Chapter 36: Crushing Buggy
Of course, Ian knew that with this damn system, as long as you had money, you could be European. If you recharged ten billion Berries, you could instantly become a lucky king!
Without further ado, he quickly equipped the Flying Shadow card and then used the remaining experience books to raise the Flying Shadow card's level to match that of the Left Horse Master card.
In the early stages, leveling up a card didn't require much experience. One experience book could raise it about three and a half levels, and two books could bring it to level 5. During the leveling process, Ian also discovered that the growth potential of a native four-star orange card was indeed higher than that of a three-star card. The Left Horse Master card was a balanced type, gaining 15 points in strength and speed per level, totaling 30 points. However, the Flying Shadow card gained 10 points in strength and 30 points in speed per level, totaling 40 points!
If this pattern held, then a native five-star red card would grant a total of 50 attribute points per level!
Based on the percentage bonuses provided by different card star ratings, the Flying Shadow card gave Ian an attribute increase of 4 points in strength and 12 points in speed per level.
"By the way, during that ten-draw just now, I think I also got 15 fragments of the Shelley card! If I remember correctly, a two-star card requires 20 fragments to synthesize!" Ian quickly checked and found that the Shelley card fragments were indeed one of the Flying Shadow's bond attributes.
If only he could get five more Shelley fragments, Ian thought, and then flipped to the Soul Shop interface. This shop sold various card fragments, and he wondered if Shelley fragments were available.
The shop only displayed six types of fragments at a time. Ian looked but didn't see Shelley fragments. Just as he was feeling disappointed, the system suddenly reminded him: "Host can refresh the Soul Shop using diamonds, each refresh costing 20 diamonds!"
"I...!" Ian really wanted to curse. Everything required diamonds—would the system die without money!?
But he knew the system's nature well and understood that no amount of complaining would change it. He still had some diamonds left, not enough for a ten-draw, but enough to refresh the Soul Shop.
So Ian started refreshing the Soul Shop. First refresh—nothing! Second refresh—still nothing! Third, fourth—still nothing!
Ian suddenly realized that for some reason, the Soul Shop was only refreshing with various one-star and two-star card fragments. There were so many of these cards that finding a specific fragment was incredibly difficult.
One more try! Ian thought. Five refreshes would cost exactly 100 diamonds—any more wouldn't be worth it.
When Ian confirmed, the Soul Shop's list changed again. Maybe luck was finally on his side, because this time he actually got Shelley fragments—exactly five of them!
Buying these five Shelley fragments required 200 souls. Ian immediately sold off some unused bond cards he had accumulated, like Random Child and Shimura Shinpachi, to get 400 souls and bought the Shelley fragments.
When Ian chose to synthesize, a flash of light appeared, and a blue-bordered two-star card emerged. The card depicted a gentle, cute white-haired girl in a kimono sitting by a window, with a few little birds hopping and playing in front of her.
As a bond card, there were no special requirements—just keeping it in the card backpack would activate the corresponding bond. Ian had originally only wanted to strengthen the Flying Shadow card by assembling the Shelley card, since Flying Shadow was a typical speed-type card with very low health.
However, when Ian casually glanced at Shelley's card attributes, he was surprised.
[Shelley]
Card Star Rating: Two-Star
Title: Snow Woman
Level: 1
Strength: 10
Speed: 12
Health: 25
Nen: 75
Skill: Healing: Consumes Nen to heal a single target's injuries; healing amount equals Nen value x 10.
Ice Tear Stone: Consumes all current Nen to condense an Ice Tear Stone. Crushing the stone restores 20% of Nen.
Bond: Obtain Flying Shadow: Health +21%
Obtain Kuwa: Nen +18%
This card was Ian's first healing-type card. A two-star card had low base attributes and growth potential, making it not very valuable for cultivation. But after seeing Shelley's card, Ian realized that two-star cards weren't entirely useless. He couldn't guarantee he'd never get injured in battles, and more importantly, Shelley's card could store Nen using Ice Tear Stones—a very useful skill!
Although the conversion efficiency was only 20%, he could consume Nen during idle times to store some Ice Tear Stones. This way, when facing stronger opponents, he'd have a way to recover, which was incredibly valuable.
"System, can I unequip a card that's already equipped?" Ian asked.
"Yes," the system replied firmly. "However, once unequipped, the skill effects and bonuses from the original card will disappear."
