Hal closed the notification panel with a racing heart, eager to learn about the [Merge] function.
He quickly tapped his left wrist to open the deck.
Almost immediately, he found the [Merge Cards] button and excitedly tapped on it, prompting a new window—one that listed all the cards available for merging—to appear, along with a [Merge] button at the very bottom.
Hal didn't know how the function worked, so to start, he tapped on one of the two [Fireball] cards.
The only thing that happened was that the card was highlighted.
By then, he immediately understood how the function worked.
He just had to tap on all the cards of the same card name and rarity—as many as he wanted and available—before merging them.
'So…in theory, if I merge them, will I get a more powerful card? Or will it only stack the charges? Perhaps both?'
Of course, there was only one way to know.
Hal pressed the [Merge] button after tapping on the two [Fireball] cards, prompting a warning screen to appear:
==
Note: Merging will increase the effectiveness of the spell, but only the charges of the higher durability card will remain.
Proceed? [Y/N]
==
Hal was momentarily disappointed, though his slight dismay quickly turned to anticipation.
All he needed was a permanent-durability duplicate of an offensive spell and he would be able to start merging cards to increase their effectiveness.
As for what the improvement would be, Hal would only know after trying it at least once.
Merging wasn't worth it yet, so, he closed the window for now, getting back to drawing spell cards.
He still had six Chaos Points.
…[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
…
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
…
Five draws later, Hal couldn't help but sigh in regret.
'Should I have saved my points for another day?' he pondered, thinking that he might've used up all his luck today with the two [Fireball] draws.
'Meh, maybe next time. I've already used five anyway…'
He might as well use the last one.
To his surprise…
[Congratulations! You have drawn a [Common]-tier card!]
The sweet dinging sound of having drawn yet another card sounded on his final draw, washing away the frustration of the five failed ones prior.
At his current state, any card was welcome, but what he got was more than just "any card", it was a spell card that made him almost lose himself in utter elation
==
Card Name: Weak Mana Blast
Rarity: Common
Type: Spell
Durability: Permanent
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds
Chaos Karma cost: 1
Description: Shoots a small sphere of mana that detonates upon contact.
==
It was a spammable, permanent-durability offensive spell card that would ensure he always had the means to protect himself, no matter how weak his attacks might be—as per the card name.
"Yes!! Yes!!!!"
Hal failed to control his emotions this time.
He was just too happy, especially after feeling stagnant the past ten days.
He could finally begin to venture out of the academy!
It was only around a few minutes later that Hal calmed down, finding it lucky that no one cared about his rather heavy celebration.
It was an absolute struggle to sleep that night and only after an hour passed did Hal somehow manage to drift off.
As the first rays of sunshine touched his eyelids, the excited young man immediately sprang out of his cot and headed to his small bathroom to prepare for an exciting day.
A dozen minutes later, Hal nodded in satisfaction as he checked his reflection in the small mirror hanging on the wall.
He looked as dashing as usual.
Striding out of his dormitory room, Hal left the relatively dilapidated one-star dormitory building.
His dormmates couldn't help but shoot strange glances his way.
After all, they were all in the same trashy boat heading to a neverland of a future, so why the hell would any of them even be in a half-decent mood?
Hal naturally ignored them, heading to the much anticipated Mission Hall with a highly eager and determined look.
It was quite far from his dormitory, and he didn't have the academy credits or the coin reserves to rent a mana-powered hoverboard, so Hal could only walk his way there like the poor commoner he was.
Arriving half an hour later, Hal marveled at its grandness.
It was far larger and more majestic than any other building he had seen so far—its white spires, among the closest to the blue heavenly canvas, stood proud and were some of the most massive he had encountered.
Only after a few dozen seconds had passed did he snap out of his awe-induced stupor and enter the building.
The interior was, unsurprisingly, on par with the outside—if not better.
Even the first floor alone had finely crafted ironwood counters, mission boards, and generous furnishings, despite there apparently being five floors corresponding to each mission rank.
Each higher floor was believed to be more luxurious compared to those a level lower, with access granted only to the more excellent students.
Freshmen one-star students like Hal were most definitely restricted to missions on the first floor.
Perhaps, if their untalented bunch somehow worked hard enough, they could make it to the third floor one day, though that was most likely the limit for students with trashy aptitudes like theirs.
Taking one deep breath to calm his fiery heart, Hal headed to the mission boards with a smile.
It was time to earn a few academy credits, contribution points, and some sweet, sweet cash.