Chapter 608: "Inner" State
Baccarat smiled seductively as she stepped forward, naturally linking her arm with Ian's. She laughed and said, "Lord Ian, if carrying the remaining money is inconvenient, you can exchange it for chips! Chips are accepted everywhere in this Golden City! Whether it's for meals, accommodation, or shopping, chips can be used as payment."
Ian glanced discreetly at Baccarat's hand, confirming she was indeed wearing gloves, then smiled and replied, "That's best. Exchange it all for large-denomination chips for me. That'll make it easier to carry."
Baccarat nodded and clapped her hands. Immediately, several subordinates in black suits appeared and helped Ian complete the chip exchange.
In the end, Ian received a leather suitcase full of chips, ranging from one hundred million Berry down to one million Berry denominations.
"Now, let me show you around the Golden City. You're our VIP, so I'll make sure to treat you well!" Baccarat said with a smile, pressing her ample chest against Ian's arm.
"Let's go then!" Ian nodded, picking up the suitcase with his other hand and following Baccarat's lead as they left.
Baccarat first took Ian to the commercial district, persuading him to buy a new set of clothes.
Ian had always worn a long, sleeveless trench coat. Originally, the coat had sleeves, but because Ian frequently used the Black Dragon Wave, the sleeves rarely lasted, so over time, he had simply gotten used to going bare-armed.
However, it was undeniable that life at sea made it hard to stay clean. Ian was relatively lucky, as Baby-5 often helped him wash his clothes, but after too many washes, the fabric faded and looked worn.
So, Ian didn't refuse Baccarat's suggestion.
But on the way to the commercial district, although Baccarat kept enthusiastically pointing out the sights around them, Ian seemed distracted. This puzzled Baccarat, who wondered what she had done wrong.
Little did she know, Ian was actually studying the card system in his mind.
After the battle at Impel Down and the New Edd War naval battle, Ian had finally reached level 60. Besides unlocking the last card slot, his protagonist card had also unlocked a second exclusive equipment slot.
Moreover, a new system function had been activated: the Card Sacrifice System.
The Card Sacrifice System was quite unique. It allowed players to collect all 1-to-4-star cards from a series and then sacrifice them to unlock the "Inner" state for any five-star red card in that series!
What did that mean? Ian had to ask the system in detail to understand. For example, his Iori card had already been upgraded from a four-star to a five-star red card, so it was eligible for the "Inner" state. As long as Ian collected all the cards from the King of Fighters series except for the native five-star red cards, he could sacrifice them to unlock the "Inner" state for the Iori card!
As for what the "Inner" state of the Iori card was? Simple. The system told Ian that after the sacrifice, the Iori card would gain the special "Blood of Madness" ability!
This ability originally came from the Iori family's blood contract with the Orochi clan, which caused the negative reaction of the Heavenly God Clan's blood within Iori Yagami, leading to a berserk state. But in the card system, it was defined as the "Inner" state of the Iori card!
According to the system's explanation, each card's "Inner" state could be different. Iori's Blood of Madness ability greatly increased speed and attack power. If it were another King of Fighters card, like the Orochi card, the "Inner" state gained after sacrifice would be different—it would grant the skills of the Orochi replica "Kyo" from the original game! The ultimate moves would become flashier and more impressive for showing off...
The "Inner" state of the Shadow Card was the "S-Class Demon" ability, likely based on the setting from the original story where Shadow's demonic power reached S-Class during the Demon World Unification War. Activating it would greatly increase psychic power.
As for the "Inner" state of the Misaka Mikoto card, it was more interesting—it was the "Misaka Sister" ability. When using any Misaka Mikoto card ability, a clone could be summoned to launch a free, identical skill attack. In other words, if Ian could sacrifice the Misaka Mikoto card, then when he used the Railgun, a clone identical to Ian would appear and fire another Railgun!
In short, the so-called "Inner" state was the hidden effect and ability of the card, a form of evolution for five-star cards that was definitely worth developing.
Although Ian didn't know the formation principle of the card system, he understood that its original form was just a collection-and-leveling gacha game. Such games had a common flaw: the number of cards that could be deployed was limited. At any given time, only six cards could be used, which inherently capped Ian's attributes, preventing him from becoming someone who could destroy worlds and blow up planets with a wave of his hand.
However, although only six cards could be active at once, the system didn't restrict switching cards during battle, allowing Ian's abilities to be versatile and adaptable to various combat situations.
Moreover, with the opening of the Sacrifice System, the abilities of five-star red cards would be greatly enhanced, compensating for some attribute deficiencies. In other words, it wasn't impossible for Ian to surpass the Four Emperors.
While being led by Baccarat to shop for clothes, Ian was actually checking his card library to see if he could complete a sacrifice for any card.
But as he checked and compared, his heart gradually sank.
