Fully aware he was on a timer, he still took the time to properly appreciate the process and smell of opening the level-up pack of cards. It was a tradition, and frankly, he’d missed it last time. When he opened the pack, the card stock smell wafted over him and he let out an involuntary groan of pleasure. He let that hold his brain and senses for a good fifteen seconds before gesturing the pack into its relevant piles.
As always he started with the Triggers.
Trigger
Slot Options – Choose One
On Summon
On Unconsciousness
On Damage Taken
On Vassal
On Proximity+ (upgrade available)
Two new ones. The first one ‘On Vassal’ was clearly due to Brody becoming his Vassal. He would not be choosing this one until Brody had proven where his loyalties lay.
The second one was an upgrade to his existing On Proximity card.
Fortunately he did not have to guess what it meant any longer as there was a little (i) on the card. He selected it.
Card Insight: This will upgrade On Proximity to On Proximity+.
On Proximity+:
Well, more information yes, but a few examples would have been nice. Nesting a trigger within sounded great though. There were two main reasons On Proximity had not been used much of late. One, his allies were likely to trigger it as much as foes, and two, he couldn’t nest an enhancement boost into the trigger condition.
He decided to give On Proximity+
Next up was the Utility options.
Utility
Slot Options – Choose One
Summoning Awareness Jail Wing Bond School Home Sweet Home Commander Space System Functions
Window into Reality Split Presence (Passive).
He’d forgotten about Split Presence. Progress was at 50% still. Last time he’d leveled it up by experiencing his body and Commander’s Space simultaneously while getting the stat boosts. This time he would try to emulate that feeling.
He wondered what would happen if he sent the griffon egg to the Bond School.
He picked Window into Reality.
He also wanted to avoid spending too much time in Commander’s Space. It was important, and really cool if he set it up properly, but it did not grant him xp. If he was not in the top eight, or died, then none of it mattered.
Enhancement
Slot Options – Choose One
Focused Enhancements Pack (Basic) Size Enhancements Pack (Basic) Drake Enhancements Pack (Basic) Griffon Enhancements Pack (Basic) Undead Enhancements Pack (Basic)
James was baffled for a few minutes as to why a Griffon and Drake Enhancements Pack were options. Eventually he realised that the Griffon Egg, as a bond, gave him the Griffon Aspect. Bond Aspect Recognition
He checked and found he had a summon Griffon Egg card. He was pretty sure that hadn’t been there before.
He chose the Griffon Enhancements Pack and moved on to Bond options.
Bond
Slot Options – Choose One
Shared InstinctGuardian Pulse Bonded Echo(Upgrade Available – May target 2) Passive empathy link. Gain a faint emotional ping from a bonded creature. Eg. fear, pain, excitement.
Traveling Buff
Bond Resistance (Basic)
Bond Pain Transfer
Bond Instinct: Recall
James considered Bond Pain Transfer briefly from a gaming and survival lens. Bond Instinct: Recall also had merit. However the flat damage resistance couldn’t be ignored.
He selected Bond Resistance (Basic).
Next up was the Crafting options,
Crafting
Slot Options – Choose One
Auto-Extractor (Basic)
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Salvage includes pelts, bone, venom sacs, claws, or tokens. Carding will no longer be prompted when slots are full.
Essence Converter (Basic)
Outputs vary by Essence type and rarity. Requires access to Crafting Station.
Quick Crafter (Basic)
Does not affect cooldowns or external crafting locations.
Cooking Station
Cooked food grants temporary buffs, faster recovery, or condition mitigation depending on recipe.
Unlocks basic cooking recipes.
Tools of the Trade (Basic)
Tools are bound to Commander’s Space and cannot be removed.
Crafted items have a chance to generate with an empty card slot, depending on item type and recipe complexity.
Passive Boost: +5% chance to generate a duplicate craft.
Jewelry Station
Allows embedding of minor effects, sockets, or card-compatible traits into jewelry.
Tailor Station
Focuses on mobility, utility, and non-combat bonuses such as stealth or resistance.
Leatherworker Station
Balances protection, mobility, and durability using pelts and treated hides.
Smithing Station
Focuses on durability, raw defense, and weapon performance.
Woodworking Station
Allows creation of temporary structures such as barricades, ladders, crates, and scaffolds.
