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(Warning: this discount is only available for a limited time while your civilization is in its grace period.)

I groaned at the message.

At least it told me how much I’d pay this time. With the discount, it was actually the same price as the general help powerpack subscription I’d just gotten.

“Fine, go ahead.”

Congratulations! You’re now part of the exclusive Powerpack Members Club.

I inspected the fragment again.

Fragment

Potential: Low

Aspect: ???

Circuit: ???

I wondered what aspect and circuit meant, if they were the same as on arcana, but couldn’t get any further information, so went through the rest of the fragments, examining each.

One of the ones I’d gotten in the tower had moderate potential, but the rest were low or minimum. Not surprisingly, all the fragments Semermen had given me for reading through the terrible contract to sell my store to The Corporation were of the low-potential variety.

Still, I was feeling pretty good, especially since I’d only had to flip through the contract to earn them.

I glanced around my damaged store.

…And suffer through a bit of destruction.

I’d only been back in town for a few hours, and already I had more loot than my entire time in the tower had earned me.

Because the currency from Semermen wasn’t all I had. I’d also looted two arcana from the coral Titan.

I was grateful the tower staff let me have them, but I’ll admit I wondered why. Especially as I pulled them out of my storage to get a look at them. Surely they could have used them themselves, or at least sold them.

Did they have some ulterior motive for letting me loot the monster?

Maybe so, but it wasn’t going to stop me from using them.

Arcana

Affinity: Alteration

Aspect: Combat

Attributes: Symmetric

Empty Circuits: 0

That wasn’t wildly promising. What would it do, allow me to balance out a fight?

Actually, come to think of it, that might be useful.

I moved on to the other arcana.

Arcana

Affinity: Alteration

Aspect: Armageddon

Attributes: None

Empty Circuits: 1

“Now this is more like it.”

I only briefly considered not using it and putting it up for sale. I needed all the cards I could get. And with Deckmaster, even if I didn’t end up liking it, I’d still be able to keep it in reserve.

And I couldn’t pass up seeing what the Armageddon aspect would yield, even if it might be harder to use due to not being flame-aspect. The goal was to try out everything I could, after all.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

You have integrated [Arcana].

A faint glow appeared around my hands then grew, shooting out like those plasma balls that shoot beams of electricity to your fingers when you touch them.

There was a flash and it was gone, leaving me exhausted.

Your influence has added the Dominion attribute.

[Arcana] has become [Ephemeral Armament].

“It really never does get better,” I muttered to myself, wiping sweat from my brow. The recovery at least was much quicker.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about my influence having added the Dominion attribute, but the card itself looked pretty good. Not very armageddon-like though. Maybe that would come as I leveled it up.

Ephemeral Armament

Level 1, alteration affinity

Your battle chest is endless, limited only by your surroundings and resources.

Reshape the fabric of reality to summon weapons able to be controlled at a distance.

Duration varies with mana input.

For the moment it seemed similar to the ability my Fodder hobby granted me, except using my surroundings to form the weapons and with the added bonus that I could use it outside of broadcast areas.

I still felt able to add another card, so I went ahead and used the second arcana as well.

You have integrated [Arcana].

This time my vision seemed to distort, all my senses heightening, my body flooding with strength that quickly left me as the world snapped back into place.

[Arcana] has become [Dreadnaught].

Dreadnaught

Level 1, alteration affinity

Turn the mildest touch into a brutal assault. The sinews of devastation, once disparate in intensity, now harmonize in symphonic unity as you become the peerless dreadnaught.

For a short period of time, increase the damage of all attacks to that of your strongest attack. Other effects of enhanced attacks are unchanged.

While it wasn’t entirely clear from the description how the card worked, the instinctual understanding I had of it thanks to it being an arcana was. For example, I knew that even though Smoldering Caress could eventually do more damage than a normal punch, Dreadnaught wouldn’t make all my punches do that damage. It also wouldn’t increase my actual strength, only the damage my attacks did.

What it would do however was make even a glancing blow the equivalent of the full amount of force I could muster, which would also increase the damage of Smoldering Caress itself. A simple flick of my finger would pack the wallop of a body slam.

Though at Copper that would probably break said finger.

