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Book 2: Chapter 45: Running - Level 20

"I should add shelves," he muttered to himself. "But I have no idea how I would attach them to a wall.…"

Perhaps a skill or two in woodworking would do him some good.

He was stalling, and he knew it. He turned, half expecting to see the frozen visage of Penn, Marion, and Echo standing there.

Of course, they were gone.

All that was left was bits and bobs of supplies he had purchased, stacked crates of produce… And of course, the corpse of the scourgeling.

He had not let himself think much about the scourgeling or wonder what cards it could be hiding. He couldn't be entirely sure his mental resistance skills would entirely block the mind mage. In fact, it was possible that some thoughts did leak out — another reason why none of the inquisitors had put up a fuss.

Plus, if the thought-sensor had been Legendary level, he likely could have blasted through Arthur's skills without him knowing it.

Or the inquisitors had only been interested in placing blame on the Wolf hive leadership, the thought- sensing had been a passive card, and Arthur was overthinking things.

Stalling again.

He had all the time he wanted in his personal space, but he had run out of excuses.

"Just because I harvest the cards doesn't mean I have to use them," he muttered to himself.

His hands, he realized, were shaking.

Mind-magic frightened him. It was a fear he had silently carried with him before the scourgeling eruption. It was a fear linked to his thief class.

He told himself over and over again that just because he had a class, and many skills in thieving, he didn't have to use it.

Yet, he found himself using them anyway.

And he couldn't make himself regret it. He had gotten his master of body enhancement card from stealing from his own cousin. Arthur liked Penn more than he thought he would. He still didn't feel bad for stealing from him and likely causing his family a lot of trouble.

If he had a mind mage card — sooner or later, he would find himself using it.

"It might not be a good card," he said aloud, the better to try to convince himself. "The mind singer said it had two sisters. When I killed this one, its power had gone down by at least a third. It had spawned from a library with Rares. Whatever I get, it won't be a Legendary rank. Maybe. Hopefully."

He wasn't sure he could resist the lure of a Legendary rank card, no matter what it was.

Enough stalling. It was time to act.

The remains of the chest were glowing.

Holding his breath, Arthur reached and gestured upward through the glow. Several shards and a whole card floated into view. He gathered them in his hand and examined them.

Five rare shards, including one of the valued corner pieces. That was handy.

The whole card, however, took his attention.

Subconscious Injection

Mind

Rare

The wielder of this card will be able to implant a subconscious thought or suggestion into the mind of another. This action may be blocked by anti-mind magic cards, skills, or items. Warning: complicated suggestions, or thoughts which are repellent against the nature of the recipient’s mind may be discarded. The subconscious may suggest but it is the conscious which acts.

This card requires mana.

Arthur read through the description twice, frown deepening by the moment.

This was probably the card which had been behind convincing the Legendary Illusionist to set those traps outside the town. Possibly the card which had convinced him and his team to go out to prove themselves to begin with.

Was it possible there were other subconscious suggestions lurking in his mind?

No way to know for certain, but several things reassured him. If this scourgeling had slipped in a subconscious order to, say, assassinate one of the hive leaders… Arthur doubted he would want to follow it.

But if the thought were more insidious. Something that dovetailed along with his own thoughts. Say: Steal a card from your cousin…

Well. He’d have a hard time saying no.

Arthur sighed.

He wasn’t a fool enough to dispose of the card or try to sell it. Especially as he was in a new Hive and had no connections to a black market.

Best that he keep this safe in his Personal Space. At least no Treasure-Seeker under Legendary-rank had a chance of spotting it here.

Buck Moon hive was larger and more extensive than Wolf Moon. He’d heard this many times, but he truly felt it when he tried to navigate through what felt like a vast, unending complex of tunnels, junctions, and byways.

Finally conceding defeat, Arthur approached a maintenance worker.

“Could you point me in the direction of the training hall?”

“Training hall?” the man had a bushy mustache and took a moment to look Arthur up and down. “That’s for dragon riders only, son.”

Oh. Right.

Arthur dug in his pocket for the identification chip the inquisitors had given him. He held it out, and on a whim, pushed a bit of his newly recovered mana through it.

The etched lines that made up the image of the stag lit up in brilliant blue. The power collected and shot out a foot above the chip in scattered light to form the words: Legendary Recruit.

It was… a bit much. Arthur felt his face grow hot.

