[Universal language calibrated.]
[Soul translocation complete. Welcome, KAYA.]
[Souls translocated: 9,999,989,616/10,000,000,000.]
The text was her only companion in the darkness.
“What trickery is this?” she shouted, but it made hardly any sound. “Vile orcs! Is this some black magic of yours? Tell me! FIGHT ME, COWARDS!” Even her full-bellied screams came out barely more than a whisper. It made her feel breathless, powerless, like in a very bad dream. She clutched at her throat.
[Traits loading... Loaded.]
[Select Patron Rune:]
A rune? Kaya thought. So, this is some form of magic... Curiously, the glowing arcane messages she saw were not written in elvish, but she could read them nonetheless. What is the meaning of these runes?
They marched past her vision one by one like ants on a log. Each of them had a name. She saw one rune—it was the Elf Rune—and she raised her hand toward it, but she stopped herself. Down the line of runes was another one that she found even more fitting.
Every hair on her head, every bone in her body, every drop of blood in her veins was elven, but there was more to her than that.
[Patron Rune selected: WARRIOR]
[Tenkei Starter Deck Discovered! Warrior Deck (50)]
[Bonus OMNI RARE card granted! (1)]
Decks? Cards? She had no points of reference for these items. These words meant nothing to her.
[Rendering universe... Rendered.]
[Loading gravity... Loaded.]
An instant later, the abyss was gone, replaced by a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. She was falling again. The ground was far below, but there were woods around her—the sight of the treetops gave her hope. She took a deep breath of the crisp, clean air and waited. Braced for impact.
She landed on her feet with a loud thud, tucking and rolling until she could right her footing again.
[Installing damage physics... Installation complete.]
[Integration complete! Applying traits...]
Kaya looked around. No sign of the orcs. No sign of any of the elves for that matter, either. But she knew just by looking that these woods were not her own. The trees were all different here, sparser, younger, and shorter. The leaves were all wrong.
This couldn’t have been the doing of the orcs. They dabbled in black magic, but even magic had its limits—or at least the magic of her world. Whatever this magic was, it was alien... powerful... godlike, even. And she was at its mercy for the moment.
[KAYA – LV1 (♡10/10)] [Warrior]
[STRENGTH: 10] [DEFENSE: 7]
[RUNE POWER: 1/1 (REGEN: 1/hour)]
[Cards Discovered: 50/10,000]
[Runes Unlocked: 1/100]
She was able to intuit about half of what she saw. Warrior, that was the Patron Rune she’d just chosen. Numbers were assigned to her Strength and Defense—did this mean she was strong as ten average fighters put together, with the defensive power of seven of them? That was probably it.
Rune Power must have something to do with the magic granted to me, and its regeneration. How do I use it? These cards were assigned to her as well, but she didn’t understand those yet. Did the hearts have something to do with her life force or vitality?
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
[Welcome to the Hundred Realms.]
[Equipment reset.]
Her leaf crown, grownwood armor, and woven-vine undergarments vanished. They were replaced by a coarse tunic and knee-length skirt, both the color of ash. Her feet were suddenly ensnared in garments of leather. Repugnant! She was cut off from her connection to the earth—this wouldn’t do. Immediately, she yanked off these boots, the kind of thing an orc would wear, and discarded them in the grass.
Kaya wriggled her bare toes in the dirt. That was better.
There was now a belt fastened around her waist. It had many rectangular compartments, including a box at her right hip wherein something rattled. She opened the box and pulled out a stack of rectangular leaves—no, their consistency was too waxy, too rigid; they were more like sheaves of parchment or wax-coated paper. The rectangles were all illustrated and riddled with writing that she had no time to read, but she did notice the word Warrior on them many times. She tucked them back into their box with a shrug.
There had to be a way out of this place and back to the Sylvan Queendom. Whatever trickery this was, and for whatever reason, she wouldn’t allow herself to be stuck here forever. The warrior princess set out into the unfamiliar woods in search of the way home.
