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[CC] Chapter 55
The remaining mole monster twisted its neck up and let out an ear-piercing screech, its beady eyes boring down on Shouren with unmasked rage. Without waiting for another moment, the monster dashed straight towards Shouren, its ivory fangs gaping at him.Shouren brought out his hammer before him again, positioning it before his chest. However, his calculation was wrong.“Ugh…”Shouren swore under his breath as he doubled over. The monster was moving much faster than a few minutes ago and invalidated his previous estimation of its trajectory. ...
[CC] Chapter 54
Should I take them on?Shouren was lying prone on the ground, careful not to re-open his wounds, as he observed two small monsters in the distance. It was a pair of mole-type monsters, with dark blue fur and pincer-like fangs.The sun hadn’t set completely, and he had ample time to look for another lone monster before nightfall. He was already injured and taking on two monsters at the same time was bordering on suicidal.Moles are generally considered blind, so maybe it’s worth the risk? No, I can’t make that same mistake again. If I’m hun...
[CC] Chapter 53
In the back of a quiet forest, an isolated tree swayed with the gentle wind, its leaves rustling noiselessly. Thin beams of sunlight poked through the space between the verdant leaves, revealing a still body of a human boy near the bottom of of the tree’s trunk.Then something stirred, breaking the silent stillness. It was the boy’s finger.“Ugh…”Shouren woke up with a groan. His mouth felt like he’d chewed on mounds of dirt. Actually, that’s exactly what had happened. The dark-haired boy retched, his stomach heaving as he spit out ...
[CC] Chapter 52
It’s burning!Shouren screamed as an excruciating pain pulsed through his blood and into his body.When did the monster latch onto his leg? It was too fast for Shouren to follow.“You sneaky rat, you have venom in your fangs!”Shouren cursed through his teeth as he wobbled for a second. He could feel something invading his body, dampening his senses and thoughts. The monster glanced up at Shouren, its draconic eyes gloating as if it had never claimed it wasn’t venomous. Also, it appeared offended that the human called it a rat instead of th...
[CC] Chapter 51
Something flashed in the distance, and in the next moment, a dark-haired boy appeared out of nowhere in the center of a forest glade.Shouren already had a Spectral Threads spell card in hand in case he spawned right before a monster again. Thankfully, he was alone this time. He was surrounded by a vast expanse of trees and could see nothing else besides the lush greenery.“Sweet! It’s all flat land, and monsters cannot easily ambush me.”Shouren sighed in relief and plopped down on the soft grass. Returning the spell card to his vault, Shou...
[CC] Chapter 50
The hammer’s clanging continued to echo in the smithy.That would explain why when I spread the lumen too thin, it doesn’t coalesce anymore and breaks apart. I had a hunch it was connected to the threads’ density, but now I can pinpoint to a deeper reason: the lumen purity.Shouren watched in fascination as the old blacksmith adeptly struck the red-hot metal to draw out the blackened flakes. When his lumen was in a single thread, the impurity didn’t seem to matter much as it could still maintain its form and function. However, the more he...
[CC] Chapter 49
The sound is different each time.Shouren stared through the window in a daze. He couldn’t see the anvil or the hammering as the back of the smithy was obstructed by the front of the shop, but he was focused on the sound the collision of the metals made.If it was before his experience with forging cards, Shouren wouldn’t have paid much heed, but now, he could discern the subtle changes in the sound each strike of the hammer made. The hammer made a distinct sound on every hit. Shouren was so entranced with the sounds that he didn’t notice w...
[CC] Chapter 48
A bright flash rippled across the dungeon portal’s surface, and a dark-haired boy emerged, a scowl etched on his young face.Screw the dungeon! It’s so unfair and biased against me!Shouren wanted to go kick the portal, but if others saw him, they’d start kicking him instead. After his meeting with Virelle, Shouren went into the 1st floor of the dungeon and started hunting for monsters.However, the first notification he got on arrival had instantly soured his mood.[Update: 4th dungeon entry detected! Monster loot and final floor rewards dow...
[CC] Chapter 47
The stream of wisps rushed into Shouren’s class card. Since the shards were so small, the class card easily absorbed most of the swimming wisps with little obstruction.The web of insights reappeared within Shouren’s mind, and this time, he knew instinctively that it was an insight that he’d barely touched. It was so far away from the center of the web. Fragments of disheveled knowledge flickered before Shouren, but he couldn’t make any sense of them. The only feeling he got from the insight was… ‘falling down’?It was a very distor...
