Honour Rae
patreon
B3 Ch13: Deadly Pair
🕑 Added 2023-04-20 03:50:01 +0000 UTC**Re-edited Nov '23**
Joy recoiled back as if trying to distance herself from her own limb, and collided with several people who didn't move out of the way in time. In just a few seconds, the wound was visibly darkening. No, Arthur realized. It was rotting.
Chaos ensued, with people screaming and scrambling to get away from the assassin and Brixaby, who was buzzing around with the man's card in his claws.
"Who are you? What did you do to my friend?!" Brixaby roared out in a thunderous voice that didn't suit his tiny form.
The man choked out something, and his form shifted as if he were trying to cast an illusion.
Brixaby darted down and returned with a second card torn from the man’s chest. The would-be assassin collapsed.
"It's poison, Joy's been poisoned. Healer!" Cressida yelled, and a bear made of flame erupted into being beside her, rising on its hind legs, round ears pinned back.
Brixaby landed on the man’s chest to scream in his face. “Give me the antidote!”
The man was far beyond answering, his limbs shaking in a seizure and froth bubbling up from his lips. Meanwhile, in those few seconds, the darkening cut on Joy's forelimb had increased to a hand-width size.
The pink dragon had stopped shrieking in fear and just stared at it in shocked horror.
Arthur stepped towards her. "We need to stop the spread until we can get her to a healer. Joy, let me store you."
Joy looked at him, wide-eyed. "Poison?” she asked, clearly too shocked to understand what he said. “But it doesn't hurt."
Which wasn't a great sign, as it meant that the nerves had died.
"Let me store you in my Personal Space," Arthur repeated. "Remember, I did the same thing when you were a hatchling?"
Cressida turned to Arthur. "Yes, please. Joy, it will just take a moment, love. We'll unstore you once we have a healer."
"O-okay," Joy warbled.
Arthur reached for her and thought about his Personal Space.
Suddenly, the dragon felt as if she weighed a thousand pounds – but the weight was more than physical; it was magical, and so unexpectedly dense that Arthur lurched forward as if he'd just tried to pull a mountain into his Personal Space. And the mountain had pulled back.
"What the--" Arthur began, before remembering the card lock bracelets. He looked down at his wrists and saw that they were bare. Then he remembered the clinking sound he'd heard right when he'd phased out.
Wait.
It hadn't occurred to him in the last frantic minute, but he shouldn't have been able to do that.
Glancing around, Arthur saw the two bracelets on the ground, as if they had fallen through his body when he'd phased out. None of this made sense.
He touched Joy again and once more felt that lurch. He couldn't store her.
"Something's wrong," he muttered.
Cressida stared at him. "What do you mean?"
A third try also failed. "I don't know. It won't work--I don't think it's me. The bracelets are off."
Meanwhile, Joy's wound was growing larger and darker. A blackened scale sloughed off to reveal shriveled skin underneath.
"My scale... " Joy sounded heartbroken by the loss. "I really liked that one."
Panic started to set in. Arthur looked around and saw that most of the crowd had fled. "Healer! Is there anyone with a healer card around here?"
As if in answer, he saw Laird make a flapping leap from the stage and land in the newly cleared area right by them. His presence scattered the few people who had been loitering. "What is going on here?" he asked.
"Somebody cut Joy, and they had some kind of poison card," Arthur said, not wanting to muddy the waters with the assassination claim.
But Brixaby, who still crouched on the fallen man's chest with claws digging into his skin, had no such problem. "This madman tried to kill Arthur, and Joy got in the way!”
Chablis slid down from Laird's neck. She took a hard look at Joy, which spoke of some kind of scanning power. "This dragon is under some kind of magical nullification block."
"I'm trying to store her in my Personal Space, but it's not working. Can anyone around here disperse it? Brixaby, can you do it?" Arthur asked, turning in desperation to his dragon.
