Shouren was dumbstruck at the card hovering in front of him.

  Carved with intricate patterns swirling over the surface, the blue glowing card emanated an ethereal feel to it. This was the first time the boy was seeing a [Rare] card in person. In his small village, a card like this would be exclusive to the members of the governor’s house. Not even the local merchants would have [Rare] card in stock.

  It was simply too valuable.

  So valuable that Shouren didn’t even know how much chronas he’d need to have to buy one in the big cities.

  “Only 1 card, but holy donkey, it’s a blighted [Rare] spell card.”

  Shouren mumbled to himself, his face still locked in a shocked expression. The monstrous bear had only dropped a single card, but it was a card that would draw the ire of everyone if they ever discovered Shouren was in possession of it. He glimpsed that it was a spell card, and he gingerly reached out his quivering hand to grab its delicate corner.

  Tier 0 - Dimensional Vault [Rare]

  Personal storage space of 3x3 square meters. Cannot store living specimens. Required constant lumen to maintain spatial integrity. Utility spell card with universal class compatibility.

  Cost: 5 lumen.

  “It’s a utility spell card!”

  Shouren brought the glowing blue card closer to his inquisitive face, his mouth open with awe.

  Utility cards were very special. Unlike normal spell cards requiring class compatibility to equip, utility cards could be freely used by everyone. At Tier 0, every Cardist had 1 free spell slot allocated to them. Until evolving to Tier 1, that lone spell slot was priceless.

  Initially, Shouren was ecstatic about the [Rare] card drop, but he also knew he most likely wouldn’t be able to use it. [Rare] spell cards had a ludicrous amount of lumen restrictions, which for his paltry 10 lumen capacity would be an impossible task.

  Either he could travel to the bigger cities to sell the card or he could waste it for a single use of Lumen Bolt with his Card Sacrifice ability. The latter would twist his heart at the waste, but the former could invite unnecessary trouble to him and his grandma.

  However, the situation was different with a utility spell card. Shouren had yet to use his spell card slot.

  “It needs a permanent 5 lumen from my max capacity to maintain the spatial structure. If I equip it, that would mean I can only use the remaining 5 lumen to fight. I need at least 2 lumen to stop my stamina from depleting too fast, and another 2 lumen to dodge a single attack. Leaving me with only 1 lumen to launch a strike. What if I miss the first hit?”

  Shouren scratched his head in frustration. His lumen capacity was nightmarishly low. He could equip the Dimensional Vault in his spell slot for a few minutes and remove it after he was done, but then he’d lose everything he’d placed inside unless he took it out before. He couldn’t be doing that back and forth all the time.

  “Screw it, I’ll think about it later. I don’t even have 5 lumen right now. I need to get away from this area first.”

  Shouren secured the blue card in his trousers and turned his attention to the bear’s corpse. Once again, he lamented at the lack of a proper weapon. If he had a sword or a dagger, he could cut the bear’s claws out. The boy was certain they’d sell for a fair chunk of chronas.

  Sighing with resignation, Shouren leaned over and grabbed one of the bear’s stocky paws. Ignoring the bristling coarse fur, the boy bit down with full force, his teeth puncturing into the oily raw meat. Tearing off the flesh with his jaw, Shouren spat out the morsel and gnawed through the meat until the hide. The boy repeated this over until he was satiated and had recovered 7 more lumen.

  “Not as bad as wolf meat.”

  Shouren commented while wiping away from blood from his mouth with his elbow. The bear meat was surprisingly palatable.

  Should I equip Dimensional Vault and store this bear?

  The boy pondered over the decision again. The bear’s meat could help him recover his lumen faster, and having a secure stock of it would make Shouren’s future hunts less lumen-stringent.

  But what if he unexpectedly encountered another Tier 0 monster like the alpha? He barely had enough lumen for his last couple fights and both monsters were already severely wounded. He could not always count on that kind of luck all the time.

  Out of the three fights he’d faced, the last two were already close to death and the first fight he had against a healthy Tier 0 monster, he’d smashed his spine into dust.

