“Ah… Listen, Shi’an, you know how it is.” He Bieshan nudged Li Shi’an, who was strolling leisurely beside him, with his elbow. “Ever since I was in diapers, I’ve been dreaming—dreaming of standing atop a ruined metropolis, with a surging tide of beasts at my feet. I’d raise my hand, and swish, swish, swish! Legendary battle cards would swirl around me, radiating blinding light! Whether it’s the Hellhound or the Thunder Sword Saint, they’ll all have to follow my commands…” 

He gestured dramatically, his movements so exaggerated he nearly knocked into the low-hanging branches by the roadside.

“And what happened? Hey! A few days ago, my parents saved up points for half a year and begged high and low until they finally managed to get someone to use that precious scanner to test my talent potential early.” He Bieshan’s voice suddenly deflated, like a popped balloon. “Green! With just a tiny hint of blue—so subtle you’d never notice it unless you looked really closely! Totally disappointing!” 

Li Shi’an tucked his hands into the pockets of his school uniform, his gaze sweeping over the freshly painted red slogan at the edge of the playground: “Card Awakening, Forge a Glorious Life.” 

His tone was unruffled: “Green with a hint of blue—so what? According to the standards—white, green, blue, purple, orange, red—yours is at least lower-middle grade. You’ll definitely be able to awaken, right?” 

“Hey, my dear brother! Mid-to-low grade? That’s low grade! The absolute worst of the worst!” He Bieshan was practically jumping out of his skin. “What does this mean? It means my heroic dream of sweeping away the beast horde and saving the world—snap—is gone! Most likely, I’ll end up with some life-skill card like ‘Precision Plowing’ or ‘Efficient Fertilization,’ and I’ll have to go back to my hometown to help my dad farm those two mu of wheat! At best, I’ll get ‘Basic Healing’ or ‘Apprentice Knight’s Armor’—that’s a support role for sure! Go to the front lines? Just to heal those golden children and take the hits for them!” 

He grew more and more agitated as he spoke, his cheeks flushing slightly: “And look at those kids from prominent families—what kind of resources do they have? They’ve been soaking in energy fluid since childhood, meditating while holding top-tier blank cards! They start out with blue cards right from the get-go, and even purple cards aren’t out of the question! You really can’t compare yourself to them…”

As Li Shi’an listened to his friend’s complaints, his gaze drifted off into the distance for a brief moment. Yeah, you really can’t compare yourself to them.

Just as no one knew that inside this young body lay a soul from a distant, foreign world. Eighteen years had passed, and he could barely remember his life on Earth in his previous incarnation.

In this world, the technological tree had branched off in all sorts of strange directions, bearing only a vague resemblance to his past life.

There were cell phones and computers, but their power sources were card energy; there were skyscrapers and subways, but construction relied on various engineering cards. The entire functioning of society revolves around those mysterious and inscrutable “cards.”

Upon turning eighteen, everyone has one chance to communicate with the so-called “Holy Pool” through a ritual and awaken their very first card.

There is a wide variety of cards, ranging from life-support cards to combat contracts, and even… cards that directly summon legendary beings. Over in the Western Alliance, it seems some lucky individuals have awakened cards like “Holy Angel Guardian.”

Here in the Eastern lands, in the Nation of Xia, the card characters people have awakened feel familiar to Li Shi’an.

Occasionally, the news reports on top Card Masters—the names of the cards that made them famous always sounded like heroes from an ancient history that this world considered long “broken” or even “lost,” a history lingering in his hazy memories. 

But as an orphan who could barely afford a proper meal, he had no energy to delve deeper into these matters.

“Hey! Shi’an! Are you even listening?” He Bieshan’s broad face suddenly loomed close.

Li Shi’an snapped back to reality and gently pushed him away: “I’m listening. Green with a hint of blue—that’s pretty good.”

“What a—” Before He Bieshan could finish his curse, a crisp female voice cut in urgently.

“He Bieshan! Li Shi’an! What are you two dawdling around for? The ceremony is about to start! You’re the only two missing from the whole class!”

