Beneath the vast blue sky, crumbling buildings lay entwined in mutant vegetation—some eerily beautiful, others quietly menacing. Vivid, spiritual flora flourished unchecked, casting a surreal contrast against the ruins. In the afternoon light, drifting clouds deepened the haunting allure of an apocalypse both tragic and enchanting.
Adjacent to a luxurious metal behemoth, a black-haired youth was a bit embarrassed being stared at so closely, that he visibly blushed and even twiddled his thumbs.
Upon seeing his shy reaction even the normally calm O’Brien’s facial muscles twitched uncontrollably, such a fresh young teenager-like reaction from a grown man was unnerving. Furthermore, this was a grown man who would one day have the nicknames of Arsonist and Pyromaniac.
The wind moaned throughout the nearby empty broken buildings, picking up and blowing up the youth's hair.
“Hello. My name is Lucas, nice to meet you. I'm sorry for following you. I was just curious you see. I was previously following one of the others and they spoke of you, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.” Lucas felt the silence and stares were a bit stifling and broke the silence.
“Can you die?” O’Brien wondered if his next words would be something like that but Lucas threw a different curve ball.
“How do you control it? The urges y’know. You're strong so you must know the feeling—the sudden power, from having nothing to controlling the supernatural. I can't bring myself to resist it. Each time I end up succumbing. Can you tell me how to cope?” Lucas blinked his dark eyes and looked quite troubled. It was worse that he seemed to be getting stronger as of late for some reason.
‘Who the hell are you!’ O’Brien was baffled hearing the deeply polite tone of voice, it was skin crawling.
“Don't you mean, tell me, or else I'll light you on fire? Entertain me or meet your fiery death? Send my regards to those I burnt in hell, I always wanted to go down but the fire angels keep me alive?” O’Brien seriously questioned, still not quite adapted to the drastic parallel in character to Lucas's future self.
“...No? Why would I say that? We've just met and that sounds a bit crazy and unhinged, right? I haven't killed anyone either.” Lucas tilted his head in puzzlement. Those sounded like the words of an insane psychopath, not himself.
“...”
Was this the same person who burnt the building of his team to root them and others out, then had them use their clothes to help make a giant bonfire as they went home naked? The same person who barbecued and swallowed the forbidden meat of monsters very early on?
“... get lost.” O’Brien opened and closed his mouth for a while but eventually uttered those two words.
The RV rumbled back to life and pressed on, sputtering to a halt multiple times as Lucas relentlessly stuck to them.
“You have a death wish? I said you can't follow me.” O’Brien flexed his muscles preparing to get physical. He was even a bit excited, now he would be able to trample someone previously out of his reach! But then, Lucas pulled another unexpected move.
Lucas kowtowed to the floor and begged, “Please. I just want to learn more. I can't see where you're going right? Tie me up and blindfold me as well. I just want to come.”
“...”
Lucas felt he met the first agreeable set of people with superpowers who wouldn't be threatened by him and try to kill him so he had a lot to ask them.
O’Brien was about to beat him away but after the first kick, Lucas got back up immediately and placed himself right under his feet submissively.
“...”
This can't be the same person he knows, how did this person turn into that deranged arsonist?
Looking down at his feet, O’Brien could see some hints that this person wasn't all right in the head.
Once, he looked forward to squashing Stovetop Lucas, he had caused him and his previous teams no shortage of nuisances by interfering with their plans and missions.
Yet oddly enough, in the end, his craziness typically benefitted them. Once, thanks to him being nearby, they took a detour and managed to avoid a nest of Bloodsucking Worms while they were returning from a very dangerous mission. It saved some of their lives, including his.
Looking at the idiotic figure in front of him, O’Brien’s urge to beat him faded, replaced by a feeling of disappointment and emptiness.
‘I can't kill him since he has displayed no intent to kill and hasn't openly attacked me either. I don't think he qualifies for chopped or crippled limbs to be used as a deterrent either…’
O’Brien thought for a while but he was still reeling from the side effects of [Stargazer's Myriad Deductions] that had him furiously solving math equations, and doing detailed calculations of mundane activities in between bouts of axe-splitting headaches.
This, piled upon the remnant frustrations from losing his appetite from the intense self-gorging he did due to the side effects of [Greedy Merchant's Pupils], his brain was limp and he couldn't think of any way to get rid of Lucas without killing or maiming him at the moment.
Unwilling to waste any more time, O’Brien tied him up, blindfolded him, and dumped him in a separate corner with four previously captured prisoners from the hospital. He still didn't shut up, however, and kept talking and talking, causing a headache for all those in the back.
The journey felt even longer with him blabbering away.
“Doesn't he ever shut up?” Jules sighed in exasperation, they were welcoming at first and each gave their own experiences in controlling their powers, sympathetic to his plight but Lucas didn't seem satisfied and continued to hound them.
