- Natalie POV -

After really understanding how the game worked and realizing how much fun it was to set up decks and battle other Players with the deck you made, I couldn't resist and as soon as my Mana recovered I logged back into Runestone.

If I could play this game without having to spend Mana I'm sure I'd spend the whole day playing it!

Even more so when I found out that every game I played gave me some gold coins that could be spent on card packs, so I wanted to play it non-stop!

Every time I thought my deck was getting perfect, I'd get enough gold coins to open a card pack, which would give me new cards and send me back to the planning table, trying to optimize my deck with the new good cards I got.

This made the game a really fun cycle.

I would make a deck, test it for a few games, gain more cards, make another deck, test the new deck for a few games, gain more cards, a cycle that had me completely hooked.

During my first game session there were hardly any Players online, preventing me from finding enough [Ranked Matches].

In my second game session, the one I returned to after recovering my Mana, I tried to play [Ranked Matches] again and surprisingly I found matches!

The players in this type of game were much more experienced than the players in [Casual Matches].

While in [Casual Matches] I often found Players who just used basic decks blindly and were still learning how to play, in [Ranked Matches] Players had already edited their decks and knew how to use their advantages to win games.

Having competitive matches with Players at my level was already a lot of fun, but earning Ranked Points at the end of each victory was even more satisfying than the victory itself!

Seeing the photo frame of Lyna Proudstone, my character in the game, change from a simple Bronze outline to an exquisite Silver outline made my pride rise in my chest.

Unlike other games where I needed weeks to notice any kind of improvement, in Runestone I could feel my Mana increasing after just one training session, however little, as well as seeing my progress as a player!

Now that I was a Silver Rank Player in Runestone, I was only one Rank away from reaching Gold and receiving an even bigger boost after each training session.

Unfortunately, I never played against that black-haired boy I met in my first game.

Even with experienced Players who had been playing all day, until now I hadn't met anyone who understood the game as well as he did. The way he talked about the game, the calmness, confidence and experience he passed on as he spoke made me believe that this Player wasn't just a Player.

He was probably the Game Creator of Runestone and according to what I asked other Players, only a few people were lucky enough to play against him too.

The tips he gave other Players were different from the ones he gave me, but just as useful!

Thinking about the potential this game was showing, not only with the very beautiful and detailed graphics, technologies as advanced as False Neurological Feedback, as well as such a creative idea, I'm sure this Game Creator will become famous in no time.

Even though he doesn't belong to any of the big colleges, with a mind like this it will only be a matter of time before he stands out, and being the first Player of his game I started to feel a little proud.

Getting back to the game, one problem that bothered me was that the more I won Ranked Matches and climbed the ranks, the longer it took to find opponents at my level, and the game started pitting me against the same people frequently.

A blonde girl and a dark-skinned boy were the Players I met most often in Silver Rank matches, and they were both very good...

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Especially the boy, he was very clever in every action he took in the game, but the girl? What she lacked in talent she made up for in language...

Whenever she realized that she was at a disadvantage, she would start talking non-stop to try to distract me, and unfortunately it worked.

At that moment I was in a game against her.

“Is this the kind of strategy they teach Bronzes? Because it looks like I'm playing a Casual Match...” The girl said dismissively as she looked at the board, disguising her nervousness.

I didn't sit still and responded with mockery. “Ohh, how did you become a Player without being able to see? Can't you see that the border around my profile is silver?”

Since the first time I played against her I was still Bronze 1 and she was already Silver 4, even though the difference in rank was only one, she began to use this to destabilize me, and it worked.

Knowing that she managed to get Silver Rank before me made me frustrated.

I had 9 MP in total, but I stopped playing after spending 6 MP, keeping the rest available for practice in the real world. The problem was that I was so eager to keep playing that I only recovered 1 MP in the real world and went back willing to spend the remaining 4 MP I had.

But while I was out of the game undecided whether to continue playing, this girl didn't hesitate and continued playing non-stop.

And as if that wasn't enough, she also uses 'Lyna Proudstone', the Great Mage in the game, with a deck very similar to mine.

The only difference between our two decks are some exclusive cards that we got from different card packs.

“Ohh, that's right, you've risen to the Silver Rank! Whoever gave you those Ranked Points must be pretty bad...” The girl said her final words in a low voice as if she were talking to herself, but loud enough for me to hear, making me even angrier.

Even though my head was hot, I still tried to take a deep breath and keep my focus on the game, she could talk all she wanted as long as I was the victor in the end.

Seeing me stay quiet, the girl continued talking even more, trying to add fuel to the fire, but I took a deep breath and kept playing.

This was one of the longest games I've ever played, going from 15 minutes to nearly 20 minutes.

Each of us took advantage of the 75 seconds the game gave us to think each round, the only problem being that while I was trying to think, I had to filter out the girl's annoying voice from my mind.

At 22 minutes something I've never witnessed happened... my deck had run out.

“Hohoho, looks like you've run out of cards... I wonder what's going to happen to you now?” The girl's eyes lit up as she looked at me with derision.

Even though I was out of cards, I was still confident that I could win the game.

Using 'Ice Blast' I froze all the minions on her field, ensuring that she couldn't attack me next turn, then I used 'Fire Tornado', the last card I had in my hand directly on her, reducing her life to 7 points and ending my turn.

As I was obliged to draw a card and there was no card available for me to draw, I received 1 damage this round, leaving me with just 1 life point.

The girl drew another card while smiling at me, but as all her monsters were frozen she couldn't attack me using monsters, only spells.

“You're lucky I don't have any spells to attack you directly, otherwise you'd be dead... oops, you'll already be dead after your turn.” She said before starting to laugh.

She was right, as soon as I tried to draw a card my remaining life would run out, causing me to die, but I wouldn't have to wait until the end of my turn to end this game!

Smiling at her, I returned the mockery. “Really? Because I think this game is going to end now...”

Hearing me say that, the girl looked at me suspiciously, but didn't say anything verbally.

Not waiting for her, I quickly activated my trap card and started laughing.

“You know, girl, didn't you wonder for a moment what my trap was set to do?” I said, laughing. I said laughing. “By activating my trap that I won in a Card Pack before this game, I can choose any spell used in the previous round and repeat its effect.”

Listening to my explanation, I saw the color fade from the girl's face. This made me laugh even more, feeling the satisfaction of victory approaching.

“Yes, I'm going to repeat the effect of my 'Fire Tornado' spell, and since you didn't cast any creatures with 'Provoke' on the field, my target will be you, reducing your life from 7 points to 1 point, as well as mine...”

Listening to my explanation, the girl realized what I wanted to do and tried to stop me. “If you use Lyna Proudstone's spell 'Frost Arrow' you'll be forced to draw a card and you'll lose before you can attack me.”

I shook my head at her. “No no no, actually the card is only drawn after the spell hits the enemy, that is...”

Using my character's ability, an ice arrow was conjured on the field and flew straight into the girl's Lyna Proudstone, reducing her life points from 1 to 0.

Looking at her character exploding in defeat and her body disappearing from in front of me as she made her way back to her tavern, an even bigger smile came to my face.

“Hahaha, how I love this new card of mine!” I looked at the trap that had won me the game with my eyes shining.

Looking at the time and seeing that I still had another hour and fifteen minutes of Mana available to have fun... or rather, train, I quickly got back in line and went to read my deck again while the game looked for an opponent.

I'm sure the girl won't go back to the queue instantly, afraid of losing to me again, so I have to take the opportunity to earn as many coins as possible and update my deck until I play her again!