The girl, with her hair tied in a high ponytail and a thin sheen of sweat on her temples, waved vigorously at them. She ran over quickly and, without a word, grabbed one of them by the arm and dragged them toward the formation in the center of the playground.

“Please spare me, Squad Leader! My arm’s about to break!” He Bieshan howled, but his feet obediently picked up the pace.

Hao Yun shot him a scornful glare, then casually pulled two small packets of compressed biscuits from her school uniform pocket and shoved them into his and Li Shi’an’s hands. “I knew the two of you would get into trouble as soon as you got together! Hurry up and eat these—don’t let your blood sugar drop when you awaken!”

The schoolyard was packed with a sea of senior high students.

At the front of the formation, on the podium, the principal was speaking into the PA system, gesticulating wildly. 

“…Students, Card Awakening is the most important step in your lives! But it cannot—and is by no means sufficient—to determine your entire future!” 

“Talent tiers are certainly important! But whether you have a white card or a green card, you can all shine in every industry across our Xia Nation! Powerful cardmasters defend our borders, support-type cardmasters build our homes, and lifestyle-type cardmasters enrich our material foundations! There is no distinction between high and low, noble and base!” 

“Remember! No matter what kind of card you awaken, the school is proud of you……”

The principal’s speech was impassioned, yet the students’ reactions below the stage varied widely.

Some nervously rubbed their hands together, some closed their eyes and prayed silently, while others wore expressions of disdain.

Hao Yun shoved the two of them to the back of the class line and whispered urgently, “Stand up straight! Our homeroom teacher has come to check on us several times already!”

Li Shi’an silently tore open the cookie wrapper and took a bite. The sweet, cloying taste was tinged with a hint of chemical additives—a hallmark of industrial food in this era. 

He Bieshan, sitting next to him, was eating with great relish. As he ate, he gestured with his eyes for Li Shi’an to look at the front row of the line.

Sure enough, the boy in the front row—wearing limited-edition sneakers and the latest communication card ring on his wrist—was tilting his chin slightly upward, speaking to a few classmates nearby in a voice neither too loud nor too soft. His demeanor suggested he was already certain of victory.

“…As for the ‘Public Welfare Awakening’ card pool, the quality’s just so-so—but it’s better than nothing. My dad said it’s mainly just going through the motions, to get a feel for the atmosphere. My family has already prepared a ‘Flame Griffin’ contract card blank for me—a top-tier blue card, almost on par with a purple card! As long as the card triggered by today’s awakening ceremony is successfully infused, I’ll be able to bind it right away…”

A few stifled gasps and envious glances came from those around him.

Yu Sinian seemed to relish this attention, a smug smile curving his lips. 

He Bieshan shoved the last bit of a cookie into his mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “Pfft, what’s there to show off…If he really had that kind of extraordinary talent, he’d have done it just like those aristocratic kids—awakened at home using a private card pool—instead of coming to our lousy school to participate in a charity awakening event. ‘Flame Griffin’ is nice, but it’s only good for impressing people in a small town like this…” 

His voice was actually very low, but perhaps because Yu Sinian had been listening intently, basking in the admiration of the crowd—or perhaps it was just a coincidence—those words happened to drift right into Yu Sinian’s ears.

The smile on Yu Sinian’s face froze instantly. He whipped his head around, his gaze locking precisely on He Bieshan, his eyes betraying obvious anger and the humiliation of having his secret exposed. 

He Bieshan immediately ducked his head, pretended to look up at the sky, and whistled. 

The principal on stage finally concluded his speech.

Class advisor Teacher Chen hurried over with the class roster, his forehead beaded with sweat, and whispered, “All right, all right, it’s our class’s turn! Remember the procedure! Place your hands on the sensor stele at the Holy Pool and concentrate! Then the system will give you two options: first, randomly draw a green card from the public pool; second, directly select a specific white card!”