Brixaby did have some natural nullification magic within his scales, but one pained look from his dragon told him that he couldn't extend that to others. It wasn't a card power. It was a function of his natural talents as a magical creature.
Joy, of course, had her own natural talents as a meta/knowledge dragon. None of which were helpful right now.
"What's going to happen to me?" Joy asked. "I don't know what to do. There aren't any quests. Cressida, help!"
Cressida, who had been standing next to her dragon to support her, twisted her hands in anxiety. “We could try to cauterize the wound until the healers get here.”
“What is taking them so long?” Brixaby growled. “You there, Laird. Send for the healers, quickly.”
Laird, however, looked sad. “We don't have any high-level healers in the hive. I can tell you right now that none of them could stop a poison as potent and fast-acting as this. They may be able to heal the damage afterward, if she lives.”
His last words were like a bell toll.
“Fine, then she should take these.” Brixaby buzzed up to Joy to push two cards right in her face. “Put these in your core.”
“I can't.” The pink dragon reeled back, staggering as her rapidly blackening forelimb lost strength. “My secondary core isn't ready yet.”
“It doesn't matter. You still have to try. Look at the card.” He shoved it in Joy's face. “It's a Rare card that works with poison, and he had this, too.” Brixaby shook the second. “They were combined in the same set. One puts necrotic poison on a blade, the second is nullification magic. If you have that power, you can make them your own.”
“She's a knowledge-meta dragon.” Cressida started to say, “We can't. It's too dangerous. That's a pair of cards. It will be too strong for her, even if she did have a secondary core. We have to… there has to be something else…” Cressida looked around, frantic for another solution.
Her gaze landed on Arthur, and at that moment, Arthur realized that his duty was to be strong for them all.
And though he was unsure of what to do, he was certain that if Joy did not take those cards, then at the very least, she would lose her arm. The poison was visibly crawling up to her shoulder, and it was all too easy to imagine that it would soon head to her heart.
"You've got to try," he said, looking at Joy. "Whatever changes come... you can't fight it. You have to accept it."
"Arthur, she'll be adding a pair of cards to her main core," Cressida repeated, unsure if he understood.
But he did, all too well.
Humans could add cards and remove cards from their heart deck. Yes, there was pain and possibly some mental damage if they were taken forever, but it was possible. Dragons, however, were magical creatures built around the cards in their core. Joy was almost old enough to have consolidated a secondary core, but not quite. That meant that these cards would change her fundamentally.
"It's the only chance she has," Arthur said.
"She is part of my retinue, and I say add the cards,” Brixaby snapped. “Hurry!”
Brixaby once again pushed the cards towards Joy, but Cressida snatched them away.
For a moment, Arthur thought she was going to toss them aside. Instead, her expression firmed, and she turned to the pink.
"Put these in your core, Joy. And whatever happens… you'll always be my dragon.”
“I think,” Joy said weakly, “I’d better use that point of luck I just got…”
The black was visibly crawling up Joy’s shoulder. At some points, the necrosis rot had gotten so bad that her bone was showing. Joy leaned to press her forehead against Cressida's.
As she did, Cressida pushed the cards into Joy's chest.
The dragon had not reacted in pain with her flesh literally rotting off the bone, but the cards were another story. She bellowed, rearing back.
Cressida cringed as if hit by a backlash. Toxic green flashed over both of them – their aura’s briefly visible.
Joy's blue eyes rolled up in the back of her head, and she passed out. Arthur stepped forward to help push her to her side as she crumpled, so she didn't land on her damaged limb.
"It's not working," Cressida breathed. “The poison’s still advancing.” She was clearly on the verge of panic. “Oh no...oh no...we have to cauterize it! Stop the spreading somehow!"
"No," Arthur grabbed her and pulled her closer before she used one of her flame bear summons to do something drastic. Arthur pointed. "Look, it's worked but..." he trailed off.
