The Master of Cards Chapter 38: Shiny Beetle Nest

Alex was stunned by what had just occurred. Was this the ability of the striped base card form? It devoured the card fragment, but he didn't find any difference nor any change in the card.

"Time will tell." He sighed as he moved on. He seemed to have appeared near a nest of the shiny beetles, because he encountered them many times.

[You killed 12 Ordinary Shiny Beetles. You obtained x2 Card Fragment - Iron Finger.]

Alex's striped base card once again digested the card fragments. He had digested a dozen or so fragments. His progress had been slow along his trek due to frequently encountering these Shiny Beetles.

Eventually, he spotted the nest of the beetle. He looked at the beetle nest through his inner world and found a cluster of iron energy, which he assumed were the beetles scurrying about. However, what caught his sight was that the nest was hovering over an object that gave an intense glow, much higher than any other object nearby.

The object seemed extremely similar to the world source energy on earth.

"What is that object?" Alex wondered. What ever it was, it looked valuable.

Alex wondered how he could lure the beetles out. He walked back a little and found a carcass of the Shiny beetle. He lit it on fire, and then threw it into the nest.

Then he sent far away and looked at the nest with his inner sight. Alex saw the beetles going in a frenzy and then rushing out in huge droves. They encountered the dead beetle burning and immediately began to trace its tracks. The army of around two hundred beetles left the nest and went towards the Shelter, where they could sense more carcasses.

Alex saw that all the beetles with the exception of two had left. He decided to take the chance and quietly appeared at the nest, smashing it apart with his stick. Immediately, the two beetles came out. They were stronger than the rest of the beetles.

Alex didn't hesitate, he used the stick along with a powerful application of the army stick art and attacked the two beetles.

[You killed 2 Primitive Royal Shiny Beetles. You obtained x2 Fragment - Gold Finger]

Alex didn't care, those two fragments were also absorbed by his base card. He quickly shattered the nest made of earth and dug out the object the nest surrounded. It was actually a crystal. Alex quickly rushed away from the scene of the beetles. He climbed a tree that he judged seemed to have no threats. There he observed the crystal.

He looked at it with his inner sight and found the extraordinary colorless source energy hidden within it. As a blind try, he tried to guide the energy into his body as he would source energy on earth.

Suddenly, the crystal turned into a gel like substance and was absorbed into his body. Alex's base card turned into the transparent form and the gel like substance with a vast amount of energy entered the base card. The base card began to shine and slow Alex saw a chain began to form. When he saw this, he was shocked.

"A chain is forming. My transparent base card form can form an active card, without even needing a roadmap or fragments?" Alex was stunned and couldn't understand what was going on.

The transparent base form glowed and the chain gradually continued to form until another card suddenly appeared. It was a card of the transparent attribute as well. He wasn't sure what the attribute was, since it was unknown.

However, the moment the card formed, Alex saw a memory. He was a stone. The stone lasted for millions of years, but slowly began to feel the flow of energy and eventually began to even see the energy.

Alex suddenly woke up from the vision. He knew what the transparent attribute was. It was pure Energy attribute. And the first card was a Rank 1 Energy Affinity card.

Alex sighed. This card was quite good for a rank 1 card. It was a passive ability that gave him affinity with Energy. His sensory abilities improved tremendously as he could identify the energy source of beasts and objects even without using his inner sight.

With this ability, he could be more vigilant of sneak attacks. He was lucky to find such a large pure energy stone.

After some time, Alex who was still on the tree, could sense the Beetles returning. They arrived to find their royals were killed and the nest destroyed. They went into a frenzy.

Alex did not care much about the beetles. But waited to see their next moves, but what he saw shocked him. The beetles actually turned and attacked each other in a bloody battle. After some time only around 10 heavily injured shiny beetles were left. Alex walked up to the beetles who were even struggling to move and killed them.

[You killed 10 Ordinary Shiny Beetles. You Obtained x1 Fragment - Iron Finger]

Alex allowed his base card to absorb the fragment.

He soon set off on the described path. Along the way he came across some other small creatures, which were solitary and easier to beat. He wanted to save rations, so he tried the meat of the Royal Shiny Beetles he had killed earlier.

Alex ate the grilled meat and it felt like he was eating crabs. His body cried out in delight from eating the extremely nutritious food and Alex felt really satisfied and full.

After some time, the environment changed. From a grassy terrain, the environment turned into a barren area with lot of rocks. The path was winding through these clusters of rocks. Alex was extremely careful as he made his way through these rocks.

Then he saw several nests of birds snuggled in the corner. However the birds weren't around. When Alex looked at one of the nests, he found a small egg within. He nodded. He could sense a concentration of Fire essence.

"This must be the nesting zone of the fire talons, flame element birds." Alex confirmed the data he had received.

Chapter end