Deckard put away the sandwich wrapper as he walked back to his house.
He usually tried to eat more healthily than this, but his conversation with Nevan had stretched well into lunchtime. Before he knew it, his stomach was growling, and he ended up getting a chicken sub.
Now, he walked the streets, stepping on dried leaves with a satisfying crunch. Something childish, he knew—but he still liked the sensation.
He’d had a good time chatting with Nevan. However briefly they’d discussed his in-game character development before drifting onto other topics, that short exchange had helped him solidify his game plan for the rest of the month.
He was going to devote all his time to playing Terralore.
First off, his Card Master profession was a liability at the moment. He could only equip five skills at a time—half of what he’s used to. There was no way he could go out and adventure as he was right now. The only way to fix that was by earning more league points through Terralore and improving the [Deal the Cards] skill. Only then would it be safe to adventure outside the city.
On top of that, he already had a solid deck. Good enough that he was confident about climbing the ranks in Aquascape’s league. The end-of-month rewards were nothing to sneeze at—and he wasn’t about to miss out. However, he had to rank near the top 10%.
And really, this was why he’d joined AstroTerra in the first place. To play Terralore. If he wanted to compete in tournaments, he had to master the game. Simple as that.
There was also the fact that playing Terralore was a safe, efficient way to farm cards—especially skill cards. They were a nightmare to grind in the wild, but relatively easy to get through the wagering system.
As for his race and gear? He already had a direction there, too. Thanks to Nevan’s perspective—as a former game designer—he knew which gear requirement to grind for: alignment. But that would come later. He was tempted to become an Oceanling, too, given his current region, but all of that would wait until he moved up from the city league to the regional one.
Once he got home, he would log in and head straight to the Gaming Parlor. Then, he would climb as high as he could.
*
Deckard pushed through the curtains, letting the neon lights and shuffle of Terralore players wash over him. Back at the Gaming Parlor, he was ready for day two of the climb.
He pulled out his cards and gave them a once-over.
Creatures:
Royal Starfish
Cushion Starfish
Seven-Armed Starfish
Blue Starfish
Spiny Starfish
Bat Sea Star
Sunflower Sea Star
Sturdy Turtle
Crab Enforcer
Red Macaw
Crab Bulwark
Blue Macaw
The Claw's Crab
Sea Ghoul
Turtle Mother
Skills:
Shell Retreat
Feather Storm
Reef Ambush
Triple Pulse
Landmark:
Harmonious Island
The build had served him well the day before, even carrying him through a seven-win streak.
A third of it was made up of starfish cards. They were perfect fodder—thanks to Regeneration, they’d return to the field two turns after being discarded, letting him fill the board without losing tempo. He’d swung more than a few games thanks to their help.
He’d built a clean mana curve: three one-drops, three two-drops, three three-drops—rounded out with four skill cards.
He’d cut [Jungle Tinker]—too slow for the current meta. Most opponents leaned into aggressive strategies, and the Tinker just couldn’t keep up. For it to work, he’d need cards like [Whale Shark], which let him survive onslaughts long enough to take control of the board.
His current skill suite felt solid. [Reef Ambush] and [Triple Pulse] handled removal. [Shell Retreat] offered a clutch lifeline, while [Feather Storm] softened enemy creatures—if only for a turn.
Still, the deck was far from perfect.
[Blue Macaw], for instance. Sure, it could swing for three points on either offense or defense, but it relied on guessing his opponent's card placement correctly.
And the starfish? These were the best he'd found on Beginner Island—most barely offered a single point, depending on fulfilling the right conditions. Surely there were stronger starfish out there in the vast ocean, with better stats.
Then there was the big omission: [Turtle Ninja], his first legendary card. He loved that card and had used it often when sparring with Nevan. But the summon required sacrificing another turtle, and too often, he just didn’t have one on the board. His only turtles were [Sturdy Turtle] and [Mother Turtle].
He did have [Trash-Eating Turtle] in his collection, but it didn’t synergize with the rest of the deck.
He needed more turtle cards—at least one more. Two, ideally.
He sighed. There have to be better cards out there. Maybe I can improve my deck as I climb. There had to be someone out there wagering cards that would improve his deck, even if they were just commons. Half of his deck was made up of commons. If he could improve that half of his deck, he would become even stronger!
Instead of waiting for people to come to me, maybe it’s time I look through the pool myself—and then wager for cards that actually matter to me.