Since the system had unlocked the illustration book feature at level 40, he could check which cards were in a series. After this inspection, Ian found that the series most likely to be completed was actually the "A Certain Magical Index" series!
Why? Because the cards in this series had basic skill requirements that best matched Ian's—most required the Nen Training skill and Physical Combat skill!
Perhaps it was because the characters in this series used supernatural powers and magic...
This meant Ian could more easily obtain low-star cards from this series through gacha. Conversely, although Ian currently had two King of Fighters series cards equipped (Iori and Orochi), the most of any series, he might not easily complete the King of Fighters set because other cards required not only Physical Combat but also Fighting Technique skills!
As explained before, whether single or ten-pull gacha, the cards that appeared would prioritize matching the host's existing skills. For example, cards from the Warcraft series, like Sylvanas, who used a bow, required Ian to have Archery skills to be drawn... Such restrictions were beneficial in the early stages, allowing Ian to quickly form combat power with usable cards, but now that he wanted to complete a set, it increased the difficulty.
Although there was still a chance to draw cards that didn't match basic skills, the probability was much lower. This was bad news for Ian, as it meant such cards had become as rare as SSR for him now!
Of course, he could also spend a large number of diamonds on ten-pull gacha, using quantity to bet on probability, but that would test his luck again...
Thinking about the system's consistent money-grubbing design, Ian felt a headache coming on. So, throughout the shopping trip, he was distracted. Even when buying clothes, he didn't pay much attention. Whatever Baccarat said, he couldn't remember, just nodding and responding vaguely. So when they finally left the clothing store, Ian realized he had undergone a major transformation!
He now wore a pair of red sunglasses on his nose, a short-sleeved floral shirt open at the chest, a pair of floral beach shorts, and slippers on his feet, completely looking like a Hawaiian tourist.
Ian didn't mind much. He was here to have fun anyway.
Baccarat took a white rose and tucked it into the pocket on the left chest of his floral shirt, then clapped her hands in satisfaction. "Alright, Lord Ian, where would you like to go next?"
Every man dreams of being a Super Saiyan.
Hearing Baccarat's question, Ian thought for a moment and asked, "I heard you have an auction here?"
"Of course!" Baccarat said proudly. "In fact, the auction here in the Golden City is the largest in the world. Since many wealthy people gather here, many rare treasures are sent here for auction!"
Ian wasn't interested in those treasures. He asked, "Do you auction Demon Fruits here?"
"Yes!" Baccarat nodded. "Every year, more than twenty Demon Fruits are auctioned off from the Gran Tesoro. And you're in luck. Recently, the auction house has collected three Demon Fruits, all brought here by pirates who happened to find them. They'll be the highlights of the next three weeks' auctions!"
Ian was surprised. "That many? So, you also help the Marines and the World Government collect Demon Fruits?"
Baccarat smiled but didn't answer directly. Her expression, however, seemed to confirm it. She laughed and said, "Lord Ian, are you interested in Demon Fruits? Aren't you already a Devil Fruit User?"
"Heh, I have many crew members on my ship who aren't ability users yet!" Ian replied.
"There's an auction today! One of the Demon Fruits will appear at the end. If you're interested, I'll take you there now!" Baccarat said.
"Let's go then!" Ian nodded. "Do you know what fruit this one is?"
"I'm not sure!" Baccarat said. "I don't pay much attention to such small matters!"
With that, Baccarat raised her wrist and used the small Den Den Mushi on it to make a call. Soon, one of Tesoro's subordinates brought over a flashy car!
This car was powered by a group of very special animals—a herd of strange turtles!
Ian sat in the passenger seat while Baccarat drove, crossing most of the Gran Tesoro's hull before stopping in front of a tall building.
Ian followed Baccarat out of the car. The armed guards at the entrance immediately bowed and stepped aside upon seeing Baccarat. She led Ian through the hall and into the auction venue.
The auction had already started, and many items had been sold. Ian glanced around and saw that the attendees were mostly portly, noble-looking men leaning on canes and wearing top hats, along with women in long dresses adorned with dazzling jewelry.
Ian's outfit looked completely out of place, drawing some attention. But with his sunglasses on and his hat removed, no one recognized him. Seeing that Baccarat was accompanying him, the nobles didn't pay much attention, assuming Ian was some country's aristocrat.
Thanks to Baccarat's company, Ian didn't have to pay any deposit. After sitting down, Baccarat handed him an auction list and explained the rules.
Bidding wasn't done by shouting but by hand gestures, which were quite complicated. For example, raising one index finger meant adding one hundred thousand Berry, but raising the same finger with the palm facing down meant doubling the current price! People unfamiliar with these gestures could easily make mistakes.
Ian casually flipped through the auction list. The early items were jewelry and antiques, followed by famous paintings. He had no interest in any of them, so he skipped straight to the end and finally saw the Demon Fruit.
