After Pechorin moved into his own room and Shuixing returned to the academy, Natsuko was left to fight a valiant battle against her pride. She would not leave her room. Or so she thought. Inevitably, the siren call of the bar in the foyer beckoned to her, and to avoid having to encounter Sofiane, she sprinted, grabbed a bottle of baijiu, and dashed back to her room.
By morning the bottle was 2/3rds empty and her guts felt like they were twisted in knots. Not even the fine silk bed sheets provided any comfort. Worse still, the window curtains were half drawn, letting in the evil sun.
“Ughhhh…”
She moaned as she left the bed, stumbling over the boots she’d kicked off in random directions the night before. She shut the curtains and was plunged back into comfortable darkness. Her face had only just slammed back down when there came a knocking at the door.
“Natsuko.”
Of course it was her least favorite voice in the world: Sofiane’s scratchy countertenor.
She groaned. “What?”
“We’ve got work to do. You need to get out here and play cards.”
“Cards? Why cards?”
“We’re gonna— listen, just come out here and I can explain the plan.”
“Apologize first.”
“For what!? I’m not— hmph, sorry for not being more tactful in my criticism.”
Natsuko shuffled out of her bed and swiped the bottle of baijiu from the floor and chugged down some hair of the dog. She set the bottle down on the desk next to its much larger wine-bottle cousin and threw open the door.
“Grovel and I’ll consider playing cards,” she said.
“What!? No! I am not groveling!”
Natsuko shrugged. “Get Daisy to help you then.”
“I can’t! She’s so bad it actively deteriorates my own card-playing abilities. Look, we need to get these papers back, and chances are I’m gonna have to challenge Yuna to a money match in exchange for Shuixing’s papers, so stop screwing around and help me train for this tournament,” Sofiane said.
Natsuko squinted “Doesn’t Daisy know her personally? She should just—”
Sofiane grabbed Natsuko by the arms. “I have read enough light novels to know that it’s going to come down to this card tournament, okay? There is no way around it. This is gonna be a whole thing. Either be part of the solution,” he said, gesturing at the table full of colorful Elements: The Coalescing cards, “or screw things up even more than you already have. What’ll it be, firecrotch?”
“Grovel,” she said.
Sofiane immediately threw himself at her feet, kowtowing before her with his hands clasped in prayer. “Please help me train at cards. I’m sorry for pointing out your flaws!”
She put her foot on his head.
“Flaws which you may or may not even have!”
She took her foot off his head. “And you’re sorry for throwing a fit about… about Frederick?”
“We’ll talk about that one.”
She sighed. It wasn’t a perfect grovel, but she was too hungover to get much pleasure out of it anyway. “Fine. Let me fix a bloody mary and then we can play cards.”
~~~
Watching Pechorin try to eat the big, fluffy, steamed pork bun while maintaining a dark, brooding aura had Shuixing positively tickled. Large bites, apparently, were not edgy. Neither was making noise. Pechorin’s method of eating the giant bun was to take itty-bitty little nibbles and to chew slowly and silently. He looked like a rabbit eating in slow-motion.
“At this rate we won’t need to get you lunch either,” Shuixing said.
“All food turns to ash in my mouth,” Pechorin said, though he had not just spent at least five minutes agonizing over whether he wanted the pork and kimchi or tofu and bok choy bun.
Shuixing was already halfway through her crispy fish bun and she wasn’t a fast eater herself. The copies of the local gazette the buns were wrapped in had had enough time to bleed ink onto the bun, painting smudged words onto them.
“Fortunately, we have the easiest of the tasks,” Shuixing said. The crisp, salty air and having her close friends back lightened her mood tremendously.
“You think it will be easy to learn information about Yuna? I was given to understand she was rather reticent,” Pechorin said.
“She is,” Shuixing said. “But Non-Heroes are not. If she’s around the Heavenly Card Parlor all the time, all we have to do is ask one of the employees, right?”
