He looked at the time, and his pupils shrank.
'Damn, I only have sixty-four minutes until I have to log out. This means Selena and the others will get kicked out in thirty-four minutes.'
After thinking for a moment, he decided not to meet them.
Because it was better to spend the time leveling up now that he had a powerful deck.
"Mister Axir. Please follow me. I'll lead you to Prince Vedan. He has already picked an artifact for you."
A maid appeared before him out of nowhere, dressed in a classic black-and-white maid outfit.
Axir blinked. 'He's going to give me an artifact as an additional reward? Awesome.'
He was expecting something good, and an artifact was a perfect reward. He just hoped it was good and immediately useful.
Soon, Axir arrived back in the garden where Prince Vedan sat at a table, sipping tea as two birds played on his shoulders.
As Axir arrived, the prince turned to him with a grin.
"How did it go? Show me the deck." Prince Vedan appeared visibly eager to know what Axir managed to manifest.
Axir snapped his fingers as a screen appeared before Prince Vedan, showing the deck's information.
[ Shivanta Sunborn Artist Deck ]
"Shivanta!" Prince Vedan exclaimed, his eyes shining. The name alone gave him a pleasant surprise.
"What does it mean?" Axir curiously asked.
"It's a word of the highest divinity, according to the scriptures we have in the kingdom. Its meaning is for you to expand, but in general terms, it has multiple meanings that go like this." Prince Vedan cleared his throat. "The End Beyond Destruction. Libration, not death. The Final Witness. The Boundary of Meaning. The Mercy of Ending. The True Form of Auspiciousness. The End That Cannot Be Undone."
Axir blinked. "…"
Prince Vedan laughed. "To have pulled out this word, you must have acquired some profound truth and insight. Let's see the cards. I am thrilled, haha."
[ Shivanta Sunborn Artist Deck ]
Level: 1
Rank: Unique
Draw: 10 Mana per star of the card
Epiphany: 0
Inspiration: 0
1. Ananta Sunborn Forge | Prime 3-star
2. Self-Domain: Librated Drift | Prime 4-star
Unique decks were not like other decks. They had a different mechanism, as players had to manifest cards of the deck by triggering Inspiration and leveling it up to increase its deck size and add more cards.
"Amazing. I am looking forward to how you develop this and make your feats known throughout this world." Prince Vedan grinned.
Snapping his fingers, he said, "Now then, here's your additional reward that I promised."
A card appeared on the table with a lifelike design of a mysterious black lamp with exotic golden patterns. Inside the lamp's translucent glass was a hazy crimson-blue wisp floating dimly.
Axir blinked, his eyes sparkling. He knew about this artifact.
[ Spirit Surge Lamp ]
Type: Artifact Card
Quality: Rare
Effect:
—> Any being killed by you results in the generation of spirits in the lamp, with a capacity of up to 1000 spirits. Every ten spirits increase one main stat of your choosing by one percent. [10/1000]
"This is amazing." Axir grinned. "Thank you."
"There are ten spirits inside, but to make use of it fully, you will need to kill nine hundred and ninety monsters." Prince Vedan chuckled.
Axir stood up. "Then I'll take my leave. I don't have much time left, so I would like to get back to grinding."
"Good luck."
And so, Axir used Rocket Wings and directly flew away from the garden balcony.
'With this new deck, I should be able to push to level 30 and unlock the guild before I have to log out.'
Axir's eyes glinted with excitement.
He was expecting a Unique-rank deck, but there were also differences among Unique-rank decks. Some were more powerful, some less. It also depended on players to bloom their potential, or it would be a waste of a deck.
What he did not expect was the power of this deck.
One-star to ten-star was the first category of cards.
After ten-star came Prime one-star to Prime ten-star.
Prime ten-star was the maximum quality rank of a card, and Prime-star cards would only appear in Legendary or higher-graded decks.
Similarly, level one to one hundred was termed Tier-1 to Tier-10 to generalize levels of items. Like how Axir got Tier-2 epic or legendary resources, which basically meant level 20 to 30 resources of epic or legendary grade.
But after level one hundred, items, resources, and such were generalized into Prime Tier.
Level one hundred to level two hundred was considered Prime Tier 1.1 to Prime Tier 2.0, with every ten levels indicating a 0.1 increment.
Level two hundred and one to three hundred was considered Prime Tier 2.1 to 3.0, and so on.
And in this Unique Deck, he already had cards of Prime three-star and Prime four-star quality. This deck had higher-quality starting cards than the Unique deck he had in his previous life.
Of course, the output power of the cards depended on his main stats, but the quality of the card meant it had high potential effects.
'I guess experiencing death and rebirth has its perks.' Axir thought as he flew toward a level 50 area.
When he was meditating and perceiving, he visited his death multiple times.
The overall experience he had in the ancient ground as he endured pain and perceived profound truths was utterly absurd, as if he were high in a realm no drugs could ever reach.
And the result of that was this Shivanta Sunborn Artist Deck.
Axir landed on top of a boulder as he surveyed a group of level 45 to 50 monsters called Flanca Spiralhorn Bulls, which were foraging near a pond, eating grass and drinking water.
'Now then…'
A card manifested before him.
[ Ananta Sunborn Forge ]
Card Quality: Prime 3-star
Effect:
—> After activating the card, it can transform into a weapon of one of the five classifications you desire.
- Blade
- Blunt
- Pole
- Long-range
- Hybrid
—> Once a weapon is manifested, it is added to the armory and can be stored and summoned at will until it is destroyed. Armory: 0/10.
Each weapon will have a random, distinct flame core with exotic properties. All weapons start at Prime one-star and can be upgraded using resources. Their attack power depends on your main stats.
Axir selected Long-range, and the card glowed before expanding and transforming into a wooden slingshot.
A pop-up appeared in Axir's mind.
[ Choose the version of Slingshot from the possible options. ]
Option 1
[ Dreadspore Slingshot ]
—> Attacks burn the target with Dreadspore Flame, dealing damage per second and releasing spores that increase fear and decrease elemental resistance. Once fear reaches a certain extent, the target becomes terrified and will not fight back for five seconds.
Option 2
[ Exploding Slingshot ]
—> Attacks explode with Ravage Flame in a five-meter radius, inflicting burn damage per second and decreasing physical resistance while staggering or stunning targets.
Axir thought for a moment and selected the second option.
[ Exploding Slingshot ]
- Attack: 100 + 100 percent Constitution + 100 percent Arcane
- Cost: 10 Mana per shot
—> Burn damage equals Attack per second.
—> Stagger and stun. Attacking a staggered enemy guarantees a stun for three seconds.
'Awesome.'
Fear could cause monsters to flee, but stagger or stun would stop them and allow more exploding shots to land.
Axir aimed at the group of bulls, a grin spreading across his face.
It was going to be a massacre of twenty-six level 45 to 50 monsters.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
…