After eating breakfast and finishing his chores, Leo stood at the wooden gate he had had fixed many times before, that was attached to the crumbling rocky wall that fenced in the yard to his house. “Big Brother, don’t be nervous and do your best.”
“I will be sure to come back with good news.” Leo smiled and patted his sister’s head. He turned and looked at his mother, who had tears in her eyes and stepped forward, giving her a hug. “Mother, I will be back.”
“Mmm… Good luck!” Leaving his mother and sister behind, Leo walked out of the yard and began making his way down the dirt path that led to the heart of the village. His hut was on the back outskirts which allowed them to have plenty of peace and quiet. It also gave him the ability to train these past few years.
One thing about Card Masters was they were not just about their ability to capture and use monsters in battles, no, they also had to be able to fight and protect themselves. Leo had no formal training, but he had been taught a few things here and there by his uncle, who is one of the village guards. His uncle protected the village from not only boars, wolves, and other wildlife that could threaten the villagers but also bandits. Since these threats hardly ever occurred, his main task was to keep the monster levels in the nearby dungeon low.
This was one of the reasons this village had even been built up in the first place. It was by no means a wealthy village, far from it. The meager earnings of an F-rank dungeon cleaner were just enough to feed his family most of the time. Not to mention, there were only two card masters in the entire village, including his uncle.
Although there had been three at one point, his father, too, was a Card Master and was the light that flickered Leo’s longing to become one himself. His father died young due to being called out to a massive dungeon break near the town of Langlid, which was a C-rank dungeon. It was the biggest town close to Leo's village, Mills Village, about a two days journey by foot or a day by cart. His father was only able to become an F rank. But he spent most of his time diving in dungeons and selling the loot he picked up and what cards he could find. This allowed them to live well until he passed.
But Leo wished for nothing more than to not only become a Card Master, but also become the strongest. So he could give his Mother and Sister an even better life than his father could. He planned to fill the hole his father had left.
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The village center had three layers of houses, all built in a circle around the statue of The Goddess Rizie. Each house was made similar to his own but in much better condition. The Goddess Rizie was a real person who had raised the first and last dragon. No one knew which card she started with, but she was able to evolve her monster into a dragon and a rank EX one at that, which allowed her to protect the world from a massive dungeon break of the only known SS-rank dungeon. She single-handedly stopped the entire break and destroyed the dungeon core. No more monsters could ever spawn there again. Her powers were considered divine, and even the kings of each kingdom bowed down in her presence.
As Leo walked into the village center, he looked up a the statue of the woman who had long hair, was wearing light armor, holding a bow, and next to her was a humanoid dragon girl holding a sword, the final evolution of all monsters allowing them to become EX rank.
Leo also wished to evolve one of his monsters to the EX rank. To have just one of them take humanoid form would be enough to allow him to die a happy man.
But the reverence he had for Rizie soon turned to anxiousness as his gaze fell on the platform erected in front of the statue. Upon it were two old men wearing scholarly robes and long white beards. And set on the stage between them was the C.A.R.D., the chaotic abyssal restriction device. It held all the cards that had not been conquered and was part of the test he was about to take.
“Leo!” A young man wearing a coarse linen shirt and pants ran over with a smile on his face. He had short brown hair and hazel eyes. You could tell he worked in the sun a lot with how tanned his skin had become. “I knew you would be here. You just turned fifteen as well.”
“Jack. I thought you mother wasn’t going to let you take the test?”
“Haha, my old man talked to her and finally got her to agree.”
“I wish you luck. But do not push yourself. If you push yourself too hard, you can suffer a major backlash.” This was the one thing that was scary about being a Card Master. If you tried to capture a card over your ability, you could end up with the weakest backlash, which was a headache for like a week, or a fever, or the worst backlash, which was either a coma or death.
There were risks in every aspect of becoming a Card Master, whether it was fighting monsters in dungeons or trying to capture them through the Chaotic Realm, the space where your mind connects with the monsters.
Everything came at a risk. But by passing these trials and tribulations, you would be able to raise your monsters to evolve and become stronger, allowing you to become well-known, and the rewards from higher-ranked dungeons could make you rich and famous. The fame part was the last thing on Leo’s mind, but the rich part was.