“Thank God.” Even the greatly tolerant Rose was overjoyed when they got to their destination free of being trapped with the blabbermouth.
Still, the ladies were surprised that O’Brien hadn't killed him, Rose and Lea backed by Jules had clashed with him numerous times from his senseless killing of anyone he viewed as an enemy but always failed. Now someone was blatantly antagonistic and he actually spared them.
“You think he's turning over a new leaf?” Jules asked, not quite believing it herself.
“No. That guy simply hasn't acted in any way to harm him, he's just annoying and happens to have a powerful natal card from the looks of it.” Roya shook her head, perhaps of all four of them she understood O’Brien the most, having once possessed a somewhat similar personality herself in her younger years.
“Well anyway, let's get the process underway.” She commanded, looking towards the fidgeting crowd sitting at the back of the stopped RV.
They methodically began to direct and awaken each individual as they returned to the Hope Medallion that O’Brien had hidden with special means.
The Medallion was stationary but the surroundings could be disguised.
O’Brien stayed inside with Lucas while the four women dealt with everything themselves. The batch awakening went without issue and they soon reboarded the bus after just three hours while the sun was still up.
“Are you sure about this?” Roya sat down beside O’Brien bringing a snack he requested from Rose.
“About what?” He replied as he sat up from his converted sofa massage chair.
“We've created over a hundred more card masters than would have existed normally, it's bound to cause chaos and conflict.” Roya continued. They had done four batches with around twenty-five or so persons each time. It was a large increase in the transcendent population. Furthermore, most were subordinates of Blessed Ones and a part of their forces.
“It's not any of my concern.” He shrugged.
“They could pose a threat to you when together. Rose and the others might not realize it since they are good people but like with what that Lucas fellow is struggling with, many will act differently once they have power in their hands. Some ex-militaries were included in the batches, they have an extra edge in the accompanying improvement the aperture and card essence brings. Those used to using violence to solve problems will continue to do so without a net holding them back.” Roya found it hard to understand. While O’Brien did profit from the venture, he was enabling threats to exist against him. It wasn't any surprise that he wasn't very liked by the other Gods Favoured. He had personally beat a lot of them up after they mouthed off.
After tasting power they were very likely to gang up against O’Brien not only for their distaste of his character but also for benefits. They would surely want the medallion and information about cards, these were the portable nuclear weaponry and heavy artillery of the New World, who could resist?
“There are several reasons.” O’Brien took a scoop of his parfait, “One. They are weak, even if they had breathing methods, their individual combat power is not much, even together I can somewhat manage or leave safely.”
He wasn't invincible but he was quite confident in dealing with some newborn chicks.
He twirled a card in his other hand, “Two. The alien races and monsters are getting more active, they'll have their hands full especially in a region like this with monsters all around. Three. I don't care because we're leaving soon. The matters of this place would no longer concern us then.”
They were leaving? This was the first time O’Brien had actually told them his plans so Roya was surprised.
“Where are we going?” She asked curiously, not expecting an answer. They had asked O’Brien a great many things but his default response was to remain quiet.
She had figured they would stay and continue to monopolize the Hope Medallion. She never expected that the medallion wasn't as attractive to O’Brien as she had initially thought. It was merely a means to an end for him.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“To gain power. I'm not all-knowing, you know. You should have noticed by now with other cards, like those that drop after you slay monsters that they give absolutely no hint of their activation requirements.”
Roya nodded, she had just felt that there must be a unique method to do so that O’Brien wasn't telling them.
“If you don't already know, then you need an appraiser or appraisal card to tell you. There are several types of appraisal cards. Like this one here. It's also possible to have an appraisal card as a natal card which is one source of appraisers. But we humans have limited abilities as we are weak, especially as tier ones or zeroes. The best appraisers for the foreseeable future are the NPC ones which are incredibly rare. We're going to visit the best appraiser in the world. It's a long journey but we should make it with enough time to spare.”
O’Brien explained, feeling quite relaxed after gagging Lucas for some peace and quiet, he simultaneously twirled another magic card in his hand. It was a good stress reliever to mellow out the lingering aftereffects of activating several magic cards.
He had been warming up to Roya as of late. She was the de facto leader of the girls and not Rose who was the strongest. She had experience, intelligence, charisma, leadership, emotional stability, and all the right qualities to take charge.
Furthermore, just now when the power had momentarily gone to the heads of the newly awakened batch in the RV, she easily quelled them without him having to lift a finger.
While this lot didn't have natal cards just yet and were still paper tigers, it was still an impressive feat nonetheless.
Roya was intrigued about everything that had to deal with cards, understandably so. While she wasn't as much of an addict as Lucas she couldn't get enough of her bow that had limitless ammo and incredible range. Watching O’Brien activating cards had also created an itch.
