Chapter 31
“Can I shave your head once we get out of this?”
Shouren yelled to his side, desperately paddling his arms within the river. The boy was swimming as fast as he could, his legs making loud splashes over the water.
“How was I supposed to know how many dire wolves were in that pack, little goblin? Besides, it was your fault that the rest of the pack came out. You were munching on that boar rib like it was the last meal you’ll ever have. That smell lured the other dire wolves to us. Also, why are you so fixated on my hair, you brat?”
Rubin was in the same position as Shouren, frantically swimming away.
It had been two days since Rubin had killed the enormous boar. Since then, the pair of boys actively sought other monsters while staying clear of any large herds. Rubin fought the creatures and then Shouren sharded the cards later.
During this time, they also modified their original agreement. Shouren suggested that he be allowed to buy any class cards dropped by monsters with his share of the shards. The boy made sure to add this time around that it was ‘all’ class cards and not just the [Common] ones.
Shouren had two reasons for doing this. First, he didn’t want to cheat Rubin any more by using his Dimensional Vault card. He would still cheat others, but Shouren considered the older teen a good friend by now. Most kids in the village scorned him, and Shouren had no friends growing up. It didn’t help that no one in the slums trusted each other.
Rubin was different. The teen was impulsive, but he genuinely cared for other people. He had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of Shouren. He could have forced Shouren to shard without payment or told the boy to act as bait for the monsters. There was no law within the dungeon. Yet Rubin didn’t do any of that.
Second, Shouren simply didn’t want to store any more of those mediocre shards. He had to shard Rubin’s cards without using his Veinreader trait, but that also meant he was left with an inferior shard. After discovering the possibilities with his new trait, Shouren decided to only absorb the smallest and most optimal shards. He didn’t forget his grandma’s advice.
By handing over the normal shards to Rubin, he ensured Rubin could absorb all the shards of the same card, while also having the option to purchase the class cards without feeling guilt.
Rubin liked the idea as well. He accepted the amendment and set the price of the [Common] class card to 3 shards and the price of the [Uncommon] to 15 shards. It was still extremely cheap for Shouren, as no merchant in the town would ever agree to this deal.
Rubin didn’t need the class cards. He would have just sold them later and didn’t mind helping the younger boy. To simply hand over unearned cards would be against his clan’s principles, but the current arrangement was acceptable.
“Can you dive?”
Rubin glanced behind, his face contorted when he saw the pack of fourteen dire wolves relentlessly chasing them down. Their figures were a blur as rushed on both sides of the river bank.
“No, I can barely keep my head over the water. Shoot some firebolts at them or throw your dagger!”
Shouren sputtered out a mouthful of water. They had been in the water for over 20 minutes and his lumen reserves were pitiful. It was already a miracle that he could swim for this long without breaks.
“I’m a blasted Healer, not a mage! You can shoot a lumen bolt, so go ahead. No way am I throwing my precious dagger.”
Rubin swam closer to Shouren.
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“I don’t have any cards with me. Give me yours and I’ll shoot the lumen bolts.”
Shouren huffed, his breaths wheezing out of his chest. Looking at the ghastly wolves, a mere lumen bolt wouldn’t even cripple them. The pack howled in unison, blood-thirst filling the area.
Rubin clicked his tongue in response. His Healer class card didn’t have a single offensive ability. At least the Cardsmiths had one attack ability, although it was weak enough that it might as well not exist. It’s why he didn’t persuade the obviously lying boy.
Throwing the dagger was out of the question. The Lumen Weapon was worth Rubin’s entire fortune.
“Hold your breath and tap me on the arm when you get close to running out of air.”
Rubin’s sapphire eyes flared with decisiveness as he grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him down under the river’s surface. Then the older teen positioned himself below Shouren’s body while clasping the boy’s arms across his shoulders like a human backpack. Using only the thrust of his legs, Rubin wove through the depths of the river with Shouren on his back.
Fortunately, the river current helped Rubin expend less energy, especially with the added weight. The pair of boys could hear the faint, confused howls of the dire wolves in the background.
Rubin prayed Shouren could hold on for another minute. With their scent and figures obscured from the wolves’ sight, they could escape this situation unscathed.
