"No! If you want to make a defensive [Warrior], you must have [intervene] with [Dash n' Slash] and [Mobile Strike]. This way they stack, and when a party member is attacked, all three Skills trigger together. Look, a party member is attacked, you trigger [Intervene], then you pay the stamina for [Mobile Strike], and instead of just brandishing your slab of metal like an idiot, you trigger [Dash n' Slash]. So you move to defend a party member, then you can move again and do a strike, and it doesn't need to be in this order! You can move, defend, strike and move. Or move, move, defend, strike! You can reach further if you need! Maybe even back to your own position if you find cards with the same wording."

A grizzly bear-kin was roaring over the other adventurers crowded around the table Nero took.

They were still at the guild. Once Nero saw the pile of white-grade Classes and Skills people showered him with, even with a few greens with heinous Attribute allocations, he made the mistake of asking for build suggestions. The Adventurers around him all had their own opinions on what card combo worked with this or that, and heated debate was born, where everyone wanted to give their two cents on how to make builds. Altia helped too. Most of the Adventurers were male, the occupation didn't cater much to women as it involved danger and gore, two things the fairer gender usually shied from. Nero's wife and her Charisma attracted the adventurers like molasses drew flies.

Nero purchased a block of paper and a graphite pencil and was frantically scribbling all suggestions by the adventurers. He first tried to organize the cards but always someone would pick them up and mess around. The writing was the solution.

"Wait, if you can use [Dash n' Slash] as the attack for [Mobile Strike], why can't you trigger the latter again and repeat the cycle?"

The bear-kin gave Nero a patronizing stare. "It is your Stamina, kid. Surely, when you have a hundred stamina, you can play like that, but by the time you reach it, there will be so much thing to do with stamina that you'd be squandering it by prancing around. At the end of the day, you are still just swinging your slab of metal like an idiot."

"And monsters on high-tier Dungeons come one after another. When you get some respite, it is because the pile of drops blocked the passage!"

Raucous laughter ensued. More ale down the gizzard of the Adventurers, for some of them the actual gizzards. It was fun and some of the Adventurers gave good insight and Nero would probably field-test most of the suggestions because why not if he had several copies of each card but it was time to go.

"Guys, we need to go now. Can anyone recommend me a card shop that won't rip off my guts?"

"Clara's!" Someone shouted.

"Definitely not Meatguts'!" Another shout and some 'yeah, not him', 'fuck guts' replied.

"Clara's then. Thanks a lot, folks."

"Hey, kid, when you see your old man, tell him he still didn't arm-wrestle a gadfargarian!" Some old-timer guffawed.

"Sure!"

They left before someone could harangue Nero about being a 'good man' to Altia as some tried before. Or tell Altia that if Nero failed to 'be a good man' she could always rely on them. They suffered harassment and hazing but it was of a good-spirited nature.

Adventurers reveled in their freedom and the guild existed to safeguard that freedom from those that would push them around like the knights and the kingdom. The Realm, in turn, had a workforce to constantly check the threat of the Dungeons and an influx of crystals and cards. Doing that with the organized armed forces would take too much effort with the logistics and administrative overhead. With the adventurers, all you needed to do was toss a bone in the guise of a bounty and bang, problem solved.

As they were nearing the door, the kitsune receptionist moved to intercept them, her twin tails swinging graciously as she moved. "Adventurer Nero, if I may have a moment?"

Nero stopped and nodded. She seemed in a hurry and he knew better than to take her time. The Adventurers waiting outside had priority. "Yes?"

"Guild master wished to ask you to come by later when things aren't so hectic with all the influx of Adventurers seeking to renew their membership to have protection from the army recruiters."

"Sure, miss Alma. She is my mother's friend, tell her we wish the best and we are grateful for her help."

More like for saving my life, he thought. The knights must be desperate if they are accosting children on the street to join. It was a terrible sign. The kitsune nodded, bowed professionally and they were out.

