Deckard studied the field and glanced at Nevan. Nevan always wore the same relaxed grin, even when his hand was garbage.

  Such a hard guy to read.

  Deckard checked his cards again. Two colored feathers of the Fan Macaw statue were already in play. He held a third. If he could just find the fourth, he’d win the game.

  His castle was hanging by a thread, but the defending lane had a [Pangolin Defender] and a trap set. That should be enough to halt Nevan’s offense.

  Even so...

  Deckard knew Nevan’s deck—the one he'd built to take down Redbeard. It had a way to end the game.

  He hesitated, jaw tight. Then made up his mind. He played two skill cards in the defending lane. They were revealed first.

  Coming of Spring ??

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Type: Skill

  Affinity: ??

  Cost: 1

  Effect: If you win on your defending lane, heal your castle by the point difference.

  Synergy: Grant one point to a defending card.

  Deep Roots ??

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Type: Skill

  Affinity: ??

  Cost: 1

  Effect: Heal 2. Draw one from your graveyard.

  Synergy: Repeat.

  The Pangolin Defender gained two points from the buff, doubled automatically thanks to its ability.

  Pangolin Defender ?

  Rarity: Rare

  Affinity: ??

  Points: (8)

  Cost: 3

  Effects: Immovable. ??? +3. Double this card’s points if your attacking lane is empty.

  Moreover, the two skills healed him back by five. He was safe.

  But the moment Nevan’s card was revealed, Deckard knew he’d been had.

  Turtle Mother ??

  Rarity: Rare

  Type: Creature

  Affinity: ???

  Cost: 3

  Points: 2

  Effects: Moves all enemy creatures played here this turn into the other lane.

  Synergy: Sends one enemy here back to his owner’s hand.

  “Argh! I can’t believe it. That was the only card in your deck that could’ve won,” Deckard said, pulling the armadillo off the table.

  “Haha!” Nevan swept the last cubes from Deckard’s side. “My win!”

  Deckard tossed his cards down with a grunt. “You lied to me, Nevan. ‘Casual player.’ You play too well to call yourself that. I guess that makes it 2-2.”

  “Whether you count it by player or deck,” Nevan said, spinning a cube between his fingers.

  “How did the last game feel to you?”

  Nevan scratched his chin, eyes drifting upward. “Hmmm… could’ve gone either way, eh? Felt fair.”

  “Right…”

  Deckard leaned back, exhaling slowly. His deck didn’t feel better than Redbeard’s at all. Was it just going to come down to luck? Coin flips? He rubbed his jaw, annoyed. There had to be something he was missing.

  “Dexie, mind if I offer a suggestion?”

  Deckard chuckled. It had taken only five minutes for Nevan to come up with a pet name for him. “Go ahead.”

  “Have you considered the math behind the discard-to-play system?”

  Deckard blinked. “Not really. I haven’t thought about it too deeply.”

  Nevan leaned forward, eyes lighting up. “Okay, hear me out. In Terralore, you discard to play. So a 1-cost card? It actually costs two. And your 3-cost heavy-hitters? They’re really 4.”

  Deckard nodded slowly. “That’s a way to look at it.”

  “It’s more than semantics, Dexie. So think about it this way.” Nevan pulled out two one-cost creatures from the island deck — [Coconut Seagull] and [Swashing Macaque]. “Here are two creatures. If you want to play both in one turn, you’ll spend four cards.”

  Deckard nodded again.

  Nevan spread the cards like a magician dealing a trick. “Now compare that to a single three-cost.” He laid down [Crab’s Claw] and [Turtle Mother]. “Which is stronger?”

  Deckard weighed the cards in silence, eyes flicking between them. “The big ones.”

  “Exactly,” Nevan said, tapping the larger creatures. “Even if you stack two small ones, the big one usually wins. Especially because of synergies’ bonus effects.”

  Deckard tapped his fingers on the table. “So you’re saying high-cost cards are just better in this game?”

  “For the most part, yeah,” Nevan said. “Unless you’re splitting your attention across lanes or running low on cards. But with your current setup? Bigger’s better. You’ve played Nova Cardia for years. Curve matters there. But here, you can drop a heavy hitter from turn one.” He shook his head. “Whole different beast.”

  “That explains why you kept going big in our games,” Deckard muttered.

