Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 252: The One-Star Scout Card

Passing through the Central Green Park, Li Wei spotted Javier driving a small electric forklift back from the parking lot, loaded with supplies — the man was clearly enthusiastic about his work.

As Warehouse No. 3 manager, Li Wei had granted him authority over all industrial materials across the entire camp.

Javier was actually a scheming little old man. His card evaluation described him as ruthless, cold, and antisocial — but with a deep love for warehouse management, having served as a warehouse manager for a full thirty years.

"Good day, my lord."

Spotting Li Wei, Javier stopped the forklift and offered a somewhat stiff smile. Sitting beside him was a fourteen-year-old boy — Javier's nephew, whose father had been Javier's younger brother, killed in battle against mutant creatures several years ago. The boy was now the apprentice manager of Warehouse No. 3.

Li Wei's arrangement.

"Javier, you're doing well. But Warehouse No. 3 must be filling up fast."

"Indeed, my lord. However, I believe we need to build a covered platform outside the building, running along the first perimeter wall. It doesn't need to be all reinforced concrete — only the load-bearing support columns need to be concrete. The rest can be timber-frame construction."

"That way, we gain an excellent combat platform and expand the first-floor space at the same time."

"Part of it can serve as a dining hall — easily fits several hundred people. Another part becomes Warehouse No. 4. Nelson's team is heading out to mine coal, isn't it? The coal they bring back can be stored in Warehouse No. 4. Honestly, winters here are no joke."Javier talked at length. Good — that was exactly the attitude Li Wei wanted.

"Alright. Build Warehouse No. 4. Our blacksmith Zhao Xuanxuan and electrician Linus are in Warehouse No. 3 right now. Once they're done, you can discuss the construction plans with them. That warehouse will also be under your management."

"Understood, my lord!"

Javier went momentarily blank, eyes slightly glazed — because at least a dozen notifications were bombarding him all at once.

The Prestige System was incredibly useful. And incredibly effective at keeping people in line.

Better than any written contract.

What to do, how to do it, what the standards were, the deadlines, the rewards — all perfectly clear. Even the exact date of the next payday had a countdown. That was how you kept people motivated, rather than letting them stew in resentment and conspiracy theories.

Half an hour later, three electric buses finally rolled in from the end of the road — a bit late today.

Li Wei helped Nelson and the others unload the cargo. The five Freemen who had come back with the buses wore peculiar expressions. They'd been too far out of range before, but now that they were within twenty kilometers of the Prestige Card, notifications were pinging non-stop.

Confused as they were, they all knew: things had changed.

Once the unloading was done, Li Wei turned to Liang Yuzhi. "Second Aunt, I'm planning to head to Valley Town to mine coal. I'll leave one electric bus behind — have Santiago and Xavier stay here."

"Of course. Coal is just as important for us. Honestly, the underground base can slow down a bit now. Aside from the stone and limestone mines that need to keep running, most of the easily removable supplies have already been cleared out. What's left can't be dismantled quickly — and even if we brought it back, we couldn't install it here."

Liang Yuzhi spoke with clear intent.

"Is Little Yue doing alright?" Li Wei didn't take the bait and steered the conversation elsewhere. He knew Liang Yuzhi wanted to discuss something — probably a proposal to cooperate and undermine Li Yue. And he knew that Liang Yuzhi knew that he knew.

But after chatting for a while, Li Wei didn't play his conspiracy card, and neither did Liang Yuzhi. Both sides just held firm.

Apparently the timing wasn't right yet. Or maybe she was confident enough to think she had him cornered.

Li Wei watched the two buses drive away with a quiet smile. He'd already made up his mind.

He couldn't keep his focus narrowed on the internal contest with Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi.

Why not step outside the frame entirely? Approach it from a different angle.

For instance — raise the extra task difficulty for the pioneering side missions to 180%, which was four-star-plus. You're both so capable, right? Face it together, then.

Over the next two days, Li Wei didn't return to camp. He had Nelson and the others bring his meals to him.

He planted himself in the mine shaft beneath the church in Valley Town and mined coal and associated iron ore without pause.

Once he'd dug out a sufficient amount, he'd push it out with a hand cart.

Two days, only four hours of sleep. The exact quantity of coal and iron ore didn't matter — what mattered was adaptation.

On the night of the twenty-eighth day of the month, Li Wei slipped back into camp without a sound, changed his gear, loaded up his supplies, and set out with Adai under cover of darkness, heading south. By the time dawn approached, he had traveled sixty kilometers south and arrived at a stretch of rolling, low-lying hills.

Beyond this point lay the river that flowed from west to east.

Through these low hills ran a road, and across the river stood a highway bridge. On the far bank was another ruined town, overgrown with weeds.

This was his destination.

And over the past two months, it had been the primary focus of Adai's scouting.

No hard evidence yet — but something powerful was definitely lurking here.

Li Wei didn't rush. Moving as casually as if he were strolling through his own backyard, he easily found a sheltered hollow in the hills, tucked himself inside, and closed his eyes to sleep. He left Adai on watch.

In this, Adai could be trusted absolutely.

