Tristan took a deep breath, steadying himself. A small space had been cleared out for the Duel, leaving him at one end and Varya at the other. The gathered group watched from the side, out of the way.

Excitement thrummed through him, making him—temporarily—forget his shock at [Withering Roots] having an Adept boss, not to mention everything else that woman Mosi had said.

His first Duel in a new world, and a chance for him to use his new deck to its full potential, as the monsters he’d been facing offered little to no challenge. Varya also seemed like she’d be a good fight, judging by the way she carried herself.

He studied her closely. She was tall and sturdy, with a bob cut that looked as if she hacked the ends off herself. She wore regular traveler garb, but that didn’t fool Tristan; he knew there were NPCs in the game that could change the aesthetic appearance of equipment while retaining the effects.

I need to go easy on her, he reminded himself. If I perform too well, beyond what an Apprentice should feasibly be able to do, then it’ll raise too many brows.

Another, smaller part of him wanted to just go all out. He tried his best to repress this side of him.

“Are you ready?” Varya called out.

Tristan double-checked his deck. After a moment of thought, he decided to swap out [Nighteyes] for [Stonehold], seeing as how there was enough light around from the [Illuminate] cards the others were casting, and [Healing Juice] for [Earth Bolt]. Healing wouldn’t matter in a first to three hits friendly Duel.

Then, he nodded. “I am.” He focused on the woman to summon the Duel option, then frowned when nothing appeared.

“Er,” he said, “how do we do this?”

“What?” Duran said from the sidelines. “Is this your first Duel?”

Actually, I was ranked 48 in the world before I got bored and went back to doing PVE.

“Yeah,” he said instead.

“Varya,” the thin, reedy woman named Mosi called out. “Call this off. He hasn’t even Dueled before.”

“A man’s first Duel is sacred,” Varya said, her grin almost mockingly wide. “You sure you want to give that honor to me?”

Tristan laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re getting scared now.”

“Summon your [Duel Card] then.” Varya stretched out her hand, and a card formed there. “I’ll set the rules. You throw in your card when you’re ready.” A brief light flashed on her card, and she tossed it, embedding in the middle of the space between them.

Interesting, he thought. Looks like Dueling is a little different too. Or at least, the mechanism to start them.

He summoned his [Duel Card], and it appeared in his hand; a metallic black card with two crossed swords as the image. The text underneath it was blank, and he realized if he focused on it, he could designate the conditions of the Duel.

He tossed the card, landing it right beside Varya’s. Her brow raised, likely at his aim.

A message appeared in his vision.

Duel: Initiated by Varya Stimo.

System Rules: First to three hits. Damage disabled. Equipment disabled. Perks disabled.

Personal Rules: Varya and the other members of the Straight Path Guild answer Tristan’s questions if he wins. If he loses, he gives one [Main Deck] card from his [Binder] to Varya.

Tristan assented, and the two [Duel Cards] flashed bright, and light expanded outwards, creating a wide, empty space similar to the Advancement Trial zone. The crushed iridescent leaves and surrounding trees all disappeared. He looked at the other members of this Guild, watching from the sidelines.

“Don’t worry,” Varya said. “Cards don’t affect spectators. It’s just you and me in here.”

Tristan grinned, summoning his deck as Varya summoned hers.

Let’s see what you have.

Tristan pulled [Earth Bolt] and cast it right at Varya, the card transitioning mid-air into a dart of Earth energy. Varya easily rolled out of the way, the Attack whizzing by and slamming into the boundary of the circle of light, dissipating.

She gave him a raised eyebrow as she stood up, the message clear: Really? You thought that would work?

He shrugged back: Didn’t hurt.

Varya grinned and ripped two cards from her deck and cast them in quick succession. The first one landed firmly on the ground as a jagged, stone soldier wielding a stone sword: an [Earth Knight], Tristan recognized, an Apprentice-rank Earth Summon. The second card hit the Summon, increasing its size and creating a ring of stones around its body: [Stone Infusion], also Apprentice.

An Earth user, he thought, summoning Rommie. The Knight raised its sword and charged forward; Tristan commanded Rommie to ignore it, using [Shadow Lunge] to disappear and reappear behind it, rushing at Varya.

To her credit, she didn’t flinch, pulling some cards. Tristan divided his attention in two: half of his effort put to manually controlling Rommie, the other half focused on the Knight charging at him.

He used [Shadow Step] to get out of the way as the Knight thrust its hand forward, a few of the stones surrounding it peeling off and darting where he’d been. He spun around to its left, the monster briefly confused, and cast [Nightmark].

The card flew and tagged the Summon right on its head, forming as a dark, pulsing cross. He followed up with [Shadow Spear], the card flying true, transitioning into a wicked spear of darkness mid-air that slammed right into the [Nightmark].

First, the spear dented the monster’s head; then, the [Nightmark] triggered, resulting in an explosion of stone.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

The Summon fell to its knees and dissipated. Meanwhile, Varya cursed as his manual command of Rommie eluded her. Her [Boulder Bash] Attack flew by harmlessly as Rommie leapt to the side then at her, claws elongating with [Shadow Slash]. Varya used [Stone Rush], dashing out of the way of Rommie’s attack, leaving behind a jagged row of stone spikes that cut into Rommie as she landed.

Not bad,

Tristan thought, pulling [Wooden Shell] from his deck. He cast it at Rommie, the card manifesting itself around her as a shield, and ran at Varya, commanding Rommie to approach from the other side.

Varya pulled a card from her deck and cast it in the air; a sudden cloud of dirt filled the air, obscuring his vision. Tristan pulled to a halt, grabbing [Murky Spikes] but commanded Rommie to continue forward.

The wolf plunged through the cloud and landed above a hole where Varya had just been. She turned around, confused.

