“Hey, Isola, the dumb frog is awake.”
A familiar annoying voice was the first thing Shouren heard as his eyes fluttered back into consciousness.
“I can see that as well, Ruby. Now, get off him before the poor lad dies of suffocation.”
Isola’s cheerful voice greeted Shouren as the boy groaned with discomfort.
Is that why my chest felt heavy? That pumpkin-head was sitting on me?
Shouren cursed inside his mind. He soon sensed the pressure ease and opened his eye fully to see Rubin bounce away, chuckling with victory.
“How long was I passed out?”
Shouren needed to return to Rhea by evening or else his grandmother would begin to worry. He gave a quick glance to the side, relieved that his sack was untouched and the hides were still intact. Good, they didn’t steal anything from him.
As if noticing the boy’s inspection, Isola rolled her eyes and continued.
“You’ve been out for two minutes. What, you think we have the whole day to wait for you to wake up? I’m not running a bed-and-breakfast, you know?”
“What do you want from me?”
Shouren’s suspicions were on high alert. They could have done anything to him while he was unconscious. Yet, they didn’t. Why?
“Let’s start with something small. You already know my name from Ruby yelling it out all the time. I’m Isola Brightvale at your service. What’s your name, kid?”
Isola’s pleasant smile lightened the mood of the room. Now that Shouren had the time to observe her, Isola’s radiated a merry persona while her chestnut-colored eyes twinkled with mischievousness. Shouren was drawn to her. He didn’t know why, but her presence warmed him.
“My name’s Shouren. Did you heal my wounds?”
Shouren answered while scanning the rest of his body. No traces of the laceration, cuts, or bruises remained. He was fully healed.
“Nope, you can thank Ruby for that.”
Isola gestured at the sulking blonde teenager to her side.
What’s with him? He’s been staring at me whenever he thinks I’m not looking.
Shouren detected a subtle shift in Ruben. The blonde teenager was behaving strangely towards him since their bout.
“Thank you.”
Shouren gave a nod in Ruben’s direction. The blonde teen had an aggravating personality, but he still healed Shouren despite their earlier fight. Shouren was thankful for the gesture. He now had an inkling of Ruben’s class card. It was a healer based class.
But how did he fight so well?
Ruben snorted in response but nodded back after a brief pause. His sapphire eyes bore into Shouren for a second before looking away.
“Nice to meet you, Shouren. Well, we have quite a situation at our hands. I have to admit, it went a bit out of control, but it seems it worked out for the better in the end.”
Isola brought her hand to her chin and tilted her head with curiosity.
Shouren gave her a perplexed look as he stood back up. He didn’t know what the woman was getting at.
“I was initially taken aback by a Tier 0 kid using an [Uncommon] disguise spell card. I thought you were a spy sent by an acquaintance, but after seeing you fight, either you’re the worst assassin ever or you’re really just a kid who randomly entered this place.”
Isola covered her chuckle with her mouth after seeing the offended look on the boy’s face.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Show your class card, Shouren.”
A deep voice rumbled in the back. Only now did Shouren realize the third person was missing from the room. Thalin.
There’s still something they’re not telling me. Isola and Thalin are clearly no small-time Cardists, and even Rubin seemed like he was from an affluent family. What were these three doing in a dusty village and inside a shambled shop? They can’t see the corruption on the class card, so I can show them without worrying.
Shouren’s thoughts raced as he touched his chest with his other hand.
A gentle glow of lumen exuded from the floating gray card in front of Shouren’s chest.
“He’s a really a Cardsmith.”
Rubin’s brows rose with disbelief.
“His words ring true.”
Thalin shot Isola a look.
A flicker of disappointment shimmered behind Isola’s brown eyes when she saw the [Common] class card, but she covered it before Shouren could see. The boy had a blazing fire inside him that drew her to him, but Isola knew that the chances of the boy successfully evolving to Tier 1 were bleak.
If only he had an [Uncommon] class card.
“Why would I lie about being a Cardsmith?”
Shouren shrugged his shoulders. He could feel the imperceptible tension in the room slowly fading away. Would they have killed him if he was lying? Shouren wanted to leave the room as soon as possible. He liked Isola, and Ruben was irritating, but Thalin sent shivers down his spine.
The dark-skinned man was an enigma. And Shouren was still unaware of what these three were doing in his town. They didn’t belong here.
Shouren reached out for his sack and picked it up, indicating he was about to leave.