As if straining to hear its own name, the Heavenly Card Parlor peeked over the lip of the tiled roof they were passing under, coming into view in all of its 13-story, glowing lapis glory.
Outside the tower there were already tables set up in the streets with a group of Non-Heroes playing against each other as practice for the tournament in two days. Shuixing didn’t quite understand the appeal of cards. The uncertainty and aspect of chance didn’t sit well with her mind that preferred determinable outcomes. It seemed more the type of thing that Natsuko would enjoy.
Walking through grand, twenty-foot doors, Shuixing and Pechorin strode into the first floor of the gambling pagoda. A reception desk staffed with Non-Heroes greeted them with sparkling smiles.
“Are you here to play some games?” A man in a gilded robe and hat asked. “We are happy to provide you with anything you like while you play. Food, drink, pipes, entertainment! You name it and we’ll procure it.”
“Erm, w-we actually came for some information…” Shuixing said.
“About the tournament? Here, we have a brochure,” he said, passing over a scroll with the tournament rules, schedule, and bracket.
“Oh, we’re not—”
“Sir, we inquire about information of a more… discreet nature,” Pechorin said.
“We have a brochure for that too,” the receptionist replied, passing over another scroll with a list of names matched to glossy Opto-Box pictures.
Pechorin handed it back. “Not quite that discreet. We were wondering if you knew of the comings-and-goings of a one Yuna Shikansogo.”
Despite the man’s professionalism, his eye twitched. “What business do you have with Ms. Shikansogo, may I ask?”
While they talked, Shuixing peered into the first floor playing hall. It was gigantic and full of people playing cards shrouded in thick smoke from hundreds of water pipes. There were also armed guards stationed at every entrance, exit, and stairwell in the patchwork armor and glaives of the 46 Ronin (of which there were much more than 46). Yuna had the entire building secured by her own followers, Shuixing realized.
“We’re trying to establish a timeline of events. We don’t need any privileged information, just whether or not she was here this past week,” Pechorin said.
“Funny you should mention that,” the receptionist said. “She was indeed gone. It was hard not to notice since the number of patron complaints went down to almost zero. I believe she was gone from this past Saturday to yesterday evening.”
Shuixing took off her already-clean glasses and nervously rubbed them on her sleeves. Her worries that they were wasting time following the wrong lead were alleviated, but now the threat was immediate and real. The rebel general Hero had been in possession of Shuixing’s papers for almost a week now. Was that enough time to build a functional replica of Natsuko’s wine bottle? Surely not. Shui herself hadn’t even built a prototype, and the work was purely theoretical.
But what if she had? Or what if they got the papers back, but in retaliation, Yuna told the other Heroes about the existence of forced dimension-jumping?
Something bad was coming, Shuixing knew. She wanted to be able to crawl back into her forgotten lab and continue her forgotten research that no one cared about.
“Rarely is my heart’s torment outdone by another. I commend you,” Pechorin said, standing with his hands behind his back.
“Oh! No, I-I was just thinking about things,” Shuixing said.
“Awful things. Terrible things. Omens of disasters to come,” Pechorin said.
“I don’t know if that…”
Well, no, it was a pretty accurate picture.
“If you can’t do anything about it,” Pechorin said, turning around and heading for the door, “at least aestheticize it.”
On the way to the door he stopped in front of the receptionist once more. “I trust you understand this is a matter of utmost secrecy?”
“Yeah,” the man said. “Screw Yuna.”
~~~
After stuffing herself on crullers, sesame pancakes, and any other form of fried dough available, Daisy concluded she was too sluggish to bother with Yuna’s retainers and elected to skip that step. She knew Yun-chan would be playing on the top floor with the other high-rollers.
Daisy clicked her pocket watch. A giant stone bird pulled itself free from the road and hopped around a little as though it didn’t weigh four tons, shaking the earth with every leap.
“Mornin’ Peng,” Daisy said, running and leaping onto the bird’s back.
