SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 38 - Black X (Patreon)

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Kai had just dropped another bouquet at Ariel’s and was on his way to go help Sunny in the workshop. It was sad that on the only day in the week when they didn’t have to go to the bonfire, the best thing that Kai could think of to pass the time was to fix machines with Sunny.

At least, there was no way things could get worse for him. Alex was gone, and Ariel was angry at him. Having hit rock bottom, he could only go up from here. As he turned around the corner and onto the street where the workshop was, he found Trudy waiting for him.

“Hello, Kai.” It was unlike Trudy to be here at this time. She spent most of her days sleeping away.

“Hey, Trudy. What’s up?”

“Why don’t we go have some tea together, Kai? Let’s walk back to my house. Clara brought me some herbs the other day, and I think you’ll like the brew I put together.”

An invitation for tea was not uncommon for Trudy. But there was something fishy here. Kai felt a certain darkness on an otherwise blue day. Could this have to do with Ariel? He studied Trudy’s ancient face and saw pity in her eyes. He had a terrible feeling. “Is something wrong?”

She bit her lips but didn’t speak. Kai gulped. The gears in his head turned. Sunny was the only one who lived on this street. “Is Sunny OK? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry, child.”

“I have to see it.”

“Don’t, Kai. The street is in quarantine.” Kai ignored Trudy and ran as fast as he could toward the entrance to the workshop. Through his head flashed the memory of his parents’ death and the outbreak that had almost decimated the whole sector. It couldn’t be. Where could she have gotten it? There were so few of them.

As he approached the two-story workshop, he saw a black ‘X’ painted on the front of the door. Even in how it was painted, he could see Sunny’s steady hands and precision. Kai collapsed to the ground. Sunny had gotten the blight.

*

[Sadness] + [Knowledge]

Sadness | Hp: 1→0

Knowledge | Hp: 1→0

Crafting successful! You've crafted [Wisdom].

Wisdom (Rare)

The ability to use knowledge and discernment, making good practical decisions.

Hp: 1

Vp: 6

The card’s stats were the same as [Loyalty]. He tried the next component in the recipe.

[Affection] + [Loyalty]

Affection | Hp: 1→0

Loyalty | Hp: 1→0

Crafting successful! You've crafted [Love].

Love (Legendary)

Unwavering attachment to something or someone. The most powerful human emotion.

Hp: 1

Vp: 10

How about that? Love was a legendary card. Its stats were great. If he were to follow the same logic that he had when he created the [Scrapdroid], he might be able to obtain something good from mixing these two together. It was time to find out. Kai set the [Wisdom] card down on the table, and before he placed [Love], he hesitated. Whenever he crafted with a legendary card, he felt nervous. He hoped this would work.

[Love] + [Wisdom]

Love | Hp: 1→0

Wisdom | Hp: 1→0

Crafting failed!

Kai ground his teeth. What a letdown! He had thought that by merging the two recipes, he would get something precious out of it. But it turned out he was wrong. He took a deep breath and tried not to look at the scoreboard. Things weren’t looking good for him. These recipes, while working, offered no substantial way for him to make a comeback.

He looked at everything else that he had available to craft with. He couldn’t think of anything. [Spider Web] seemed a good card for crafting, but he couldn’t think of any recipes that would go well with it. He had over sixty [Ash] cards, courtesy of [Fire], but they didn’t go well with anything except [Water], and he had run out of it.

His eyes then landed on [Child]. It was the weakest card he had ever collected. Was there anything he could do with it?

What could a [Child] card be merged with? Kai drummed his fingers on the table. Probably, like with animal cards, it would go well with tool cards. Sadly, he didn’t have any tools available now. His [Fire Axe] was used up. It also felt wrong to Kai to equip children with axes, even if he was in the exams.

He then looked at the emotion cards he had collected. Could it be really that simple? Emotions were a very human thing. It made sense that he could merge [Child] with them. Kai looked at where the pile of uncommon cards he had at his disposal for crafting used to be. He shouldn’t have spent it all up feeding [Fire].

He had plenty of common cards to use as fodder in the photocopier, though. Even if it would cost him four victory points and sacrifice two [Ash] cards.

Copy successful! You’ve exchanged [Ash] and [Ash] for [Sadness].

It was time to try this out.

[Child] + [Sadness]

Child | Hp: 1→0

Sadness | Hp: 1→0

[Child] has upgraded to [Sad Child]

Sad Child (Common)

A child who is dealing with many difficulties and faces bouts of sadness.

Hp: 1

Vp: 1

Kai didn’t know if he should feel happy about being onto something here or if he should cry at how depressive this recipe was! Poor child! He had just picked a card with a picture of an innocent little angel and had turned it into one of the saddest things he had seen.

