Chapter 26 Growing Power

Daniel who sat on the table began to open the booster pack, starting from the Atlantean Artifact set. In the first 3 booster packs of the Atlantean Artifact set, other than some useful rare, there are no notable or powerful cards that could turn the table when played.

But when it comes to the fourth booster pack. A glaring symbol of the legendary card appears before Daniel's eyes; his heart starts beating in excitement, when… he sees the name of the card, and his adrenaline rushes to his head.

"Ohhhhh!" Daniel involuntarily let out a cry of excitement

Card: Hourglass of Eternity

Picture: A 3-story high hourglass with an ocean of glittering stars as its sand.

Rarity: Legendary

Type: Unique - Artifact

Mana Cost: 8 Non-Element

Description:

[Indestructible] [Eternity]

All non-creatures "Permanent" get [Indestructible] and [Eternity] until the "Hourglass of Eternity" card leaves the battlefield.

Pay 3 Tap: A target creature gets [Indestructible] [Eternity] until the end of the turn.

Flavor text:

A glimpse of eternity, contained in this miraculous hourglass, a peak of Atlantean artifact creation and the source of god's ire and mortal's greed.

Daniel remembered that this card was not the powerful card or the essential card when they were testing, because its high cost made it too slow for people who like to rush things or the people who play like META.

But for him right now, this card could eliminate his anxiety that one day his "Grand Artificer" profession would be destroyed by some mage spell that could destroy the enchantment. Now he would be able to breathe easily when he has a dispute with some mage from the Curtained World.

Then he began to open the next pack and saw a card he never saw on all of his previous booster packs.

Card: Atlantean Artificer Workshop Guard

Picture: A man in golden full plate armor with some of its parts glowing blue and seems to be made from unknown metal. Standing in front of a gate with a golden and blue sheen spear in hand. His left arm holds a large shield with the same design as his armor.

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Creature - Human - Magician

Mana Cost: 1 Light Element, 1 Blue Element, 2 Non-Element

Description:

[Mitigate 2]

Power: 2

Toughness: 3

Flavor text: To be a workshop guard of an Atlantean artificer was not easy. To be one, one needs to have enough capability equal to an elite Atlantean assault force.

It's a non-artifact, unnamed creature card. This is the first time he's seen it, although the Atlantean Artifact set didn't have many non-artifact creatures, there are a few non-artifact creatures in the Common Rarity card. He should have found them with his previous 15 booster packs.

He didn't think too much about it at the time because he just wanted more artifact or artifact creature cards, but if you think about the likelihood of finding a few non-artifact creature cards in Common Rarity. He should have found a few of them... unless...

There is some condition he has to meet before he's able to find a non-artifact creature card, or should he say... sentient creature card.

"Mr.Keeper" He called.

"Yes? How may I help you, Mr.Daniel?" The Keeper responds and stops what he's doing before walking to Daniel's table.

Daniel begins to tell The Keeper about his suspicion of why he just found the sentient non-named card because if it is what he thought, he needs to consider how he will handle things from now on.

Because of the existence of the Curtained World which is the existence of the myth only hidden in plain sight. He could have attracted the attention of the god who rules over the dead if they know that some souls of the dead have disappeared.

After hearing what Daniel said, the keeper closed his eyes and thought about how to give clarity to his only customer.

"Yes, Mr. Daniel. What you suspected is true. This store reacts to things you did in the real world. Its miracle power was immense, but it is not omnipotent.

In order to manifest the cards of the nameless living beings, it needs souls from the real world to serve as anchors to establish the identity of the beings when you actualize them in the real world.

To put it simply. The shop draws any living beings' souls you killed in the real world without you capturing those souls to use for later. Then it uses those souls to manifest the living being's cards.

This was also the reason why I could change my form to be more human."

The keeper explained to Daniel, including the reason why he could change his form with a kind smile.

"I see…" Daniel nodded repeatedly in understanding.

"Does this mean the soul from the real world will disappear forever once they are here?" Daniel inquired.

The Keeper saw a little bit of worry in Daniel's eyes when he was asking.

"I don't know what you are worried about Mr.Daniel, even though it's true that the soul from the real world would have disappeared because it was drawn here by the shop after you killed some living being there.

But they do not completely disappear, if they die in the real world the soul will still obey the rules of the real world. Unless you intervene and actively draw their soul to the shop.

So… for your peace of mind. If you are worried about some god or higher power would notice you messing with the soul.

Please don't worry too much, because there is always someone messing with the soul of the living, whether it was some mage who wants more power, a devil gambling with each other using mortal souls, or god themself deciding to destroy someone's soul who angered them.

The case of something happening to the soul of the living is too long to count. Unless you commit a mass murderer and millions of souls disappear from the real world at once, no one's gonna bother you." The Keeper reassured Daniel with a smile.

Hearing that, Daniel gains more understanding of the way of the world. Or in this case, the way of the Curtained World. It was a brutal world where even one soul was not safe and the powerful always exploited the weak in a manner that no one could ever imagine.

Now, thinking back to the day he died, he was sure that it was some kind of ritual that the Royal family did to gain power for themselves since the royal family was also a mage family. But what kind of ritual was that? And what was its effect?

There are more questions he needs to uncover. He wanted to destroy the royal family that was for sure but he wouldn't do a thing until he got enough information on how to effectively destroy them… or unless they provoked him and left him no choice.

"I see, thank you for your clarification. Mr. Keeper." Daniel thanked The Keeper again and began to enjoy his remaining booster packs.

Daniel opened The Crusade Of Light And Darkness set booster packs and saw many useful creatures and spell cards even though it's not a rare card it was still useful in his opinion.

Card: Bestowed Light

Picture: The knight in full plate armor stands under the glowing light from the sky

Rarity: Common

Type: Enchantment - Attachment - Blessing

Mana Cost: 1 Light, 2 Non-Element

Description:

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ Target creatures get +2 Power and +2 Toughness until Bestowed Light leaves the battlefield.

Flavor text: May light guide your hand.

Card: Curse of Withering

Picture: The knight in rusty armor is crawling on all four his old and wither appearance seems to be crumbling at any time.

Rarity: Common

Type: Enchantment - Attachment - Curse

Mana Cost: 1 Dark, 2 Non-Element

Description:

Target creatures get -2 Power and -2 Toughness until Curse of Withering leaves the battlefield.

Flavor text: Withering and death are just a course of nature, I just speed up the process a little.

Daniel saw both cards and nodded in satisfaction, although it was just common cards but coupled with his "Hourglass of Eternity" it will be more powerful as it cannot be destroyed or exiled. If… the real-world mage has some magic that could exile that is.

Now, he only needs the card that could return these enchantments to the hand in case he needs to dispel the curse or blessing. He can't just tell someone that he can't undo the curse he did on others and in case he uses the curse on the wrong target or he wants his blessing returned from someone he deems not worthy.

Daniel then continued to open the booster pack but still didn't find anything as awesome as the Hourglass of Eternity he got from the Atlantean Artificer set.

Then, at the last pack of the current set, he notices a legendary rarity symbol on the card.

"Yesssss!!" Daniel shouted in excitement as he saw the iconic cards of The Crusade Of Light And Darkness set.