I did not mention this earlier but I wrote with my phone, and yes, I used the app this whole time, so pardon me for my inconsistency if I did not do what most authors do lol.
Chapter 9
"Adventurer Card."
Sometimes, balance isn't made by actually equalized, nor it is made by equity. No, what made 'balance' exists was essentially what most called diversity. Variousness, differences, races, these things that could be considered as 'Conflicts Excuse' were the reason balance existed.
For instance, humans. Humans are the smartest race in the whole existence, when it comes to ideas, no one could beat them. But external factors such as limited resources outside their territories and their insufficient power and stamina to expand territories lead them to growth restriction.
At the beginning of the world, they don't have blessings from gods nor do they have the Chosen Ones, Heroes. Those reasons lead them to think throughout at everything because, at that time, the monsters, mystical races and any other abnormalities dominated the land. But they could still live, why? Because of intelligence. Which lead them to discover what the present called, the 'Core'. Core, located in their heart was capable of producing mana, which they work hard to manipulate. How did they find it? Intelligence! As their knowledge of this particular powerful force wasn't as vast as the present, it didn't affect their lives much but their souls were replenished by a feeling, yes, hope.
A hope to find out more about this mana so they could increase the standard of their lives.
Whether the others have primal strength, they have extreme intelligence. But when the blessings of the gods and Chosen Ones began to appear, which increased their overall strength significantly, they abandoned their way of living and start copying the others' method, leading them to their 'downfall' It couldn't be considered as a downfall but they could do a lot better. If they did not abandon their way of thinking that's it.
It's not impossible to force everything into submission under their feet, as they would find many ways to manipulate mana by their ridiculous intelligence. Astounding.
Powerlessness brought intelligence, while powerfulness brought recklessness. It was, of course, a natural thing. It was only natural for people who have the strength to not think throughout while for the ones who don't to think cautiously and carefully. The reason? Ego, pride, arrogance, and many other influences. These influences created a point of view that resulting in them often underestimated the 'weaker' ones and didn't use their full power.
There are other races too, monsters in various forms, animals, mystical beasts, humanoid abnormalities. They have extreme strength but lacked the intelligence to think through every aspect. And now that humans have strength, how could they live? Of course, another thing occurred. Ah, yes, Transcendent Beings.
Angels, and Gods. They appeared from out of nowhere and spread their preaches of each belief to the world through what they created, "Pseudo-Angels" and "Demi-Gods" Of course, the difference was where Pseudo-Angel is 66% Angel and 34% human, the Demi-God couldn't be calculated. In the first place, Angels are God's Messenger and they could not be compared.
Humanoid species, beings closest to humans but have less intelligence such as elves, dwarves, demi-humans, and many more were interested in their preaches and start to follow them. Of course, humans would be curious about this too and start to investigate. With mere interesting offers from them could turn their beliefless heart to their preaches.
This aspect turned humanity into a mess of conflicts, because there are so many preaches and beliefs for them to have faith in. And an overpowered race, humans, was waging war with each other because of these mere reasons. Why? Overthinking, what a stupid reason but a human has a habit of overthinking that leads them to feel restless.
For this reason, the other species don't have to concern themselves about human and still lives on, going through the 'food chain'. And because of these little things, this vast world was still survived until now.
The war last long, sometimes other races would be included by force. For 100 years, just because their beliefs were different, they keep waging war until their population was reduced by at least 70%. A hero was tired of all of this and brought all of them under the same banner as 'Humanity' by force, with his comrades as his helpers. Rules such as "You have freedom following the belief you wanted to have faith in." was established. Another hundred years, and they spread across the continents, building empires, making business, and all of that created this somewhat peaceful era.
The war was called "The War of Beliefs."
With other races minding their own business, sometimes there would be conflicts which were solved by either a trade, a punishment, or force by the Guardian, the strongest being in the world.
Each race influenced the world in their way, and that, what's make 'Balance' existed in this world. If a race was exterminated, the balance could be eradicated and the destruction of the world would be near more than expected.
There's fundamentally evil superintelligence but weak race, there's too a fundamentally good very strong but silly race. But even in their outer appearance, inside there would be always a handful of beings who opposed their own notions, whether it is intentional or unintentional. It's always like that.
