A few moments before the Ignition Cores arrived at the treasure house bringing chaos with them, Kia discovered something and took Mwana along with her. Within the Jia Treasure house, Mwana and Kia were still window-shopping when Kia noticed something at one edge of the hall before pulling Mwana along by his hand.
“I have always been weak when it comes to magic. Come let’s see.” There was a hint of excitement in her voice.
“Weak? Are you sure? Or are you not just comparing yourself to Fury?” Mwana asked in an incredulous tone while following after Kia. When it came to his cousin Fury Jua, she was extremely talented in magic and had long stepped into the Magic Student rank so comparing oneself to her might make one feel weak and untalented in the mystical arts.
“Eeh.” Kia could only shrug to Mwana’s questions as the two children arrived at her target. When Mwana looked around, he realized what had gotten Kia so excited.
“Spell Cards!”
“Yeah, spell cards.” In a jovial tone, Kia had already started examining the spell cards and asking some of the workers at that particular station for details. This was before Mwana even moved a step. Mentally, Mwana took a note that this was something Kia liked and was enthusiastic about.
‘When I can, I will get some for her as a gift.’
As the name suggests, spell cards were cards which had spells stored within them. In the Zika world, these types of cards were usually owned by two types of people:
1. Collectors – just like in the real world, there were a lot of people who collected spell cards as a hobby.
2. Battlers – naturally, the original use of spell cards was battle although they were not as popular among higher level magicians. The lack of popularity among high level magicians was because of 2 major weaknesses:
1. (I) Some cards needed recharging while others were only single-use items.
2. (II) Additionally, only a limited number of spells could be stored per card unlike other spell storing methods. A spell card with 2 spells was already a rare commodity.
For higher level magicians, they were more likely to own their own Spell Books with tens if not hundreds of spells. A spell book was simply a record of spells usually unique or particular to the magician who owned them. The mages in the Zika world would record their spells in a book and grant it a magic title; this was a spell book.
Further, there also existed magic arts stored in grimoires. In such a case, the grimoires would contain ancient spells instead of personal spells. These spells were not handwritten by present mages as in spell books instead most of them were carved into grimoires by the old mages at the early eras of magic. However, in some rare cases a personal spell book could become a grimoire if the owner managed to master their own personal unique magic. Further, the magician had to master not just a few spells but an entire study of magic in order to elevate their spell book to a grimoire.
[Desert Wolf X Spell Card (Earth Style)] – Surveillance card.
[All Killing Y Spell Card] – Attack card.
At this section of the hall, everywhere Mwana looked there were rows upon rows of spell cards. They ranged from cheap ones that even he could afford to some that were so expensive that they could buy his family’s compound and land a dozen times over.
As Mwana and Kia were looking around, one of the workers within the Jia Treasure House came to check on them. Although the two did not plan to buy anything at first, the spell cards had already caught their eye.
[Flying Clouds Broken Moon]
[Burning Sky]
[Smokescreen]
[Rising Flame]
[God of Thunder]
Seeing some of these cards, Mwana’s eyes were literally sparkling. It was not just the spells that made the cards attractive, but even the designs of the cards were exquisite. For instance, the God of Thunder Spell Card had the image of the God of Thunder, Shango drawn on it. The God looked majestic with his lightning axe and flaming breath. Most of the spell cards had a design based on whatever spell they stored, where they came from, and who made them. All in all, Mwana truly admired the artwork on each of these cards.
The worker who had approached the two children went further and made things “worse” by introducing a new full set of high rank spell cards that the treasure house had just obtained. At that point, the money almost flew out of Mwana and Kia’s pockets by itself!
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“It is too expensive! Only rich collectors would try to acquire the entire set.” Mwana could not believe the price that the worker had quoted but the latter was quick to clarify that they did sell the cards one by one. Although it would still be too expensive for someone like Mwana, it was a bit more affordable to those who were not in the trenches financially.
This Spell Card set was the [Water Manipulation] Set. The set had 10 cards in total which were:
[Lady of the Lake Card (Water Song Spell)] – Although it was still expensive, Kia decided to purchase this card. One part of it was for the card’s aesthetics and the other reason was its use in battle. The card had a beautiful artwork of the Lady of the Lake singing a song. Although it was a water element spell card, the purpose of the card was to put opponents in a trance.
