Chapter Twenty-Six
As soon as the two cards formed, any annoyance vanished. Both cards had the holographic picture of the rare rarity. He picked up both cards and inspected them, a smile forming as he realized what they were.
One card had spores bouncing off a humanoid, not unlike what he did with his Dispense Spore card. Unlike that card, this one actually gave him resistance to fungi.
Fungi Resistance (Rare) Level 1
Type: Resistance
Affinity: Nature
Attunement: Fungi
Effect 1: When in use, a passive draw on mana will provide fungi resistance. Must be in the user’s passive hand to function.
His smile faltered soon after, as he realized the card was redundant because of the overlap between poison and fungi. It almost seemed like they were the same attunement, with all the similarities. He wouldn’t doubt most who had the poison attunement also had fungi.
The only difference he noticed was fungi administered its poison via spores, while poison seemed to be primarily a liquid. He was hardly an expert on the subject. There were probably other differences.
Even with the overlap, it would still help. Besides, it wasn’t like he had a ton of passive cards. At least not yet. There seemed to be a pattern for the rewards from the trials, but he couldn’t say for sure. If he was right, he may have a full passive hand of resistance cards soon.
He added Fungi Resistance to his deck, immediately putting it into his passive hand before focusing on the other card. Like the previous card, he immediately recognized what it was, which was why he assumed these cards were the base reward for completing the trials. Just these cards made the trials worth it.
The card in his hand had a twisted mushroom denoting manipulation. Of course, that was what the card was, Fungi Manipulation.
Fungi Manipulation (Rare) Level 1
Type: Manipulation
Affinity: Nature
Attunement: Fungi
Effect 1: Use mana to manipulate fungi. User must separate the fungi from its source. Strength and durability depend on the fungi used. Must be in the user’s active hand.
Another manipulation card added to the pile it was getting to the point where he couldn’t keep them all in his active hand. He wasn’t even sure he would put this card into his active hand. There didn’t seem to be an abundance of fungi in the forest, but who knew maybe he would find some damp cave? For now, he was better off keeping it in his deck but not his active hand.
As soon as he added the card to his deck, he felt a shift within him, prompting him to focus inward to confirm his assumption.
A muddy green representing the fungi attunement took up a chunk of his mana core on par with his poison attunement. It made sense since they both had two rare cards in his deck, along with some uncommon. He wasn’t sure he would focus on a poison and fungi build, but at least for now, they took up a large section of his fledgling mana core.
Arden glanced at his tether, finding like his mana core, fungi nearly matched poison in its thread thickness. He may have to jettison some cards from his deck soon, but for now, it was okay. As long as he didn’t connect his tether, it shouldn’t affect his future growth. The unknown attunement taking up half his tether concerned him, though.
Done with his observations, he reopened his Ortus menu as an idea came to him. He swapped his Dispense Spore card in his active hand for the Fungi Manipulation before closing the menu once more.
Since there wasn’t anything else he needed to do on the platform and the snake atop his head fidgeted, he descended to the ground. The moment he touched down, the snake slithered off his head and grabbed its card stash, which had to contain at least a couple dozen cards, if not more.
Moments later, the snake vanished under a bush. Out of curiosity, he spread his senses, but the snake seemed to disappear.
With a shrug, he turned away and ventured down the path to the next trial. Hopefully, the snake got what it wanted and left him alone. Though oddly, he almost missed its presence.
He froze mid-step and shook his head. Yeah, hopefully the snake stayed away. How could he grow attached to something that tried to kill him multiple times? Just because it seemed neutral, maybe even friendly to him, that didn’t mean it didn’t plan to use him.
Any further thoughts on the mysterious murder noodle drifted away in favor of focusing on his surroundings. Without the snake, something may try to jump him. Spear at the ready, he left the clearing following the path that led to the next trial.
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At first, everything seemed all right. There were several creatures slightly closer than before, but they didn’t seem to mean him harm or just didn’t notice him.
Out of nowhere, a wave of dizziness hit him. The combined forces of Poison Resistance and Fungi Resistance cleared his head in a moment, but that moment left him vulnerable.
Before he knew what happened, something rammed into the backs of his knees, sending him crashing to the ground.
In a flash, he sprang to his feet and spun. His spear leveled at his target only for his vision to spin, allowing the large knee-high shape to clamp its jaws around his right shin.
Even before his vision cleared, he struck down with his spear, but it bounced off something hard. Adrenaline fought off the pain as his bones creaked under the powerful jaws of whatever struck him.
His resistance cards worked overtime, fighting off both spores and a burn spreading through his leg beyond where the creature’s jaws clamped.
With his vision cleared, he finally made out the creature that assaulted him. It was a tortoise with a mushroom like shell.
His mind flashed back to the clearing as realization dawned. He walked right past the creature without even realizing it. How could he be so blind? Actually, how did it avoid his senses? There was no way something so large could be so silent.
