As Dylan noticed the stone room, so did the others.
Without even speaking to the rest of the group, Rowan walked down the passage. Dylan shrugged and followed. Soon, everyone was moving, Chester guarding from behind.
In learning about the Tutorial, Dylan knew that the first section of the dungeon would be considered cleared after all remaining group members entered the room. They’d be rewarded and given a period of time to rest. Safe from whatever the dungeon could throw at them.
When he stepped out of the cave and onto the stone floor, a sense of warmth seeped into Dylan’s skin. He felt more connected to the mana around him and knew that the System had altered the room to aid with meditation.
It wasn’t long before the whole party had arrived.
[Congratulations on clearing section 1 of the dungeon.]
[As a reward, you will be given the following.]
[Resilience: 3]
[Physical Power: 1]
[Magic Power: 3]
[Mana Crystals: 1]
[No more monsters will attack until you begin the next section.]
[Should you not begin within 3 hours, your accumulated reward will be reduced.]
The rewards were as expected. Clearing each section of the Tutorial’s dungeon usually gave generic stat rewards and mana crystals. The more unique stuff came from challenges and the accumulated reward once everything was over.
Dylan grabbed a small crystal that appeared in the air before him, and as he put it in his pocket, he checked his new stats.
[Statistics]
[Resilience: 16, Tier 1]
[Physical Power: 4.9, Tier 0]
[Magic Power: 16, Tier 1]
[Mana: 103/103]
[Mana Regeneration: 1.05/minute]
[Class Statistics: Resilience, Magic Power]
He was surprised. Not only had his stats increased with the System’s reward, his mana and mana regeneration had gone up as well.
He’d noticed that his mana had increased by one before Mark started his challenge, but now, it was even higher. He guessed that it might be the result of standing next to the lunadera orchid as it bloomed. He knew that certain natural treasures could increase stats but didn’t expect to encounter one so soon.
That’s good, he thought. Mana and mana regen were what he needed the most right now.
“Everyone, get some rest,” said Chester.
Looking around revealed a collection of tired faces, Sara alone showing only mild fatigue. Dylan guessed his appearance was similar to the Runic Scribe’s. He’d had a relatively easy time in the challenge room and didn’t share the others’ exhaustion, but he desperately needed to restore his deck. Although he’d found his own way to contribute, not being able to even attempt the job he was supposed to do was not a good feeling.
He sat down and began to meditate. The mana in the room was quicker to respond than he expected, but the restoration process moved at the same steady pace.
When he was almost finished, although most of his attention was still focused on channeling his mana into the cards, he began to hear the occasional bits and pieces of conversation around him.
“What did you mean in the trial?” Sara asked.
“Me?” It was Mark who answered. Dylan’s eyes were closed, but he could imagine the slightly confused expression on the boy’s face based on his tone.
“Am I looking at someone else?”
“N-no, sorry.” There was a pause. “What did I mean by what?”
“When you said that your class wasn’t there.”
“It just wasn’t there.”
Sara was silent, but Dylan could almost feel the weight of her stare as he heard the boy start to fidget.
“I don’t know what else you want me to say.”
“You don’t get a class before you touch the Awakening Stone, so how can you say that you have a class and that it wasn’t there?”
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
Sara sighed. “You said that your class wasn’t there, so you had to pick random. That implies two things. First, you had a class. One that should have been presented to you by the Awakening Stone. Second, you had no choice but to pick random.”
“Right,” Mark said. “I’m confused why this seems confusing.”
“It’s probably just an excuse for why he’s such a shit Herbalist,” Rowan snorted.
“Hey! I may not be from some rich family with expensive Class Trainers, but I’m good at what I do.” Another pause. “Did. I was good at what I did. I completed my training with high marks. I don’t know what happened. My class wasn’t there, and I got stuck with Herbalist.” The boy took a breath and then said in a weaker voice, “It’s not my fault.”
“Class Trainers?” Sara asked, but her voice was overpowered by Rowan’s.
“That’s right, I’m from a rich family. I’m a Malteve. We’ve got two seats on the governing council of Donver and hold twelve Boon War entry tokens. That means I understand responsibility and the need to contribute. I’m not some whiny piece of shit who tries to drag his whole group down just because his favorite class didn’t show up.”
“I didn’t—”
“You started the challenge without telling us! You didn’t even give cardboy enough time to get his mana back.” Dylan frowned at the new nickname. “You’re lucky the rest of us know what we’re doing.”
“Look, I’m sorry, but—”
“But nothing. Stop making excuses.” Rowan took a deep breath. “One more move like that, and fuck the accumulated reward. I’ll make you quit myself.”
