SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 39 - Deadline Extension (Patreon)

It had been two weeks since Sunny’s funeral. Elderly ones had less vitality to fight off the blight. She went from stage one to stage three in a matter of weeks. Before he knew it, Kai was holding a torch at her funeral pyre.

The bonfire wasn’t lit for seven days in honor of the old engineer. Kai thought he had hit rock bottom, but Sunny’s departure had proved him wrong. During the week away from his studies, Kai stayed cooped up in Sunny’s workshop.

When he came to the workshop to collect Sunny’s body, he was surprised by how many things were fixed compared to the last time he was here. Sunny had worked until the very end. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Kai decided to finish fixing every broken thing in the racks, in honor of his friend. He worked away all day. He only left to leave flowers where his friends’ pyre had been and by Ariel’s window.

Knock. Knock. Hearing the knock at the door, Kai perked up at the thought that Ariel had finally forgiven him and had come here to make peace. Trudy’s ancient voice tore the dream as soon as it formed.

“Kai! It’s Clara and me. Are you there?”

“It’s open!”

The two women walked side by side. Kai smirked at the thought that regardless of how old Clara was, she still looked like a child when accompanying Trudy.

“What’s up, Trudy?”

Trudy’s serious face told him that she wasn’t here as a friend or as an old woman. She was here as the leader of his people. “Kai, it’s time for you to leave the city.”

*

Congratulations! You’re among the 32 trial runners who passed through to the next round.

You have 4 hours and 13 minutes to select your upgrades and rest.

It was hard to believe that Kai had reached the top 32 places. He had gone through five rounds, and if he wanted to reach the very top, there were five more.  This last round had been a rollercoaster ride. His opponent had been very talented and had shown excellent timing. Were it not for the combination of gaining over sixty [Ash] cards and the [Solar Breeze] upgrade, he wouldn’t have made it.

The competition was weeding out the weaker contestants, and everyone left was clever and resourceful. Kai moved toward the upgrade console, eager to see the new upgrades, looking for something to help him deal with what was coming.

Purchased Upgrades: [Acacia Sawmill]; [Android Companion]; [Card Fridge]; [Flash]; [Gaslamp]; [Hunter Eyes]; [Map]; [Photocopier]; [Pine Sawmill]; [Scoreboard]; [Solar Breeze]; [Text Description]; [Zoom II].

Compass

Requirements: Reaching the northernmost point in the arena.

Description: A simple compass that points north.

Cost: 10uc

Failed Recipes (Recipe Book Upgrade)

Requirements: To have one failed crafting attempt.

Description: Your recipe book is now able to maintain a record of all failures in crafting.

Cost: 20uc

Recycle

Requirements: To destroy 100+ cards in one round.

Description: For every 10 cards you obliterate or lose at the end of the round, generate a random scrap card.

Cost: 30uc

Log (Recipe Book Upgrade)

Requirements: Destroy 30 cards in one round.

Description: Your recipe book records all the cards you’ve already owned.

Cost: 30uc

Wide Lens

Requirements: [Perspective] and one scenic capture.

Description: You can get wider captures.

Cost: 30uc

Thorough Log (Recipe Book Upgrade)

Requirements: Destroy 50 cards in one round.

Description: Your recipe book keeps a record of all the cards you’ve already owned, successful recipes, and failed recipes.

Cost: 40uc

Flash Bomb

Requirements: [Glass], [Light].

Description: Blind your opponent for 30 seconds.

Cost: 50uc

Stun Bomb

Requirements: [Glass], [Hallucinogen].

Description: Stun your opponent for 30 seconds.

Cost: 50uc

Web Bomb

Requirements: [Glass], [Spider Web]

Description: Trap your opponent for 30 seconds.

Cost: 50uc

Neglect Bomb

Requirements: [Glass], [Neglect]

Description: Drop the hp of 5 of your opponent’s cards randomly.

Cost: 50uc

Flint Mine

Requirements: Craft three flint-based tools.

Description: Grants you a [Flintstone] card each round.

