Daman
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[CC] Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2025-04-19 17:27:23 +0000 UTC“Tch, I need to hurry.”
Shouren was currently sprinting through the forest. Fortunately, the alpha was bleeding severely, allowing the boy to track its trail leading back to the bear.
Lumen is really amazing.
He was constantly channeling 2 units of the lumen within his body. As long as he didn’t use it for explosive movement, Shouren could keep the lumen running inside. It didn’t make him faster when he used it like this, but it did drain less stamina and alleviated the fatigue building up.
His hand wasn’t healed, but at least the coursing lumen stopped the blood from leaking out.
His Lumen was slow to recover, his capacity re-filling back to 6/10.
It was the major drawback of having a [Common] class card.
“Let me check my other notifications.”
While he darted around the forest, Shouren decided to quickly check his remaining blinking messages. He didn’t want to make the same mistake of passing over his [Unique] trait that late.
The status was unchanged, but there was a new text box beneath it.
Akarsha Dungeon: Floor 1
[Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities]
[Current Kills: 2/3]
Sweet peaches, I only need one more kill and I can leave the dungeon.
Shouren thought in excitement. If things went according to plan, he wouldn’t need much time to finish the bear with his latest spell card.
“But… what if I stayed?”
Shouren’s hazel eyes looked in contemplation as he raced through the path. The 1st Floor of the dungeon didn’t have a time limit and even if he completed the clear conditions, he had the choice of staying back or leaving whenever he wanted.
He’d already accomplished his original goal: to acquire a class card.
“I could leave after my 3rd kill, heal for a few days and then clear the 1st Floor again, repeating the hunt of Tier 0 monsters to eventually save up enough chronas to leave the village.”
The boy mediated over his plan. It was a safe plan that would let him accumulate kills and cards over a long period of time. He never even had to enter the 2nd Floor ever. The wealth from selling the Tier 0 cards would be plenty for him and his grandma.
No.
Shouren’s eyes hardened.
No.
No!
He couldn’t go back to the person he was before this. The image of his grandmother hanging her head in defeat to the merchant replayed in his mind. The image of Favian pommeling his face to the dirt flared up. Everyone was just watching the brute without stopping him.
The reason why no one stopped Boris and Favian was simple.
Shouren and Rhea weren’t worth it.
They wouldn’t gain anything if they helped the pair.
Shouren’s wiry muscles thrummed with intensity, the corded fibers tightening with vigor as his feet glided over the grass. Meanwhile, the boy’s hazel eyes resolved with determination.
“I’ll fight. I’ll climb the floors. And I’ll be powerful enough that I don’t have to hide my abilities from the world.”
Without the boy noticing, an ephemeral cage of crimson chains wrapped around his class card. But before he could sense anything, the red chains rapidly vanished as if they were never there.
Shouren continued his thoughts without missing a beat. He wasn’t going to take the easy path. He’d only leave the dungeon after he’d killed every single monster on the floor.
“Something’s happening to me.”
The boy whispered to himself. He was always prone to anger quick, but never acted upon it. Killing the worm had been a monumental risk, but he didn’t slow down after that. He took on the alpha as well. A monster he was hiding from barely a few hours earlier.
And now, rather than running away from the bear, he was actively hunting it.
He’d always been angry at the injustice forced upon him. He was angry when Favian thrashed him. However, it was different this time. Shouren was channeling his anger into a purpose.
To Kill.
“It’s here.”
Shouren’s head jolted with a mild migraine, but he shoved it aside. He could hear the bear in the distance.
Crouching to the ground, Shouren tread carefully from this point on. The lumen helped him regulate his rising heart rate. Step by step, the boy made his way to the source of the deep growls. They were weaker than the first time he’d heard the bear.
Brushing aside the shrubbery, Shouren peeked at the scene before him.
The bear was slumped on the bloody grass, surrounded by three half-chewed carcases. All the corpses had a hole in their chest where their hearts should have been. The enormous bear was covered in countless lashes and missing chunks of flesh. The deepest gash was on its chest, over its heart. The pack was cunning, they probably focused all their attacks there in an attempt to kill it swiftly.
The monster was carefully licking its wounds to stop the bleeding.
It’s already eaten the pack’s cards. Its lumen should be fast recovering.
Shouren mused from his hiding spot. Thankfully, the monster’s wounds didn’t appear to be healing as fast as he’d expected. The pack had really done a number on the bear. It’s wild eyes were alert of any pending danger. It knew that it was at its weakest point and other monsters would take this chance to kill it if it closed its eyes.
