The Legendary Fool

142:

“This has got to be a joke,” Aleph protested as she peeked over Tom’s shoulder, before walking over to his side to get a better look at the contraption that was placed in the small booth they had stepped into.

“I sure hope it isn’t,” Tom replied as he studied the metal basin that curved down into a rectangular slit that seemed just wide enough to slot his card into. “It would be a pity to be down a common card and not get anything for my troubles.”

“Common cards as a currency…,” Aleph trailed off, her tone sounding dazed as she tried to parse away at the implications of what she’d just said. “Does that mean that higher floors will use uncommon and rare cards as currency? Maybe even higher rarities? How will that even work?” She asked, more trying to wrap her own head around the concept instead of actually quizzing Tom.

“No idea on that front,” Tom replied. “Though, I think I might understand how this contraption works,” He said, before pulling out [The Shadow] card from his deck holder. He had long since snapped the connection between himself and the common card and it was no longer his deck card. There was no point to keeping it after he’d gotten a Rare card that let him manipulate shadows to a far more terrifying degree.

He let the common [The Shadow] card hover over the metal basin and if he was correct, the system would react to his actions.

[Would you like to split Common Ranked card [The Shadow] into it’s base components?

You will receive the following:

x9 Common Ranked Side Fragments

“Huh, neat,” Tom muttered under his breath.

“What did you find?” Aleph asked, her curiosity piqued.

Instead of answering her, Tom allowed [The Shadow] card to tumble out of his grip and slide along the basin’s slick surface. Both of them watched as the common card slid into the wide slit before disappearing into the depths of the metal contraption.

A light whirring sounded out, prompting Tom’s gaze to angle downwards, followed by a clinking sound that repeated itself in short intervals.

Sure enough, a chute had revealed itself along the metal base that supported the basin, keeping it aloft. Tom’s prize was separated by a translucent flap and behind it, he saw a small pile of metallic squares that grew larger by the second.

Finally, the “splitter” stopped dispensing the fragments and Tom pushed past the flap for his prize.

In his palm were nine metal squares that had a rune engraved on both sides. As far as Tom could tell, the rune was identical across both surfaces and squares, though when he tried to study its nature, it wasn’t like the the time he’d stumbled across a concealment rune in Aleph’s old hideout.

He could trace the bends and the overall pattern of the rune, but when it came to trying to memorize its pattern, he failed again and again. It was as if there was another dimension to the rune that his senses were failing to detect and Tom didn’t think that continuing to stare at it would change anything.

A moment later, he wryly shook his head. It was absurd of him to think he’d be able to mimic the Divine System’s powers, especially after he knew what the source of the system was if the vision he had accessed with Maya was to be believed.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

His attention turned towards the final square, a construction of black glass that seemed to reflect any light falling upon its surface.

“That’s pretty,” Aleph commented, a note of awe audible in her voice.

“It is,” Tom nodded, as he pinched the core fragment with his free hand and inspected it closely. “Good thing we’ve got Zirel looking into how those synthesizers work. If we can recombine cards as many times as we want to get ideal results, well, that’ll be something.”

“There’s almost no way it works like that,” Aleph retorted, before pausing and shaking her head. “Not like I know how any of this works. Not anymore, atleast.”

“I doubt it’s anywhere near that spectacular,” Tom said. “The Divine System rewards competence. Anything this easily accessible has to come with a price.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Aleph replied, giving the metal basin that functioned as a splitter a final look before stepping out of the booth.

Tom followed after her, stepping out into the Nexus City’s bustling plaza. Once again, a system prompt popped up before him.

[You have discovered Nexus Node: Epsilon. Access to a Nexus Node allows you to participate in Nexus Quests that are offered at random throughout the day. Completion of a Nexus Quest grants access to a free teleport back to the Nexus Node you accepted the Quest from.

Every Nexus Quest awards Nexus Points that are necessary to advance to the next floor.

Current Nexus Points: 0

Required Nexus Points to advance to the second floor: 100]

[Active Nexus Quest: Breach

Description: A Breach by creatures from the Nether Realms has been detected within the first floor. A pack of Nether Bloodhounds led by a Vorpal Shardbearer are wreaking havoc near Nexus City: SilverCrown.

Multiple parties have been offered this quest.

Requirement for completion: Slay five Nether Bloodhounds.

Rewards: 1 Nexus Point, 5 Uncommon Ranked Side-Fragments

Would you like to accept this quest as an individual or party?]

‘No,’ Tom replied with a thought, dismissing the system prompt.

There was something odd about Nexus City: Bulwark and until Tom figured out what it was, he wasn’t accepting any quests.

Even now, while the plaza that housed the Nexus Node was crowded, from what he could tell, most of the people there weren’t actually interested in accepting quests. Appearances told stories if one was willing to listen and besides two or three small groups that were outfitted in well-maintained sets of armor and had their dominant hand wrapped around the hilts or shafts of their blades, Tom didn’t think anyone else was planning to take on the Nexus Node’s challenge today.

If he had to guess, the well-prepared groups were waiting for the right quest to come along before they accepted it, but that didn’t explain the behavior of the others.

There was a sense of normalcy that suffused the plaza that kept throwing him off. The establishments that had set up shop near the Nexus Node were clearly of the premium variety, if the impressive suit of armors and the colorful potions they had on display was saying anything.

One shop even sold cards if the storefront sign was to be believed, the lack of windows and the only door being guarded by two men clad in heavy armor, a greatsword and a glaive strapped to each of their backs respectively, certainly told Tom that whatever was beyond those doors, it was valuable.

Most of the people perusing the wares were not nearly anywhere near well armored as the groups preparing to take on the Nexus Node’s quests and there was a casual air to their passage, as if they were not at all concerned by the Nexus Node or the Nexus Points they needed to advance to the next floor.

“How did it go?” Zirel’s voice snapped him out of his reverie, causing him to angle his gaze in his direction.

“Got enough fragments to reserve an inn,” Tom replied, raising an eyebrow as he noticed the frown on Zirel’s expression. “What about you?”

Zirel met Tom’s gaze, before he made a show of surveying his surroundings, “Not here. Let’s find ourselves an inn first.”

“I could use a meal,” Aleph chimed in.

“And a bath,” Tom added, alluding to the fact that they’d spent the last week or so in a forest. Water only went so far.

His comment earned him a light elbow from Aleph, but that didn’t stop him from sheepishly grinning as they made their way to the nearest inn.