In all, every race is connected, and if one 'connector' was broken, everything else would crumble. It is mostly would occur naturally, but if one day it went too far, a being must take the matter into his/her own hands.
But an interference of gods has the potential to broke the balance, specifically a gift they gave to the sentiment races. They intended to give the weak a chance to prove themselves. An interference that could be a 'little' unfair to those races who just followed their primal instinct, or to be precise, monsters and abnormalities.
Ah yes, Adventurer Card.
The Capital, Brydle Empire.
January, 01. XXXXXXXXX35.
"...Hmm? Adventurer Card? Why do I need to have my own Adventure Card?"
"Your Majesty, for your information, I gladly explained it for Your Majesty. There have been several reports where there are individuals who have out worldly appearances and extremely powerful weapons and abilities seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. One of them said, I quote "So this is another world... Awesome! Harem full of cute and beautiful girls! Here I came!" And from that statement alone proves that they aren't the occupants of this continent, er... or the world, and the fact they were, ehem, have massive libidos.
They asked us where they could find what they call Adventurer Cards, which was produced by a device given by the pope from one of the Churches that worshipped the Goddess of Luck, Lady Eris several weeks ago.
The pope said it was given by Eris-sama herself, and when it was tested, several colourless beams would moving through the surface of one's body and a card would appear, showing STR, INT, AGI, and VIT.
The individuals said that "STR means Strength, INT means Intelligence, AGI means Agility, and VIT means Vitality." There are two strange-looking bars on its surface that have HP and MP beside them that according to the individuals,
"HP means health points meaning that if it turned to '0' the Card's Owner would die, while MP means the amount of our mana, if it turned to '0' the Card's Owner would be exhausted and passed out. HP was required to live while MP was required to use spells and such."
The owner would have his/her life changes forever, as they would have to count on the card to live most of their lives."
A platinum blonde-haired old man with deep and stoic blue eyes earnestly explained to the Emperor. The Emperor, an old man with a pair of wise green eyes and white as snow hair inquired in interest.
"What if the card was destroyed?"
"As it was made from a device created by the gods, according to the pope, it wouldn't have been possible to be destroyed by mortals like us."
"What if it was lost?"
"Interestingly, the individuals said just stated Stats! And the card would appear on your hand."
"What's the requirement to have one according to the pope or those individuals?"
"They have to be at least 14 years old" said the Pope while "You could get it for free." said the Individuals."
The Emperor nodded, putting an elbow to the armchair of his throne. Looking at the sky through the window, he exclaimed.
"What makes it so good?"
"Ah, Your Majesty, Adventurer Card provided so many things that were impossible for normal civilians to have. First, access to mana by getting one, after one got the card, their core would be instantly unlocked and allowed them to use mana, easily solved the major problem our empire has suffered for many years.
Second, a system called Level provided by the card showed obvious improvements. The level started as Level 1, and as the number increased, the stronger you became! To increase the level, there's a thing called EXP, earn by killing monsters, abnormalities, doing activities according to one's class and such, I'll explain the Class part later."
The Emperor silently nodded at his statement, stroking his white beard in interest. The man was encouraged and start to explain again.
"And third, Skill, a thing most wouldn't even dream to have. Skills could easily be learnt by using Skill Points or SP, which was earned by 'levelling up' and other aspects. The skills are related to what they called Class, there are various classes they could pick by just merely 'clicking' the card. Warriors, Archers, Tanks, even Magicians! Also, they are non-combatants class too, such as Tailor, Carpenter, Blacksmith, etc."
The Emperor has a surprised look on his face, what a tool... As expected from a tool made by gods. That's what he thought.
"It is influenced by our abilities before we get one. 'Advantages' and 'Titles' existed too! So even if all people have one, the one who at an advantage and stronger at the start would become powerful faster!"
"...Does killing humans provided EXP too?"
The Emperor has been pondered about what the Count has said and straightforwardly asked him a question.
"...I-I... apologize, from the depth of my heart, Your Majesty. I was too short-sighted..."
The Emperor narrowed his eyes at particularly no one. He knew it.
The man immediately bowed before the Emperor, genuine tears came out of his eyes like a waterfall. The Emperor stood up and brings the man up, receiving a respectful gaze from him.
