2 First Cards

For the next week, Yami continued with his training while also experimenting with his Sacred Gear in his free time. His workout had become more manageable due to the energy he kept absorbing to rejuvenate his body and stamina.

The only problem that Yami there were a few things to use his Sacred Gear on. For the time being, he was mostly using it on whatever trash he had, which didn't give him much energy, but it was better than nothing.

However, he had also tried it on a tree deep into the park. That had been way more profitable in terms of energy, and Yami had ended up finding two more... portals? Or maybe dungeons would be more correct? He wasn't sure on that front.

[Small Insect Nest: Defeat to obtain Insect cards.]

[Small Plant garden: Defeat to obtain Plant cards.]

Yami knew almost nothing about Plant cards, but he was aware of at least a few Insect ones. The Insect Queen and Great Moth being the first that came to his mind. He could see how useful those monsters could be to him, but he had a feeling that he won't be getting them anytime soon.

Another thing of note was that Saji had gotten interested in his training. The blonde had offered to join him, and Yami had accepted. Obviously, he hadn't told him about his entire workout regime; that was a secret he would bury to the grave with him. However, he was happy to have a running partner with him, so they could wallow in their misery together.

The problem was that Saji was bursting with energy and ran 10 km as easy as taking a stroll in the park. That worried Yami, making him think that the blonde had already been turned into a devil. Or worst, that Saji knew he had stolen his Sacred Gear.

The blonde was either an incredible actor, which really made no sense. If Saji, and the rest of his peerage, knew about Yami, why hadn't they confronted him then? They could be playing the long con for some unknown reason, or the blonde hadn't been turned into a devil yet.

So how did Saji have so much energy? Well, Yami had only a single answer to that, Snatch Steal. The original card stole a monster from the enemy board, but it also granted 1000 LP to the opponent for each turn you had control over the monster card.

Yami had stolen Saji's Sacred Gear, but he had ended up making him stronger in return. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, and didn't know how will this affect the blonde. Will Saji keep steadily growing stronger until he became this unbeatable being? Because if so, Yami would need to do something about it in case the blonde ever finds out what he had done.

For the time being, Yami planned on keeping a close eye on Saji and observe how he will develop. The blonde didn't seem to mind him and had even called him on his own for the two to hang out.

Yami had even urged Saji to introduce him to more boys from Kuoh Academy. It was under the guise of getting more friends before school started, but he only cared about meeting Issei once.

In one week, Yami would be meeting with the main protagonist of the series, and he planned on stealing that boy's future as well. He was aware that will end up ruining the anime's plot, but he didn't care since he didn't know it to begin with.

Grabbing the Boosted Gear will more than likely transfer all of Issei's future enemies to Yami, but he will deal with them when the time comes. There was, however, one thing he had planned on preventing. Yami was not going to be turned into a devil no matter what.

The only reason he was going through the trouble of stealing the Sacred Gear was so that he had control over his life. Immortal life was good and all, but Yami was not planning on serving anyone! If he could find a way to increase his life span, fine, but he will not be a slave to anyone! Even if that person was one of a kind beauty.

Two days before Yami was supposed to meet with Issei, he felt confident enough to try tackling one of the dungeons. He wasn't sure which one to go after, but he ended up picking the Insect one first. It was deeper inside the park where people usually didn't go. So there won't be anyone to see a young man disappear out of thin air. Plus, he hoped it might be the easiest of the three.

After stepping in front of the green portal, Yami observed it up close for a moment. It was surreal, just shimmering in front of him, only for him to see it. It was beautiful to look at, but unfortunately, it gave him no clue what he was supposed to expect on the other side. After looking around to make sure there was no one around him, Yami took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing."

After stepping through, nothing seemed to have changed. Yami was still in the same place, surrounded by trees and greenery.

"What?" He asked out loud, looking around in distress.

Did he do something wrong?

That was the first thing Yami questioned himself after seeing that the portal had disappeared. He was starting to worry since he might have wasted a way for him to gain cards, a way for him to gain power.

Suddenly, Yami heard the sounds of clicking, of pincers clinking against each other. He turned to the sound and saw large green insects, which were even taller than him. They had four large legs with two arms that had three sharp claws on them. Multiple spikes littered their green exoskeletons, and sharp metal-like pincers struck each other as their large beady red eyes stared at him.

[Basic Insect]

They were one of the weakest Insect monsters, but they were freaking scary. Yami had been pumping himself up for his encounter with whatever lay behind those portals, but he was definitely not prepared for this. He had expected to face monsters in the future, and he knew there were much more dangerous ones in the world, but that didn't stop him from being scared.

