Deckmaster

Level 1, prismatic affinity (legendary)

A card for the girl who has everything. Or who can't decide anything. One or the other.

Expands your circuit to create decks of cards that can be swapped between without removing or destroying the cards they contain.

Effect limited by mana and current card capacity. Does not otherwise increase deck size.

Only primary deck may obtain Synergies.

I finished reading the description for my new card I’d just gotten from Gambler’s Redoubt with a smile. But when I turned to look at Koren and Vyrania, they were staring blankly at it.

“What?” I asked.

“Legendary card,” Koren said in awe. “And that effect. I mean, you’d need to be rich to use it to its full potential, but if you managed…” He shook his head slowly.

“What does prismatic affinity mean?”

“Sometimes it makes cards adapt their effects based on the user’s affinity, but in this case it’s probably to do with being compatible with cards of any affinity rather than changing the card itself.”

“Isn’t that the card that Revenant had?” Vyrania asked him.

“Nylasys?”

“Was it her or the apprentice who had it?”

“You mean the apprentice who definitely didn’t infiltrate the Consortium to steal their most powerful secrets then escape into the nether without a trace?”

“It seemed like conspiracy nonsense at the time,” Vyrania said, “but I have a hard time believing there’s more than one of those.”

Koren nodded. “Yes, I’m fairly certain legendary cards are unique. And she did have a lot of abilities.”

“How did it go back to level one then?”

Koren shrugged. “Maybe the circuit reverted to its base state when the Hero of Valinslen ripped it from her.”

Vyrania fixed her gaze on me. “You know, you’re quite lucky. Most people—even the richest—don’t get so much so fast. You have a legendary card, an imitation Sentinel that gives you a rank boost and anonymity, own a store, have a subjugation card which works on people who far outrank you, a subjugation affinity, a better sense for mana than even most people with a Copper awakening for it, and you own what’s seeming more and more likely to be a Behemoth-class tower.”

“Don’t forget the most fortuitous thing of all,” Koren said.

“Right, he has you as a teacher.”

“Well, yes, now you mention it. But I was going to say that he has Fodder as a hobby.”

I shrugged. “I don’t feel lucky. I’m trapped in this tower, my world has been invaded by evil corporate aliens, I don’t know if my family and friends are still alive, and I have a rich, petulant, powerful adult-child after me.”

Koren glared at Vyrania. “You just had to bring down the mood, didn’t you?”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

When I went to integrate my new card, I received a message:

Warning, cards granted by [Gambler’s Redoubt] may not be removed without relinquishing ownership of them. Are you sure you wish to use this card?

I showed them the message.

“That’s hardly a downside,” Vyrania said. “You’ll never want to get rid of that card.”

Koren nodded in agreement. “You can switch your entire strategy in the middle of a battle. Or get extra cards that you charge up beforehand and have ready to go. With enough preparation, you can have effectively limitless cards for any fight.”

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“Will I still be limited to one aspect?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “The prismatic affinity might help with that, it might not. You’re managing two just fine now, though that’s nothing extraordinary, and you haven’t used Contract much.”

“Yeah, not a lot to practice it on. And it takes so long to charge.”

“We’ll experiment after we get you the key. Maybe take a break in town for a bit.”

“All right, here goes.”

I integrated Deckmaster.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

“Oh wow that was terrible,” I groaned from where I lay on the ground.

“Good,” Vyrania said.

I looked up at her, frowning.

“I half-expected it to boost you up a rank.”

“I’m not that lucky,” I grumbled. “I feel super weird. My whole body feels like it was chopped up and glued back together. Poorly.” I sat up, feeling woozy. “At least it’s charged instantly. Oh, that’s weird.”

“What?”

“Um, nothing. The incantation totally doesn’t sound super evil.”

“Evil?”

“I’m just gonna go over here to activate it.”

I looked around the frozen forest, realizing that getting far enough away that they wouldn’t hear the incantation was too dangerous.

I sighed. “Look, just don’t hold this against me, okay? It’s not my fault. It was a card, not an arcana. I’m totally not evil.”

“What isn’t your fault?” Vyrania asked. “What do you mean not evil?”

I began the incantation.