The black rot had stopped, but a new, sickly off-green was spreading down her limb, coloring the skin beneath her scales, making it an odd unpleasant juxtaposition with her vivid pink scales. As they watched, the new green swept down the still-healthy parts of her forelimb until it reached the tip of her claws. The quick of her once rosy-pink claws down to the tips turned toxic green.
"What does it mean?" Arthur asked.
"I think," Laird replied heavily, making Arthur jump since he had forgotten that the red dragon was still there, "that much depends on what you just put into your dragon's core."
Cressida paused and bit her lip. "I see them," she said, gesturing and projecting an image of the cards from Joy's deck. Arthur was surprised since he hadn't realized that a rider could do that with their dragon’s cards. Then again, these had been added to Joy's main core, not a secondary deck, and were now a fundamental part of her.
She kept the projection small and between them, so only she and Arthur looking over her shoulder could read them.
"Those are… quite the cards," Arthur said.
Necrotic Blade
Rare
Poison
Whenever the wielder of the card controls an edged weapon, that weapon will be imbued with quick-acting necrotic poison. The lightest scratch means death. The wielder of this card has automatic resistance to this poison.
Nullification Blade
Rare
Nullify
Whenever the wielder of the card controls an edged weapon, that weapon will be imbued with a nullification potion which will terminate all magical effects and buffs. The wielder of this card has automatic resistance to all nullification effects.
Eyebrows high, Arthur looked back at Joy. The black that had crawled up her forearm hadn’t receded – she still needed a healer for the damage done before she became resistant. However, only the limb that had been stabbed had the extra green tinge. The rest, including her wings, were her normal eye-blinding pink.
His focus went to her new green claws. "I don't think it would be a good idea to get scratched by those."
"The little pink will live," Laird said. "It's a good thing that she seems to be a meta type and not a knowledge type. A little more flexible."
"Now that that's done," Chablis said in a sardonic voice, lifting Arthur's card-lock cuffs. "Care to explain this?”
Brixaby turned to the woman, menace radiating from him like heat. “Care to explain why somebody tried to kill my rider while he was at his most vulnerable?"
Comments
Arch Fiend
They only link and share compatible cards, art and Brix are unique cause of Brix nature to take and learn any card.
Dan Mackison
Just to be clear, I think Joy was in real danger once the poison was actually in the bloodstream. I also think Arthur's skill card wouldn't have worked with the situation. Altering the description of the poison's effects a bit so that Joy gets woozy or her heart starts beating funny and Arthur attempting to do something wouldn't have changed the outcome: the chapter just got to the conclusion a bit too quickly.
Victor
Hahaha, a fellow reader who notices inconsistencies. Thank you. Be careful though, there are fellow readers that would call you a lazy reader / a children’s book reader, or that will tell you to move on to another genre. Criticism of the story is not appreciated by some readers. That aside, I’m honestly sick of the Mc passivity and poor choices that he blames on others, like he has all these OP abilities but he doesn’t take advantage of them. You know is like “Arthur kinda forgot he has these abilities.” 🙄 And on and on and on we go.
Dan Mackison
1) Arthur has a card which allows him to learn at a phenomenal rate and he has used that ability to do the seeming impossible, like shuffling a card out of someone's storage. Even a minimal deliberate attempt gives him a skill of 3 at whatever he's attempting. 2) Joy's life is never in danger as long as the poison remains localized to the wound area. There's no sign the poison is traveling in the blood stream, so amputation is always on the table as a cure. The danger isn't as urgent as Arthur acts like it is. 3) Given both those facts, Arthur standing around looking for someone else to help makes no sense. I would expect him to try to level up his skill and help Joy and fail; but I didn't expect him to not try.
Michigo
Understanding your points and agreeing with some them are two different things. I only pointed out that some of your plot related question are already answered by the story. And that most of the other things you dislike are part for the course in the genre. In other words: based on your standards practically all well known fantasy authors are "lazy", hence my suggestion to read another genre (you might enjoy them more). I do agree with the no hard feelings part. :)
Victor
Funny why you acknowledge I’m right but still you choose to attack me and say to move to another genre. But no hard feelings.