The remaining cards in the set were:
[9 Headed Dragon Prince Card (Hydra Spell)] – This spell card had the depiction of a 9 headed dragon swimming in the waters engraved on it. The dragon and the water looked so realistic that it seemed to be moving. Although Mwana greatly desired to buy this card, he did not have money to waste. If he was to buy a spell card, it would be at least of the thunder or fire element to match his elemental proficiencies.
[Lake of Reflection Card (Water Reflection Spell)]
[Gluttonous Octopus Card (Devouring Ocean Spell)] - When Kia saw this card, she could not help but remark, “This card would suit that fish boy.”
“Fish boy? Who?” Mwana could not help but ask before coming to a realization himself.
“Oooh! Ha ha ha.” Indeed this card would have suited someone like Majimaji especially as he had an Octopus-type bloodline.
The other cards in the set were:
[Purity Water Morning Glory Card (Purity Violet Water Spell)] – this card contained a water element healing spell which elevated its value; it was extremely precious.
[Great Abandonment River Card (Roiling Rapids Assured-kill-strike Spell)]
[Stormy Waves breaking on the Shore Card (Ocean Wave Spell)]
[Raging Tides Devastating the Lands Card (Red Tide Spell)]
[Illusionary Grotto Card (Secret Waterfall Spell)]
[Sea of Blood Card (Blood Draining Spell and Blood Control Spell)] – This card specifically attracted Mwana’s attention due to its relation with blood. If he had the card, it would definitely help Mwana channel and take advantage of the Blood Dragon part of his Myriad Dragon Bloodline. In a way, the Sun and Moon Arts already covered the fire element affinity gained from the Sun Dragon part of his bloodline, as for the Green Dragon – Mwana already had the Green Dragon Mantra.
As for the blood dragon, it was the most destructive part of his bloodline seeing as how Mwana greatly suspected it for the illness his mother and sister shared. As a result, Mwana knew he needed a technique or spell to help him nourish and control this aspect of his bloodline lest it turned into a weakness in the future.
However, it was impossible for him to get this spell card as it was too expensive. The price naturally came from the fact that the card stored 2 spells within it rather than the usual one spell. Additionally, the 2 spells were Blood Magic spells which was extremely rare thus making the card fall into the ‘Rare Card’ category.
Within a set of cards, there must be a ‘Rare Card’. In fact this ‘Rare Card’ was why the entire set was so expensive in the first place.
On top of that, the entire set was made up of rechargeable spell cards which raised the price even further. Unlike single-use cards, rechargeable cards could be refilled with magic after they were used. The cards had intricate magic patterns within them that could store and channel magic energy and spells.
After admiring the cards, the two children still ended up buying some of the cheaper ones. After all it was not good to waste people’s time especially after the treasure house worker spent their time explaining most of the cards to them.
Apart from the [Lady of the Lake] card, Kia also bought the [Shadow of Darkness Card (Nightfall Spell)] - a spell card that had the power to create darkness even during the day. This card naturally matched her darkness element affinity.
As for Mwana, he did not get a high grade card like Kia. Instead, Mwana got the mid grade [Flying Clouds Broken Moon] card and the [Burning Sky] card as well as the low grade card [Smokescreen]. The two mid grade cards Mwana had gotten were very compatible with the Jua village’s Sun and Moon Arts. As for [Smokescreen], it was really cheap and it was similar to a large scale smoke grenade that could be used to obscure an opponent’s vision.
“Isn’t that card a bit weak?” Kia commented once she saw Mwana choose the Smokescreen card which seemed like a waste of money.
“Anything can be strong in the right hands. I plan to use it in conjunction with my Dragon Mirror Eye.”
To this answer, Kia could only nod. Although Mwana had long explained his awakened power to some of his friends including Kia, none of them could truly understand how powerful this innate ability made Mwana’s vision and senses. His ordinary senses as well as his psychic vision and soul sense were all boosted by the Dragon Mirror eye. For others, while Mwana could explain the ability to them, they would never understand it truly since they did not have a similar power.
“After fighting Majimaji in his Ink Domain, I got the idea to use something to obscure people’s vision in my future battles.”
In his fight with Majimaji, anyone else would have been blind in the domain of darkness but Mwana could see because of his special ability. Therefore, he could possibly use the same tactics as Majimaji in the future and even to greater effect than the latter.
Apart from the cards the two children had bought for themselves, they also bought other cheap low grade utility cards such as a tracking spell card, low level healing spell card, agility enhancing spell card, attack multiplier spell card, communication spell card, regular storage spell card, and the [Energy Bank] card which was basically an energy storage spell card.