As Dylan stood up, the room shifted again, changing back to square walls. The orange tint coming from the tiles returned to a gentle white. The circle burned into the center of the room began to vanish, like a wound rapidly healing.

The training room was resetting itself.

But the corpses were still there.

Dylan thought back to all he’d learned about the Tutorial, and he couldn’t find one example of the System leaving dead monsters littered across the floor after a combat trial was over and the room otherwise refreshed.

Trying not to worry too much, he walked to a side of the room that didn’t have any monster parts scattered around and found a place to sit. Before anything else, he needed to meditate and restore his deck.

While channeling mana to comb through his cards, Dylan’s mind couldn’t help but wander back to the trial. He thought he’d performed better than he had against the welf, but he still made mistakes.

Taking the final battle as just one example, he’d put too much faith in the combination of Immobilize and the Phantom Archer. Having seen how well his first archer had dealt with the lizards, he’d overestimated the damage it would deal to other creatures. If he hadn’t pulled an Intermediate Energy for his last draw, and if he hadn’t already been holding a Mana Spike, the fight against the armored spider could have gone very badly very quickly.

He’d also been too limited in his thinking when he’d considered whether to use that last Phantom Sword. He’d only thought about first stunning the monster and then activating the sword to make up a few strikes at the beginning of his next turn. It would have been better to immediately summon the sword, delay for fifteen seconds, and then use Immobilize. Then he’d have had the entire channeling time to attack the monster.

Trying to delay might have been a little risky, but he’d been covered by a Mana Shield and had started the third wave about as far as he could’ve been from the summoning circle, so it would probably have been a safer bet than what he’d actually done.

Once his deck was restored and his mana regenerated, Dylan stood up and stretched, looking around the room.

Still a mess.

The System said an hour, so just over ten minutes left.

He checked his stats.

[Statistics]

[Resilience: 12, Tier 1]

[Physical Power: 3.6, Tier 0]

[Magic Power: 12, Tier 1]

[Mana: 100/100]

[Mana Regeneration: 1.0/minute]

[Class Statistics: Resilience, Magic Power]

They went up again.

Despite having looked at them just over an hour ago, he wasn’t surprised they’d already risen. Where meditation was the slowest way to increase a person’s stats, meaningful use of those stats was the fastest. What that meant, according to people who studied the System, was generally understood to be using class skills and abilities for their intended purposes. In broad terms, crafting classes made things; combat classes fought things.

People who knew more about it than Dylan had said that when someone effectively uses their class, they gain a kind of intangible aura that interacts with the mana around them. When meditating, that aura dissipated, but as it did, it greatly improved the efficiency of mana absorption. The more powerful the aura, the more powerful the effect.

After decades of experimentation, it was now widely accepted that the most powerful auras came from challenging a person’s limits. For combat classes, this often meant fighting monsters stronger than themselves. For crafters, it meant risking failure and pushing the boundaries of their creative capabilities.

Dylan’s family all had stories about getting boosted by powerful auras.

Eric had once told him about how his stats had shown a big jump the first time he’d meditated after successfully making a piece of adaptive gear.

His mother had an example of saving a high-level magic plant from an, at the time, unknown blight.

His father and uncle had shared a story from their first Boon War; they’d been at the peak of tier one but had managed to win a desperate fight against an injured Frost Mage in the middle of tier two.

[The final phase of the Individual Tutorial will begin in 5 minutes.]

Dylan looked at the notification. He didn’t know what was coming next and chose to just sit down and wait. Now that the combat trial was over, he was unlikely to encounter anything dangerous until the Tutorial advanced to the group phase.

Having become accustomed to repeated bouts of meditation, the time felt short, and a new message soon appeared before Dylan’s eyes.

[Summon the Card Catalog.]

Dylan complied.

[Open the Card Catalog to the first page of the Card Collection.]

When Dylan opened the book to the correct page, a screen appeared, showing the image of a single card. Where the other cards he’d seen all looked to be made of a light gold metal of some kind, the one in front of him was completely white. It almost looked like a sheet of paper.

Above the card was a line of text.

[Blank Card Template.]

As Dylan wondered what to do next, the System’s prompt came again.

[Touch the Blank Card Template, and channel mana into its image.]

