Ace of Capes [Superhero LitRPG] [Isekai] [Card Crafting]

Lexie killed the first ten creatures they encountered without bothering to learn what they were.

It bothered the Fae female to no end, mostly because Lexie often killed them while the Fae was in the middle of her monologue.

She would start going on a long tangent about what the creatures were and their rarity and their place in the ecosystem, when Boom!

Before she could finish her boring lecture, Lexie would point and blast a hole in its head.

After the tenth time, the Fae faced Lexie and frowned.

"Why do you continue to do that? It is most vexing, even more so that the year I was having a Tyero event-"

"Fae," Lexie interrupted.

"Ryn-Byul-Fo." The female frowned while carrying the child. "Do not call me Fae, like I were an insignificant member of my race. You will call me by name, Ryn-Byul-Fo. And I will call you Lex-ee."

Lexie didn't care what the Fae called her, except that the mention of her name reminded Lexie of the curse she was under. The curse that the Fae female had put on her.

Lexie was a breath away from dreaming of a murder that would once again incapacitate her.

But instead, she redirected her rage to the already dead whatever-it-was, shooting it again.

"You talk too much," she told the Fae female.

"And you don't listen enough. We cannot kill our way through this place. That's not how it works. We might need to solve puzzles along the way, and you might kill the thing that gives us the clue. Then we'll have to start all over again."

"And I will get to kill more things." Lexie grinned. "I fail to see the downside."

The Fae female made a sound that would be equivalent to a scowling expression on a human. "The downside, you vicious creature, is that we will not be able to leave this place. And we'll be stuck here."

"Stuck?" That implied that staying was a bad thing. But the way Lexie saw it, it was still a win for her, too. If she stayed here, trapped in endless stories, that meant that she would continue to have light forever. It would be glorious.

The Fae tutted. "You are very simple-minded. Likely because you are so young. You think you will only face creatures that you can defeat? You do not consider what happens when you encounter a creature you can't."

"I will win."

"What if you cannot?"

"I will win."

"Ah." The Fae's flat nostril fluttered. "That reminds me of the tree of Talin in the midst of the Su-bat-won ether, where the lumin blooms and produces the finest berries..." She went on an expansive description of a place with lots of fruit trees, one of which grew so far into the sky that it nearly transcended the planetary limits, but then got poisoned at its base and ended up wilting as a result.

Despite the long-winded account, Lexie didn't understand the gist of the story until the Fae asked, "Will you be a tall tree that falls to a poison at its root?"

"No," Lexie said. "This is not about my pride. I am simply stating a truth. I will win because I am the best. I am strong, and only the strong survive. I am the best because I will not stop. And I will not die."

"Everything dies. Even the Eldritch."

"Eldritch do not die. We get denatured. But even denatured, I will not stop."

The Fae tipped her head. "You cannot control what happens after you're denatured."

"There are a lot of things they tell me I cannot do. Yet I do them."

The Fae nodded somberly. "You are indeed the tree of Talin."

Lexie thought that was an insult, but she took it as a compliment.

"Luckily, none of the creatures we encountered had their survival pertinent to the story. We will soon encounter those that you absolutely should not kill."

Lexie didn't nod because she still had every intention of killing anything that crossed her path. Apart from the Fae female, that is. And her tiny shadow that followed them silently everywhere.

They continued walking around the large, dead bull-like creature, and Lexie noted the grass began to thin. The soil was also transforming from red to indigo.

The Fae told Lexie a story about a missing pearl, for which Lexie did not bother trying to figure out its deeper meaning. She instead surveyed her changing environment.

They walked for some time, but did not encounter any other creatures.

Anger began to crawl into Lexie's thoughts.

Her skin began to itch, and her mind began to drift towards that-which-shall-not-be-thought, so she instead turned to her curiosity light.

"How does the curse work?"

The Fae made a sound that could be a sigh. "You continue to ask me that, and I will continue to give you the same answer. I cannot tell you."

