This floor, which was drastically different than the rest, was littered with corpses. The nauseating smell of blood and rotten bodies didn’t bother the Trickster, in fact, he became excited every time he laid eyes on a lifeless body, hoping it dropped a Stat card.
After walking for less than three minutes, he looted over 4 Stats Cards. He didn’t crush them on the spot but pocketed them as he wanted to significantly boost his stats in one go.
..
Not only was this floor like a blood graveyard, but the atmosphere was also very different. The unbearable heat forced Wolfram to remove the vest and walk around in the sweaty white shirt. The temperature was several degrees higher than the norm, it almost became suffocating the deeper he went.
He could hear the loud screeching of the imps and the miserable howling of the tortured victims. He slowly advanced, both his hand holding several cards, ready to be thrown at any moving thing that entered his sight.
*[Light Steps] Lv2=＞3! +0.25 Card Points.*
Just as his skill levelled up, the cries of the imps grew closer until he could distinguish a few flying silhouettes heading towards him. They didn’t seem to notice his presence and were only searching for potential victims. Before they spotted him, the Trickster moved his hands, swiftly firing four cards from his right hand.
From an ignorant outsider's perspective, a thrown card couldn't possibly kill real monsters yet the Trickster's cards were sharper and faster than the norm. They weren’t as fast as bullets but they had the necessary speed to hit the imps before they could react or dodge.
There were exactly four imps, however, Wolfram aimed only at two of them. The cards let out a barely audible whistle as they flew in the air and accurately hit their targets, injuring their wings and causing them to fall on the ground, shrieking and wriggling their bodies.
As the other two imps noticed Wolfram, they had ample time to block the second wave of cards. They waved their red lances around, easily deflecting the projectiles; then they flew straight at him, their sharp weapons thrust forward.
The Trickster backed away while retrieving more cards and throwing them at the incoming monsters. He could eliminate the threat using his firearms or physicals strength but he preferred this tactic. He believed that there was a purpose to these cards and if he trained hard enough, he would be able to demonstrate absolute prowess with only these cards.
Unlike guns or weapons, he had an infinite supply of card: They were part of him, basically. That was why he was trying his best to kill the imps with only his deck of cards.
As he was retreating and throwing cards, he precision decreased by a bit, nevertheless, because he kept throwing a barrage of projectiles non-stop, some of them managed to hit their target, but the damage was, at most, superficial.
Eventually, he reached a point where he couldn’t retreat so he started charging at the imps, which became slower due to the injuries suffered by the cards. He reached them in no time and violently kicked one of them while stabbing it with a card from very close proximity. Though the first two cards weren’t able to cut its throat, the third one caused a a lot of blue-colored sticky blood to splatter on the ground.
The Trickster clicked his tongue and rolled to the side, dodging an incoming lance then swung his hands around, throwing six cards at once.
The shrieking imps flapped its wings and evaded the first half while deflecting the rest with its weapon. It was at this point of time that there other two imps, which had their frail wings injured, caught up to the human.
He coldly snorted and jumped over the two small monsters. Unable to properly fly, they ran across the ground with their small legs, their lances raised and ready to strike.
Wolfram raised his legs and crushed one of the lances under his foot while kicking the other imp, sending it crashing to the wall on the side.
He noticed the momentary appearance of a red card which indicated that he obtained a new skill, but he ignored it, swiped up another card from his sleeve and used all of his strength to throw it at the paralyzed imp before him.
The creature was struggling to free its weapon from the enemy’s feet, so, when the man threw his card, the short distance separating them didn’t leave it enough time to block it.
The hideous monster helplessly looked at the incoming card, which stabbed its forehead, penetrating deep into its skull and causing it to lifelessly fall on the ground.
As he saw such satisfactory results, Wolfram grinned and grabbed the lance under his feet and then stabbed it at the imp that just crashed into the wall. After impaling the monster, he proceeded to ignore as it slowly bled to death.
“Hah! I don’t believe I can’t kill you with my cards.”
The Trickster glared at the remaining Imp, which only suffered minor injuries. His hands already grasping many cards, he threw them at the small flying monster, which deflected them yet again. As it witnessed the death of its comrades, the imp wasn’t as foolish as the goblins.
It glared at the cruel human with its demonic face then opened its mouth, talking with a foreign and unfamiliar language. After it finished speaking, it attempted to turn around and leave only for a bombardment of cards to strike it again. It made use of its aerial agility to escape from the cards, however, Wolfram wasn’t a merciful person.
