Akashic_Tales & VIPER SCANS
CardMaster: Awakening the Mythic Codex
Chapter 2: Bestiary, [Ironhorn]!
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As soon as Ethan regained control of his body, he immediately looked at the status panel of his Soul Card, the Mythic Codex.
[Mythic Codex]
[Quality: Common (Mythic)]
[Bestiary]
Ethan frowned slightly. What did the "Mythic" in parentheses after "Common" mean?
And compared to his personal status panel, this one seemed far too simplistic.
He opened the Bestiary.
The Mythic Codex that had appeared earlier materialized in his mind. In the lower left corner of the cover were a few characters:
[Aether: 0]
As his gaze fell upon it, understanding dawned in his mind.
Kill any creature possessing Aether to obtain Aether points.
Each mythbeast was equivalent to a page in the Bestiary. He could gradually illuminate the Bestiary using Aether, thereby strengthening himself.
Furthermore, for each complete page unlocked in the Bestiary, he would gain one ability from that mythbeast.
The book pages slowly opened.
The first page featured the renowned Lumidrac.
In the lower left corner was a string of numbers: 0/1000
The meaning was obvious, he needed 1,000 Aether points to fully illuminate this page.
As all the mythbeasts flashed before his eyes one by one, Ethan discovered that different creatures required varying amounts of Aether points, some needed a thousand, others several hundred, and some even as few as dozens.
After understanding his Soul Card's abilities, two prompts appeared before him:
[Preparing to enter Realm Gate.]
[Would you like to modify your appearance and name? (YES/NO)]
Ethan chose "Yes" without hesitation.
Although this was just a Realm Gate, who knew if he might encounter other players?
Better to be cautious.
He crafted a face that bore no resemblance to his real appearance, though equally handsome.
He chose the name "River Drake."
After clicking "Complete," the white space began to shatter.
Ethan could now calmly observe the changes before him.
As the fragments began to reassemble, the world started to take on color.
After regaining control of his body, Ethan found himself in a forest.
The trees here were clearly not species from Azure Star, each one was several times thicker than normal trees.
The vegetation was extremely dense; Ethan standing among it was almost completely submerged.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to bring his knife with him; otherwise, he could have easily cut a path through.
Carefully parting the nearly two-meter-high grass, Ethan aimlessly explored his surroundings, hoping to at least escape this obstructive vegetation.
"Rustle~"
The slightly moving plants caused Ethan to freeze in place.
The unknown is the most frightening, especially in an unfamiliar Realm Gate world.
Combat techniques from his previous life flashed through Ethan's mind as he clenched his fists and slowly backed away.
But whatever was making the noise was clearly heading toward him. As the grass swayed, it kept approaching.
Ethan picked up a stone from the ground and threw it forward.
The grass shook violently at that moment.
The next instant, two gleaming tusks appeared before him.
Instinctively, Ethan threw a punch, striking one of the tusks.
The sharp pain that shot through his fist told him these tusks were much harder than his knuckles.
He stumbled and nearly fell to the ground, but the dense vegetation provided some support, allowing him to regain his footing.
Only then did Ethan clearly see what kind of creature stood before him.
A rabbit-like creature about one meter tall, with brown fur and two sharp tusks about ten centimeters long, was glaring at him fiercely.
What kind of species was this?
"Roar!"
A sound completely unlike a rabbit's cry rang out.
The "rabbit" lunged directly at Ethan with extreme speed. Ethan barely saw it move before it was right in front of him.
He only managed to grab its neck firmly with both hands to prevent those long tusks from biting down.
But the creature's strength was clearly greater than his own. His hands quickly began to give way. Ethan glanced to the side and saw the stone he had thrown earlier had landed beside him.
With one hand desperately holding the rabbit's head back, he grabbed the stone with his right hand and smashed it against the "rabbit's" head.
The rabbit tried to get up in pain, but Ethan's fighting spirit had been ignited. He refused to let it escape, gripping the fur on its neck tightly, which also pulled him up along with it.