The room went silent.
Dylan had just finished restoring his deck and opened his eyes.
“Class Trainers?” Sara repeated her question.
“What?” Mark asked with a quiver.
“You mentioned Class Trainers.”
“Right.”
“What are Class Trainers?”
Mark looked confused. “Class Trainers are Class Trainers.”
“Not this again,” Rowan muttered.
“Be specific,” Sara said, ignoring the redhead. “Tell me about Class Trainers like this is the first time I’ve heard about them.”
“Class Trainer is a class that has the ability to prepare an uninitiated person to become the class of their choice.” The members of the group trying to ignore the conversation shifted at Mark’s words, looking straight at the boy. In turn, his eyes darted around the room before he continued, “By finding a Class Trainer with knowledge of a specific class, and by passing the assessments their skills enforce, you become branded with that class.” He paused. “When you reach the Awakening Stone, the brand burns away whatever options you would normally be presented with and then replaces them with the one you trained for.” Mark looked down, twisting his hands together. “When I got to the Awakening Stone, the brand erased my options but my class never appeared. My only choice was random.”
Dylan was shocked, and by looking around the room, he knew that he wasn’t the only one. Even Rowan’s previous anger had been replaced with bewilderment.
A class that could help you choose what you would become when you touched the Awakening Stone. It would be revolutionary. But Dylan had never heard of it and, by their reactions, neither had anyone else.
Only Sara appeared calm.
“And what class were you supposed to be?” she asked.
“Automatician.”
“I’ve never heard of it.” Sara said.
Mark snapped his head up. “What?”
“I’ve never heard of the Automatician class, and I’ve never heard of a Class Trainer either.” She gestured to the others in the room. “None of us have.”
“How’s that possible? They’re two of the key classes of the Lestorian Empire.”
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“The what?” Alice asked.
“The Lestorian Empire. The most powerful nation in the world?” Seeing no signs of recognition from the group, Mark’s eyes began to show the worry and fear that Dylan had seen creeping around their edges during the trial. “Stop trying to make me feel crazy. This isn’t funny anymore.”
“Mark,” Dylan said, “we’re not playing some kind of joke on you. We’re really not familiar with what you’re telling us.”
“I,” the boy stammered. “I need some quiet.”
He got up and walked to one of the darker corners in the room and sat down facing the walls.
Dylan didn’t know what to make of everything. Two unheard of classes from a supposedly famous empire that he didn’t know.
The Tutorial pulled in people from all over the world and mashed them together in seemingly random combinations. It was possible to encounter some truly disconnected people in the group phase.
After the Awakening and the arrival of the System, the world became fractured. The planet grew, infrastructure collapsed overnight, and the early years of chaos made it difficult to reliably share information. It had only been in the last half century or so that newly formed nations started to try and reintegrate themselves into a global community. And some places were still simply too small or too remote to easily communicate with the rest of the world.
One person in the group being uninformed about seemingly common knowledge would be unusual but not unheard of; seven people not knowing about major classes and a powerful nation was something else entirely.
“What’s going on?” Dylan mouthed to Sara.
She just shrugged and closed her eyes.
Helpful, Dylan thought. He breathed in and tried to calm his mind. Think about it later. You have things to do.
Dylan summoned his card catalog, the sudden appearance of the book startling Alice beside him. He opened to the deck section. He’d wanted to trade out some of his cards earlier but hadn’t had the time. But now was different. There were still more than two hours before they had to move on. More than enough to change and reload his deck.
“What are you doing?” Alice asked.
“I’m reconfiguring my deck.” Dylan scanned through his cards, looking for what he wanted to add and what he wanted to remove. “It won’t be by much, but hopefully it can make me a little more effective moving forward.”
“So, what are you changing?”
“Do you remember the sword I summoned in the first fight?” Dylan asked.
“Yeah, it was really easy to use.”
“I’ve got another couple copies of the card that did that. I wanted to add them into the deck.” Dylan pointed at the appropriated lizard sword resting across Alice’s lap. “After all, that one’s about to disapp…” He trailed off.
He was quiet for a moment while the Blacksmith looked at him questioningly.
“Sorry,” he said. “I want to try something.”
He stood up and jogged out of the room. Back to the trial site. Back to the garden full of herbs and the lunadera orchid.
This was a challenge dungeon. The System paid extra attention to providing appropriate trials and rewards to those who entered it. But operating the dungeon wasn’t free, in order to maintain everything, the System would recycle. Once each section was completed, it would disintegrate everything down to component parts and then use those pieces to reset and rebuild the space for the next group of challengers.