He pulled the red lance from the dead imp’s guts, aimed at the fleeing monster, took a deep breath then threw it with all of his strength. The red-colored polearm whistled in the air as it made a big arc while shooting at the moving target.
The flying lance not only stabbed the monster, but it also pulverized its whole lower body, causing a fountain of blue blood to fall from above. The monster wailed for a few seconds before it lost the energy to even move the remaining half of its body, its eyes slowly closing and its beating heart finally coming to a stop.
After making sure all four imps were dead, Wolfram, feeling thirsty, emptied half of his small water bottle then retrieved the black card to see the logs.
*[Card Mastery Lv1] Acquired! +0.2 Card Points.*
*[Sharp Tip Lv1] Acquired! +0.18 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.15 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.14 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.14 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.1 Card Points.*
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Along with the basic rewards for killing enemies, he looted two stat cards. The Trickster leaned against the wall and checked the looted Stat Cards, checking them one by one before crushing all at once. In total, he crushed 7 Stat Card; 0.25 Strength, 0.1 Magic Control, 0.12 Magic Resistance, 0.22 Vitality, 0.09 Speed.
‘Allocate 0.3 into Card Sharpness. 0.5 Card Speed and 0.5 Card Control.’
He also gained two new skills, the first one was apparently a passive one, just like the Dagger mastery.
*[Card Mastery]: When using cards as a weapon, you deal 5% more damage.*
*[Sharp Tip]: A skill from the Card Mastery Tree; for the next attack, your Card Sharpness is doubled and Card Speed is halved.
Can only be used by cards.
Can be used once every 60 seconds.
No cost.*
UPDATED STATUS
Class: 1 Star Trickster
--
Cards Control : 3.5
Cards Sharpness : 5
Cards Speed : 3.5
--
Strength : 3.86
Vitality : 3.31
Speed : 3.34
Perception : 4.31
Magic : 2.7
Magic Control : 1.5
Magic Resistance : 1.41
--
Card Points : 0.77
---
Skills: Sneak Lv2. Dagger Mastery Lv2. Sensor Hearing Lv2. Lightsteps Lv3. Search Lv2. Gun Mastery lv1, Run Lv2. Card Master Lv1: Sharp Tip Lv1. {Training Lv1}:[Push-up Lv2. Sit-up Lv2. Squat Lv2]
—
Buffs : Cards will now deal 5% more damage to Darkness Monsters.
----------------------------------------
It could be said that Wolfram expanded a bit of energy in the last fight. The imps were small but difficult to deal with as they were agile, could fly and their weapons were sharp and significantly more lethal than the goblin's shabby and rusty daggers. He had to actually avoid or block their lances as they were dangerous and potentially deadly if underestimated.
Nevertheless, the rewards were generous and much welcomed. The Trickster felt exhilarated now that his card stats received a decent boost, his physical stats were also increased, making him stronger, his bones tougher, and steps lighter.
His body already surpassed the boundary of the average human. In fact, it wouldn't be long before all humans became physically stronger by leveling up. Wolfram lacked critical knowledge about the other System, but he suspected that it wasn't too dissimilar to the one he was using, excluding all the Cards stuff.
'It's more fun if they can become stronger! It's not an adventure or a journey but a race! The first is he who defeats all! He who rises to the apex!'
His lips arched upwards as he kept fantasizing about the special people he would get to meet. His hands, which were playing with the cards, magically yet naturally, shivered from excitement. He didn't know how exactly he was doing it but his card manipulation became extraordinary. The small tricks those 'magicians' would do on stage became an easy thing for Wolfram. In fact, doing them became as natural as breathing.
Moreover, when performing those sleights of hand, he didn't need a spectator's assistance, he was able to change them at will. It made the performance of the general magic tricks unbelievably easy, though there was present to be fascinated about that, sadly.
Anyway, after dealing with the imps, the Trickster marched deeper into the abnormal hallway, his guard raised and his cards readied.
He was eager to test out his new skill [Sharp Tip]; It was a card skill but it was costless, different to what Wolfram had expected from active skills. Weren't mages supposed to use Mana and chant before their spell was cast? A warrior used accumulated rage or something like that. At least that would be the assumption of someone relatively knowledgeable about the Systems.
Minutes passed yet there was nothing but an eerie silence and a corridor utterly void of any imps or even corpses, which kind of annoyed and bored the Trickster. When he walked for five full minutes, he started hearing inaudible sounds, unpleasant and disgusting ones.
