Torath was indeed happy to help me and explain the workings of this new world I found myself stuck in.

A little too happy.

“Heed me boy,” he said with what seemed like unnecessary grandiosity, “I don’t like repeating myself.”

“That seems to be a thing here.”

He glared.

“Sorry, go on.”

We were in his apartment on the floor above the dining hall. It was a small room not much larger than a bedroom, appointed with simple rustic furnishings.

He settled back into his chair. It didn’t look very comfortable, made of intwined branches as it was, but he let out a little sigh of contentment. “The ranks, yes,” he said, looking not at me but out a small window overlooking the town courtyard. “You have not even reached the first yet. Unlike your level, which is determined by your cards, rank is all about your mana, controlling it, using it.

“The first rank is pushing your mana through your body, hardening and strengthening it. This is Copper.

“Then you take it further, working your mana into your organs, taking on their function and eliminating their weaknesses. This is Iron.

“Then you move on to your final mortal weakness: your mind. This will be difficult, but when you are done your body will be remade and nigh on indestructible by normal means. This, is Steel.

“Then, should you be so lucky to live so long, you manifest your Harmony, your power, one that represents who you are—or who you wish to become—and weave it into your essence, marking yourself forever. This is Silver.”

He smiled. “And, then, there is Gold.” He looked over at me. “But you don’t have to worry about that. I doubt you’ll make it to Iron, never mind such lofty heights.”

I glared at him.

“Beyond Gold, even I do not know. That kind of power is the realm of the systems, not mortals.”

“So Copper, Iron, Steel, Silver, and Gold. CI… SSG. Eh, that’s a terrible acronym.”

“Which is why it’s not one. At each rank there is a metamorphosis as well, a fundamental shift. They’re not strictly necessary to advance, but you’d be a fool to pass them up. There is the Copper awakening, where you gain a new sense. Mine for example is for knowledge. At Iron you can create a talisman by merging with an item which allows you to summon it at any time and prevents it from being lost or stolen, as well as imbuing it with new abilities.” A metallic black ring that radiated ethereal light briefly appeared floating over his open palm before vanishing again. “And then at Steel you create a signet with the card you have the strongest integration with, expanding its capabilities.”

“What about at Silver?”

“Silver is different, as the metamorphosis comes by reaching it, rather than after. Either through your Synergies or directly.”

“And Gold?”

He chuckled. “Ambitious. Good. It will serve you well. But that’s far beyond either of us.”

“Well,” I said, “I appreciate the overview, but… how do I rank up? Push mana through myself? I don’t even know what that is.”

Torath sighed. “You should be less worried about ranking up, and more about getting cards.”

“That’s basically the opposite of what I was just told, but okay.”

He squinted at me. “Doesn’t appear that you have any.”

“I do actually. One.”

“You haven’t used it?”

“I don’t know how to. And also, it’s weird.”

“Well let’s see it then.”

I hesitated, the card indelibly associated with the memory of how I’d obtained it, of what I’d done to Luke.

I pushed the memory down and with a thought opened up my card storage and pulled out the card.

Contract

Level 1, subjugation affinity

Create binding contracts. Requires two or more parties. Requires explicit or implicit agreement of all parties. Effects limited by your rank and available mana.

I held it out for him, but he didn’t take it, only leaned forward in his chair.

He studied it for a moment, then frowned.

He looked at me, back to the card, his mouth open.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head slowly. “Where to start? How did you get this? Did you find it like this?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Um, yes?”

“A complete card, not an arcana? You a Fragment Master?”

“I don’t know what any of that is.” I motioned with the card. “This is how I looted it.”

He shook his head. “Amazing.”

“It is?”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“And I can use it to make contracts?”

“After you integrate it. The pattern you see on it is its circuit. The description is an interpretation of that circuit. Putting mana into the circuit activates it, manifesting the ability. It’s incredibly rare to find cards, let alone one like that. You said you looted it?”

I nodded grimly. “From a corrupted.”

“Interesting. They usually give arcana, not cards.”

“What’s an arcana?”

“A sort of unfinished card. Complete cards are like the one you looted. Their circuit is complete, their effect set. As I said, they’re extremely rare. Arcana on the other hand, while still rare, are more abundant. They will change when you integrate them, creating a new card—a new circuit within you—granting an ability. Each arcana can have a number of attributes, along with empty circuits to which can be integrated sigils.”

Seeing my look of confusion, he plucked something from the air. It looked like a coin a little bigger than a US quarter, and about twice as thick. “This is a sigil of ruin. If I had an arcana that had an empty aspect or attribute circuits, I could integrate it, adding a new aspect or attribute.” The coin vanished and he motioned at my card. “That’s an incredible effect. And it’s subjugation affinity.” He studied me. “What’s your affinity?”

“My affinity? Didn’t know I had one.”

He sighed. “Of course, you’re new.” He gestured at the card. “That’s an uncommon affinity. More than that, honestly.” He gave his head a shake. “Subjugation is not looked upon fondly.”

“You still haven’t told me what it is.”

