His stats went up +1 across the board, and his maximum slot counts automatically adjusted.
James held out a hand and the level-up pack glided into his grip, warm with potential.
He cracked the seal. The scent hit instantly: fresh cardstock, varnish, ink. Sharp and nostalgic all at once. For just a second, he let himself enjoy it.
This was starting to feel… normal. Almost grounding. Ritual, in the best way.
He flicked the contents open, cards fanning neatly into categories like they’d been waiting for him: Trigger, Utility, Enhancement, Bond, Crafting, and the Core Level-Up card pulsing faintly at the center.
System Notice – Achievement Unlocked
Card Tycoon (Lv. 1)
Trait Acquired – Jack of All Protocols
Effect: On level-up, you may select one
Well, that was unexpected! His strategy of unlocking as many card protocols as he could seemed to have paid dividends.
James barely thought as his gestures broke the cards into their relative categories. No silver bordered ones this time. The golden level-up card he hovered beside him like a whiteboard.
Trigger
Slot Options – Choose One
On Attack
On Summon
On Unconsciousness
On Low Health
On Damage Taken
On Bond
James doubted that On Bond meant he needed to have played it when the bond got to 100% so assumed it would be a special Bond specific trigger. He had to weigh up though that On Summon
In the end he went with On Bond,
Utility
Slot Options – Choose One
Summoning Awareness
Jail Wing
Bond School
Card Info
Crafting Mini-World: Crafting Hall
A new mini-world, and a powerful one. This was a no-brainer.
Utility Slot Applied – Crafting Mini-World: Crafting Hall
Enhancement
Slot Options – Choose One
Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Size Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Drake Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Requires Card Info to view crafting requirements.
Undead Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Requires Card Info to view crafting requirements.
Technically, it was just a duplicate. But James had a theory.
If packs worked like protocols, and he was starting to think they did, then upgrading the base pack might affect every copy he held.
Potentially, he could turn a handful of solid stat cards into something better.
He tapped it.
Enhancement Slot Applied – Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Bond
Slot Options – Choose One
- Shared Instinct
- Guardian Pulse
- Bonded Echo(Upgrade Available – May target 2) Passive empathy link. James gains a faint emotional ping from the bonded creature—fear, pain, excitement
- Traveling Buff
- Bond Resistance (Basic)
- Bond Transfer
- Bond Instinct: Recall
- Bond Aspect Recognition
- Bond Aspect Sharing
- Guardian Pulse
He was sorely tempted to go with Bond Aspect SharingDrake aspect
But then he thought of something else.
Recognitionconvert EssenceEssence packsEnhancements Packs
He tapped Bond Aspect Recognition
Then paused.
The image of Squire, airborne, furious, somehow majestic, crossed his mind.
“…damn it.”
He flipped the choice.
Bond Slot Applied – Bond Aspect Sharing
He could always fix it at the next level-up. Unfortunately he couldn’t use his Jack of All Protocols Trait to net them both as they were both new.
Then there was the new category.
Crafting
Slot Options – Choose One
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Card Combining (Basic)
Resulting card inherits minor stat or trait fusion. Low chance of upgrading rarity (Uncommon).
Combining consumes both input cards. Requires Crafting Station.
Gear Crafting Bench
Unlocks recipes for light gear and tools. Can be upgraded at higher crafting tiers.
Auto-Extractor (Basic)
Salvage includes pelts, bone, venom sacs, claws, or tokens. Carding will no longer be prompted when slots are full.
Card Enchanting (Basic)
Adds passive traits or effects. Requires Utility Upgrade: Card Info to preview item compatibility and stat caps.
Essence Converter (Basic)
Outputs vary by Essence type and rarity. Requires access to Crafting Station.
Quick Crafter (Basic)
Does not affect cooldowns or external crafting locations.
James took his time on this one.
Most of the list was passive. Time-savers. Convenience boosts. Useful, sure. But not interesting.
Two stood out.
Gear Crafting Card Enchanting
The thing was, both of those services were already available at the guild. You just had to pay.
But Card Combining
He hovered on it for a long moment.
Then glanced at Squire, all twitch and spark, and Charlie, patiently waiting.
If there was even a chance that Card Enchanting
He tapped the card.
Crafting Slot Applied – Card Enchanting (Basic)
This also answered what to take with Jack of All Protocols, since he needed Card Info for enchanting.
He tapped Card Info
Utility Card Stored – Card Info (Jack of All Protocols)
He hovered a hand over the last piece.
The golden card pulsed, still waiting.
He tapped it.
It flared.