  Those were not reassuring odds.

  If he had a collection of spell cards he could use to thwart the attacks like the Tier 0 - Hide Presence card he used against the bear, he could risk equipping the utility card. However, he didn’t have useful spell cards at the moment, save for the cards he could sacrifice for a Lumen Bolt. If only the Cardsmith class had a viable attack ability.

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  “No, I can’t risk it.”

  Shouren finally shook his head wistfully. Survival was more important. The bear’s meat would let him prepare in advance, but the utility card’s function stopped there. It wouldn’t help him in direct combat. For that, he desperately needed all 10 of his lumen. He could always find other monsters in the forest but nothing could replace the 5 lumen he’d lose in maintaining that spell card.

  Shouren was young, but he didn’t let the greed of a [Rare] card cloud his judgment.

  He glanced down at his previously injured hand. The alpha’s fang marks were almost healed. Lumen had many amazing qualities and one of them was amplifying his natural regeneration. It would still take a few more days for the injury to fully heal, but the hand was no longer hurting Shouren.

  “Time to scout this area.”

  Shouren picked the tallest tree he could see near him and dashed towards it. For a short while, this area should be safe of other monsters, so he wanted to take this time to climb up as high as he could and map the area to find other notable location points. There definitely should be a body of water nearby, which would mean a higher chance of finding prey.

  Making sure the [Rare] card was a tightly secured, Shouren summoned a tide of lumen to wash over his muscles. Fueled with the boundless energy of the class card, the young boy rushed up the trunk. He made quick work of the climb, racing ahead with his new Tier 0 body. In a mere few minutes, Shouren was hanging off the tallest branch of the tree.

  The heavy wind sliced through his face, causing him to squint through his hazel eyes to see the land below him.

  Countless trees spanned the entire forest, with a row of looming mountains in the back.

  “That’s the place.”

  Shouren spotted the mountains and his instincts were telling him to go there. He was too far away to see clearly, but he had an inkling that there would be water near the region where the forest connect with the mountains. The rocky landscape would also give him another escape route where he could use the environment to delay his pursuers.

  Mentally noting down the direction of the mountain, Shouren dropped down the tree with haste. Once his feet touched solid ground, the boy wasted no time in heading in that direction. With lumen dancing through his body, Shouren ran ahead. He was brimming with energy after gorging on the bear flesh.

  He wondered what his grandmother, Rhea, would have to say if she knew he’d been eating raw monster meat since he’d been in the dungeon. Would she scold him or be proud of his determination to survive? Was something wrong with him because he’d gotten used to the flavor of raw meat?

  Shouren didn’t know.

  “Grandma…”

  The boy’s thoughts hesitated. He could leave the dungeon anytime he wanted, but he’d made the choice of staying back to kill more monsters and get stronger. But that meant he was intentionally making his old lady more mournful more than she needed to. Shouren didn’t even leave a note saying he was going into the dungeon. Rhea would be clueless as to where her grandson was. She was already frail enough.

  He could argue that he couldn’t leave the dungeon until he’d killed 3 Tier 0 monsters, but how could he tell her he selfishly stayed back longer after fulfilling the requirements?

  “1 week. I’ll stay for 1 week and try to kill as many monsters as I can. After that, I’m leaving.”

  Shouren whispered, his eyes blazing with intensity. He knew what was at stake with his corrupted trait and abilities. He needed to get stronger before others found out about what he could do. Shouren could technically leave today and re-enter the dungeon, but there was a reason the dungeon’s entrance was empty and someone tried to stop him from entering.

  Whatever it was, no one could close the dungeon access for more than a few days. Shouren hoped by a week, whatever it was caused them to restrict the dungeon was no longer the case and when he exited, it wouldn’t attract any attention.

  Once he’d made sure his grandmother was alright, Shouren would come back to the dungeon. Before he did, he needed to collect enough cards to sell to buy a small weapon and a few pieces of leather armor.

