Ding Tong’s voice dripped with arrogance and disdain, like she had the whole match in the bag already. She stood there with the smugness of a victor, looking down on Su Liqian, who was clearly struggling after taking a beating. 

Su Liqian just gave a soft chuckle. “Heh, well… good luck with that.” 

“Hmph.” 

Ding Tong snorted and didn’t bother saying anything else. She was soaking in the cheers coming from both sides of the audience—supporters from her school, Chenya, were out in full force. They came to cheer her on, sure, but mostly to watch the so-called loser from Lanxi get crushed. 

And Ding Tong had all the confidence in the world. 

She came from a good family and had been a top student since middle school—way better than Su Liqian in every way, at least in her mind. 

Getting into Chenya High School, the best school in the Sixth Star District, only boosted her ego. She never thought much of students from other schools. To her, Su Liqian was just another underachiever. 

So imagine her surprise when this “nobody,” who barely scraped by in middle school, suddenly rose to fame at Lanxi, charging all the way to the Star District Semifinals—and with a record that actually matched her own. 

It didn’t make sense. 

The youngest Dream Caster in history—that kind of talent and title made Ding Tong burn with jealousy. How could someone so average in every way get so lucky? How had she beaten seniors from Chenya? 

Glaring daggers at Su Liqian, Ding Tong didn’t bother hiding the hostility in her eyes. 

But trash would always be trash. Even if she had the title of Dream Caster, someone like her couldn’t stir up any real waves. 

Ding Tong was one of the best of her generation. She was going to win—no question. She’d crush Su Liqian, represent Chenya, and come out a hero. Then, finally, everyone would see her for who she really was… 

Meanwhile, Su Liqian had no idea what kind of internal drama Ding Tong was going through. She was focused entirely on how to win this match. 

She’d already studied footage of Ding Tong’s past battles. After careful analysis, she figured she had about a 70% chance of winning. 

“Let the match begin!” 

The tension in the air was thick. Everyone held their breath. 

Su Liqian made the first move. She pulled out two cards—an A-level illusion gear card, Azure Lineage from Mecha Storm, and a previously crafted A-level weapon card from Illustrated World Notes called Splashed Mountain Color Palette. 

She hadn’t had the chance to use this weapon before, so this was the perfect opportunity to try it in a real battle. 

After researching the traits and usage of the Splashed Mountain Color Palette, Su Liqian knew the key was to take the initiative. 

With the color palette in one hand, she conjured a brush in the other. She dipped the brush into the red pigment square on the palette, then flicked it outward in a sweeping motion. 

A stream of vibrant red ink burst into the air, dancing forward in swirling patterns. The moment it hit midair, every droplet morphed into razor-sharp spikes, all aimed straight at Ding Tong. 

Caught off guard, Ding Tong quickly drew two of her own cards—an A-level Illusion gear card from Star Sea Odyssey and an A-level weapon card from Mecha Storm. 

She was now clad in a blue-black battle suit, holding a glowing sword. She raised it to strike away the incoming spikes. 

But the moment her sword touched the spikes, the red color clung to it like oil—then started to spread, eating away at the light until the sword’s shine was visibly dimmer. 

The more spikes the sword touched, the more it got consumed. What used to be a razor-sharp weapon now couldn’t even cut a thread. 

Frowning, Ding Tong shook the blade, trying to fling the red off—but it was no use. 

She wasn’t stupid. She realized right away she’d underestimated Su Liqian. 

One of her A-level weapons cards had just been corrupted—just like that. Panic flared in her chest. She cursed herself for being careless. 

But in her mind, it was still just a fluke. As long as she stayed alert, she wouldn’t let Su Liqian get another lucky shot. 

“Unlock.” 

Ding Tong pulled out another A-level weapon card—Lost Sea Laser Gun, from Star Sea Odyssey. 

A sleek, compact dark-blue laser gun materialized in her hand, matching perfectly with her streamlined battle suit. 

As soon as the gun touched her hand, it automatically synced with her suit’s system, with excellent compatibility. 

Both the weapon and her Illusion gear card were part of the same Star Sea Odyssey character—Yiya. Using them together gave her bonus stats. 

Getting her hands on both of these cards hadn’t been easy. 

But Ding Tong had grown up with everything handed to her—money, cards, attention. She never had to struggle, never had to lose—especially not to someone she used to look down on. 

And today, Su Liqian was about to change that. 

As soon as the gun was in her hand, Ding Tong fired straight at Su Liqian. 

The gun’s laser beam came with a stunning effect, and without proper defense, it could even pierce through armor. 