“In the vast expanse of Time's tapestry, I am both the intricate stitch that marks the beginning, and the final fading hue that heralds the end. I contain multitudes, and consume all that dares stand before me. Within my vastness, I harbor legions, a myriad of powers that twine and intertwine, each whispering their tales of sorrow and ecstasy. I am the circle unbroken, the paradox unraveled, the question and the answer. I am the genesis of primordial wonders and the harbinger of the apocalyptic twilight. No force, neither mortal nor cosmic, can halt my impending cataclysm. I am the beginning and I am the end. I am the primordial and the downfall of Paragons. I am not just infinite; I am the very definition, the quintessence, the unutterable epitome of Infinity. I am… Gelandar.”

“Um…” Vyrania said uncertainly. “That sounded very… bad. Let’s go with bad.”

“It was just creating a second deck, that’s all.”

“‘The harbinger of the apocalyptic twilight’? ‘Consume all that dares to stand before you’?”

“It probably just means all the cards.”

“Yeah, sure. And you have the Avatar of the Sentinel, a being that consumes worlds. A tool of the Overlords. Which you got from this tower. The one that has the Revenants’ marks all over it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s probably just coincidence.”

“I don’t think coincidences exist for you anymore.”

“Now you just sound like me.”

“Too late now,” Koren said. “He’s already used it.” Then he grinned. “Does switching between decks use mana?”

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to test this out, as when I tried to put my Blood of the Phoenix card in the second deck while leaving the rest in the first, I discovered this wasn’t allowed.

You may not put cards into your second deck until your primary deck has nine cards.

I showed them the message. “Looks like I’ll need to get more cards before I can test out the ability. Oh, I wonder if just swapping out decks would count as using it and level it up.”

“With your luck,” Vyrania said, “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

My eyes widened as an idea struck me. “Are there luck cards?”

Vyrania groaned.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

We used my map to triangulate the location of the first key, the one Koren and Vyrania had found before we met. It was hard to judge distances on the map, but it didn’t appear too far away, especially now that we had the ability to fly over the terrain.

“Pay attention to your mana as we fly,” Koren told me.

“So I can see how it moves?”

“No, so you don’t fall out of the air. If you had paid better attention as the avatar, you would have felt you were running out and wouldn’t have died and wasted your resurrection token.”

“I wonder if the system wanted him to,” Vyrania said. “Wasn’t the token event-specific?”

“Was it? I thought it was for the first floor.”

I shrugged. “All I remember is that I was supposed to get a reward if I didn’t use it by the end of the event.” I summoned the wings and took to the air. “Stop stalling and let’s go get me this key.” Despite having received the hidden key, it didn’t update my map, so we still didn’t know how many in total there were.

I took off, not waiting for the other two to follow.

Of course, they easily caught up, both having more mana and better control of it than I did thanks to their Iron ranks.

As we flew, I controlled my mana like Koren had taught me, guiding it through the constantly shifting corridors within my body to strengthen myself. It was made harder since I had to concentrate on flying and due to the fact that my mana was being actively drained by the Wings of Salvation, but having been Gold rank and feeling mana like I had, it was still easier than when I’d first attempted it all the way back when I’d first arrived in the tower and was worried about parasites and exploding.

To be fair, I was still worried about both those things, and a great many others in addition.

My senses were nowhere near as good as when I was Gold rank, or even whatever the rank of my new Avatar ability was, but I could still feel the mana better, and when I used manasight on Vyrania she said she wouldn’t have been able to detect it if I hadn’t told her I was doing it.

Koren could easily tell, however.

Still, it felt good to make progress, but I was anxious to get the keys, complete the floor and get out of the tower, especially now that I had the hidden key. That was a serious weight off my shoulders, since it meant I wouldn’t have to trek back through the floor to get to the exit portal.

“There it is,” Koren said, pointing at a cave in the distance.

“That was quick.” It felt like we’d only been flying for a few minutes.

“When you have me as—” Koren began, then stopped suddenly.

I’d felt it too. A jolt, a vibration in my mana. Almost like an assault.

“What was—” I began, then the source revealed itself as it rose up in front of us.

Frostborn Dragon

Titan-class Monster

Level: ???