Shouren didn’t try to control the flow of lumen. Instead, he watched the energy’s movement like a hawk.
After activating the Sharding ability, ropes of lumen spread from the center of his chest, swimming through his arms and finally into the gray card before him. Upon contact, the lumen stretched itself over the card’s surface for a brief second.
It broke the seal. This is usually the last step of the forging process when I have to stabilize the lumen with card’s frame and the channel network.
Shouren carefully inspected the beginning of the card’s dismantling. Until today, he’d never considered how his Cardsmith abilities worked together. However, it made sense. If Cardsmiths could create new cards, wouldn’t they have the ability to break them down as well?
Everyone knew Sharding was about breaking the cards into shards, but no one looked at it as the direct opposite of Card Forge. They were simply two different abilities.
If the process works in reverse, then would I be able to extract the lumen out of the cards and back into my body? My cards would then become potential lumen batteries!
Shouren breathed rapidly, his heart rate pulsing through the roof. The implications of this knowledge could change the way he fought in the future.
[Synchronization: 14%]
[Synchronization: 15%]
Once the seal was shattered, the lumen then darted inside the card’s channels, sundering down its walls and then charging forcefully towards the card’s frame. Shouren watched as the lumen battered against the card’s frame with fervor until cracks started to emerge at the borders.
Huh? The lumen didn’t target the channels, but went straight to the card’s frame. Is it because the frame is the most important variable in breaking the card into shards? That’s right, there’s no need to break the tunnels in the channel network if the card can only be broken after destroying the frame.
Shouren furrowed his brows in deep thought. Compared to the card’s frame, the channel network was more fragile and delicate. Yet, the lumen only targeted the card’s frame.
I think I know why normal Cardists can only extract 4 shards from a card. The card frame’s weakest points are the 4 locations at the midpoint between the corners. By smashing the lumen at those points, the card breaks apart into 4 shards. But, grandma could extract 5 shards. I think she might have unknowingly found a way to destroy one of the channels.
Shouren’s brain was heating up. A multitude of possibilities flashed through his mind. He needed to have a discussion with Rhea once he left the dungeon. If the boy’s theory was right, then the path to extracting more shards from a card depended on efficiently targeting the various weak points on the card.
The more channels one destroyed, the more shards they could obtain.
[Synchronization: 16%]
[Synchronization: 17%]
[Synchronization: 18%]
Why was this important?
It was because the larger the shard, the lower the synchronization rate. Not every spell inside a card would contain knowledge about a specific class card. However, if the shard was broken into further smaller pieces, it would hold more of the foundational insights. It would be easier to absorb and maybe even push past the 80% synchronization limit.
“Hey, little goblin. Did you eat something weird for lunch? Your face looks constipated right now.”
Rubin commented from the side once the Sharding of the third card was complete and he quickly plucked three of the four shards from the boy’s palm.
“It’s because you’re standing too close to me. When was the last time you showered, huh? It must be at least three days based on that stench.”
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Shouren wiped away the sweat from his forehead and scowled at the blonde teenager. He wanted to experiment more with the Sharding ability, but before he attempted to control the flow of lumen, he needed to do it away from Rubin’s prying eyes.
He had two theories to confirm. First, if the lumen could be directly extracted from the cards, and second, if he could obtain more than 4 shards by destroying the card channels as well.
I’ll wait until Rubin is fighting with monsters before I enact my plan.
“Showering every day is bad for you, little goblin. Trust your senior on this. If you smell like soap in the dungeon, it will attract too many monsters to you.”
Rubin stated in a sagely tone of voice.
“Ew, just say that you don’t like to shower.”
Shouren made a gesture of pinching his nose together to stop the smell from entering his nostrils. However, it was hypocritical of Shouren, since he had himself gone for a week without a shower when he last stayed in the dungeon.
“You’re too young to understand this wisdom, little goblin.”
Rubin shook his head without changing his expression. However, while shaking his head, he tried to sniff his shoulders. Did he really smell that bad? It was true that he didn’t like to shower much, but he couldn’t smell that bad, right?
