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Forgotten Lands - Chapter 40 (Book 2)
🕑 Added 2024-06-05 10:00:04 +0000 UTCNow that his Heart Deck was already at Tier-2, a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders.
‘How much further can I push without missions slowing me down?’ Zayn wondered, goosebumps spreading all over his body.
At last, he picked up the Cards formed from the Card Shards.
23 Common Cards have been combined.
9 Uncommon Cards have been combined.
1 Rare Card has been combined.
Zayn discarded the notifications and retrieved the other batch of complete Cards, the Magma Goblins, and their evolutions, which had dropped in the last few hours.
“41 Common Cards, 12 Uncommon Cards, and one Rare Card. That’s good enough,” He murmured before checking the Cards’ descriptions.
Paralyze
Common - Level 1(0%)
Minor Strength Boost
Common - Level 1(0%)
Survival
Common - Level 1(0%)
Icicle
Common - Level 1(0%)
Fireball
Common - Level 1(0%)
Sleight of Hand
Common - Level 1(0%)
Scent Detection
Common - Level 1(0%)
Wild Rush
Common - Level 1(0%)
Bash
Common - Level 1(0%)
Stun
Common - Level 1(0%)
…
Meditation
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Clear Mind
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Flamethrower
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Blade Strike
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Agility Augment
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Pyro Mastery
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
…
Power Up
Rare - Level 1(0%
Some Cards attracted Zayn’s interest but it would be a lie if he had to say that only a few Cards were somewhat suitable to the constellation of his Card Deck. Fortunately, it was possible to add Cards to his Heart Deck and remove them later. Replacing them once he procured better Cards was always possible. It didn’t sit well with him to replace Cards because Zayn was known for hardly ever replacing Cards once they reached a certain level of familiarity, but he was going to change.
‘I removed Coalesce and Alchemist’s Instinct as well. In this cycle, I gotta use my Heart Deck and its functions properly!’
He nodded slowly, pocketed a bunch of Cards, and checked the details of the other Cards.
Paralyze
Common - Level 1(0%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – The Target will be paralyzed for a short duration
If the target’s Wisdom Foundation is stronger than the User’s, the effect will be repelled or halved.
Infusing more energy enhances the potency of Paralyze-
–
Paralysis’ duration extends with the Card Level.
Energy consumption decreases with Card Level.
–
Minor Strength Boost
Common - Level 1(0%)
Augment
Active/Passive
No Requirement
Effect – The Card Holder’s Strength increases by 3xC
Passive – The Card Holder’s Strength increases by C.
C = Card Level
–
Sleight of Hand
Common - Level 1(0%)
Augment
Passive
No Requirement
Effect - The Card Holder is more proficient at using his hands for tasks that require sleight of hand.
–
Sharpness
Common - Level 1(0%)
Weapon Enhancement
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Requires a bladed weapon to be used.
Effect – Sharpens the targeted weapon.
Infusing more energy into Sharpness increases the effect’s potency.
–
Sharpness increases with the Card's Level.
The duration of Sharpness extends with the Card Level.
–
Blade Strikes
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Skill
Active
Requires Energy and Stamina to be used.
Requires a bladed weapon to be used.
Effect – Release a series of lethal blade strikes.
–
Attack power increases with Card Level.
The number of Blade Strikes increases with Card Level.
–
Pierce
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Skill
Active
Requires Stamina and Energy to be used.
Requires a pointed weapon to be used.
Effect – Releases an armor-piercing attack.
Pierce's potency depends on the weapon, amount of energy, and the User’s Foundation.
—
The armor-piercing potency increases with Card Level.
–
Reinforce
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – The User can reinforce objects and living beings to a certain degree.
–
The potency of Reinforce increases with Card Level
Clear Mind
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Spell
Active
No requirements
Effect – The User can clear his/her mind immediately.
Remark 1 – Card Effect does not remove emotions.
Remark 2 – Clearing your mind may be fatal in battle.
Agility Augment
Uncommon - Level 1(0%)
Augment
Active/Passive
No Requirement
Effect – The Card Holder’s Agility increases by 5xC
Passive – The Card Holder’s Agility increases by 1.5xC
C = Card Level
—
Power Up
Rare - Level 1(0%
Support
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Strengthen a targeted ally drastically.
Allows the Card Holder to augment his/her allies’ Foundation
–
Effect grows stronger with an increase in Card Level.
Effect duration extends with an increase in Card Level.
Some Cards were more or less useless in most situations, but they could be useful in a few particular cases. Zayn didn’t hope he would need them, but there was always a first time for everything. If he was prepared for the worst case by linking a bunch of replaceable Cards to his Heart Deck…why wouldn’t he do it?
Some Cards would increase his combat prowess, while others would expand his means to restrain enemies. In the meantime, Power-Up was going to help Zayn reinforce the Spirit Souls. He was glad that the Rare Card turned out this good.