And everything included everything. The monsters, their equipment, the tools and resources found in any tests like the challenge doors. It was why he’d been talking to Alice about the sword. Once they stepped foot into the second section of the dungeon, her sword, a part of the first section, would disappear.
It was why no one would try to harvest the monster corpses or take away the rare materials that often appeared in System generated trials. Like the orchid. It would be a futile effort to harvest the flower, only to watch it disintegrate a short while later.
But what if there was another way to take something out?
Dylan stepped onto the grass and pulled one of his newly rewarded Blank Cards from the catalog.
What if he could turn the dungeon’s materials into materials for card creation?
He sat down in front of the still glowing flower.
Before doing anything else, Dylan calmed his mind and entered a state one breath removed from meditation. He closed his eyes and tried to center himself in the sensations he’d felt when the orchid bloomed. The image of the rising moon. That alien sound. The fragrance.
He sunk into the calm and rejuvenation he’d felt in that moment. The sense of clarity.
Almost unconsciously, he reached out the Blank Card to touch the flower and activated his mana.
He felt a brief flash of light through his closed lids before the world around him dimmed. The illumination the orchid provided disappeared as the card swallowed the flower.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a near-perfect representation of the orchid outlined by a waxing moon burned into the golden surface of the card in his hand.
When he checked its details, he couldn’t help but to smile.
[Name: Lunadera’s Bloom]
[Type: Spell]
[Summoning Cost: 2 Mana]
[Activation Cost: 2 Energy]
[Effect: Calls forth the bloom of a lunadera orchid. Field 16 feet. Lasts for 1 minute. Removes all negative mental status effects from all beings in the field, and prevents all negative mental status effects from affecting any being remaining in the field. All beings within the field regenerate an additional 3.15 mana per turn.]
The card was surprisingly good for one he’d made without guidance.
In addition to clearing and protecting against mental debuffs, it also regenerated his always stretched mana. Field was a new term for him, but based on the context, he could guess what it meant, and after a quick glance at the card catalog, he was proven right.
[Field: A card with field enacts its effect on all possible targets that fall within its designated field range. Unless otherwise indicated, the field is centered on the location of the card at the moment of its activation and will not move.]
Not only could he use the card to help himself, it could also support his allies.
Or his enemies.
Dylan frowned. The card stated that it worked on all beings in its field. Helping the monsters in this dungeon regenerate mana wasn’t a big concern; they mostly seemed the type to deal damage with physical rather than magical means. But clearing their negative mental status effects would probably include Chester’s Taunt or Dena’s ability to put a monster to sleep.
He’d have to be mindful with how he used the spell.
Looking past the actual effects of the card, Dylan was briefly puzzled by the numbers it showed. Focusing on the card more intently, he noticed its text shift to the more detailed display he’d first discovered before he’d been teleported to the dungeon.
[Name: Lunadera’s Bloom, Mastery Progress 0.00%]
[Type: Spell]
[Summoning Cost: 2 Mana]
[Activation Cost: 2 Energy]
[Effect: Calls forth the bloom of a lunadera orchid. Field, range = (Magic Power), feet. Uses maximum of 100 Magic Power. Lasts for 1 minute. Removes all negative mental status effects from all beings in the field, and prevents all negative mental status effects from affecting any being remaining in the field. All beings within the field regenerate additional, power = (3) * (Mana Regeneration), mana per turn. Uses a maximum of, limit = (3) * (Class Tier), Mana Regeneration.]
Parsing through the information, Dylan liked the card more and more. Its range and mana regeneration would grow with his stats. Before reaching the next class tier, the card would max out at creating a field with a radius of one hundred feet and regenerating nine mana per turn. Once he was at the second tier, the mana regeneration would cap out at eighteen per turn, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration what changes might occur if he fully mastered and found the opportunity to upgrade the card.
Dylan considered Lunadera’s Bloom the most successful card he’d made so far. It had powerful effects and costs that weren’t nearly as outrageous as those seen on some of his earlier attempts.
Confident that he was finally starting to get the hang of his class, he looked around the garden to see if there was anything else he wanted to use as a material for card creation.
His eyes settled on the sangverve fern he’d seen Mark communing with during the Herbalist’s trial, and then thought back to all the times he’d been putting himself in the line of a monster’s attack.
It’d be nice to have a card that could heal me.
He walked over to the plant and sat down. Calming his mind, he brought out a second Blank Card.
Unfortunately, the end results were not quite what he expected.
Dylan frowned at the card in front of him, the image of a wounded arm bound with leaves branded on its front.
Those don’t even look like they came from the same plant.
