The assorted box of Tier-2 potions gave Axir a total of nine potions. Three Mana Potions, three Defense Potions, and three Strength Potions.
He had already used one Mana Potion, and he used another one before flying towards the Sunborn Peak to get there fast without stopping in the middle to recover his Mana.
It took him almost an hour to reach there at full speed.
On the other hand, Aoi had already acquired a quest to explore an infested area and kill fifty Demon Rats there, with the reward being a random 2-star card and other rewards, so the group was hyped and went with her to complete it.
…
"This will be hard…" Axir was sitting on a tree branch. He was still five kilometers away from the Sunborn Peak. He wanted to fly there right away, but due to the existence of Wyverns in the top three kilometers of the area around the peak, it was difficult.
Of course, he had a plan, but it was a bit hard to execute.
'Guess it's time to gamble and try new shit.'
Everything depended on Mimic Shifting, his timings, and execution.
After recovering some Mana, Axir first went to another mountain by crossing ten kilometers and arrived at its peak, as there were no flying monsters here.
The Wyverns were all around the Sunborn Peak, with their nests residing on the large trees of this majestic mountain. The other mountains were not suitable for Wyverns, though they still went around to hunt monsters.
In this sense, the game was realistic, and Axir also believed that these were not simple codes that developers made, but some kind of godly creation, which in turn increased difficulty in some areas.
'This better work.'
Axir flew up.
He flew so high that he was out of the Wyverns' radar, five kilometers above the Sunborn Peak. He had arrived right above it.
It was utterly cold, and his vitality was decreasing fast at this height, as he was not strong enough. So he didn't waste any more time and used the ace.
Mimic Shifting.
He transformed into a boulder so that it wouldn't be affected by the wind and sway away from the Sunborn Peak while descending.
Of course, if he fell as a boulder and hit the ground, he would instantly die, so he was going to change his form again. He wasn't worried about that.
He was just worried that some Wyvern might decide to use him as target practice and shoot a fireball, which would kill him.
'Please, ignore this falling boulder for just a few seconds.'
The falling speed was fast. He was rapidly descending.
Around ten Wyverns were flying around the peak, with the rest further down the mountain.
When he was one kilometer away from reaching the peak, Axir consumed ten percent of his Mana again to use Mimic Shifting and transformed himself into a smaller stone so that the Wyverns wouldn't take notice of him.
Of course, he would still die if he fell like a small stone.
So when he was just a hundred meters from reaching the Sunborn Peak, Axir activated Mimic Shifting again, consuming ten percent of his Mana to transform himself into… a leaf.
His speed instantly decreased as he began swaying with the wind.
He just hoped that a strong gust of wind wouldn't blow.
Phhssssss!!
Alas, a strong gust of wind blew, and the one that hit him was so powerful that it directly shot him away from the peak.
'Fuck.'
He didn't do anything because if he did, the Wyverns would notice him and kill him.
Soon, he landed on a tree branch.
Now, the Sunborn Peak was a few hundred meters away from this location, but this area was filled with strong monsters.
'Guess I'll have to carefully descend and get away from this before trying again.'
He already knew he wouldn't succeed on the first try, though he hoped he did. But priority was avoiding death because if he died, some of his items might get dropped, like the Card Constructor. The drop chance upon death was 50% for each item in the inventory. This was also why he gave the Mysterious Deck to Prince Vedan to keep.
'I still have six hours to win the bet with the prince. I should be able to do it if I don't die more than three times.'
After all, it took him an hour to reach here with a Tier-2 Mana Potion. Without it, it would take him more hours since he would have to stop to recover his Mana.
But just as Axir was about to turn into a feather to ride the wind and get away from this dangerous mountain, he saw a monster, and his eyes lit up.
Elite Monster. Level 200 Geosun Crystal Bear. It was moving towards the peak for its meal!
These bears were tough and were Wyvern predators, because the attacks of Wyverns had minimal effect on them due to the defensive kit of these bears, while these bears could shoot burning crystal spears to hunt Wyverns and had large claws.
These bears were elite monsters of this mountain, while the wyverns were normal monsters.