Michigo
You have a very selective memory. The silliest thing you moaned about: "We've been told many times of the seven different kingdoms but we don't even know the names, ..." Yeah, sure... the existence of other human kingdoms was a big plot reveal at the end of book 2. We are at the start of book 3. Oh, and one of them was actually named. As far as plot armor is concerned: Arthurs is pretty thin. Did he survive crazy stuff? Yeah... but that's the absolute minimum requirement to be the main character in a fantasy novel. Most main characters don't just survive, they becomes unbeatable powerhouses in no time at all. If you can't stand the idea of Arthur surviving really dangerous situations against all odds: maybe you picked the wrong genre to read.
Victor
1. My question was not why putting the card in Joy's core was dangerous, it was why didn't Cressida put it in her heart and save her dragon the trouble, and it then needs to be inferred that she doesn't share her cards with Joy, although we don't know, because we haven't been told. 2. This sharing cards choice thing just seems arbitrary to me, but is my opinion. I hampered down on it, because it just doesn't make sense why this rule. It just seemed natural that they should would chose to share the cards, after all, it will enhance both dragon and rider. But I guess is the author choice to make the story his way 3. Your first answer kinda goes into the third, it was implied that she was going to be fine since Joy is meta and not knowledge based, so I don't get the build up, to "Oh it's so dangerous to put the cards in her heart!" to then go "She'll be fine she is a meta not a knowledge based." So we go to this crescendo and then, "Oh, she'll survive!" TBH I don't even remember what it's the difference between meta and knowledge based, and why the danger in having poison and nullification cards mixed with them, if whatever happens there are no real consequences. If Joy was knowledge based she could just have a specific predilection for poison and nullification magic or whatever, or she could die from some incompatibility. Who knows. The story is so malleable and undefined that I can literally expect whatever. 4. Well, actually one of those people was wimp Marion, and nothing happened to him because he didn't even want the card back, so what you said here is not even true according to the story cannon. My point with this example was not even a question was to point out who the author was building up these tension, and then no consequences, Arthur always gets the jail free card, and blames his crap on others and he's just fine and dandy. I know very mature and dark story telling to a lazy reader accustomed to children stories like me. Like I was so exited when the lies he's been spreading finally caught up to him when he met the king, but NOTHING HAPPEN, he literally was thrown in a dark room for a couple of hours and then for some reason mythical dragon put her tail on the line for him, and he again BS'ed his way out of it. Then he met his father, and was finally getting answers but it was cut short because of the ten minutes BS copy magic although he can return back with his return card, but he wanted to keep it secret as an ace it was said. An ace against who I ask? His father? His dragon that shares the cards with him, like it was also implied that he didn't want Brix to know he has this cards which seem to me ludicrous. Anyway cutting the meeting with his dad short was done deliberately to not feed info to the readers obviously, and I believe it didn't do the story any favors. We've been told many times of the seven different kingdoms but we don't even know the names, we've been told his mother name but not his family name where he can get another card for his set, and on and on. Like what is the big deal, why not reveal these things. Again I go back to my original point, why does it takes so much out of the author to world build? Lazy storytelling that's what I say.
Like, I’m not in the discord. I read each chapter once and, like, a week apart from eachother cus that’s when they get updated. I don’t spend hours theory crafting and trying to predict what’s going to happen next. I just read it and go “Huh, that’s a pretty interesting shift. I’ll see what happens next chapter.” And despite this relatively lackadaisical approach to reading this, I knew basically all of what you’re saying is missing without even having to think deeply about it. I just don’t think the issue is the story or writing here. Like, I agree that I’d love more consistent updates or chapter lengths, but I also am of the knowledge that life exists and we’re basically subscribing to a beta test of the story instead of a full, polished release. I don’t expect perfection. I think your complaints are baseless and unfounded and, honestly, I’m responding, not for you, but to make sure the author knows that all of it is total BS and most of us don’t see any grounds for these “lazy writing” claims. It’s not even constructive, just meant to tear people down. Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s good and we want to keep reading. Let the lazy readers find a children’s book to read or something.