Cost: 50uc

Elm Sawmill

Requirements: Lumberjack card, [Elm]

Description: Grants you a [Elm Tree] card each round.

Cost: 50uc

Deadline Extension

Requirements: To craft 200 cards in one round.

Description: You have 15 extra minutes in stages.

Cost: 60uc

Gaslamp II (Gaslamp Upgrade)

Requirements: [Gaslamp]; [Light]

Description: An even more powerful gas-fueled lamp.

Cost: 90uc

Lightning Rod

Requirements: [Lightning Rod]

Description: Shields your cards from attacks.

Cost: 110uc

Populate

Requirements: Legendary human card.

Description: From now on, all of the maps are populated.

Cost: 200uc

Regeneration Chamber

Requirements: To have healed a card.

Description: When inside the chamber, a card can regain 1 hp between rounds.

Cost: 200vp

Scouting Drone (Android Upgrade)

Requirements: Fully explore a map.

Description: Airborne device that aids in map exploration.

Cost: 200uc

Slow Shutter

Requirement: [Light].

Description: Lets more light into the camera.

Cost: 200uc

Mythological Discount

Requirements: Mythological creature card.

Description: All other upgrades cost 25% less.

Cost: 200uc

Emotion Cookbook (Recipe Book Upgrade)

Requirements: Legendary grade emotion.

Description: Contains recipes for different emotions.

Cost: 200uc

Shield Phase

Requirements: [Infinity].

Description: Lets you move past shields.

Cost: 500uc

Mystery Box Fiesta

Requirements: [Mystery Box].

Description: From now on, every map has a hidden mystery box.

Cost: 500uc

Yellow Star

Requirements: [Red Star].

Description: Upgrades [Red Star] to [Yellow Star]. Not only does [Solar Breeze] destroy cards with 0hp, but it absorbs the victory points of the common cards.

Cost: 500uc

Kai checked how many coins he had. There were 178 from this round plus 27 from the previous one, totaling 205 upgrade coins. He went through the upgrades, focusing especially on new ones.

The [Recycle] upgrade would have been interesting if he hadn’t already reached the maximum level for his scrapdroid card. He entertained the thought of collecting enough scrap to make one more [Mega Scrapdroid], but the scrap he could get was random, and he wasn’t even sure if the pieces required to craft this card would be part of the possible generated cards. He dismissed it and moved on to the next one.

Unsurprisingly, he had a new [Sawmill] upgrade. He skipped over it. There was no more benefit to feeding wood to the mythic version of [Fire]. There had to be other recipes that used wood. For example, there had to be better buildings and tools that Kai didn’t have, but Kai could always experiment with [Pine] and [Acacia] and, if it was worth it, come back to purchase this upgrade. Besides, trees were among the most common resources in arenas. So far, half of the arenas had trees.

Kai’s eyes landed on an upgrade that was God-sent. [Deadline Extension] granted him 15 more minutes in both stages. Time was a valuable resource, especially when he was crafting.

Kai came down to what seemed to be an indispensable upgrade. [Lightning Rod] was a defense mechanism to prevent attacks from upgrades such as [Solar Breeze]. The assortment of bombs available for purchase suggested that there would be an equal variety of upgrades aimed at disrupting the crafting stage.

Kai had to buy it.

Are you sure you want to purchase [Lightning Rod]? [Y/N]

With this, he had little wiggle room, but at least his cards would be safe. Unfortunately, with this, more expensive upgrades were out of the question. He read their descriptions anyway to see if there was anything he would want to buy later on.

The coolest upgrade, in his opinion, was [Populate]. Having people walking around the stages could generate many episodes and interactions that he could photograph, granting him more emotion cards. That seemed to go hand in hand with the [Emotion Cookbook] upgrades. Even though the possibility of being surrounded by people was exhilarating, he discarded it. At least he had Maia to keep him company. Thinking of Maia, he was sad to find no upgrade that made her less obnoxious.

