Chapter 1

As the sun set behind the western mountains, the bell of the Tianyuan City Second Cardmaster Academy rang, signaling the end of school.

The teacher tidied up the cards on the lectern and hurriedly left. With graduation approaching, the teachers had many things to do.

The students began to become active, preparing to leave after school.

Wei Yuan also packed his bag. He had something to do in the evening and needed to hurry.

At this moment, a voice came from the classroom, "Brother Yuan, your mental fluctuation has already exceeded 95% in this test. You're about to awaken a soul card, right?" a male voice said with flattery.

"Yes, yes! Classmate Fenghua should have reached the level to awaken a soul card. He just needs an awakening ceremony!" a female student added.

Several other classmates also surrounded the well-dressed and handsome Yuan Fenghua. However, Yuan Fenghua casually smoothed his hair, maintaining a calm expression.

Despite being only eighteen or nineteen years old, they shouldn't be so worldly.

But what can you do in such a cruel and realistic world?

The Yuan family was quite influential in Tianyuan City, with both parents from the noble class. His father was a cardmaster and worked at the Cardmaster Association, while his mother held a key position in city management.

Yuan Fenghua himself was also a genius, with his mental fluctuation now exceeding 95%. It was almost certain that he would awaken a soul card during the awakening ceremony and become a cardmaster. Then he would be among the elite!

In this strange world, power was concentrated in small cards. Only by becoming a cardmaster could one use these cards.

The probability of becoming a cardmaster was very low, reportedly about one in a thousand. That means out of a thousand people, only one would become a cardmaster.

This ratio was roughly equivalent to being the top student in a grade.

The total number of graduates from the Second Academy this year exceeded nine hundred, all of whom were high-achievers who had passed multiple selections to enter the Second Academy.

However, according to some experienced teachers, the number of graduates who might awaken a soul card and become cardmasters would not exceed thirty, about two or three per class.

Of course, some of the lower-ranked classes might not have any at all.

Students in those classes had already started focusing on administrative subjects a year ago, hoping to secure management positions after graduation.

Yuan Fenghua came from a good family, was handsome, and had a bright future. It was natural for these classmates, who had grown up understanding the harshness of the world, to try to flatter him.

However, for Yuan Fenghua, these flattering words had become old and boring, as he had heard them since childhood.

As for the girls who hinted at him, he was already annoyed. Yuan Fenghua had seen and experienced a lot...

Seeing Yuan Fenghua leave with a smile and politeness, the classmates who failed to flatter him felt frustrated.

After three years at the academy, they had long given up on becoming cardmasters.

Initially, they were also considered geniuses, with high hopes from family and friends. But now, they only wanted to flatter Yuan to secure a position in city management.

Although this was not as prestigious as being a cardmaster, it was safe and still a good career path.

Yuan Fenghua left gracefully, and Wei Yuan also hurriedly left with his small bag.

Some people, frustrated at not being able to flatter Yuan Fenghua, began to mock Wei Yuan, who usually went unnoticed.

Excluding and mocking those who didn't conform was something many people enjoyed. By excluding others, they felt they were indirectly elevating themselves, giving themselves a small sense of satisfaction.

Of course, sometimes it was also out of jealousy and resentment. "We've all given up, why are you still so hardworking? Are you trying to make us look like quitters?" Mocking him behind his back was a way to vent their frustration.

"Aren't you Wei Yuan, always coming and going early? What are you busy with? If you have the energy to work part-time, you might as well focus on your studies. You could aim for a management position. Working part-time is impossible. What can you achieve by working part-time?" said a male student with slightly protruding teeth, who had some status among his classmates.

He wasn't trying to mock Wei Yuan. His chances of awakening a soul card were low, so he had given up on becoming a cardmaster. However, his family background allowed him to live a much better life than most, so he didn't care.

He just thought Wei Yuan was out of touch. If you're not going to be a cardmaster, you should focus on getting a management position. Working part-time was pointless. Having entered the Second Cardmaster Academy, why would you want to be a part-time worker?

"What? Wei Yuan has never given up on awakening a soul card. He's very ambitious!" said a female student who had given up on becoming a cardmaster and focused on her studies.

A male student was surprised, "He hasn't given up? I remember his mental fluctuation was 89% in this test, which is good, but there's only a month left before graduation. There's no hope!"

"Maybe he plans to keep trying after graduation?"

"Ha! An awakening ceremony costs over 200,000. Who can afford it besides the free one at graduation? If he has that determination, I'll start to admire him!"

"Either fully train to awaken a soul card or focus on studying for a management position. His early mornings and late nights will likely end up being for nothing!"

"Is his family that poor? Does he need to work part-time?"