Meanwhile, Shouren’s body relaxed in relief. He was close to using his corrupted abilities if the situation became more dire. He could always blame it on using another ‘trinket’, but that was a major risk with Rubin swimming so close to him. They had all seen his [Common] Cardsmith class card, but they might still become suspicious.
The pair continued to glide underneath the river, and Shouren also used his legs to propel them faster. It had been over 45 seconds and they could no longer hear the wolves anymore. The water dampened the outside sounds, but Rubin made a call that it was safe and swam to the surface. He overestimated how long he could hold his breath with another person on top of him.
“What a close call.”
Seeing no dire wolves around, Rubin dropped Shouren beside him before a fit of coughs took over him.
“Alright, I’m adding diving to the list of skills I need to work on.”
Shouren joined the older teen and coughed out any of the salty water remaining inside his mouth.
Soon after, the pair of boys took out their shirts and let them dry on the pile of nearby rocks.
“I managed to swipe these cards before the dire wolves got their reinforcements.”
Rubin grinned with satisfaction, showing Shouren five glowing cards in his hand. The two party members were lounging on the forest glade, chewing on some cooked monster meat as they restored their lumen.
Rubin missed the cards of a couple of wolves, but the attack wasn’t a complete failure in the end. They were four [Common] cards and one [Uncommon] card. All of them were spell cards.
Shouren snuck a look inside his vault. The two days of hunting and sharding had him net him an additional 5 more [Common] class cards on top of the 2 class cards he got through the coin flip. In total, Shouren now had 37 [Common] class cards sitting in his vault. The boy had purchased those 5 class cards from Rubin with his normal shards.
He still had 7 more of the normal shards left in his vault as no further [Common] class cards had dropped since last night. Shouren planned on saving until 15 shards to buy one of the green class cards.
Shouren took the [Common] spell cards and slowly activated his Sharding ability. To keep the card from fragmenting immediately, he slowed its advance toward the four main star gates. To avoid Rubin noticing, he pretended the sharding still took the same amount of time as before.
“Hey, pumpkin-head. You didn’t really need me to come to the dungeon for sharding, right?”
Shouren muttered softly, his eyes locked onto the card before him. He didn’t meet Rubin’s eyes. After a few days in the dungeon, Shouren quickly realized that Rubin didn’t need the shards urgently, as the older teen never absorbed them.
The older teen glanced at the boy for a few seconds without saying anything. He appeared deep in thought, his face conflicted.
Shouren finished the sharding of the first card and moved to the next one. His eyes never leaving the cards.
“No, that was a lie.”
Rubin exhaled silently. He had a feeling the smart kid would eventually notice it.
Shouren worked quietly on the cards.
“Well, not a complete lie. I do need the shards. I will soon enter the Chamber of Ascendance for my Tier 1 evolution, and in case the first attempt fails, I need the shards to get back to 80% synchronization without delay.”
Rubin started talking while Shouren listened, his ears perked up. He was done with the second card and now sharding the third one.
“But you’re right. I didn’t need you to come into the dungeon. I could have had you shard them later.”
Rubin looked away at the flowing waves of water on the river.
“Me, Isola, and Thalin will leave the town in a few days. We weren’t supposed to stay here for this long. Isola isn’t a scout, she’s a recruiter. We were passing through your town when the guild’s order came to check what Sunspire was doing by closing the dungeon for a few days.”
The older teen continued, his sapphire eyes flickering.
“An actual reconnaissance team from the guild would arrive in the town, and then all three of us would leave, heading into the 20th floor, the headquarters of the Starhaven Guild. I’ll undergo my training there, and once I sign the contract, I’ll officially be a member of the guild.”
Shouren had sharded all four of the cards now, leaving him with 11 normal shards in his vault.
“You’re being very casual with revealing all this information. That means you also tricked me by saying Isola and Thalin would kill me if they found out I knew about your identities.”
Shouren’s brows furrowed in thought. He always thought Rubin was being sketchy that day. After interacting with the older teen in the dungeon, he knew Rubin wasn’t a complete dolt to spill out secrets that recklessly.
Rubin looked at the boy with amusement, the corner of his eyes twinkling in mirth.
“Alright, little goblin. Time to come clean with you.”
Chapter 31 will be out in a few hours, and If we another milestone today, then double chapters tomorrow as well :)
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