Unfortunately, with the addition of the card, I could tell I was nearly tapped out on how many I could have active. I wouldn’t be taking advantage of Deckmaster any time in the immediate future.

I needed to get back to pushing mana and improving it, working on hitting Iron. Which meant pushing mana into my organs to replace them.

I was still worried about exploding, but I had been fine when I’d pushed it into my lungs to catch my breath after escaping the event.

As I focused on my mana going into the cards, I could also tell something else. Since the Ephemeral Armament card wasn’t subjugation affinity, nor was it a flame-aspect, it was more difficult to push mana into. I hadn’t noticed it before now. It demonstrated what Torath, Koren, and Vyrania had mentioned about it being easier to use your affinity and cards of the same aspect.

The overall effect was that my cards now charged slowly, and it felt like pushing molasses.

Normally putting mana into the cards was almost automatic, something I didn’t have to think about, like breathing. Now, it was like trying to walk a tightrope above a tank full of sharks.

I sat in the chair a moment, just catching my breath.

While both took effort, Ephemeral Armament seemed easier to push mana into, maybe because of my Fodder ability to summon weapons and armor. But I also had an ability to increase my damage output when I was injured, which seemed in the same vein as Dreadnaught.

Once both cards were filled, which didn’t take long as neither card took a lot of mana, the drain was significantly reduced and I could breathe easier.

I went ahead and used Ephemeral Armament, wanting to see what effect using a card would have when I was at my limit.

The incantation was short and to the point: “Become my weapon.”

The card drained of mana and a weapon appeared not in my hand, but several feet away, forming out of the glass from the front door which Semermen had shattered.

It formed into a spear, which I could control with my mind. I could feel it pulling on my mana, however, so let it dissolve, then let the card recharge.

It surprisingly seemed a bit easier the second time.

I was too tired to get up and try testing out Dreadnaught—I wasn’t about to test it on anything inside my store, it had suffered enough damage already—so instead I went over everything I could manage to pull up about myself and the items and abilities I had.

A multitude of documents appeared in front of me and I let out a whistle.

“Wow, that’s a lot.”

I hadn’t realized I’d gotten so much.

I was about to dive in when a loud voice interrupted me.

“Yoooooou are a weaking, who thinks, too, much,” sang a man covered in feathers, appearing in the broken doorway of my shop.

“Uh, what?”

The feathered fellow looked around the store, nodded once, then left.

“What the f—”

A portal suddenly appeared right outside my door and Semermen stumbled out of it then crashed into my door frame, bending it further as he fell into my store.

He popped to his feet. “No worries my lovely Merchant of mediocrity, for I have debarked to dispel the disorientation of your discombobulation!”

“Mediocrity?”

“Oh you are very middling. Which is grand! You’re so new. It’s quite the accomplishment.”

I frowned at him. “So, why are you here? You get Finnegan’s deed after all?”

“Alas I was taken with other matters.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Yes, and I am unable to dispense such information to even someone as incony as your charming cum comely countenance, notwithstanding your nymphic nobility, nearly.”

“I think you may have broken the interpreter.”

“Worry not lassie! I speak your tongue. No interpreter invoked!”

I rubbed my temples and groaned. “Is there a reason you’re here?”

“Ah, yes. Unfortunately, I am unable to disclose my purpose. Perhaps you will be allayed another way. Adios.”

With that, a portal opened and he disappeared.

Only to reopen a moment later and for him to pop back out.

Directly in front of me.

I had to jump back so he didn’t fall into me and get his caustic goo on me.

“Apologies,” he said as the portal snapped shut behind him, “I neglected to allay your apprehension apropos your acapella admirer’s aspersion.”

“The singing guy? Wouldn’t call him an admirer.”

“He is a follower of Chorus. Now I shall go.”

We stared at each other for several moments.

“Uh…”

He tittered nervously. “These portals… not what they use to be.”

A portal suddenly appeared.

“Ah, I bid you adieu once more, my adorable Adonis. And apologies for affronting your adorable appendage. It is weird, but that is no reason to point it out.”

“You mean my head? I don’t think that’s an appendage.”

“Do not insult yourself so. You should be proud of your strangeness.”

“I’m not—”

He disappeared through the portal, which vanished, leaving me alone in my store.

At least he didn’t destroy anything that wasn’t already broken this time.