A flurry of notifications scrolled across his senses.
Master of Spells (Legendary) has been added to your heart deck.
Master of Spells
Legendary
Meta
This card grants the wielder extreme capability within all magic-based spells. Once a spell is learned, the wielder may hold it in one of three spell slots to be used at any time. Each of these spell slots automatically reserves mana for the pre-existing spells, and any spell cooldown is reduced by 50%. The spells within these slots may be switched out for another once per ten minutes on a rolling basis, per slot.
All unused spells will be stored in a private library accessed by the card wielder.
As the wielder of this card is given innate sympathy with all magic, they will have the ability to sense mana and a greater chance of spontaneously learning a spell if they are within a caster's aura when it is invoked.
This card unlocks mana and allows base mana regeneration at 2 times normal Legendary values.
This is a magic card. Seek additional cards in this set to include utility, combative, body, and special abilities.
Card synergy found. You have added a fourth card from the same set (Master of Skills + Master of Body Enhancement + Master of Cards + Master of Spells) to create a four of a kind. Due to this, all spells will now gain the attribute of skills and may be learned, improved, and mastered in the same fashion. You may now add magical aspects to any existing body enhancements and skills. You may now use mana to alter or stabilize cards.
Alert. Spell slots full.
Existing spell slots:
1. Personal Illusion.
2. Ultimate Concealment
3. Shadow Its Fate
You do not have the existing spell knowledge in your library to cast these spells. You may purge these existing spells without cool down.
Arthur had a feeling, one that was reinforced by his Master of Cards, that his uncle had only been able to craft and maintain that gigantic runic array he'd seen in the winery by way of another, complementary card. Perhaps even another Legendary.
Uncle Lional had a mage build in his heart deck. Yet the "Master" set was supposed to be the historic family cards. There was definitely a story there, one he would have to ask Penn about.
He also doubted that runic array was the only one—instinct told him that it couldn't be. Not for something so massive as keeping the knowledge of hidden scourgling populations from the kingdom's seers.
Arthur had only discovered it in a roundabout way, and that was with a Legendary-level card.
None of that mattered because if he was reading this right, Lional had linked the runic arrays through Master of Spells.
With a thought, Arthur purged Personal Illusion, Ultimate Concealment, and the Shadowing Fate spells.
Afterward, he swiftly looked around for a change in the land below. But if something new had been revealed, he hadn't noticed it.
Well, he would have to explore that later. He and Brixaby had two misbehaving Legendaries to deal with.
While Arthur had been reading over his cards, Brixaby had been flying flat out to intercept Desmond's Lachlan and Sybil's green named Bunny.
Even at a distance, this was the most alive he had seen them. They flew with a sense of authority they had completely lacked before, with Desmond belting out orders that only half of the wing captains listened to. Too bad they had decided to wake up now.
The two Legendary dragons noticed Brixaby's approach and turned about to face him. Their dragons were both of the two-winged variety and could not hover in the air like Brixaby. That made conversation difficult, and Desmond motioned that they should land.
Arthur hesitated, but... why not?
"Brixaby," he said, "make an announcement to the hive."
He didn't even have to tell him what to announce. His dragon already knew, and a moment later, he was swelling with his stunning shout. His voice blasted out over the air, a weapon in its own right, and many times more powerful than Lachlan's had been.
"IGNORE THE ORDERS FROM THESE UPSTARTS AND CLEAR THE SCOURGLINGS FROM THE LAND!"
It was a bit hard to tell due to the echoes of his booming voice, but Arthur thought he caught some laughs on the wind. More importantly, most of the hive turned back to the business of killing and harvesting scourglings for shards. Some were happily digging up the burrows these scourglings had hidden in. Meanwhile, Arthur spotted Wing Purple gathering up the humans left behind. They didn't seem to be fighting, which was a mercy. Perhaps they were no longer the Mind Singer's thralls.
The few dragon pairs who weren't fighting flew in lazy spirals overhead, clearly interested in eavesdropping on the leadership.
No one spoke up for Desmond and Sybil.
Why should they? They were part of the old guard—ones who were also Chester's prey, but they had more chance of stopping him than any of the lower-ranked card wielders. And they hadn't.
Arthur put on his game face as Brixaby landed. Desmond was already on the ground, and he looked angry enough to spit.
Arthur spoke first. "I hope you have a good explanation for interrupting the hive at their job."
"Job?!" Desmond practically snarled back. "This is an unsanctioned campaign! There's no eruption here!"
Arthur took a moment to look around. "You have spotted the scourglings—or what remains of them, yes?"
Granted, there were so few left visible from the air that he felt perfectly comfortable on the ground. Without an eruption renewing the supply of the beasts, everyone practically had a field day killing them.
"We understand that this is on your family's ancestral property, Arthur Rowantree," Sybil sneered. "We know all about you."
