Daman
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[CC] Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2025-04-19 11:51:27 +0000 UTCThe sound of the rain drowned all the noise in the still forest.
In that clamor, the body of a young boy lay spread out in the open as the raindrops drenched his naked figure. Yet, the boy remained asleep, unaware or uncaring of the violent shower.
Just as it seemed as if the boy would continue to sleep, his eyelids tittered imperceptibly.
“Kuh…”
Shouren suddenly woke up, coughing frantically. The series of coughs quickly alternated to an intense bout of retching. His vomit was a putrid amalgamation of the contents of his stomach, bile, phlegm, blood, and a vicious dark globule.
“What in the hellspawn is that?”
After finally discharging the dark globule from his body, Shouren’s body started to soothe itself down. The boy slowly got up and stared at the rancid vomit. Was that gross jelly-like thing inside him?
However, before the boy could investigate any further, a chain of blinking flashes in the corner of his vision caught his attention. When he focused on the light, his eyes drew back in shock.
[Successful Tier 0 Evolution]
[Status Unlocked]
Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 0%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 0/1
Lumen: 10/10
Strength: F
Agility: F
Constitution: F
Intelligence: F
Class Abilities <Corrupted>:
1 - Card Forge <Writ of the Forgotten>
2 - Sharding <Devourer’s Rite>
3 - Card Sacrifice <Oblation Pact>
Traits:
1 - Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique]
2 - Locked
3 - Locked
“No no no no!”
Shouren’s knees gave and the boy dropped down to the ground in despair.
He was a Cardsmith.
How was that possible? He read his status again to make sure.
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
The words bore into him, mocking everything he’d done so far to escape from this very fate. Monster kills could drop any cards, but they tended to coalesce cards that were inherent to their race or abilities. What did a dumb worm have anything to do with a cardsmith class card? Shouren thought the class card dropped by the worm would be a combat or damage-dealing class.
“Haha…ha…ha…”
Shouren hung his head in anguish as he looked up at the thundering clouds of rain. The gray sky added to the gloominess he felt inside his heart. What was the point of running from his home if in the end he ended up with the very class he detested?
He wanted to fight back against the people trying to exploit him and his grandma. How could he do that with a non-combat class?
He’d risked everything for this chance. He’d risked his life fighting that worm and destroyed his spine in th-
Shouren’s thoughts abruptly stopped there. He checked his arms and pivoted his head to look at his back. No trace of broken bones or wounds. He recalled that his spine was shattered during the landing on the worm monster. The memories of that fight rekindled in his mind.
A Tier 0 awakening wasn’t supposed to heal your injuries. Especially the fatal ones like Shouren sustained on his spine.
Shouren twisted his mid-section back and forth to test if everything was fine. He felt great. Better than great, actually. With his attributes unlocked, tendrils of lumen coursed through his body, strengthening his muscles and bones.
“Something is wrong.”
The young boy frowned and summoned his status again. This time, he carefully read each line.
Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 0%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 0/1
Lumen: 10/10
Strength: F
Agility: F
Constitution: F
Intelligence: F
Class Abilities <Corrupted>:
1 - Card Forge <Writ of the Forgotten>
2 - Sharding <Devourer’s Rite>
3 - Card Sacrifice <Oblation Pact>
Traits:
1 - Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique]
2 - Locked
3 - Locked
“Class is Cardsmith [Common]… at least grandma will be happy, right?… Attributes are all at ‘F’ rank which is normal since all Tier 0 Cardists started with these… Huh? Corrupted?”
Shouren paused when he came to his class abilities. Why was there something called <Corrupted> there? He’d never heard others mention this before and neither had his grandmother ever informed him. Knowing that the old lady had instilled every single tidbit information about the Cardsmith class to him, Shouren was firm that <Corrupted> wasn’t part of the class card.
He was familiar with the three basic abilities that all Cardsmiths started with: Card Forge, Sharding and Card Sacrifice. The first ability allowed the class holders to forge new cards, the second ability was to break them down into shards and the final one was the class’s sole attack ability.
Shouren focused more on the abilities, and then a new layer of text appeared beneath them.
Card Forge: Forge new spell cards with Tier 0 shards. Existing spell card recipe required. Cannot forge class cards.
<Writ of the Forgotten>: Corrupted version of ‘Card Forge’ ability. Dismantle 10 Tier 0 spell cards to forge a random Tier 0 spell card. No existing recipe required.
Sharding: Break down Tier 0 cards into 4 shards. Higher proficiency will increase shard yield.
<Devourer’s Rite>: Corrupted version of ‘Sharding’ ability. Consume 100 same rarity class cards into main class card to upgrade.
Card Sacrifice: Destroy any Tier 0 spell card and shoot a single Lumen Bolt.
<Oblation Pact>: Corrupted version of ‘Card Sacrifice’ ability. Destroy any Tier 0 spell card and use its ability for 1 minute without restriction to class. Sufficient lumen required.
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
Shouren was befuddled the more he read the ability details, especially the text related to the corruption part. The first corruption ability by itself was enough to turn his life upside down.
This was why his grandmother remained at the bottom of the barrel in the village. She didn’t own any powerful card recipes to forge, leaving her to be a simple sharding tool to break down cards instead. However, the true value of any cardsmith came from the number of recipes they could access. This is why powerful guilds stayed powerful. They hoarded all the priceless recipes and secured its distribution with unbreakable system oaths.
“The corruption will give me a random Tier 0 spell card but not the recipe of it. I wonder how random it is? Would the type of the 10 spell cards change the final spell card?”
