Honour Rae
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B2 Ch35: Wind Release
🕑 Added 2022-12-15 06:59:02 +0000 UTCOnce again, Arthur was torn by a choice.
Marion knew – or at least strongly suspected – Arthur had stolen his card. And it was a very good card.
He didn’t have to stand back. He just had to be a few steps too slow.
Then the mother weasel would have access to a Legendary time card.
More importantly, Arthur thought Marion could be a friend. He missed Horatio. Cressida was great, but he missed having a guy-friend, and he thought Marion could be that… if he didn’t blow up at Arthur for stealing his card.
More importantly, Arthur wasn’t going to sit back and allow someone to die on his watch. He’d already made that choice when he saved Penn.
But even with all of Arthur’s good intentions, he had no hope of taking on the mother weasel by himself.
All of this flashed in his mind in a moment. It felt like he was standing still, like he had accessed the frozen-time in his Personal Space. But it was only adrenaline.
Marion suddenly jerked around to face the oncoming scourgeling, even though he had no hope of seeing it through the illusionary fog.
Arthur knew what he had to do.
“Marion, its coming at you to the left!” he yelled, knowing Marion had already heard his voice in the future.
Then Arthur pelted to Penn who had picked himself up and was looking frantically around in all directions with his hand on his sword. Arthur was the only one who could see through the fog. He would have to guide him.
Even as he raced to Penn, he saw he would be too slow.
The mother-weasel had barreled forward and was only a few strides away. It opened its jaws in anticipation, teeth sticking out at all angles from its muzzle like a hedgehog has quills. These weren’t jaws for chewing and swallowing. The scourgelings weren’t real animals – they killed and they “ate” cards.
Marion stepped to the side, unprompted. The scourgeling barreled past several steps before it turned to whip around. Marion followed its movements to keep back behind its flank. The scourgeling twisted, and he did as well, moving along with it as if they were part of the same choreographed dance.
As if he could see what the scourgeling was about to do a moment before it did it.
Seeing the future bought Marion time to dodge the creature, but it was a stalling tactic at best. Arthur had taken his combative card.
Arthur reached Penn who visibly startled at his ‘appearance’.
“Come on.” Forgoing all dignity, Arthur grabbed Penn’s free hand and dragged his cousin behind him. He wasn’t going to risk Penn getting lost in the fog. “Follow me. It’s after Marion.”
“Where’s Echo? Doesn’t she have a bow?” Penn demanded but followed Arthur. In fact, if not for Arthur’s Running enhancement boost, Penn’s longer legs would have allowed him to overtake him.
“She hasn’t gotten up. I think she was knocked out.” At least, he hoped that was only it. Everyone had tumbled end over end in that blast of wind. It was possible she hit her head on something.
Speaking of wind, the mother-weasel had quickly become frustrated with Marion’s antics. It aimed a blast of wind at Marion's direction, but the prince leaped away out of the direct cone of destruction.
The wind blast seemed to be a range-focused spell. It missed Marion completely and was angled wrong to threaten Arthur and Penn – but it was enough to knock over three trees standing at the edge of the field. It must have gotten stronger the further it was caster.
As the trees toppled over, Arthur spared a glance up to the sky. Surely some dragons or their riders had seen that?
The skies directly above were completely empty. Not a dragon wing or a claw to be seen. No ariel scourgelings either, but considering they were in the middle of an eruption it was eerie.
He didn’t have time to think about it. Arthur and Penn were nearly at the battle.
He knew the moment they were close enough for Penn to see because he sped up, overtaking Arthur’s stride. With a kick off the ground, he jumped higher than Arthur would have thought possible – was that a combat skill or was the man that athletic? – and brought his sword down to slice deep across the scourgeling’s haunch.
The scourgeling whistled a sound that made Arthur’s ears want to bleed. It whipped around to face the new threat, swiping a claw.
Penn flicked his blade. Sparks flew as the sword met claws, and the scourgeling’s paw was knocked aside. Penn followed it up with a kick to its face which forced it back a step.