'As expected of the Emperor... kind and wise.'
"Hormen, immediately called for a conference, we need to establish the rules for this card's usage. I have a feeling that this system would be known World-Wide, not just on this continent."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"And one more thing, investigate if those 'out worldly appearances individuals' appeared in other places. Kingdoms, Villages, Cities, search through everything!"
"...How about other races, Your Majesty?"
"I said everything."
The man bowed before hurriedly striding to the big door, opening it before slowly closed it. The Emperor stared at the door briefly before sitting on his throne, sighing tiredly.
'Oh gods, why did you do this?'
Unknowingly, one thing was wrong. The Class wasn't Magician, it was Mage.
Beginner's Town Axel, Kingdom of Belverg.
May 30, XXXXXXXXX46.
"An Adventurer Card? May I ask you what an Adventure Card is?"
"Of course, young man. You see, Adventurer Card is a tool given by the gods to improve our lives, it affected our lives in many ways and I was thankful the gods have given such a blessing upon me."
"Can you explain to me how it works?"
With an earnest smile, a woman in his thirties gladly explains to him how this card works. As she explained, he somewhat got a sense of familiarity when the woman showed her card.
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Adventurer Card
Name : Lytia
Race : Human
Class : Housewife [Class Upgrade]
Level : 19 [18%/100%]
HP : 3250
MP : 500
Stats
STR : 159
INT : 100
AGI : 104
VIT : 325
Advantages
- Born as a Housewife [35 VIT]
- A Mother's Power [50 STR]
...and 7 more
Titles
- Commoner [20 INT]
- Housewife [20 VIT]
...and 3 more
Skills
SP : 0
- Flash Cook [Rank E]
- Mother's Instinct [Rank F]
...and 6 more
Learnable Skills
- Lovemaking Art [10 SP]
- Fastened Burn Calories [35 SP]
...and 7 more
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Raising his eyebrows, he observes the rectangle-shaped card briefly before saying his thanks to the woman, earning him a surprisingly boisterous laugh and a pat on the back.
What a woman, having a certain learnable skill, she must enjoy her life. He chuckled a little as he walks through the road.
Genuinely, he was somewhat interested in this tool, showing your advantages without needing to know yourself and could perfectly define the strength, agility, intelligence and vitality you have.
'Ah, maybe I should get one.'
Exploring so many places got him kinda bored in such a way to live. He runs his fingers through his raven hair and sighed.
'A card...'
He nodded in resolve, gripping the rope he tied on a considerable large blanket so he could use it as a bag. He strides forward and finds a big building beside a blacksmith, a massive wooden board that has been engraved, he could figures out two words, "The Guild."
Moving forward almost quietly, he opened the door and enter the guild, trying to make himself invisible. Attention was quite annoying so he preferred to not get any on him. Though some of the attentive adventurers drifted their eyes on him for a moment before shifted their eyes somewhere else, indicating their incuriosity.
He sighed in relief and appear before a counter, there's a woman who looks like in her twenties with a staff uniform over her rather voluptuous figure and blonde hair which she seems to bound, her yellow eyes look light and bright, serving her customers with a service presented by the rules.
There's coincidentally no one's on the line, so he moves forward and her attention was brought onto him.
"Ah, Afternoon, Adventurer. What can I do for you?"
Asking him nicely, he was really appreciative of this kind of person. Smiling slightly in hospitality, he inquired politely.
"I am new here, can I get a card?"
"Ah! Of course! Private or Open?"
"Huh?"
He blurted out, Private? Open?
Noticing his confusion, the woman softly interpreted.
"Private means your card won't be revealed to anyone, including me, while Open means your card would be revealed to a certain extent. The Open one usually was used by people who only wanted to become civilians, not adventurers. But seeing your exterior, I could guess you wanted to become an adventurer right?"
Good observation, this woman must have one skill related to it in her arsenal. He nodded bluntly and asked again.
"So... how do I get a card? Oh, and yes, I wanted Private."
He added, awkwardly request the woman to make his card private. Giggling a little bit, the woman showed him a smile and nodded, bringing out a strange-looking device.