[Name: Makeshift Remedy]
[Type: Spell]
[Summoning Cost: 2 Mana]
[Activation Cost: 3 Energy]
[Effect: Touch the Makeshift Remedy card to a summoned creature’s wound to restore up to 4 of that creature’s resilience.]
The summoning cost was high for its effect. Its activation cost was just shy of outrageous. It only worked on summoned creatures. And he’d need to physically touch the card to an injury in order for it to trigger.
But it did heal.
At least it got something right. Dylan sighed. I guess I need more practice.
If Lunadera’s Bloom had immersed him in a sense of accomplished improvement, then Makeshift Remedy had shown him that not every success heralded comparable progress.
Card creation would still be a long journey.
Wondering what had gone wrong with the second card, Dylan compared the process of each creation.
He realized that the difference came down to the clarity and intensity of his intent.
With Lunadera’s Bloom, he’d had a clear recollection of the orchid maturing to guide his thoughts and feeling. He not only knew about the flower’s effects but had experienced them first hand.
With Makeshift Remedy, he’d just had a general idea of what he wanted and a basic knowledge of the sangverve fern’s effects.
It probably also helped that the presence of a mature lunadera orchid is supposed to improve meditation and focus. Dylan thought for a moment. Maybe I can try to take advantage of my environment to synergize with the materials I use in the future.
He considered trying to make another card, but after the less than great Makeshift Remedy, he decided against it. He knew about the properties of many of the herbs around him, but he hadn’t experienced them in the same way he’d experienced the orchid.
Besides, there would be more opportunities to use the Blank Cards as the group traveled deeper. Seeing the orchid here had already been a pleasant surprise, and Dylan wanted to know what else the dungeon had to offer.
It’d be a shame to miss something because I wasn’t prepared.
Before heading back to the stone room, Dylan grabbed the catalog and returned to the deck management that he’d interrupted before.
So far, in this dungeon, his more persistent cards like the phantoms had been the most useful, and his weaker one-off cards like Mana Bolt had been somewhat underwhelming. He wanted to take out all four Mana Bolts and add back the two Phantom Swords he’d removed.
He also wanted to put back the Draw he’d taken out. It could help him cycle through the deck and get to more useful cards faster, hopefully making it easier to minimize the impact of getting a bad hand. He didn’t want a repeat of the beginning of that second fight.
Adding Lunadera’s Bloom was an easy choice.
After a moment of hesitation, he decided to include Living Spider Shield. It was his longest lasting persistent card, and if used properly, it could provide some great protection. Thinking back to how he’d been able to give Alice the sword, Dylan also realized that he could use the weird little thing to help other, more vulnerable members of the group.
And finally, with his additions making his deck more energy intensive, he decided to add his last two Basic Energy cards.
He gave the deck a final look.
Basic Energy, 10.
Intermediate Energy, 5.
Mana Spike, 4.
Mana Shield, 4.
Draw, 4.
Immobilize, 4.
Phantom Soldier, 4.
Phantom Archer, 4.
Phantom Sword, 4.
Phantom Rally, 2.
Living Spider Shield, 1.
Mana Surge, 1.
Lunadera’s Bloom, 1.
A total of 48 cards with a combined summoning cost of 67 mana. A maintenance cost of 3.35 mana per minute during Card Play, adjusted to 2.3 mana per minute once he subtracted his mana regeneration.
Without support from his cards, he could only keep the deck summoned for just over 15 minutes, but with both Mana Surge and Lunadera’s Bloom, he could last for about 25. Hopefully enough time to finish any fight the dungeon would throw out.
Dylan stood up and walked back to the rest of the group.
“You good?” Alice asked.
“Yeah. I added a couple more swords to my deck. I’ll let you know when I can play them.”
The Blacksmith nodded.
“Okay, I need to make some final preparations,” Dylan said as he seated himself and moved his catalog to float just above his lap. He then began to load the deck.
Motes of light rose from the book, slowly forming the familiar stack of cards before it finally rushed to meet Dylan’s brow.
When he looked up, he saw the rest of the group staring at him.
“Done?” asked Chester.
Dylan nodded.
“Ready to go?”
“Ready.”
“Everyone else?” Chester looked around the room, getting nods and yeses in return. His gaze stopped for an extra moment on Mark. The boy was quiet, his nod lifeless. Everything about him seemed to sag. He was there, but he wasn’t.
Dylan hoped the Herbalist could recover, but he didn’t know how to help.
“Alright,” Chester said. “Let’s go.”
The Guardian reached out to the bronze gate, and after a moment, it retracted into the floor. A soft clanking came from behind the group as an identical gate rose to shut off the entrance they’d come from.
The second stage had officially begun.