Chapter 8: Battle with the Goblin Again (Please Follow)

After seeing the attributes of the second card, Gu Ran's face couldn't be any darker. Holding onto that last shred of hope, he quickly turned his attention to the only card left.

[Limestone Card•Basic Storage Card•Fragment] *1

[Quality: Green Stone One Star (Common)]

[Passive: Equipping this card, you will have a personal card space of one cubic volume.]

[Active (Collect): Consume 1 point of card strength, in the next 10s, you will be able to freely store or remove items in this card space. (Note: After 10s, if you wish to open the space again, you will have to pay 1 point of card strength again.)]

...…

"Sigh!"

A long sigh rose from the living room. Disappointment was inevitable; the things almost bought with his life were far less valuable than the initial investment. It would not feel good to anyone.

Indeed, these were two new Miracle Cards, but both clearly marked with the word "Fragment," meaning they were not directly usable.

With a thought, Gu Ran felt somewhat unwilling.

Soon, the two cards were successfully incorporated into his mind, but the two card slots that were just occupied on his Lifebound Card Codex remained dark and unusable.

At the same time, the mechanical prompt in his ear provided an explanation.

[Unable to use. To fuse a one-star card fragment into a complete Miracle Card, it requires three identical card fragments.]

The weariness in his eyes could no longer be concealed as the prompt sounded in his ear. Gu Ran stepped into the bedroom and threw himself onto the soft bed.

Originally, after his mind had been overloaded last time, he had become extremely listless, and managing to hold on until now was almost at his limit.

Now, this disappointing downfall was like adding fuel to the fire, making him just want to have a good sleep without bothering to think about these disheartening matters.

Honestly, this drop wasn't that unexpected. If Miracle Cards were so easy to obtain, what would be the point of yesterday's first kill bonuses?

It was just that he had held out too much hope beforehand, creating a huge gap between expectation and reality after viewing the attributes, which confirmed the old saying.

"The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment."

...…

When he woke up, Gu Ran found that it was already dark outside, with night about to fall, meaning he had slept for nearly ten hours.

He felt a bit remorseful about this, knowing that since last night, he had only spent less than half an hour outside, and the rest of the time had been spent sleeping.

What's more, he hadn't woken up naturally, but had been awakened by sheer hunger.

"Gurgling!"

An intense feeling of hunger emanated from his stomach, Gu Ran quickly scrambled out of bed, and in doing so, accidentally hit the wound on his left shoulder, causing him to grimace in pain.

Although it had been ten hours, it was clear that the wound had not healed so easily. Even though he had experienced a one-time enhancement to his physique since becoming a Card Master, including an improvement in his self-healing ability, he estimated that it would take at least three or four days to fully recover.

He made a bowl of instant noodles with the boiled water he had prepared the day before and added two sausages.

However, he soon realized something was off. After consuming a bowl of noodles with two sausages, he was not even half full. He had to eat two more pieces of bread, an apple, and a large chunk of chocolate to feel roughly eight parts full.

The problem was that in just two days, he had already used up more than half of the food at home. The remaining food was only enough for five days, no, that was the amount for five days before. Now it would probably sustain him for only two days.

"Could it be that my appetite has increased after the body enhancement?"

Gu Ran frowned subconsciously, if that were the case, then his previous plan would be unworkable.

He had intended to recuperate at home for a few days, waiting until the injury on his shoulder had fully recovered before continuing to explore outside. After all, prioritizing his own safety had to come first, but now it seemed that was no longer possible.

"Hopefully, the wound will heal a bit after tonight!!"

Praying silently in his heart, Gu Ran also felt somewhat helpless.

After all, to venture outside, he at least needed to be able to draw his bow and shoot arrows again; otherwise, in face of danger, he could only rely on the "Soul Capturing Spirit Eye" to save his life, at the cost of 4 Card Points per use. It wasn't about reluctance, he simply couldn't afford it.

...…

The night quickly passed, and on September 23, the third day after the anomaly in the outside world, Gu Ran headed out early once again.

He gently shook his left arm, and even though he maintained minimal movement, he could still feel a burning pain emanating from his left shoulder.

There was nothing he could do about it, as time was indeed too short, but he was grateful that he could just barely manage to draw the bow, even though it was quite painful. At this moment, he couldn't afford to care about the pain.

He didn't choose to go to the fourth floor; the six families living on the third floor had dwindled to just him. The remaining five homes would probably yield some finds; there was no need to go far when resources were close at hand.

Soon, the doors of other residences were pried open one by one, and after some busy scavenging, Gu Ran indeed found quite a few things.

Among them were several tens of pounds of rice, a few strips of smoked meat, several packs of beef jerky, bread, biscuits, sausages, cigarettes, liquor, and various other items.

By a rough estimate, even with his current appetite, this food would last him at least a month.

Moreover, the most delightful find was a gas stove and cooker in Room 306, meaning that hot meals would no longer be an issue in the future, and he could cook the rice and smoked meat he had gathered.

The last item was what he held in his hand now, a short-hilted machete, somewhat akin to a Nepalese kukri. It felt far more comfortable in his grasp than the oversized fruit knife hanging at his waist.

If he had this short-hilted knife yesterday, he could have easily slit the throat of the Ogre when it was immobilized by the Soul Capturing Spirit Eye.

...…

At the entrance to Room 306, Gu Ran emerged, shouldering a gas canister, and made his way towards his own home.

His apartment was Room 303, and since it wasn't far, he didn't lock his front door when moving various items; that would have been too cumbersome.

As soon as he stepped in, Gu Ran's stride came to an abrupt halt, and in the next second, he retreated swiftly.

The gas canister on his right shoulder was set down in a flash, the mechanical bow and arrows on his back were drawn simultaneously, and then the longbow was drawn to full tension, an arrow shot forth, a sequence of actions fluid like flowing water.

Looking ahead, a grey-green figure suddenly leapt from behind the door, a Wolf Fang Club in hand glowing faintly as it smashed down hard in front of the door, leaving a deep white mark on the ground. With an arrow stuck in its chest and its body covered in unknown slime, it was unmistakably a Goblin attempting an ambush.

[Name: Goblin (Common)]

[Race: Goblin Tribe]

[Level: 0]

[Weapon: Goblin Standard Wolf Fang Club]

[Skill: Skull Crush Strike]

[Characteristics: Social, omnivorous, the goblin version of a tough guy.]