No doubt she'd learned this from Whitaker's colorful commentary. Arthur had introduced himself to the two of them when he'd first taken over the hive, but they had not… been themselves.
"While it's admirable you want to help your family, there are three leaders of Blood Moon," Desmond said, speaking to Arthur as if he were a parent disappointed in an errant child. "Any hive-wide activity should have been brought to us first."
Arthur cocked his head. "Oh, you've decided to be leaders again? That's news to me. Have you done any of the tasks I assigned you?"
But he didn't really care about the answer because, looking at them closely, something was off about them. They made his Master of Spells buzz.
Desmond and Sybil had active spell effects on them. He couldn't tell what it was, and because the spells hadn't been placed on them when he'd been close by, his Counterfeit Siphon card didn't pick it up. Based on their radical personality changes and energy levels, he was willing to bet they were under boosts to counteract what Chester had done to them.
He wondered if giving Arthur a hard time was payment for their recovery.
Desmond took a step forward, fists clenched as if he were holding himself back from punching Arthur. "You have no standing to assign us any task, welp. We are the senior leaders of this hive, and you will damn well acknowledge it!"
"No," Arthur said. "You're just surviving off a spell boost, and you'll be back to your old selves again once it goes on cooldown. Talk to me then, and we'll see about getting you something more permanent, with fewer strings attached."
Sybil started to protest, but Arthur spoke over her.
"You two have completely checked out and left me to run the hive—to add to that, you're severely misinformed about this situation. I suspect on purpose. Return to the hive. If you really want to help lead, great. We'll talk about your future roles then. Meanwhile, the rest of us have a job to finish."
"This is unacceptable," Sybil snapped and gestured to the ground.
Arthur was surprised. He thought Desmond would be the one to strike first.
But as he'd hoped, she was casting a spell.
New Counterfeit spell obtained: A Flowery Dart
Time Remaining: 9 minutes, 59 seconds
New Spell Gained: A Flowery Dart (Nature/Poison)
Due to linked card bonus traits, this spell has gained the aspects of a skill. You automatically start this skill at level 5.
Oh, this had serious promise. His Counterfeit Siphon immediately picked up the spell, and his Master of Spells converted it to his own while his Master of Skills let him level it.
The wilted fields around them suddenly brightened for fifty feet in a circle around them. Among them popped blue flowers with white hearts. Within two seconds, hundreds of hand-sized flowers swiveled toward Arthur, and within each one of those rested a needle with a dripping tip. One command from Sybil and those flowers would shoot poisoned barbs.
But Arthur had cast his own Flowery Dart.
His flowers were, oddly enough, blue-black on the outside with a purple heart. A touch of Brixaby's life energy swelled the plants within seconds. Each flower stood as tall as Arthur's knee and was still growing, the poisoned barbs looking more and more like arrows.
New Spell Level:
A Flowery Dart (Nature/Poison)
Level: 6
New Spell Level:
A Flowery Dart (Nature/Poison)
Level: 7
New Spell Level:
A Flowery Dart (Nature/Poison)
Level: 8
Three levels in one cast. This card was brand new, but Arthur was already in love.
Sybil froze. It was a stalemate, though if Arthur could neutralize the poison, he would surely live. She likely couldn't, being riddled with hundreds of arrow-sized barbs. And those barbs were growing larger.
"His spells only last ten minutes!" Desmond said, proving he knew something about Arthur's Counterfeit Siphon. Whitaker's seers must be hard at work.
Arthur grinned. "Want to try me? I can take whatever you can throw at me and use it against you."
And now I can keep it, he thought giddily.
He hoped Desmond tried something next. Rumor around the hive had it he had been quite the inventive water user in his time. Arthur could always use a good water spell.
He looked at Desmond and saw the shadow of exhaustion in the back of the man's eyes. Either the boost was wearing off, or it hadn't been completely effective. Either way, Arthur could see that he was hesitating—asking himself if he had the power.
He'd have to flood the field to get enough water to work with, and that would destroy Sybil's smaller plants. Arthur's would survive just long enough. And that was before Arthur copied his spell, too.
Desmond may have been reading the fierce anticipation in Arthur's eyes because he backed a step. "What are you?"
"Someone who hasn't bothered to use most of my cards against you," Arthur said. "This is your last warning, Desmond. Go home."
Abruptly, a portal opened above them. One much larger than normal. Large enough, it appeared, for an average-sized Legendary.
"Finally," Desmond muttered. "He said he would back us up."
Whitaker.
But the dragon snout that emerged was not Crag's orange, but a hulking ice Blue. Arthur recognized it at once as Rose's dragon. Someone from The Trusted Few. Would she be on his side?
Brixaby seemed to think so as he bellowed to get her attention. She spiraled once, probably checking the situation, before landing not far away.
