Card Chapter 12: Secret Realm (Patreon)

Hearing that they were free to move around, Russell did not hesitate and immediately summoned his Pidgeot.

Seeing the huge bird, Jiang Nanxi beside him was taken aback. “You’ve already made a second creature card?”

She had thought the most Russell would craft was a single vehicle‑type item card.

Russell shook his head slightly, expression calm. “It’s only a green‑rank card—nothing special.”

Jiang Nanxi was left speechless at his humble‑brag; many people spend their whole lives just to produce one black‑iron‑grade green card.

With that thought she smiled. “A forest‑type secret‑realm is perfect for a bird mount like yours.”

(Truth be told, flying mounts adapt to most secret realms.)

At this moment the nearby students looked over with envy.

“That’s Russell for you.”

“I want to ride a bird too—my family only got me a mountain bike.”

“You’re lucky. I got nothing and have to rely on my own two legs.”

Hearing the chatter, Russell sighed inwardly: if Jiang Nanxi hadn’t reminded him, he probably would never have thought of making a rideable card.

In the crowd, Du Heng glared at Russell, his eyes brimming with jealousy and resentment.

Again Russell, always Russell! Is he that perfect? he fumed inwardly. If I sneak off and get caught, I’m finished.

Sensing Du Heng’s stare, Russell turned toward him. Du Heng hurriedly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.

Russell snorted—bullying the weak and fearing the strong; he added a third mental label to Du Heng.

Jiang Nanxi heard Russell’s laugh and asked, puzzled, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing—just saw a clown,” Russell said, waving it off. Before she could reply, he vaulted onto Pidgeot and took to the sky.

Once Russell left, the top‑class students no longer lingered and scattered.

The staff member in charge watched Russell shrink into a black dot and sighed. “Looks like Shanghai No. 1 High has produced a real prodigy this year.”

“By the way, Lao Wang—weren’t you on leave to care for your mother?”

The card‑crafter called Lao Wang fell silent for a moment before forcing a smile. “People like me spend half a lifetime just to reach black‑iron rank; we can’t save much in a year.

“And my mother’s illness burns money—if I don’t work, there’s no income.”

For secret realms fully under the Card‑Crafter Association’s control, the guards are usually black‑iron crafters with no hope of promotion—essentially retirees.

After all, they won’t waste high‑level crafters here.

The leader sighed, patted Lao Wang’s shoulder and said, “Enough gloomy talk—let’s get back to the monitoring room and hope nothing happens today.”

…

Riding Pidgeot, Russell soon reached mid‑mountain height. Hovering in the air, he pondered his next goal.

“Only half a month until the four‑school joint exam. I need more materials from this secret‑realm training; relying only on Yoriichi will be tough.”

Although Russell was already number one at Shanghai No. 1 High, heroes everywhere were as numerous as carp in a river. He would never be as conceited as Du Heng to think himself the best in the world.

When he made his first card, it was just for fun and to repay his loan. But after living through the Demon Nest riot, he realized how dangerous this world was.

If Master Bai Yueming hadn’t been in Shanghai that day, the tragedy would have been unimaginable. Russell now craved power more than ever.

Putting those thoughts aside, he examined the forest below. Towering black trees spread huge canopies that blocked his view.

Helpless, Russell guided Pidgeot to the ground, stowed the bird, and summoned Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

“Yoriichi, be careful—this place is dangerous,” he warned softly.

Yoriichi nodded, resting his right hand on the katana at his waist, ready to draw at any moment.

Their footsteps rustled on fallen leaves.

Suddenly, Yoriichi drew his blade and used its spine to halt Russell’s movement. Russell instantly understood an enemy had appeared and summoned Pidgeot, soaring into the air.

A long, unseen creature was tunneling under the thick leaves, raising a ridge along the forest floor. Yoriichi watched intently.

“Hiss!”

A vicious set of mandibles burst from the leaves, but Yoriichi’s slight sidestep dodged the bite. His blade glowed crimson as he slashed downward, cleaving the creature cleanly in two.

From above, Russell saw clearly: the attacker was a slender, jet‑black centipede.

Just as he prepared to land and extract materials, he noticed several more ridges forming in the leaves.

“Careful, Yoriichi—more monsters!”

The next instant, four dark shapes lunged at Yoriichi. But with Transparent World active, their speed looked pitifully slow to him.

“Sun Breathing, Second Form—Clear Blue Sky!”

His crimson slash blew the leaves aside, dicing the airborne centipedes into uneven chunks. Purple blood dripped to the ground with a faint sizzle.

Circling overhead, Russell waited—who knew whether more demons lurked below. After a long silence he descended beside Yoriichi.

“As expected of you—so strong,” Russell laughed, patting Yoriichi’s arm.

For once, the normally impassive Yoriichi allowed a smile to surface. Russell blinked in surprise. “So you can smile after all.”

When he looked again, Yoriichi’s face was blank once more. Scratching his head, Russell let it go and wrapped his spiritual power around the centipede corpses.

As his power tightened, the remains condensed into five material cards:

[Poison Centipede] (Green).

“No man grows rich without windfall, no horse gets fat without wild grass,” Russell muttered.

He had barely entered the secret realm and already harvested five black‑iron‑grade green materials.

And this was only a low‑level, fully controlled, small‑scale realm. He could hardly imagine a large, high‑grade one.

No wonder high‑level card crafters, aware of the danger, were still willing to take Association assignments to explore secret realms.

“It seems the mid‑mountain only yields green materials. I wonder what’s at the summit,” Russell mused to himself.