With the grinding of rocks, the bird beat its wings, lifting itself and its summoner into the air above Tianzhou City. All the regions’ major cities looked different from the air. Aside from her native region of Deco Imperia, she thought Tianzhou was the prettiest. Its sharp grids and endless white-red-and-blue tiled roofs resembled a giant, city-sized game board. She thought that was quite cute given the city’s super-serious-business atmosphere.
Peng dove vertically towards the lapis roof of the Heavenly Card Parlor. Daisy laugh-screamed until Peng pulled out of the dive and into an orbiting helix around the pagoda’s spire.
“Thanks, Peng,” Daisy said, hopping from the stone bird to the roof.
It gave one last gravely call before dissolving into a cloud of dust swept away by the wind. Daisy bounded across the roof, grabbing the lip of the last tile and swinging down onto the balcony that ringed the entire top floor.
Her entrance was noted by the card players, the majority of which were Heroes of a reasonably high Use-Ranking. Yuna, seated at a low table opposite the stairs, was the second highest after herself. Aside from her, Daisy spied the 17th, 24th, and 25th-ranked Heroes, Cunegonde, Baphomet, and Altan. There were some other Heroes scattered about that she had a dim recollection of. Some she didn’t recognize at all, including the al-Nuwban Hero whose table she had nearly knocked over swinging onto the balcony.
Daisy’s grandiose entrance earned her numerous eyes in her direction, two of which belonged to Yuna. It was enough attention she felt compelled to give a small curtsy.
The room immediately filled with whispering. Seeing a Top Ten Hero that wasn’t Yuna in the card parlor was a big event. No one had expected Daisy to show up. The ten million Ying reward wasn’t really worth it. It was chump change even if she hadn’t already bought everything there was to buy.
“Yun-chan!” Daisy said, jogging over to her acquaintance.
Yuna sat in the corner on a low couch. She had one knee propped up, the other tucked under, with a waist-length mane of black hair decorated with knuckle bones and beads spilling across the seat. Her dual katanas rested next to her on her left and a gourd full of rice wine to her right. Every single one of the cards in front of her looked like they had been crumpled in at least one fit of intense rage.
The rebel general side-eyed Daisy with an expression of sheer, unadulterated malice. Daisy barely had time to register the frigid reception before an entire squadron of Yuna’s revolutionary soldiers formed a wall between them.
“The Shogun does not wish to speak with you,” announced one of the guards.
Statistics:
NATSUKO
Level: 48
EXP To Level:
77,780
Class: Jack
Fire Elemental
HP: (10,521 | 10,521)
STATS
Force: 124
Vitality: 150
Finesse: 63
Cognition: 45
Insight: 102
ABILITIES
PASSIVE:
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Hothead —
Deal 50% more fire elemental damage while under half health
ACTIVE:
Jack of All Trades —
Every two levels, Jack learn an ability belonging to another class. These can be used once per day.
ELEMENTAL:
Fire Gale —
Produces a burst of fire from its user's limbs dealing moderate fire elemental damage and setting target ablaze
ACTIVE:
Fuel Injection —
Parry an elemental attack and regain 10% of the damage that would be dealt as HP and halve all current cooldowns.
DESPERATION ART:
Spontaneous Combustion — Coats the user in a wreath of flames and deals heavy fire damage centered on the user who loses half their health.
USAGE STATISTICS
USE-RANKING
#188/189
USE-NUMBER:
11,130 Emanations
ART NUMBER:
7,057
ERO-ART NUMBER:
4,724
FIC NUMBER:
17,001
Shuixing He
Level: 44
EXP To Level:
38,560
Class: Medico-Mage
Water Elemental
HP: (6,588 | 6,588)
STATS
Force: 24
Vitality: 69
Finesse: 80
Cognition: 178
Insight: 95
ABILITIES
PASSIVE:
Mental Mending — Add Cognition stat to any elemental abilities which heal or cure statuses.
ACTIVE:
Light of Hope — Cast a beam of light that deals significant unmitigated damage to undead enemies
ELEMENTAL:
Healing Waters — Passively store charges over time which can be used to heal HP proportional to Insight.
