I Rely on Drawing Cards to Set Up a Persona - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chaos Card Pool

This was a very odd place.

The night was dark, and the red moon emitted a faint coolness. There was a big fog under the moon, and the slightest light could not be seen. Piercing wails came from the thick fog and echoed in the air, making people shudder.

In the nearest place from the wailing, stone steps circled the most central location, which could be vaguely seen to be separated into five sections filled with people.

Today was the last degeneration ceremony of the Chaos card pool.

After this ceremony, all the cards in the Chaos card pool, without exception, will be corrupted.

As soon as the news came out, all the cards in the pool that had been corrupted were filled with regret.

In the future, there will be no more fun in the boring life of the card pool.

With the idea that this was the last time to see some excitement, almost all the cards in the Chaos card pool came over.

The thick fog didn’t hinder their vision.

Lying in the central domain was a white-haired man. His white skin was covered with bloodstains, and his neck, wrists, and ankles were covered with broken silver chains.

An ear-piercing howl came out of his mouth, and his sharp teeth could be vaguely seen as saliva trickled down from the corners of his mouth and dripped onto the ground.

There was no hint of sympathy or discomfort on the faces of the surrounding cards sitting on the stone steps as they excitedly observed the card lying in the central domain.

“This Chain card kid has good teeth.”

“The Chain card has degenerated into a waste card, so can I ask him out on a date?”

“The last corrupted card is actually from the Prison race. It’s unbelievable. What exactly is so attractive about this card?”

The chattering and cheerful chatter did not dilute the forest’s eerie atmosphere but made people’s hearts chill even more.

At this moment, an old man in a white robe with cranky hair, holding a dull-colored scepter, walked with graceful steps toward the chain card in the central domain.

The old man was followed by a wooden puppet, which held a black flame in its hand.

When all the cards gathered around saw him on stage, they tacitly stopped talking and quietly watched the old man.

[Card: Shax – Chain Card

Race: Prison Race

Grade: SSR (Legendary)

Chaos nurtures the spirit, and the sacred fire is inextinguishable. I implore Chaos to forgive his darkness and cowardice and leave him a place to live].

As the words fell, the puppet pressed the flame to the forehead of the chain card.

The black flame melted into his body. The white-haired man’s eyes filled with red blood, the veins in his neck bulged, beads of sweat dripped down his body to the ground, and pain swept through his body.

The cards sitting southeast of the stone steps stood up as the flame merged.

Some had horns on their heads and a long, thin tail behind them, or black wings, or were tall and dark-skinned, while others, like the white-haired man lying on the ground, wore chains around their necks and wrists.

These cards that seemed to be born from hell chanted lowly, with a strange rhythm in their voices, as if they were calling out for something.

As the chant rang out, the expression of the man lying in the central domain gradually calmed down. The white hair covering his head was dyed black, and all his values were reset and turned into initial data.

Cards abandoned by their masters are discriminated against everywhere. Even Chaos, which gave birth to them, would reject them with disgust.

However, there is nowhere for them to go but here.

Corruption is the only way for abandoned cards to stay in the Chaos card pool.

During the ritual of degeneration, cards of the same clan will chant hymns to appease the Chaos card pool, making it possible to keep the other reluctantly.

After that, the chain card will return to their original state, just like them, and live in a remote and dark place.

Half an hour passed, and the situation of the chain card stabilized. A big man came out of the cards from the southeast side. He looked disgustedly at the other party’s sticky and dusty clothes. Then, he carried him directly on his shoulders towards their side.

Seeing this, the old man slowly raised the corners of his mouth and announced, “The degeneration ceremony is over.”

All the cards then seemed to have broken free from some shackles, and they looked at the chain card thrown on the ground in the southeast with different expressions.

Corrupted cards are also known as waste cards.

This is because after they are reset back to their initial stats, upgrading them will be very difficult, and no one will want to expend the effort to upgrade a card.

It would be better to draw a new card with that kind of effort.

Therefore, the possibility of corrupted cards returning to the top is almost zero.

