At the border region between Giant Tree Forest Plateau and Six Colored Desert Plains.

A ruined city merged with the untamed landscape, like bits of square pegs trying to fit in round holes.

The bright light fell from the sky like splashing water, covering the lands below with a thick golden sheen. It was noon.

The warmth reflected off the surfaces of tattered skyscrapers and low-hanging buildings in the blinding lights. Suddenly, a shadow flew up into the air becoming obscured in the brightness of the sun, then it swooped down with a purpose, landing a series of vicious kicks.

Tuack!!!

Kueeee!!!

Below, there was a giant worm wreaking havoc on the ruined streets, it was at least twenty feet long and five feet wide, its large elongated body had thick earthy flesh the color of moss, its numerous rows of teeth were like a death grinder stained with blood and rotten flesh.

It whipped its large body against its tiny enemies, one wore shining golden boots with wings of light, they flew around its head like a pesky fly, no matter how it attempted to dissolve them by spitting acid, the figure always escaped in the nick of time, the bright trails of light accompanying the boots only served to irritate the creature.

Even worse, whenever it opened its bloody maws to bite at the pesky human or any of the others, painful arrows would come from afar and enter through its mouth, causing severe internal damage. These ash-colored arrows were like sharp iron spears sinking deep within its flesh causing it to squirm fiercely in pain at which point the fly-like figure landed a few powerful kicks.

It couldn't even escape back into the earth to its natural habitat as thick reddish-black thorns blocked the entrances to its burrowing tunnels that it used to rise aboveground.

Whenever it approached the thorns, the bleeding inside and outside of its body seemed to magnify and its blood seemingly flew to thorns at its own initiative.

Atop a car jammed into the side of a building, a tanned beauty drew a half-moon arc on her bow, she notched the arrow made of her light ash-grey card essence but didn't let it loose, instead she took a deep breath as she drained every bit of her energy, strengthening the arrow continuously as she did so the arrow began to transform, becoming denser, more powerful and blindingly threatening.

Behind her a blonde woman clasped her fingers at her temples, slowly easing her emotions and enhancing her card essence recovery. She was cradled in a warm holy light and afar she looked like an angel come to earth.

The swift figure dancing through the air had once again aggravated the large worm as it howled and sprayed a stream of acid at her, when she dodged out of the way it took the opportunity to bite at her with a desperate lunge, sensing the opportunity, the archer immediately loosed her powerful arrow.

Bang!

With a low whistling sound, the arrow obliterated the head of the large worm, reducing it to charred pieces; a rain made of coarse chunks of flesh, broken teeth, and blood fell from high up.

Naturally, this was the team of Lea, Jules, Roya, and Mary Rose. Days had passed and they had come to form an even better understanding of each other and the ways of combat with monsters. They were able to work together and slay enemies much stronger than them.

In a familiar action, Roya threw her bow into the warm corpse of the green worm, soon four moss-green arrows were congealed that she promptly placed into a fresh new quiver made of repurposed cloth and monster skins, nodding in satisfaction.

After she harvested the arrows, swift shadows swung behind her but she paid them no mind as she walked away.

Thick reddish-black thorns then covered the corpse sucking out its blood and drying out its moist flesh.

Jules watched in envy as one improved her arsenal of weapons and the other enhanced her recovery and strengthened her abilities.

‘Why can't my boots get stronger from slaying enemies? It's like they get exp from killing and I don't.’

She thought in frustration, still if she had to choose again she wouldn't do anything different. She quite liked her boots, they were fashionable, fairy-like, sturdy and best of all, she could fly.

Even their douchey self-proclaimed nanny couldn't fly and had to jump around like a monkey.

O’Brien watches from a short distance away, nestled atop the corpses of five worms piled together, their bulky forms filled with elongated scars and holes of missing flesh dying the ground beneath them in the color of their blood.

‘I just wanted to teach them a lesson and alter their naive mindsets, I didn't think this mindset would have transferred so well in their teamwork and battle coordination.’

O’Brien watched in wonder as they slew their great foe after fighting against its weird tactics and unnaturally swift giant body.