A flat blackboard with a palm-shaped hole in the middle, above it is a weird-looking small pipe and a rather beautiful thick transparent glass placed between the flat blackboard and the small pipe. Four white small pillars on each of the corners of the blackboard made the glass could be positioned above the flat blackboard.
Surrounding the small pipe was some things that connected, he has no idea what these things are. In short, this device looks strange, the size itself was that of a bucket.
Gazes on the woman, indicating his confusion as to how this thing works. The woman caught it and briefly explained.
"Place your hand in the palm-shaped crater on the flat blackboard and the device would start to work on itself."
He nodded in understanding, slowly doing what she told him. Fascinatingly, the crater turned into his hand's shape when he placed his hand in it. Afterwards, a slight chill runs through his body, a slight glow surrounds his body and a brief moment later, it ended.
A brown rectangle-shaped thing appears on his hand, and the woman put her hands together, earnestly congrats him.
"Congratulation Adventurer! I hope you could contribute with sincerity!"
He smiled slightly, nodding to her and gave her his thanks. Coming out of the guild, he hides himself behind the building and with a flick of his fingers, he disappeared.
Appearing in a peaceful forest, he removed the Concealment he placed on his eyes and a pair of glowing green dots could be seen if one was near.
He leaned on a tree and smiled slightly.
'I wanted to see some interesting numbers.'
That's what his intention in getting this card, to look at some fascinating numbers. He once saw this card on an adventurer he met on his way to explore another kingdom and became interested in the numbers of STR, INT, AGI and VIT displayed on it. Now that he got one of his own, he wanted to see what kind of numbers the card would show.
He felt... a sense of familiarity when he saw these numbers.
Bringing out his card, and the content inside astonished him. He was already expecting this but damn, this is fascinating.
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Adventurer Card
Name : Kazuma
Race : Crimson [email protected]#%#.
Class : None [Class Upgrade]
Level : 1 [0%/100%]
HP : INVALID
MP : INVALID
Stats
STR : INVALID
INT : INVALID
AGI : INVALID
VIT : INVALID
Advantages
- INVALID
- INVALID
...and 999%#$# more
Titles
- The Demon King [100000 STR, INT, AGI, VIT]
- INVALID
...and 999$#@% more
Skills
SP : 999$#@$
- INVALID
- INVALID
...and 999#[email protected]# more
Learnable Skills
- INVALID
Special
Yo# #$%re tra#$%rted to this w#%#$ a#$# re#$%#$ a#%$nal bl$#%#$ng
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...Special? He raised an eyebrow in confounds, but because of the unrecognisable words, he decided to ignore them.
Looking at the sun in the sky, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the serene atmosphere the forest presented. Ah, the forest he always played in with Yunyun and his little sisters.
Such a peaceful place, this forest was such a wonderful place...
He crushed his card and the brown colour turned into silver. Opening his eyes, he stared at it briefly before putting it in his pocket. Smiling slightly, the wind harshly motioned his black robe and he flicked his fingers.
'So the trick works.'
Small black lighting appeared on his index fingertip almost instantly. He pointed it at the sky and it penetrates anything on its way.
'Maybe I should stay in this world. After all, I'm its Guardian. Gotta tell him.'
And as its Guardian, he has to maintain the balance. Grumbling in dismay, he recalled that one woman he met in that world, she was so loud and dumb.
'Tsk, lucky there's a rule that told gods couldn't fight with each other.'
In this world, no one knew how powerful he was.
He calmly walked to his home, a home where he lives with his overloving parents and a pair of cute little sisters when he was a kid. He met one constantly but he barely played with the other one. This time, he wanted to play around with his littlest sister.
He peeked at the content of the silver card and surprisingly, there's something different.
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Transcendent Adventurer Card
Name : Kazuma
Race : Crimson D#$%$
...
Learnable Skills
- INVALID
Special
Yo# #$%re tra#$%rted to this w#%#$ a#$# re$%#$# a#%$nal bl$#%#$ng
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...Not really.
"Ah, what a pity, maybe I should change it again later."
It's sometimes hard being powerful, he thought dejectedly.
"Oh well, let's start to maintain the balance later. Now, I wanted to meet my little sister!"
Note: Sorry for the mistakes. An Empire was lead by an Emperor, not a King.