Chapter 26
“There they are. Stay here and try not to make a sound.”
Rubin breathed, gesturing for Shouren to crouch behind the bushes.
In front of them, Shouren watched a group of five pale cobalt-colored foxes huddled together in sleep. Their sleek, icy fur shimmered underneath the starry sky. The five foxes had various sizes, but even the largest of the group was still smaller than the black fox Shouren had encountered on his first day in the dungeon.
“I’ll charge you 2 class cards per use of my Lumen bolt.”
Shouren whispered while stationing himself in the shadows. He remained a bit dazed by the knowledge that Rubin was associated with the Starhaven Guild, but it was too late to cry over spilled beans. Shouren was going to make the best of it, and that meant fleecing Rubin as much as he could before the end of the dungeon.
Rubin simply rolled his eyes at the younger boy’s declaration before steadying his dagger and preparing to dash at the unsuspecting foxes. He knew Cardsmiths only had a single offensive ability and even that required them to burn through an entire card. Rubin didn’t need it for now, and neither would he take it after hearing Shouren’s demand.
Without saying another word, Rubin shot ahead, his feet flying through the blades of grass. The blonde teen made the first strike on the largest ice fox, his dagger cleanly slicing through the monster’s neck, decapitating it in an instant.
He channeled the lumen inside that dagger.
Shouren mutely watched the fight unfold before him. Shouren stared with envy at the Lumen Weapon. Even with F ranked strength, Rubin was able to sever the monster’s neck without much resistance.
A piercing screech reverberated in the air as the rest of the foxes woke up. The moment they saw the human, all four of them pounced on Rubin.
Should I help?
Shouren’s hazel eyes flickered with worry. However, it quickly dissipated shortly after.
Rubin raised his unarmed hand to cover the back of the neck where one of the foxes targeted while evading the second one. He calmly dispatched another ice fox mid-air before it could land a bite on his chest, and he let the last one sink its razor teeth into his ankle.
The last fox snarled with rage as it snapped his jaw shut and tore through the flesh and tendon. Its blue irises, a different shade than Rubin’s own sapphire eyes.
“You all got some heavy-duty chompers.”
Rubin chuckled as a flash of lumen flared around his injuries, congealing the blood stitching the wound shut. Without waiting for the remaining foxes to react, the teen swiftly slashed his dagger through the fox’s skull, which had latched onto his now-healed ankle. Then, without pause, his lumen-enriched dagger cleaved through the last two foxes.
Not a drop of sweat trickled down Rubin during this whole ordeal.
A blinking notification popped up in the corner of Shouren’s vision.
[Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities]
[Current Kills: 5/3]
[Updated: Kill count exceeded clear conditions. Increased floor rewards will be distributed upon exit or new floor.]
The kills are shared with the whole party. Good, I don’t need to waste any of my cards then. Also, pumpkin-head was going easy on me when we last fought. I’m sure his trait is what lets him move like that. He didn’t even channel some lumen into his body, it went all to his dagger. That means he was moving like that without the use of lumen!
Shouren silently watched Rubin collect the floating cards from the monsters’ bodies. Observing the older teen was eye-opening. Rubin fought like a seasoned veteran and barely used any lumen, conserving every unit of it until he needed it. It was a stark contrast to the way Shouren fought, with summoning as much lumen as he could into his body.
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Rubin fought like a lithe panther, fast and agile strikes. Whereas, Shouren felt like he was a dancing wild boar, clumsily stumbling around the battle stage.
Is this the caliber of people Starhaven recruits? Rubin wasn’t even a full member of the guild yet and had a non-combatant class card on top of that. Then, what were the actual combatants of the guild like? I understand why Rubin is striving for his third trait now.
Shouren contemplated within his mind. It made sense. After all, it was because of his [Unique] ‘Corrupted Cardsmith’ trait that he could use all cards irrespective of class compatibility, and even upgrade his class card—a feat he’d heard no one of having until him.
He wondered what rank Rubin’s traits were.
Shouren stared with envy at the approaching Rubin. He wanted to learn how to unlock additional traits even more now.
“Here, shard these cards for me., little goblin.”
Rubin walked over and tossed Shouren 4 [Common] spell cards. Shouren gave them a quick glance.
Tier 0 - Inspect [Common]
Reveal basic information of Tier 0 enemies. Utility spell card with universal class compatibility.