Although he led by example and finished off his batch first then found them a secluded area with just the right amount of green worms, allowing them to fight against the worms one at a time, they had done surprisingly well in such a short time since fusing with their natal cards.

They had the makings of a strong team, a few days ago he was still giving advice but he had stopped recently, not that they didn't make mistakes but they were already beginning to learn from their mistakes without his help.

He saw it as better for them to ruminate after each battle themselves without him guiding them; the fruits of doing so would be far better than if he had straightforwardly told them what to do next.

His decision proved correct, as they improved greatly compared to their last battle. He chomped down on some flavored jerky.

As the worm collapsed, a card floated above its corpse enveloped in an ashy grey light. Jules swiftly captured it and regrouped with the others. They didn't go towards the shadows nearby but gravitated to where O’Brien was sitting instead.

O’Brien watched the dropped card with a hint of envy, none of his five produced any cards. As a matter of fact, he could count on one hand the number of times a card dropped for him post-cardfall.

“You did well Jules, without you attracting its attention we wouldn't have been able to deal so much damage.” Roya patted her with clear praise.

Although Jules felt a bit pleased with herself, she still responded, “No without your arrows and auntie's thorns impeding it, I would have been swallowed long ago, that bulky bastard moves unnaturally fast and I still struggle balancing myself properly in the air.”

Jules didn’t dare grow a big head considering, Roya was a combat veteran with sharp eyesight and experience and her aunt was the sweeter teddy bear version of O’Brien.

“Anyway, who wants this card? It seems we hit the jackpot, this is definitely a summon of that ugly worm.” Jules held up the green-brown ornate card depicting their slain foe. Seeing O’Brien use a few summon cards, they already could recognize a few things.

‘You’re right in this case but I wouldn’t be so sure.’ O’Brien thought by the side. Just the image of the creature didn’t necessarily mean it was a summon.

“We already benefited enough.” Rose exchanged a glance with Roya who nodded in agreement.

Before they could say anything, Lea added, “I'm just support. I don't need an offensive card, not now. Even if we could activate it, I'm already struggling to use my current abilities with my card essence as is.”

The other girls nodded in agreement, so Jules simply pocketed the card. It could prove useful later or to exchange with their resident princely douche.

Still, barring anything else he was quite fair to them and didn't attempt to occupy any loot from enemies he hadn't slain himself.

“Our teamwork has improved lately, I think we're doing pretty well, you said if we could take care of this enemy. You'll teach us the next step to getting stronger didn't you?” Roya turned to O'Brien who was still munching on a snack atop his pile.

“Hm?” O’Brien tilted his head, and then a look of realization struck him. Indeed, he had promised such a thing.

Although they were all initial-stage Tier Zero Card Apprentices, with the exception of Mary Rose, who was at the advanced stage, they still hadn't begun to progress in their cultivation.

Not just them but himself as well, it was easier to bring out your full potential when you had to carefully plan your battles around your limited reserves of card essence.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

To that fact, O’Brien limited both himself and the girls to only fighting with what they had at the moment. It was a way for everyone to get used to their natal cards.

Their bodies were like rapidly growing newborns, unfamiliar with their own flesh. Before they could run they had to learn how to crawl. O'Brien was no exception, his natal card in his past life was simply a Grey Ash grade [Weapons Mastery] skill card. He could count on both hands the number of cards he had used in his previous lifetime. The very rare transformation-type card was not something he had ever used himself so he had to familiarize himself with it.

There were also some hidden reasons. Whenever the large forces supported new talents, they forced them to hold off on cultivation and breathing techniques, solely drawing on their limited card essence and natal card abilities.

O’Brien followed their example although he wasn't sure why they did so, at least before.

O’Brien sent a wave of ashy essence throughout a corpse beneath him, and then the unthinkable happened, the corpse of the green worm actually began to move as if it was alive.

Its skin faded to a tinge of grey and it gave off a deathly aura that chilled the soul, it meekly flung its tail end to form a slide that O’Brien slid down joining the others.

“... Can you stop doing that? It's creepy as hell.” Jules couldn't help but shiver and hold her arms seeing the grotesque scene of the mangled worm corpse come back to life.

Roya looked at it with a complicated gaze, ‘He’s been experimenting with that more and more as of late, trying it on all slain monsters but… don't tell me he can use it on humans as well? No, that would be too absurd.’

