Chapter Eleven: Sacrificial Card Draw

Colonel Marcos looked at Kyle and Fury and said, "Since you two already know each other, I won't say anything more. Tonight, as squad leaders, you'll each lead a fully armed company of a hundred men to the Fifth Site—namely, the German small transfer station—for a surprise attack."

"Remember, this operation is a coordinated counteroffensive at all five sites. Once you reach your target, you must complete the assault within the allotted time!" As he spoke, Colonel Marcos's eyes grew sharp as an eagle's. "You must succeed. Failure is not an option!"

"Understood! We guarantee completion of the mission!"

Fury and Kyle saluted solemnly, signifying their full acceptance of the orders.

"Kyle, you may return to your tent and rest. Fury, you need to start organizing the troops now. When the hour arrives tonight, the two of you will lead your men out right on schedule."

After handing over the mission summary and a small operation map, Colonel Marcos finally dismissed Kyle and Fury.

"Kyle, I'll see you tonight," Fury said as he stepped out of the command tent, bidding Kyle farewell. Though his left eye was still injured, he was clearly invested in the operation, and after saying goodbye, he jogged directly toward the supply area of the temporary camp.

Kyle, meanwhile, headed straight back to his own tent. He was no machine; though his constitution was among the best of the soldiers, the relentless fighting was taking its toll.

He lay down in his less-than-comfortable cot, closed his eyes to rest, and his mind slipped into a vast space.

The card space.

Like a dream, within an infinite cubic white space, hundreds and thousands of cards he had drawn and accumulated spun in a whirlwind.

"Though tonight's raid is likely to succeed, I can't afford to be careless. I need to find a way to further boost my combat strength."

Kyle's mental avatar stood at the heart of the card storm, surveying the cards that flashed rapidly before his eyes.

Over these three days, his card-drawing ability had evidently advanced further.

First, he now possessed the ability to enter the card space with his mind, freely viewing and simulating the use of his collected cards.

Second, he had acquired the ability called 'Sacrifice Draw.' As the name implied, Sacrifice Draw allowed him to select any ten item cards of the same color and rank from his inventory, and after sacrificing them, he had a high chance of drawing any card of the same color, and a small chance of getting a card of a higher rank.

A higher rank meant, for example, a leap from white cards to green cards. Up to now, Kyle had yet to obtain any card above green—be it an ability card or an item card.

"What are cards beyond green like?" Kyle wondered, knowing that, from what he'd seen, the rare green cards were already top-tier: if they were abilities, they represented professional mastery; if items, they were precious and valuable.

Cards above green would belong to the realm of superpowers for abilities, or true black-tech for items.

"No matter which, either would be a tremendous help to me right now." Kyle murmured, waving his hands to separate the ability cards from the item cards in the card space.

The rest was simple. Kyle kept a few items with combat value, while gathering most of the expendable item cards for sacrifice.

After tallying up, the results were:

Green item cards: 66.
White item cards: 389.

"Still not enough to draw as much as I'd like, but this is what I've managed to gather over three days of secretly drawing cards on the battlefield," Kyle sighed, reluctant but moving on to the next step.

Sacrifice Draw!

'You sacrificed [Assault Rifle], [Military Body Armor], [Box of Rifle Ammunition], [Communicator]…'

Ten chosen white item cards vanished from the card space, and a new white card appeared.

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Life Extension].'

"Life Extension card?" Kyle's heart skipped a beat. He snatched up the new white card and examined it.

[Life Extension]: Increases the user's natural lifespan by three months. White rare ability card.

Current status: Usable on others.

"Increasing natural lifespan? Well, if someone gets killed, this won't help," Kyle couldn't hide his disappointment; the Life Extension card was not quite what he'd hoped for.

Still, it made sense. As a mere white rare ability card, it couldn't possibly achieve a miraculous resurrection effect.

"At least it can be used on others. Maybe a higher-ranked Life Extension card could really bring someone back from the brink of death."

Thinking optimistically, Kyle hurried to continue sacrificing cards.

Now that he'd been reborn as a European, let his luck be as mighty as a European emperor!

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Gentleman's Suit].'

A piece of clothing? What kind of congratulations is that?

Kyle's heart bled, but his hands kept working, sacrificing more cards.

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Stainless Steel Cup].'

How underwhelming. Sacrifice again!

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Basic Japanese Proficiency].'

What is this? Keep drawing!

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Warring States Saddle].'

A complete loss! Truly a loss! Ten white item cards exchanged for this nonsense.

Kyle's mental avatar stared bloodshot, like a gambler fixated on the cards.

He understood now: Sacrifice Draw could yield any card, but "any" meant an enormous range—results were wildly varied.

But some item cards were useless anyway. Better to sacrifice and gamble for luck.

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Bat].'

"A bat? Even animals?" Kyle blinked, his gaze fixed on the new card.

[Bat]: Summons an ordinary bat to fight for you. White creature card.

Current status: Can be used repeatedly. Summon?

A creature card?

Kyle realized that all the cards he'd drawn from his surroundings had been ability and item cards; this was the first time he'd seen a third category.

"If I had enough creature cards, I'd be promoted to summoner," Kyle chuckled, setting the bat card aside as a combat resource.

He continued sacrificing, until the three hundred-plus idle white item cards were spent. Aside from a pile of basic language cards and three rare white [Life Extension] cards, only two creature cards—[Bat] and [Shiba Inu]—had practical value.

After thirty-some white sacrifices, he hadn't drawn a single green card. The odds for higher-rank draws were truly abysmal.

Kyle sighed, turning his attention to the sixty-plus green item cards, most of which had come from the corpses on the battlefield—hard-won.

Only six sacrifice draws remained.

"If you die, you lose everything," Kyle gritted his teeth and sacrificed all sixty green item cards at once!

Sacrifice! Draw!

'Draw successful. Congratulations, you obtained [Life Extension], [Luxurious Evening Dress], [Venomous Wasp Nest], [Nepalese Military Knife], [Street Parkour], [Stealth].'

"This is..." Kyle's eyes widened.

Among the new cards, a blue card emerged, its dazzling light making the thousands of white and green cards in the card space pale in comparison.