The room they were in didn’t seem to have much beyond the wide, bare ground and the window. So the only path forward was backwards. Despite being on a countdown, Belinda seemed to be calmer, confident that now they would be able to keep ahead of the time. Of course, to Maggie’s dismay, that probably meant that she would have to kill more monsters. But strangely, even though she didn’t want to kill and was terrified of encountering more monsters like the last one, at the same time she was excited by the prospect of fighting. She wanted to learn more about her limits. After all, she had no idea she could fight until she needed to.
Of course, she was more excited by the prospect of learning about magic. But Belinda wanted to go back to the room they awakened in first. She said it would be good practice to always look for resources from now on. And it was a good thing she did.
Now that the room was open, it had become increasingly warmer, even though it hadn’t passed much more than fifteen minutes. It was when looking through the pockets of the other bodies that Maggie found it.
“Belinda, Belinda. Look!” She exclaimed, pointing the half dozen cards she found upwards in the direction of the ceiling, as if the former goddess could see her from above.
Maggie, I already told you; it takes me a while to be able to observe the ambient you are in. Imagine my field of view starts at a point centered within you and slowly expands when you stay set in a place for a few minutes.
“Oh, sorry—Wait, you can see my insides? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I found more cards! Do you want me to wait until you can see them?”
Yes, and no; it shouldn't take me much longer. But this is perfect, let us use it as an aid to teach you more about magic.
“Yes, finally!”
Our time is still limited, so for now, let's go with the basics. Why don’t you pick one card and tell me what you see?
“Alrighty!” From her handful of cards, she picked the first one. A simple copper-coloured card with the image of a jar; inside it, what seemed to be a few square-shaped brownish treats.
“Jar of… Travel Biscuits? Why would this guy be carrying a card named Jar of Travel Biscuits? They needed something to munch on in the creepy room with bodies?”
Something tells me that they didn’t. But you, on the other hand, might desperately need it in the journey ahead. Unless of course, you are comfortable with taking sustenance in the flesh of our foes.
“Ha ha. Very funny of you.”
Thank you. Now, back to the task at hand. Describe the card’s properties to me.
“Uhh, it is pretty simple, actually. There is a rectangle with the card’s name on the top, a square with the image of the jar in the middle, and—Oh! And right below the image, another rectangle. This one says ‘Rank D Item Card’. What is that about?”
That is the Card’s classification. Being an Item Card is self-explanatory; it means you can summon an item upon utilizing the card. Its rank, on the other hand, is more complex. Simply put, it refers to its rarity, D being the lowest. That means this is a simple, mundane, and very common item— likewise, the higher the Rank, the higher the Card’s overall power and complexity.
“Okay, I think I got it! Higher the Rank, better the goodies.”
That is a simplistic way of putting it, but sure.
“Alrighty, going forward. There is a description right below the classification; ‘Homemade biscuits for the weary traveler. Its long shelf life will last for the longest of the journeys’ ?”
Well, there it is. That means it is probably safe to eat.
“Neat! I was getting very hungry, so—Claim!” Once again, upon claiming it, the card blinked out of her hand, disappearing in a moment. “This will never get old!”
Great. So this is the basic anatomy of a Card. Now, it is of my understanding that magic is a complex system. In this world, it manifests in many different ways. But regardless of how, it can be summarized in one word; ‘Intent’.
Extend your hand and say ‘Book’.
Maggie lifted an eyebrow at that. But knowing Belinda for her whole life, all the 25 minutes of it, she just did as was said. Of course, the fact that she was very excited to learn more about magic helped it.
“—Book!” Almost immediately upon calling the word, a sturdy dark brown book appeared, floating just in front of her hand.
“Ohhh! Belinda, Belinda. Look!”
Yes, Maggie. I see it.
“This is so cool. A magical book! Am I a wizard now?”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Yes. You are a wizard, Maggie.
“Really?”
No.
“Oww.”
Now, continuing.
It was your intent that manifested the book, even if unconsciously. The same way it is your intent that take the cards from this reality once you claim them, and then bring their contents back once you call their names.
‘Magic is turned into intent, intent is turned into construct, and construct is turned into magic again.’
Other kinds of magic may require a more active effort of intent, but this one only require cards and the book you have there. How and why it works this way, still escapes my knowledge. But amidst the ways magic manifests in this world, this is the one you currently have access to.
Extend your hand, as if you were to touch the book.
Slowly, Maggie brought her hand forward, and when it was close enough to touch the tome, it suddenly opened. “Ohh!”
Immediately inside, Maggie could see it had two pages, each filled by nine card-shaped indentations, like slots cards could fit in. On the top of the left page, there were three different slots; the border of its indentation had little clasps, like to hold cards in it, and on the first of these slots, was the Jar of Travel Biscuits card.
This tome has many names. But most often it seems to be colloquially referred to as simply ‘The Book’. As you can see, inside it you have 18 card slots, this is where your cards go after you claim them. The first three are what we call Quickcast slots, you can quickly activate the cards equipped in it by calling their names, like you have been doing so far.
“Why is the Healing Salve in the third slot, instead of the first? It was the only card I had before claiming the Jar.” She asked, noticing the Jar of Travel Biscuits had occupied the first slot, and there was a gap between it and the Healing Salve card.
Cards are assigned a slot based on the order you claimed them, and can only be moved manually. The Healing Salve was the third card you claimed after using the Fire Bolt. That means that after you deployed the first two cards, it continued to be in the third slot.
“Ohh, got it.”
Now, that said, the book functions based on your intentions. If you tap the card with the intention to move it, you can change its current slot's location. Likewise, if you tap it with the intention to activate it, you can do it forgoing the ‘calling’.