But O’Brien was an enigma of a man so Roya felt it might be possible.

It was a spine-chilling thought.

“Not here in the open, when we are back in the RV. Besides, didn't you say you recognized some of these ruined streets? Well?” O'Brien turned to Lea who was wiping her tiny bits of perspiration.

“Ah. Yes.” She quickly snapped back to attention, placing some loose strands of hair behind her ear. “I'm sure of it. Oscar Benedict Hospital is near here. They recently published a paper on a multi-purpose MRI and surgical robotic device. The surgical part is still in the testing phase, but it did cost 600 million, so I'm sure it's state-of-the-art. We watched the unveiling virtually when it happened, and the size is… manageable.”

Lea thought of the giant coffin like device she saw on screen and said hesitantly, although in comparison to O’Brien's RV it could be considered small.

It was a large mobile contraption that would definitely be priceless in times such as these.

Upon hearing this, O'Brien held his chin in deep rumination.

There were several skill cards he knew of that had universal or widespread healing capabilities, the Blue Stone grade [Enhanced Regeneration] could boost the body’s healing capabilities by a large margin, the Black Iron grade [Cure Fatal Wounds] or [Warlock's Bandage] could bring you back from the edge of the death.

The rare Green Copper grades [Shining Restoration], [Transcendent Regeneration], or [Two-Touch lotus Healing] were all legendary and when fully mastered could do outrageous things including restoring severed limbs, failing organs, curing severe diseases of physical and mental natures, among others and were notoriously sought after.

Still though…

“It's not necessary; you don't need it.” O’Brien shook his head after looking at Lea. Of the team, she was the most relaxed. He had thought it would have taken longer, but she had been managing her abilities well lately. As a healer, she had to prepare for emergencies, so she made it a necessity to never run out of card essence.

Roya was quite the daughter of luck, and in addition to her own White Silver grade [Grand Demon Slaying Bow], she also looted the Red Steel grade [Light Angel of Salvation] that had several healing effects and buffs as well. It was a rare possession-type card with multiple abilities that Roya traded with Lea who had a unique feeling about it that proved correct as she obtained an amazing natal card.

Just the Green Copper grade healing cards could already achieve miraculous feats with little to no adverse effects, and in a much shorter time than medical science could ever hope to achieve.

While advanced medical equipment did have its own advantages…

‘It's of no use to me.’

‘My Immemorial Dragon God of Death card is a transformation type, for all intents and purposes I have, or will have the regenerative ability of a dragon. That's more than enough for my needs.’

Although O'Brien, like other Tier Zero Card Apprentices, could only use a fragment of the power of his natal card, the bit he was already capable of using was already quite outstanding, equivalent to a Grey Ash grade [Minor Regenration].

Even if he was severely injured and near death, luckily, he happened to have collected two Grey Ash, and two Blue cards that he recognized as healing cards. Half of which, he could use right now with materials on hand.

The perks to being an early mover and gluttonous card collector.

Whenever he thought of his ‘collection’ an electric current ran through his body and he felt giddy like a child getting all his favorite toys and foods in the world.

Yet a fog of frustration also grasped his heart, like the reflection of the moon in a pond; he couldn't grasp it.

O’Brien had been a tad complacent at first, he had this amazing natal card of a never-before-seen rank. His potential was limitless!

But those cards, his treasures, were a stark reminder of who he was in the days of the future past.

A base mercenary.

He knew too little. Even now, with his breathtaking assortment of cards, he barely recognized seventeen percent of them and knew the activation requirements of about eight percent of them.

While he also had a few guesses, for a select few cards, he wasn’t dumb enough to experiment and incur unnecessary risks.

In total, it was a pitiful number, sometimes he wondered if he should be ashamed of himself as a regressor.

‘Blue Phoenix .. you would know a lot more, wouldn't you?’

“Yes, but there are all still certain ailments that by their very nature are hard to heal since the body recognizes or doesn't recognize some things as its own, there's also cancerous cells as well. For targeted treatment, I would need an MRI, a sterilized environment, the proper incision tools and so on which are included in that device.” Lea noticed that O’Brien wasn't too impressed and quickly highlighted the advantages that the machine would bring but O’Brien was largely uninterested.

