Chapter 2- Brachiosaurus
The first action Zane had done after coming into consciousness was gasping for air.
He raised his head to see a behemoth moving through the long trails of trees, scrambling them under its massive foot.
Its head stretched into the sky, and each footstep printed a massive imprint on the wet soil.
"A giraffe? No, a Brachiosaurus," Zane gulped down. But it was huge beyond what humanity had calculated from fossils.
He wondered humans ever expected creatures in this size could ever exist.
Almost as tall as a skyscraper, it had thicker legs that could be hugged by twenty men.
Curiosity caught his throat, forcing Zane to climb a tree.
He avoided the system message icon that appeared in the corner of his sight, which was fixed in such a way that, unless he looked at it deeply, it never hindered his view.
Climbing a tree felt easier for him. Within seconds, he stood on top of a tree, watching the behemoth moving with wonder.
It wasn't alone. From every direction, more and more such creatures appeared, each heading toward the tower.
For a moment, Zane thought about following them, exploring what awaited inside the tower everyone worshipped, then quickly abandoned that idea.
Although he could enter the tower just by thinking about it, he hoped to explore this area before doing so.
Anyway, as the system, claimed, he was almost immortal. And each death benefited him, so death was a blessing to him.
With a grin, he opened the unread message from the system.
[Haha, it's so funny. Death by a monster, that too without it even noticing. Your existence was like a fly to it and so make your enemies same...]
Name: Titan Stomp
Grade: Unique
Variant: 2
Evolutions left: 0/2
Level: 0/100
Categories:
• Primary: Movement
• Secondary: Attack
• Sub: Domain
Base effect:
Titan Leap (Movement): Jump to extreme heights with a burst of energy. While airborne, gain invulnerability for 10 seconds.
- Effect height: 20 meters
- Energy cost: 50 per activation
- Limitations: Can't change direction upon activation.
Crushing impact (Attack): When landing, all enemies in a 10-meter radius are staggered, and objects in the area are shattered. Deals 300% physical damage to all targets within range.
- Effect radius: 10 meters
- Energy cost: 50 per activation
- Limitations: Friends and foes are the same.
Effect 1: Skybreaker Step (Locked until evolution)
Effect 2: Titan's domain (Locked until evolution)
This time, Zane decided to do something.
'How can I activate these cards?' he asked in his mind, prompting the screen to shimmer in codes before transforming into sentences.
To summon a card, you have to burn your energy.
'Energy? Is it essence?'
No. Energy is the fundamental foundation of everything.
Every Carder needs a certain amount of energy to summon their cards.
The power emitted from these cards is just energy shaped into the properties they hold.
You should see your deck status, and I will explain more.
Zane clicked the small purse icon in the system. A screen appeared with his image at the top.
Name: Zane
Title: The One Who can die After Death
Deck Element: Endless Death
Deck: Iron (0%)
Energy: 1000/1000
Card Slots Unlocked: 10
Essence: 0/1000
• Slot 1: Lid of Eternal Rest
• Slot 2: Titan Stomp
Energy is directly proportional to the deck. As the grade of the deck increases, so does energy capacity.
The default rate of energy regeneration for every carder is 10/second for an Iron Deck.
The maximum energy required to activate a Level 1 card is 50 for one time in a iron deck.
"So if I actively used my cards, that would last me twenty times. But what if I upgrade any of these cards to Level 2?"
Zane rubbed his forehead all while making himself cover under the leaves of the tree.
"And if I want to increase my energy capacity, I have to upgrade my deck from Iron." He looked at the 0% progression of his deck and shook his head.
That's looks long. "How can I upgrade my deck?"
Filling ten of your unlocked slots with a card will double your energy capacity and progress your deck by 50%.
Upgrading at least half of your cards to Level 2 will complete the remaining progression, and your deck will be promoted to Copper.
This would double your energy capacity again.
This might take too long to complete now as While it is easier for you to fill your card slots, upgrading their rank requires essence, which is only available in the tower.
And a friendly suggestion: owning more cards without building foundations on your other cards is not good for the stability of your deck.
Zane was attentive to the teachings of the system, as every detail was crucial for his growth.
The way to improve the foundation of a card was by continuously using it. Another question appeared in his mind.
"What if I get more powerful cards in the future and my deck has no free slots for them?"
In that case, that card would merge with another card that has at least remotely similar properties.
If there are no such cards, you can remove any of the cards at the cost of a 10% reduction in your deck's growth.
And don't worry—who knows, there may be a day when you can collect as many cards as you want without needing to fill them in your deck.
Even after the last sentence, Zane had some worries.
Imagine if he removed a card after completing the latter half of his deck progression—would the 10% penalty affect the levels of his cards?
He would be crying buckets if that happened. As far as he understood, leveling up a card required essence, and to obtain this essence, he had to kill Mirages.
Whatever it was, Zane believed that before getting enough essence, his deck slots would be filled out.
Zane watched the behemoths disappearing into the horizon together with the sun dipping behind the tower.
When the ocean of darkness submerged him, he felt an odd sense of tranquility. Like a mother's embrace.
'It's time to try my power.'
To activate a card, a Carder had to follow two steps:
First: Pull out the card from his deck slot by visualizing it.
Second: Burn this visualization to activate the card's properties.
The process was simple, almost instinctive. Inside the grey pupils of Zane, a square card flashed.
One side of the card had a single line, while the other had a man draped in black robes standing covered in the shadows.
Zane found himself controlling a transparent energy as the leaves around him bent to the movements of his fist.
"Lid of Eternal Rest." Zane could feel the leaves trying to sway in the wind, his pressure over them increasing and finally crunching them into pieces.
'The energy I control isn't that powerful at the moment I activate this card.
But if anything—or anyone—tries to struggle free, its power increases.
Sounds good, may be overpowered. But what if the enemy doesn't struggle?
What if the enemy doesn't have to move or struggle to attack me—just a simple thought?'
Zane had to force his paranoid self to stop taking control of his emotions.
'Anyway, cards aren't omnipotent. They have power, but also chains gripping that power. If I don't take precautions, maybe that same power will cause my end.'
"Well, it's not like I should care. Death is the least of my worries." Zane burned his card again, trying to familiarize himself with its control.