The Chaos cards were already poorly received by the rest of the cards because of their temperament and eccentricity. Now, all the cards in their card pool have been corrupted into waste cards.

It seems that the title of “the shame of the entire star field card pool” can never be shaken off.

What an inexplicable irony.

“The five major race cards, please retire in an orderly manner.”

The old man raised his voice.

The mood of each card was unspeakably complicated, and just as they were about to exit according to the process, a series of dings rang in their ears.

“Ding——Host #2658: Qiao Xingnan (Human) has been bound.”

“Card pool being set ……”

“Ding——Card pool selection confirmed: Star field coordinates (35, 42), Chaos Card Pool.”

“Attention! Attention! All the cards in the Chaos card pool, please be prepared.”

Hearing this sound, all the cards froze.

If the card pool that was set was any other card pool, perhaps those cards would all cheerfully greet the host, eager for the host’s summons.

But this time, the card pool that was selected was the Chaos card pool.

The five major races of the Chaos card pool, one human race, four foreign races, and some other small races that are scattered and not worth mentioning, without exception, were all thrown back into the Chaos card pool because they did not meet the host’s wishes.

Those hosts who discard their cards easily do not realize that the abandoned cards can only have a chance to live in the Chaos card pool by going through a degeneration ritual that would initialize them and make them waste cards that would never even have the possibility of being upgraded after that.

Chaos cards are, for the most part, very good-natured.

However, they are not like the cards in other card pools that still have expectations of their hosts even if they are abandoned.

They resent the humans who brought them out of Chaos but abandoned them at will.

Even if they are summoned again.

The end is already predetermined.

Corrupted cards will be abandoned by the host again because of the difficulty in upgrading and then revert back to the Chaos card pool to sink into darkness forever, waiting for the next time to be abandoned over and over again.

There seemed to be an unsettling aura surrounding all the cards, and the atmosphere was quiet and somewhat eerie.

“How about we guess which race is the first to be drawn this time?”

It was unknown which card suddenly brought this up. Still, it must be said that the bet diverted their attention and aroused the cards’ interest.

“Anyhow, it’s also the host’s first time drawing a card. The system might operate secretly and let the strongest card among us go first. The strongest of our prison clan must have a vote in any case.” A card with horns on its head patted its chest and was convinced.

“The system is not as simple-minded as you. Everyone is at the initial value, with only a few strong people. After being drawn, there will not have enough power. I vote for our Spirit race! Who dares to disagree?”

“I have something to say about this, the host is a human, so we human cards must be involved in it!”

The cards were arguing with each other, seemingly lively, but in reality, each card was filled with unexplainable depression because of the arrival of the new host. It seemed that this was the only way to briefly relieve their discomfort.

Even if all the cards of our race are corrupted, they are definitely stronger than other corrupted cards!

Just at the moment when the eyes of the cards were fighting to the most intense, they heard a ding-dong sound from the system.

“Host card draw in progress……Cards, please be prepared.”

Despite having little affection for the new host, most cards were quiet as they waited for the outcome involving their own bets, faintly curious about the system’s next words.

“Ding——The card race has been drawn: Wood Race, Zero – Puppet Card, please prepare.”

As soon as the words fell, the excited looks on the faces of all the cards froze.

Was there something wrong with their ears?

Puppet card?

A puppet card at the bottom of their Chaos card pool? How is that possible!

It’s not that these chaos cards look down on anyone, but any host who draws a card for the first time should not draw a puppet card, which is the most useless existence of all their card races, in short, the waste card of waste cards.

Just ask if there are any existing corrupted cards that are sorted by ancient numbers. Except for the puppet cards, they simply don’t exist.

And if they remember correctly, it seems that the smaller the number of the puppet card, the worse the attributes?

At best, they had an impression of the number Ten puppet.

It turns out that the puppet cards had the number Zero?

“Elysian, have you seen the Zero Puppet card?”

Elysian was the old man who presided over the degeneration ceremony just now. As a priest card of the Spirit race, he is respected by the cards of all races and knows a little more about the puppets than the other cards.