Shit, Tristan thought, as the ground underneath him rumbled; he tried to leap backwards but couldn’t in time.

A pair of stone arms popped out, gripping him in place. He cast [Murky Spikes] on them, shattering them clean off, then grunted as an Attack took him from behind, his body flashing red.

You have taken 1/3 allotted hits.

Heart pumping with adrenaline, Tristan turned around and found Varya there, a hole in the ground beneath her dissipating. She grinned at him, sweat on her brow.

Enjoy it, he thought, matching her grin. That’s the only one you’ll get.

***

Eila couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She and the others watched in silent awe from the sidelines as Tristan and Varya erupted into a flurry of exchanges, cards flying by in a dizzying blur.

“Is he really an Apprentice?” Eila muttered, as Tristan [Shadow Stepped] away from another cast of Varya’s [Locking Grip], then returned fire with a [Bleeding Hamstring], which Varya barely dodged, cursing loudly.

Beside her, Genn shook his head in confusion. “I’ve never met an Apprentice that could aim cards like that, or cast at that speed.”

“Not only that,” Mosi added, her eyes flitting back-and-forth, “but he’s been manually controlling his Summon this whole time.”

Marr stood with her hands clasped, eyes wide with worry. Even though it was a friendly Duel, and the System would negate all actual damage, it was in her nature to worry. Eila understood; those two were really getting into it.

Her eyes slid over to the far end, where Guildmaster Duran watched impassively, arms clasped behind his back. As the strongest cardbearer in the group, and the one with the most experience, she wondered what his eyes saw that she didn’t—or couldn’t.

But she noticed other things. The quality of his cards was quite poor; she wondered who had forged them. His [Shadow Wolf], for instance, was splotchy and smudged near her forelegs, indicating the inking had been laid on too thick. His [Nightmark] card was less of a cross and more of a blobby circle. Not to mention whoever had infused the foci had likely just forced them in, indicated by the dull, petulant glow on the cards.

While it wouldn’t affect the functionality at Apprentice rank, these tiny details mattered the higher in rank a card got. Also, the aesthetics were simply unsatisfactory. Forgemaster Alrund would be red in the face if he saw these cards. Her hands itched, wanting to fix them herself.

Tristan’s summon dissipated, the duration expired. He ran to the side and cast a [Stonehold]; Varya dodged and fired off a [Boulder Bash]

, a giant rock forming from her card and barreling towards him. Tristan didn’t even flinch as he dropped to the ground, the boulder whizzing above his hand and smashing against the boundary of the Duelcircle.

Her heart raced just looking at it. Damage negated or not, it must’ve been terrifying to see a thing like that rushing at your face. She didn’t understand Duelists.

But then again, they didn’t understand her love of forging.

A collective gasp drew her out of her thoughts. She refocused her attention and saw that Varya’s body was blinking red; she’d taken a hit.

“What happened?” she hissed at Marr.

“Varya made a mistake,” she whispered back, eyes glued on the Duel. “Went to use [Earth Rush], but she’d run out of casts.”

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Duran said softly, the first time he’s spoken since the Duel began. “The boy knew her card was grayed out and forced her into a position that she couldn’t avoid.”

That was another thing that baffled her; Duelists had to not only keep track of their card cooldowns, but the cooldowns of their opponents. Even the thought of all those numbers made her head spin.

Varya growled and, the cooldown passed, resummoned her [Earthen Knight]. The monster formed, and Eila couldn’t suppress a little glow of pride. She’d forged that card herself, and though her specialization was in Water and Dark cards, she did a good job.

She’d done particularly well with the base; it was easy to undercook the base for Earth cards, as they were typically very heat-resistant. That would make them look flimsy and uneven, not providing a strong surface for the ink to settle on, but [Earthen Knight] gleamed tall and proud.

Not enough for her to give it a name, as all forgers named their prized pieces, but still.

Tristan didn’t try to destroy the Summon immediately, as he had last time. Instead, he cast his [Nightmark] on Varya herself.

And somehow, he curved the card to arc in the air around the Knight and land smack on her torso. She grunted in surprise.

Duran hissed. “That’s an Expert-level casting technique,” he said, taking a step forward. He cast his eyes over the group. “He’s lying to us. There’s not a chance this boy is an Apprentice.”

Eila felt a little shiver at that, returning her focus to the Duel. Tristan easily dodged out of the way of the Knight’s clumsy swings of its sword; the difference between Varya’s control of the Summon and Tristan’s was becoming more and more apparent. Tristan seemed to control his [Shadow Wolf] like it was another limb, an extension of himself.

[Earthen Knight] used one of its skills—[Enlarged Swing], Eila thought it was called—its sword suddenly elongating and slashing through the air at Tristan’s head. At the same time, Varya cast another card, and a stone ripped through the ground right at Tristan.

Without hesitation, he [Shadow Stepped]up into the air, disappearing in a shroud of shadow and reappearing high above the ground, dodging both attacks.

In a fluid motion, Tristan pulled two cards from his deck, one in each hand, and cast them at Varya.

She rolled out of the way of the first card, an [Earth Bolt]. But the other… somehow Tristan predicted which direction she would go, and as she came to a stop, the second card manifested itself as a [Shadow Spear] which struck her right on the [Nightmark].

The [Shadow Spear] resulted in a flash of red over Varya’s body, indicating she’d been hit. Then the [Nightmark] exploded, resulting in the final flash.

Tristan dropped to the ground—a little clumsily, Eila thought, which seemed so at odds with the display she just witnessed—as the Duelcircle faded, returning them back into the forest.

“Wow!” Tristan exclaimed, laughing. “That was fun.”

Varya stood there, stunned, looking down at her torso as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Eila shared similarly stunned glances with the others, but her blood froze when she saw the expression on Duran’s face.

It was anger.