Shouren’s mind was blazing through ideas. He originally resented the cardsmith class because it wouldn’t change anything about their lives. People would still continue to look down on them. But the corrupted ability changed everything. With enough chronas, he could even buy the high Tiered Cardists as guards.
Not all Tier 0 spell cards were equal in value. The previous ‘Create Puddle’ spell card would be sold in the market for around 10 chronas. However, a Tier 0 spell card like ‘Fireball’ was easily bought for 240 chronas!
If he had enough chronas, could he simply buy 10 ‘Create Puddle’ spell cards and hope for an expensive spell card? What if <Writ of the Forgotten> gave him back another ‘Create Puddle’ instead? That would be a waste of chronas.
“It’s still worth a shot, but I need chronas more than ever now. Let’s see what the next corrupted ability is. Devourer’s Rite… what is up with these names? It sounds like a demonic ability.”
Shouren’s face scrunched up in worry. Until today, he’d never heard of Corruption and the names gave him an ill foreboding. None of the names sounded like it was rooted in benevolence.
“Upgrade… class card!?”
The boy froze. If the first corrupted ability shocked him, then the second one sent him straight into a frenzy. If he read it correct, Shouren would be able to consume 100 common class cards to upgrade his card from [Common] to [Uncommon]. And then similarly use 100 [Uncommon] class cards to upgrade to [Rare].
“Does that mean one day I’ll actually have an [Epic] class card? Holy donkey, forget an [Epic], I could even upgrade to a [Legendary] class!”
Shouren muttered in disbelief. Sure, just the first step of acquiring 100 common class cards was a far-fetched dream, but it still meant it was possible. Technically, there was a chance for any class card to upgrade during the evolution or sharding process, but the higher rarity you went, the less the probability. Shouren had never heard of a cardsmith being able to upgrade a class card from [Epic] to [Legendary].
However, Shouren would be able to do it as long as he had the required 100 cards.
“I was thinking too small before. Forget a few hundred chronas, I could be a millionaire with this ability.”
Shouren grinned in euphoria. He would be the only cardsmith in the world to offer the service of guaranteed upgrades to people’s class cards. If they had the chronas, he could even elevate them all the way from [Common] to [Legendary]. How many guild leaders or factions would pour their chronas into Shouren?
The boy grabbed his face and laughed with pure happiness. Finally, him and his grandma would be out of the slums and never have to worry about food.
What if they torture me if I don’t agree?
A sudden thought spurred Shouren into stillness. He put his hands down in an abrupt change of mood. His corrupted ability was truly earth-shattering if news of it reached all the powerful people and factions. Shouren was revelling in his greed of chronas, but what if he was kidnapped and forced to comply to their orders?
He’d already experienced it a day ago. Master Boris didn’t care for the law as long as he could bribe the one in charge of enforcing that law. Who said the guild leaders or the powerful factions would play fair? Shouren was just a measly Tier 0 runt. Why would they try to entice him with chronas and benefits when they could capture him and force him to be their slave?
The other guilds and factions would back off from the first kidnapper if they promised them a certain allocation of the upgrades.
They’ll use grandma to enslave me.
Shouren gulped as the full consequences of his ability began to sink in. If anyone found out, this would be the best time to capture Shouren with his Tier 0 status. He had no backing, funds or influence to protect himself. They could threaten his grandmother and use that to bring him back even if he managed to run away.
No, he couldn’t let anyone know about <Devourer’s Rite> or anything about the corrupted abilities.
“It’s getting dark. Let me read the final corruption and leave his area.”
The rain had stopped at this point, and Shouren’s new Tier 0 body stood glistening in the open sky. The evolution had’s changed him too much physically, but with the newfound lumen coursing through his muscles, even at F rank attributes, Shouren was finally a threat to the weakest Tier 0 monsters.
“Hmm, not bad, I guess.”
Shouren finished reading through his final corrupted ability, <Oblation Pact>, and nodded in satisfaction. It wasn’t as earth-shattering as the first two abilities, but it allowed him to use any spell cards of his current tier without restriction to class. However, it would destroy that card in process, so it wasn’t something he could use constantly.
Still, it was much better than the original cardsmith’s Card Sacrifice ability, which was the only combat ability of the class and all it did was shoot the weakest Lumen Bolt. A single bolt wasn’t even enough to gravely weaken a Tier 0 monster.
The corruption would allow him to use all Tier 0 spell cards without distinction. It was an amazing ability on all accounts, but it had one big problem.
Shouren’s lumen capacity was pathetic.
He only had a paltry maximum capacity of 10 lumen. That wasn’t sufficient to cast a single Tier 0 Fireball, which required 15 lumen at the least.
“But won’t I have more lumen in the future?”
Shouren’s cause of his weak lumen was due to the [Common] class card inside his heart. If he upgraded it to [Uncommon], he’d have double the lumen. And what if he upgraded it even further? Then, before undergoing his Tier 1 evolution, he’d have a similar lumen capacity as most guild elites.
“Snap.”
An unexpected silent crunch of a twig broke Shouren from his thoughts, instantly alerting him that he wasn’t alone anymore. How could he be so dumb to stand in the middle of the forest without care for his surroundings?
“Donkey’s balls…”
Shouren’s hands and feet quivered at the looming danger before him. When did the beast get so close to him? He circulated his feeble lumen through his body. There was no running from this monster. Shouren would take it on.
A low guttural growl erupted from the monster in front him, as it bared its teeth.
This was the second time Shouren had encountered this same beast.
It was the alpha wolf.
