Spring of 346, A.D.
“Where is he?” Trudy snapped.
“I don’t know, Trudy. He’s been a bit erratic lately, but—”
“That boy isn’t erratic. He’s selfish. Humph. It’s not like he can avoid participating. Daisy will fish him out from wherever he’s hiding. But the least he could do is wait with us. Everyone’s a nervous wreck. It’s the least he could do.”
Kai glanced at Ariel. Instead of defending her brother, she looked even angrier than Trudy. How could someone so beautiful become so terrifying?
This was his fourth summons. He still hadn’t been called to a trial. Ariel had gone through hers two years earlier. It had taken months for her to recover from the disappointment of placing near the bottom.
“Hey, Sunny,” Kai asked, “what are the chances I’ll be called this year?”
“One out of nine.”
“What about Alex?”
“One out of nine,” came the dry reply.
“What? Doesn’t the chance increase year by year?”
“You should brush up on your math, Kai. It’s terrible.”
“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. What about that Monty Ball thing you told us about?”
Sunny tugged his ear. It wasn’t meant to hurt, but it still did.
“Monty Hall, not Ball. That’s different. There’s no conditioning here. The chances of a name being called stay the same each year.”
Kai sighed. He had hoped Alex’s absence was just pre-trial nerves. Maybe he was hiding, dreading the call like the rest of them. But if that were true... why hadn’t he shown up?
He looked over at Ariel again. Her expression had changed—mouth slightly open, eyes glassy and wide, face twisted in shock. Trudy gasped beside her.
Kai followed their gaze.
Alex was walking into the square.
Cybermonkeys surrounded him.
He had asked for asylum.
“I’m sorry, boy,” Sunny said quietly. “The odds have changed. It’s one out of eight now.”
*
353rd Daisy Trials, Round of 64.
Kai checked the hit points of both [Water] cards. They were intact—excellent news. He had worried that copying a card might reduce its durability, but Daisy seemed to accept the sacrifice of two cards of equal grade as payment enough.
Still, he couldn’t afford to overuse the photocopier. His score had already dropped to 100. Even though he had gained a new uncommon [Water] card, it only granted one victory point. One of the sacrificed cards, [Acacia Leaf], had been worth two. He’d lost a point in the exchange.
Now that his questions were answered, it was time to make some choices. If he wanted to squeeze out the highest possible score, sacrifices would be necessary. The only question was—what should he copy?
He sorted his cards by grade, scanning for good candidates.
Among the legendary ones, [Unicorn] offered the best value. He didn’t mind trading two [Light] cards for a second copy. But then again, those factory arena recipes might lead to another legendary card. Best to hold off on copying [Unicorn] until he knew for sure.
As for the rare cards, [Fire] stood out. [Perspective] had weak stats, and Kai couldn’t think of any recipe where it fit. In his eyes, it only counted as rare because it triggered some reward in the console. Since capturing the card had been what unlocked the upgrade, he didn’t mind sacrificing it now. For a second rare, he could use one of his [Arabian Oryx] cards—then turn it into another [Fire].
The uncommon and common tiers didn’t have much to offer. Maybe [Spider]?
Before copying anything, he’d check the blueprint recipes. The ones from the manager’s office felt important—Kai was sure they hid a major secret. Finding the room had cost him valuable time, and accessing the rooftop had required a specialized upgrade. The high barrier to entry was a sign. Whatever was hidden in those blueprints had to be worth it.
He checked the very first recipe.
Gears ?? (Uncommon)
[Gearwheel ??] + [Drive Belt ??]
He didn’t have a [Gearwheel] or a [Drive Belt]. What he did have were a [Rusty Gearwheel] and a [Dried Drive Belt]. Close enough, maybe.
The only question was—did he have a way to repair them?
When he’d discovered how to make [Lye], it had let him restore the HP of the [Rusty Pickaxe], but the name hadn’t changed. It was still rusty. He shook his head. That meant the [Rusty Gearwheel] would stay rusty, and the [Dried Drive Belt] wouldn’t suddenly become flexible again.
He sighed. He didn’t have anything in his deck that could clean the corrosion off the gearwheel or rehydrate the belt. He had no choice but to combine them and see what happened.
[Rusty Gearwheel ??] + [Dried Drive Belt ??]