[CC] Chapter 46
Hey, come out, I’ve got some treats for you.Shouren was sitting outside, in an isolated area behind his home. It was a rundown area with no other houses, except for patches of littered garbage. He picked this place to have a conversation with the demonic chains.No one else could see the burning chains, but Shouren wanted to try a few other things, and it was best to not draw any attention to himself and his activities.He had a couple [Common] class cards in his hand and he poked the edges to his chest, where the crimson chains resided.Silence...
[CC] Chapter 45
“I’m back, grandma!”Shouren burst through the door. A few steps away from his house, he could already smell the sweet citrus aroma of lemon pie. His favorite!“Welcome back, potato. You’re just in time. The pie should be cool enough to eat.”Rhea was in the midst of cleaning the oven, and turned around with a smile when she heard her grandson. The old lady chuckled and gestured at the steaming pie on the table.Shouren rushed to the pie, a dribble of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.“You made pie today? I thought we were go...
[CC] Chapter 44
After Shouren mentally tapped on the exit option, he was once again back in the familiar white room. Another notification flashed in his vision. [Congratulations on clearing Floor 1.][Awarded with 3 [Common] cards for normal clear. Additional 2 [Common] cards awarded for Solo clear.][Exit: Yes/No][Enter Floor 2: Yes/No]Hmm, there’s no mention of a clear rating? I guess the normal clear doesn’t have any differentiation. Shouren nodded and then pressed ‘yes’ again to exit outside. He internally cheered at the additional two [Common] cards...
[CC] Chapter 43
The monster didn’t care. Its bloodshot eyes remained locked onto Shouren as it stampeded towards him.It’s going to trample me at this rate.Shouren racked his brains for a solution, his thoughts whizzing away. He could use Spectral Threads again to halt its movement, but then what? The boulder didn’t kill it.Can you help?He tried to call out for help from his resident demonic chains. Shouren had a feeling the scalding chains could inflict some serious damage on the rampaging monster.No response.Such a freeloader. You don’t even pay me re...
[CC] Chapter 42
[Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities][Current Kills: 0/3]The familiar notification flickered in front of Shouren, and he promptly brushed it away.Two cold, pebble-like eyes stared at Shouren. The monster and human were only a few centimeters apart from each other’s face.Croak.Shouren froze in place, his eyes darting back and forth from the monster and his surroundings. He was inside a large, hollow cave. It wasn’t too deep inside the earth, as he could see small trickles of water running from the nearby river.His hazel eyes the...
[CC] Chapter 41
As the lumen from his palms hammered into forging the card’s frame, Shouren watched with fascination. He was seeing in real time how the weak points were being created.It’s the four main gates in the card’s frame.Shouren kept his palms steady as the forging process continued. He observed the lumen tendrils twist into the shape of a card. The four weak points were actually the zones where the lumen had twisted the most, making that line more brittle than other sections of the frame.They are like the glue that holds the other lumen tendrils...
[CC] Chapter 40
“You did it, grandma!”Shouren jumped at Rhea, his small arms wrapped around the frail elderly woman, and shoved his face into her stomach.“Please don’t break my ribs, potato.”Rhea wiped off her tears and joined her grandson in celebration as she mirthfully chuckled. It was all thanks to Shouren that she was able to unlock her second trait. Her radiant hazel eyes gazed lovingly on her grandson.“Show me your Veinreader, grandma! I want to see how it looks on you.”Shouren popped his head out of Rhea’s embrace and asked with obvious...
[CC] 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, lit...
[CC] Chapter 38
“So, you signed a system contract with these people from the Starhaven Guild, and then went into the dungeon with one of them? Little potato, you should have told me this before.”Rhea glared at her grandson, her thin arms crossed over her chest.For the past 20 minutes, Shouren had been recounting his meeting with Isola, Thalin and Rubin. He told Rhea about the contract he made with Isola, and everything that fared within the dungeon with Rubin.The boy pointedly included nothing related to the demonic chains. As far as Shouren knew, no one e...
[CC] Chapter 37
[Unlocking new Trait in progress… 3… 2… 1][New Trait “ um n e v r” unlocke— error][,nmoe{h]A familiar scene unfolded before Shouren. The maleficent crimson chains suddenly spurt out of the boy’s chest and lashed at the trait.Stop.Shouren yelled inside his mind and was about to grab the chains before he remembered what happened last time he did that. Fortunately, the red-black chains listened to him.The enflamed chains stilled and turned around to face Shouren, hesitation exuding from the metallic links. The ends of the fiery chai...