Knowing that, Maggie tapped the first card slot; the Jar card disappearing in a blink. And then, a moment later, a glass jar appeared floating in front of her.
"Sweet!" The jar continued to float for a few seconds, until Maggie placed her hands on both of its sides, the jar ceding to her grasp. She quickly moved to open it, the book slowly drifting to the side, as if moving in an orbit around her, as she shoved her hand inside the jar and grabbed a handful of little biscuits.
As you can see, this is a much faster way to bring cards forth. If you remember when you called your knife card, it took a few seconds to appear in your grasp. This seems to be particular to Item Cards, while Magic Cards—like the Fire Bolt you used earlier—will appear immediately after you call it.
But as you imagine, saying a card's full name during a fight might take precious time, especially if it is a long name, so you may find it more advantageous deploying it directly from the book, depending on the situa— Belinda stopped her explanation as Maggie stuffed the biscuits in her mouth, then stopped to cough some bits she almost choked on, and proceeded to continue stuffing her mouth.
Are you paying attention?
“Showwy,” said Maggie, with a mouth full of biscuits, “really hungrwy."
Belinda sighed.
You really have a short attention span, don’t you? She sighed again, Simply put, using cards from the book is faster than calling them. Keep that in mind when you are fighting with Magic Cards, as earlier.
“Got it! Man, these biscuits taste really weird. And are so dry! I wish I could share with you. Not that I know what other food tastes like, this is the first thing I have ever eaten! Have you ev—”
—Let's move on. Belinda stopped her before she went on a tangent that would probably waste more time than they should. As you can see, your book only has two pages and 18 card slots total. This can be further improved in the future, amongst other things.
“Wow, what is this?” Turning over the left page in the book, Maggie was faced with a single other page, and a strange one. While the other two looked like sturdy, almost metallic sheets, they didn’t look much out of the ordinary. This one was different; it had a weird, almost velvet-like texture to it. It was completely purple-black, like a void sucking all color. And it seemed to ripple and flow at times, as if something was moving and shifting inside the page; like a shark in some deep, dark murky waters.
That is the Bookheart. Or Index, if you prefer… It won't help you right now. We will come back to it once we have more time.
“Trippy.” Maggie closed The Book, resisting the urge to shove her hand into the Bookheart to see what would happen. As far as she knows, it could be a black hole and start to suck her whole body, stripping her apart, little spaghetti strand at time. Huh, spaghettification, that's a thing.
Now, to press on. You still have five cards left.
“Right, cards.” Maggie looked back at her hand and started going through the remaining cards.
Hunter’s Haversack
Rank D — Item Card
“Useful for carrying your belongings, the haversack also comes with a bundle of straps attached to its side. So, you know, you can carry your quarry, in case you are a real hunter.”
“That will be useful.” After claiming the Haversack, Maggie proceeded to the next card.
Waterskin
Rank D — Item Card
“Carry your water, soup, liquor, or any other liquid you can use to quench your thirst during long travels. The waterskin comes filled with two liters of clean water. Just don’t forget to fill it out afterwards! It won't fill by itself.”
“What a good timing! Those biscuits made me thirsty—Claim!”
You better pace yourself with that. We are not sure when we will find any other source of water.
Hunter’s Garb
Rank D — Item Card
“This set of clothes is both comfortable and sturdy, perfect for long pursues in uneven terrain. Its color will match the environment where it was first deployed, providing much more camouflage than your ordinary set of clothes.”
“Finally, pants!” Maggie quickly claimed the Garb, deploying it to receive a bundle of clothes, all in shades of orange, and a pair of sturdy boots on top of it. Unraveling the bundle, she lifted the first item; a rough linen long coat, topped with a leather vest. It had long sleeves and seemed to reach halfway down to her thighs, its seams fitting her perfectly.
It matches your hair quite well.
“My hair?” Maggie asked, reaching her head with both her hands, “Oh yeah! My hair is kinda orangy,” “She said, pulling one of her short, red curly wisps. Her hair seemed to be cut short, so it wasn’t a surprise that she didn’t notice it before. It made her wonder if someone cut it before she awakened, or if she was magically created that way, “It is so weird that I don’t know what I look like. I need a mirror.”
At least you have a physical body.
“Yeah, sorry about that—Ugh!” Finishing checking the bundle of clothes she received, Maggie came to a terrible realization— “It doesn't come with undies!” The bundle only came with the essentials; a long coat, pants, boots, and a simple leather belt. Although Maggie questioned a world where underwear is not considered an essential. Or maybe that was just a wicked ploy made by whoever made the cards to force her to fight to get a 'Panties Card'. “That sucks! Well, it beats going full commando, I guess.” She grumbled, pulling her pants up, only to get one foot stuck in the pant leg, almost falling to the ground.
Upon regaining her balance, she went for the boots. They were simple leather, same as the belt, but sturdier and with a lace across its length, to tighten it against her leg. “You know, it feels very weird wearing boots without socks… Even though I have never worn socks before.”
You tell me. Again, no body.
After finishing putting on the boots, Maggie got up, tapping her foot on the stone ground to make sure it fit properly. And for her amusement, it all fit exactly to her size, from the coat to her boots. Despite Belinda saying these were supposed to be ordinary items, they were clearly made to fit her. She had only known magic for a dozen minutes or so, but she knew she would love every minute of it.
Finishing outfitting herself, Maggie put her knife on her belt and the old robe inside the haversack that she wrung from shoulder to waist, in case she would need her temporary clothes later. Who knows, maybe it will double as a blanket. Then doing a little spin, she extended her arms, showing her new look.
“Okay, be honest. How do I look?” she asked.
Like an orange girl in an orange world.
“I’ll take it!”