Daman
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[CC] Chapter 30
🕑 Added 2025-05-09 19:15:50 +0000 UTCShouren quickly summoned his status and went directly to the ‘Traits’ section. There, floating below his Corrupted Cardsmith [Unique] trait was the newly unlocked trait.
Veinreader [Uncommon]
Your gaze can trace the weakest nodes in any Tier 0 card’s veins. Trait upgradeable.
Card’s veins? I think it’s talking about the channels. So, they’re called ‘veins’, huh? But doesn’t that make it seem like the card is alive somehow? Is the lumen the blood?
Fortunately, the system gave a description of his latest trait, albeit a bit vague and concise. His older [Unique] trait still had a series of ‘????’ for its description. Shouren ruminated over what he just learned. The idea of a card having ‘veins’ seemed like a significant piece of a puzzle.
It’s also ‘upgradeable’. Pumpkin-head never mentioned that part… or does he not have a trait that can do that?
Shouren brushed aside the status and resumed his focus on the card.
In his sight, the card appeared like an amalgam of various sized stars. The four brightest stars were the four at the center of each side of the card’s border. It aligned with what Shouren knew from his previous experiment. Those were the weak points that had to be destroyed in order to complete the sharding.
In the distance, Rubin was busy slicing the boar’s belly with his glowing dagger.
Shouren’s lumen seeped into the card the boy experienced a rush of sensory overload. Unlike his previous attempts, this time, he could ‘see’ the lumen enter the card’s channels, or ‘veins’. Before, he could only feel the existence of the channels, and used his mind to guide the lumen.
Woah.
The boy breathed out in wonder. It was like he could finally see the card’s internal structure and didn’t have to walk around in the dark. His lumen flowed smoothly through the channels under Shouren’s navigation. At the sight of the first star on the path, Shouren drove his lumen straight into its center.
Crack.
The node of light burst into smithereens. Shouren didn’t even have to use any pressure. Only now did the boy realize why it took him so much effort last time to destroy the channels. He wasn’t targeting the crucial points. He was simply going off with a notion of where he ‘felt’ was the weakest point. However, now he could literally see the weakest point.
Wait, if the stars show the area with the weakest points, then the differences in their sizes must mean something important.
Shouren could see four big stars. He called them the ‘Major Gates’, then there were four smaller stars on the corner of the cards which he named the ‘Minor Gates’. These were all stars on the card’s frame.
Following that, the channels’ stars were a bit more complicated. They didn’t have the same symmetry that the card’s frame had. Instead, the various sized stars were scattered all over the surface.
All cards would probably have a different distribution of the star nodes since the channel’s network shape would depend on the individual card’s spell. The larger the star, the easier to break it down.
Shouren was starting to understand how the star nodes worked inside the cards. He tested this theory by charging at the closest small star. Its light was barely visible under Shouren’s trait.
The lumen brushed against the node, but nothing happened. Shouren tried again, but with more intensity. The small star remained indifferent.
Shouren ignored the irritating star and went to a bigger one this time. It was smaller than the first one he encountered, but still relatively larger than the previous small star.
And again, the star stood unfazed.
Shouren stopped and gathered his thoughts. His brain collecting all the information he’d tested so far. The difference between his first successful star destruction and the latter two failures.
It’s the center. The lumen has to pass through the center!
Shouren was thankful for his E ranked Intelligence. It really helped out in times like these. Without waiting, Shouren condensed his lumen, slimming its circumference down until it was slightly smaller than the radiant star.
Crack.
The familiar sound echoed in the boy’s mind.
It’s like threading a needle. I have to make the lumen smaller than the star’s center and then poke it through to crush its stability. If I simply submerge it in lumen, it does nothing.
Shouren grasped it. He needed to refine his lumen control to destroy the smaller stars. Even if he condensed it as much as he currently could, he still could not make it small enough to pass through the mini star.
Shouren spotted three other similar sized stars and raced towards them.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The stars exploded into a cluster of lumen dust. Then, without hesitation, Shouren crushed the four main star gates, and completed the Sharding. He would experiment more later, but he was out of time for now.
Eight small pieces of shards sat on his palm.
[Synchronization: 19%]
Shouren’s lips twitched in elation. He was excited to show this to his grandma. Maybe he could teach her how he did it, and then she’d be able to unlock the same trait as well.
The boy dumped the shards into his vault. Combined with his 6 shards from before, he now had a total of 14 shards. He couldn’t show these shards to Rubin, as they were noticeably smaller than normal.
Holding back his tears, Shouren brought out his own [Common] spell card and sharded it. This time, he didn’t waste time on the channels and directly attacked the four main star gates. Four shards sat floating on his palm.
That only took me a couple of seconds.
Shouren closed his eyes in amazement. What used to take him a minute to complete, now only required a few seconds. It was like Shouren was no longer blind to the card’s internal structure. He didn’t need to wander around aimlessly poking at the walls.
Rubin still hadn’t finished carving out the boar. The older teen was only cutting specific parts of the monster.
Shouren put down the four shards and stared up into the night’s sky.
Was it real or just an illusion created by the dungeon?
The boy was unnerved. He recalled the scene of the hellish red chains coming out of his chest. He couldn’t fathom what it was or what it wanted from him. Why did it even pick him? He was a nobody. Shouren didn’t have great strength or superhuman qualities. He was even shorter than others his age.
So why was this thing inside him? And what did it get in return for giving him his corrupted abilities?
Shouren felt his mind crumbling under the weight of those thoughts. He already knew that he was no longer the same kid before he entered the dungeon. He could feel his thoughts changing every day.
And that terrified him.
“If you were done with sharding the card, you could have at least started the campfire going.”
Rubin arrived before Shouren, carrying huge chunks of meat on his shoulder. He had a wry expression on his face, watching the boy stare deeply into the night.
The kid looked like he was wrestling with demons. More likely, the brat was planning on ways to smooch off the [Uncommon] cards from him.
“Oh, right! I’ll go gather some sticks. Also, here are your shards, Rubin. You can keep all four of them this time. It’s thanks for healing my hands.”
Shouren bounced up and placed the four shards before the older teen. He wanted to give Rubin his other shards as well, but that was too risky. Shouren didn’t even entertain the thought of giving Rubin his own cards. That was too far. He’d rather die than pass up his cards for free.
Rubin gawked at the sight. The brat was actually parting with his loot. Did Shouren stumble on his head in the past few minutes?
Shouren didn’t wait to see the older teen’s expression. He bolted to pick the fallen sticks on the ground. He wanted to divert his mind away from the scary thoughts. Away from the fact that there was something inside him.
Was it watching him right now?
Shouren’s chest vibrated.
[uy<lj7-=fe3]
The demonic crimson chains thrummed in response.
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Status
Name: Shouren
Tier: 0 [Synchronization: 19%]
Class: Cardsmith [Common]
Spell Card Slots: 1/1 - Dimensional Vault [Rare]
Lumen: 5/20 (-5)
Strength: F
Agility: F
Constitution: F
Intelligence: E
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 - Veinreader [Uncommon]
3 - Locked
Cardsmith Recipes:
Tier 0 - Spectral Threads [Common]