  The [Uncommon] Sonar Pulse spell card in his trousers would not be enough to buy what he needed. He needed a lot more cards. For both chronas… and to upgrade his class card.

  A Cardsmith with an [Uncommon] class card was an entity that even the governor would respect. [Rare] Cardsmiths were the treasure of the top guilds, and only a few [Epic] Cardsmiths existed in the entire kingdom.

  It was said that only [Rare] Cardsmiths and above could use the laser smithys to forge cards. Not much was known about the laser smithy except that it was one of the dungeon rewards for clearing the 10th floor. The factions and guilds monopolized its blueprint and prevented it from leaking to anyone else. Shouren had always wanted to see one, but his tiny village couldn’t afford it.

  While he’d heard of a few famous [Epic] Cardsmiths, Shouren had never heard of a [Legendary] Cardsmith ever.

  But one day, there will.

  Shouren grinned in the dark night as his wild hair fluttered behind him and torrents of lumen poured into his legs.

  — The next morning —

  A small badger-like monster lazily strolls to the nearby river stream and laps up some sweet mountain water. It’s lower jaw had a metallic sheen, as if it were made of iron inside rather than bone. It’s soft silver fur moistened from the splashes made by the river water. Its beady eyes shimmied with happiness, taking its time to drink its fill.

  Suddenly, a sharp bone spike exploded out of the water and pivoted towards the monster’s head.

  Snap.

  The sound of bone cracking in half split the air waves. Despite the attack catching the monster off-guard, the bone weapon fared a losing battle against the metallic jaw.

  This fat rat is a mutated monster?

  Shouren groaned with lament and mourned the loss of the fox bone that had accompanied him through his previous battles.

  The young boy’s plan wasn’t terrible. Last night on his way to mountain, he caught sight of a river bank leading there. An idea flashed through his inexperienced mind. What if he used the river to remove his scent and then ambush unsuspecting monsters who’d come to quench their thirst?

  It was a feasible plan. Except that his first encounter was with an unlucky badger that had a mutated metallic jaw.

  Yeah, I’m not fighting that thing bare-handed.

  “Sorry little fellow, have a good morning!”

  Shouren sputtered with a nervous laugh and tried to dive back into the river. He’d think of another plan to fight the monsters without his bone spike.

  The badger glared balefully at the intruder disturbing its morning routine. However, when it saw the human try to escape, it screeched with fury and pounced at the fleeing boy. It wasn’t going to let this bastard get away after rudely smacking its face.

  Shouren detected the silver-furred monster from the corner of his eye. Channeling a surge of lumen to his legs, he kicked against the water to propel him to the side, evading the monster’s attack.

  The badger let out a shrieking screech in protest, but it was quickly drowned by the raging currents of water. The creature’s beady eyes darted in panic.

  It can’t swim?

  Glimpsing at an opportunity, Shouren used another 2 units of lumen and twisted his body mid-water to latch onto the back of the small monster. The boy wasn’t sure if badgers in the wild could swim, but this monster was clearing struggling to stay afloat. Was it its metallic mutation?

  The badger attempted to break free of Shouren’s hold, writhing its small body. And when that didn’t work, it used its claws to swipe at the human’s arms.

  That hurts.

  Shouren ground his teeth in pain. The monster’s claws were sharp but not long enough to penetrate to the bone. The river diffused a cloud of red as Shouren continued to bleed through his gashes.

  Lumen: 3/10

  I only need to hold out until it runs out of air.

  Shouren gambled, and used the barest amount of lumen to simply keep himself on top of the monster, preventing its head from popping out. The badger was small enough for him to control with his larger body, and its strength seemed to be concentrated near its jaw.

  The struggle lapsed for a few minutes before Shouren felt the claws weakening their skirmish against his arms. And then a minute later, the clawed stiffened for a second before going still.

  [Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities]

  [Current Kills: 4/3]

  [Updated: Kill count exceeded clear conditions. Increased floor rewards will be distributed upon exit or new floor.]

  [Exit: Yes/No]

  [Enter Floor 2: Yes/No]

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