Next most common were random exchange items, which could generate weapons, armor, accessories, or skills at random, depending on their grade.

Other rare items were too numerous to list: contract stones, weapon molds, enhancement stones, rare materials, skill-wash scrolls, engraved crests—even world specialties like extra-life mushrooms could sometimes be drawn.

Some rare items were particularly precious. For example, the Summon Stone from the GBA “Summon Night: Swordcraft Story” world could instantly summon a familiar. The Attribute Reset Scroll from the Android “Inotia” world could reset all attribute points to the default values when entering the dream space, allowing free redistribution.

World Scenario Cards were among the rarest items. There were many types: Wang Ling’s Summon Scenario Card; the Mission Scenario Card Bai Feng used to enter the Double Dragon world; the Reward Scenario Card Su obtained for entering the Pokémon world and earning a pet familiar. There were other types too: battle scenario cards, roleplay scenario cards, slaughter scenario cards, and so on.

What Wang Ling saw for sale in the market was precisely a World Scenario Card:

This particular card was a training card that opened the scenario of “Circus” from the FC console—a classic game with five stages: lion riding and jumping through hoops of fire, monkey jumping, ball jumping, horse riding and trampoline jumping, and trapeze swinging.

Activating the Circus Training Card allowed one to enter the scenario for practice. Each successfully cleared stage increased the basic footwork skill by one level and boosted jumping ability by ten percent. Clearing all five stages would grant five levels to basic footwork and a fifty percent increase to jumping ability!

(Due to errands during the day, this chapter is posted late. The next one will be up after midnight as usual.)