Though hearing O’Brien’s words she felt something wasn't quite right.
If appraisers were so important then couldn't they just create one? Then they could have an invaluable mobile helper.
But looking at the excited rowdy bunch blindfolded on the floor she quickly saw the reason.
‘It's too much power to give to someone in the current situation, they could disrupt the balance. Furthermore, I'm guessing he doesn't trust anyone enough to give them such power over him.’ Roya could think of a few more issues that could pop up after some more thought so things started to make sense.
O’Brien also didn't know if he had any more appraisal cards in his collection, it was something with a high probability sure, but the mere knowledge of this was useless without knowing the specific cards in question. He had hundreds of cards at his disposal obtained from his batch awakening services, selling food, selling medical services, slaying monsters, etc.
The appraisal card he held now was from one of the recent buyers of his services which he coincidentally recognized as it was a Grey Ash-grade card that was quite limited in its scope of effects. Something the previous him could come into contact with.
“Let's hurry back, tell the driver to stop blasting music and step on it. I've got someplace to be.” O’Brien looked over to Rose who had come up to them and clicked his tongue hearing the noise from the driver's cockpit area.
Once birthed, extraordinary resources would be in more danger the longer they existed so he wanted to rush over there as soon as possible to avoid another fisherman benefiting from the haul.
***
New Roselee City
The Blue Flame Stronghold had been making a name for itself lately. With Bluebird Team Three and Firebaby Team Four frequently deployed throughout the city, their extensive contact with other survivors during missions stirred quite a buzz in the local community. Meanwhile, Team One, Blue Phoenix, remained on standby, as both the leader and deputy leader were occupied with the constant civil and logistical demands of the base, giving the other teams a chance to shine.
Behind the stronghold, in an aboveground training area, bursts of energy flared as combatants unleashed their powers—striking dummies, sparring with each other, and testing new maneuvers in various drills.
At the center of it all, Celes stood like a commander on the battlefield, barking orders at Iron Fortress Team Two—the base guards responsible for patrolling and maintaining order in the shelter.
With the stronghold expanding rapidly, these poor souls were already drowning in work. Unfortunately for them, they also had the misfortune of being within range of Celes’s hawk-like gaze. The moment any of them showed signs of slacking on patrol, she pounced like a hawk—dragging them to the training field and drilling them relentlessly to hone their instincts and skills
“You call that speed? I gave you the [Gale Step] natal card, not Snail step! Faster!”
“How many times have I told you! Ignore myself and others directly under me, carefully plan and use every bit of your card essence otherwise you'll be rendered useless when it really matters! You only recover 8% of your card essence an hour, not 15% or 25%! Act like it! Battles at this stage can end in a few minutes or even seconds but you never know when the next enemy might appear."
“And you, what the hell was that? I gave you chains to help with suppression. Your jobs are to suppress, contain, and quell targets, not beat them to death whipping your heavy bronze metal chains!”
“You two, watch your teammates, work together! For the umpteenth time, you work as one, not several pieces flying in different directions.”
Celes stood atop the levitating Sapphire, who was grooming her feathers in boredom, her beautiful blue hair blowing in the wind but her icy blue pupils indifferently pierced holes in her trainees who dared not to slip up or relax for even a minute. If they dared let out a peep of complaints they suffered even more.
'She's evil.'
'She has no heart.'
'Face of an angel, heart of a devil.'
'If I knew this was what I was signing up for I wouldn't have volunteered.'
'Fuck my life.'
They could still complain internally, however. The harsh training quite burdensome on their mental and physical faculties.
A low ring of footsteps caught their attention, seeing Minnie's approach, Celes icily spat, “Continue the regime, don't stop until I tell you to stop. You're responsible for the safety and well-being of everyone in the shelter, you can't afford to be lazy or complacent.”
Ensuring that they were following her instructions, she nodded and then directed Sapphire to let her down beside Minnie.
“What's up?” She queried in a soft tone, completely different from her previous image.
Minnie immediately jumped on her.
She sniffed her hair as she tightly hugged her like a baby hugging its mother, Celes tried to pry her off to no avail.
“I told you we're the leaders of the base right now, you can't keep acting like this with our subordinates and citizens in view.” Celes said in exasperation as Minnie's pesky hands drew to her cheeks and she slapped them away.
“But, But I have to! This is the only way to relieve my stress, those fuckers are unbelievable!” Minnie moaned, rubbing her face against hers.
