Starting as a Nobody, I Drew Cards to Become Emperor

The game Penglai is a casual ancient-style game combining storylines, city-building, card upgrades, and more.

Players who enter the game are bound as the "young lord of Penglai City." They can draw character cards of different attributes and levels to manage the city, or draw building cards to expand their territory.

With its varied gameplay and high degree of freedom, the game has become popular with young people.

As one of its many fans, Liao Fan would never, ever have touched Penglai if he'd known it would become an addiction and kill him from overplaying.

But what's done is done. Liao Fan looks up at the shabby roof above him.

Bad luck to transmigrate aside, he starts out as a lowly commoner forcibly conscripted by the army to mine. How is he supposed to survive this?

As he toils through the monotonous, grueling labor of digging earth and hauling stones, Liao Fan is pushed to the brink of snapping. Before he can do anything, the neighboring kingdom's crown prince, locked up in the next cell, makes the first move.

Liao Fan plans to take the opportunity to hitch a ride on the escape attempt, but there's a traitor in the group. Before they get far, the soldiers lying in wait capture them all.

Just as Liao Fan thinks he's about to die all over again, a sudden [Ding!] sounds in his mind. By chance, he becomes bound to the Penglai game System.

[Player's life is in danger. Draw a card?]

And so:

[S-Rank Character Card: Blind swordswoman who looks beautiful and frail x1]

[N-Rank Weapon Card: Single-use short blade that can parry any attack with 100% success x1]

Everyone is stunned when a beautiful, ethereal woman with a blindfold appears out of nowhere, defeats a hundred foes to rescue Liao Fan from certain doom, then kneels and respectfully calls him "City Lord"!

An immensely satisfying power fantasy, with the protagonist showing off all the way!

Theme: Confidence is the strongest rule for survival.