Lamuril was by the carriage, guarding the vehicle. He flagged them and waved for them to approach.

"What happened inside? You went in, I heard shouting immediately after, and then an armless knight, of all things, comes out bleeding!"

"Can we get moving?" Altia asked before Nero could start to brag. "I don't feel comfortable talking about that here."

"Of course," he opened the door for them.

Nero and Altia explained the situation and their impression of the knights' behavior and the kingdom's defense initiative, including what they saw in Honeywitch. Then they asked directions for Clara's card shop. Lamuril nodded, indicating he knew where it was.

"If I may speak freely, young masters, things are not good and the fact that novices such as you can perceive that is another sign. The Kingdom is indeed desperate to rally a force strong enough to fend the attackers. Yes, there's more than one neighbor that is hungry for a piece of the pie although only Coriander to the west is openly preparing troops to attack. The others can excuse themselves as just protecting their borders but the difference in a defensive army to an offensive one lies in logistics and logistics can be disguised as everyday trade in their own homes. They aren't even doing a good job of disguising it, they just need plausible deniability in case Coriander gets their ass handed off to them if you forgive my expletive."

It made sense why Valaarseface went all the way to Hom to fetch an alleged level two hundred in hiding. Or all the knight activity they witnessed. The train inspections, the forceful drafting of people for even minor crimes into the farming dungeons, the knights' agreement with the guild to invite-recruit Adventurers. Nero thought of how easy would be to buckle up under the pressure of a knight and not even question if their draft was legal.

Purchasing an Arbitrium and training on their own fostered a great sense of individuality and self-reliance on the delver. Two hundred thousand Essence was not pocket change and the Kingdom wasn't bankrolling everyone's devices. Furthermore, inside a Dungeon, it is every delver for themselves. Party betrayals were easy to hide, no witnesses beyond the dead and the Dungeon. Some delvers that can't go alone dread the time their party finds the first purple card. It is too easy to just backstab your friends, loot their bodies, and forget about splitting the loot.

That was the reason almost all successful long-term delver parties were married couples. Would you kill your spouse for a purple? Nero shuddered at the thought. Never, ever. Nero instinctively reached for Altia's hand and pulled her arm closer, holding her hand and caressing the arm with another.

She giggled, Nero's hands were light enough to tickle her arm. "What? Afraid of the war?"

"Not that. Afraid of endangering what's precious to me." He whispered softly, mostly to himself.

"My arm?" Sarcasm tinted her voice. It will be fine.

"Young masters, we have arrived. Clara's card shop is in the second building in front of us. There's no place to park the carriage nearer than here."

"Thank you, Lamuril. We are used to walking," Nero replied.

"Are you okay waiting in the sun? Would you like a pause for refreshments?" Altia asked.

"No, milady. I'm a sun elf, we thrive under the sun. My people conquered the deserts of Ishalnia because of that. Our skin never gets sunburnt."

"Oh. I'm sorry for assuming--"

The elf smiled and bowed slightly. "No harm is done. I know that the lady's heart only wished for my wellbeing, and I am grateful for the thought. I must stay with the vehicle at all times, though."

"We will try to be fast," She promised, a bit ashamed by her blunder.

"Take your time. I'm at your service."

Clara's shop was not in the building. it was the building. Three floors choked full with cards. Glass displays on thin shelves showed the various versions of each card type. At the door, an attendant gave them a slate of cardboard where they could write down the number underneath each card they wanted.

"This is amazing!" Nero gushed over the cards in the display.

"That's the big city for you," Altia added.

It felt detached because they were used to the feeling of touching the cards, of reading the effects up close.

The first floor was dedicated to tiers I and II of cards, white and green. The gray cards were on a single corner, and the prices were for bundles of tens. Nero wrote down the id for [Canteen], anyway.

"Those prices are dreadful," He commented as they went around the shelves.

"Yes, but everything in this city is marked up. They have to pay taxes, and so on. Yet, people still like to live here because of security and comfort. There's a lot of conveniences."

