Chapter 60: The Director Takes Office
Li Guanqi stared at the changes in the ancient tree. The lowest fruit was exuding a faint fluorescent glow, resembling a large reservoir where energetic liquid slowly rose.
"Has it come back to life?" he muttered to himself, reaching out to touch the trunk.
Beneath the rough bark, a faint current of vitality was flowing.
[Connecting to the Chronicle Curator...]
[Connection successful]
[Welcome back]
With a crisp click, a hollow hidden within the ancient trunk slowly opened its doors to Li Guanqi, resembling an entrance to another world and radiating an irresistible pull.
"Curator? Me?" Li Guanqi gazed at the tree hollow; it seemed to be his office.
The ancient tree gave no response. Filled with curiosity, he stepped into the hollow.
The interior of the hollow was suffused with a soft light, and faint patterns flickered on the walls, as if recording the stories of the past.
In the dead center stood a massive stone desk, piled high with various archaic-looking documents. Some of the papers had turned yellow and fragile, while others emitted a mysterious, faint glow.
Li Guanqi approached the stone desk and gently picked up a document. The handwriting upon it seemed composed of starlight, flickering uncertainly.
One book stood out in particular.
"《Curator's Archive》?"
Li Guanqi opened the 《Curator's Archive》. The first page bore only a single sentence: "Those who know the truth shall be forever trapped herein."
His brows furrowed slightly, a strange sensation welling up in his heart, but driven by curiosity, he continued to turn the pages.
[Chronicle Curator - Li Guanqi]
Dark Attribute
[★1]
Fiend Tribe
ATK: 0
DEF: 0
This card's name is treated as [Super Polymerization] according to the rules.
Effects ①, ②, and ③ of [Chronicle Curator - Li Guanqi] can each be used once per turn. Effect ④ can only be used once in a lifetime.
①: Before the duel begins, expend ten thousand counter energy points to activate. Chronicle a personally experienced duel. After the duel concludes, a rating is given. The higher the rating, the more counter energy is fed back. Once the energy reaches the required threshold, the corresponding counter is lit.
②: Continuously consume counter energy to activate [Super Polymerization]. The greater the energy consumed, the wider the range and greater the depth of the fusion.
③: Remove one to four counters to activate, unlocking the primordial technique of the Chronicles.
④: Destroy the Chronicles with five counters placed upon it, and Tribute this card to activate, unleashing a grand fusion.
Having finished reading, the archive dissolved into a wisp of smoke and flowed into Li Guanqi's mind.
His mind suffered a sharp jolt, and memories related to Danger! - The Chronicles poured in, instantly inducting him into the position.
"What on earth?!"
After a long while, he finally regained his composure, though his focal point was rather bizarre.
"This ghost place is called Danger!?"
"I'm 1-star? Both ATK and DEF are 0?!"
"My card name is treated as Super Polymerization? Am I freaking turned into a human-shaped Super Polymerization?!"
Aside from the panel stats of 0 ATK and 0 DEF which begged to be ridiculed, the first effect seemed the most core, while effects two, three, and four all relied on the counter energy from the first effect.
The counter energy appeared to be storable only by chronicling personally experienced duels.
The Chronicles had just used the final ten thousand points to chronicle his duel with the cloaked woman. Fortunately, the rating was A, feeding back fifteen thousand points.
If it had been a B, it would only refund ten thousand to break even. If it were below C, the Chronicles would only refund six thousand and fall into a withered state.
[Other duel records detected for the Curator within the past 24 hours]
[Load them?]
A cold voice resounded overhead.
"As long as it's a B or above, I can break even," Li Guanqi muttered softly. "All four matches were wins, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?"
"Load, confirm."
[Loading duel archives...]
[Archive: King Bone / Undead Tribe]
[Danger! - The Chronicles is rating this duel]
[Stakes: Tier 4 League —— B]
[Impact: Hundred-thousand-level audience —— D]
[Emotions: Vengeance, exhilaration —— A]
[Achievement: Going second OTK —— C]
[Replicability: Weak —— C]
[Overall Rating: Average (C)]
"Hmm?" Li Guanqi frowned. "Just average?"
"Does a hundred-thousand-level audience impact yield only a D?"
A hundred-thousand-level audience, if placed on Earth, would be boast-worthy to the heavens, yet in Bianntana it was only a D?
The duelists' base numbers on both sides were truly on completely different scales.
[Archive: Kiyohime / Reptile Tribe]
[Danger! - The Chronicles is rating this duel]
[Stakes: Tier 4 League —— B]
[Impact: Million-level audience —— C]
[Emotions: Satisfaction, pleasure —— B]
[Achievement: Counter-kill against disadvantage —— B]
[Replicability: Average —— B]
[Overall Rating: Qualified (B)]
The second match, enduring a counter-matchup for a reverse kill, also yielded only break-even income.
However, to his surprise, the live audience hadn't changed, but the impact had escalated to a million-level audience, presumably counting the newly added online viewers.
[Archive: Juliet / Undead Tribe]
[Danger! - The Chronicles is rating this duel]
[Stakes: Tier 4 League —— B]
[Impact: Million-level audience —— C]
[Emotions: Pleasure, gratification —— B]
[Achievement: Super Polymerization of five bodies, opponent's turn kill —— B]
[Replicability: Average —— B]
[Overall Rating: Qualified (B)]
"No way?" Li Guanqi felt like crying without tears.
A three-sweep in the Tier 4 League, and he actually lost ground?
Three consecutive wins, two Bs and a C, resulting in a net loss of four thousand points.
[Archive: Slit-Mouthed Woman / Fiend Tribe]
[Danger! - The Chronicles is rating this duel]
[Stakes: Domain Duel —— A]
[Impact: Hundred-thousand-level audience —— D]
[Emotions: Bewilderment, joy —— B]
[Achievement: Opponent's turn forced multi-hit kill —— A]
[Replicability: Interesting victory —— S]
[Overall Rating: Splendid (A)]
"Phew," Li Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm finally in business."
Damn it, after winning four matches, there was finally one with income.
C, B, B, A across four matches yielded a net income of one thousand points.
Li Guanqi's expression turned grave. At this rate, how many years and months would it take to accumulate a single counter?
First counter full energy threshold: 100,000.
Current energy: 16,000.
It was sigh-worthy that even losing to the cloaked woman yielded an A rating, while the three wins in the Tier 4 League were merely C, B, and B.
Recalling the rating the Chronicles gave for the duel with the cloaked woman, most were actually low ratings like D, E, and F, with a B achievement for facing the epic head-on, and the entire score being carried entirely by the SSS maximum rating in replicability.
This meant that this Sword of the King was something only she could pull off among the three billion duelists on the entire planet.
Replicability maxed out.
Sword of the King: Utilizing [Called by the Grave] activated from the past to hit the [Yubel Spirit] drawn in the future by [Maxx "C"], she even had the confidence not to chain to "C" and open with Imperm.
Giving people the hope of a draw, only to plunge them into utter despair.
Let others try to learn it; every single one who tries learns it in complete silence.
Li Guanqi gazed at the five archives, four wins and one loss. That gray loss character was particularly glaring.
Though the rating was an A, the emotion was in the worst tier, F.
No matter what, losing a duel always felt terrible.
Winning, he still had to win!
Li Guanqi glanced at his own archive once more, his gaze lingering on effect ④: Destroy the Chronicles with five counters placed upon it, and Tribute this card to activate, unleashing a grand fusion.
"A grand fusion."
He muttered to himself, slapped his cheek lightly, stepped out of the tree hollow, left Danger!, and returned to his apartment.
His duel-chronicling career had officially begun.