  Nevan nodded.

  “That’s a solid tip. I’ll cut some of the small fry and bulk up the top end,” Deckard said.

  Just as Nevan started to shuffle, the front door opened.

  “Hi, Nevan!” someone called out from across the store.

  “Hello, Mr. Andrews.”

  “Bah. I'm the first? Those old geezers sure are late. Hmph,” Mr. Andrews grumbled as he made his way to one of the tables and took a seat.

  “He says that every day,” Nevan said, chuckling.

  Another older man stepped through the door. “Hi, Nevan.”

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Murphy. I'll be there with your tea in a moment!” Nevan replied.

  “Sorry, Dexie. Things are about to get busier now. I can’t keep playing,” he added, already gathering cups, a kettle, and tea bags.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You’ve been a huge help,” Deckard said as Nevan prepared a tray with a teapot, scones, and raspberry jelly. “It’s been very nice meeting you.”

  “Likewise. First time I’ve actually played the game, too. It’s a good one.”

  With the tray in hand, Nevan moved off just as a third gentleman entered and joined the others. Mr. Andrews already had a deck of playing cards out, preparing for a bridge game.

  The scent of tea and jelly lingered as bridge banter filled the room.

  Deckard watched as Nevan served tea and chatted easily with the group. He took a deep breath and started packing his cards.

  Just as he reached the door, Nevan called out. “Yo! Dexie!”

  Deckard turned, ears burning. Why was Nevan calling him that for everyone to hear? “Yeah?”

  “Don't be a stranger! Store’s a little quieter in the morning. Make sure you come back then!”

  Deckard paused, then smiled. “Sure thing.”

  Seemed like something rare had just happened — he’d made a friend.

  *

  Deckard was back in his apartment. After implementing Nevan’s suggestion, he felt like he’d finally landed on the perfect deck list. He had practiced as much as he could. Now, it was time to dive in.

  He stepped into the capsule and let the gel envelop him. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the forest. It was nighttime in the game, just like in the real world. Still, he logged in. There was no way he could wait until morning. Too much was at stake.

  “Took you long enough,” Redbeard growled, his voice scratchy and smug. “Do you have the runs or something?”

  Deckard winced. He’d wondered how the NPC would react to his long absence, but it looked like what he’d read in the forums wasn’t just a poor joke. All in-game characters assumed players had simply stepped out for a bathroom break. Efficient, if awkward.

  He wondered if Nevan would’ve backed that kind of system, had he been on the Astroterra dev team. Yeah—probably.

  “Anyway, I’m ready for our game,” Deckard said.

  Redbeard’s feathers flared with anticipation. He took a step forward, his wooden leg striking the ground with a thump that shook the ground. Ratu, standing off to the side, flinched. His knees trembled, but he didn’t dare move.

  The capsule-generated space shifted. The clearing was filled with flickering projections. A Terralore game field materialized in midair, ethereal blue light casting eerie shadows on the trees. The jungle fell utterly silent—no breeze, no crickets. There were none in the dimensional pocket Redbeard had created. All Deckard could hear was Redbeard’s heavy breathing and the soft clack of his talons.

  Deckard’s heart pounded. He had bet his entire deck on this match. If he lost this, it was all gone.

  Cards were drawn and shuffled. Deckard and Redbeard each received four opening cards.

  Deckard didn’t hesitate. He already knew his first play. He slid his card into the defending lane and waited for the resolution phase to begin, his foot tapping against the forest floor. The first round was going to be crucial.

  Both players had played in the defensive order. To determine whose cards revealed first, a coin flip spun in the air, then landed in Deckard’s favor.

  He exhaled. Wouldn’t make much difference—not with this card.

  As the resolution phase triggered, his card glowed. A golden pulse radiated out from it, then flared upward in a twisting spiral. The clearing shook. Redbeard leaned forward, beak parted slightly.

  The ground beneath Deckard’s castle began to shift. Grass and stone melted into fine sand. Palm trees burst upward from nothing. Waves, impossibly real, rolled onto the shore and lapped at the base of his castle. Thick jungle vines wrapped around the stone, not choking it, but blending it into the new terrain.

  The structure had changed—it had become part of the island itself.

  Harmonious Island ???

  Rarity: Legendary

  Type: Landmark

  Affinity: ???

