"Then give it a try!"

Carl slowly pulled himself out of Hope's arms, took a reluctant look at him, and then picked up an iron dumbbell spirit card beside him.

Although they are called iron dumbbells, both the iron dumbbells in Pokémon and the spirit in front of you actually have nothing to do with dumbbells in appearance, but are more like some kind of mechanical creation.

It has a mechanical claw on one end and a mechanical eye that flashes red on the other.

I don’t know if it was affected by Carl’s psychic power, but when Carl summoned the spirit, psychic light was radiating around its body.

After testing the strength of the iron dumbbell, everyone found helplessly that its various values ​​were quite average, probably only slightly better than the currently more popular mainstream sacrificial spirit - the giant lizard.

However, things became slightly different when the Iron Dumbbell Spirit defeated a giant lizard and absorbed its spirit energy.

The iron dumbbell spirit itself did not transform into the metal monster that was the transitional form of Metagross in Carl's impression. Instead, like 3D printing, an iron dumbbell condensed from under its metal claws.

In other words – it proliferated.

"Wow~, if that's the case, three cards seem to be able to meet the summoning conditions. I just have to pay attention to the operation, otherwise the iron dumbbells will be sent away by others before the number reaches the standard."

Seeing this [characteristic] of the iron dumbbells, Nia finally felt relieved.

In fact, this [feature] is quite common, but the spirit cards made by Carl cannot be displayed, so players need to summarize it themselves.

And the Iron Dumbbell is not the only spirit that possesses the property of proliferation. It is said that the spirits of slime monsters usually also have this property.

"It looks like Nia has a new deck. When Lisanna comes back tonight, go and spar with her! If you can beat her, Nia, you will be a strong player who can pass the first group of the competition!"

As a comrade who had fought with the same gun, Hope knew very well that Nia needed to be pampered, so he praised her in a slightly artificial way.

Although her acting skills were poor, Nia still benefited from it.

"Yeah! Yes! I'm going to try to fight Lisanna when she comes back!"

As she spoke, Nia gathered the spirit cards, made a face at Carl, and went to study the deck with her two good sisters.

"Uh~, didn't you agree that you would help me with the spaceship?"

He reached out his hand to stop her, but Nia pretended not to hear.

Helpless, Carl had to run to the sofa and fell asleep on Hope's thighs.

He wanted to try to simulate the construction of a spacecraft in his own dream world.

…

"Competitor No. 62 won four valid victories and successfully entered the next round!"

The surface of Storm Bay, the venue for the Spirit King Competition.

Following the host's shout, Mitris let out a long breath and stood up from her seat.

"Sure enough, the deck that Nia helped me configure was a bit too presumptuous. Many spirits and equipment can't be chained together at all. If there is a slight lag, it will become difficult to deal with. It is better to configure it myself."

Looking down at the dejected opponent, Mitris, who was still wearing jeans, a white shirt and a black vest, spoke up: "Your strategy is actually quite good, but your spirit and equipment cards don't match well. If you want to win, you'd better change your lineup."

After saying that, Midris turned and left, leaving her opponent sitting there thinking.

The opponent is a player who has won three games in a row. Although he lost to Mitris this time, he still has a chance to advance.

At the passage leading out of the competition venue, Lisanna, who had been waiting there for a long time, came over with Elise and Ashe.

All four of them advanced to the second round.

Among them, although Ashe lost the dark game with Elise, she still won several games afterwards and qualified for the next round.

After hearing Lisanna's words, the corners of Mitris' mouth twitched slightly, and then she said:

"Don't tell Nia about this. Hey~, she helped me make the deck before, and I... I wasn't very comfortable using it, so I made some minor adjustments this time."

Of course, this is a euphemism.

From a practical point of view, the deck used by Midris this time cannot be said to be slightly changed from the one used by Nia, but it can only be said to be completely unrelated.

Only three of the Resurrection Slate equipment cards are the same in the two decks; the rest, even the Spirit cards used as sacrifices, have been swapped.

"Oh~, Sister Nia is too focused on the old way of playing. Her own deck is built around the Metagross Spirit. But now everyone is using the strategy of combining spirits and equipment. Her strategy of four protecting one is a bit behind the times~"

Lisanna crossed her arms and commented, shaking her head like a scholar who had studied this.

Seeing her like this, Mitris, who was already familiar with her, teased her, "You should say these words in front of Nia. Alas, I dare not."

Lisanna shuddered immediately.

"Woo~, I don't dare~"

Seeing that Lisanna was a little depressed, Mitris took the initiative to ask, "Haven't you advanced to the second round? How come you have time to come here to watch the game today? Did you come here specifically to wait for me?"

Lisanna: "Hehe, that's what I meant! But it's mainly because I've put together a new set of cards, and I want to come over to scout the enemy. My next opponent is an elf named Tum, who is probably the strongest in the second group~"

Speaking of Thum, Lisanna's mood visibly dropped.

It can be seen that she really has no confidence in defeating the opponent.

Hearing this, Mitris was a little surprised.

"The competition system doesn't decide the winner in one go. If you lose to him, the next opponents you will face will be those who also lost in the first game. Why are you afraid of this?"

It is said that when you think of surrender, you will feel the world becomes wider.

Although Lisanna had not reached this level at this moment, she felt a lot more relieved.

"That's right! I can't beat Tum, but can I beat the rest? Only the first match is a real random match, and the rest will be matched according to the number of wins of both sides. Although I will lose one game, it won't be difficult to win four of the remaining five games..."

Thinking of this, Lisanna's expression visibly brightened up again.

"Wahaha! That's right! I figured it out! Let's go! To the Afterlife Bar! It's my treat!"

In front of the owner of the Laisheng Bar, the current chief of the Public Security Bureau actually promised to treat them to a meal on the other party's territory...

Although this was a bit abstract, the four of them still took the elevator to Area 4 where the Afterlife Bar was located.

It was noon and the bar was unusually quiet, but there were still quite a few card players on the first floor, immersed in playing cards, and it seemed as if they had been playing all night.

(End of this chapter)