Ian understood. The system meant that if he equipped the Left Horse Master card and learned the Flash Slash skill, but then unequipped it, even if he used the same move against an opponent, it wouldn't be called Flash Slash anymore. The special damage effects from the card's skill would vanish, and hitting an opponent would just count as a normal attack.
The same applied to the Flying Shadow card. Where would the flames for the Evil King Flame Slayer Fist and Evil King Flame Slayer Sword come from? They were special effects from the card's skills. If he unequipped the Flying Shadow card, where would he get flames to coat his fists and sword? Unless he found a Flame-Flame Fruit to eat and became a Devil Fruit user...
But Ian wasn't too worried. As his level increased, more card slots would unlock. He could use the Shelley card for daily activities and switch to a combat card when fighting.
Mental communication with the system was very fast, so from Buggy's perspective, Ian just dawdled a bit, put the money bag into his coat pocket, and then looked up.
Whether it was an illusion or not, when Ian looked up, Buggy felt something was different about him, though he couldn't pinpoint what.
Ian held his Sword Saint Longsword, lightly flicked it a couple of times, found it felt lighter, and then assumed a stance, beckoning to Buggy and his crew: "Come on!"
Buggy's pirate lackeys obediently stepped over the table and charged at Ian, wielding various weapons and eagerly swinging at him.
But at that moment, Ian's body suddenly blurred!
It was like a video feed with interference—quite noticeable.
Buggy, watching from a distance, was stunned. Before he could figure out what was happening, he heard several screams from the pirate lackeys. Looking closely, he saw that the ones in front had dropped their weapons with a clatter, clutching their bleeding wrists.
"Wha... what happened!?" Buggy's mouth hung open, his face full of shock.
The other pirate lackeys were also terrified. The event was eerie; they knew Ian had moved, but they hadn't seen how.
His posture remained the same, as if he hadn't moved at all.
Morgan rubbed his eyes vigorously, unable to understand why the pirate hunter hadn't moved, yet the pirates had their wrists slashed. He thought he was hallucinating.
Only Ian was secretly thrilled. He had just tried to imitate Flying Shadow's quick draw.
With the passive skill "Extreme Shadow Thief" activated, Ian found his speed dramatically increased. His advanced swordsmanship skill already gave a 30% boost to draw speed, and now with an additional 50%, that was 80%—nearly double his normal speed! Combined with Nen reinforcement, Ian's speed had reached the limit of the naked eye, achieving an effect similar to a quick draw.
So this is what it feels like to be superhuman! Ian thought, looking at his Doriki value with some amazement.
A level 5 four-star orange Flying Shadow card had directly increased his Doriki by over 200 points. Now, Ian's Doriki had surpassed 500, prompting this reflection.
The only slight regret was that he couldn't yet achieve Flying Shadow's ability to cut sixteen times in an instant. The real Flying Shadow could cut someone without them even noticing, making it seem like he hadn't moved. Ian's movements, if one concentrated, could still be detected—just that blurry shift—and he could only manage seven cuts in that instant, no more.
What surprised Ian most was that after equipping the Flying Shadow card, he could vaguely see a faint glow around everyone present.
This was likely the effect of the "Evil Eye Master (Fake)" skill. When passively activated, it allowed him to roughly gauge an opponent's strength.
The weakest were Buggy's pirate lackeys, surrounded by a white glow, classified as non-threatening opponents. Kabaji and Mohji had a faint green glow, slightly better than white, indicating low threat. Morgan was also in this category. Only Buggy was different, with a deep green glow. Ian judged based on his own strength that Buggy was a moderately threatening opponent.
After some thought, Ian figured this was related to Buggy's Devil Fruit. Buggy was a Devil Fruit user, likely classified as a "superhuman." Although his Doriki might not be as high as Ian's now, he was still a formidable superhuman compared to ordinary people.
Whether light green or deep green, based on color alone, everyone present was someone Ian could easily defeat. He guessed that opponents stronger than him might show yellow or red warning colors.
This Evil Eye Master skill was like a radar detector! Although it couldn't give precise Doriki values due to being a "fake" ability, it was still very useful.
After determining Buggy's threat level, Ian decided not to waste any more time. Ignoring the pirate lackeys, he charged straight at Buggy!
This time, his speed wasn't so fast as to be invisible. Buggy even reacted, trying to raise his weapon to parry.
But his reaction was futile. To onlookers, Ian only swung his sword once at Buggy, but the next second, Buggy's body was chopped into a dozen messy pieces!
Cutting vertically and horizontally, Ian delivered six or seven slashes in an instant, almost mincing Buggy like meat. This way of cutting felt incredibly badass...