“You'd think after explaining several times they'd understand but the greedy fucks have a never-ending list of demands that grow each time. No Greta, your six-year-old can't be a card master like his brother! No, you can't have three pounds of steak each meal because it's the only thing your ‘palate’ allows Delilah! And for fucks sake! Cards are out of the question without a significant role or great contributions to the base! As we've mentioned several times.” Minnie grinded her teeth in frustration and got a bit aggressive with her face-to-face rubs forcing Celes to increase her resistance and kick her away but she came running back again.
Celes gave up and let her have her way.
Almost fifteen minutes later Minnie reluctantly let her go.
She looked over to team two, the faint tears on the faces of the female members quite striking.
“Still the Spartan drill instructor as usual eh? You could go easier on them, you drag them away to training anytime they pass your field of vision.”
Minnie wryly smiled with some lingering fears from her own training, although she was a support role, the Soulbinding Master profession she chose on the guidance of Celes did have its method of combat that she had to learn. She had thought it would be easier than Justin's Crimson Knight Paladin or Jasmine's Wildfang Berserker but boy was she wrong.
Celes had insisted that non-Blessed Ones had to choose a profession and stick to it, they also had to act as their profession first before they could really fight as a team, otherwise once they grew stronger they would have to train over and over again getting used to each other's rhythm.
“Speaking of which, I'm thinking of having another training bout with you, Jasmine, and Xia once she gets back. Teams don't always fight at full force, smaller teams of two, three, and four are common for certain missions and trial spaces so you have to get used to it. Your three professions are a great mix in—”
“Oh, would you look at that! I just remembered my other reason for coming here.” Minnie felt a chill and quickly changed the subject.
“Mr Greymore told me some news. He has the workers in check for construction and the merit system is working well but a few were approached by outsiders asking about how we have so many card masters. Why do we call them such and what else do we know, you can guess the rest. A few were successfully converted and were snooping around our offices. I had to banish some repeat and serious offenders.” Minnie's face grew serious.
Celes crossed her arms, “It's not surprising, we've taken a lot of food from the surroundings and have begun to sell treated goblin meat to them. It's only natural that they start to make bold moves to get what they want.”
Celes started selling cured goblin meat after their teams began slaughtering them on a grand scale and the corpses were going to waste, the extraordinary materials condensed in special parts after their death was one thing but a lot else was going to waste.
Monster meat was inedible most of the time, even ones safe to eat in a short period weren't recommended. Even for Card Masters, these extraordinary creatures were from alien worlds and wielded spiritual energy, their foreign biology and pathogens allowed them to cause various diseases and illnesses even within transcendents once they gained entry to their immune systems.
Still, humans weren't one to give up.
*
51st Epic
Zhao Xu, The Gourmet Swordsman.
I will make everything my sustenance, give me strength all races!
The God's Favoured Zhao Xu only wielded a Black Iron grade natal card but he had a unique ability. He could gain various attributes, physical and spiritual from consuming spiritual foods.
At first, he only devoured the rare natural treasures and mutant wild animals bred from Earth but one day a thought occurred to him,
‘Why must I limit myself to only these? They aren't the only ones with spiritual energy. Alien races and other monsters have it too? A few people die from eating them and some get super diseases sure; but aren't lionfish, pufferfish, and blood clams poisonous as well? But we found a way to eat them just the same. I'll find a way to eat them.’
In an odd twist of fate, Zhao Xu actually managed to figure out how to eat his first alien race, the second came after that. Then the next. He was still alive before Celes traveled back in time. His impact was so great it shook the world.
His <
Furthermore, he broke through his natal card's limits with this innovation and was the first case of transcendental evolution bringing his Black Iron-ranked Natal Card across realms passing over the Green Copper-Grade going straight to Red Steel. He was even on the verge of satisfying the requirements to go even further and attain White Silver qualifications!
He was one of the persons with King Status able to call forth a horde of powerful followers for his favor, his own strength was no joke as well his status came from both power and influence. His base physical attributes were the strongest in the world as a regular human. Only two people could compare to him in that regard. He wasn't ranked among the true lords but he was still a powerful figure.
*
Celes had bought one of the Gourmet Swordsman’s food catalogs so she knew how to prepare goblin meat and it was a great money-making, life-saving, and charity endeavor. Three birds, one stone.
She sold it at cheap prices to bring up their image on Minnie's consult. Reputation could be an important tool in their toolkit. Moreover, they had a lot of corpses and the meat tasted quite bland so it was very suitable.
She didn't think much of the traitors, it was within expectations. She thought Minnie was taking it too seriously.
“No. They managed to figure it out. You said there were two other Medallions right? One underground and the other outside the city deep in monster territory. They must have gotten to one because Card Masters are popping up like crazy. They haven't done anything big yet but I imagine one of our teams will be clashing with them very soon.” Minnie's serious expression didn't fade and she explained why.
“!!!”
Celes turned around in shock. They had actually figured out how to use Medallions and discovered their hidden positions. This was months ahead of schedule!