She had thought he hadn't realized the benefits of the machine but seeing his continuous plain expression, she realized he simply didn't care.

“There's also card essence depletion, I can only use my skills about five times with my current reserves and it takes an hour for me to recover around 25% of my card essence or to use my skills one more time. It'll be more economical if I can surgically remove or…” Lea suddenly paused, realizing something.

O’Brien smirked in derision, “Surgery? On the battlefield?”

“Well, uhm, the MRI is also good for spotting injuries…” Lea held her head down and weakly argued.

“Hah, if you're injured you can already tell where the injuries are unless you are a fool, we don't need such a device, it's a waste of time and energy, cards surpass it by a long shot,” He scoffed at the idea, but soon added, “The only use it has, since it's not on the battlefield, is the treatment of ordinary humans with serious conditions, or even minor ones once you use the machine to spot the issue, you can conserve your energy used to heal it. Card essence by its very nature already has restorative effects, and our body’s natural healing rate is already magnified. We can also sense our conditions well enough as Card Masters. Sure the machine will probably be more precise or it can be, but it doesn't make much of a difference. Furthermore, the stronger we become as Card Masters the less we are prone to diseases until eventually it's almost impossible.”

The key word was almost.

***

Unnumbered Epic: Zombie Maker

The Scourge of Normandy, the Black Plague Doctor.

There was once an old man who was stripped of his medical license in the Old World for attempting to stimulate the bubonic plague to fuse with the coronavirus and cancer cells. Curious to see what the resulting strains were after he accidentally fused a strain of cancer and coronavirus in a cadaver. He claimed it could elevate the mind and break through human limits, he wanted to do further research. The hospital board shut him down but he was persistent and did outside experiments.

He was found and arrested, but his obsession continued into the New World and he continued to experiment, sacrificing humans for his crazed goal.

In the end, with the sacrifice of hundreds, he actually succeeded in a way, he created a type of zombie different from the alien species, or undead card types. His could infect the living turning them into zombies, they also wielded corpse poison that could harm even their fellow undead, and their vessels could also breed different diseases that even Card Masters could contract.

He was overjoyed by this odd coincidence and began to create even more diseases trying to infect monsters and even cards, spending every waking moment to achieve his goals.

Thus, a scrouge was born.

Man and Child alike were told stories of him to scare them into obedience, his every victim a monument to his dark desires.

***

Lea’s intentions weren't lost to the group; they were as clear as day, and O’Brien didn't even have to point anything out explicitly. She and Rose were cut from the same cloth; no wonder they were such good friends.

The device would most certainly be used on ordinary people or persons with conditions predating the Last Days.

“I swear, I was enjoying the peace and quiet and reveling in our wonderful victory but you just have to sour the mood don't you, you must have been terrible as a child.” Jules couldn't help but complain in an exasperated voice

‘I’m told I was a darling and loved to eat tomatoes’ O’Brien inwardly rebutted but didn’t feel like arguing again with Jules, the previous ten times for the day were enough.

“Don't worry about it Lea, we can fetch the machine ourselves.” Jules quickly patted her chest.

While she admitted they were brash and careless earlier on, and instead of helping, they actually worsened the situation for those they intended to save, but now although it had only been a short while, they had gotten used to their abilities and worked well as a team. Furthermore, they had an ace in the hole.

“Look, we have my wonderful aunt to help us out, she's even stronger than the king of sourness over there.” Jules rushed over and held her aunt's hand while bragging.

Her statement was somewhat true however, even in the last battle Rose's power was irreplaceable, the green worms could burrow through the ground like moles and were actually faster and more powerful when underground, one of its main attacks was to collapse the ground or shake the earth underneath you, its unseen strikes were the most dangerous.

Without Rose restraining its large body they couldn't have worn it down and killed it.

In fact, Jules and the others knew she could take care of it one-on-one if she wanted to; she was merely handicapping herself for them.

“Come on, O’Brien is still plenty stronger than me.” Rose slightly knocked her niece's head but then her expression froze somewhat as her thoughts churned.

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering echoed from nearby.