As long as it remained awake, it could defend itself.
Deciding he was close enough, Shouren slowly brought out the third card he’d gotten as a drop from the alpha.
“I’ll use the card from your body to avenge your pack.”
The boy promised as he activated his corrupted ability, <Oblation Pact>.
If the alpha could hear the human boy’s words, it would choke itself to death. Wasn’t the human himself responsible for its death? Who’d avenge that part then?
Tier 0 - Hide Presence [Common]
Remove all traces of your presence. Affects only Tier 0.
Cost: 2 lumen per minute
Shouren felt the spell card disintegrate into dust. Unlike Card Sacrifice, where the lumen congealed over the card, the corruption devoured all the card’s lumen. Where did it go?
Let’s go.
Shouren redirected his attention back to the bear. He ignored the ‘2 lumen per minute’ part. <Oblation Pact> only let him use the spell for a minute, so 2 lumen was all he needed to expend.
The spell card stated that it would remove his presence, but it didn’t specify if it removed sound, smell, and his lumen as well. It technically should, since they contributed to his ‘presence’, but he won’t know until he tested it.
He dashed toward the bear. If he had more time, he’d meticulously test every step before getting close to the bear, but Shouren only had 50 seconds remaining. It was all or nothing.
Reaching towards his back, Shouren pulled out his trusty weapon.
The black fox’s bone.
Only now, it was modified into a spike. With his F ranked strength, Shouren was able to crack the end of the bone and use the monster’s claw to shave the splintered tip into a sharp point, resembling a bone nail.
Lumen: 2/10
He used 2 units of lumen to activate the spell card, and then pushed another 2 units into his legs to propel them to a blur. Shouren was going to use all the mustered momentum to pierce through the bear’s heart in one burst of motion.
30 seconds left.
Shouren was only a few meters away from the bear now. He could hear the deep vibrato of his throaty growls. Yet, the looming monster didn’t move, its eyes stared ahead blankly. It hadn’t detected the incoming Shouren.
20 seconds left.
He was only a meter away from the bear now, its acrid breath fazing past Shouren’s nostrils.
19 seconds left.
Shouren raised the bone spike, aimed it at the open laceration on the heart and charged ahead.
18 seconds left.
The spike was only a few inches away from the bear’s heart.
Guided by pure instinct, the monster’s eyes shifted slightly. Shouren’s heart thundered inside his chest.
Lumen: 0/10
Flooding his arms with an extra wave of raging lumen, Shouren drilled the bone spike deep into the bear’s chest. The splinter easily slid into the soft tissue of muscle, eliciting a barbaric roar from the bear. It thrashed on the ground, trying to throw off the human boy. Even with its heart pierced, the bear’s vitality fought back.
The bear’s eyes bulged with incredulity. When did the human get so close without it noticing.
Shouren’s body trembled under the intensity, weak from the lack of lumen. However, the boy gathered his protesting muscles in a last resort and twisted the bone inside the monster’s heart.
The bear groaned in anguish, its growl fading to silence as the light in its eyes eroded away. The massive monster crashed lifelessly to the ground.
Shouren stood there, drenched once again in a monster’s warm blood, his bone spike dripping viscous crimson droplets on the grass.
His screen flashed.
Akarsha Dungeon: Floor 1
[Floor 1 Clear Conditions: Kill 3 Tier 0 entities]
[Current Kills: 3/3]
[Floor Rewards will be distributed upon exit or new floor.]
[Exit: Yes/No]
[Enter Floor 2: Yes/No]
Shouren sighed in relief. He could finally leave the dungeon whenever he wanted. Or he could proceed to the 2nd Floor and challenge stronger monsters. He was tempted to try the second floor, but he knew his limits. If a few monsters on the 1st Floor had given him this much trouble, he wouldn’t even survive the 2nd Floor without a collection of powerful cards in his arsenal.
He felt the ‘Hide Presence’ spell card fizzle out of his body. If only he had a few more of those, he could efficiently take down a few more monsters.
“Let’s see the cards the big guy dropped.”
Shouren flicked the blood from the bone spike before returning it to the hem of his trousers. Then, his eyes glanced toward the bear’s corpse.
“I think grandma will have a stroke if she saw this.”
The boy’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Hovering over the bear’s corpse was a single card.
In the darkness, Shouren’s irises reflected the color of the glow emitting from the card.
Blue.
Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 0%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 0/1
Lumen: 1/10
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