‘Power Up is like Natalie’s Empower, but several times stronger. Common and Rare Cards are quite different,’ Zayn smiled lightly, ‘Obviously. It would be weird if Rare Cards weren’t stronger than Common Cards.’
He thought back to Melanie, Natalie, and the others. It had been a while since they last talked, but Zayn had heard enough about them to know they were doing fine. Their group didn’t stop growing stronger in Forgotten Lands. They were nothing like they used to be when Zayn encountered them before the Tower of Nature.
Zayn pressed the newly acquired Cards against his chest. They disappeared inside his Heart Deck and linked to it.
10 Cards have been linked to your Deck. Please prepare for the Influx of Information!
He closed his eyes as he waited for the influx of information. It poured into his mind like tidal waves, informing Zayn how to use the Cards and about their current limit.
Once the influx of information was done, Zayn tested some Cards. He used Nature’s Little Wrath with Florakinesis to unleash a flood of roots around him. He used Reinforce on the roots, only to find out that each root required one use of Reinforce. He summoned the Shaman Spirit to use Reinforce on the Spirit Soul a moment later.
A level-up notification popped up, but Zayn dismissed it. He used Power Up instead.
‘Combining Reinforce and Power Up is going to be useful. Their resilience is more than 15% up compared to before, and their prowess should be about…10% higher than before. Power Up and Reinforce have yet to reach a higher level. That’s good enough.’
Zayn moved onward to test Paralyze on the Shaman Spirit. It worked out, but it wasn’t that effective. Infusing more energy into the Paralyze Card augmented the Card’s potency to a decent level. It wasn’t great, but enough to satisfy Zayn. After all, Paralyze was still on Level 1. A notification popped up, informing Zayn that he was incorrect with that assumption. Paralyze seemed to have leveled up.
That was enough to force Zayn to slow down and halt in his tracks. He turned to the Shaman Spirit and the Champion Spirits before thinking about the Cards revolving around his Heart Deck.
‘Using Cards against strong opponents increases the proficiency gains. I can power level most of my new Cards.’
He realized that the Spirit Souls were amazing targets for training dolls. Whether that was ethnically cool or not was questionable, but Zayn was long since past that. He’d enslaved the Souls of his fallen enemies. Torturing them a little bit wouldn’t make things worse. Not at this point. Not anymore.
Instead of power leveling his Cards using the Spirit Souls, Zayn gave them a mental command to collect their fallen kin's corpses and bring everything of value to him.
In the meantime, Zayn tested the potency of Clear Mind to determine how lethal It would be in battle.
He let his thoughts go wild for a moment. Memories surfaced in his head, and the hundreds of plans resembling the ideas he’d come up with to deal with the Primordial Pantheon ravaged his mind.
Clear Mind.
A gust brushed through his mind, dispelling everything that had tormented him a moment ago. Not even a second after he used Clear Mind, Zayn found himself confused. A feeling of emptiness haunted his mind. It was…empty.
“That is weird.”
A prompt indicating that Clear Mind leveled up appeared before him, but Zayn dispelled it with a mental command.
He shuddered, unsure if Clear Mind would help him in the future. Maybe not in combat, but it could be useful in other situations. Maybe…he was just not seeing the big picture just yet.
Zayn shrugged lightly and began spamming the active effects of Minor Strength Augment and Agility Augment. Both Cards weren’t that useful to Zayn at this point of the game because his Foundation would increase rapidly with constant battles alongside Spirit Souls. His Foundation was bound to change soon enough.
Despite that, Zayn felt that additional passive boni weren’t bad. They never were. And, if he was in a tricky situation, the Augment Cards’ active effect wasn’t too bad either. Of course, he had to level the Cards slightly to unlock their full potential, but Zayn had more than enough energy to spare. At this point, all he did was wait either way.
Several hours of hard work passed. Zayn commanded one of the Champion Spirits to stay by his side and to become his training doll. It was almost out of Soul Power, but Zayn could put it back into one of the Empty Spirit Cards to replenish its Soul Power. That was no problem. As for the gains, Zayn gained a lot, much more than he could have hoped for.
[Proficiency of Florakinesis reached 100%. Level 19 → Level 20]
[Proficiency of Nature’s Little Wrath reached 100%. Level 16 → Level 18]
[Proficiency of Paralyze reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 8]
[Proficiency of Minor Strength Boost reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 9]
[Proficiency of Sharpness reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 9]
[Proficiency of Blade Strikes reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 4]
[Proficiency of Pierce reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 6]
[Proficiency of Reinforce reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 10]
[Reinforce advanced to Level 10. +2 Soul Essences]
[Proficiency of Clear Mind reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 3]
[Proficiency of Agility Augment reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 7]
[Proficiency of Power Up reached 100%. Level 1 → Level 3]
The gains were massive, but they were merely the benefits of having a massive pool of energy, a suitable training doll, and lots of time to spare. The treasures his Spirits Souls had found in the Goblin Lair had yet to be plucked from the small mountain that had appeared before Zayn.