Arthur stepped to Marion who had bent to rest his hands on his knees.
“That was close,” Marion said. “Another few seconds and…”
“It’s not over yet,” Arthur said grimly.
Marion waved toward the battle. “Really?”
Penn was… standing on top of the scourgeling, somehow maintaining his balance and stabbing down while the creature flung itself back and forth to try to shake him off. And since it had modeled itself after a weasel, it was extremely flexible.
In desperation it threw its head back and tried to wind-blast Penn off. Penn slashed a quick backhand swipe at it, nearly taking off the end of its nose. The blast went wild.
“You might have a point,” Arthur conceded.
Marion frowned. “Where’s my sis—Oh. Never mind.”
A moment later a silver arrow seemed to erupt out of the scourgeling’s eye and out the other side. It dropped like a stone, finally pitching Penn off.
Echo stood not far away with her bow raised, looking dirty and bloody. She had clearly gotten the worst of the first wind blast.
“Hey!” Penn complained. “I had it. I didn’t need help.”
“That thing made me get blood in my beard!” The girl stomped over and kicked the dead scourgeling. One of her eyes was half shut, caked with blood.
“What does it matter?” Marion asked. “It’ll heal once you return to your body.”
“I don’t have the mana to switch back and forth again. That means I have to stay like this, all gross!” She kicked the body again – rather viciously.
Penn rolled his eyes but returned to business. “Kane, do you see anything else about to come at us?”
“No. Nothing.” Arthur frowned. “Nothing in the skies, either. I don’t see any dragon riders nearby.”
Their were some in the distance, clustered around the still erupting cone. But… not as many as he would have expected.
He looked at the others who frowned or shrugged back at him.
Penn bent to harvest from the dead scourgeling. He stood up grinning. “Two cards.”
“Ohhh.” Echo clapped her hands in delight. “Are they good?”
“Decent. They’re Uncommon. One is a plant growth power – I bet it got that from a farmer,” Penn said without a trace of sympathy. “Second is that raged wind attack.” He frowned and then to Arthur’s complete shock, extended the card out to him. “You ought to have it.”
“Me? Why?” Was this some sort of a trick?
Echo seemed to have the same thought. “Why him? I thought we were keeping the loot to show we’re a good team.”
“He’s the only one without a strong offensive card. Plus,” Penn added, “it unlocks mana.”
Marion didn’t say anything but watched the byplay with narrowed eyes.
He thinks this is suspicious too, Arthur thought but reached to take the card anyway.
Wind Release
Charm
Uncommon
The wielder of this card will be able to direct a powerful blast of wind at will. Blast strength is dependent on heart deck mana usage.
Ah, there was the catch.
“I’d have to add this to my heart deck,” Arthur said.
Penn shrugged. “An Uncommon or two shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not a bad power.” Pause. “You have plenty of room in your heart deck, right?”
Like Arthur was going to rise to the bait that easily. “That’s not the point.”
“You should think carefully before adding anything to your heart,” Marion said. “But that’s not a bad card to have up your sleeve.”
Arthur frowned down at the card, wondering if he was being stupid. He did need a good combat card. Yes, this was unlike any of his others but that didn’t mean it was a bad thing. Did he really expect the Legendary dragon hatchling to be impressed by a budding utility specialist?
Especially when there was someone like Penn who could effortlessly win every fight?
Comments
Sarah Grfghlt
I guess the mana will scale somehow with his skills and the card will be super nice
Alex
OK... I suppose I am slowly starting to like Penn less and less. Maybe at some point in the future he will turn evil and I'll be fine if Arthur gets his card
Ninetails
Normally for this kind of future sight, you would assume that you see what would happen if you did not have the extra information from the future sight. The reason Marion could dodge was that Arthur would have shouted, but now that he moves himself, there is no need to do so. It seems like this is just a misunderstanding on Arthurs side. That said, the time back at the gala where Marion did not react to Penns attack is actually where we can gleam more into his abilities, because at that point Marion's lack of action changed Arthur's reasoning, which in turn would have changed the future. If Marion just saw the unaltered future, then maybe it would make sense of Marion reacted, followed by Arthur trying to dodge, but that is not what happened, so something else might be afoot. It would however also make sense that Marion just did not act because he saw that Penn would hold back or just did not care that much at the time, which could have been the reason instead.