At this point, I’m honestly not sure if we’re reading the same story. I’m like 98% certain the answers to most of the questions you raised were in previous chapters. Like, I’m not gonna go back and point out exactly which ones cus that sounds like a lot of work to help you shore up your lazy reading, but I can give you a few of the answers just to show why I feel this way. Just grabbing the first few: 1) it’s dangerous to put cards in a dragon’s core (instead of their secondary deck) because the dragon’s core cards define who they are. Chablis (or maybe one of the others, idr exactly) mentions this when they say it’s good she was a meta dragon instead of a knowledge one. 2) when Arthur first binds Brix they explicitly say he had to make a choice about how much he was willing to share with him in terms of their heart decks. If this can easily be changed at other points in their lives, there’s no substance to him making a choice at all. Like, literally not even worth mentioning cus they would just pretty much all always have access to everything from eachother. Especially if what’s in everyone’s heart decks shapes who they are (which has also been either explicitly mentioned or heavily implied (most likely both) throughout the story). What kinda nutjobs would you end up with when you have people and dragons changing deep core aspects of their personality on a whim? 3) idk why you’re inferring nothing happened to her cus I feel like those physical changes are just an outward manifestation of Joy being different mentally, as well. We don’t actually know yet cus that won’t be revealed until there’s actual interaction with her, but I got the opposite impression entirely. 4) I’m pretty sure if Brix didn’t give those cards back, those people were literally gonna die and even if they weren’t, what if he was an elemental dragon or a telekinesis dragon like those other 2 legendaries when he went on a rampage like that? Would him using his power against them have been so easily reversible or would they just be dead as dirt? Do you understand why legendary hatchlings are so dangerous now? This only worked out with less casualties cus Brix is such a different dragon than like every other one we’ve seen.
Victor
I don’t see why things needs to be cut out. Like literally it could be a throw away line that guides the reader. We could be told that although joy’s core is not complete she needs to put the cards inside her because she cannot access them because Cressida desired to keep their cards separate (that for some reason it is only a one time thing when they can choose to share for some reason) but no, we’re not even told that. Like at a point when I saw Cressida take the cards from Arthur in this chapter ti thought that was what she would do, but no, not even that. Now we’re told the glittery pink dragon has toxic claws oooooo, and we have to infer again that nothing happened to her although it was hyped that it was super dangerous to put cards into her unfinished core. You see what I mean. Like the author raises up the stakes and hypes on something making it super important and then it a freaking flop. It was the case with the hatching ceremony. We were told that many people die in it, and I just thought for sure that Brixaby had killed at least two people when he stole their legendary cards, but no, they were just fine just in shock from having their cards removed forcefully and seemed to be dying, but not really, hehe. And then everything just works out fine for Arthur, of course. This is inconsistent writing. Like we’re told that Arthur is trying to be a hive leader, and instead of seeing his struggle we get a four month time jump and he is crap at it, but he only blames it on others not teaching him right. Crap, are there not books about leadership in this world, that he could have read in four months with a hive he can do whatever because he literally rules over? Is it too much to ask to have these questions answered? It just seems inconsistent and flaky writing on the author part tbh. Like we’ve been told that Arthur can like read super fast and has like perfect memory thanks to his cards, but he doesn’t even take advantage of them, to shed some light on this world. Like why are their baby dragons born sapient, why only dragons and scourlings are magic, why oh why can humans bond with dragons, what makes them so freaking special, are there any other intelligent races, like these are not questions that rose in the MC head, like he just seems to be in the world just to be on it. Like he has not been with his father for years and gets to talk for 10 min, but no, he chooses not to stay so he wouldn’t reveal to his dragon? Or father? That he has a return card, what? Inconsistent stuff like this. He says so that he could have an ace, an ace against who exactly? It just seems like something the author says to or develop his freaking world. Did you get my point now? Author develop your world, and be consistent. This is a mark of great writing and storytelling. Are you telling me in all these months you haven’t thought of anything? Like you can go on YouTube and watch a 10 min video on how to world build, and here I am having to constantly infer stuff and ask questions where others tell me, “well, it must surely mean this because that is what makes sense.” Another thing that bothers me is how inconsistent the chapter release schedule and lengths are. Sometimes we get chapter that are like 2000 words other it doubles, and on and on. More inconsistency. If I had to summarize it, it is very inconsistent, all over.
