Skill Cards

After finishing some spicy noodles, Ram parted ways with Sid and Xiao Mu. He had a hunch about where to find Liam.

That guy was the biggest pervert he knew, so there had to be some signs of his presence in nearby bars, nightclubs, or strip clubs.

As he guessed, luckily he soon found out about Liam's whereabouts at a nearby nightclub, the first nightclub he checked.

According to the beautiful bartender at the desk, this asshole seemed to be a regular here.

Knowing that Liam wouldn't be coming back this early in the morning, Ram left his contact information with her so that Liam could contact him later.

This is also one of the tricks they usually do to contact others when they are still in the Underground city.

After leaving the nightclub, he walked all the way to a store named Craftsman's Corner.

According to Sid, this was presumably related to one of the black markets, that sold rare items like skill cards, weapons cards, potions, mysterious skill books, Tailsmen, and many more things hidden from the eyes of the Shadow Society.

While most of the city was under the control of the Shadow Society, there were still some bigshots who could do things in the city, and the owner of this store should be one of them.

As he walked, he looked around. Cyber-core district as the name suggests was heavily augmented with cybernetic enhancements.

Common augmentations include visual enhancements (augmented reality interfaces, night vision), limb replacements (mechanical arms and legs), and neural implants (like smart chips, and bio combat chips).

The skies and streets are filled with drones and autonomous vehicles. Delivery drones zip through the air, while self-driving cars and bikes navigate the crowded streets.

Larger, multi-purpose drones are used for construction and maintenance work on the towering structures. 

He found numerous tall buildings of varying designs and conditions were tightly clustered together.

Covered with holographic signs in different languages and scripts a mix of futuristic architecture and ancient, almost dystopian structures, making the sky barely visible through the gap between the buildings. 

Holographic signs advertise the latest in Cyberware from simple prosthetics to advanced neural implants and exoskeletons.

Promising enhancements in strength, agility, and cognitive abilities. He soon came to a small shop with its lights on and stood out against the darker surroundings.

Above the shop and across the alley, plants overgrew from walls and balconies, adding a touch of greenery to the surroundings.

As the name suggested, the store really was in a corner of the street.

Ram approached the entrance of Craftsman's Corner, pushing open the door and stepping inside.

The shop was dimly lit, with shelves lined with an eclectic mix of items.

There was an old man sitting lazily behind the counter, watching the news while trying to fiddle with some old communication device.

When he saw Ram coming towards the store, he got up and greeted him.

"Looking for something specific, young man?" the shopkeeper asked, his voice gravelly but warm.

Ram greeted him back with a nod. "I came here to buy some skill cards, martial arts techniques, or any available transfer materials."

Similar to life energy crystals obtained from slain monsters, skill cards were obtained by killing monsters inside Monster Dens. 

However, obtaining skill cards through monster dens is always slow, so many high-level Card-making professionals learned different techniques of extracting skills from monsters separately that can be sold outside.

Which required high-level proficiency in spiritual rune array manipulation and a strong spirit to support the process.

Even the slightest mistake could lead to failure, making skill cards quite rare and valuable.

Skill cards can be said to be a shortcut to gaining strength.

By using a skill card, a person could instantly gain the experience of a specific skill without needing to practice it.

Some skill cards could even grant users affinities with elements or abilities like super speed or reflexes, elemental control, super strength, advance recovery, and many different types.

Like Lightning Lizard, after killing this monster, there is a chance for a skill card with thunder affinity, or an attack or defense skill with lightning attribute can be obtained.

Professionals can use these skill cards to gain this ability, with the same proficiency that the monster had before its death.

While skill cards are a shortcut to improve strength, most of them are harmful if they are used rashly.

For example, a Martial Artist uses a skill card with the skill Lightning Fist.

He can perform this skill with the same proficiency as the monster with his own spiritual power, but if he does not have a pre-skill or talent related to Lightning and Thunder, he won't have the same elemental resistance as those with affinities.

This may cause damage to the user as well as the opponent.

However, there were restrictions on how many skill cards a person could effectively use, and this limit could increase as one's strength grew.

The exact number varied from person to person, and many preferred to use their chances for skill absorption after awakening.

Only the wealthy or exceptionally strong individuals held out for particularly powerful skills.

Similar to skills, skill cards were graded from 'E' to 'S' and beyond, based on the rarity and power of the skill they contained.

The higher the grade, the rarer and stronger the skill card.

Knowing what Ram was looking for, the old man activated a projection device on the counter, displaying a vast list of items.

There were thousands of options, ranging from common items to advanced weapons, individual parts of Mechas, custom-made Exoskeleton Armors, and various high-priced gadgets like Neural Implants, Bionic Limbs and Organs, Pain Suppressors, Immune Boosters, Cloaking Devices, Voice Modulators, and many more.

However, Ram's purchasing options were somewhat limited with the 100 shadow points he received from signing the contract.

Ram carefully reviewed the list, weighing his options. First, he checked some high-end stuff and their prices.

Later, he directly skipped them as he felt envious. Most of the things on the list were very attractive to him, which were not available in the underground city he stayed in before. 

Bypassing those that he couldn't afford, he looked for Skill Cards with combat skills however to his disappointment those that he could afford now were all ordinary grades ranging from E and D. 

He then changed his filter results to search for basic Martial Arts, Qi refining methods, and Wizard spells.

These were much less expensive than skill cards since they necessitated learning from the beginning.