"I heard he's an orphan, but I'm not sure."

"Wow, for an orphan to enter the Second Academy is quite an achievement!"

"So what? We all had to work hard to get into the Second Academy. Didn't we all think we would become cardmasters when we first entered? In the end, we all have to bow to reality."

This comment from the classmate who often caused awkward silences made everyone feel disheartened. They quietly packed their things and went home.

...

Wei Yuan hurriedly left the school and arrived at a secluded alley. Seeing no one around, he took out a card from his pocket.

The card was made of an unknown material, quite stiff.

It had a light green floral border, with a picture of a large leather bag on the top half. In the middle was a ribbon-like stripe with the words "Extendable Leather Bag" written on it. Below was a blank area with a few lines of explanatory text.

[Extendable Leather Bag (Green)]

[Excellent Level Prop Card / Magic Item / Storage Bag]

[Storage: Can hold non-living objects weighing up to 100 kilograms and with a volume of up to 8 cubic meters.]

[(0.5 energy level per use)]

["It can really hold a lot!"]

If someone observed closely, they would notice the card faintly glowing green.

This was an excellent level prop card—an extendable leather bag that could store items.

Without any visible action from Wei Yuan, his backpack disappeared.

His backpack had been put into the extendable leather bag...

But using energy-requiring prop cards was something only cardmasters could do!

Hadn't Wei Yuan not yet awakened a soul card?

...

In this world, only cardmasters could become the elite by mastering the power of cards.

Ordinary people were not completely unable to use cards. There were many low-level cards that didn't require energy and could be used by ordinary people. These cards, which circulated in the market, were valued at several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, depending on their usefulness.

However, slightly higher-level cards required energy to use, and only cardmasters could possess energy.

Moreover, only cardmasters could manifest cards. Without a cardmaster to manifest these prop cards, ordinary people could only look at them, regardless of whether the cards required energy.

Wei Yuan took out a black hooded cloak from the extendable leather bag, then put away the bag and took out another card.

This card also had a green floral border and was an excellent level card, but it was a more valuable equipment card.

The top half of the card showed a traditional Peking Opera monkey mask, named: True Mask.

[True Mask (Green)]

[Excellent Level Equipment Card / Accessory / Mask]

[Second Face: Conceal your true appearance, making others only detect the mask's information.]

[Passerby: Slightly reduce your presence.]

[(Occupies 3 energy levels)]

["This mask is your countless additional faces."]

Wei Yuan put on the cloak and the mask, then walked deeper into the alley.

"Graduation is coming soon, and I won't have to hide my identity as a cardmaster anymore," he muttered to himself.

While his classmates were envious of Yuan Fenghua, who was about to awaken a soul card and become a cardmaster, and didn't have high hopes for Wei Yuan's future, Wei Yuan had already awakened a soul card and become a cardmaster.

In fact, he had awakened his soul card twelve years ago, when he was only seven, just three days after he had been transported to this world.

During the monster invasion of Tianyuan City, Wei Yuan's parents were killed. The body he now inhabited had also died, but it was just coincidentally possessed by Wei Yuan.

Both bodies were named Wei Yuan, a coincidence.

Due to his caution in this unfamiliar world, he didn't tell anyone about his awakened soul card. Of course, he had no relatives to tell.

Awakening a soul card was the key to becoming a cardmaster. A soul card was a manifestation of one's innate soul attributes, and no two people had the same soul card.

The strength of a soul card also determined a cardmaster's ultimate achievement.

What Wei Yuan didn't expect was that at the age of twelve, he awakened a second soul card!

According to official data, the ratio of cardmasters to ordinary people was about 1:1000, and the ratio of cardmasters with a second soul card to ordinary cardmasters was 1:100.

That means out of a hundred cardmasters, only one would have a second soul card.

Wei Yuan, who had never thought of himself as a genius, felt that he truly lived up to being a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "transmigrator" or "穿越者" in English, but in this context, it means someone who has been transported to another world or universe, often with special abilities or knowledge from their original world. For the sake of clarity, I will translate it as "transmigrator" here.) and didn't disappoint his predecessors!

What he didn't expect even more was that just a month ago, on his nineteenth birthday, he awakened a third soul card!

Everyone had a maximum of three soul cards!

In the school library, Wei Yuan found data from years ago stating that the probability of a cardmaster awakening three soul cards was one in ten thousand!

That means out of ten thousand cardmasters, only one would have three soul cards!

That's one in ten million people!

Tianyuan City, a large city with nearly two hundred years of history and a population of over thirty million, theoretically had only three cardmasters with three soul cards!

Only after awakening his third soul card did Wei Yuan realize: This was his true golden finger!