Not quite sure how to channel mana into a screen, Dylan still reached out his hand. When his fingers touched the template’s face, he felt them sink. It was like they were being pulled into a cool gel. At the same time, there was a suction pulling at the mana in his body. He instinctively wanted to fight against it, but thinking of the System’s task, he stopped himself. Instead, he focused on the suction and channeled more mana to meet it.

Seconds passed, and his mana continued to drain. He felt as if he were maintaining the Immobilize card all over again.

Eventually, the white card began to glow. It became brighter and brighter, making Dylan want to look away to protect his eyes, but he forced himself to keep staring. Watching the changes.

After the better part of a minute, the mana suction suddenly increased. Light flared and Dylan’s hand was bounced away from the book.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Blinking past the pain behind his eyes, Dylan saw a new card hovering above the catalog. It was all white, just like the template. He reached out to grab it and saw its information.

[Name: Blank Card]

[Type: N/A]

[Summoning Cost: N/A]

[Activation Cost: N/A]

[Effect: N/A]

He flipped it over to see the back, and it had the same blank, white look as the front. Its only similarities to his other cards were its size, shape, and polished-wood texture.

[Turn to the next page of the Card Catalog and place the Blank Card on its surface.]

Dylan followed the instructions, finding the next page completely empty. When the card touched the surface, there was a brief flash of white light, and then the card was gone.

A screen appeared in front of the catalog displaying the same image seen on its last page, but there was different text.

[Blank Card]

[Quantity: 1]

So, this thing both creates and stores Blank Cards?

He’d already known the catalog could hold his cards. After all, when he’d first received his deck that’s where its cards had gone. But the process at the time had been automatic. This Blank Card was the first time he’d added something to the book himself.

[Under normal circumstances, a Deckmaster may only create a number of Blank Cards per day equal to their Class Tier.]

The System began teaching him again.

[For the purposes of this Tutorial, this restriction has been relaxed.]

[Create and store 9 more Blank Cards to continue.]

Nine more? Dylan felt the first had been draining enough.

He checked his mana to find half of it gone. He sighed and sat down to meditate.

This might take a while.

More than two hours later, and Dylan made the last card. After repeatedly using and restoring his mana, he felt mentally drained.

He put the card into the catalog. There was no response from the System, so he decided to meditate one last time to restore his mana. It wasn’t until he was fully recovered that he received another prompt.

[To remove a card from the Card Catalog, focus your intent on realizing the card and touch its image.]

[Remove a Blank Card now.]

Dylan could only guess at what focusing his intent on realizing the card meant. He let his mind recall the feeling it had during Card Play when he was switching a card in his hand from illusory to real.

It worked.

There was a flash of light, and Dylan found himself holding a Blank Card.

[Creating a new card requires three things: Material to fuel the card, Intent to shape it, and a Blank Card to receive its form.]

[Material can include, but is not limited to, the following: physical substance, energy, ideas, essence.]

How can ideas be material? And what does it mean by ess—

[You will now be guided through Card Creation: Basic Energy.]

Dylan’s mind was not his own.

It felt like he’d been ripped away from his body.

No, that wasn’t right. He was still there, but he was wrong.

He had thoughts he didn’t think. Feelings he didn’t feel.

The body moved when he didn’t want. How he didn’t want.

The tile under him changed color. Warm yellow replaced gentle white. Heat followed.

Like the sun.

An arm moved to hold the Blank Card over the center of the tile.

The mind moved.

Thoughts of power. Thoughts of vigor. Thoughts of energy.

Mana raced through the veins.

A circle burned itself onto the center of the card.

White surfaces molded into gold.

Basic Energy.

A card he recognized.

Suddenly, he could move. He was him again.

What the fuck! What the fuck!

He felt a lingering presence, an echo of the dangerous breath he’d sensed around the Awakening Stone.

The System.

He’d been directly controlled by the System.

He flung the card away and collapsed to the ground. Gasping.

He didn’t know how much time passed. He just existed there, shivering.

Eventually, he was able to regain enough control to focus on calming, deep breaths.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Dylan sat up.

That was the most uncomfortable experience of his life.

He’d heard of classes with skills that let them move people like puppets, and he'd shuddered at the thought of what that must feel like. But what’d just happened was different; it was worse.

More than his body, that was his mind. His self.

He’d known who he was but simultaneously hadn’t.

It’d hurt. It still hurt.

In the back of his mind there was a sense of panic setting roots that he didn’t know he’d ever be able to fully dig up.