Any further thoughts vanished as the tortoise like creature yanked at his leg, sending him to his knee. Thinking quick he slid his hand down his spear, then slashed at the tortoise’s snout like a sword.
Pain flared in his leg as the clamping pressure on his right shin vanished. Black spots filled his vision, but he pushed through it, shooting to his feet with his spear pointed at the tortoise, only to pause. The previously violent tortoise retreated several meters and frantically rubbed its snout on a tree. A growing rash covered its skin, originating at a slight cut leaking blood on the right side of its snout.
Without hesitation Arden burst forward, but a sharp pain in his right leg sent him stumbling. When he recovered, the tortoise creature continued to scratch its snout, dead to the world. The rash was now reaching its mushroom like shell.
Adrenaline wore off as he stared at the tortoise. Sharp radiating pain through his right shin messed with his concentration, but he had far worse injuries while training. It could hold his weight, so it wasn’t broken, but he probably had a nasty bruise.
He almost felt sorry for the creature, but it was the one that attacked him. One thing was for sure, Creeping Itch was effective. It might even scratch itself to death. Blood dripped from the right side of its snout, worn raw from its frantic scratching.
In case something else attacked him, he limped toward the tortoise and thrusted his spear through its bloodshot left eye. The creature stilled instantly.
Just before the creature disintegrated into motes of light, he caught sight of the right side of its snout, or lack thereof. It wore its snout down to the bone.
Fortunately, as the creature vanished into motes of light, it took with it all the blood covering the tree it used as a scratching post. As usual, essence flowed into his bracelets as a card materialized where the tortoise died.
The radiating pain through his leg retreated to the back of his mind as he gaped down at the card. Unlike every previous card other than the Race Purification card, it didn’t have a green border. In fact, it didn’t have a border at all denoting its affinity-less nature.
Excitement sparking, he bent down to grab the card only for his injured leg to buckle, sending him to his knees. Still, he ignored the pain, all attention focused on the card.
The picture portrayed a familiar scene of the tortoise clamping down on a humanoid leg. Worry built as he realized the card may not work for him. Still, his eyes gravitated to the description.
Clamping Bite (Common) Level 1
Type: Ability
Affinity: None
Attunement: None
Effect 1: Use mana to clamp down on a foe with the user’s jaws. Force applied scaled by level, current improvement 10%. Must be in the user’s active hand.
A sigh of disappointment escaped him. No wonder he couldn’t dodge its jaws. It was incredibly hard to avoid non-affinity ability cards. When his parents used one on him, it was like the world distorted to make the card’s effect happen within reason.
The only true counter was another card, not that he had any that could’ve countered this card. Sometimes duels came down to rock paper scissors, especially when non-affinity ability cards came into play. There was a reason they were so popular. When everyone with Ortus Bracelets at grade one could use the card, there was a ton more demand than supply. Unfortunately, while he technically could use the card, it was useless for him.
Suddenly, an idea sparked. It was useless for him, but perfect for a certain snake. Maybe he could trade with the snake if it came back. It had to have a good card for him in its stash. Well, maybe not. It couldn’t use cards, so what use would it be? Maybe whatever reason it hoarded cards fixed that issue.
For now, he slid the card into his pocket, joining his spare Poison Resistance and Lily pad card.
The pain in his leg made its presence known, prompting him to roll up his robe to inspect the damage. He winced at the deep bruise but after poking it; he confirmed he didn’t break the bone, just a nasty bruise.
Inconvenient, but he would survive. He just had to be more careful, maybe avoid close combat until it healed. Not that he had much choice in how close quarters his fights were. The tortoise creature showed his senses were far from enough. Some creatures could move silently and obscure themselves from his mana sense.
To be fair, mana sense wasn’t meant to be a scouting ability. Probably the reason it failed was the creature didn’t leak mana.
Still, he would continue to use his mana sense as an extra layer of protection. It still pointed out some creatures and obstacles.
On that thought, he spread his senses wide, only to freeze when he picked up dozens of small creatures nearby. As quick as he could, he climbed to his feet, wincing at the worsening pain in his leg.
With the spear acting like a walking stick, he stumbled down the path. As he stumbled along, the creatures watched him just out of sight, ratcheting up his nerves. In his current state, there was no way he could fight off that many creatures, especially if each one had a card granted ability.
Fortunately, he reached the next clearing without getting attacked. As soon as he entered the clearing, his audience scattered, either losing interest or repelled like the snake was at first. Whatever the reason, he didn’t care as long as they left him alone.
Headache building from the pain, he pushed toward the platform, then created a ladder up the tree. Unable to climb with his right leg, he hopped up the wood spikes with his left, using his arms to help. It was slow going, far slower than his previous climbs, but he made it. He collapsed onto the platform, breath coming quick, pain induced headache worse than ever.
Unfortunately, his break ended within moments as a suction force pulled him into the hut. The presence within fluttered with excitement as his world turned black.