He stepped over to a cluster of players gathered near a massive screen. Cards flashed across the screen in a blur of movement, each representing an active wager somewhere in the parlor. There were dozens of cards on the screen, if not over a hundred.
“How on earth can these people see anything on the screen?”
The amount of information was just too overwhelming—until a system prompt popped up, offering filters.
“That’s how!” A filter menu let him sort cards by affinity, rarity, type, tribe, and keyword. Everyone was looking at the same screen but seeing it through filters they’d set up, making the information more digestible.
Tapping his foot, he narrowed the results to show only common cards with the Island affinity. The flood of cards on-screen shrank to a handful. He already had several, so he added one more filter: exclude owned cards.
Just three results remained.
“Now we're getting somewhere,” he said.
One of the cards caught his eye.
Tug-Tle-Of-War ??
Rarity: Common
Type: Creature
Affinity: ??
Cost: 2
Points: 1
Effect: If played in the attacking lane, draw a Psionic Pull. If played in the defensive lane, draw a Psionic Push.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Synergy: Costs 1 less.
Without its synergy effect, the creature was borderline useless. Spending three cards for just one point and a middling skill draw wasn’t worth the cost—especially when those skills still drained resources to play.
But with the synergy cost reduction? It became much more viable. Two cards to draw one, plus a body on the board. Its single point made it flexible enough to go in either lane—offense or defense. It was passable. And more importantly, it gave him another turtle, making it easier to enable [Turtle Ninja].
Deckard called out the code of the arena wagering the card. “7C!”
A glowing path lit up beneath his feet, weaving between fields toward the arena. Deckard followed it through the crowd.
His opponent was a young man clad in turtle armor. He wore shells for shoulder pads, a shell chestplate, and even carried a turtle-shell-shaped shield. To top it off, he was wearing a turtleneck under the chestplate.
This guy must love turtles, Deckard thought. “Hi,” he said, offering a casual wave.
The player squinted as he approached. “Hi…”
Deckard tossed a [Crab Enforcer] into the pot. The other player accepted the wager.
StubbornTiger vs PrakashLight
“Ha! I knew it! You’re the Stubborn Tiger! This is so cool—I follow all your matches! I saw online that you’d started playing in this region, but I never dreamed I’d be playing against you!”
Deckard offered a polite smile. “Thanks. Let us enjoy the match,” he said, gently steering the attention away from himself and toward the game.
The player kept whispering to himself. “I can’t believe it. Satnam is going to freak out when I tell him…”
But as the arena activated and the digital field shimmered to life, his focus sharpened. The awe gave way to a competitive fire in his eyes.
Deckard could practically hear what he was thinking. His “fan” was already imagining what it would be like to take down the Stubborn Tiger and brag to his friends about it.
The match began.
In the opening turn, Deckard played [Harmonious Island], then studied his opponent as he considered his own hand.
He knew who Deckard was, which meant he likely knew his way around card games. This wasn’t going to be a match against a complete beginner.
As the reveal phase began, an enemy creature shimmered into existence on Deckard’s attacking lane.
A shimmer of green light pulsed across Prakash’s defensive lane as a heavy black shell appeared—thick, stumpy legs unfolding beneath it.
Iron Tortoise ??
Type: Creature
Rarity: Uncommon
Affinity: ??
Cost: 2
Points: 1
Effect: Immune. +2 if on defensive lane.
It stomped heavily on the ground. Its shell wasn’t made of intersecting plates, but looked like one solid metal block.
Deckard narrowed his eyes. Immune? That was new.
He focused on it, and a tooltip expanded: Immune – Cannot be affected by skills or creature effects.
“Good card.” It had a simple design but was solid. Traps or skill cards couldn’t remove its contribution to defense. Its only downside was its lack of flexibility—it was meant to be played on the defensive lane.
“You really like turtles, huh?” Deckard said.
“Testudines,” the player corrected. “It’s what you call turtles, tortoises, and terrapins.”
“Right, right.” He recalled the name from the description of the Island Affinity. It was one of the tribes included in it.
On his side of the board, Deckard’s card was revealed.
Harmonious Island ???
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Landmark
Affinity: ???
Cost: 1
Effect: Unlocks Island synergies.
Synergy: Draw this card in your opening hand.