Some BS Deity
Its not a locked future since he can use it to dodge attacks or answer questions that were never asked
Some BS Deity
Part of why it's only 3 seconds. Though it's definitely less of that and more reaction. Arthur would have called out anyway. Seeing Marion just confirmed what he was already doing.
Nathan Sto
I would be interested… but it probably wouldn’t be beneficial for you as the author. As readers we love to speculate, and the only thing that gets us more excited than time-related abilities are ships. I’ve seen a lot of authors who deeply regret giving too much information on character abilities. Eventually the fan base figures out how to exploit the ability and trivialize conflict, which leads to either continuity errors or writing something no one wants to fix it. Probably best to leave us a little in the dark.
Honour Rae
Working on it! This next one is being a beast tho
Honour Rae
Children have to reach a certain maturity (usually around 12) before they can put a card in their heart deck. I could totally go into how Marion sees the future if you guys are interested.
Honour Rae
It's basically a combination of 'phantom limb pain' and losing something dear to you -- like if you woke up one day and couldn't do your favorite hobby that you absolutely lived for. Only the pain is constant. So it's more of an emotional pain. It doesn't suck down life force and it doesn't mess with mana (though if you didn't have any cards you couldn't use the mana anyway). The pain is all emotional. Some people handle it better than others, but it's not something to mess with lightly.
Håvard
This is very simile the first time he answered questions before they where comleatley asked.
Adam McGuire
I believe the age a child can put a card in their heart deck is around 12. Kane's soldiers didn't bother checking the young kids for the legendary card
Nathan Sto
I tend to think that it’s not self-fulfilling. However, it’s cool to think about how such a card would impact the development of a child (~5 yo, right?). I could easily see a character twist where he learnt very young that his future self always made the best choices, and therefore mostly just follows his future self. A flaw where he’s failed to adapt reasonably to the card he was given.
wilfredo zurita
Good chapter, thank you, next one please
Flopmind
Yeah, it's not a self-fulfilling prophecy. I highly doubt it.
neco
That's why I found the whole thing so confusing but I mean that paragraph proves it. Marion knew about what Arthur would say before he knew it and therefore prompted him to say it. That is a self fulfilling prophecy. Though how it actually works and what he perceives is up to debate. But yeah in some way or form this loop has to be either perceived or "simulated". It's like that Harry Potter scene with the patronus at the lake (book 3)
Wensber
I doubt that is definite proof its a self fulfilling prophecy. Would everyone be forced to follow through with the seen future? Would Marion be unable to warn others of danger since the other person would be forced to follow the future anyway? Its more likely to me that Arthur just did it anyway by choice. Also, self fulfilling future sight makes no sense really. Marion reacted to scourge in the future. If future sight already accounts for his reactions, then Marion 4s in the past saw himself react and how he reacted. How far back does it go?
Flopmind
Yes we do, he assembled them by working for shards. Except for nullify which he traded an assembled card for.
Nathan Sto
That would be a creepy twist - Marion just a puppet to his card, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case because when the kid copied him she seemed to still have free will.
neco
Btw. It's all based on this sentence: Arthur knew what he had to do. “Marion, its coming at you to the left!” he yelled, knowing Marion had already heard his voice in the future.
neco
I imagine that to be incredibly disorienting as he would have made a decision before making a decision wich then would mean he doesn't really have to make a decision anymore wich would mean he just goes through the motion of what his future actions dictate. It's very confusing and I can't really rap my head around the idea
neco
Strength depends on mana used therefore one can't really say that yet
neco
I imagine it feels somewhat like depression as that too feels like your missing something, or "empty". But so or so we know it's a very unpleasant feeling that is constant and seems more emotional. I honestly don't really get what's so difficult to understand, the symptoms are known and otherwise it's magic
neco
So Marion's future sight is a self fulfilling prophecy? That would mean he can't really change anything about the future he sees since his reaction to said future is already accounted for in what he sees
Nathan Sto
More like, why bother comparing combat skills when there’s someone like penn who can effortlessly win every fight.
