Although the cards refresh every day, the number that appears is never fixed. Sometimes a single School District can have more than fifty cards, while other times there may only be a handful.
Using his ability, Arata collected every card he could find in District 7 within just three hours.
Some cards appeared inside women's clothing stores, which were easy enough to retrieve. However, others appeared inside women's restrooms, which was honestly a bit absurd. A few cards were hidden in bookstores and newsstands, some were located inside landscaped green gardens, and one was even attached to a wind turbine.
There was even a card floating near a sightseeing airship, which immediately attracted a large crowd.
The security personnel assumed he was attempting to sabotage the airship, so they shouted warnings at him through a megaphone from the ground below.
Even though he was a Level 5 esper, for those people who were both teachers and security staff, the standard punishment was still writing a ten-thousand-word self-reflection report. Who in their right mind would go back and actually write that?
"It's so hot! This is the hottest time of the year. Let's find somewhere cool to rest." Arata wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at the cloudless blue sky with slight irritation. In the distance, the asphalt road shimmered with heat, distorting the air like rippling water.
While casually playing cards on his phone, he unknowingly wandered into the Ninth School District, an area known for art and craftsmanship.
This district was mainly filled with high schools and art colleges, and at this time of day, with the sun blazing overhead, there were barely any people around.
He found an open-air drink stand located under the shade of several buildings. After ordering a glass of iced lemon tea, he sat down and slowly enjoyed the rare coolness.
It was probably cooler here because the surrounding skyscrapers had glass surfaces that reflected most of the sunlight away.
"I've collected sixty-three one-star cards and two two-star cards. A ten-pull should guarantee something good." Arata silently prayed to Lady Luck and activated all the cards at once.
A series of notification sounds echoed in his mind.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. One-Star Card activated. Reward obtained: Rice Laptop."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. One-Star Card activated. Reward obtained: Goddess's Blue Ribbon."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. One-Star Card activated. Reward obtained: Water Breathing Technique."
...
"This batch of one-star cards produced quite a few decent items. The ancients were right, a ten-pull guarantees something good." Arata felt somewhat satisfied with today's harvest.
Aside from everyday items, several extremely ridiculous pieces of technology had also appeared.
Bamboo Dragonfly x5: From Doraemon. A palm-sized device that can be worn on the head, allowing the user to ignore Newton's gravity. Maximum flight altitude: 1,000 meters. Maximum speed: 60 meters per second.
Air Pistol x3: From Doraemon. A small pistol that resembles a finger puppet. It fires compressed air bullets with a maximum range of 10 meters and can knock a person unconscious upon impact.
Super Gloves: From Doraemon. Wearing these grants the user enough strength to lift objects weighing up to one ton.
Invisibility Cloak: From Doraemon. A cloak that renders the wearer completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Let's try the Bamboo Dragonfly. It's the thing I wanted most when I was a kid." Arata's playful side surfaced.
After examining the small device for a moment, he pressed the tiny red switch and placed it on his head. Instantly, he felt as though his body had synchronized with the device. As long as he willed it, he could freely control his direction and speed in the air.
"Even though the world of Doraemon looks cheerful and silly on the surface, it's actually one of the most terrifying technological worlds imaginable," Arata muttered to himself while thinking about those outrageous gadgets.
A Time Pauser capable of freezing the entire world.
A Phone Booth that could create a completely new parallel world with a single request.
And a Time Machine that allowed travel to both the past and the future.
Those items were undoubtedly five-star card level treasures. So far, only a handful of five-star cards had appeared in the entire world.
"I'm opening the two-star cards now. My luck is unusually good today, so I shouldn't waste this opportunity." Arata thought to himself as he placed the Bamboo Dragonfly back inside the Gate of Babylon.
Any item classified as a treasure and stored within the Gate of Babylon would gain the attribute of being indestructible.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Two-Star Card activated. Reward obtained: Legendary Kitchen Utensil, Eternal Blade."
Eternal Blade: Originating from the anime Cooking Master Boy. A kitchen knife capable of perfectly preserving and enhancing the freshness of ingredients.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Two-Star Card activated. Reward obtained: Clow Card, Sword."
Clow Card Sword: One of the fifty-two magical cards from Cardcaptor Sakura. It seals the spirit of a sword. When activated, the Clow Card transforms into a powerful magical blade with considerable destructive force.
"A kitchen knife that makes food shine, and a magical card that becomes a sword. That's today's harvest. It's a bit unfortunate that it wasn't a Clow Card with a fairy maiden on it." Arata casually stored both items inside the Gate of Babylon with satisfaction.
Beep beep...
A text message arrived on Arata's phone.
He pulled it out and checked the screen.
"Kaibi Gokusai..." Arata's eyes narrowed slightly as he opened the message. A faint, cold smile slowly appeared on his lips.
"Senior, the Board has sent members of SCHOOL to track you down~ They want to obtain a sample of your DNA. Be careful. They're practically risking their lives to give you a boost~ You'll need to reward them properly afterward." A playful emoji was attached at the end.
"Those idiots. It seems they won't learn unless I teach them a proper lesson. Chairman Aleister, if I destroy one of their research facilities and kill a few researchers, will that cause any logistical problems?" Arata asked quietly, a cold glint appearing in his eyes.
Not long after, a reply from Aleister arrived on his phone.
"Try not to escalate the situation."
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Arata shrugged casually. "Dark Matter, Kakine Teitoku. This is the perfect opportunity to test the Telekinesis ability I just pushed to Level 5."
How big was the gap between Telekinesis and Dark Matter?
This was the perfect whetstone.
Arata calmed himself and slowly sipped his cold drink. There was no need to rush. The intelligence network of the Dark Side should already be on its way.
Academy City rarely had battlefields suitable for clashes between Level 5 espers. However, the tall buildings in District 9 were spaced far enough apart to serve as a suitable arena against Dark Matter.
As long as he had his Ability Erasure and time manipulation abilities, he would remain invincible. After dealing with the 1.7 Dark Matter, he would hunt down those rotten researchers whose humanity had long since decayed and find out who exactly approved this plan.
...
Several customers trying to escape the heat walked into the cold drink shop.
"There he is." A brown-haired boy wearing a dark purple suit held up a photograph and compared it to the boy sitting under the shade not far away. With his hands in his pockets, he approached with a confident smile.
Arata had already sensed that the person he was waiting for had arrived.
He stirred his cold drink with a straw, the corners of his mouth curling upward as he slowly raised his head.
"Excuse me for disturbing your rest. You must be the eighth ranked Telekinesis Level 5, correct?"
...
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