“Card Packs are a load of crockshit masking itself as gold. You usually get nothing. Unless you’re opening your first pack of each archetype, that’s worth way more than you are.
Now, do you want to buy some card packs, kid?”
~The Chesire Gambler
“But why do I have to look after the lines?” Ken stomped his feet like a child. “It’s not fair! I want to learn from you too!”
“That attitude is exactly why, Ken.” Devin said. “You need to learn you can’t act like a kid, you're fourteen for crying out loud.”
“But—”
“No buts.” Devin put his foot down. “You need to learn that consequences exist before you get yourself killed. One wrong move out here, and you're dead.”
He looked at the ground, speaking in a soft voice. “I already know that.”
“Then prove it.” Devin sighed. “Catch enough shards for us to use and I’ll teach you after your brother.”
Ken perked up at the compromise. “Sir, yessir.” He gave a sloppy, but sincere salute before hurrying over to the poles and stakes.
“He sounds like a hell of a handful.” The female soldier—Specialist Jenkins—said, hearing the tailend of the conversation as she walked up to them, presumably done with her patrol.
““You have no idea.”” Devin and Ben said at the same time, making the both of them chuckle.
“I’ve only known these two for a couple of days, yet they can be a lot to handle—especially that one over there.” Devin said, pointing at the talkative twin checking the fishing equipment.
Ben shook his head. “You only had to deal with him for a week. Imagine dealing with that your whole life.”
Jenkins laughed. Devin was surprised to hear how nice it sounded; like bells in the wind. It was jarring from her slightly dirty appearance, body armor and helmet included. “Hahaha, you boys act so familiar with each other that I thought you were all brothers.”
“Nope, just them.” Devin said, then squinted at her. “And who are you calling boy? Pretty sure we’re the same age.”
The soldier eyed him skeptically. “How old are you?”
“22.”
“Ah, I’m 23.” She clicked her tongue disappointedly. “That means you're still a little boy to me. Can’t change my mind.” She crossed her arms, yet smiled at Devin.
“Just give me a chance, I’ll—”
“Ahem!” Ben coughed loudly, his face red for some reason. “You said you had some stuff to go over with me, right Devin? ‘Class’ was your exact word, I’m pretty sure.”
“Oh. Yeah, you’re right.” Devin got the buckets and made three impromptu seats. “You’re welcome to join if you want.”
“Class? What are you teaching?” Jenkins asked, excitedly taking a seat. Devin was a little impressed she still followed gun safety and pointed the barrel away from them the entire time.
“Various things.” Devin shrugged his shoulders. “Last night, I discovered a lot of information. Some might even help you when you condense your first magic circle.”
“As long as you don’t mind me asking you questions.” Jenkins smiled.
“Ask me anything.” Devin said.
“How about how I should go about growing?” Ben asked, a solid green circle manifesting from his chest. The circle flashed and disappeared, leaving a baby wolf in Ben’s lap in its place.
“Oh my god! Who is this?!” Jenkins leaped from her seat, scooping up the cub who didn’t refuse.
“I haven’t named him yet. Got him last night.” He said, giving a subtle nod to Devin. “I didn’t want to use the same achievement as my brother as the circle’s focus, so I used him, and automatically got the Beastmaster Archetype, along with some other achievements.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Jenkins stopped fawning over the pup, but didn’t let him go. “Achievements? Focuses? Archetypes? You’re going to have to go back to the beginning and explain it to me.”
“Since you haven’t forged your magic circle, you won’t be able to get any, but achievements are literally that, accomplishments,” Devin explained. “The good thing about them is that they come with rewards of all types.
“So, you shouldn’t go around saying you've gotten several of them.” Devin said pointedly at Ben.
“I understand.” Ben nodded.
“Focus and Archetypes are similar. Are you familiar with RPGs?” Devin asked Jenkins.
“Like Last Fantasy 7? Not one bit other than its anime in game form.”
Devin was speechless at that answer. “Well, you're not wrong.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Focus is the main ability of your magical circle, while Archetypes let you learn skills, and obtain powers called boon to use.” Ben said succinctly.