But at best, he had only heard of the existence of the Puppet Zero.

Recalling for a moment, Elysian said slowly: “The smaller the puppet card number, the weaker the ability. Card Zero’s autonomy is somewhat vague, so the Puppet clan let him go out less for fear of being broken in the Chaos card pool.”

The cards that heard it were silent. Although the Chaos card pool rejected them, the corrupted cards, it was the first time they heard that there were really cards that might die in the Chaos card pool.

In any case, the Chaos card pool is their home base ah.

“What’s wrong with the system this time? Usually, if the host is bound for the first time, it would operate secretly and let the other party get a stronger card. This time, is it not afraid to make the host lose interest in drawing cards?”

Although there are now no more powerful cards among them, they are still stronger than the Puppet Zero card.

Elysian looked at the card that spoke and mused, “What if it’s the host’s personal influence?”

How is it possible that there could be a host with such bad luck?

The card was just about to retort when it suddenly realized something.

There are 580 card pools in the star field, and the newly bound host happened to get the Chaos card pool which is full of waste cards. Even if they were all corrupted waste cards, the host also precisely drew the weakest of them all, the Zero Puppet card.

This luck is really nothing to speak of.

There is no telling who this host is that is so amazing. The cards scratched their heads in curiosity.

“Just ask when Card Zero gets thrown back.”

“That’s true. It will probably be soon.”

They were well aware of the bad nature of humans.

After knowing that “Zero” was useless, the human would just discard it for gold and find a new way to draw cards.

However, these cards had no idea that the ‘soon’ they were talking about would never come.

……

Zero didn’t expect to be the first card to be drawn.

His head was empty, and he simply couldn’t figure out why he had been drawn.

Puppet Zero was not as smart or emotional as the other cards. He only knows it finally has a new master after being abandoned and corrupted.

He stood still, looking just like a rusty puppet.

His limbs were stiff, and he moved slowly.

This is Puppet Zero.

Without the master’s control, it was extremely difficult for the puppet to even walk independently. It was so useless that it could be called garbage.

The red light seemed to fall from the moon, scattered into dots of light lingering around him, blocking the puppet’s sight.

After an unknown amount of time, the points of light slowly dispersed, and the surrounding things came into view.

Zero’s reaction was slow, and before he finished observing his surroundings, a figure swooped over and covered his mouth.

“Brother, don’t make a sound yet!”

The man dropped his hand and tugged him into a small corner, telling him to hide so he wouldn’t be discovered by others.

“Bro, you are finally here. I finished the script. You listen to me first to tell you about the play. The hope is on you, work hard. I am optimistic about you!” The man squatted down and spoke in a low voice.

Zero didn’t understand. His empty mind had no idea what to do. He was motionless and stared at the man in front of him. His eyes were blank, and he seemed a bit dumb.

He looked quite easy to be fooled.

The man smiled, patted Puppet Zero’s shoulder, and said in a very compelling voice.

“”

“I have seen your card attributes. It says you are taciturn. This character is exactly what I need. Next, I have a very important task to give you.”

After these words, there was silence for about three minutes. Just when the man thought his words were too complicated and was ready to say something else, Zero finally made a move.

Like a rusty machine, he moved slowly and nodded his head up and down.

Seemingly aware that his response was too slow, Zero stiffly pursed the corners of his lips, but, to an outsider’s eye, his expression did not change.

Last time, his master returned him back to the card pool in exchange for gold because he was slow to react and couldn’t even walk properly.

The man is now the second master of Zero.

Zero didn’t know what the man needed him for. He just felt that even if he was useful, after seeing his clumsy actions, the man would have simply given up on him.

Zero waited in silence for the predetermined ending, but in the next second, the man was surprised, as if seeing some diamond in the rough, and vigorously praised: “That’s really good, you keep this state later, and then it will definitely be the brightest focus in the room.”

No matter the tone or expression, it resembles an unscrupulous boss offering a big pie to his employees.