As she walked along, she spied a wooden chest on the side of the trampled dirt path. Her interest was piqued. The chest was made of rich, dark wood, sculpted with exquisite skill... but, sadly, it was bound at every corner with unsightly black iron.
No matter. Chests were built to contain things, valuable things, and so she grabbed the lid and threw it open. At the wooden bottom of the chest were two more of the illustrated rectangles as well as three small circles made of gold.
She was more interested in the gold. She picked up the circular pieces and instinctively dropped them into a sack on the back left part of her belt. Gold was one of the sacred metals, far too pure for the likes of orcs and goblins, something to be reclaimed from dragons, and altogether much more dignified than metals like iron. It was worth having for its own sake. Out of mere curiosity, she picked up the rectangles as well—only to be greeted by more magical words.
[New card discovered! (Ogrock) | Cards Discovered: 51/10,000]
[New card discovered! (Whipvines) | Cards Discovered: 52/10,000]
[New RUNE unlocked! (ROCK) | Runes Unlocked: 2/100]
[New RUNE unlocked! (PLANT) | Runes Unlocked: 3/100]
“These are cards?” Kaya realized. Without thinking, she stuffed the two new ones into an empty slot on the left side of her belt. She took out the larger stack of cards, the Warrior cards, from the box on her right hip—this was her deck. Now I understand.
She skimmed the cards more carefully this time. They each had their own names, their own Hearts, Strength, and Defense. Stalwart Soldier. Shield Knight. Punchmonk. Dancer with Daggers. These cards were all called Creatures. There were other cards, though, too, cards like Battle-Hardened, Warriaura, Martial Artistry—these were called Spells. There were Jinx cards that looked similar to the Spells, but also Domains—their artworks depicted entire landscapes—and Item cards, things like weaponry, shields, and armor.
These cards were all very interesting and would make a great story when Kaya returned home. Still, she had no idea what good they did her now. She sheathed her cards and sighed, having gleaned more questions than answers from them, and she was no closer to home. The cards must mean something. My collection of them must be tallied for a reason. Yes... I’ll collect all the cards I find from now on.
Kaya pressed on into the woods. Her sense of direction was still keen, even in strange territory like this. She walked in the direction of the setting sun and made mental notes of landmarks along the way. A tree with an oddly-shaped knot. A bird’s nest. The occasional boulder.
Next to one of the boulders she passed was another chest. This one didn’t have any restrictive iron sullying its good wood. She smiled at the craft it must have taken to build it, crouching down to open it. She slipped her fingers under the lip of the lid to open it and then felt a sharp pain slam down on her hand.
[-1♡ (9/10)]
“Gah!” she shrieked.
It was no chest at all. The wood grain morphed and bulged, revealing two predatory black eyes; the upper and lower lids of the chest were now lined with sharp beige teeth. Another trick.
[Wood Mimic – LV1 (♡5/5)]
“Cowardly beast,” said Kaya. “Do you fight me? Or do you yield?”
“Rrrrr...” the mimic growled back at her. It gnawed on the flesh of her hand and even drew blood.
[-1♡ (8/10)]
“If you will not yield... then DIE!” In one powerful motion, she lifted the chest high overhead, bringing it crashing down on the boulder next to it. The wood shattered and split in many places, revealing meaty sinews between some of the fragments that bound them together like ligaments between bones. The mimic was no more.
[Enemy creature slain!]
[New card discovered! (Wood Mimic) | Cards Discovered: 53/10,000]
[New RUNE unlocked! (MIMIC) | Runes Unlocked: 4/100]
Kaya glowered down at the card that materialized where the creature’s remains had vanished. Reluctantly, she stuffed it in the belt slot that contained all of her newly found cards. She sucked at the punctures on her hands, dabbing at the blood with her tongue. It could have been worse. She’d been bitten by a bear before, the kind of attack that required healing paste from specially ground herbs. These tiny wounds were nothing.
Undeterred, she continued on her path through the woods. She even caught herself smiling at her small progress so far. It wasn’t like a warrior to shy away from a challenge. If this is the kind of challenge this land has to offer me, then I will make short work of it!