High above, atop one of the standing skyscrapers, a white-haired man’s feet hung off the edge, his back to the ground as he held up a card. Its face depicted a blood-colored sword wielded by a hero on a blue background, you could see the glowing corpses of the hero's vanquished foes in the picturesque scenery on the card face. The blood-colored sword tickled one's heart with a sense of righteousness and justice, not the evil and darkness one might expect based on its appearance.

  “ The [Hero's Battle Trophy] I had wanted to wait for better conditions for its use but alas I need more usable cards now. I've already given away a handful, now those for my own arsenal are lacking. Sigh, I at least wanted to slaughter at least a dozen more species, it's far too early but I have no choice.”

  O’Brien shook his head with lingering distaste as he activated the card. A fresh green worm’s corpse next to him and magical words on his tongue, “Hear me, Hero who fights through all battlefields, let the corpses of my slain enemies bring me luck and nourishment, let my spoils be my armour, my sword, medicine. I pledge my heart to righteousness, my soul to conquest. The Hero's Road beckons me!”

  This he said in an ancient language called Floron. A relic from the past gleaned through the ruins of the Card Primal civilization and seen in a few trial spaces as well as on the tongues of several NPCs. Practice had revealed this language was best used in activating certain cards although, oddly enough, any earth language could do, the older the better. Whatever the case, the language of Floron had the most potency when used for incantations and magic so it became commonplace farther into the future.

  The card glowed in a glorious bright light interwoven with red and white, the corpse by his side faded to nothingness as it vanished into the blinding lights, the card ever so bright, ever so enchanting.

  He held it over an organized display next to him. Cards obtained from all the monsters he had slain to date. The [Hero's Battles Trophy] was an appraisal card with fixed conditions, only cards you had received from slaying monsters could be identified through it.

  “Let's see. So that thing was called a [Seven Colored Battle Mushroom Man]? Interesting. This one is another summon, [White Capped Plant Pedestal], hoh~ it can be used like that. And this one, a pet? Hmm. Some equipment cards here too. A skill, a Grey-Ash Grade Skill. Wait, I can use this right now.”

  He noticed with a hint of joy. O’Brien had all manner of cards in spades, high qualities, and rich varieties. Yet most of these were unusable. What he needed now were cards he could use immediately, preferably continuously with little costs to himself and manageable aftereffects. The Grey Ash-grade Skill [Mindless Spectre] was a good auxiliary skill that could scout the environment.

  He put the Grey Ash-grade card away with joy before continuing his inspection. The lingering red and white light formed a mystical aura around the cards that poured information into his mind as he viewed them with bubbling excitement and scrutiny.

  “Wait, so this is what an upgrade card looks like?” O’Brien's amber eyes widened with shock, if that was the case then he had several higher grade upgrade cards in his collection.

  This was another benefit of appraising a set of cards, using them as the basis you could surmise the function of other similar cards and save on the expenditure.

  Having just recognized a piece of the dusty treasure trove he had been sitting on that fed him only with their appearance, O’Brien eagerly went over his identified cards with gusto before he noticed someone below waving at him with his impeccable eyesight.

  ‘He can see me? A Card Master then. Must be one of the previous buyers. What does he want?’

  O’Brien ignored him and continued analyzing the cards but when he noticed the man still hadn't gone away he went down after completing his analysis. With only a little over two dozen cards, it didn't take very long for him to finish.

  His card drop rate was nothing short of abysmal. From the beginning of the Last Days until now this was all he had to show for his personal battle trophies. Even Rose and the others had better luck than him. They had close to double the amount of cards gleaned the same way, each.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  O’Brien skillfully manipulated his card essence throughout his youthful yuan channels that were still developing within his body. He willed it to oscillate at a unique frequency and increasingly consumed his medium-ash grey card essence; he had luckily broken through to the middle stage of Tier Zero a few weeks prior. Now he possessed the richer and darker colored medium-ash grey card essence instead of the light colored ash he possessed before.

  O’Brien was using a skill similar to Celes, without a card as the medium. The only one he managed to learn, [Life force Detection]. A common but useful skill in the end times, though it had many limitations, it was more than enough for his current needs, that is, ensuring this desperate visitor was alone without friends lying in ambush.

  Just over a minute passed as O’Brien skillfully slid down the skyscraper using his claws in a partial transformation, his scales were still hidden. He somersaulted over a few rooftop obstacles before landing in front of the shirtless man who was waving his tattered bloody shirt to signal his attention.

  Their eyes met, and the man reeled back in fear.

  O’Brien asked with a bored gaze, “Well? What is it? If you've wasted my time I'll bash your skull in.”

  The man stuttered for a while as he fearfully explained his situation.

  As it turned out, he was the fellow who betrayed his comrades before and stole a card from one of his companions while they were weakened after a long and exhausting fight. Of course, he didn't inform O’Brien of this little piece of dark history and instead was pointing him in another direction.

  “I swear great sir. I saw it with my own eyes. One of them White Silver cards. My leader has it hidden away, he knows you pay a high price for them but he thinks it's more valuable to hold on to. He keeps a secret from everyone else, we already forced him to give up the two Red Steel ones we had found together but we didn't know that he had that hidden away.”

  O’Brien was unimpressed, he had seen such similar situations quite a few times, persons claiming they had a Green Copper-grade card, Red Steel-grade and even the same White Silver-grade cards. Most of the time their lacking experience and eyesight betrayed them. The cards in question were typically Grey Ash-grade cards with such colorful appearances that deceived them as such. It was a common mistake for those unfamiliar with cards. Even O’Brien couldn't say for sure that he could always identify what grade a card belonged to.

  “Unlikely, it's just a card whose materials are similar. It has the light up with that color when it falls from the sky. Only then can we be sure it's the same type I desire.” Shaking his head, O’Brien was about to depart when the man stopped him.

  “No sir! I'm sure of it. I actually saw the card earlier on around that time when they fell, I didn't see him take it but I knew it was in the area. Before I had my suspicions until I saw it myself hidden away.”

  O’Brien's steps halted. He looked at the seemingly nervous man with an amused gaze. He slowly walked over to him, then grabbed his throat with an iron grip. The man flailed and struggled as his complexion flushed red.

  “How convenient, such a smart fellow. You've clearly met me before but it's only now you choose to inform me. Others have sold out their friends for fat vaguer suspicions. So tell me, what do you stand to gain from telling me this now?”

  Naturally, O’Brien wasn't one to be so easily manipulated and could smell a plot a mile away. He wasn't convinced that the man was so selflessly selling out his companion after so long for no reason at all.

  “I— cough, I, just want to… help you out sir… and if… you could give me some medicine and treatment from… lady Lea…. That would be good too.”

  The man gasped for air as his face and neck turned as red as a tomato.

  O’Brien grinned and increased the strength of his grip, “I don't buy it.”

  He squeezed tighter and tighter until the man was about to see the pearly white gates before he stopped and let him fall to the ground.

  As he wheezed and recovered his bearings, the man only heard a devilish whisper, “One more chance, if I don't like what you say then I'll kill you anyway and do my own research. I'll ask again. What. Do. You. Gain?”

  Terror seeped into the man's heart. Only then did he recall the terrifying rumors surrounding the figure he sought to use to cover his escape. He came clean about everything, his envy and jealousy, waiting for the right moment to stab his friends in the back and steal the card, his escape and their likely pursuit. His sneaking fears of being found no matter where he hid once their group scout's ability’s side effects and cool down wore off and much more.

  O’Brien nodded to himself, “Very well then, I'll reward you well if it's as you say. Lead the way then.”