Level Up – Card Commander (Level 5)
Stats Increased:
? Agility: +1
? Endurance: +1
? Mind: +1
? Perception: +1
? Will: +1
? Presence: +1
Trait Bonus Applied – Jack of All Protocols
Deck & Commander Limits Updated:
? Maximum Death-Marked Deck Slots: 3 × Commander Level → 15 total
? Maximum Bond Slots: Commander Level → 5 total
? Maximum Active Cards: Commander Level → 5 total
Slots Assigned:
? Utility: Crafting Mini-World – Crafting Hall
? Enhancement: Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic)
? Bond: Bond Aspect Sharing
? Craft: Card Enchanting (Basic)
? Jack of All Protocols: Card Info
System Notice – Commander’s Space Updated
? All crafting stations moved to new location
? Existing crafting materials migrated
? All resources shared across stations
? Card Enchanting (Basic)? Card Info active
James blinked as the golden card dissolved into motes and scattered across his vision.
Everything seemed to happen at once.
Energy ran through him, heightening sensors, strengthening bones, pumping muscles.
A card roughly the same size as Squire’s Retreat coalesced from the scattered golden motes at his feet. It screeched across the floor as it expanded, forcing him back while it enveloped the crafting station.
It then flew over to sit beside Squire’s Retreat
It looked like a mad smith had crafted it.
Charlie and Squire came out to investigate what all the flashing lights and noise was.
He took a breath, let it settle.
“Alright,” he muttered. “Time to see what a proper lab looks like.”
James turned the handle slowly.
He was surprised to find the inside looked less like a medieval smith's volcanic lair and more like a sci-fi spaceship. The runes glowed faintly along the walls, humming like power conduits.
His crafting station had doubled in size. A broader bench stretched across one side, giving him more space to work and a cleaner layout of embedded tools. At the center of the room sat a hexagonal storage core, already active.
All of his existing resources were displayed there, organized and easy to access.
A pulsing red line traced a loop from his common undead essence card, down the wall, across the floor, through the crafting station, and back again to the common drake essence card. The whole thing looked like a living circuit.
The hex layout made it clear the space was built to support more stations. Probably many more.
There were other details too.
A shallow, inlaid water bowl near one wall, already full. A raised stone perch ran along the upper edge of the hall, clearly shaped for climbing or surveying. The texture looked perfect for claws and claws alone.
Squire was already halfway up it, silent and amused.
Charlie had found the bowl, of course. He pawed at it like he wasn’t sure whether to drink it or fight it.
A comfortable, fluffy-looking dog bed lay slightly out of the way, near a low ledge with a squirrel-sized cushion nestled on it.
How much of this was the system, and how much his own influence? He didn’t know.
Across from the main bench was another mini-world entrance. This one read: Inventory
James stepped through.
Inside, wall-mounted containers held every item he owned. Floating blue tablets listed each item beside them, scrolling clean text with details and quantities. It was precise. It felt intentional.
He took his Pack Upgrade Token from a container and walked out of the Inventory space.
He placed it on his crafting station and options popped up.
Existing card pack upgrades available:
- Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic) x2
- Instants Pack (Basic)
- Rare Aspects Pack (Rare)
James stared for a moment.
He was not expecting the Rare Aspects Pack to be an option. It was now clear that this was upgrading cards he’d already gotten from a pack.
Despite that James picked the Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic)
Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic) x2 upgraded to Focused Enhancements Pack (Common)
- Balanced Boost x2:
- Focused Boost x2:
- Augment x2:
- Imprint x2:
- Cleanse x2:
- Focused Boost x2:
James thought.
Okay. One last thing to do and we’ll meet up with Edward and Ken.
James fished out his wolf leather armour and placed it onto the crafters station.
Item: Greyfang Leather Armor
? Cost: Consume 10 Drake Essence (Common)
? Effect: Convert Greyfang Leather Armor from to ? Lose: +Light resistance vs. bite/slash
? Gain:
– +10% Armor
– +15% Fire Resistance
That was very interesting.
But not what he needed right now.
James hovered a hand over the bench, dismissing the Drake Essence. The light pulsed once, then retracted.
Despite himself, he checked out the Undead Aspect
A faint shimmer crawled across the crafting station as the Undead Essence (Common)
Item: Greyfang Leather Armor
? Cost: Consume 10 Undead Essence (Common)
? Effect: Convert Greyfang Leather Armor from to ? Lose: +Light resistance vs. bite/slash
? Gain:
– +10% Resistance to Poison and Bleed
– Passive: Heartbeat Suppression (Reduces detection radius by sound-based trackers)
Not what he currently needed either but good to know.
He let the essence float back to the wall.
He needed more Aspects.
He turned to Charlie and Squire who had settled into their beds. They perked up at the attention.
“Which of you wants to try the Drake Aspect first?”
without AI assistance. So if the formatting gets a little rough from here, that’s why.