Arcadia Part IV
“Ramina, attack that little slime!”
Upon that command, the elf maiden turned her body towards the target. Her right hand swiftly grabbed an arrow from behind before nocking it and letting it go suddenly. The arrow pierced accurately straight into its center before it burst into vapor as a card dropped onto the floor along with a couple of golden coins.
“That’s how it's done.”
Rin smiled sweetly towards Joke as he stood there dumbfounded.
“...And about the card and coins on the floor?” Joke asked.
“Those are items that we will get every time we successfully slay a monster. There’s probably not much from a slime’s item drop—perhaps some slime parts, which can be sold off, and a couple more coins,” she went on with her explanation.
“So, you now have an idea of what a Half Card can do, right?”
“Yes.” Joke nodded
“Great. These halves come in a variety of races and elements we can choose from to suit our selected deck of cards. For instance, I created this deck featuring Ramina as my half partner; therefore, every card in this deck can only be elf or wind cards, the race and element type that conform with Ramina’s. Apart from this, there are various more races for you to choose from: warriors, wild beasts, dragons, sorcerers, and many more.”
Jakkarin tried to make sense of all this basic information. As of now, his understanding only consisted of how the cards could summon minions to help fight battles. He probably would have to learn more about the different types and forms of cards in detail more thoroughly later.
“Let’s move on to the next type of card,” Rin spoke as she shifted the information window so that it could be seen more clearly. “The second type of card is called ‘Skill Card’. These are used to enhance our halves’ abilities and equip them with special attack or defense abilities… for instance:”
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Miracle Shot
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♦♦♦
Condition: elf, archery
Attack +2 (with a death mark attached on the attacked enemy) when three enemies critically hit.
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Once she had provided that explanation, Rin grabbed that card into her hand and pointed her fingers at her elven archeress. The card dissolved into rays of light, streaking towards Ramina and surrounding her. The elf maiden grabbed her arrow and nocked it upon her bowstrings. The arrow then gleamed brightly before it shot out as three bright golden yellow streaks towards three bouncing slimes nearby, causing their bodies to shatter on the spot.
“That’s basically it. Each Skill Card will heighten our halves’ attack and also equip it with special abilities. Not only that, but it also helps with defense and makes them more powerful. Some conditions come with each card; the conditions must be met by our summoned half in order for it to be deployed. For example, the card from a while ago requires that the summoned half be an elf and also an archer; I can activate this card because my Ramina meets all of its conditions.”
“Got it.”
Joke now had a general understanding of what he had been told until he noticed an icon on the bottom of the elf maiden’s Half Card. So, he asked:
“What is this icon for?”
“Ah, this one? This is called a ‘skill stack’.”
“Skill stack?” Joke raised his eyebrows.
“Every time a Skill Card is used, it will leave a skill stack for the half that met its conditions. The more skill stack accumulated, the more powerful the half will become. My Ramina, for instance, her basic skills stated that if she accumulates a wind stack twice, her power will increase by twenty percent, and she will also be able to use her ultimate skill if she accumulates a skill stack five times.”
“Ultimate skill?”
“It’s kind of like a half’s ‘special attack’. In a duel between two summoners, each person can deploy an ultimate skill only once per game. But, if it’s a battle against monsters in Arcadia, we can deploy ultimate skills as many times as long as we can afford to. I will explain the in-depth details about this to you in a moment.”
Joke nodded, trying to absorb all the information. This seemed to be a detail he had to go over again in order to fully grasp it.
“Shall we move on to the last type?”
“Okay.” Joke nodded.
“For the last type, we call these ‘item cards’. Rin smiled as she moved the information window so it could be seen more clearly, “There’s nothing complicated about this card. It’s basically a card that we use to call out items for our half to use, or it can also be items for supporting them. This card, for example:”
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Twin Knife
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♦♦
Condition: elf
Attack +2
Ability to attack enemies with “death mark” attached with x2 power
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Having said that, Rin grabbed that card and transformed it into two silver knives, which shot straight at her elf maiden. Ramina raised both of her hands to catch the knives sent by her master in a rather graceful motion. She then spun those silver knives, transforming herself from an archeress into a warrior in the blink of an eye.
“Not only do the item cards help improve our half’s abilities, but some can also strengthen their power or recover certain injuries. These are very important cards to help you gain victory against your enemies.”
Joke nodded once more. It seemed that this last type of card was not a complicated matter, but he guessed that there were likely many more minor types of cards for him to learn more about later.
“So, these are pretty much all of the basics,” Rin stated as she flicked her hand once more. In a split second, Ramina the elf maiden dissolved into dust, which shot straight back into her card. To Joke, this sight seemed simple, yet strangely eye-catching.
“Furthermore, there is a cooldown period for each card after it has been used. Once a half dies, they will have to wait several hours for recovery before it is ready to be used again. As for the skill or item cards, these also need to be cooled down, but their cool-down time will be much faster than the halves’. There are a lot more details to this. I will explain them to you later once we’re outside. Now, let’s try using cards,” the young lady stated before moving closer and pointing at Joke.
“Can you try calling your ID card out again, Joke?”
“ID card?”
And so the young man tried calling out his ID card once again. Even though he was unable to materialize it mentally, he now had some idea of how to perform that action.
“Then shake it twice.”
“Like this?”
As he shook the card twice like what he had been told, it suddenly transformed into an information window.
Once Rin saw that she shifted closer to Joke until their shoulders touched. Although she was way smaller than him, her face was now supposedly very close to his. Because he was not used to being this close to girls—together with the smell of her soft scent—he became quite flustered, but if he moved away from her, he was not sure if it would be considered rude.