It took a long time to calm down, but eventually he noticed a prompt from the System in front of him. He didn’t know how long it had been there. It was as if his mind had simply refused to acknowledge it until just this moment.

[Now, make a Basic Energy card on your own.]

Fuck you. The curse was weak. Even in his mind, the voice was small.

He wanted to shout at the System but hoped it wouldn’t hear.

Fuck you. Louder this time. Not quite so shaky.

He dragged himself to his feet and walked over to where he’d thrown the new card, thinking about what came next.

The System usually never had so much direct interaction with anyone as it did during the Tutorial. And now all Dylan wanted to do was leave.

He wanted to ignore the System, shove it into that back corner of his mind with the panic.

But he also knew that the only way out was through.

So, he followed instructions.

First, he picked up the Basic Energy.

Physically, it looked and felt like all the others. But somehow, it was different. He wanted to reject it, but he couldn’t just abandon a useful resource. Maybe, once it was with the rest, it would simply blend into his deck. Lost in the shuffle.

For now, he followed his practice with the Blank Cards and put it into the catalog as he began to walk back.

Dylan thought back to the three requirements for making a new card. The material should have been the energy given off by the yellow tile. The intent should have been the foreign thoughts the System forced him to experience; he shuddered at the idea of trying to relive them voluntarily. The Blank Card was in his hand, having just been pulled from the catalog.

He took a deep breath and focused his mind.

He tried to call up the thoughts and feelings of power, vigor, energy.

He tried to channel mana through his body in the same way he’d just experienced.

It didn’t work. His mind balked.

The energy around him rioted, smashing into the card in his hands.

It shattered. All physical traces dissolved into motes of white light before disappearing into the air.

I guess this is why I had to make ten of the things.

He pulled another Blank Card from the book.

Need to calm down. This has to work.

Shattered again.

And again.

It wasn’t until his fourth attempt that he felt progress. He was able to begin holding the thoughts and feelings given by the System. He could start to feel the correct way to operate his mana.

On the next attempt, he actually succeeded in making a card.

[Name: Energy Energy]

[Type: Energy]

[Summoning Cost: 1 Energy]

[Activation Cost: 1 Energy]

[Effect: Generate 1 Energy]

Dylan pursed his lips. To say nothing of its activation cost and effect, he would need to pay its summoning cost in order to actualize any deck it was a part of, but he had no way of generating energy to pay that cost until after a deck was actually summoned.

Worthless.

It wasn’t until his sixth try that Dylan found the feeling and made a Basic Energy card.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but before he had too much time to be happy, the System prompted him once again.

[Using different materials with similar intents is a useful way to expand your knowledge of Card Creation.]

[You will now be guided through Card Creation: Mana Surge.]

Without a chance to object, Dylan was hijacked once again.

The same loss of control.

The same overwhelming presence shoving thoughts and feeling on top of his own.

He watched as the yellow tile returned to white.

He watched as a mana crystal materialized in the air in front of him.

He watched as the body took a Blank Card from the catalog.

And he watched as the body held the card to the crystal.

When the mind moved this time, he was filled with the same thoughts of power, vigor, and energy.

The only difference was that there was an added thought of connection. Drawing the other feelings into the body.

Mana was channeled through the veins in the exact same way as before.

The mana crystal flashed and disappeared.

A pair of wavy lines burned themselves onto the card’s white surface.

The white became gold.

It was done.

And once again, Dylan collapsed.

He recovered faster this time, but the panic deep in his mind found more fertile soil. He didn’t know if or when he could get rid of it.

He didn’t know if he wanted to.

He looked down at the card in his hand.

[Name: Mana Surge]

[Type: Spell]

[Summoning Cost: Free]

[Activation Cost: 2 Energy]

[Effect: Restore 10 Mana]

The card was definitely useful. He couldn’t just ignore it, and he couldn’t hope to lose it in the crowd of his deck like the Basic Energy card.

Not wanting to think of it for now, he sighed and added it to the catalog.

[Now, finish using your remaining Blank Cards for Card Creation.]

[You have been left with ample material to experiment.]

Material? What material?

Dylan looked around the room, trying to figure out what the System meant.

The yellow tile was white again. There had only ever been one mana crystal. What else could there be?

It wasn’t until his eyes caught the mess of monster parts across the room that he found a clue.

It doesn’t mean the corpses, does it?