It was a yellowish-brown fruit. Besides the spiral patterns common to all Demon Fruits, it looked somewhat like an orange. Ian thought Nami would probably like it if she were here.
This Demon Fruit had appeared in the encyclopedia and had been identified as a Paramecia-type Shrivel Fruit!
The Shrivel Fruit, as the name suggested, could turn touched objects into a shriveled state, whether it was people or objects. This ability was somewhat similar to Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit's ability to absorb moisture from the body. Although it required physical contact to activate, it was still a formidable fruit.
Unfortunately, Ian wasn't interested in the fruit's ability. In fact, the reason he had Baccarat bring him to bid on a Demon Fruit was simply to buy it and let the system absorb it to upgrade his protagonist card's star rating.
To date, Ian had only absorbed one Demon Fruit, so his protagonist card was still a green card. Now that he had money, he naturally wanted to fill this gap.
Since it was for absorption, the fruit's ability didn't matter. Ideally, he would find a fruit with a weak ability to absorb, but Ian couldn't be picky right now. He would take whatever was available.
Ian estimated the fruit's price in his mind, thinking around one billion Berry should be enough. He glanced at the current item being auctioned—a fist-sized blue sapphire—then closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed, and said to Baccarat, "Call me when they auction the Demon Fruit!"
Then he focused his attention on his mind, starting to refresh the card shop.
Seeing that Ian had no interest in jewelry, Baccarat was surprised. She thought that as a Pay-to-Win Fruit user, Ian would be interested in anything that brought money, but she was wrong. Even more surprising, with a sexy woman like her sitting right next to him, Ian closed his eyes as if to sleep, not even glancing at her!
Sensing Ian's wariness, Baccarat felt troubled. How could she proceed with the conversation like this?
Ian, however, ignored Baccarat's inner turmoil. He was busy refreshing and browsing the card fragments in the shop, considering which card to prioritize collecting.
In fact, Ian was not only thinking about getting a native five-star card for the sixth slot but also considering replacing the Iori card.
The reason was simple: the Iori card and the Shadow Card overlapped in abilities!
Both cards were flame-based, but Ian felt he used Shadow's demonic flames far more often. Although Iori's purple flames had the special effect of freezing time, he rarely had the chance to use it.
Why freeze an opponent when you can just burn them to death with high-temperature flames?
Especially after Ian gradually adapted to the Iori card's abilities and could use demonic flames to perform Dark Thrust and Hundred Eight Style: Demon Flame Scatter, he felt that having an extra type of flame wasn't very useful. So, he wanted to replace it with a different ability.
Ian pretended to nap, slowly using diamonds to refresh the card shop. With plenty of diamonds and time, he browsed manually.
"Hmm... Four-star Devil May Cry Dante card fragments... Tsk, tough choice. Should I buy them or not?"
"Oh, Darksiders' War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Cool, but doesn't fit my image. Pass!"
"Storm Gionitz fragments? This is good. The bond attribute is useful, and wind-based seems like a good choice. Worth considering. Buy!"
As he kept refreshing, Ian suddenly jolted and couldn't help opening his eyes!
Baccarat, who had been watching him, noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" Ian shook his head and closed his eyes again, but his heartbeat had quickened.
The reason was that during his refresh, he had spotted a four-star card fragment that had never appeared in the shop before!
This card was from... Dragon Ball! And it was Trunks (Future Version)!
Ian had once drawn a Master Roshi card during gacha, but its star rating was too low, so he hadn't paid much attention. Still, it confirmed that the card library did include Dragon Ball series cards!
However, in subsequent ten-pull gacha sessions, Ian rarely drew Dragon Ball series cards.
He knew this was because he lacked the Fighting Technique basic skill. Most Dragon Ball series cards required Fighting Technique as a prerequisite!
But there was no helping it. Ian had been training in swordsmanship for years, and it was hard to change. He was used to fighting with a sword. Suddenly abandoning it for fists would be fake.
This had always been a regret for Ian. He really liked Super Saiyans. Although he understood that Super Saiyans in the card system would likely be an ability that massively boosted attributes, it didn't stop him from admiring them.
After all, the Super Saiyan form was just too cool...
But then, surprise came unexpectedly. He hadn't expected the card library to include Future Trunks!
Future Trunks was probably the only card Ian could draw without having the luck of a whale, because Future Trunks also used a sword! It matched Ian's basic skills.
When he had the system refresh for him before, this card might have appeared, but due to time constraints, Ian hadn't been able to browse personally and missed it. Now, as he refreshed slowly, he finally noticed its existence.
Ian was instantly thrilled!
Even Future Trunks had Super Saiyan blood! This card must contain the Super Saiyan ability!
Bought! I'm not short on money now! I must collect it!