His right hand never stopped smashing the stone against the rabbit's head. His body was soon covered in blood from the creature's wounds. When the rabbit finally collapsed to the ground, Ethan straddled it, his left hand pinning down its tusks while his right hand continued to strike relentlessly.
He only stopped when he began to taste blood in his mouth.
The rabbit's head was unrecognizable.
But Ethan's attention was completely drawn to the lower left corner of his vision:
"Congratulations! You have killed a Tusk Rabbit. You gain 10 experience points, level up to Apprentice, all attributes increase by 0.01, and Aether increases by 1 point."
"Congratulations! You have killed a Tusk Rabbit. You obtain one [Tusk] material card."
Seeing the notification confirming the creature's death, Ethan finally climbed off it and lay down on the ground nearby, breathing heavily.
After calming down, Ethan remembered something.
He opened the Mythic Codex in his mind.
The lower left corner now clearly displayed: [Aether: 1]
This prompted Ethan to sit up despite his physical exhaustion.
He could now illuminate a page in the Bestiary.
He opened the first page of the Mythic Codex.
"Beyond the Northwest Sea, north of the Crimson Waters, lies Mount Zhangwei. There dwells a deity with a human face and a red serpent's body, with straight eyes that stare ahead. When it closes its eyes, darkness falls; when it opens them, light returns. It neither eats, sleeps, nor rests, and it summons wind and rain. This is Zhu Jiuyin, the Lumidrac."
Reading the description of Lumidrac, Ethan was tempted.
Zhu Jiuyin, in the Mythic Codex, if not the most powerful, was certainly among the top three.
But killing this rabbit had only yielded one Aether point. Accumulating a thousand points would take an eternity.
He needed to find a more affordable creature first, one whose unlocked ability would actually help him.
Ethan began to flip through the Mythic Codex page by page, eventually identifying three mythbeasts with reasonable costs and useful abilities:
[Ironhorn] (0/20), [Zephyrsteed] (0/15), [Spiralshell] (0/30)
Among them, [Zephyrsteed], if illuminated, would likely provide a speed-related skill, while [Spiralshell]'s ability would probably be defensive.
Only [Ironhorn] was a relatively balanced mythbeast, its strength was undeniable with that massive horn, its speed was decent, and its defense was impressive.
After consideration, Ethan decided to invest his one Aether point in the [Ironhorn] page, then checked his status panel:
[Name: Ethan Drake]
[Level: Apprentice Lv.1 (10/100)]
[Strength: 0.85]
[Constitution: 0.93]
[Agility: 1.04]
[Spirit: 3.48]
[Aether: 2/2]
[Soul Card: Mythic Codex]
[Card Slots: (Empty) (Empty) (Empty)] [Inventory: Tusk (Common)]
His strength, constitution, and agility had each increased by 0.02, spirit by 0.03, and his Aether had risen to 2 points.
Though the numerical increases weren't large, the feeling of becoming stronger was very real.
Much more satisfying than pumping iron at the gym.
After familiarizing himself with his new physical capabilities, Ethan turned his attention to the Mythic Codex in his mind.
The [Ironhorn] page was no longer completely dark as before; it now had a slight glow.
The numbers in the lower left corner had also changed:
[Ironhorn progress: 1/20]
He still needed 19 more Aether points, but fortunately, each point invested would make him stronger.
As he killed more creatures and his attributes increased, things would become progressively easier.
However, the scent of blood in his nostrils reminded him of his current situation.
Ethan stood up, fighting through his exhaustion. He managed to use the stone to cut off a piece of meat before leaving the area.
His right hand, which he had used to strike with such force, was now badly scraped on the palm.
His left foot also seemed to be sprained.
Fortunately, he hadn't encountered any other monsters so far.
But just then, a prompt suddenly appeared on the panel before him:
"Realm Gate session ended. Thank you for your participation in this experience~"