Around ten in the morning, Li Wei woke under the blazing sun. It was late July — average daily temperatures hovering around twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees Celsius. He was still wearing his thick Noble Crest Armor. An ordinary person would have been dehydrated by the heat long ago. He felt perfectly fine. Slept well, actually.

"Adai?"

Li Wei looked around. A moment later, Adai crawled out of a clump of grass in the distance — looking more like a free-range chicken than a crow. Hopeless. The bird had developed an obsession with squeezing into every crack and crevice it could find. Whether it was a personal quirk or something else entirely, Li Wei couldn't say.

Also — the creature had grown noticeably larger. A proper big crow now, comparable in size to the black-robed witch Mixi's raven back in the day.

Especially those eyes — bright and expressive, sometimes carrying a hint of mockery or some other inexplicable emotion. Like right now. What was that look? You little rascal.

"Bear with it. Play ground squirrel for half a day. You know this place is dangerous."

Li Wei gave him a scolding, then dropped to a crawl and used the dense vegetation as cover to work his way up to the top of a small hill. From there, he gazed hungrily at the terrain stretching out before him. The hill wasn't tall, but the view was wide — good for memorizing the lay of the land. Especially the ruined town across the river: its complex layout was exactly what he loved.

About two hours later, after Li Wei had committed every detail of the terrain within a radius of several kilometers to memory and integrated it into his three-dimensional mental map, a moment of wonder arrived.

["You have cumulatively observed and deeply memorized approximately five thousand square kilometers of complex terrain, including mountain ridges, river valleys, forests, and plains. You have reached an outstanding level in terrain surveying. You have earned 500 Scouting Experience points. This is extraordinarily rare experience — it can only be obtained through years of on-foot observation and systematic memorization. Do you wish to convert it into a One-Star Rare Scout Card?"]

Confirm.

That was exactly what Li Wei had been working toward.

In the next instant, something like a thread of golden sand was drawn out from between his brows, and in the blink of an eye it formed a uniquely crafted card before him.

Li Wei reached out and took it. The relevant information surfaced automatically.

["Name: Scout Card (Rare)"]

["Quality: One-Star"]

["Description: One-Star is both the quality and the rank. 'Rare' indicates this Scout Card's special nature — it possesses a certain characteristic not found in ordinary Scout Cards."]

["Description: This card may be traded or bound and activated. Binding requires an open card slot. Upon binding, the holder will transfer to the One-Star Scout profession, gaining +3 base Agility and the following profession talents:"]

["Talent One: Eagle Eye. Active. Upon activation, grants extraordinary visual acuity — capable of tracking a mouse at three hundred meters. Also grants exceptional dynamic capture ability. Consumes Stamina and Spiritual Power while active: 5 Stamina and 0.1 Spiritual Power per second."]

["Talent Two: Exceptional Sense of Smell. Passive. Subtle changes in the air — the fragrance of flowers, the scent of earth, the smell of blood, the stench of decay, even shifts in sweat — all become familiar and distinct. Note: This talent only activates when the bound holder also possesses a Woodcutter Card, Mountaineer Card, or Apothecary Card."]

["Talent Three: Weapon Mastery. Passive. (Note: Requires 400 Stamina, 30 Strength, and 30 Agility to activate. Only when attributes are sufficiently powerful can Encumbrance be ignored.) Encumbrance of carried weapons reduced by 8. Allows seamless switching between up to four weapons, enabling skilled response to most sudden situations."]

["Talent Four: Mounted Archery Mastery. Passive. (Note: Requires Talent Three's prerequisites.) Even on a galloping warhorse, you can find a stable firing balance — and even use a heavy infantry bow from horseback with full proficiency. Worth noting: this still requires exceptional archery skill and extensive training to master. Additionally, your summoned warhorse can now persist for extended periods, equivalent to the Cavalry Card effect."]

["Talent Five: Hunting Pet Interaction. Passive. Note: This talent only activates when the bound holder possesses a Hunter Card. Effect: Gain one additional Hunting Pet card slot without consuming a Destiny Grid slot."]

["Talent Six: Directional Sense. Passive. Even in total darkness, howling storms, or dense fog, you can still find your way back with precision."]

"That wasn't easy. This card finally dropped."

"Though it feels a bit too powerful — beyond what I imagined. Not just +3 Agility, but six talents out of the box?"

Li Wei was genuinely surprised. He thought back carefully for a long time, and realized this one-star Scout Card was vastly different from the reward he'd received in the beginner mission world.

Right — that original Scout Card had only one talent: +3 Agility.

"So is it because of the 'Rare' suffix?"

"Or is it because of the unusual way I earned this card?"

He had to wonder. Even he admitted — walking thousands of square kilometers on foot was one thing, but then memorizing all of it? Anyone hearing that would have to say: that's genuinely insane.

What made him even happier was that his second profession was Hunter and his third was Woodcutter — meaning two of the passive talents would activate simultaneously. Three profession cards working in perfect synergy.

And finally — with this Scout Card, he didn't need a Cavalry Card anymore.

From this alone, it was clear just how important the choice of profession cards truly was.