Finally, there was a new 500 upgrade coin upgrade that elevated [Red Star] to a whole new level. Kai wondered if that would affect how many victory points the card offered, but he wasn’t thinking of getting it. Spending 500 upgrade coins to enhance an attack that could be blocked by an upgrade cost of 110 was just not worth it.

Kai returned to the cheaper upgrades and settled on the two upgrades he would buy next.

Are you sure you want to purchase [Deadline Extension]? [Y/N]

Are you sure you want to purchase [Wide Lens]? [Y/N]

The [Deadline Extension] seemed too good to pass on. Those extra minutes would have been great in the previous arena when the bombs thrown at him in quick succession had blocked him from capturing a lightning card. It would also help him to have more time to think things through during the crafting arena.

As for [Wide Lens], he got it because of how useful [Zoom II] had been. Being able to widen the angle or zoom into a scene opened up many possibilities, and Kai wanted to have as many options available to him as possible. After shopping for upgrades, Kai only had five measly points saved for the next round.

Kai went to lie down, and after a few silent moments, he wished Maia was here to annoy him. Being annoyed was better than being lonely.

It was hard to believe that so little time had passed. Kai had seen so many things, and learned so much. He closed his eyes and felt the earthy scent of the pine woodland and the beams of light filtered through the green needles in the trees' canopy.

He then visualized the quarry and remembered the sandy, rough textures of the rock in his hands and the labyrinth made from stony columns. He recalled the chill of the desert night and the songs and whistles of the dry, cold sand as he stepped on it, chasing the hoofprints of the desert’s unicorn.

Then, he was taken away from nature and into the shell of an old factory, where he saw how far his kind had fallen and how tall they had once stood. The never-ending waterfall of pouring rain that fell on the city and hit the bright neon lights as thousands and thousands of people walked in an era gone by, not knowing what would come next.

He couldn’t wait to write down a log and leave it in the museum so his children could learn more about what he’d seen. At the thought of his children and future, the memory of how wrecked his body was came to him, together with the vision of a black X on his and Ariel’s door.

To save her, he had to win, at the very least, the next two rounds. If he wanted to be safe, he would want to win the next three. His fists tightened. He couldn’t do anything to save Sunny, Neil, Albert, Clara, Trudy and the others. He couldn’t help Alex stay. But he was not about to let his wife die.

He wondered where Alex was.

*

In a white room, Axl sat cross-legged, computing, calculating, simulating. He wondered if he should just win less so that he didn’t have to wait so long between rounds. Hopefully, there would be an upgrade down the road that would help him shorten these cursed intervals.

He untied and tied his boots, as he did when he grew bored. He was grateful to Daisy that the boots were kept pristine, coated in a generous, thick layer of polish. He breathed in, and could even feel the smell of his leather armor and the polish of the boots. The scent soothed him.

He then rolled up his sleeves and, like he had done countless times before, he looked at the tattoo on his arm. He searched the arm with his fingers. There was a girl whose facial features were similar to his own. It was most likely a relative. Either a sister, mother, or, less likely, an aunt or cousin. Whenever he looked at her, he felt warm and sad.

Then, there was another girl painted on. She had curly hair and pleasingly symmetrical features. She wasn’t particularly pretty, and he didn’t know who it might be. It was all just a blank.

Finally, there was the drawing of a boy. He was younger in the tattoo than Axl had been when he had asked for exile. The boy smiled brilliantly in the tattoo, and had clever eyes. Whenever he looked at this picture, Axl felt shame and the desire to protect him.

He had put together multiple theories about who these people were to him, but to no success. The only chance that he had of finding out was getting allcure. Even though there was no record of it in his sector, logic had it that if allcure could cure everything, amnesia would be included, even if induced by Daisy herself.

He would win this competition to secure enough allcure to appease the general, and then get some for himself. Axl rolled his sleeve back down and took deep breaths. He would fill the blanks in his memory and find out why he had chosen to leave his home.

Ch. 38 - Black X

INDEX

 Ch. 40 - Zoom Out