Rusty Gearwheel ?? | HP: 2 → 1
Dried Drive Belt ?? | HP: 2 → 1
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Salvaged Gears ??].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Salvaged Gears ?? ?? (Common)
Gears salvaged from broken components. It barely works.
HP: 1
VP: 2
Kai hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath. Seeing the combination work—even partially—was a huge relief. He hadn’t been certain it would. Spending half his shots photographing what amounted to junk had been a gamble. The stats on some of these ingredient cards were pitifully low, and had this merge failed, he might’ve dug himself into a hole too deep to climb out of.
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But it worked. That alone made him feel more confident about the other recipes waiting on his list.
He was ready for the next one.
Circuitry ?? (Uncommon)
[Copper Wire ??] + [Console ??]
I’ve got a feeling about this one.
The copper he’d found had been coated in green patina, but Daisy had still accepted it, converting it into a [Copper Wire] card. The only problem was that he didn’t have a working console—just a [Broken Console] card.
He pulled out the [Solder] card. The artwork showed a silver coil of wire. Though advanced electronics were restricted, most sectors were allowed to maintain basic machines. He’d helped Sunny repair several of them—soldering was second nature to him.
Of course, solder alone wouldn’t fix a console. First, you had to diagnose the issue, then replace any burned-out parts.
The console he’d captured had a cracked screen—and the [Broken Console] card reflected that too. Solder wouldn’t fix shattered. If he hadn’t known the recipe output ahead of time, he might’ve tried to create glass with [Fire] and [Sand], then attempt repairs from there.
But he knew the result he was after: a [Circuitry] card. That meant the screen and casing didn’t matter much—what counted was the inner components. That gave him reason to believe [Solder] was the right support card. Still, he wasn’t sure if it should be used before or after merging.
He chose to try it now. The [Broken Console] had two hit points left, and he could always make a copy if needed. With a breath held, he combined the two.
[Broken Console ??] + [Solder ????]
Broken Console ?? | HP: 2 → 1
Solder ???? | HP: 2 → 1
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Salvaged Console ??].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Salvaged Console ?? ?? (Uncommon)
A simple computer that was restored to minimum functionality.
HP: 1
VP: 3
Kai wiped the sweat off his brow and moved on to the next step in the recipe. Now that he had both components, he followed the blueprint instructions.
[Salvaged Console ?? ??] + [Copper Wire ??]
Salvaged Console ?? ?? | HP: 1 → 0
Copper Wire ?? | HP: 2 → 1
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Circuitry ??].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Circuitry ?? (Uncommon)
A circuit board that can be programmed for several tasks.
HP: 3
VP: 1
Nice! It worked out perfectly!
He’d expected a rusty, faulty, or salvaged version of the card. Instead, the quality of his components had been enough to recreate a full-fledged [Circuitry] card—no compromises.
Rather than figuring out what to do with the remaining HP of the cards he’d already crafted, Kai moved on to the next recipe.
I really want to see if there’s some hidden secret behind all these blueprints.
This is where things got tricky.
He started with the [Rusty Pipe] card, placing it on one of the engraved patterns. The table gave a low hum of approval. The second ingredient listed was [Metal Sheet]. He didn’t have one of those. The best piece of metal he’d found was a [Rusty Steel Door]—big, heavy, and solid. Hopefully, it would work just like the salvaged parts had earlier.
As he moved the [Rusty Steel Door] card toward the second pattern, the table reacted. It sucked the card in and flared with light—only to dim again a second later. Nothing materialized.
[Rusty Steel Door ??] + [Rusty Pipe ??]
Rusty Steel Door ??| HP: 1 → 0
Rusty Pipe ?? | HP: 2 → 1
Crafting failed!
“Oh no! Why?!”
He’d offered up the sturdiest chunk of metal in the entire factory—so why hadn’t it worked? Worse, the [Rusty Steel Door] card only had one hit point. It was gone.
“Aaargh!” Kai slammed his forehead against the table. He didn’t care if Daisy thought he was being impatient. At this point, he was sure temper wasn’t being judged this year.
Why didn’t I copy the card before testing the recipe?
He’d made it halfway through the blueprint list—was this going to be the point where it all fell apart?
No. He wasn’t giving up that easily. There had to be a reason the recipe had failed.
He took a step back and scratched his chin. He had time to think. There weren’t that many blueprint recipes left. While he mulled it over, he glanced at the scoreboard.