Kai hated himself for what he was about to do, but he wanted to see what was down the rabbit hole.

[Sad Child] + [Anger]

Sad Child | Hp: 1→0

Sadness | Hp: 1→0

[Sad Child] has upgraded to [Rebellious Adolescent]

Rebellious Adolescent (Uncommon)

A teenager who is going through a lot and has many negative emotions.

Hp: 1

Vp: 3

Kai had to give it to Daisy. Even though Albert had said she wasn’t creative, Kai had to admit she had much imagination. He could now see where this was going.

He was creating a little monster here, but he had to see what would happen if he kept going down this road. He looked at the scoreboard and the clock. He only had 10 minutes left, and his opponent had a 100-point advantage over him. It was unlikely that he would make it through to the next round.

The fact was that he was feeling a little bit like the card he held in his hand. He felt sad that he and Ariel wouldn’t make it. They were not going to get allcure. He was angry for still wanting to have children, even if they grew up as orphans. It was time to throw care to the wind. Even if these choices were about to cost him many points, he still had to test them out.

Copy successful! You’ve exchanged [Oryx Lumberjack] and [Oryx Lumberjack] for [Loyalty].

These were the last two [Oryx Lumberjack] cards left. He was happy to exchange them for the more valuable [Loyalty] card. Kai was eager to find where this led.

[Rebellious Adolescent] + [Loyalty]

Rebellious Adolescent | Hp: 1→0

Loyalty | Hp: 1→0

[Rebellious Adolescent] has upgraded to [Radicalized Adult]

Radicalized Adult (Rare)

Hp: 1

Vp: 8

For the first time, the stat line went beyond what other similarly graded cards had. This told Kai that if he kept going, there would be exponential growth from now on. Kai copied the [Child] card, just in case, before he ran some more experiments.

Copy successful! You’ve exchanged [Ash] and [Ash] for [Child].

Another four victory points down the drain. It didn’t matter. He recreated the cards from Daisy’s recipes.

[Sadness] + [Knowledge]

Sadness | Hp: 1→0

Knowledge | Hp: 1→0

Crafting successful! You've crafted [Wisdom].

[Affection] + [Loyalty]

Affection | Hp: 1→0

Loyalty | Hp: 1→0

Crafting successful! You've crafted [Love].

Kai took a deep breath. If he was able to upgrade a 0 vp card into an 8 vp rare card with his devices and recipes, this should go better.

[Child] + Wisdom]

Child | Hp: 1→0

Wisdom | Hp: 1→0

[Child] has upgraded to [Enlightened Child].

Enlightened Child (Uncommon)

Hp: 1

Vp: 5

Not only did this recipe work, but it worked much better than the previous one. After he had merged [Child] and [Sadness], all he got was a slightly more powerful common card. Here, however, the card had been instantly lifted to the uncommon grade, and not only that, it had a stronger stat line than other uncommon cards.

It made more sense why [Wisdom] and [Love] hadn’t worked out. They had nothing to stick to. But a child was a clean canvas in which these qualities could be imprinted, elevating them into something more.

He moved on to the next recipe. There were no do-overs. This was it.

[Enlightened Child] + [Love]

Child | Hp: 1→0

Wisdom | Hp: 1→0

[Enlightened Child] has upgraded into [Benevolent Adolescent].

Benevolent Adolescent (Rare)

Hp: 1

Vp: 12

“Now we’re talking!” exclaimed Kai, grabbing the new card in his hand. He stared at the artwork on this card. There was an adolescent in white clothes and with a gentle smile on their face. It was a different type of beauty from children. In children, there was the beauty of innocence, but in this card, he saw the beauty of potential.

This was the most powerful rare card he’d ever gotten. Too bad that there was nothing he could do to elevate it further. Or did he? He thought of the word in the first card. Enlightened. That made him think of a card that, nowadays, sat unsuspected and that he hardly ever used. He looked at the clock and scoreboard and shrugged. He didn’t have anything to lose. He should just go with his instinct.

[Benevolent Adolescent] + [Light]

Benevolent Adolescent | Hp: 1→0

Light| Hp: +00→+00

[Benevolent Adolescent] has upgraded into [Illuminating Adult].

Illuminating Adult (Legendary)

A human who has been forged in the fires of wisdom and love.

Hp: 0

Vp. 20

Kai laughed at the new powerful legendary card in his hand. Legendary cards had the most variety in terms of stats. There was [Light] that offered 2 victory points, and [Blue Fire], which earlier in the round had reached 199 victory points. It felt good to stumble upon such a powerful card.

