"You agreed to join the team bracket?" Jake's face lit up the second the words left Ethan's mouth.
Ethan picked up a slice of beef with his chopsticks, swished it through the broth, and gave a half-smile. "I'll give it a shot. But fair warning — if it doesn't work out, I'm gone."
"That's totally fine!" Jake raised his Coke and clinked it against Ethan's glass. "The Dynamic Duo reunites! We are going to be unstoppable!"
Ethan went quiet for a beat.
In a world where the entertainment industry was basically dead and no TV show had ever gone viral, nicknames like that were purely complimentary. Nobody here would hear "Dynamic Duo" and think of Batman and Robin.
It still sounded weird coming out of Jake's mouth, though.
"Alright," Ethan said. "Tell me about Sophie's Purple card."
"Right!" Jake set his drink down. "It's called Healing Flower Fairy. Tier 2 Purple. Magic system."
The mainstream story systems for low-tier summoning cards in this world were: Arthurian, High Fantasy, Magic, and Fairy Tale.
The Magic system leaned toward ranged combat and support. Its damage ceiling wasn't the highest, but its utility was unmatched.
"What are the specifics?"
"Mostly healing. Last time we sparred, my Greystone Knight was practically dead — one hit from lethal — and she healed him back to full in a single cast. Plus she's got some kind of vine attack?"
"Blue Silver Grass Entanglement?" Ethan muttered before he could stop himself.
Jake blinked. "Blue Silver what now?"
"Nothing. Eat your food."
"Oh — and besides Sophie, there's another girl on the team. Lily Ashton. She's in our class too. You know her?"
Ethan nodded. He had vague memories of Lily from the original Ethan's perspective — quiet, competent, kept to herself.
"Their decks are kind of all over the place," Jake continued, chewing thoughtfully. "Arthurian cards mixed with Fairy Tale and Magic. I don't really get why they keep throwing in all that fantasy stuff."
"Because it's stronger when you mix systems," Ethan said. "Pure Arthurian is too one-dimensional mechanically. You need variety."
He didn't mention that his own deck had zero Arthurian cards in it.
They talked and ate for close to two hours. By the time they left, Ethan had a solid picture of his new teammates and their card pools.
The next morning, Jake made the introductions during class.
Sophie Harris was direct. "Jake mentioned you last week, so we held the spot. I don't mind bringing you on, but we need to see what your deck can do first."
Last week?
Ethan glanced at Jake, who was radiating an expression that screamed I have been planning this for days and I regret nothing.
"That's fair," Ethan said. "I'd want to see your decks too."
He meant it. Testing their strength was just as important as proving his own. More importantly, he needed to field-test his cards. He'd been crafting nonstop for two days, but none of it had seen real combat yet. There was a difference between theory and practice.
"We're free this afternoon," Sophie said. "Training hall. Sound good?"
"Works for me."
The Bayshore City Junior Card Master Training Center was a ten-minute walk from campus — a blocky three-story building with gray-white walls and a sign above the entrance that had seen better days.
The lobby was packed, mostly with students. Electronic screens on the walls showed the real-time status of every training room in the building.
Jake handled the front desk, renting a room for an hour. One Spirit Crystal.
"Highway robbery," he grumbled under his breath. "If it weren't for the tournament, I'd never spend this."
The training room was on the second floor. Small — maybe two hundred square feet. Two metal platforms sat in the center, surrounded by a ring of chairs. Each platform had a System interface device. You linked up, selected your deck, and the System handled the rest.
Anyone sitting in the chairs around the platforms would be pulled into the Battle Space as spectators.
"So what's the plan?" Sophie asked. "2v2 or 1v1?"
"1v1 first," Jake said immediately. "Let me test Ethan's deck."
Sophie glanced at Lily. Lily shrugged — no objections.
Ethan pulled up his System Panel, linked to the device, and selected his deck. Thirteen cards total. Not a full thirty, but more than enough.
His vision blurred.
The training room walls dissolved, replaced by a vast, open plain stretching in every direction. He stood at an elevated position in one corner, a glowing red crystal tower pulsing beneath his feet.
A translucent panel appeared in front of him:
Psionic Energy: 100 / 3,000
Diagonally across the field — well over a thousand yards away — Jake stood in the mirror position, his own crystal glowing blue.
Sophie and Lily materialized at the edge of the arena, elevated above the field with a full bird's-eye view.
"You hear me?" Jake's voice crackled through the comms. Despite the distance, the System carried sound perfectly.
"Loud and clear."
"Then let's do this." Jake cut the channel.
Ethan didn't rush. He took a moment to study the field.
Jake had already deployed. A young knight holding a longsword materialized near Jake's crystal — not in the center of the field, but defensively. Staying back.
In a standard match, most players summoned their first card to the midfield position. Deploying near your own crystal was a deliberate choice. Jake was giving Ethan time — room to set up. A courtesy.
Alright then. If Jake was going to be generous, Ethan would put on a show.
He drew his first card.
[Card Name]: Spirit Energy Crystal
[Quality]: Purple (Epic)
[Rank]: Tier 1
[Type]: Item Card
[Cost]: 100 Psionic Energy
[Effect]: Restores 200 Psionic Energy.
[Evaluation]:"Mine. All mine."
In this world's battle format, you could only include one copy of any given card in your deck. Otherwise, Ethan would've been very tempted to pack ten of these things and drop a Tier 3 card on turn one.
That would've been disgusting. And hilarious.
Up in the spectator seats, Sophie and Lily exchanged confused glances.
"What card is that?" Sophie murmured. "No visible summon effect."
It was unusual. Almost everyone played a Summoning Card in round one. If you had nothing on the field at the start, you were asking to get rushed.
But Ethan's card clearly wasn't a summon. And whatever it did, there was no visible effect on the battlefield.
Then he played two more cards in rapid succession.
A small scrap yard materialized in front of his crystal — piles of rusted metal, gears, wiring, sheet steel. And standing beside it, a wolf. Bipedal. Wearing a lab coat.
"What is that? A werewolf?" Sophie couldn't help herself.
"No werewolf I've ever seen looks like that." Lily frowned, studying the figure. "It looks like something out of a cartoon."
She considered herself well-read when it came to card systems. So why was she stumped within the first sixty seconds of this match?
And more importantly — he'd just played three cards in the opening round. That shouldn't be possible. Not with only 100 Psionic Energy to start.
"That first card..." Sophie thought for two seconds, then figured it out.
"It restores Psionic Energy," Lily said, arriving at the same conclusion.
Energy-restoration cards weren't unheard of. But most of them were terrible — the cost outweighed the benefit. Someone had once created a Tier 2 Magic Potion card that manifested a glowing blue bottle. It restored 600 Psionic Energy over five minutes, for a casting cost of 300.
The catch? You had to physically drink it. And reportedly, it tasted like hot garbage.
Worse, in an actual Card Master duel with round-based energy regeneration, a slow-drip restoration card was practically useless.
But Ethan's card apparently gave an instant net gain. Spend 100, get 200 back. That was a completely different animal.
And he'd used it to triple-deploy in round one.
"Interesting," Sophie said quietly, leaning forward in her chair.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.