Required for advanced structural crafting and composite constructions.
Stonecraft Station
Allows creation of durable structures such as walls, pillars, anchors, and foundations.
Required for permanent structures and high-tier defensive constructions.
James spotted a new (i) next to the Crafting line on the level up card.
Crafting
Crafting had very much unlocked. At some point, he was going to have to stop just surviving and decide what he was building.
This would take a lot of consideration, and he really didn’t have much time for it right now.
Still, being able to craft summonable barriers could be the difference between life and death.
He chose Woodworking Station,
James selected Quick Crafter (Basic) Jack of All Protocols.
He was happy with the choices and locked them in.
Level Up – Card Commander (Level 7)
Stats Increased:
? Agility: +1
? Endurance: +1
? Mind: +1
? Perception: +1
? Will: +1
? Presence: +1
Deck & Commander Limits Updated:
24 total
21 total
7 total
7 total
Slots Assigned:
Trigger: ? Utility: ? Enhancement: ? Bond: ? Craft: ? Jack of All Protocols:
System Notice – Commander’s Space Updated
On Proximity+? Window into Reality unlocked within Commander’s Space.
? Griffon Enhancements Pack (Basic) added to card deck.
? Bond Resistance (Basic) applied to all bonded creatures.
? Woodworking Station now available in Crafting Hall.
? Quick Crafter (Basic) activated: all Commander’s Space crafting times reduced by 50%.
As the stat boost overcame him, he did his best to feel his body change. Again he felt the euphoria and the strengthening. Beyond those feelings, almost as background noise, he heard vague, unintelligible words. He focussed on those and the whole feeling left.
Split Presence (Passive):
He sighed. That wasn’t the only issue. He was under utilizing his bond slots. It was clearly a key part of his class and four slots sat there doing nothing.
Still, he had more to do and the others needed time for their upgrades too.
He started gesturing over his unopened packs, traits and tokens.
- Dungeon Hallow Pack
- Griffon Enhancements Pack (Basic)
- Hallow Dungeon Trait
- Upgrade token (Common)
- Trait unlock/upgrade token
- Hallow based equipment slot card
He pulled the Hallow Dungeon Trait
Play Card – Hallow Dungeon Trait
Effect – Hallow Dungeon Trait obtained.
The card dissolved into pale stone motes that sank into the floor of Commander’s Space.
Trait Obtained – Hallow Dungeon
Effect: ? +10% to all Hallow and surrounding area reputation gains.
? Hallow Reputation – Basic unlocked.
Additional permissions resolved in rapid succession.
System Notice – Reputation Unlocked
System Notice – Access Updated
System Notice – Exchange Unlocked
James exhaled slowly. This was the way out. All he needed to do was re-enter the Dungeon, go to the Arena floor, and get transferred back home.
Play Card – Hallow based equipment slot card
Hallow Dungeon Trait detected - options unlocked.
Calculating…
Reward:Target Option:Effect:
Play Card – Dungeon Hallow Pack
Hallow Dungeon Trait detected - options unlocked.
Calculating…
Reward:System Quest: Solve the Hallow Puzzle Cube.
Play Card – Griffon Enhancements Pack (Basic)
- Quick Ability - Griffon: Choose one of the following to grant to target. (Talon Strike, Beak Rend, Wing Buffet). Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 4 hours
- Quick Augment - Griffon: Choose to Augment a target with any of the following traits without grafting. (Keen Sight, Aerial Agility). Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 4 hours
- Aspect - Griffon (Basic): Choose one of the following to grant to target. (Beast, Avian, Feline). Consumed on use.
- Bond - Griffon: Requirement - Griffon Bond. Choose from one of the following actions: (Feed, Grow, Nurture, Discipline, Train). Cooldown: 6 hours.
He would probably have liked a single rare card as powerful as the Drake one had turned out to be but he could work with this.
He would likely never use the Aspect - Griffon on anything though.
His thoughts were interrupted by neighing coming from Squire’s retreat. . Hadn’t he wanted to give Nimbus wings? He doubted that Aspect - Griffon (Basic) would do it though. He would have to discuss it with Julie first.
He wanted time to think about using his upgrade tokens though, and to talk with Edward and Ken first about Trait upgrades.
He thought about creating a window into the real world, and found himself looking out at two rather impatient people staring at him.