Starting With A Trash Hand

Bronze Might

[ROCKBOAR RUSH]

RANK - IRON

TYPE - PHYSICAL/ACTIVE

[Rush forwards causing peak iron rank earth-element damage to enemies in your path. Causes the enemies to fall into [STUMBLE] state for 3 seconds. Range - 5 meters. Movement speed triples when charging. Uses 10 MP/charge.]

[ORE-PIG FANG]

RANK - IRON

TYPE - WEAPON/PHYSICAL

[Can cause mid iron rank earth-element damage. When two ORE-PIG FANGs are equipped, damage increased to peak iron rank, attack speed doubles. Has a certain chance to apply [BLEEDING] upon wounding enemies.]

The cards produced satisfying results after one upgrade. Just the iron rank battle card alone made me grin, a bronze would metaphorically split my head in half. With much anticipation, I proceed to fuse six [ROCKBOAR RUSH] cards. A vortex of bronze lights swallow all six iron rank cards and spat out a shiny new bronze card.

[ORE-PIG STAMPEDE]

RANK - BRONZE

TYPE - PHYSICAL/ACTIVE

[Summon a hoard of Ore-pigs to rush at a designated target causing peak bronze rank earth-element damage per pig. Causes the enemies to fall into [STUMBLE] state for 5 seconds. Range - 10 meters. . Uses 25 MP/charge.]

The resulting card was an AOE battle card. It cause serious damage in wide rectangular area in contrast to the previous straight line damage. And the user does not need to move from his position. The only downside was that it drained me of all my MP.

'But that won't be an issue for long, ' I thought, as I move my eyes to grimoire's front cover. The energy gauge was a fourth full. More than fifty copper rank beasts and the xp was already this high. The previous furpuff m******e didn't give even a small speck of light, this gave me the notion that the grimoire only absorbs energy from the same rank and above.

Anyway, with the [ORE-PIG STAMPEDE], Iron rank grimoire was only a matter of time. But before that an iron rank card pack. Setting aside one [LEATHER CAP] for future use, the other remaining copper cards became materials for an iron card pack.

[GEOS UPHEAVAL]

[Earth-element magic card pack]

"Open!" Not wanting to embarrass myself I shouted the magic word. The usual flashy lights and a card appeared.

[SPIRIT PROJECTION OF GUARDIAN OF THE GATES OF THE HOLY CITY OF BABEL'S EMBRACE]

RANK - IRON

TYPE - MAGIC/ACTIVE

[Summon the projection of gate guardian to protect a target. Nullifies any attack below the mid iron rank. Halve incoming peak iron damage. Uses 2MP/second.]

"I swear all cards from the card packs are weird." I mean, first a foreplay whip, an anal buster and now a card with an uselessly long name.

Anyways, this card would be a lifesaver. It would basically render a copper rank beast's attack useless. By logic this could also help me solo a copper rank BOSS.

Before I proceed to upgrade my book, I first gathered my loot. 56 mudboars dropped a total 18 copper rank monster cores. With my abysmal luck, this was already a great haul. I also didn't need to expect any equipment to drop. The cards were more than enough to cover that.

I spent another twenty minutes recovering my MP. That was 1MP/minute. I really hope this regen speed would improve with the next grimoire upgrade. With that in mind I began searching for unsuspecting herd of mudboars.

Three minutes later, I was running for my dear life again. This time I was being chased by more than a hundred mudboars. Confirming that they were all rushing in a straight line, I slowed my steps. Facing the incoming hoard, I waited until the leading boar was just inches away from me. Just as the boars were about to use [BOAR RUSH], I casted my mighty bronze rank battle card.

"ORE-PIG STAMPEDE!!!"