‘We need a plan.’ Johan began to think about how they could act.

‘One better than the one we just executed.’ Josh added.

‘I didn’t consider some things... Now I’ll think it through.’ Johan stayed silent for a few seconds before continuing. ‘First, we need to know when the card is arriving, if we know that, we can steal it before someone bonds with it, making our work easier.’

People could feel the direction of their bonded cards, so stealing it after that was madness.

‘Second, the number of soldiers they have is very important. We can count how many they have around the farm to have an idea.’

‘Third and lastly, you’ll need to bond with the concealment card before we get the one we already planned, you'll have to practice with it.’

Josh was hearing quietly, and the last topic made him take a deep breath. “Fine! But I’ll be making the plan with you this time.”

‘Fine.’ Johan nodded. ‘Begin by bonding with concealment then, let’s see if you’re compatible with it.’

“Humph…” Josh placed his hand on the inner pocket of his pants and picked the card up.

Even though it was a common card, he was sure many would kill him in his sleep for it without hesitation. Almost everybody was uncarded in Musharv.

He placed his hand over the card, letting his energy flow from his body into it. Slowly, he felt a connection forming between them, and he instinctively knew how to activate it.

He got up and left his mud shack, knowing he would not be able to properly see its effects in this pitch darkness, so he got closer to one of the torches surrounding the fields, but not so close as to be seen.

He dropped the card into his shadow, and it vanished into it. Instantly, Josh felt himself become more aware of the shadows around him and how to use them to his favor, and his own shadow had become smaller as if there was a light shining directly from above.

Josh explained the card effects in detail to his brother, making sure there was no crucial information left.

‘The effects are simple, but it’s very helpful in hiding. Just not having your shadow extending without control will make it possible to go through some hard places.’ Johan thought for a while before continuing. ‘But the best part is knowing the positions of shadows around you. That’ll surely help a lot.’

‘Let’s test it a bit then…’ Josh got closer to a guard, and used his newfound abilities to better position himself. With it, in the darkness, it was as if he was invisible. He moved closer to the guard, getting within ten meters of the man.

He knew that a sudden movement or sound could alert the guard, but Josh felt calm. He had always loved the feeling of adrenaline pumpkin through his veins, and after that day, he had become even more eager to have that feeling, it made everything easier to forget.

Johan stayed quiet, knowing that speaking would be useless. After some time, Josh retreated and went back to his mud shack.

‘I feel drained…’ Josh laid on the ground. ‘It's a good card, but it drains me too much. My energy is almost empty even though I only used it for a short time.’ Josh said. Even though it was not using the complete Reaper card, he could use soul sight for a long time, with the only drawback being the strain on his body, not his energy, and even when he used the full transformation his energy didn't feel this drained.

‘That’s because It’s a common card. Its efficiency is horrible. It uses too much energy to do too little. But at least it's a useful one.’ Johan explained. ‘Now rest, we’ll catch some lizards tomorrow.’

Josh put the card away after getting it out of his shadow and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

---

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The caves were dangerous, after all, they were the place where the monsters of Musharv lived. Thankfully, after living most of his life running around them, the brothers knew where to go and what to avoid, they made their way to the subterranean lake, that day's objective.

They took quite some time getting there, as they had to avoid a lot of dangers along the way.

‘Will this really work?’ Josh looked down at the crystal clear water, but the poor light didn’t allow him to see deep. ‘I don’t think those lizards will fall for this.’ He placed the barely lit torch to the side. It only had a small fire, just enough to not let the place fall into complete darkness.

‘Believe me, they are dumber than they look.’ Johan said. ‘Now just throw the trap with the bait and see how it works.’

The woven basket was round with a half-open lid. Johan had explained to Josh that when he pulled it, the water would make it close, trapping the lizard until he got it out of the water, but he had to keep pulling constantly.

He threw the basket with the bait, and held the rope with attention, not wanting to lose any movement.

Time passed, and the more he waited, the more impatient he became.

'Its taking too long, I'll pull it out.' Josh pulled the trap, and as soon as he took it out of the water, saw that the bait was gone, with no lizard inside it. 'I think your trap is not working properly.'

'Just close the lid a bit more and it will work. Don't worry, we still have plenty of bait.' Johan said.

Josh adjusted the lid, closing it even more and only leaving a small gap. After making sure the lid would not suddenly open, he threw the trap on the water and waited.

This time, it didn't take long, he soon felt movement from the trap.

'Wait for a moment, it has to be inside the basket.' Johan instructed.

Josh waited, and after some seconds, he pulled with all his strength.

'It' s heavy!' Josh complained. His thin arms moved quickly, and he soon pulled the basket out of the water.

As soon as the basket hit the shore, the lizard tried to jump out of it.

The lizard was sleek, with smooth skin all over its body that was almost transparent. He was even able to see its insides.

'Remember, don't kill it now! The scent could attract other monsters.' Johan said while Josh grabbed the animal by the back of its neck, swiftly binding it with a hem rope.

'One down. How many more to go?' Josh asked.

'As many as we can get.' Johan answered.

There was still a lot of bait, and Josh quickly got the hang of it. He discovered that the secret of catching as many as he could was mostly patience and learning when to pull.

He was getting better constantly, capturing more and more lizards, and sometime later, there were no more baits.

'Fifteen lizards, a good haul.' Johan added.

'Yup. I hope the cards come out.' Josh added while grabbing the first one.

He gripped its neck tightly and activated the full power of the reaper, killing it.

The first one didn't drop any cards, but he kept going. The first card dropped was on the fourth one, he didn't even look at it and kept killing the lizards.

After it was done, he looked down at the four cards in front of him. He took the first one out, it had the image of a wounded lizard, and on the other side was written.

Ignore wounds

Tier: Uncommon

Description: use your energy to support your body, ignoring the wounds' effects.

He had to admit it was a good card, mostly for warriors who fought up close. He picked another one up and read its description.

Enhanced regeneration

Tier: Uncommon

Description: Enhance the natural regeneration of the body, making wounds heal faster.

Another good card, it was the perfect fit with the first one, and why those lizards were so hard to kill. Of course, his methods of getting them were better than just fighting directly. He looked at the next two cards and saw they both were enhanced regeneration cards.

‘Awesome! Stack them.’ Johan said.

‘Yup.’ Josh pushed the tree cards together and saw them coming together, the description changing a bit.

Enhanced regeneration +3

Tier: Uncommon

Description: Enhance the natural regeneration of the body, making wounds heal faster.

The same cards could be stacked together, making them create a stronger effect. Of course, stacking a card to plus three would only make the effect better by about thirty percent, up to ten stacks the increases would be ten per stack, and after that, the effects would halve for every ten levels.

Stacks were not for the poor people, to create a big stack of cards, you had to be insanely powerful or come from a good family.

Josh bonded the two cards, and they entered his body, fusing with his flesh. He felt them within him, only a call away from awakening their abilities.

‘Now that this is taken care of, let’s go after that elemental card.’ He grinned from ear to ear as he left the caves.