Michigo
I get what you are saying. But what exactly would you write about first? Or more precise: what would you cut out to make room for all the things you actually want to see in those chapters? The things you wished for just in that single comment i'm just replying to could fill another book on their own, and that's without the stuff needed to answer all the question said book would create on top. That's basically the curse all writers have to deal with: either people don't care about what you write (obviously bad), or they care to much about it (hence you can never deliver enough to satisfy them).
Arch Fiend
You just have to remember that the two front legs on dragons are more like a werewolf, they sit on hindlegs like bears and cats, the front legs are basically arms bro so it really isn't that hard to picture with the correct front legs in mind. How you think they grab stuff and Brix does his cars ripping thing and holds on to them lol.
Arch Fiend
Probably, it would make sense to have a spy in the free hive and that the other hives alright know about them, this guy must have thought the legendary rider was going to defect to them and finally give the free hive real power, if he was following art around he definitely would have noticed he was very synthetic and being won over, if makes sense a spy tried to kill him but it would also make sense if someone in the free hive didn't want to be ruled over by a legendary pair(art wouldn't do that of course) but a normal legendary pair would definitely take over.
Arch Fiend
I love Brix, he don't take shit from nobody and he's beyond fierce!
Victor
Michigo, you are welcome to your opinion as am I. I do believe that it is lazy storytelling. We're on book three and the story can be summarized in poor boy gets lucky, and through many lucky encounters becomes more powerful, and he basically doesn't earn any of his achievements. The time I've been more invested in the story is with him working as the head chef in the orphanage kitchen, is when he was the most decisive and less passive. From there we jump for years or so ahead, and Arthur is still the same lier, who get through everything because he is just so lucky. Then he gets in trouble with the king, and deus ex-machina mythical dragon puts her position in line for a lier boy she just met. Honestly it would've been more interesting if Arthur had turn a villain after interacting with the scourgling, he does have very villainous aspects. But no, everything works for him in the end, and then he spends for months in a hive with a card that he can cheat time and learn stuff, and other cards that work as a library, and he still is a crap leader who abandons his riders, and is just passive and I keep asking myself questions when things happen that seem contradictory. But no, I have to head cannon through, and my criticism is bad because "Oh, the story is so good!" My question, what is so good about it. Like we don't even know the names of the other kingdoms, and they have been mentioned already, but not by name, and we have only had a class on dragon 101, but we still do not know what happens in legendary dragons reproduce, do they lay legendary eggs, do rare or legendary females survive the legendary egg laying process? And simple crap like that, that the author doesn't develop but he develops a story on the side about goose totems, and silliness. Give me a break. I'll probably will not continue the story, honestly, every time I read it I can point out a dozen small things, and im told by you guys to just infer stuff, since the author has not been able to make clear whether Cressida does or doesn't share her cards with her dragon. I'll probably just read the next book if it comes out through kindle unlimited if I am bored and to see how the story develops, but I am disappointed so far.
Michigo
I guess the Author is bound to be lazy, am i right? Not enough world building => lazy, to much => where is the action. Obviously a lack of character building and many other examples could be used as prove for "laziness" regardless. If you ask me: the author is doing a mighty fine job. How did i come to this CRAZY conclusion? That's the easiest question of them all: i want to read more, heck all of us here are willingly paying for exactly that. Criticism is generally a good thing, but yours is pretty one sided and lacks any constructive ideas.