Rose came striding out, eyebrows raised at the standoff. By now Arthur's flowers had each swelled taller than a man, and the darts looked like javelins. He... wasn't quite sure yet how to make them stop, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that.
"What is going on here?" she demanded.
"Difference in leadership opinions," Arthur said.
Desmond lifted his chin. "Our junior leader is misusing hive resources." There was a faintly whiny tone to his voice as if he expected Rose to do something about it.
Rose looked unimpressed. "Well, you will have to set whatever this is aside. We have a Kingdom-wide emergency on our doorstep."
Sybil gasped and brought down her arm. Her poison dart flowers sagged with the same movement. To Arthur's eye, she was looking for an excuse to loosen her grip on the spell. Perhaps her boost was fading as well. "Surely not another eruption, so soon?" Sybil said.
"How about hundreds of eruptions all at the same time, under every major population?" Arthur said.
Desmond rolled his eyes, but Rose fixed him with a strange look.
"How did you know? Our seers have just alerted us."
"Brixaby and I just discovered the runic array at this scourgling outpost. Its function was to conceal the building scourge populations from the seers. We destroyed it a few minutes ago," Arthur said, lying just a little.
Desmond looked angry enough to spit. "You didn't say anything about this!"
Arthur felt like releasing the oversized poisoned darts. Somehow, he held himself back. "I told you there were things you weren't aware of, but you two were too busy pulling leadership games. I told you to go back home. Instead, you brought your cards against me. I am not giving you a third chance."
Both started to raise objections, but Arthur was beyond done.
"Blood Moon hive is no longer your home. Take refuge with Whitaker at Wolf Moon if he will have you. When I get back from addressing this emergency with the King, you two had better be gone."
Trusting Brixaby to watch closely, he turned his back on them. Even if they tried something, he didn't have much to fear. They were already on the downhill side of whatever boosts they'd needed to get this far.
"We are going to see the King, I assume?" he asked Rose, pointedly.
She only looked amused, especially as Desmond and Sybil made protests which Arthur ignored.
"I have heard you were on a tear since the second eruption, and now I see certain people weren't exaggerating."
Arthur wondered if 'certain people' was Whitaker trying to drum up opposition against him.
Rose continued, "The King has requested an immediate meeting from one leader of each hive. I had the... feeling you wouldn't be at your usual location, so I wanted to relay the message in person."
Considering "At your earliest convenience" was code for "Get over here right now" from the king, an immediate meeting meant someone was taking this seriously.
Arthur nodded. "Brixaby and I can portal you over." He turned and looked at Desmond and Sybil. No doubt about it, the temporary boost was fading. While they stood proudly, there was visible exhaustion in their frames. "I don't know how long this meeting will last, but I expect you to be gone when I return." He raised his voice, knowing anyone who was capable of eavesdropping was doing so. "My retinue riders will oversee the last of the cleanup here."
"You can't do this," Sybil said. "It was our hive first."
"It was Chester's hive. Now it's mine."
There was no time to argue further. He walked to join Brixaby. Only when he was turned away did he let his hard expression slip. Behind him, without his direct attention, the now ridiculously giant flowers withered and died. Arthur hardly paid them any mind.
Verbally slapping them down had not felt good.
"You could not keep those who turned their hands against you in our hive," Brixaby muttered, reading him like a book.
Our hive.
It really was, wasn't it? Arthur had destroyed Chester out of need, but somewhere along the way, he had truly adopted Blood Moon hive as his own. Wolf Moon was like a stranger to him, and he hadn't really entertained the thought of rehabilitating Rowantree Estate.
Blood Moon was his home.
And now he anticipated quite the fight ahead to keep it, and many other homes throughout the kingdom safe. There was one surefire way to do that.
He and Brixaby needed to find the rest of the cards for their sets and ascend to Mythic. He had one more to go, Brixaby had two, and he didn't think their enemies would make it easy on them.
Arthur signaled, and Brixaby opened the dark portal that led to the king's palace. Ready to face their next challenge together, they walked forward.
The end. (Of Book 6)
****
That's right! We're at the end of book 6.
Thursday's upload will be skipped, but we'll launch right into book 7 this weekend. (Not sure if Sat or Sun at this point. Starting chapter 1's is weirdly difficult as I gotta get that tone just right.) After that, we'll be back to Tues/Thurs.
As of right this second, I don't have a publish date for book 6. Since I want it to come out the same day as the audiobook, it all depends on when it's recorded. So I can only say: Within the next few months. I'll announce the date as soon as I have it. And of course, as my Patrons, you'll receive a free copy of the ebook.
Anyway, while I can give no promises, if you have a wishlist item (example: Joy and Brixaby hatch an egg!) or something you'd like to see in the next book, comment below. SFW wishes, please. Don't make it weird. ;)
Thanks for being my patrons, and I hope you had as much fun reading this book as I did writing it!
~ Rae