[CC] Chapter 36
Pumpkin-head better not run away.Shouren kicked a rock on his path as he walked on the street. After seeing the ‘B’ rating on the dungeon clearing, Shouren really wanted to know how the rewards differed from a party run to a solo run. He had initially wanted to delve into the dungeon with a party, but after discovering the contribution system, the boy felt an aversion to that idea. It felt like a dangerous gamble, surrendering so much of his fate to the whims of others.“Eh?”Shouren felt something prickling his lower back when he kicked ...
[CC] Chapter 35
“Little goblin, I can ask Isola to look into the branch’s history and try to sort out things with them and your grandma. I know life has not been fair to your family, but it doesn’t mean everyone at the Cardsmith Guild are bad people.”Rubin sighed and walked towards the young boy.When higher-ups usually issued such orders, the guilds would attempt to find scapegoats to escape completing the tasks. Especially since there was no hierarchy among the factions. Starhaven was the undisputed strongest faction, but Sunspire came a close second,...
[CC] Chapter 34
Scritch. Scratch.Shouren woke up to rough grating noises bombarding his ears. When the boy got up to see where the sound was coming from, he found Rubin bent over a large patch of dirt, squiggling away with a small stick.“Ah, you’re awake, little goblin. Seeing as it’s our last day in the dungeon, I thought I should teach you some basics about how the dungeon works. You’ll eventually need to join other parties in the future, and most of them would already know this information.”Rubin glanced back, waving at the younger boy to come joi...
[CC] Chapter 33
Shouren could feel something grasping at the back of his mind. It was like his brain was inside a shuttle, driving him through a complex web of maze and towards a specific destination. His class card repelled another set of wisps, making that drive slow down, almost like it was running out of fuel. The class card absorbed another wisp, rekindling the shuttle and jostling it ahead into the maze.[Synchronization: 23%]The remaining wisps were all rejected by the class card, and the shard had completely dissipated. Shouren could sense a fragment of...
[CC] Chapter 32
Shouren folded his arms over his chest and waited.“I needed to find a reason to scare you into staying with me in the dungeon. You don’t seem like the type to listen with no incentives, so I sprinkled in a bit of a threat for some flair. Hey, don’t look at me like that, kid! I already knew you were curious about who we were, so this hit two birds with one stone.”Rubin raised his arms in protest after seeing the repulsed look on the boy’s face.“Isola told you to reveal your guild to me, right?”Shouren tilted his head, musing over h...
[CC] Chapter 31
“Can I shave your head once we get out of this?”Shouren yelled to his side, desperately paddling his arms within the river. The boy was swimming as fast as he could, his legs making loud splashes over the water.“How was I supposed to know how many dire wolves were in that pack, little goblin? Besides, it was your fault that the rest of the pack came out. You were munching on that boar rib like it was the last meal you’ll ever have. That smell lured the other dire wolves to us. Also, why are you so fixated on my hair, you brat?”Rubin w...
[CC] Chapter 30
Shouren quickly summoned his status and went directly to the ‘Traits’ section. There, floating below his Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique] trait was the newly unlocked trait.Veinreader [Uncommon]Your gaze can trace the weakest nodes in any Tier 0 card’s veins. Trait upgradeable.Card’s veins? I think it’s talking about the channels. So, they’re called ‘veins’, huh? But doesn’t that make it seem like the card is alive somehow? Is the lumen the blood?Fortunately, the system gave a description of his latest trait, albeit a bit vague an...
[CC] Chapter 29
[Unlocking new Trait in progress… 3… 2… 1][New Trait “Ve nre d r” unlocke— error][agf/14=jlgf]Shouren suddenly grabbed his head, whimpering in pain. A metallic grating sound tore into his brain, sending pangs of agony through his nerves. In haste, Shouren flung the shards into his vault.What was that notification!? Something weird is going on.Right as he saw the glitching message on the system, Shouren saw images of illusory red-black chains spreading out from his chest and towards the trait hovering within his vision. The chains we...
[CC] Chapter 28
“I feel like you cheated somehow, little goblin.”Rubin took out the two [Common] class cards from his pocket and handed it to the grinning boy beside him.“What can I say? I’ve always been lucky.”Shouren snickered while he grabbed the cards and shoved them inside his vault before Rubin could change his mind. The boy had conveniently forgotten all the times he’d previously cursed his bad luck.I can’t believe that I have 30 [Common] class cards in my vault now. I’m almost halfway to 100.Shouren couldn’t stop the corner of his mou...
[CC] Chapter 27
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 ...
[CC] 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 him...