Twelve Basic Insects were moving towards him, quite fast at that, so Yami did the only sensible thing that came to his mind. He ran fast. All those 10 km runs he did since he came to this world seemed to have been preparing him just for this moment.

Still, Yami was aware that he couldn't take the monsters out by only running, so he summoned his Sacred Gear and fired his line at one of them.

The Basic Insect tried to slash at the line, but he had some control over it and dodged the attack. It then circled around the monster and started absorbing its energy. The Basic Insect tried breaking it apart with its steel-like claws, but the Sacred Gear line wasn't so easily destroyed.

Now, Yami only had to stay away from the others while his Sacred Gear finished the one it was latched onto. The Basic Insects were in no way slow, but he was slightly faster than them. Plus, his line was feeding him energy and restoring his stamina, so taking them down was only a matter of time.

While running, Yami came up with a brilliant idea. The line could absorb energy from whatever it was touching, not just its end. He took a wide turn to the left and started running circles around the monsters. More of the Basic Insects got caught up in his line, and he started absorbing even more energy from them.

Some trees also got caught by his Sacred Gear, but they quickly withered away, providing him with even more energy to work with.

Yami wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but he thought he was becoming slightly faster the more energy he absorbed. Or maybe the Basic Insects had slowed down since most of them were trapped by his Sacred Gear. A few of them were still chasing him, but he was staying ahead of them with ease. He was having an easier time than earlier.

Around half an hour later, the first Basic Insect he trapped finally fell down. Its body was withered, and it turned into ash, which the wind spread around.

Yami jumped in joy while he kept running. The three Basic Insects that weren't trapped were pretty far away from him, so he allowed himself a moment to express his happiness. This was the first monster of many that he had taken down on his own, and it felt good!

The others fell down soon after, leaving only three Basic Insects behind. Yami felt powerful, with energy bubbling within him, ready to be unleashed on his foes. He almost considered fighting the three head-on, but after taking a single look at their sharp claws and pincers, he thought otherwise.

A line new line flew out of his Sacred Gear and wrapped around another Basic Insect. Yami couldn't help but notice that it was much faster than before, and he also had more control over it. So absorbing energy with his Sacred Gear could make it stronger, well, well, well. Clearing those portals became even more significant with that revelation.

Soon enough, only a single Basic Insect remained. It was the perfect opportunity for Yami to try and test his mettle against it. So he obviously just fired his line at it and trapped it as he did with the rest. There was no way Yami would risk his life when he didn't know if the Basic Insect could one-shot him or not. Plus, he wanted to power up his Sacred Gear even more to see what would happen.

When the last Basic Insect fell down, the space around him broke as if it was made out of glass. He was still in the same place he stood, but not at the same time; he had returned back to the real world.

Yami looked down, and he was clutching a card in his hand. The Basic Insect had no stars or even stats, but that mattered little to him at that point. He finally had a monster he could summon.

[Basic Insect: Chant the name and focus your magic on the card to summon the monster.]

That was a slight problem since Yami had no idea how to use his magic. To begin with, he didn't know if he had any. Also, will it continuously drain his magic, or will it only take a certain amount? He definitely needed to find out.

Another thing he needed to know was what happened with the portal. Yami returned back to its location and found the green shimmer still there. The text was still above it, although it was slightly different now.

[Small Insect Nest 1/4: Defeat to obtain Insect cards.]

So Yami could do it three more times, but would he face different Insect monsters, or will they be the same? He felt the need to know, and with the energy he absorbed from the Basic Insects, his adrenaline was at an all high, so he stepped inside it again.

Like earlier, nothing happened after he passed the portal, but Yami was prepared this time. He quickly looked around and saw them marching towards him. It seemed that there were twice as many, but he wasn't too worried since he knew he could outrun them. It also meant that there just was that much more energy for him to absorb.

With a maniacal grin on his face, Yami fired his Sacred Gear and began running while happily humming to himself. This hadn't gone the way he had expected it to, but he was more than pleased with the situation.

One by one, the Basic Insects started dropping while also providing him with energy as he very slowly grew more powerful. He wouldn't become a superman overnight, but it was better than nothing.

Soon enough, only one remained, but Yami encountered a problem. He was breathing heavily, and it wasn't because he was tired. In fact, it was the opposite; he just had too much energy inside his body.

