The Laughingstock’s Arsenal
"Hey, have you heard? The duel between that one-star, one-percent mana-affinity student and a three-star student named Agon Burner is on!"
"Have you been living under a rock? The duel's been set for a week now, and everyone's just waiting for the day to come!"
"W-Wha… Unlike you, I'm actually training hard, hmph! How would I have time to hear such news?"
"Are you calling me lazy?! How about we duel next, huh?!"
"Huh?! You think I'm scared of you? Bring it on, then!"
Such conversations buzzed throughout the academy.
There was only a little over a week left before Hal Fennec, the now-renowned low-affinity trash, would face off against a decently talented student.
Their duel would showcase the gap between average students and the so-called trash one-stars.
Since the majority of the Grand Magic Academy's students were three-stars like Agon Burner, they couldn't wait for one of their own to put the one-star freshman in his place.
Meanwhile, the most talked-about student was locked in his dormitory room, a look of greedy, somewhat crazed exhilaration on his face.
'Hahahaha! Yes, more, more!!'
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
[Congratulations! You've drawn a [Common]-tier card!]
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
…
Hal had grown numb to the depressed sighs of a jester as he pressed [Common Draw] for the fiftieth time.
He had already drawn numerous offensive spell cards, and he was still only halfway through.
As much as Hal wanted to invest all 318 Chaos Points in [Uncommon] and [Rare]-tier cards, he knew all too well that basic spells like [Fireball] and [Glacial Shards] were the bread and butter of wizards—like how a majestic building needed sturdy foundations to stand tall for eons.
Hence, he decided that 118 points would go to [Common Draw]s and 100 to [Uncommon Draw]s, saving the remaining hundred for his first system upgrade.
He could also use it in emergency situations.
After nearly another half an hour of non-stop tapping, Hal excitedly tapped his left wrist, checking each card he had drawn from the deck.
There were a lot.
He had drawn a total of 32 cards—12 of which were unique, with the rest being duplicates.
Hal also discovered that the chances of drawing spell cards roughly mirrored their real-world rarity.
[Weak Mana Blast], [Fireball], and [Glacial Shards] made up the majority of his pulls.
Of course, he also obtained a few rarer [Common]-tier spells like [Sparkblast] and [Wind Cutter], along with some summon-, conjure-, and enhancement-type cards.
However, they were far fewer compared to the three.
Two of the spell cards—[Illuminate] and [Glacial Shards]—were luckily of permanent durability, allowing him to finally start merging the duplicates instead of letting them messily fill up the spaces in the deck.
His existing spells, [Weak Mana Blast], [Spirit Sparrow], and [Squirt], had also been upgraded, tidying up Hal's deck ever so slightly.
Still, he wasn't satisfied.
His darned deck was an utter eyesore.
Fortunately, there was a grouping function that let him neatly stack the same cards together for future use, finally making the deck look nice and clean.
Hal tapped his left wrist again once he was done tidying up the deck.
He then took a deep breath, opening the system's draw card function shortly after.
It was time for the much-anticipated [Uncommon Draw].
With slightly shaky hands, Hal tapped on the said function, his heart heavy at the sighing soundtrack:
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
The same soundtrack played four consecutive times, and his heart ached for the forty Chaos Points that had been wasted.
To his relief, the fifth draw finally yielded something:
[Congratulations! You've drawn a [Common]-tier card!]
'What? A common-tier card?' Hal couldn't help but inwardly complain in frustration. 'What kind of scam is this?!'
It was yet another [Fireball] card.
But he still had points left, so despite his heavy heart, he persevered, tapping the [Uncommon Draw] button once more.
His sixth draw brought yet another disappointing jester-sigh soundtrack.
On his seventh, however...
[Congratulations! You've drawn an [Uncommon]-tier card!]
'Yes! Finally!'
Hal quickly tapped the [View Card] button to see what the card was.
==
Card Name: Blink
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Spatial Spell
Durability: 4 uses
Cooldown: None
Chaos Karma cost: 5
Description: Allows the caster to reposition anywhere within seventy meters of their original position.
==
He could only blink at the card's information, initially disappointed.
However, as ideas started pouring in as to how useful the spell was, Hal grew excited.
It was a darned spatial spell, for goodness' sake!
Why was he even disappointed?!
He could use it both to get out of a perilous situation and to catch his opponents by surprise—a versatile skill that could be used for attack and defense.
Hal immediately slotted [Blink] into one of the easily executable gesture slots, moving [Spirit Sparrow] to another slot before returning to the draw card function.
He still had three attempts left.
Sadly, all of them resulted in the disappointing and irritating sighs of a jester.
However, Hal could sense that with just a bit more effort, he'd likely draw another [Uncommon]-tier card.
The question was: should he tap into the points he was saving?
'Well, just a little shouldn't hurt…'
He tapped the [Uncommon Draw] once, then twice, but still nothing.
'Aihh… why am I so unlucky?! Just one more…'
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
'Ughh… but I can feel it… one last draw, and no matter what happens, I'll stop…'
[Boohoo! No cards drawn!]
…
[Congratulations! You've drawn an [Uncommon]-tier card!]
'Yes! Hahahaha! I knew it was coming!' Hal celebrated, finally managing to draw another card—though he only had forty emergency points left.
==
Card Name: Piercing Light
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Elemental Spell
Durability: 3 uses
Cooldown: None
Chaos Karma cost: 40
Description: Shoots a lethal ray of light in a straight line.
==
Hal's point-budgeting didn't go according to plan, but hey, at least he was happy.