Adam McGuire
Ask Arthur's father. He was a duke so more than likely had multiple high level cards in his heart deck.
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter’
Yashakami
Technically we dont know how he got those ones, but I did forget about them
seth dauer
Depending on the wording, it could be perfect. Growth in general vs plant growth. That blast was too strong for that uncommon I think. It got stronger as it went...
Flopmind
yeah but it's his 4th not stolen card. First charming gentle-person, then nullify card, then personal space, and now this
Flopmind
Is it bad that I wanted to see the plant growth card?
Termii6665
1. yes, putting it all into a "magical core" theory, would be logical. But I would like to know what happens if you remove a card. Is it permanent mana damage? permanent life force damage? Does it hinder you in other ways? I don’t really buy the “you removed a part of you” reason. Every single cell in your body will be dead in around 10 years. You can replace organs and live. You can lose most of your brain and live. We adapt over time and we change a lot. You are not the same person you were as a kid. It is our nature to lose who we were just a few years ago, we not only change, we have to change. You do not want behave like a kid when you are a grown up, for example. 2. but then it is 'only' pain, nothing harmful in itself. Humans adapt to pain, there is no way you will always feel the same pain unless something stays broken. Maybe phantom pain, but that seems to be a stretch and it should be fixable in a magical world. As said, people adapt. I would find it more logical if only some people could not overcome a removed card and some do. The same way trauma effects people in our world.
Stephen Pearson
Not stolen, probably:-p
Flopmind
I think the main point of it is twofold: 1. It becomes a part of you in a magical core sort of way that defies normal emotional attachment. 2. Removing a card from your heart hurts forever unless you put the very same card back in it again.
Flopmind
Wdym by above board?
Termii6665
can we, at some point, get an accurate description why you don't want to remove any cards from your heart deck? We know that it is painful to remove cards, but how harmful is it? Is it only harmful short term (days/weeks/month) or long term (years/forever). Can you overcome it by simply adapting? (People exist that survived an accident with only half their brain still working). Does it depend on the card and the holder or is it the same for every card and person? How fast do the negative effects take effect? How common is it to actually remove cards? How many can you remove in your life? In most situations I cannot follow the characters logic when it comes to this topic. Especially because the future king would take over a mythic set and probably more cards from the old king. Meaning both the old king and the future king would shuffle around their heart cards. If it was that harmful, why would they do it like this?
Markus Iversen
Tyftc
Honour Rae
Well these guys are high nobles or royals with a literal library of cards to pick from at their homes. So to them, filling up their heart deck is something to think about. They'd expect Earnest "Arthur" Kane to be the same. More to the point, there's two schools of thought when it comes to the heart deck: Specialization or generalization. This is for high level (wealthy) card holders, not people who are willing to shove basically any card they can snatch up in their heart. Until recently, Arthur hadn't had to think about that.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter! I don't really understand why everyone is saying Arthur should not take the card? I believe it is ludicrous to believe that he actually finds enough growth cards to "fill his heart deck" and all have them "scale" with his set. It all falls apart if he doesn't get the dragon anyway and unlike us readers he does not know himself to be the "Mc" in comparison to people like prince's, princesses or Penn who beat almost any legendary directly. So I think he should take it and consequently give Marion the other card back if only to avoid direct conflict with the crown before he is even a dragonrider.
Yashakami
I firmly believe he could use it for flight with a glider or a balloon, but that would be a pretty desperate situation lol
Honour Rae
If this were a different magic system, I'd eventually evolve that thing to flight. lol
Yashakami
His second above board card, itd turn out pretty useful in a lot of ways. Especially in air combat. And a wind based set would be useful in numerous ways
