Immediately after Erin came in to report her decision, she was made to do a whole bunch of paperwork. It took a while for it to be processed, but they let her stay there while they handled it. By early in the next morning, she was woken up to be moved into what was referred to as the Institution.

She entered her apartment unit that she shared with three other roommates. Right as she entered, she saw a peppy brunette humming as she cooked in the kitchen. As Erin entered, the brunette turned and smiled at the newcomer while introducing herself.

“Hey! You must be out new roommate. I'm Morgan, it's nice to meet you! We were told that we'd be getting another roommate.”

She's pretty. And really energetic.

Erin was caught off guard by Morgan's peppiness, but managed a smile and replied, “Uh yeah, nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Erin.”

She awkwardly stood there. Morgan seemed to be expecting a proper conversation, but Erin was not interested in that at the moment. After a pregnant pause, Erin slowly shuffled towards her room while saying, “Anyway, I'll see you later? I'll just go to my room and get settled in.”

As she turned around and increased her pace towards her room, Erin heard an incredibly loud yawn.

What was that?

On instinct, she turned towards the source of the noise, and saw a black-haired guy a few years older than her waking up. He'd been lying on the couch, and Erin had missed him in her rush to get to her room.

The guy spotted Erin, and while still yawning, spoke in a sleepy voice. “Hey, I'm Vinay. I'mma go back to sleep, so we'll talk later. Okay, good night.”

And with that, he flopped back onto the couch. Morgan sighed and said, “Sorry about Vinay. He's a nice guy, but is kinda lazy about some stuff. You can go ahead and get settled in.”

Well I don't really care about that. I prefer people like him anyway.

Erin quickly rushed into her room before her other roommate appeared to talk to her. She quickly put her stuff away, though she didn't have much anyway. She then checked on the order she placed last night. It would be arriving soon enough. The system enabled soen people to possess teleportation abilities, which made deliveries far faster.

While I wait, I can practice with my abilities.

With some excitement, Erin took out a deck of playing cards. She then chanted the command, “Rise and Serve.”

In an instant, Erin felt a connection between her and the cards. She could move them around like they were a part of her body. She couldn't hold back her laugh as she swirled them around her hands. She kept playing around with her skill for the next half hour.

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It's been a while since I've felt this sort of childish amazement. But it's time to get serious. Let me test how strong my skill can be. From what I know, it enhances the durability and sharpness of the cards as well, but let's see how much damage it can do. But I'll wait till my special order arrives. It should be here any minute now.

And as she expected, she got the notification of arrival. After canceling her link with the cards, she quietly left her apartment and headed down to pick up her package.

I'll pick up some food while I'm at it. Sushi seems good to me.

As soon as Erin entered her room, she ripped open the packaging to look at what was inside: a set of tarot cards made of stainless steel.

They're beautiful. Now let's check how well I can move these.

Erin repeated the command with the new set of cards. This time, she found them slightly harder to move around.

I guess the weight affects how well I can move them. Oh well. Let's see how much damage these bad boys can do.

She placed the metal garbage can she'd bought before down, and launched a single metal card straight at it. The card pierced through it and struck the wall behind. The card itself was unscathed.

Hah hah hah! Yes, I can definitely work with this.

After ending the connection, Erin felt a sudden wave of drowsiness. She started eating the food she'd bought to energize herself, but eventually she gave up on fighting her lethargy and got ready to turn in.

The next day, she immediately freshened up, ate her food, and began to make preparations.

It's time I take my first mission.

Technically speaking, she didn't have to take a mission right away. There was a relief period of 15 days during which no missions would be required at the beginning and after each successful mission.

But I can't wait. I need to rise up as quickly as I can. My brother was right about one thing; the current system is crap, and the only way to survive in this world is with power.

First Erin took out a dark t-shirt that she planned on wearing. She then placed some of her newly bought cards over the location on the shirt where her vitals would be when she wore it. She covered the rest of the shirt with the ordinary cards she had.

Along with this, I'll wear the protective vest Brother got me a while ago, along with the forearm and shin guards from when I skated, back when…

She shook herself free of the thought and then turned her attention towards packing her backpack.

I'll need energy drinks, water bottles, some cans of food, and a first aid kit. Maybe a change of clothes. Oh, a flashlight as well.

It took her over an hour, but eventually Erin was able to get ready. She opened the System interface to check the missions tab. There were countless available missions.

Let's see; there's some kind of exploratory mission, but the projected timeline is indefinite, which is an issue. There's a treasure hunt mission, there's a demon killing quest, but neither seems right for me. Ah ha! There's a timed exploratory mission. It's only about 20 minutes, so I should be in and out in no time.

As soon as Erin chose the mission, her world turned blank. When her eyes opened, she found herself in a damp and misty forest.

Erin immediately activated the cards with the command, and began to explore.