Chapter 4: It All Depends on The Look
Lin Huang took a closer look at his body. He could see three additional crystal cards besides his default black card in his Life Wheel.
His new exclusive card was beside the black card. The card was the white-crystal color with his photo on the front. It looked exactly like him; even the attire was the same.
On the back of the card were the messages.
"Host: Lin Huang"
"Gender: Male"
"Age: 15."
"Combat Strength: None (Exceeded assessment limit)"
"Skill: None (Mastered basic skills - beyond range of assessment)"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Available Number of Summons: 1."
"Remark: You're so weak!"
The second card was also a white-crystal color; there were three metal stars at the right bottom of the card. The image on the card was a vampire with red eyes; it looked like it was the same age as Lin Huang.
After that, he turned the card over and read what was written behind the card.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Normal"
"Type of Monster: Vampire"
"Combat Level: Iron 3-Star (Bronze 3-Star)"
"Skill 1: Blood Power (Level 2)"
"Skill 2: Regeneration (Basic)"
"Status: Available to be summoned."
"Card Remarks: This is useless!"
"Xiao Hei, based on this rarity, how many levels are there?" Lin Huang figured out that the ranking should be similar with the game 'Master XX' people played on earth which were categorized into 'N', 'R', 'SR' and 'SSR'.
"The rarities of Monsters Cards are categorized from low to high, Normal (white-crystal card), Rare (green-crystal card), Epic (blue-crystal card), Legendary (purple-crystal card), and Mythical (orange-crystal card).
Lin Huang was speechless.
"In the 'Master XX', the game gave out an 'SR' card in the beginning. It was worse in this world because I was given the lowest ranking 'N' card to start with... Since their rarity differed, is there a big difference between their power?"
"For Monster Cards of the same combat level, the Rare ones would be three to five times stronger than the Normal ones."
"How about the Epic and Legendary ones?"
"The host has limited access! Unable to retrieve!"
"If I were to draw a Monster Card from you, what percentage would I have to get something that is above Rare?" From what Xiao Hei described and because he had one chance to draw a card, Lin Huang was excited.
"It's based on one's look."
"What, based on my look? There's no estimated percentage?" Lin Huang thought that was ridiculous. As a person who was always gloomy, he was not a single bit pleased with the answer.
"No, it all depends on your look."
"That's it..." Lin Huang placed his palm on his forehead, "I finished first place in the card game that I used to play. But in this world, the percentage of drawing a rare card was based on my look..."
Lin Huang calmed down and looked further into the page. Soon he found something he was doubtful of.
"Why is there a bracket behind the Monster Card's combat level?"
"When the host's ability is not sufficient, the card's ranking will drop automatically. The level in the bracket was the original ranking."
"The status of the card says 'Available for summoning'. So, does that mean I could summon the vampire to the real world?"
Lin Huang was excited and wanted to give it a try.
Suddenly, he saw there was a monitor bird that was filled with white feathers and it sat on the roof of a house not far away.
He could not tell when the bird appeared so he put his thought to summon the vampire on hold.
The monitor bird was initially called a three-eyed bird as it was a bird monster with three eyes. They had 360-degree vision without blind spots.
They could look for as far as 30 kilometers away. The third eye on their foreheads functions as a projector and projected the things it saw with precision and clarity.
With those characteristics, many capable humans would capture them, tame them, and place them in the safety zone for monitoring.
Lin Huang did not want anyone to know about his Goldfinger.
He squatted down and checked if there was anything valuable on the vampire.
While he was at it, he asked softly, "Xiao Hei, who was the one who gave the remark on the card?"
"It was me!"
"Alright then..."
Lin Huang was speechless for a moment after heading that response. He was already gloomy enough; things could be worse if he were to offend Goldfinger.
It was a gold-crystal card; there was a golden staircase on the front while the description on the back was simple.
"Advance Card"
"Function: One upgrade for Monster Cards, Tool Cards, and Skill Cards respectively!"
"Remarks: Can be used as an overlay. If the card has reached its highest level, the upgrade will be redundant."
"Xiao Hei, am I able to use this Advance Card to upgrade the vampire Monster Card that I have from Normal to Mythical?" Lin Huang asked after reading the description.
"That's right."
Lin Huang thought for a while glancing over at the vampire Monster Card. However, he decided to put his idea of using the Advance Card on hold.
Lin Huang did not find anything from the vampire even after searching for quite some time.
He stood up and was ready to leave when a white shadow appeared before him.
It was a young, good-looking man who looked like he was in his early 20s. He was wearing a full white suit; his hair nicely combed.
"What a narcissist!" Lin Huang labeled that person in his heart.
Usually, most people would not groom themselves in an informal setting. People usually opted for anything comfortable and he thought that those who dressed up were usually narcissists.
Soon, Lin Huang gave the person another label - pretentious!
The man was wearing an attractive red tie. The tie was so detailed that there was a gold ring pattern on it, the rings looked like they were made of small, golden bits.
While Lin Huang was checking the man out, the man was returning the judgment.
"Nice to meet you, I am Li Lang. Did you kill this vampire?", he said while his eyes glancing back and forth at the pistol in Lin Huang's hand and the wound on the vampire's head.
"I guess so. He was already contaminated with the septic divisor earlier. My luck was good." What Lin Huang said was the truth. He did not dare to lie as he did not know how much the monitor bird had recorded.
"It was you who sent out the distress signal?" Li Lang could recognize his voice.
"Yes, Mr Li Lang." Lin Huang smiled awkwardly and nodded; he did not expect Li Lang to recognize him.
"Since you're not a practicing hunter, I will get rid of this dead body for you. You killed this vampire so I'll report this accordingly to the Hunter Association. You'll receive your reward."
Li Huang was not afraid that Li Lang would steal his reward as the monitor bird was there and it did not seem like Li Lang wanted the monetary reward.
After getting Lin Huang's approval, Li Lang took out a leather bag, two meters long made of a shiny monster's skin. Li Lang put gloves on and positioned the dead body into the bag. He then zipped the bag and kept it in the designated equipment space.
"So... Since you're done, I'm going to find my sister so she won't be worried about my safety."
"Let me go with you; I could look at the damage and prepare a damage report. Did the monster make a huge mess?" A damage report was a small matter which was not within the job scope of a professional hunter. Li Lang just wanted to know how Lin Huang managed to kill the vampire and scrutinizing the battleground was the best way to figure that out.
"I don't want to bother you. Tomorrow I'll spend some time recording a video and send it to the division of the Zone 7 Union Government and they'll send their people to inspect our home." Lin Huang knew the procedure for damage reports. It was odd for a Silver Hunter to volunteer his home for the damage report; with that, he knew Li Lang was up to something.
"I prefer to get things done once and for all. Since I'm already here, I'd feel uncomfortable if I didn't help with the damage report. You don't have to do an application for the damage report; I will record the inspection and send it to the Union Government. Did you forget that the Hunter Association is part of the Human Union Government? We should not waste time by sending somebody here. This way you can also get your insurance claims earlier." Li Lang said in a serious tone.
Lin Huang hesitated for a while but since Li Lang did not seem that he would compromise, he agreed.
"Let's go!" Li Lang said when he saw Lin Huang nodded. He then brought him to the house not far away where the lights were on.
"It's not that way; it's this direction." Lin Huang helplessly pointed to the other direction.