“Thanks, Ben. Better than I could’ve put it.”
Jenkins furrowed her eyebrows. “Can a circle have no focus?”
“I guess so,” Devin scratched his chin as he answered. “But I’ve never seen anyone do it. Magic circles get their abilities from whatever core you used to form it while giving the construct stability. Building one without a focus is not only unnecessarily difficult, there’s nothing to gain from it.”
Jenkins returned the pup to Ben. “I figured that would be the case. Can’t blame a girl for trying.” She sighed.
“Sorry it wasn’t something you wanted to hear.” Devin said with sincerity. “About your question, Ben; the easiest way would be to pour shards into your archetype, but that is missing a lot of nuances. I know someone who can give you a better answer.”
Shadows congealed onto Devin’s shoulder before falling away, revealing a fluffy field mouse. “Say ‘Hi, Dewey.’”
Ben looked at her with doubt. “... Hi, Dewey.” She waved a paw in greetings back to him. “Wow, she can understand English?”
“More like she can understand meanings. It's complicated.” Devin waved the query away. “Dewey, can you {Check Out} a book for me? One that specifically caters to Beastmasters?” The mouse nodded, manifesting her own minuscule ring to use the spell. A chime rang through the air, and a book slowly fell on Ben’s lap.
“Thank you, Dewey.” Ben said enthusiastically, holding his wolf pup as he cracked open the heavy tome.
Dewey chittered on his shoulder proudly, “Yes, yes; you are pretty amazing.” Devin rolled his eyes at his partner’s pride. “Make sure to go through that as fast as you can, keeping that book here drains my arcanium.”
Ben nodded.
“I got one! I got one, and it’s huge!” Ken yelled from the shoreline. His brother was content to read near him. “My skill is telling me I hit the jackpot!”
“Keep it up!” Devin yelled back. Dewey squeaked from his shoulder. “Yeah, they’re just a couple of kids.” He agreed.
“Did you…Did you just talk to your monster?” Jenkins asked, bewildered. She squinted at them as if he suddenly grew a second head.
“Technically, she’s a spirit.” Devin said, not elaborating.
She stared at them, before bursting into laughter, her earlier mood forgotten. “Real, or not—that’s the craziest shit I’ve seen in a while.” She chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye.
Devin smiled, glad the conversation was shifting to lighter topics. “I’m sure you’ve seen worse. Hell, there were a million horrible things on the internet.”
Her chuckles died off, her smile shifted into a frown. “Yeah, but that was forever ago.”
“What’s so funny? I want to laugh too.” Walters said as he returned from his patrol.
Devin got up from his precarious seat, stretching his pain-ridden back. “We were laughing at how ugly you are.” He said, walking away from the soldiers.
“HEY, YOU BAS—” Walters immediately began to yell, but Devin tuned it out. He had more important things to do.
The boys are doing what they can to get stronger. I can’t lag behind either. Sitting down on a boulder next to the twins, Devin cleared his mind, before manifesting his Soul Card to view the rewards he had yet to claim.
Devin pulled out a seemingly plastic pack that was Heaven’s Do-Gooder from his vault. Its cover featured an army of angels preparing for battle. The art was so vivid that Devin could even see scratches on the angel’s armor.
While it had hurt to rip apart a piece of art, the power within was worth way more, and that was underselling it.
I shouldn’t hesitate. Devin told himself as he ripped open the card pack and was blinded by an eruption of bright light.
Common Heaven’s Do-Gooder Pack
2 Common Shards Gained!
Card Gained!
Heaven’s Lookout
The flare dissipated, revealing three objects—two shards and a single card
“I would rather have more cards.” He muttered, directing the excess shards towards Dewey instead of letting them go to waste.
It was only a common pack. Still plenty to go through. Devin comforted himself as he took another pack, then another, ripping open almost every pack within his vault, art be damned.
Uncommon Survivor Pack
Card Gained!
Last Stand
2 Uncommon Shards Gained!
Legendary Best of the Bloodline Pack!