Michigo
It was mentioned before that Arthur could simply overpower those shackles. My guess: they didn't even have the time to physically break apart before phasing trough him.
wilfredo zurita
Thank you for the chapter
Telewyn
She may not have been able to choose to share, safely. Joy is a bit of a special case.
Don't think it's lazy. Seems to me like they're allowing the reader to come to these conclusions on their own rather than spelling everything out. I found it fairly easy to follow and probably would've been annoyed if there was a bunch of smaller details like this directly spelled out to me when I could've just been shown through the story (which we were). Also, don't think it'd have made sense for it to be spelled out. Arthur has very limited knowledge of cards, dragons, and bonds considering his upbringing, so it would've been really awkward and forced for him to suddenly start theorizing about all of this (or worse, have random wise elder pass down their knowledge for no discernable reason). Feel like it was more of a stylistic choice and I kind of agree with it.
Thaldor
Those are some intensely nasty cards. Careful, this Rosey Meta has thorns 🤭
Victor
My point exactly. This is something that should be made known to the reader. Is it really that important or essential part of the story that has to be inferred by us? Give me a break. Lazy story writing.
Adam McGuire
They chose the level of sharing. Arthur chose to share fully with Brix. We've only seen Cressida use her flamebear. I think there are other references but the inference is Cressida chose not to share with Joyberry. I don't think the choice can be undone but that hasn't been verified.
Victor
I don’t understand, if a rider and a dragon can share the same cards why didn’t Cressida add the two cards to her heart and allow Joy to use them through her if it was so dangerous for her to add two powerful rares to her unfinished core? Also why didn’t they try to cauterize the wound with fire if it was a necrosis wound, seemed like the smart thing to do. Fire cauterizes everything. I don’t know it seems so forced. We need more world building. The story barely has any. The story us getting boring and the MC is not likable. And it teaming with seeming inconsistencies and I as a reader have a hard time following along. Do something about it author!
Logrus
I bet Brix is going to take this pretty hard. I foresee a classic anime "Tsuyoku naritai" type moment for him coming up.
Reaper
*shudders at the thought of RPG chaotic evil cliche characters*
Reaper
We didn’t get the usual notification for a gained card power. Brix also didn’t mention what notifications he received, likely because he didn’t get them. I believe the assassin has more cards / items.
Reaper
Brix didn’t automatically copy the used powers. If Brix did then he would have said what was wrong with Joy and why storing her wasn’t working. The assassin can block legendary card powers. This assassin has a legendary card or item.
Rubeno
What if "Free Hive" are just bunch of slaves paying their due to certain kingdoms so that they leave them alone and agreed to hold no combat power cards? All of those will be transferred away as soon as they gain one. Bunch of hypocrites, wallowing in delusion and weakness?
Reaper
A mysterious lack of combat cards and also a hive of busy crafters in a desert suspiciously with enough materials and no massive stockpiles of crafted items. Factories / farms etc produce more than their manpower use. Like I said on the previous page, they clearly trade with someone. At best, that’s the situation. Could be worse.
@Rubeno, I know. I just like ditzy sometimes. I'm sure she'll be awesome.
Rubeno
@DJ elliot, I like cuteness too but she is too sweet. Frankly I would hug Brix faster. There is something charming about feisty kittens becoming cuddle bugs...
Rubeno
@DJ Elliot, yeah, definitely it will make her better match for Brix as she was earlier too passive both in combat and in the Hive. Her only value was basically being a quest dispenser. Awesome power but only if pink-Chan can take advantage of it in the first place.
Rubeno
I thought that it's because handcuffs were sabotaged to discredit Arthur. How can his copying powers work if all his powers were supposed to be blocked in the first place?
Ha! I like the hugs and cuteness! But I agree, maybe she can still be cute and sweet and yet be a powerful defender, too.