The one going up was a giant bear, reaching almost eight meters in height, having an exotic, tough exterior of crystal and earth with orange sun patterns.
Just as the bear was moving below the tree on which he was stationed, Axir transformed into a small pebble and fell onto the bear's back.
'Let's fucking go!'
A free ride to the Sunborn Peak was ready.
The Wyverns didn't dare to attack the bear and just ignored it. The bear also ignored them, because its food was not them, but something far more potent.
Soon, it arrived at the Sunborn Peak and roared at the sun before taking a Sunborn Tejas Flower and starting to eat it petal by petal while sitting on its ass.
There were over ten stalks of these legendary flowers here, and Axir only needed one, though he was going to collect as many as possible.
Turning into crumpled paper using Mimic Shifting, he rolled down the bear's back.
But he fell short by five meters. The Sunborn Tejas Flower was that far.
Naturally, he wasn't worried.
2-star card, Earthburrow Travel.
As he used this card, he entered underground while the effect of Mimic Shifting vanished.
Fortunately, he was behind the bear, so it didn't see him, or else just its fart would kill him.
Now that he had entered underground, the rest was easy.
He traveled beneath the flowers one by one quickly, touching them and putting them into his inventory.
Just as he collected the last flower, Axir teleported.
[ It will cost 100 gold coins to teleport to the Suryax Kingdom. Would you like to pay? ]
'Yes. Do it fast before the bear goes on a rampage.' Axir knew the bear would go on a rampage after not finding a second stalk of Sunborn Tejas Flower. It would start killing wyverns for sure.
And it might wake up the champion monster of that mountain, the Sunflare Ravager Drake, and get killed.
But Axir was free of all that as he vanished and arrived back in the city plaza, feeling unreal and excited.
'Fuck, I succeeded.'
Axir's eyes glimmered. 'I got Prime-2.0 resources as a level 20. Crazy. I wonder if the previous owner of the Mimic Shifting card ventured into crazy places to get stuff like this.'
Without the unique card, Mimic Shifting, this would've been impossible.
[ Sunborn Tejas Flower ]
Rank: Prime-2.0 / Legendary
Level 1 to level 100 was in the category of Tier-1 to Tier-10.
But after level 100, the category changed to Prime. Prime-1.1 to Prime-2.0 equaled level 100 to level 200.
'How powerful will my card become once I use this flower as an ingredient in the Card Constructor?' Axir grinned.
He couldn't wait to do that, but it was better to do it in the palace after visiting the prince and completing the quest.
…
Prince Vedan was startled as he looked at the Sunborn Tejas Flower in Axir's hand.
Axir put it on the table with a faint, confident smile. "Told you I would bring it."
"You said seven hours, but you brought it back in less than two hours…" Prince Vedan was speechless. "How did you do that? There are Wyverns and other strong monsters all over the peak."
Axir chuckled. "I had tricks up my sleeve."
"Wonderful, haha. I am impressed."
Prince Vedan laughed, his eyes sparkling with awe because a level 20 just went to a dangerous level 200 area and brought back items from its most dangerous place.
"A promise is a promise. I'll send you to the deepest part of the ancient grounds, so you can have a chance to manifest a high-potential deck, but in the end, it's up to how sound and clear your will is amid pain and how long you endure."
Prince Vedan took the flower as he began walking, with Axir following behind.
'Now he would start explaining.' Axir already knew.
"Let me tell you how it works as we walk. It's not complicated, but it's not easy. The ancient grounds are places where divinities once resided. There are many, but most are secured by various kingdoms and the four Empires. They are filled with otherworldly powers that disturb the laws of reality."
"Now, all you have to do to manifest a deck is stay there and endure. The longer you endure there and get absorbed in the insights you perceive without getting your mind broken, the better the deck and its cards in the Mysterious Deck. Everyone gets different decks and cards with themes matching the ancient ground that manifests them, so it's entirely up to individuals what they get."
"Here, take this." Prince Vedan returned the Mysterious Deck to Axir.
Axir took back the item and nodded. "Understood."
"Keep this in your hand and sit in meditation once you are inside. Endure, perceive, and remain unbroken for as long as you can."