“I thought you came here to sell off those hides, kid? Why don’t we see what you have and then maybe you’ll show us the rest of your wares inside your secret storage?”
Isola picked up on Shouren’s intention to leave and laughed at the shocked expression on the boy’s face when she mentioned his storage.
“How did you know?”
Shouren choked out the words. His danger senses were back on alert again.
“Oh please, relax, child. You’re walking around carrying that many hides and not a single card was found on you when you passed out. Don’t you think that’s unusual? Inventory utility cards are a common drop after the 5th Floor. I already have one and don’t need to steal yours, so calm your pearls.”
Isola let out an exasperated sigh at the fidgety boy. What kind of life did the boy live that he mistrusted everyone so much? The woman observed the boy’s hackles raised every time something agitated him.
She went beyond the 5th Floor? Donkey’s balls, she’s at least a Tier 2 then!
Ice poured down Shouren’s spine as the veil lifted from his eyes. The pieces of the puzzle began falling into place a bit. Shouren thought these three wanted to steal his stuff or exploit him in some way. However, from the beginning, he was just a curiosity to them.
Why would a Tier 2 Cardist care about a lowly village boy and his paltry collection of Tier 0 monster hides?
They probably wanted to confirm he wasn’t a hidden spy or an assassin, and after seeing his class card, they lowered their guards.
“Do you really want to buy these hides? They’re all Tier 0.”
Shouren’s cheeks blushed as he offered them the loot. He felt a bit silly presenting Tier 0 hides to someone in Tier 2.
“Sure, kid. You can never run out of hides and the armorsmiths will gobble up as many as they can find to train their new recruits. However, I’m more interested in the trinket you used to cast that illusion spell.”
Isola inquired with a smile. With a [Common] Cardsmith class card, Shouren couldn’t use illusion spell cards, meaning he used an external item with that effect.
Trinket? She thinks I used an item which had an illusion effect. I can’t let her know it was my corrupted ability.
A shadow flitted through Shouren’s mind as he quickly came with an excuse.
“It was a single-use item, and it got destroyed after the spell ran out. Do you also have [Common] class cards to trade?”
Shouren shook his head ruefully, putting on a pained expression at the loss of his item.
Isola stared at him for a moment before sighing. The boy was obviously lying, but she didn’t pay it any further heed. Based on what she knew about Shouren’s character, the boy was probably worried she’d steal it from him. As if she needed a trinket that didn’t even work on Tier 1’s.
“I don’t have many [Common] class cards as I usually take them to the Cardsmiths to shard, but it’s been a week since I’ve gone to one, so I should have a few left. Which ones do you want?”
Isola whistled a tune as she brought out 12 gray cards from her inventory. As a Tier 2, Isola had three spell slots to use.
Shouren was elated at seeing those [Common] class cards. He wanted them.
“I’ll take them all.”
The boy replied with gusto, his heart in a fervor storm. This would get him closer to upgrading his class card to [Uncommon].
He heard Rubin splutter on the side, astounded at Shouren’s audacity. Even Thalin raised his brow inquisitively at the boy.
“I like you, kid, but not that much, okay? I can give you 3 of these cards for all those hides there.”
Isola teased as the corner of her mouth curled up.
This will be the pivotal moment that will either give me wings or burn me to ashes.
Shouren ignored the tumultuous waves of anxiety crashing inside him and made his choice. He desperately needed those class cards, and if he had to take a risk with his plan, then Isola was the best option to roll the dice with.
Steeling his gaze at the auburn-haired woman, Shouren raised his hand and brought out a single card from his vault.
“Eh, buddy? Another [Common] spell card isn’t going to tip the scales that much.”
Confusion was etched all over Isola’s face. Did Rubin not heal the boy’s head properly, or was it still concussed?
Shouren held his gaze at Isola. She was the one he needed to convince. From the short instances that Thalin spoke, Shouren had gathered that the dark man deferred to the petite bubbly woman instead.
But Shouren’s next words froze the room into silence.
“I forged that spell card.”
Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 12%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 1/1 - Dimensional Vault [Rare]
Lumen: 8/20 (-5)
Strength: F
Agility: F
Constitution: F
Intelligence: E
Class Abilities
1 - Card Forge
2 - Sharding
3 - Card Sacrifice
Traits:
1 - Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique]
2 - Locked
3 - Locked
Cardsmith Recipes:
Tier 0 - Spectral Threads [Common]
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