Card Kingdom: This kid's codex is full of gold

A dazzling golden beam of light shot into the sky from the Hunter's Guild building.

Golden light spread across the night sky in layers, interspersed with tiny, azure runes, illuminating the surrounding streets as if it were daytime.

Zhang Qi clung to the car window, his face almost pressed against the glass, his expression full of curiosity.

"Brother, what's that light? It's so bright!"

"That was an unusual sign that the underground palace had been breached."

Zhang Yun's gaze passed through the car window and landed on the slowly dissipating golden pillar of light. He explained, "When the golden card descends, it will trigger the Holy Light of the Boundary Marker."

"This indicates that someone has just cleared the Naga Dungeon."

Zhang Qi turned to look at Zhang Yun and asked curiously, "Brother, is clearing the dungeon super impressive? I saw in a short video that it's rare for even one out of ten thousand summoners to clear the dungeon."

Zhang Yun smiled and said, "It's alright. If you have a powerful card deck, you can also clear the level."

Zhang Qi's eyes darted around, and he asked, "Brother, how about we go raid the dungeon later?"

Zhang Yun raised an eyebrow and nodded, saying, "If you want to go grind, I can take you, but you have to listen to me. The monsters in the dungeon are very fierce."

Upon hearing this, the driver couldn't sit still.

He glanced at the rearview mirror and interjected, "Hey, young man, don't blame me for being nosy."

"That underground palace is no joke. There are 100 bronze-level monsters alone. It's not a place that a cast iron summoner can challenge."

"A few days ago, I recruited three blond guys who had just become summoners. They bought two bronze cards and, without any sense of their own limitations, went to challenge the dungeon. Later, I saw the news and none of them came out."

"You have a child with you, don't try to be a hero."

Hearing the driver's words, Zhang Qi became a little scared and asked Zhang Yun, "Brother, is that underground palace really that dangerous?"

"It's alright."

Zhang Yun ruffled his hair and laughed, "But the driver is right. If you're not strong enough to challenge the underground palace, you will indeed die there."

"If you're alone, never go to the dungeon to farm resources."

"Uh...bro, are we still going to challenge the dungeon later?"

"Let's take on the challenge, since we're already here."

The driver glanced at Zhang Yun in the rearview mirror, thinking he had encountered an idiot. He shook his head secretly and said nothing more.

Just a reminder, I've already done more than enough. Giving more reminders would only cause trouble for myself, and there's really no need for it.

...

The car arrived at its destination.

Zhang Yun paid the fare and opened the car door.

The driver couldn't help but offer a reminder: "Young man, if you really want to take your brother to challenge the underground palace, you'd better team up with other people."

"Brother, I'm not kidding you, the underground palace is very dangerous."

"Thank you for reminding me, I will pay attention."

Zhang Yun responded politely to the driver's kind reminder.

After paying the fare, Zhang Yun took Zhang Qi's hand and walked towards the main building of the Hunter's Guild.

The Hunter's Guild building was half a head shorter than the card shop, but it occupied a much larger area, resembling a gray behemoth crouching in the night.

Above the main entrance of the building is a giant emblem.

Sword and shield crossed, the shield engraved with an open law book, the edges of the relief worn smooth by time.

The crowds in the square were even denser than those in the card shop.

Summoners of all kinds, carrying their own codes and leading their own unique card beasts, came and went in groups of three or five.

Some people had just returned from the wild, their hunting gear still stained with monster blood.

Someone sat on the ground at the edge of the square, with a canvas spread out in front of them, displaying cards and various precious materials that had just been dropped from the wild and dungeons.

There were also some hunters holding up signs with their information written on them, pleading for someone to take them on a journey.

Zhang Yun, holding Zhang Qi's hand and leading the almost invisible skeleton Kaka, crossed the square and stepped onto the steps of the guild's main gate.

The automatic doors slid open to both sides, and the sounds and warmth of the lobby rushed out together.

The hall has a high ceiling, more than ten meters high, and the dome is a mural made of stained glass.

The painting depicts the legend of the Summoning God fusing his own blood essence with the World Stone to create the Seventy-Two Underground Palaces during the ancient war between gods and demons.

Light streamed through the stained glass, casting large patches of vibrant color on the ground.

Directly opposite the main gate is a giant electronic screen that scrolls through a real-time task list and a leaderboard for the dungeon's challenges.

At the bottom of the screen is a row of task windows, each with a long queue in front of it.

The cacophony of voices and keyboard clicks created a buzzing sound.

At this moment, almost all the summoners in the hall were discussing the same thing.