“Everyone, listen up!” Teacher Chen’s gaze swept across the young faces. “I know that throughout history, there have been a few exceptionally talented figures in history who started with a white card and eventually became legends! But those are extremely rare occurrences—less than one in ten million!”

“The first card you draw is crucial—it determines the direction of your future! For the vast majority of you, a stable green card is far better than a white card with an uncertain future! It’s the safe bet! Listen to me: unless it’s absolutely necessary, choose the random green card! Don’t get carried away, and don’t delude yourselves into thinking you’re one in ten million! Got it?”

The students replied in a mixed chorus, “We’ll remember…”

Li Shi’an listened to the homeroom teacher’s instructions, but his gaze once again drifted away. A random green card seemed like a very safe choice.

Having lived in this world for eighteen years, he had long since grown accustomed to everything about it; following the established path step by step didn’t seem so bad after all.

But… deep down, a faint sense of reluctance and a strange feeling kept lingering. Being a time traveler… surely it should be a little special? Even if just a tiny bit?

“Next, Li Shi’an!” The teacher presiding over the ceremony called out his name loudly. Li Shi’an gathered his thoughts, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

The Sensing Stele stood before him, its surface smooth and engraved with incomprehensible patterns.

Following the instructions, he gently placed his palm on it.

In an instant, a strange sensation shot from the palm of his hand straight to his brain, as if something had connected his consciousness. The scene before him changed; he “saw” a vast, boundless ocean composed of countless streams of light.

Was this the so-called projection of the “Holy Pool”?

At the same time, a prompt sounded directly in his mind:

【Please select how you want to obtain the card: Option 1: Random draw (green card). Option 2: Specify (white card).】 

In the audience, their homeroom teacher, Teacher Chen, watched nervously, his lips moving silently. Judging by his lip movements, he was repeating over and over: “Choose Option 1! Choose the random draw!” 

He Bieshan also clenched his fists, even more nervous than if he were the one going up there.

Li Shi’an’s gaze swept over the relatively bright and dazzling cluster of light representing the “Random Green Card,” but ultimately settled on the adjacent area—a vast, deep expanse flickering with countless faint yet tenacious white lights.

White card… designated selection…

A thought—almost absurd and completely out of character for him—popped into his head without warning. Search!

He wanted to… search it!

The urge was so intense that, almost involuntarily, he sent a vague mental command toward that white light zone.

Just like what he’d seen on the news broadcast… this world really does have those historical cards, and the most likely ones are White Cards… It felt as if a long time had passed, yet also as if it were just an instant.

The prompt in his mind sounded again, still cold, yet seemingly tinged with a faint, unprecedented fluctuation?

【Specified search request received… Retrieving…】

【Special response detected… Calculating match score…】

【Match complete. Confirm retrieval?】

Li Shi’an hesitated barely at all, his resolve firm as he mentally selected “Confirm!”

The Holy Pool’s Resonance Stele suddenly emitted a continuous beam of white light, enveloping Li Shi’an entirely.

This extraordinary sight left everyone in the audience speechless.

In previous classmate awakenings—whether blue or white—the light had always been fleeting; no one had ever glowed continuously like this!

“What’s going on?” 

“Is there a malfunction?”

“What is that light? Such a pure white…”

The presiding instructor looked just as bewildered and instinctively checked the instrument screen.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the white light receded, eventually coalescing into the ethereal image of a card above Li Shi’an’s outstretched palm. The card slowly solidified, finally taking on a tangible form, and floated gently into Li Shi’an’s hand.

All eyes instantly focused on that card.

The card’s background color was, without a doubt, the lowest rank—white.

However, upon that pure white surface, a faint, barely perceptible, strange aura seemed to flow, as if imbued within it. On the front of the card was the image of a young beggar boy, clad in rags and holding a broken bowl, yet with an unusually deep and bright gaze.

Below, a line of small text appeared, accompanied by a few lines of brief data:

【Card Name】: Beggar · Zhu Yuanzhang (Current Tier: White Card · Unawakened) 

【Card Type】: Character Card · Growth Type