  Cost: 1

  Effect: Unlocks Island synergies.

  Synergy: Draw this in your opening hand.

  A warm ripple of energy passed through Deckard’s hand and deck, both glowing briefly with soft yellow light. Every synergy card was now active.

  Across the field, another landmark emerged.

  A statue slowly rose—vines and blossoms clinging to its surface, petals tumbling loose as it climbed. Carved reliefs caught the blue light like ancient secrets rising from the jungle floor.

  Statue of the Fan Macaw ??

  Rarity: Legendary

  Type: Landmark

  Affinity: ??

  Cost: 3

  Effect: Shuffle four colored feathers into your deck. When you play all four, win the game.

  Synergy: Draw this in your opening hand.

  “Yes,” Deckard whispered, wiping sweat from his brow. His odds had just shot up.

  A quest with only a 50% chance of success—even 60%—had felt uncomfortably low. He’d seriously considered retreating to the city to grind more cards, build his collection, and strengthen his deck.

  But this quest had triggered here, on the island. That meant the resources to complete it had to be here too. That led Deckard to one conclusion: Redbeard was going to play a nature affinity deck again.

  He’d fought this deck once. To get a glimpse of it, he’d sacrificed twenty cards on a decoy deck, knowing full well it would lose.

  It had hurt. But the information had been worth it.

  When preparing for this battle he’d staged multiple mock battles against this deck. He’d even played it himself, just to get a better sense of its strengths and weaknesses. He clenched his fists. He was going to win this one. He had to.

  Redbeard, too, seemed pleased albeit for a whole different reason. “This is a very interesting sub-dimensionalization,” the pirate parrot said, his one eye glittering. “So much information.”

  Then he tilted his head, studying Deckard with unsettling focus. “How did you fit so much... complexity into such a small node?”

  Deckard stiffened.

  The way the parrot spoke was unsettling. He was definitely tied to the enemies of the Zulmers and he knew far too much. It only made it more important for him to win this game.

  Round two began. Both players drew two additional cards.

  [Harmonious Island] had cost only one, while Redbeard’s [Statue of the Fan Macaw] had cost three, putting Deckard two cards up. Deckard was winning in tempo, while Redbeard was already playing catch-up.

  The play phase ended, and two face-down cards appeared—one in each lane.

  Deckard raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected Redbeard to play something already. He’d figured the pirate would skip the turn to rebuild his hand.

  Deckard’s card manifested first, in his defensive lane.

  A monkey clambered over the ivy-wrapped walls of the castle, backpack strapped tight to its shoulders. It dropped into the offensive lane, dug out a handful of crude tools, and began crafting flint weapons at a rapid pace.

  It was the [Jungle Tinker], the second elite creature from the Macaque Nest dungeon.

  Jungle Tinker ??

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Type: Creature

  Affinity: ???

  Cost: 2

  Points: 0

  Effect: Generates a random weapon mastery card each turn.

  Affinity: Generates a random Beginner Island card each turn instead.

  Deckard felt the tension in his shoulders easing. Only about a third of Island cards had affinity-based bonuses, and this was one of them. Instead of being limited to weapon cards, [Jungle Tinker] could now draw from the full Beginner Island pool.

  Sure, it only generated one card per turn—but it could now generate a boss-tier card like [Red Macaw] or [Turtle Mother].

  Then Redbeard’s card was revealed.

  Inner Seed ??

  Rarity: Epic

  Type: Skill

  Affinity: ??

  Cost: 1

  Effect: Draw one card

  Synergy: Changes into [Inner Seedling] at the end of next turn.

  A glowing seed drifted down from the sky and landed softly in front of Redbeard’s castle. It pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat.

  Deckard’s expression shifted. An epic card?

  He leaned forward slightly. He’d studied every Nature Affinity deck posted online — community lists, pro builds, theorycrafts. He had never seen [Inner Seed] before.

  He glanced at the glowing seed. It looked harmless now—but whatever it turned into, it had to be serious.

  Redbeard, meanwhile, was already drawing his bonus card from the skill’s effect.

  He pivoted lightly on his wooden leg, almost rocking as he drew the card, like he had all the time in the world.

  What will this seed grow into? And why does Redbeard look so relaxed?

  Deckard didn’t like it.

  Not one bit.