“There are five prime affinities: alteration, conjuration, divination, destruction, and subjugation. Each person has their own inherent affinity, as do cards.”

“Okay…” I said, trying to come up with an acronym. The best I could do was SAD CD.

I realized Torath was staring at me. “Okay,” I said again. “I have an inherent affinity that I don’t know.”

He nodded, gesturing for me to go on.

“Uh, I have an inherent affinity… Which means…” I trailed off.

“Which means,” he said, apparently annoyed that I hadn’t figured it out on my own, “you’ll have an easier time using cards that match your affinity.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense. I don’t know what mine is. How do I find out?”

He focused on me and I felt that tingling sensation again. “Usually we can see it. Not with you it appears. You might be too new. The system has information about you. Do you know how to access it?”

With a thought I brought up the message about myself I’d seen earlier, which appeared as a piece of paper floating in front of me.

Noah Whitehall

Rank: Unranked

Level: 0

Profession: Merchant

Hobby: None

“Yeah. But there’s nothing about affinity.”

“Let me see it.”

“How?”

“Just think it.”

I did, and the paper changed, becoming more solid. Not visually, but in some other way I didn’t at the time have a conception of.

Torath’s eyes moved to focus on it, then he grabbed it from the air.

“Ah,” he said, nodding. “That’s okay. We can find it out eventually.” He held the paper out to me. “Take this back. You don’t want to let anyone have access to it willy-nilly.”

I took it from him. “Why not?”

“Anyone can inspect you if they’re nearby, but with that they can do it no matter where they are, and it will always be up to date. Some could even use it to track you. Not to mention it shows more information than most could get by an inspection.”

“Wow. That’s frightening, but also cool. Auto-updating paper.” I thought back to the letter I and many other people on Earth had received. That explained it changing after I’d gotten it.

“You have the document storage ability, don’t you?” Torath asked.

“Yeah. That and card storage.”

He nodded. “The originals are stored there, what you have in your hand is just a copy. So unless you intentionally take the original directly and give it to someone, you can always revoke their access to a copy. That won’t destroy the document, only stop it from updating, so it could still be used to track you.”

“Good to know.” I mentally unsummoned the document and it dissolved to nothing.

I had to admit, it was pretty cool.

I did open up my document storage again just to make sure the original was still there, which it was.

The ability to mentally control things made me think of how I’d looted Luke, and then of the information about him that had appeared before that. Wondering if I could see that kind of information on anyone, I tested it out. I focused on Torath and imagined a status document appearing.

I felt something, but nothing appeared.

He chuckled. “That won’t work on us.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “That’s the rules. In the past there were… problems.”

“What does that mean?”

“Some prospectors would go around the towers, killing the tower staff. Easier than the monsters much of the time. Then they could raid the town for supplies and there was no one to stop them.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Ayup, and why we’re protected now. From monsters and prospectors both. Whole town is a safe zone. No fighting here.” He motioned at the card, which I was still holding. “It all you have? At breakfast you said cards rained down. You didn’t grab any?”

“They disappeared into the ground.”

“That would explain the tower.” He got a faraway look. “Absorbed to create it. Interesting.”

“Mind explaining any of that?”

He waved this away. “It’s not important.” He considered this, then added, “For you to know. Your record document said you have the Merchant profession, but no hobby. I’m surprised you got one so quickly.”

“I didn’t have much choice. It was that or Fodder.”

He laughed heartily.

For at least a minute.

“Are you done?”

He wiped tears from his eyes. “My apologies. It’s just… Fodder…” He started laughing again.

I scowled at him. “Mind letting me in on the joke? I don’t see what’s so funny about almost being fodder.”

After a few wheezing gasps he got himself under control. “Fodder is just about the best profession anyone can have.”

“That’s… sarcasm, right?”

“Not at all. Sure, it can be dangerous, but it gives many advantages. It’s too bad you didn’t take it. Sorry to say that Merchant won’t be useful here. We have all the merchants we need. I’d suggest taking the Fragment Master hobby. Won’t do you any good at the moment, but will serve you well once you start getting fragments. There’s like to be enough material on the first floor that you can forge some useful arcana to get you started.”

“Fragments are different than the sigil and arcana thing you mentioned?”

He nodded. “Much. They’re something like, well, fragments of cards. They have incomplete circuits, which renders them unusable. Fragment Masters can read those circuits and piece them together to create new effects, taking fragments and merging them together into arcana. Or complete cards if they’re skilled enough. You go to a Fragment Master when you have specific requirements.” He indicated my Contract card. “Requirements like that.”

“That does seem useful. If Fodder’s so great as a profession, what about it as a hobby?”

He shook his head. “Not possible. It’s only available as a profession. Even then good luck finding any trainers for it.”

“No. It offered it to me. Well, actually it told me it would force it on me if I didn’t choose in the next seven days.” I brought up the message, then tried materializing it like before. It worked, and I handed it over to him.

His eyes went wide, then he leapt out of his chair and grabbed me by the shirt-collar, the message crunching up in his fist. He shook me once, then again. “You take this hobby, you hear me boy? You take it now!”