Rubeno
It's reasonable to assume that such injury can be fixed as there is nuance to the Cards like MC skills for example which means that powers can develop. Thst aside, It's kind of pathetic how Free Hive literally has not legendary dragons/cards users at all not even speaking about mythics. How can they not have be in possession even one of such card?
Rubeno
She felt too naive earlier more like a pet than a person. All good for hugs and cuteness but can't be given any responsibility. Maybe this event will change her for the better?
Michigo
Did you expect them to have legendary tier healers on speed dial? Even the wolf hive wasn't able to do so as seen with joys hatching. And yes, it's reasonable to assume that such a nasty "rare" type of poison card combo can't be fixed with rare level powers.
Maybe it will make her a better match for Brix, too.
Corpse Garden
It will, unfortunately. There's no way around that, either due to the core change or the trauma, likely both. I'd say she will somewhat be like someone that had to kill someone in self defense for the first time, or something along the lines of a bit depressed that now she can't hug people with that arm anymore. When it's all said and done she will pull through, and she won't be as reliant on others to keep her and her rider safe. She will be a true contender and second in command from here on out.
Dennis
Yeah I hope this doesn't change her personality to much.
A powerful Joy is good. I just want her to stay sweet and make friends.
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!!
Pariah
Also to be perfectly fair this is a fun story, just like i said, his progression in plot so far had nothing to do with him as of yet
Pariah
I knida hope Arthur is the one to solve this free hive capture situation. Between the king and this capture he's had very little to no agency for a while. Even his act of working with the mind singers was revoked by brixaby after he'd made a decision. And by solve I mean with the stuff on hand not some weird mcguffin/person that the arthur/reader knows nothing about and solves all his problems without a lot of build up
Lars de Tombe
Perhaps the reason Arthur could remove the cuffs so easily is because he copied the nullification card powers somehow? The last line says that the wieder of the card has automatic resistance to all nullification effects.
juno
Pink and green always reminds me of Cosmo and Wanda from Fairy Oddparents.
juno
It nullifies magic not poison, so i dont think it would have worked unless they cut Joy's limb to stop the spreading.
Rubeno
You know, it's just came to my mind that Cressida would be awesome with spear when fighting from KillJoy's back as there is not much finesse required when even lightest scratch means death for the enemy but she lacks penetrarion power to pierce through defenses should there be any as such spear is best for her purpose. Aside from being like an Assasin stealth and all.
Rubeno
He is like gifting tree. Assasin just can't stop giving out presents for Brix ;D. Jokes aside, he seemed to also have illusion type of an card as escape mechanism.
IndyBart
How many other cards does this guy have that can be pulled out? He doesn’t only have 2 does he? Most other rate card holders we’ve seen had had at least a few common and uncommon cards also. The poison and nullification cards don’t really make him an assassin, they just give him a deadly blade. So what other cars powers is he using to better support the idea of an assassin class? Does he have a dagger combat card in there? It’ll be interesting to see if the free hive claims him or not, and if they don’t then I expect all his cards are getting ripped out.
Thomas Todd
We might see her get some assassination quests!
Rubeno
So Free Hive doesn't have any high level healers? How? Where are combat card users if all people receive crafting ones? Something tells me that "free Hive" is just a somebody's plant. A place to harvest resources from. Why otherwise mythic dragons simply haven't claimed the place if "Free Hive" doesn't even have any legendary card users?
Doug Wills
So if they had read the cards would Arthur have been able to shove the nullification blade card inside his own deck and then just cut Joy's arm with it to fix the issue?
Rubeno
Now, that's some really good set of cards albeit it will make her bruiser rather than mage.
Aidan Geverdt
Not fan of the free hive ngl. I just can’t picture dragons blacksmithing is all lol.
Great chapter. I'm surprised that Brix hasn't already started ripping cards from Chablis ^^
Blorcyn
Poor joy