“Sure sure. By the way, here are the last 4 shards, pumpkin-head.”
While Rubin was busy smelling himself, Shouren had briskly sharded the last card as well. Rubin was an idiot, but even he would sense the change if Shouren began to alter the flow of lumen during Sharding. He needed to wait until the older teen’s attention was distracted by monsters.
“Good job, kid. There’s one other troublesome monster I have to take care of before we secure this perimeter. Let’s go say hello to it.”
Rubin happily took the 3 shards. It was so convenient having a Cardsmith travel with you and not having to wait for the shards. Rubin had long ago reached the 80% synchronization threshold for his Tier 1 evolution.
However, he need to unlock his third trait before he entered the Chamber of Ascendance. It would greatly increase his chances of getting a [Epic] class card Tier 1 evolution.
“No, you’re forgetting something, pumpkin-head. We still have to flip for the 2 [Common] class cards. I fulfilled my part of the deal by sharding those cards, and now you’re trying to pull a fast one over me.”
Shouren frowned in disappointment. He dramatically hung his head down as if Rubin was trying to take advantage of a poor slum boy.
“Oh, my bad, little goblin. It was an honest mistake! I was just too excited to go collect more shards. Here, let me flip the coin. I’ll let you pick first.”
Rubin had an awkward expression on his face and hastily took out the 2 [Common] class cards from the back of his pocket, along with a single chrona.
“I’ll take one card if you were truly sincere in your apology.”
Shouren’s eyes gleamed.
“Hmm, I think my hands are getting tired. Let me put the cards back in my pocket so I can rest them properly.”
Rubin stared mutely at the cheeky boy.
“I was just kidding, pumpkin-head. But let me flip the coin instead. You have a body movement-type trait, and it won’t be fair if you flip.”
Shouren chuckled and jokingly patted the older teen on his arm.
“I don’t trust your storage ability as well, kid. What if you switch the coins in your hand?”
Rubin wasn’t fazed. His sapphire eyes bore into Shouren. Whenever it came to loot, he had to tread carefully with the cunning brat.
“We’ll both turn around, and then I’ll flip the coin behind us. I won’t touch it, and we’ll both turn around at the same time, and go look together. This is fair, since neither of us would be near the coin when it lands.”
Shouren raised his hands in the air, projecting innocence.
Rubin thought for a few seconds and seeing no holes in the suggestion, he nodded with agreement. As long as Shouren wasn’t touching the coin in the end, the boy wouldn’t be able to tamper with the coin.
“Alright, you flip the coin.”
Rubin placed the chrona on Shouren’s smaller palm.
“Ready, pumpkin-head?”
Once the pair were in position and standing shoulder-to-elbow, Shouren placed the coin over his thumb.
“I pick heads.”
Rubin sighed and nodded again. He just wanted to go hunt monsters and get his shards. Instead, he was flipping coins with the kid in the dungeon.
Thak.
The coin shot in the air, curving behind them in an arc, and landed about 2 meters away from their position.
Both glanced at each other, and then slowly turned around, facing the coin’s direction. Without saying another word, the pair walked over.
Shouren tried to stop his face from twitching.
Isola, Thalin, and Rubin all knew about his storage card, but they were all under the impression that it was a [Common] utility card. Back in the decrepit shop, Shouren noticed how Isola brought out the cards from her storage card.
She was touching them.
However, Shouren didn’t need to touch the items in his vault to bring them out. He could summon them anywhere within a radius of 3 meters.
Rubin’s face sagged in defeat while Shouren’s face lit up.
Sitting still on the swaying blades of grass was a small coin, its metallic surface glinting under the night’s sky.
It was tails.
Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 18%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 1/1 - Dimensional Vault [Rare]
Lumen: 2/20 (-5)
Strength: F
Agility: F
Constitution: F
Intelligence: E
Class Abilities
1 - Card Forge
2 - Sharding
3 - Card Sacrifice
Traits:
1 - Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique]
2 - Locked
3 - Locked
Cardsmith Recipes:
Tier 0 - Spectral Threads [Common]
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