ELEMENTAL:
Ablutions — Use a charge of Healing Waters to cure status effects.
DESPERATION ART:
Bubble Storm — Produces a field of bubbles which protect and heal teammates and harm and slow enemies.
USAGE STATISTICS
USE-RANKING
#186/189
USE-NUMBER:
18,610 Emanations
ART NUMBER:
5,455
ERO-ART NUMBER:
2,106
FIC NUMBER:
18,195
Sofiane de la Nuit
Level: 71
EXP To Level:
675,063
Class: Duelist
Lightning Elemental
HP: (62,010 | 62,010)
STATS
Force: 360
Vitality: 592
Finesse: 775
Cognition: 190
Insight: 447
ABILITIES
PASSIVE:
En Garde — Successful parries increase crit chance on the next attack by 100%. Any overflow over regular crit chance is converted into bonus damage.
ACTIVE:
Perfect Parry — Briefly enter a stance in which the user automatically parries any damage in all directions.
ELEMENTAL:
Coup De Grace — Aims a precise strike at the target’s vitals and deals massive lightning damage to them on a successful hit. If this drops the target below half-health, it kills them instantly.
ELEMENTAL:
Ball Lightning — Turns the user into a ball of lightning and zips a short distance, dealing damage along the way.
DESPERATION ART:
Overcharge — For a brief period, all abilities have no cooldown and teammates’ attacks deal bonus Lightning damage and stun enemies.
USAGE STATISTICS
USE-RANKING
#37/189
USE-NUMBER:
2,395,212 Emanations
ART NUMBER:
11,233
ERO-ART NUMBER:
15,702
FIC NUMBER:
45,038
Pechorin the Gunslinger
Level: 47
EXP To Level:
52,111
Class: Gunslinger
Metal Elemental
HP: (8,377 | 8,377)
STATS
Force: 128
Vitality: 108
Finesse: 108
Cognition: 81
Insight: 4
ABILITIES
PASSIVE:
Headhunter — Each attack on enemy weak points reduces skill cooldowns by 1s.
PASSIVE:
Magnificent Seventh — Deal 200% damage while below 25% health and if you die, fully heal nearest ally.
ELEMENTAL:
Flak Cannon — Fires exploding shots in every direction which deal light Metal elemental damage and inflict the “conductive” status effect.
ACTIVE:
Vampiric Bullet — Fires an extra powerful shot which deals physical damage and heals for 33% of damage dealt.
DESPERATION ART:
Concentrated Fire — Attack speed quadruples and if target enemy dies, automatically lock on to the next.
USAGE STATISTICS
USE-RANKING
#189/189
USE-NUMBER:
3,988 Emanations
ART NUMBER:
467
ERO-ART NUMBER:
68
FIC NUMBER:
8,070
Daisy Corduroy
Level: 89
EXP To Level:
4,986,410
Class: Summoner
Earth Elemental
HP: (155,872 | 155,872)
STATS
Force: 2,948
Vitality: 2,745
Finesse: 1,730
Cognition: 1,559
Insight: 3,318
ABILITIES
PASSIVE:
Fashionista — Sacrificed accessories and armor give +25% bonus experience to the merged item.
ELEMENTAL:
Terraform — Summon or sculpt minerals into desired form. Maximum volume is determined by Insight.
ELEMENTAL:
Golem Creation — Imbue Terraformed minerals with consciousness corresponding to the animal they are shaped as.
PASSIVE ELEMENTAL:
Granite Sentinel — Teammates within a kilometer of the user take less physical damage proportional to Insight and cannot be critically hit.
DESPERATION ART:
Tectonic Drift — Rearrange the surface of a large area, causing earthquakes, fissures, and rockslides dealing massive physical and elemental damage with each terrain feature an enemy collides with.
USAGE STATISTICS
USE-RANKING
#4/189
USE-NUMBER:
7,832,111 Emanations
ART NUMBER:
27,792
ERO-ART NUMBER:
34,070
FIC NUMBER:
49,945