Raven smirked at Aren's response, amusement creeping into her face like a rising tide. Her lips curled in a wry grin, eyes narrowing slightly with playful challenge.
"Tough talk for an E-Rank who just ruined my public life." She laughed, though there was a fleeting glimmer in her eyes—a hint of pain thinly veiled behind the humor, like a bandage over a fresh wound. Still, she pressed on, brushing it off like dust from her shoulders.
"So, let's get started, shall we? Test out your new abilities so I can see the best way to train you." Raven added, pointing toward an old, battle-worn iron dummy resting in the corner of the spacious training chamber. Its metallic surface was scarred with dents and scorch marks from countless past drills, a silent witness to trials and transformations.
"Okay then," Aren said, nodding slightly, his gaze sharpening as he stepped forward. "I think I already have a decent understanding of how this class works."
His voice held a newfound confidence—subtle but undeniable, like someone just beginning to realize the power they were holding.
"Deck of Cards!"
As he shouted the skill name, a faint hum of magic buzzed in the air. A flash of light sparked from his palm, and with a flicker of white particles, a full deck materialized in his hand—slightly translucent, ethereal, and pulsing with quiet energy.
Item Obtained: Deck of Cards (Temporary)
MP: 9/10
Aren's fingers curled around the stack as three cards floated to the top, fanning out before him with an elegant flick of motion. Each one bore a unique, animated symbol that shimmered with arcane light:
One bore the proud visage of a King, crown tilted arrogantly to one side.
The second showed a Knight, armored and poised mid-charge.
The last—a chaotic swirl forming a laughing Jester, its eyes gleaming with mischief.
Aren narrowed his eyes, inspecting the trio as if trying to unravel a hidden pattern.
He plucked the Knight card first. As soon as his fingers touched its surface, a glowing tooltip hovered just above it in spectral lettering.
Knight Card: Applies a random elemental attack based on the target's weakness.
Then the next tooltip floated above the King card.
King Card: Applies a random buff, scales with audience impact.
And finally, the Jester card shimmered with playful unpredictability.
Jester Card: Applies a random character role mid-combat, activates Fool's Gambit.
He paused, mind spinning through the possible combinations, weighing risk versus reward. The gears in his head turned quickly.
"This one," he muttered, gripping the Jester card between two fingers.
With a swift movement, he flipped the card into the air. It spun once—twice—then burst.
"Fool's Gambit!" a theatrical voice rang out from the card itself, as if the system had decided to put on a show. Colorful confetti exploded from the air around it, fluttering down in slow motion like flower petals.
The Prideful Gambit: Your cards become stronger the more prideful you act.
The system's chime rang again, clear and surreal like a harp plucked in another dimension.
Raven, who had been casually observing, tilted her head slightly. Her brows furrowed—not in disapproval, but curiosity—as the class's mechanics played out in front of her like a strange form of stage magic.
"Okay…" Aren muttered, exhaling slowly. "Let's crank it up."
He picked up the King card next. Almost instinctively, his posture changed. His spine straightened. His chin lifted. His entire aura shifted from casual to arrogantly regal.
He raised his arms like an emperor addressing a crowd.
"Bow before me!" he bellowed, tossing the King card into the air. More confetti burst outward with a flash of gold.
King Card: Homing Cards
He grinned, leaning into the bizarre theatrics. It was absurd… and yet, somehow, it worked.
"Face my glorious wrath!" he shouted dramatically, embracing the lunacy as he plucked the Knight card and hurled it with force.
'I can't believe I'm doing this.'
Knight Card: Ice Element
The card glowed mid-flight, twisting as shards of ice began to creep across its edges. The surface pulsed with frosty energy, and by the time it made contact—
CRACK!
The sound echoed like thunder in the enclosed space. The card slammed into the iron dummy, and in an instant, a glacier burst forth from the point of impact. It engulfed the dummy, encasing it in jagged, blue-white crystal. The ice even spread across the floor, piercing deep into the reinforced concrete.
Aren blinked. "That teaches you to mess with me," he said with a smirk, barely hiding how much he was beginning to enjoy this odd, theatrical roleplay.
Just as he admired his own handiwork, the glacier suddenly expanded, its growth fueled by lingering magic.
'So the Prideful Gambit works even after my cards have been used,' Aren thought, mind racing as he glanced toward Raven for feedback, wondering what she made of all this.
What he saw was… unexpected.
Raven was visibly shaking—not with fear, but from holding back a laugh. Her hand covered her mouth as her shoulders trembled. Her expression was torn between bewilderment and hilarity, lips twitching from the effort of staying composed.
She didn't know about the Prideful Gambit. To her, Aren's sudden transformation into an over-the-top, self-obsessed stage villain had come completely out of nowhere.
"Was that really necessary?" she asked, her voice broken between chuckles, struggling to breathe as tears threatened to well up from suppressed laughter.