booktalesy Chapter 1 Black Tide
Chapter 1 Black Tide
District 9.
Wushan City.
Dark clouds surged like a tide, and the wind howled like a dragon.
The countless raindrops transformed into a vast expanse of white waves, instantly enveloping the small town in a misty rain curtain.
Lin Mo woke up with a start, instinctively turned over, but couldn't fall back asleep.
After fiddling around for a few minutes, I finally picked up my phone and turned on the screen.
【16: 06】
[Saturday, April 11]
[Heavy rain in Wushan City, 21℃]
According to the latest news, the Kuroshio Current originating from the 3126th rift in the 9th district has spread to Kiriyama City, causing tens of thousands of deaths and injuries. The Kyushu Card Masters Alliance has established a special task force... Currently, all disposal work is being carried out in an intense and orderly manner, and the spread of the Kuroshio Current has entered a key monitoring and control phase... Residents are advised to prepare for home protection and avoid going out unless absolutely necessary!
#Please pay close attention to the authoritative information released by the official emergency broadcasts and television stations of Wushan City, and resolutely refrain from believing, spreading, or creating rumors. Keep your personal communication devices accessible 24 hours a day, strictly follow the unified dispatch and arrangements of the local action specialists, and cooperate in an orderly manner with personnel transfer, emergency testing, and other tasks.
#【Jiuzhou Card Master Loan】Friendly Reminder: Your loan will mature on April 25th, 512 AD. Please prepare funds in advance and repay on time and in full (principal of 200000 Star Coins + interest of 15000 Star Coins, totaling 215000 Star Coins) to avoid overdue interest (overdue daily interest will increase by 50%) and negative credit records, which will affect your future loan eligibility!
The Japanese Card Makers Association has invested hundreds of billions of yen to launch the "Code Name: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" Card Maker Project, opening up rare materials and core card-making inheritance to provide targeted support for talented card makers!
……
"The Kuroshio Current has spread here so quickly?"
Lin Mo muttered to himself, got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face.
The icy tap water splashed on my face, instantly washing away any lingering sleepiness.
The rain outside the window grew increasingly violent, with large raindrops pounding against the awning outside the bathroom window with a muffled pattering sound.
Lin Mo raised his hand to wipe the water droplets from his face and looked at the mirror in front of him, which was about half the height of a person.
His face was clearly reflected in it.
It was a face that looked to be in his early eighteens, with a refined and handsome appearance.
He has fair skin, thick and light eyebrows, long eyes, and deep black pupils.
With a straight nose, clear lip lines, and a sharp, well-defined jawline, his overall demeanor is cool and reserved.
Lin Mo stared at himself in the mirror for two seconds, grabbed a towel to wipe his face clean, and then walked out of the bathroom.
Three days ago, he was a third-year graduate student majoring in ancient Chinese literature at Jiangcheng University, specializing in pre-Qin history and ancient mythology.
When I woke up, I found myself transported to another world!
This world is called the Blue Planet.
Its historical trajectory is similar to that of Earth, also dominated by technological civilization.
On the surface, it looks almost the same as in his previous life.
However, if you look up, you will find that...
Twenty-eight majestic floating cities were prominently displayed in the sky.
They are like the unchanging stars of antiquity, serene and mysterious.
Humanity has exhausted millions of years and tried every method, yet it has never been able to touch its edge, let alone take a single step into it.
It's like a miracle hanging overhead, or an insurmountable chasm.
Until 2012, the "Sky Tear" incident occurred.
Countless mythological rifts appeared on the surface of the earth, and bizarre species known as "abnormalities" flooded into reality, wreaking havoc.
Modern firearms are nearly ineffective against advanced "abnormalities," resulting in an 80% reduction in the human population and bringing civilization to the brink of collapse.
In a life-or-death situation, the first card master, Homer Maddox, unexpectedly discovered that the crystals that surged to the surface along with the fissures could absorb the materials dropped by these "abnormalities."
By combining it with popular myths and legends, cards that carry the power of myths can be created.
The mythical light emanating from the card unexpectedly resonated with the floating city in the sky.
The floating city, sealed for thousands of years, has finally opened its doors, and the card-making system has been officially born.
In the same year, Yang Cangjie, the first card maker of Kyushu, created the first Kyushu mythology card based on folk legends, opening the door to the floating city and naming it "Kunlun".
With the power of the cards, humanity finally repelled the first large-scale invasion of the "Aberrants" and preserved the flame of civilization.
This year is historically known as the first year of the new calendar.
By this time, the card-based civilization had developed for over five hundred years, and its rigid class barriers had long been fully formed.
The Upper Realm is a divine kingdom composed of floating cities. It is safe and prosperous, and controls the most advanced card-making traditions, mythological resources, and access to secret realms for all mankind. It is a paradise that everyone dreams of.
The Lower Realm is a wasteland overrun by "abnormal beings," barren and dangerous. Ordinary people can only eke out a living in settlements. Their only chance to turn their lives around is to become a card maker and step into the Upper Realm.
Lin Mo's location, Wushan City in the Ninth District, belongs to the lower realm of Kyushu and depends on the upper realm of Kunlun Floating City for its existence.
To Lin Mo's great surprise, whether in the floating city of the upper realm or on the surface of the lower realm, the Kyushu forces to which he belonged were always in a weak position and had almost no say.
Kyushu, with its long and rich history and brilliant and profound civilization, should theoretically be incredibly powerful, but the reality is quite the opposite.
After days of perusing historical sites and ancient texts, Lin Mo was horrified to discover that...
The mythology of the Nine Provinces experienced its first large-scale civilizational break during the transition from the Shang to the Zhou dynasties, and subsequently suffered several more severe disruptions.
By the time of the old calendar era, the once magnificent pantheon had long since vanished, leaving only scattered folk tales and rural legends.
In contrast, other major civilizations all possess complete, coherent, and mature mythological traditions.
With their complete and orderly mythological narratives, they forged powerful and terrifying mythological cards, firmly grasping the core authority of the floating city in the upper realm...
The underlying reasons were complex and intricate, and Lin Mo couldn't figure them out in a short time, nor did he have the extra time to delve into them.
The most urgent task at hand is to successfully craft the first card of my own in order to deal with the impending Black Tide.
Although the Kyushu Card Masters Alliance has established a special task force, the weakness of its local communities is an undeniable fact.
Especially in a remote border town like Wushan, the defensive forces are severely insufficient.
Rather than entrusting your life and fortune to outsiders, it's better to rely on yourself.
In case of any trouble, the cards in hand will provide some protection.
Having made up his mind, Lin Mo pondered, "What kind of card should I make?"
Looking around, his gaze suddenly settled on the desk, on a yellowed, old handscroll.
Above, written in flowing, elegant strokes, were two card combination formulas:
[Netherworld Talisman + Bloodstained Claws + Overflowing Vengeful Spirits + Rotting Bone Grass + Female Rose = ? ?]
[A century-old magnolia heart + a shroud + a bloodstained scythe + a mandrill + a creeping fig vine = ? ?]
"This is the original owner's self-created card combination formula, what a mess..."
Lin Mo glanced at it briefly and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "No wonder my first attempt at making cards failed so badly!"
The original owner was a senior high school student at the Wushan City Card Making Academy. He had just passed the graduation assessment of the Ninth District and obtained the card making qualification certificate certified by the Kyushu settlement, becoming a trainee card maker.
He disdained using the common card recipes readily available in Kyushu and was determined to create entirely new cards himself. However, due to the clash between the spiritual properties of the materials, he suffered a backlash and died on the spot.