"What is going on?" Yami's entire body ached, and his heart felt like it was about to burst any moment now. This was definitely something he hadn't expected. He needed to find a way to use the energy, and the first thing that came to his mind was the monster card.

Yami held it in his hand while he kept a distance away from the monster after him. He kept chanting, "Basic Insect," over and over while trying to somehow pour his energy into the card.

Nothing seemed to work, and Yami was at his wit's end. Was he about to die because his human body couldn't sustain the amount of energy he currently had? Was this how he was going to meet his end?

"NO!" Yami refused to go down like this! He tried even harder, focusing all of his energy on his right hand, which was clutching the card. He willed something to happen, but it wasn't what he was expecting.

Instead of summoning the Basic Insect, purple light formed around Yami's right hand. In a moment, it turned into a black lizard, identical to the one on his left hand.

Yami just watched it in surprise. Had he mutated his Sacred Gear, or was that just a new form he had unlocked. Yami didn't know, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. The energy that had been about to burst his heart had mellowed down, and he felt much better now.

The Basic Insect was almost upon him while he was lost in thought, but he quickly ran away from it, his eye still locked onto his right arm. Having the Sacred Gear on both arms meant that Yami could really become like the spandex-wearing superhero, among many other things. He can now also absorb energy twice as fast, though he found out that wasn't really a good thing.

"Well, let's see what I can do with this," Yami said and looked up at the trees. He had the perfect opportunity to get used to using his Sacred Gear with both hands. A Basic Insect was chasing him, but as long as he kept his distance, there was nothing it could do to him.

Yami pointed his Sacred Gear at a tree and fired a line at it. It wrapped around a branch, and he pulled himself on it.

"Okay, okay. With a bit of training, I can get used to this," Yami grinned as he started swinging from branch to branch. Now he only needed to put on a costume and start acting like a vigilante. Unfortunately, he would gain nothing for that, so there was no chance of him doing it.

The next thing Yami needed to figure out was how to summon his monster. He grabbed the card and tried pulling out his magic while chanting, "Basic Insect."

How long he kept doing, Yami didn't know, but finally, something happened. The card shined brightly, and moments later, the Basic Insect appeared on the ground below him. He had sensed that something came out of him, and he also felt somewhat mentally drained from the action.

Yami observed the Basic Insect for a moment, watching it just stay idly on the ground without moving an inch from its spot. He didn't feel it draining any more energy from him, so that meant he only needed magic to summon it. That was good to know.

"Attack!" Yami then commanded it to attack the last remaining monster. He needed to see what it was capable of doing.

The Basic Insect rushed its counterpart. The two began slashing each other with their sharp claws while also using their pincers when given the opportunity. They seemed to be equally matched, which made sense since they were the same monster.

After a gruesome struggle, Yami's Basic Insect came out victorious, though its body was filled with wounds, and one of its beady eyes was popped open. With the death of the last monster, the space around them broke like glass, and they returned to the real world. Another Basic Insect card materialized in his hand, and he quickly pocketed it.

Yami observed his monster that was breathing heavily on its last legs before making a decision. He pointed his Sacred Gear at it and wrapped it around with his line. Without hesitation, he started draining the monster to see what would happen.

Unlike the Basic Insects he fought, the energy he absorbed from his own was different. It felt like the one he had used to summon it. It was a bit disappointing since he couldn't drain his own monsters to become stronger.

When the Basic Insect finally died and withered away, nothing happened. Yami didn't get his card back, so he couldn't endlessly summon his monsters. That was troublesome since it meant he actually had to keep them alive and not use them as disposable pawns.

Yami pulled out his new card and summoned another one, "Basic Insect." This time he had no trouble materializing the monster.

"Turn back to a card!"

"Come back!"

Yami tried returning it to a card again while focusing on his magic. Having a monster like that following him around was a quick way to get on the radar of the supernaturals living in Kuoh. He would prefer to avoid them for the time being.

"Basic Insect, return!" Finally, something worked, and the Basic Insect shined brightly before turning into a card.

"So it's like Pokemon? I can work with that," Yami said and noted that he didn't get back the energy he used to summon the Basic Insect. He would need to find a way to increase his magical reserves if he wished to summon an army of monsters in the future, but Yami figured the answer to his predicament was in his Sacred Gear, which he was really starting to love.

Yami's attention returned back to the portal. There will probably be twice as many Basic Insects attacking him, but Yami now had one more way of running away from them. If he felt confident enough, he might even try fighting one without his Sacred Gear, but there was a low chance of that for the time being.