Chapter 364: Homebody Vivian

Hearing what Perry Yates said, a look of disappointment crossed the girl’s face, and she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the cards.

Noticing the girl’s expression, Perry Yates glanced at the display cards as well. ’Hmm, it’s about time I swapped these out for new ones. Best to put these away.’

’Come to think of it, one of these cards would pair quite well with the ability of the Six-petaled Frost Flower card.’

「Five days later.」

Perry Yates looked at the small mountain of cards piled before her and couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. This was the first time she had performed Ascension on so many cards at once.

Ten thousand for Dylan Adler, and another ten thousand combined for Forrest Wilder and Damian—that was twenty thousand cards right there.

Even if they were the most common White Cards, this was a massive quantity that no ordinary person could produce, let alone give away without batting an eye.

Reina Quinn also had an order for ten thousand, but Perry didn’t have to provide the base cards herself. Furthermore, the ten dungeons Reina Quinn offered as payment also required ten thousand cards to make concrete.

All in all, the total number of cards reached a terrifying forty thousand.

Perry Yates checked on the state of the "Giant Creatures" dungeon. The Emperor’s Liquid inside had been nearly drained dry in just a few short days. Even the light emanating from the ten five-star cards used to make the dungeon concrete had dimmed.

At the sight, Perry Yates sighed. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to extract any more Emperor’s Liquid from the dungeon for a while. She wouldn’t do something as foolish as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

With a thought, Perry Yates accelerated the flow of time within the "Giant Creatures" dungeon. This would aid its recovery and allow the Emperor’s Liquid inside to replenish more quickly.

However, even with the time flow set to its fastest, a full recovery would still take a month. If she wanted to perform Ascension on any cards during that period, she would have to rely on herself.

Perry Yates sighed again at the thought.

It’s easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but hard to go the other way. It had only been a short while, but after getting a taste of being a hands-off boss, the thought of facing that immense workload again was enough to make her want to tear her hair out.

’Maybe I should just close up shop for a month,’ Perry Yates thought lackadaisically.

Three cards lay before her—two gold and one red.

These were the three cards Perry Yates had chosen to fuse for herself.

The first was Six-petaled Frost Flower. After its Ascension to five stars, it had become Ice and Snow World, an Ice Attribute, Domain System Skill.

The second was the Space-Time Gate, meant to replace the Any Door.

Although it couldn’t use Space Grass to open a portal anywhere like the Any Door, the Space-Time Gate could lock onto a location via her spiritual power and open a portal.

The third and final card, the only four-star one, was Moon Blade. It could form a giant, crescent-shaped blade in the user’s hand that could be controlled to attack enemies. The Moon Blade was incredibly sharp and could even split into multiple copies under Moonlight.

Most importantly, this card possessed the Absolute Cutting attribute.

Since it was an Advanced Card that she had obtained directly, Perry Yates chose not to use Emperor’s Liquid to forcibly raise its level.

After fusing all three cards, Perry Yates let out a long sigh of relief. Her sense of security was back. She decided she would study her new abilities later and upgrade all her other items as well.

The worlds she had entered before all had a sun and moon. If she was ever transported to a place that had neither, wouldn’t she be totally screwed?

With this in mind, Perry Yates started rummaging through her belongings again.

"This card’s not bad... and this one’s pretty good, too... This one, and this one..."

When the butler came to knock on the door, he saw Perry Yates tossing one card after another into the Card Furnace.

"Master, didn’t you say the Card Furnace can only fuse a maximum of three cards at a time?" the butler asked curiously as he approached.

"Oh, that," Perry Yates said dismissively. "Those rules are set for outsiders. I don’t have to follow them."

The implication was clear: They were them, and she was she.

"Anyway, what’s up?" Perry Yates asked.

"Dylan Adler has arrived. He’s in a private room right now. He said that you asked him to come, Master."

"Oh, right. I almost forgot about him." Perry Yates slapped her forehead, then turned to the butler. "Grab ten thousand three-star cards from over there and come with me."

Perry Yates tossed the last card into the Card Furnace, and after confirming its status, she followed the butler toward the private rooms on the second floor.

As they reached the fourth floor, they saw Vivian stepping out of her room in a set of fluffy pajamas, yawning.

Ever since being released from her card, Vivian had adapted to her new life with surprising speed. In no time at all, she had transformed from a noble lady with delicate features, a Lolita dress, and an intricate hairstyle, into her current state.

It wasn’t that she looked bad now, just that the contrast with her former appearance was like night and day.

She wore a pink, fluffy pajama set and a pair of fluffy bunny slippers. Her long, curly golden hair was half-tucked into her hood and half-spilling out, looking somewhat messy.

Vivian was rubbing her eyes as she emerged, looking as if she hadn’t quite woken up yet.

Oh, right. Besides buying all sorts of exquisite blind-box figurines, she had also gotten hooked on binge-watching shows and ordering takeout. In short, she was hurtling down the path to becoming a total homebody.

"Vivian."

"Master, what is it?"

Vivian rubbed her eyes, looking up at Perry with dewy eyes. Her long lashes fluttered like tiny brushes.

Perry Yates took a deep breath and said, "The dolls you’ve been making recently are a huge hit. Orders will probably increase, so... hmm... don’t wear yourself out. Just work within your limits."

Vivian nodded. "I know, Master. I won’t tire myself out."

’I can tell,’ Perry thought.

Perry watched Vivian shuffle unsteadily toward the stairs; she was heading for the back door.

"Looks like she’s going to get takeout again," the butler said.

The butler had initially been very standoffish toward the other cards, but he had miraculously accepted Vivian, most likely because she seemed so utterly harmless.

"Do cards need to eat, too?" Perry Yates asked curiously.

The butler shook his head. "We have no need for food. Our source of energy is you, our Master. However, we still have our sense of taste, and consuming normal food places no burden on us. Whether we eat or not is purely a matter of personal preference."

"I see. As long as it doesn’t cause any issues, it’s fine."

Arriving on the second floor, Perry Yates immediately pinpointed which private room Dylan Adler was in.

Her eyes widened at the sight of two fully-armed soldiers standing outside the room, flanked by two equally well-equipped military dogs.