Chapter 39

  Shouren took out a [Common] spell card from his vault and held it out for Rhea to hold the other end. It was one of the three spell cards he recently obtained from the last dungeon run with Rubin.

  “Grandma, try holding the card as well and see if you can sense my lumen running inside it. Don’t channel your lumen and only touch the card.”

  The boy cautioned the elderly lady.

  The wrinkles on Rhea’s forehead creased as she playfully slapped the boy across his arm.

  “Don’t tutor me like I’m a novice Cardsmith, potato.”

  “Is this okay, little one? Or am I squeezing the card too much?”

  Despite the earlier remark, Rhea was still nervous. She was worried in case the card exploded and hurt her grandson. Not all Cardsmiths had precise control over their lumen, and if Shouren got distracted with her hand on the card, it might lead to his lumen going out of control. Rhea forgot the card’s explosion would also afflict her.

  “Actually, let me place the entire card on your palm. This way, you’ll be able to feel every single movement of the lumen inside.”

  Shouren readjusted the card on his grandmother’s stretched palm and nodded with satisfaction. The key here was for Rhea to feel where the lumen was passing through the card. Without a card recipe or the Veinreader trait, it would be challenging for the elderly lady to keep track of what was going on inside the card.

  It was akin to walking on a tightrope in complete darkness. One wrong step and she would have to start over again. Unlike Shouren, Rhea was operating from total blindness. That is why the boy wanted her to feel the lumen coursing through the card, tracing his movements. He would guide Rhea to the card’s frame and the veins. If successful, his grandmother might eventually be able to unlock the same trait as him.

  “Go ahead, potato, I’m ready.”

  Rhea chuckled nervously with anticipation. How could she not? This had been an impossible dream for her. Rhea never thought she would be able to continue her Cardsmith path after failing her Tier 1 evolution. If she could unlock a trait, maybe it wouldn’t be the end of her journey.

  “Veinreader.”

  Shouren muttered, triggering the trait. A green circular runic pattern floated in front of his left eye.

  Rhea gasped with amazement. Her grandson really had unlocked a trait before his Tier 1 evolution. The boy had the demeanor of a veteran Cardsmith.

  “Focus on my lumen, grandma. Did you feel that pulse? That was the seal breaking.”

  Shouren activated the Sharding while speaking slowly, giving time for Rhea to get accustomed to the sensation. She couldn’t see the insides of the card, so she had to memorize all the other senses.

  The elderly lady closed her eyes in response and nodded firmly. She was familiar with this faint vibration. It occurred at the beginning of every sharding.

  Shouren then went straight to the card’s frame, near the four major card gates. He bypassed the card’s veins and saved them for the end. He didn’t want to split his lumen into threads yet, as that might confuse his grandmother. Shouren’s aim was to first show Rhea the different parts of a card. After she unlocked a trait that let her see the insides, he would demonstrate how to use the lumen threads.

  “Grandma, can you feel the heat on the card’s borders? See these four points? The heat should be stronger here.”

  Shouren led Rhea patiently while keeping the card stable. He didn’t want to break the card’s equilibrium.

  “Is it the center of the four edges, potato? I can feel it’s warmer there.”

  Rhea furrowed her brows in concentration.

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  “Yes, grandma!”

  Shouren cheered Rhea on. The boy was worried for no reason. Although his grandmother didn’t have a card recipe, her instincts as a Cardsmith for decades had never dulled.

  “These four points are the reason the default sharding only gives out 4 shards.”

  The boy gave his thoughts.

  “Take me to the card’s veins, potato.”

  Rhea was confident that she had memorized the major four gates. The old woman now had an idea of how she could extract five shards from the cards.

  “I sectioned a card into three parts, grandma. The first is the card’s frame, which holds the structural foundation of the card. The second part is the card’s veins. This is where the cards get their individuality and spell signature. And the last part is the wisps. You can’t see them now, but I think they are the card’s memories. I don’t have a proper explanation for them yet, but I wanted you to see if you can sense them as well. Here are the card’s veins.”

  Shouren explained his theories to his grandmother before guiding her to the card’s channels.

  “I losing your lumen, little one.”

  Rhea immediately felt the shift in the card as her grandson’s lumen blended with the card, making her lose its tracks. Unlike the simple card frame, the card’s veins were a complex network of tunnels.

  “Don’t track the lumen’s every move, grandma. Try to feel its general direction and the places where it feels warmer, just like the four major gates before.”

  Shouren reassured Rhea and spoke in a calm tone. It would be impossible for his grandmother to track his lumen through every single card vein. His goal was for Rhea to feel the star nodes in the veins, so she knew what to look for in other cards.

  The boy lightly picked up Rhea’s other hand and placed it over where his lumen currently was.

  “Start from here, grandma.”

  Rhea visibly brightened once she reconnected with the lumen in the card.

  “The path will be different for each card, but these different warm spots are the weakest points in the card’s veins. Every node you break here gives an additional shard on top of the first four shards.”

  Shouren removed his hand and patiently watched his grandmother. Rhea focused intently, a fierce determination etched on her wizened face.

  “There, I felt it something.”

  Rhea cried in joy. Shouren silently grinned at his grandmother’s reaction. His lumen had indeed passed through one of the larger star nodes. He made his lumen swim through the various star nodes, discerning which nodes his grandmother could detect.

  “It’s weaker this time.”

  Rhea muttered to herself. By now, Shouren had confirmed it. Rhea was able to sense the two largest star nodes in the card veins. It was incredible for her first time. Unlike Shouren, Rhea was operating purely with her non-visual senses.

  “Little potato, I think I know how I could get 5 shards from a card. While your technique pours your lumen directly into the card’s veins, I used to run my lumen like a spiral through the whole card. When I would hear the first click, I completed the sharding. Whenever I would try for more clicks, the sharding would fail. I think those clicks were the weak points you are talking about.”

  Rhea’s eyes remained closed in concentration. It finally dawned on her what she was doing before. Where her grandson was actively hunting each weak point in the card’s veins, she was thinly spreading her lumen within a perimeter to see which prey took the bait.

  “I want to try Sharding on my own, potato. Can I borrow a card?”

  Rhea took in a deep breath and exhaled gently. She handed the card back to her grandson. The boy’s lumen was already inside the card, and her sharding wouldn’t work on it.

  “Yes, grandma!”

  Shouren quickly sharded the card and shoved the 4 pieces into his vault. He didn’t even care that he’d wasted that card, or that another card was going to be used by Rhea. His grandmother could use all his cards if she wanted to. Well, as long as they were the [Common] ones.

  The boy grabbed another spell card obtained by the dungeon and placed it on Rhea’s palm.

  “Shouren… thank you for this blessing. Grandma is very happy today.”

  Rhea’s lips quivered weakly. The boy didn’t realize what he had given her.

  Hope.

  The old woman’s amber lumen surged over the gray card. The lumen rope swirled in a circular pattern from the corners into the center. Rhea’s couldn’t copy Shouren’s technique, but she had developed her own over the decades. Her insights were different from the boy.

  She’s cracking the nodes!

  Shouren watched in awe with his Veinreader, as the lumen spiral washed over the three largest star nodes.

  “From the bottom of my heart, thank you, my precious little one.”

  Rhea opened her hazel eyes, tears of joy trailing down her aged cheeks. Seven pieces of shards floated over her trembling palm.

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