The picture in the card now showed a man with a radiating smile and contagious joy. Looking at it, he couldn’t help but remember all the people from his sector who had raised him. He thought of stubborn Neil, whimsical Albert, and pragmatic Sunny. He chuckled at the memory of the days he spent in the mountains with Clara or all the conversations he had with Trudy.

The name of this card described them well. They were illuminating adults. Were it not for them, Kai would have been a bitter, rebellious adult, like the one illustrated in the previous card he had gotten. But thanks to their good influence, despite all his troubles and challenges, he and Ariel were happy. The thought caused a smile to spring on his lips. Maybe that made it OK. At least he and Ariel would die, knowing they had been happy.

He checked the cards that were left and picked up [Radicalized Adult]. He thought of Alex. Before he left, he had become sad and angry and had a blind loyalty to Cassie, which eventually took him away from them. Kai had often wondered if he could have done something more to help his friend. Maybe he should have insisted that he talked to someone. If he had opened up his heart to the other adults, could he have turned around? He didn’t know. But maybe it wasn’t too late for the little fellow in his hand.

He grabbed [Illuminating Adult].

[Illuminating Adult] + [Pharmacy]

Illuminating Adult | Hp: 0→3

Pharmacy | Hp: 4→0

Now that [Illuminating Adult] had been healed, he placed the card on the table and then grabbed [Radicalized Adult]. “Hey, Daisy. Remember Alex? From my sector?” he asked to the room. “Do you think he could have stayed?” He would let the crafting table answer him.

[Illuminating Adult] + [Radicalized Adult]

Illuminating Adult | Hp: 1→0

Radicalized Adult | Hp: 1→0

[Radicalized Adult] has upgraded into [Illuminated Adult].

Illuminated Adult (Legendary)

A human who has seen darkness but has been brought back into light.

Hp: 0

Vp. 10

“That’s what I thought.” Kai wiped the tears from his face and checked the score. Despite his best efforts, his opponent was still 130 points ahead of him. He was done.

Kai was brought up from his lethargic numbness by the horn that signaled the end of the round.

Crafting round is over!

Kai frowned. In previous rounds, he was told what score he had received, but this time, all he was told was that the round had ended. What did this mean?

A solar breeze blows through your opponents’ cards. All enemy cards with zero hp are destroyed.

Kai stared at the notification, stupefied. He then looked at the scoreboard and saw the enemy’s score lose 174 points. “I’ve won. I’ve won!” Kai ran, flailing his arms, crying, throwing himself into the ground, and laughing. He had never felt this alive! He had been brought back from certain death. He had won.

Once he calmed down, he reread the notifications. What a powerful upgrade. [Solar Breeze] was a vicious attack that one could not defend themselves from. For a moment, he had doubted that all the effort that went into feeding [Blue Fire] and upgrading it to a mythic card had been worth it, but he was a believer now. This upgrade was incredible!

Congratulations! You’ve earned 178 points.

The following cards will now be destroyed: [Pharmacy]; 3x[Sadness]; 2x[Wisdom]; 2x[Love]; 2x[Affection]; 3x[Loyalty]; 2x[Lye]; [Illuminated Adult].

The number of cards Kai lost was dramatically reduced. The addition of [Photocopy Machine] meant that all the cards he spent crafting were reutilized to produce more cards. It was a good thing for him! He was making his points count. Thinking of making his points count, he remembered that he hadn’t put any cards in the fridge yet! He had been so convinced he would lose that he stopped caring about the next round.

He hurriedly put [Illuminating Adult] and [Unicorn] into the fridge. He barely made it. A few seconds later, another notification hit.

All cards lose 1hp.

Light (Legendary)

A form of electromagnetic radiation that stimulates the sense of vision.

Hp: +∞→+∞

Vp: 2

Mega Scrapdroid (Mythic)

A scrapdroid that has fed on so much technology that it has transcended into the realm of sentience.

Hp: +∞→+∞

Vp: 40 (Max)

2x Lightning Rod (Rare)

Hp: 1→0

Vp: 6

Power Outlet (Uncommon)

Hp: 3→2

Vp: 1

Spider Web (Rare)

Delicate, intricate structure woven by spiders using silk threads to serve as a trap for catching prey or as a shelter.

Hp: 2→1

Vp: 4

Spider Web (Rare)

Delicate, intricate structure woven by spiders using silk threads to serve as a trap for catching prey or as a shelter.

Hp: 3→2

Vp: 4

Red Star (Mythic)

A powerful, nuclear ball of fire.

Hp: +00

Vp: 0

Ch. 37 - Flame Feeding

INDEX

Ch. 39 - Deadline Extension