The man's expression changed as he stuck next to the wall and took careful, soundless steps towards the origin of the shrieks. [Sensor Hearing] was detecting several noises, mainly from over-excited imps. The corridor continued for as long as his eye could see but there soon appeared rooms on the left and right. The doors were opened and the noises were coming from there.
While making as less sound as he possibly could, the man got close to one of the rooms and peeked, curious to see what the noises were all about.
'Of course they're doing this.'
He wished he could facepalm himself at this moment. He scanned the room for a few more seconds before he casually entered and threw his cards at the imps, which were busy humping either unconscious or dead female bodies.
In total, there were eight imps, all busy satisfying their sexual and twisted desires, totally unaware of the stranger who had entered the room and attacked them. They only realized their fates when four of them died on the spot, their head struck by several sharp cards.
After he emptied his hands, the Trickster retrieved one card and promptly activated [Sharp Tip], causing the card in his hand to turn orange. This skill doubled his Card Sharpness, which now stood at a whopping 5 points.
Doubling such a big amount was bound to bring surprising results, or so thought the excited Wolfram. Without any hesitation, he swung down his arm, throwing the card at an imp that just picked its lance.
The card, albeit slower than the rest, was able to hit the target right in the head, splitting the skull and causing a fountain of disgusting blood to splatter on the ground and on an unconscious human female next to it.
As expected, the card was able to easily cut the skin and the bones. In fact, it split the head and hit the wall, stopping only when more than half of it was stuck inside.
Joyful to see such a beautiful sight, Wolfram side-stepped a slowly thrown lance then punched an imp that courageously flew at him while screeching. The poor monster was sent flying and crashed into a chair, hitting its head and falling unconscious. That left two imps, which were the furthest from the Trickster. They had ample time to pick up their weapons but their dangling genitals were definitely not a good sight.
They didn't attack but stuck next to the wall and raised their lances in defense, waiting for the him to attack. Unfortunately, their defensive manoeuvre was futile as they were swiftly killed with two bullets.
Two loud and successive gunshots reverberated in the corridor, however, Wolfram didn't care as the imps already caused quite a loud ruckus, so a few gunshots wouldn't make a difference. After disposing of all the imps, he started looking around and looting the corpses belonging to both monsters and humans.
There were 8 dead imps and three dead humans but only 4 stats cards were looted(0.1 Strength, 0.05 Speed, 0.12 Vitality). As he crushed the cards, the Trickster went through the logs, he remembered hearing an unfamiliar sound in the middle of the battle.
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.09 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.1 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.11 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.09ard Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.12 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.12 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.14 Card Points.*
*You have killed an Imp Lv2 : +0.1 Card Points.*
*You have leveled up! 1=＞2.*
*You obtained +0.5 CP.*
*All your stats have been increased by 2%.*
*Please choose a skill to level up.*
The Trickster read the logs two times then pondered about which skill to level up. His arsenal of skills wasn't particularly big, nevertheless, he had to choose wisely. After a long deal of thorough deliberation, he decided to save this skill 'level-up' for later. Currently, he was capable of leveling them up on his own and without much difficulty, so wasting such an opportunity right now was truly a waste.
As he was lost in thought, he heard an imperceptible sound that snapped him out of his daze. He turned around and saw one of the two unconscious women open her eyes. She couldn't move her bruised body but her eyes looked around before landing on the tall figure wearing a soldier's uniform a couple of steps away from her.
Wolfram walked past the lifeless bodies and crouched, his fingers intertwined and his eyes locked onto hers.
"Bad day, huh?"
Of course, she was incapable of moving her lips, so the only response he got was silence. He scanned her body and saw the numerous bruises and the nauseous liquid all over here: It was truly a disgusting sight which didn't bother the man much as his eyes remained unempethatic.
"Like 'he' said, some are gifted, lucky, or blessed, and others are only met with misfortune… jinxed. I guess you belong to the second group. I would call you pitiful but I don't feel sympathetic."
His piercing eyes focused on her, trying to read what was behind that dead look she was giving him. After an inordinate amount of time passed, he retrieved his sharp knife and swiftly stabbed it into her heart, killing her on the spot.
Her barely open eyes slowly closed and her silent breathing stopped, indicating her end. The Trickster pulled the bloody dagger, wiped it clean then pocketed it again. He glanced at the other unconscious woman then left the room, his footsteps light and his expression never changing, from beginning to end.