The man jerked back in shock and then completed a hasty bow. “Forgive me, sir! I didn’t think—” Again, his gaze flicked over Arthur, and he swallowed, “That is to say, you were unaccompanied and…”

And Arthur was wearing basic, though well-kept borrowed clothing clearly not tailored to his body. His look didn’t scream ‘Rich man who can afford a Legendary card’.

He held up a hand. “It’s fine—”

The maintenance worker turned and bellowed down the hall. “Carley! Get over here, quick.”

A girl of fourteen or so in overalls splattered with masonry concrete jogged up. “What’s going on, pa?”

“This here Legendary-rank needs to be shown to the training hall.”

The girl turned wide-eyes on Arthur and then visibly recoiled on seeing his reddened face. She likely thought it was anger, not embarrassment.

“Yes, sir! Of course. If you follow me, sir!”

Arthur followed. The girl was small – too small for her age. And why would she have work stains on her clothing? Most occupational card-powers were clean.

Unless…

Arthur took another look at the girl and realized she wasn’t carded.

Odd. Everyone working in the Wolf Hive was carded. He didn’t think it was a rule, but there were several hive-funded programs – including the one that founded Arthur’s orphanage – to get children a card as soon as possible.

Maybe Carley was like Red and didn’t agree with card magics, or she was saving for a higher rank card.

Still, something about this unsettled him and he made a note to take a closer look at other workers in the future to see if they were carded or not.

Either the girl was as good as her word or too intimidated to slack off. In less than ten minutes, Arthur found himself standing in front of the entrance to the training hall.

It was a huge, curved room, making him suspect it may have originally served as a lair for a creature as big as the mega-scourge. Though there were both torches and card-anchor lit stones to provide illumination, he couldn’t see to the top of the curved ceiling.

He paused to tip a surprised Carley five coppers for her effort and then walked in.

There were no windows to the outside. His sense of direction said he was near the core of the hive. One wall had been carved out for climbing handholds – a half dozen people stood at the bottom holding ropes for others who were ascending to the top.

There were hanging bars, sideways ladders to swing across over an open mud pit, a deep pond in which to do laps, and poles of varying height to jump over or balance on. One quarter of the room was dedicated to strength exercises with boulders of different sizes to lift. And surrounding it all lay a dug-out dirt track to run on.

This was perfect.

He wasn’t sure what the Legendary-rank dragonet would be looking for, exactly, but developing his Master of Body Enhancement card couldn’t hurt.

He decided to hit the track and work on his running skills.

Hitting level 10 in Running had gained him a 5% bonus to all stamina and a 10% percent speed boost to the first fifteen seconds of a sprint.

He had hoped for more bonuses once he hit level 15. An hour of circling the track again and again, and he wasn’t disappointed.

New Skill Level Gained:

Running – Level 15

For reaching this threshold on a body-enhancing skill, you have gained a 7% bonus to stamina while running. In addition, gain a 15% speed bonus for the first twenty seconds while sprinting.

It was something but Arthur wanted more. His legs burned from the hour run but he had been taking the laps at an easy jog. He had more to give.

He forced himself to lengthen his stride. Move faster – run to his limit.

By the time he hit level 18, his once fine shirt was soaked to the skin with sweat. He shucked it off, leaving on his nice pants. The fine shoes he’d taken from the room still fit his feet with no discomfort. He suspected there was some card-magic sewn in or else he would be suffering massive blisters.

His lungs and throat burned, and he longed to stop for a drink of water.

But he was only two levels from twenty. He wanted – needed – to explore the limits of his card.

Arthur pushed himself.

New skill level gained: Running

Level 19

He hadn’t activated his Charm card and a lone person running the track didn’t garner much interest.

Not until that person kept it up for two hours straight.

Some people glanced up from their training, sending him confused looks, hollering encouragement, or jeering jokes. Arthur paid them no mind. Perhaps it was exhaustion kicking in, but he felt like he was floating above his body – separated from aches and pains.

He’d always been fit through the need for survival, but he could have never run for hours straight before adding the card to his deck.

New Skill Level Gained – Running

Level: 20

For reaching this threshold on a body-enhancing skill, you have gained a 10% bonus to all stamina while running. In addition, gain a 20% bonus for the first thirty seconds while sprinting.

For hitting level twenty in a bodily enhancement skill, you have earned 3 attribute points.