106 points for him. 109 for his opponent. Close—but not comfortable.
He picked up the empty [Rusty Steel Door] card. It had been a good piece of scrap—sturdy, heavy. Why hadn’t Daisy accepted it?
He’d tried to use it as a substitute for [Metal Sheet].
“Metal sheet…” he muttered.
Metal sheets and ingots were refined—ready for smelting, cutting, shaping. That door hadn’t been processed. It was raw salvage. Did it need to be prepared first?
He scanned his remaining cards. Was there any other source of steel he could repurpose?
He grabbed the [Fire Axe] card. The axe’s head was made of decent steel. Maybe he could extract it—use that as a substitute? Or melt it down somehow? Maybe toss it in with [Fire]?
Or maybe, I should give up on steel. Perhaps I can make it work with another metal.
He just had an idea. He wasn’t sure it would work... but it was his best shot at completing the recipes.
He grabbed the [Copper Wire] card and placed it on the table. Then, he reached for [Fire].
[Fire ??] + [Copper Wire ??]
Fire ?? | HP: 9 → 8
Copper Wire ?? | HP: 1 → 0
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Heated Copper ????].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Heated Copper ???? (Common)
Copper that has been heated and has become malleable.
HP: 3
VP: 0
He smiled. He was onto something here.
So—heated copper. He was inching closer to refined metal.
Should he try combining it with [Rusty Pipe] already? That didn’t sound right. Maybe [Water]? Cooling it down might lead somewhere. He decided to give it a shot.
[Heated Copper ????] + [Water ??]
Heated Copper ???? | HP: 3 → 0
Water ?? | HP: 3 → 2
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Brittle Copper ????].
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Steam ??].
New recipes added to your recipe book.
Brittle Copper ???? (Common)
Copper that is brittle and hard to work with.
HP: 2
VP: 0
Steam ?? (Uncommon)
The gaseous form of water.
HP: 1
VP: 3
Kai picked up the [Steam] card, surprised. As much as he’d love to brag to Ariel—or their hypothetical future kids—that this had all been part of his master plan, the truth was... it had been a happy accident.
He’d meant to try [Water] and [Fire] at some point just to see what happened. But stumbling into one of the recipe’s core ingredients like this? Very welcome.
As for the other result... not great.
He studied the [Brittle Copper] card. The stat line wasn’t promising. Kai gulped.
I’m dangerously close to blowing this.
He was blacksmithing... but with cards.
Let’s see. What do I remember about metal brittleness?
When super-heated metals were cooled too quickly, they hardened—and became brittle. To work with them again, you had to reheat them.
Maybe that meant he could reheat this [Brittle Copper], then.
[Fire ??] + [Brittle Copper ????]
Fire ?? | HP: 8 → 7
Brittle Copper ???? | HP: 2 → 0
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Heated Copper ????].
Back to square one.
Only now, [Fire] had two fewer hit points, and [Water] was one short. He stared down at his remaining cards, trying to puzzle his way out.
After a few minutes, his fingers settled on the [Solder] card.
Solder was mostly tin, right?
What if I...
[Fire ??] + [Solder ????]
Fire ?? | HP: 7 → 6
Solder ???? | HP: 2 → 1
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Heated Tin ????].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Heated Tin ???? (Common)
Tin that has been heated and has become malleable.
HP: 3
VP: 0
He grinned the moment he saw it. One [Heated Copper ], one [Heated Tin].
“So you didn’t want me skipping from the Stone Age straight to the Industrial Revolution, huh? Albert was right. You’ve got no imagination, Daisy.”
[Heated Copper ????] + [Heated Tin ????]
Heated Copper ???? | HP: 3 → 0
Heated Tin ???? | HP: 3 → 0
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Bronze Sheet ??].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Bronze Sheet ?? (Rare)
HP: 3
VP: 3
He had done it.
He’d just stepped into the Bronze Age! And more importantly—he had a proper metal sheet. Not iron, not steel, but bronze—the next best thing.
With this, he was finally ready to recreate the third recipe from the manager’s office.
[Anticipation ??] + [Bargain ??]
?? | HP: 1 → 1
?? | HP: 1 → 0
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [First Edition Buff ????].
Snag the pre-order while it's hot (and cheap)—your early support makes a real difference.
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