3 Cards Gained!
Gene Therapy
Bloodline Revea
Mythic Heart
Best of the Bloodline Pack
3 Uncommon Shards Gained!
Devin's heart soared at seeing so many new cards at once, but his good mood plummeted when opening another pack just to be rewarded with 30 measly shards.
Gambling would’ve been the death of me. He took a breath to calm his beating heart. There does seem to be a pattern though. The first time I open a pack type I get better luck. It was a poor theory, but he held onto it, picking the shiniest pack out of the rare Untapped Potential.
Untapped Potential Pack
Rare Shard Gained!
Hearthstone Gained!
Card Gained!
Collect Potential
Untapped Potential Pack
3 Rare Shards Gained!
Untapped Potential Pack
3 Rare Shards Gained!
Untapped Potential Pack
2 Rare Shards Gained!
Hearthstone Gained!
Untapped Potential Pack
2 Rare Shards Gained!
Card Gained!
Explosive Power
Untapped Potential Pack
3 Uncommon Shards Gained!
A rush went through Devin as a windfall of multiple cards and hundreds of shards fell into his lap. His vault groaned from the density, more than ready to burst. Unwilling to let the shards dissipate, Devin elected to use the shards for other purposes.
Feeling at the various parts of his core, Devin divided the stream of shards into two. The first was easy; all he had to do was pour as much as Dewey could handle through their bond, yet the other was not so easy. The shards floated aimlessly through his core, quickly joined by more as the pressure only climbed higher. So Devin searched for another outlet.
He had heard horror stories of people increasing their stats too quickly, so he limited himself to an increase of 0.1 for each primary score. Yet it didn't change anything, the pressure was only growing worse. Devin struggled to keep his grip on the surging energy and his whining core.
I need to do something. Anything before I freaking blow up. Another horror story that Devin was determined not to live out. There's got to be something I can do.
Mind enhanced by [focus], all sorts of memories flew through his skull, yet only one thing stuck out to him. The mental realm that appeared every time Devin [subjugate]'d another thinking being.
Devin didn't hesitate. He casted [subjugate] on himself over and over again, injecting his entire body with a flood of arcanium until his awareness began to sink below the waters.
Only then did Devin become privy to the inner workings of his own soul.
Solar flares exploded from a violet star, bathing several planets and comets in radiation. Devin stared in awe, but he quickly pulled himself together and directed his attention to tracing the path of the shards that flowed to an unknown destination. Devin ignored his rumbling core and followed the trail of energy that traveled up and up, until they disappeared into the starry void.
Are those…constellations? Devin asked himself as he saw flickering images superimpose themselves on the stars. They seemed as solid as candlelight, but that changed the longer Devin observed them until they became settled into the sky.
One appeared to be a simple cross, while the other came across as a living flame, seemingly crackling with the twinkling stars.
Growth Trees Revealed!
After that, it was like the dam broke. All of the excess shards in Devon’s vault gushed through the new spillway, inundating the two constellations with literal power. The stars within the constellations glittered like diamonds, at least three times as bright as before.
In quiet meditation, Devin watched as the fire bloomed and the cross sparkled.
+0.3 Meta-awareness Gained!
+0.2 Meta-finesse Gained!
+0.2 Power Gained!
+0.1 Acumen Gained!
+0.1 Charisma Gained!
Devin Carter
Shards:3214/3215
Circle:N/A
Life:89%
Stamina:96%
Arcanium:90%
POW:0.6
ACU:0.6
CHA:0.7
M.Awa:0.6
M.Fin:0.4
Main Deck: Rage, Boar’s Charge, Dewey
Side Deck: Stick Tribe’s Bag o’ Tricks, Stealy’s Red Cap
Skill list: Seize, Subjugate, Destroy, Focus, Refine
Vault: Grey Wolf (2) (Damaged), Rusty’s…, 100% Pure Bleach, Evil Swarm, Explosive Power, Collect Potential, Mythic Heart, Bloodline Reveal, Gene Therapy, Last Stand, Heaven’s Lookout, 2 Hearthstones
Growth Trees: Wrath, Elite