But Su Liqian remained calm. She watched Ding Tong’s attack coldly, dipped her brush into the black section of her palette, and twirled it in the air. Ink flowed freely as she wrote a bold, elegant character in the sky.

⋆ · ⋆° ☁︎ 𝑅𝑒𝒻𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉 ☁︎ °⋆ · ⋆

The black character hovered in the air for a moment, then shrank and lit up. 

It flew forward and smashed directly into the incoming laser beam.

There was no sound when the two forces collided. But amazingly, the instant the laser hit the black character, it twisted and reversed direction—shooting straight back toward Ding Tong. 

Her eyes widened, and she instinctively took a step back. 

Illustrated World Notes wasn’t a common Illusion World in the Sixth Star District, and someone as proud as Ding Tong had never bothered to pay attention to the fact that Su Liqian had used that card during the prelims. 

So, she had absolutely no idea what Su Liqian’s palette could do—and the sudden reversal caught her so off guard that she just froze for a few seconds. 

Su Liqian couldn’t help but wonder how Ding Tong even made it to this stage of the competition. 

A second later, Ding Tong pulled out an A-level shield card, using her “card collection” to tell Su Liqian loud and clear: I’ve got plenty of cards, I’m not worried. 

When the laser failed to hit Su Liqian, Ding Tong didn’t hesitate—she retrieved the card, swiped her hand across the Star Moon Stone, and drew another one. 

Even the commentators couldn’t help but remark on how stacked her card collection was. 

This time, it was another A-level card—a summoning card from Star Sea Odyssey: the Deep Blue Warship. 

She casually tossed the card into the air. A flash of light later, a deep-blue warship over a meter long materialized out of nowhere. 

Once linked with her battle suit’s system, Ding Tong could control the ship remotely through thought alone. 

“Stealth mode,” she commanded. 

At her command, the deep blue warship immediately disappeared, using optical principles to hide its position. 

“Fire.” 

The Deep Blue Warship disappeared from Su Liqian’s line of sight, though she could still faintly hear the mechanical sounds. 

Ding Tong thought she could launch a sneak attack—but she completely underestimated the fact that invisibility didn’t mean a thing to Su Liqian. 

Su Liqian dipped her brush into blue paint and flicked it into the air. The paint spread like a curtain across half the battlefield, then transformed into raindrops falling from above. 

As the raindrops hit the invisible ship, the paint clung to it, outlining its shape. 

Target acquired. 

Without giving Ding Tong any time to react, Su Liqian immediately unleashed a sharp red spike of energy, striking straight at the ship. 

Ding Tong watched, eyes wide, as the red attack pierced into the Deep Blue Warship. Her heart skipped a beat. 

One second. Two. Three… 

The warship didn’t seem to respond. 

But just as Ding Tong began to let her guard down, a deafening explosion rang in her ears. 

Boom! 

A thunderous explosion rang out. Bits of black debris and flaming wreckage blew past her face, the heat so intense it almost burned her. 

No way! 

Her hand trembled as she instinctively reached for another card. 

How? How is she countering every one of my moves so easily? 

Every card she had was powerful—throughout the competition, she rarely faced a real challenge among her peers. But now, the one person she’d always looked down on—Su Liqian—was completely wrecking her. 

No. This can’t be happening. 

She tried to console herself, forcing herself to stay composed so she wouldn’t look so pathetic on camera. 

It’s fine. It’s fine. She still had cards. Su Liqian couldn’t be this lucky every time… 

She pushed down the nagging doubts, the ones she didn’t want to admit.

But just as she reached for another card, she looked up—and froze. 

Su Liqian was suddenly right behind her. 

That sword. Again!

The icy touch snapped her back to reality. 

It was the same strange sword Su Liqian had used to finish her last match—and now, it marked the end of this one too. 

Ding Tong stood there, stunned. 

She lost. 

She actually lost. 

The words echoed endlessly in her head. There was no denying it now. 

But she didn’t dare think too deeply… 

Not about how she’d just lost to the opponent she always thought was beneath her. 

Not about how her school, Chenya, had lost again to Lanxi. 

And definitely not about how she’d just made a bold statement on Star Art about how she was going to crush Su Liqian—only for reality to slap her right in the face. 

How humiliating! 

How could I lose to Su Liqian? 

She didn’t even dare look toward the stands, afraid she’d see the ridicule on her classmates’ faces.

All she wanted now was to get out of here. Anywhere but this place where she’d just lost everything. 

“Su Liqian, just you wait!” 

Leaving behind nothing but a bitter threat and a furious glare, Ding Tong stormed off the battlefield without looking back. 

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