"I won't be able to buy everything I want," Nero sighed.

"Well, that's life for you," Altia tooted.

They browsed and Nero finished taking note of the cards he wanted for his builds. When they approached an elven clerk, he raised an eyebrow to the big list of cards Nero had.

"Dear customers, were you able to find everything you need?"

Nero nodded. "Yes, I guess. Your collection here is almost complete."

"If there's anything you didn't find, you can leave us the card's description, and we will do our best to find them for you."

"That won't be necessary," Altia intervened before Nero rampaged through their budget. "Could we get an itemized bill for the cards my husband listed down before we settle on which ones we'll buy?"

"Of course, ma'am. If I may interest you, on the second floor we have blues and yellows for tiers one and two, and the whites and greens for tier three."

"No, that is too far away for us."

The elf nodded, his smile didn't falter for a moment. "Then if that's okay with you, I'll process the list."

The couple waited and talked about the city and the sights while the clerk deciphered Nero's handwriting and tallied the cards he selected. The elf returned after a long wait, with a few sheets of paper. He gave the itemized list to Altia but said the total invoice out loud.

"Your purchase, should you chose to buy all the items, amounts to four hundred and sixty-nine thousand Essence. There's one small problem, though."

Nero was just staring at the list over Altia's shoulder. He knew he had gone overboard like a kid in a card shop but it was more than double what they were willing to spend on cards.

"What problem?" Altia asked after she went through the whole list.

"The King issued an edict that any purchase of combat Skills over a certain amount must be reported along with the name, Class and Level of the buyer."

What the King would do with such information was irrelevant. Should a witch hunt come, those would be the first to be hunted down. Altia had a hunch that the Kingdom would like to reinforce their Dungeon mining operation with prisoners. And buying that many cards for several unrelated builds were almost unheard of. If people get wind of that purchase, they might be in deep trouble later when they figure out Nero's unique Class abilities.

She dumped the blame on her husband, to raise a smokescreen. "Nero, you can start to knock down all the cards you won't use for your build. I TOLD YOU that collecting them just for the sake of playing with the cards was a bad idea!" She scolded him for real.

To Nero, she was really angry. After buying and furnishing the house, and the travel expenses including the train tickets, the shopping list cost more than what they had.

"You don't have to shout at me!" He complained.

"You sit down with this list and narrow it down to one hundred and fifty thousand. And keep it below the threshold for reporting. There's no need to put crosshairs on us just because you can't stop drooling over the cards. You can always feed your collecting whims later."

"The threshold is twelve cards. If you buy just eleven Skills, there won't be a problem. We don't like it too, ma'am, but we have to abide by the law."

"Of course," She replied tersely.

Nero sat down and went through the list, striking out the items. It hurt Altia to see that he didn't catch the cue that she was faking her anger but after what happened to the guild and Valanaagornif's advances, they couldn't afford to give them ammunition. Just the fact she would have to consider the Knights of her own country enemies left a bitter taste in her mouth.

The narrowed-down list with 11 Skills and 1 Class, all green-class, still added up to a grand total of one hundred and ninety-six Essence. Nero meekly struck out another combat Skill and that knocked another twenty thousand off the final price. They paid the bill and waited for the clerk to gather the cards from the back of the displays. Nero kept the itemized and legible list so he wouldn't have to go through that again.

"Do you know of someone that can attach card pouches to my bandolier?" He asked. The card pouches he had were already stuffed to the brim, the buttons almost not closing.

It took a specific Gadgeteer skill to attach pouches to the bandolier to have them benefit from the nigh-invulnerability and anti-theft properties of the device.

"We have a Gadgeteer that works with us but unfortunately he is not here at the moment. If you could come back tomorrow..."

And of course, the eggheads at the Lyceum must have the Skill. "No, there's no need," Nero replied. "Tomorrow we can find someone to do it for us."

"We do have unattuned card pouches for sale..."

And another fifteen thousand Essence went down the drain.