Cost: 1 lumen per activation
Tier 0 - Flicker Shot [Common]
Launch a lumen dart that rebounds to a second nearby enemy at half the initial damage.
Cost: 4 lumen per dart
Tier 0 - Minor Corrosion [Common]
Apply a debuff that lowers Constitution for 1 minute. Effective on Tier 0 enemies.
Cost: 5 lumen per activation
Tier 0 - Evasion Boost [Common]
Minor increase in Agility.
Cost: 3 lumen per minute.
Shouren’s eyes widened at the description of the first card. If he could see the basic attributes of the monsters, he’d be able to make better suited traps for them. Alas, he only had one spell slot, and he preferred the Dimensional Vault [Rare] over Inspect [Common]. But it was a card that Shouren wanted in the future after he gained his second spell slot.
He wanted to vie for the card now, but Rubin had been clear from the start. He was here to shard cards. Besides, a [Common] card should be easy to find in the market once he had enough chronas. It wasn’t worth agitating Rubin over.
“I know there were more cards than these 4.”
Shouren grabbed the spell cards and patiently waited for the older teen.
“As expected of the little goblin. There was one [Uncommon] card, and the other two are [Common] class cards. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget our deal, kid. We’ll flip for the class cards after you’re done sharding those 4 cards. But don’t get your hopes up on the last card. We only made the deal regarding [Common] class cards.”
Rubin grinned while displaying the other 3 cards.
Tier 0 - Mage Class [Common]
Tier 0 - Scout Class [Common]
Tier 0 - Armorsmith [Uncommon]
“It’s a Mage class card! You’ll really give it to me?”
Shouren hand almost snatched the class card out of Rubin’s hand. Not all [Common] class cards had the same value. Even a [Common] Mage class card was worth hundreds of chronas. They could use a large amount of spell cards and had exclusive class abilities that boasted significant power in the early stages.
There were a total of 7 cards dropped by the five ice foxes, which were notably fewer than what Shouren would have gotten in his last dungeon run. Did entering the dungeon solo affect the monster drops as well?
Rubin gave Shouren a pitiful glance. He sometimes forgot that the younger boy had grown up in poverty. In the city, everyone could easily afford a Mage class card if they wanted, and it wasn’t even remotely scarce like it was in the villages.
“It’s yours if you win the coin flip. I won’t go back on my word, little goblin.”
The older teen put the cards away.
“If I win both coin flips, can we flip for the Armorsmith class card as well?”
Shouren squinted his eyes in eagerness. He regretted not making the deal to include all rarity of class cards, but it was too late now.
“Shut up and start the sharding, kid.”
Rubin sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the younger boy to begin. He had grown accustomed to Shouren’s antics by now.
“Yes, pumpkin-head.”
Shouren gave a mock salute to Rubin and turned his attention to the 4 spell cards in front of him. The boy wasn’t giving up on that [Uncommon] class card yet.
“Sharding.”
Shouren muttered as he triggered his class ability on the Inspect card. A trail of lumen rushed into the card, erasing its patterns as traces of cracks formed on the surface.
I wanted this card as well.
The boy groaned inwardly and waited until the card finally broke off into 4 glowing shards.
Rubin nodded with satisfaction, and hastily took 3 of the shards before Shouren made up any further nonsense, asking for more payment. In response, Shouren clicked his tongue and glared at the older teen, his expression saying how could the teen doubt his honest integrity.
Shouren grumbled under his breath and stored the last shard in his vault. In fact, the boy did have a sneaky plan to swipe another shard away. Rubin snorted and waited for Shouren to shard the rest of the cards, his sapphire eyes not blinking once.
Shouren grabbed the second card and activated Sharding once again. He felt the lumen surge into the card, covering its frame and pushing inside, creating a faint fracture.
Huh? Isn’t this the opposite of the forging process?
Shouren was struck by an abrupt thought. When he was sharding the card, the lumen first wrapped around the card, removing the layer of seal, then it drilled into the channels, breaking off the pathways, before it finally ruptured the outer card walls.
The second sharding was completed, and Rubin snatched the other 3 shards again. Shouren looked at his palm in a daze. His thoughts were racing through his brain.
“Hurry up, little goblin, we have more monsters to hunt.”
Rubin fidgeted impatiently on his feet.
“Uh, sure.”
Shouren slowly took the third spell card and triggered Sharding.
However, this time, Shouren’s hazel eyes were locked on the vibrating card. He felt like a veil was lifting over his mind, and something was unraveling before him.
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