"Have you heard? Xiao Lan from Canglan City came to our guild and just soloed the Naga Dungeon!"

"I saw the holy light emanating from the boundary marker when I arrived. It was so bright! I haven't seen anyone solo the Naga Dungeon in ages!"

"I heard she only took 70 minutes to complete the test solo. It's a pity there was no live stream projector. Her talent is truly amazing... she has already surpassed most of the sages of our Jiangcheng!"

"She is indeed amazing... I heard that she has already cleared all three dungeons in Canglan. The difficulty of clearing dungeons has increased to 30%, but the Naga dungeon still can't stop her."

"Tomorrow she'll be going to Jiangcheng No. 2 Middle School to challenge the fifth underground palace, the Miluotau Palace. I won't be on any missions tomorrow; I'll go check it out."

"Xiao Lan truly lives up to his reputation as the heir of the Xiao family in Canglan City. Compared to him, the genius young men and women of Jiang City are far inferior..."

"Nonsense, Xiao Lan was born into an ancient clan and is said to have phoenix blood in her veins. How can she be compared to the descendants of the major families in our city?"

"She has the potential to become one of the leading figures in our Southern Region!"

"Let's go, let's go and ambush her at the boundary marker, let's see if that genius girl has three heads and six arms."

Zhang Yun led Zhang Qi through the noisy crowd, listening to the gossip and becoming somewhat curious about Xiao Lan.

He had heard of Xiao Lan's name long ago.

After all, we live in the era of short videos. Even though Canglan City is hundreds of kilometers away from Jiangcheng, major events can be quickly reported to Jiangcheng.

Xiao Lan is known as one of the four great talents of the Southern Region, and her fame has long been spread across the internet.

A simple search for information about her will yield tens of thousands of results.

The school teachers often talked about her, almost praising her to the skies, to encourage their students.

In the past, upon hearing that Xiao Lan had breached the fourth underground palace, Zhang Yun would have been very excited, taken out his phone, sent the news to his cousin, and gone to watch Xiao Lan.

But at this moment, he remained calm and composed.

With two super cards in hand, Zhang Yun might be able to do what Xiao Lan could do in the future.

There's really no need to envy people who are about the same level as you.

Zhang Yun led his younger cousin to the window for registering as a hunter.

The clerk behind the window was a young woman with a low ponytail.

She spoke very quickly, her fingers clattering on the keyboard.

Zhang Yun filled out two forms and paid a 200 yuan handling fee. A moment later, two black iron badges were pushed onto the counter.

"Mr. Zhang, these are your badges, please keep them safe."

The badge is only the size of a thumb and has the dull luster characteristic of black iron.

The front is engraved with an image of an open miniature legal code and a series of numbers.

With this badge, registered hunters can accept quests and accumulate merits at the Hunter Guild.

Once you have enough merit points, you can exchange them for various precious materials, rare intelligence, and even join some secret organizations that ordinary people can never access in their entire lives.

"Thanks."

Zhang Yun took the two badges and glanced at the back of them. The back covers of the two badges were engraved with the names "Zhang Yun" and "Zhang Qi".

"Cousin, this is your badge. Remember to keep it safe; it's a hassle to replace it if you lose it."

Zhang Yun handed one of the badges to Zhang Qi.

"Hehe, thanks bro!"

Zhang Qi took the badge, pinned it to her chest, and couldn't stop smiling.

Tomorrow, he can go to school with his head held high and tell his classmates that he has also become a formal hunter!

"Let's go take a look at the boundary marker."

"Uh-huh!"

Zhang Yun inquired about the location of the boundary marker from the staff, and then took Zhang Qi's hand and walked towards the depths of the hall.

He was determined to challenge the Naga Dungeon.

After all, he needs to collect those 10,000 skull cards tomorrow, which will cost around 10 million.

If he can't raise 1000 million yuan, he'll have to sell the Golden Dragon Wolf Card.

Zhang Yun currently holds two super cards, but the Dragon Wolf card is practically useless to him.

But it was a gold card after all, and each person could only get one at most. It was also a mount type card. He really couldn't bear to sell it.

If he could raise money by selling low-tier cards, Zhang Yun would naturally prefer to keep the Dragon Wolf card.

The deeper you go into the hall, the more people there are, and the air is filled with a subtle atmosphere that is a mixture of excitement, tension, and reverence.

When the two reached the end of the corridor, their view suddenly opened up.

This is a grand hall, with a huge black crystal standing in the center, serving as the boundary marker leading to the underground palace...