Chapter 15: Card Throw.

[Registered Skills] →

∟Flexible Frame →

Type: Passive

Effect: Increases muscle flexibility and joint responsiveness. Grants minor resistance to restraints and body locks.

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∟Poker Face →

Type: Passive

Effect: Conceals emotional state, heartbeat and micro-expressions from most detection skills. Makes the lies more believable.

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∟Minor Strength Enhancement

Type: Active

Rank: F

Effect: Boost the strength by a small amount for 5 minutes.

Cooldown: 3 Minutes.

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∟Card Throw

Type: Active

Rank: F

Effect: You can conjure and throw razor-sharp ethereal cards with high velocity. Can be imbued with elemental affinity. Accuracy improves slightly with Intelligence.

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I scanned my skill window.

No fucking way.

I was surprised by the absurdity.

Was the world intended to kill me or something?

First the basic-ass affinity, and now this ridiculous excuse of a skill?

It was like some cosmic force looked at my existence and went, “Yeah, let’s screw over this one specifically.”

“What kind of sick bastard—?”

I bit my tongue. No, not yet.

If my hunch was wrong, then fine. Just paranoia.

But if it was right?

Then I really didn’t want to piss off whatever twisted entity was playing dice with my fate.

At least not yet.

Still, the skill wasn’t entirely useless.

Sure, I could’ve gotten some broken, god-tier Jester ability—like, I don’t know, tricking my opponent into thinking they’re dead… and boom, they just drop dead.

It would have been better and awesome.

But no. That would be too easy, right?

Instead, I got something… workable. Rough around the edges but with potential.

And for now, that was enough.

I was definitely not just trying to convince myself this skill didn’t suck.

Well, whatever. Might as well give it a shot.

I got out of bed and stretched my hand toward a figurine sitting on the table beside me.

It was… something. The head of a mouse, the body of a lion and some more chaotic animals mixed.

If I was an emperor, I would have executed the creator of that figurine just for creating something so ugly.

But apparently, the old Rael kept it close because it was a gift from Seles.

Typical.

I activated the [Card Throw].

I felt the mana traveling through my aether core towards my stretched hand before condensing into a solid shape.

A sharp ethereal blue colored card. It had a smiling jester on it.

For some reason the smile felt unsettling.

But I ignored it for now.

I took the aim. And released my control.

The card flew with a swish sound before it connected—not with that ugly figurine… but with my portrait seated just beside it.

The portrait was split in half as the card vanished.

What the hell kind of plot armour does that figurine have?

I couldn’t help but question. With my B+ Rank intelligence, my aim definitely shouldn’t have been shabby.

And yet… I missed it.

The ugly bastard just sat there—mocking me with that cursed mouse-lion face.

I walked forward and removed everything else from the table surface, leaving only the ugly figurine.

This time I was going to imbue my element into the card.

Let’s see how you survive this.

A wicked grin crept across my face as I stepped back.

I raised my hand and closed my eyes in focus—deeper this time.

I could feel it. A tiny spark, deep within the sea of mana inside my aether core.

My fire affinity.

I nudged it. No response.

I nudged it again. Still nothing.

Then I remembered what worked last time—not brute force… but coaxing.

I softened the flow of mana within my core, letting it swirl gently around the spark.

Not pushing, just… inviting.

At first the spark resisted… But slowly its stone cold heart melted.

It reached back.

Time for separation.

I began pulling the mana away.

The spark practically screamed “Don’t go!”

…Okay, maybe I was getting a little carried away with the imagination.

I opened my eyes.

A card hovered above my outstretched hand, now blazing with fire.

Perfect.

I took aim and released the card.

The card shot forward with a burst.

Thock!

It embedded cleanly into the center of the figurine’s chest, burning it slightly.

Just then— I felt it… a slight connection with the card.

What’s that?

I focused. A string of mana—barely there—linking me to it.

Like it was… waiting for a command

The string was getting thinner by seconds, I didn’t know what it was but I acted on instinct.

BOOM!!!

A small explosion echoed in the room as the figurine shattered into pieces. I instinctively flinched.

Smoke curled from the table and bits of scorched plastic hit the floor.

For a moment, I just stared at the smoking remains. That actually worked.

“…Okay. That was fucking cool.”

But before I could think any further…

A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

The door slammed open.

Several men in black suits stormed into the room, eyes sharp as they scanned the damage.

I didn’t panic.

I knew who they were.

My security.

Being one of the heirs to a Ducal family came with certain perks—like a personal security team ready to crash through doors the second something blew up.

The one in front of me was Aeon—my chief of security. Her short brown hair was perfectly motionless as she scanned the room with her cold grey eyes.

“Young Master Rael,” She looked at me for any sign of injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine Aeon. I was just testing something.” I sighed.

Aeon gave a sharp nod and brought a hand to her earpiece.

“The situation is clear. Return to designated positions,” she said into the intercom.

The security team vanished from the door one by one. Aeon gave me a final bow… and vanished like a mirage.

Tsk. Why couldn’t I have that kind of skill or ability?

Aeon’s Nexus was [Daughter of Mist]

A sick S-Rank Potential. The little trick she just did was [Mirage Walk]. Her Nexus Skill.

It let her teleport some distance.

She wasn’t unbeatable in a straight fight, but in stealth?

She was damn near untouchable.

…Wish I could say the same for myself.

Whatever.

I really wanted to do a few more experiments with my ability but I decided to postone it for now.

My fiancée was waiting.

Let’s see what that bitch wants.

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