As the beach of palm trees from [Harmonious Island] manifested around the castle, Prakash’s jaw dropped.
“A legendary… Whoa! And Island affinity? What even is that?”
Deckard had grown used to this reaction. Legendaries weren’t a common sight, at least in this league. The island affinity raised eyebrows too—just not as much as he’d expected.
He was starting to suspect Island wasn’t the only special affinity out there.
Round 2 began.
Deckard discarded three cards from his hand to summon [The Claw’s Crab] onto his attacking lane.
Claw’s Crab ??
Rarity: Rare
Type: Creature
Affinity: ???
Cost: 3
Points: -3
Effect: Summons the [Crab’s Claw] token in the opposite lane.
Synergy: Summon 2x [Crab Underlings] here.
Pricey—but necessary. If this guy was running only testudines, he’d be leaning hard on defense. Deckard needed to start piling on pressure now, or it was only going to get harder.
Prakash didn’t play anything that turn.
The boss of the Molting Grotto arrived in style—carried by two crab underlings, its massive claw slammed onto the board and took its place in Deckard’s offensive lane. The board shimmered, recalculating totals.
His attacking lane now showed 7 points. His defensive lane, however, dropped to -1—a risky swing in momentum.
The resolution phase began.
Cracks formed across the base of Deckard’s castle as it lost a point of health. But then [The Claw’s Crab] lunged forward. The massive claw slammed into Prakash’s side of the field. The [Iron Tortoise] moved to intercept, standing firm—but it could only absorb part of the blow.
Prakash’s castle dropped to 6 health.
He looked briefly stunned by the sudden force of Deckard’s second round, but didn’t lose his composure.
Round 3 began.
Deckard had only two cards in hand. He decided to hold onto them, waiting to draw more before committing to a play in the next round.
Prakash, meanwhile, played another creature in his defensive lane—a turtle this time.
Push Turtle ??
Rarity: Common
Affinity: ??
Cost: 2
Points: 1
Effect: Return an allied creature to your hand to return an enemy creature to theirs.
The new turtle was large and yellow, with oversized fins. Its eyes glowed blue, casting light that swirled around the [Iron Tortoise] and one of Deckard’s [Crab Underlings].
The underling was pulled back into card form and returned to Deckard’s hand, while [Iron Tortoise] stood firm.
What a nasty combo, Deckard thought, mildly impressed. Since [Iron Tortoise] was immune to effects, it ignored the pull entirely—making it the perfect combo piece.
It could’ve been devastating if [The Crab’s Claw] had been pulled instead. As a token, it would’ve been banished once it left the field.
Thankfully, the effect hit creatures at random. Losing one [Crab Underling] wasn’t fun, but it was manageable.
Prakash groaned and brought his hands to his head. “Argh!”
“Nice try,” Deckard said, his tone light.
Prakash shrugged. “Had to try it.”
A green shimmer pulsed from Deckard’s deck as a new creature flopped onto the field—[Seven-Armed Starfish].
Unfortunately, since Deckard hadn’t played any cards this round, its effect didn’t trigger. It landed with zero points on the board.
The resolution phase began.
Cracks spread farther across the stone of Deckard’s castle, bringing it down to 7 health. On Prakash’s side, his castle dropped to 3.
Now, Prakash was starting to sweat, the pressure finally sinking in.
As the resolution phase began, the battlefield trembled. A deep ripple spread across Prakash’s side—and from it, a massive figure emerged.
Titan of the Grove ??
Rarity: Epic
Type: Creature
Affinity: ??
Cost: 5 (–2)
Points: 4
Effects: Behemoth. Unmovable. Costs 1 less for each testudine on the field.
It was so massive, it looked more like a dinosaur than a turtle—an ancient beast with a mountain for a shell.
Deckard swallowed as both lanes surged—four extra points each, just like that. He’d seen Unmovable before, namely in Redbeard’s annoying armadillo. But this was his first time seeing something with the Behemoth keyword.
Behemoth – Occupies two slots of each lane. Its points count on both lanes.
It was a clean way to reinforce both lanes at once—costly, but brutal if it landed. And the animation was incredible, too.
Where do I even find one of these?!
Prakash stood, puffing his chest with pride. He was beaming. This was clearly the strongest card in his deck, and he looked certain it had just won him the game.
But Deckard still had one unrevealed card on the field, and he wasn’t feeling the least worried. He had this in the bag.