"Cannot or will not?"

"The result is the same."

Lexie was relentless. "Which sections of the pathways does it utilize?" Lexie could now automatically visualize the pathways in her body, and if she knew which pathway it was, she could possibly trace the affected pathways in hers.

"It does not use pathways. Naming conventions and magic are sacred to the Elves and some of the Dark Fae. It must be studied from when one is a child and mastered over centuries."

"How many centuries are you?"

"Merely one. But I'm a quick learner. I may not have overwhelming strength, but like the green river lotus–" She went into a long interlude about a river that Lexie surmised was to indicate she was clever.

Lexie thought she should bring her down a peg. "You are not so clever. You are terrible at conversations, Fae."

Her pale skin had the mildest flush. "My name is Ryn-Byul-Fo, and I am trying my best. And I am better than a lot of other Fae you may know, especially those of my age. You humans have no idea how exhausting it is to communicate with you. We have to scrutinize and translate every inflection, turn it to words, whittle it down to almost nothing before it leaves our mouth."

"Hmm," Lexie said, feeling no sympathy toward the creature, because she didn't have a sympathetic bone in her body.

She kept peppering the Fae with questions about her curse magic, and the Fae fired back with endless stories about nothing.

While she talked, Lexie eventually turned her attention inward and tried to solve her predicament on her own.

What if she didn't need the Fae female to counter the course? What if she could defeat it on her own?

Lexie knew she would get more satisfaction from outsmarting the Fae than if the Fae were to just give her the answer.

The problem was that she wasn't sure where to even start. She hadn't been lying when she'd said she didn't know how smart she was now. She'd never thought about it, the same way she didn't think about a lot of things. Her memories were like sieved particles, and her brain was only grabbing onto what was relevant at that moment.

In the dungeon, her intelligence hadn't been relevant, unless it pertained to violence.

But now, she had to rediscover a piece of herself that she wasn't sure was still there.

Let us test it out.

She opened her inventory, looking through her cards.

She could see the invisible links some of them had, formed due to how often she'd combined them. For example, the VOID and FLAME cards had shimmering black threads between their pathways, the strongest of all the other links.

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Were Lexie's card combinations a symbol of her intelligence?

She wasn't sure.

Most times, combining cards to create an effect was instinctive. It came to her in the heat of the moment, as a nontangible message mapping out a road for her mana to flow. It was Eldritch intent that came to her easily, controlled her magic seamlessly.

Of course, it was likely enabled by her supreme, implicit understanding of her cards and their inner workings. Her reading of intent was powered by violent thoughts, and in battle, she always seemed to know how to adjust her card pathways to form the ultimate attack to take down an enemy.

It was how she'd created VOID SHOT. It had been a combination of <Charades Champion> and VOID to create a long-range missile that could take down monsters from far away, because VOID FLAME was more destructive but had less reach.

Each time, her inner violence had spurred the discovery. So maybe she was only smart when it came to figuring out how to defeat her enemy in a physical fight.

But this was a mental battle.

And now she had to learn to discover without the violence.

She had to focus on the discovery, and treat it as the point, the destination rather than the road.

The curse…what did she know about it?

It was directed unilaterally, linking her to the Fae. So maybe there was a way she could reverse the link?

<Back to Sender> didn't work though...but why? Because Lexie didn't know where exactly the link was?

Lexie probed her mind and her body, searching for the link. While she did, she wondered if she could create a card that would redirect the curse onto something else? Then she could use that as an attack, too, right?

Cursed name.

The whispered intent was felt deeply within her whole body, rather than just in her mind.

It was straightforward, but wasn't as strong or as instinctive as the intent she got when fighting.

But it didn't really give her much. She didn't know how to curse a name, especially since there were no pathways involved.

Also, would the curse work if she just changed her name? Was that the trick to breaking it?

No. Ryn had said that Lexie's soul recognized the name 'Lexie Sparrowfoot'. How? And how did she get the soul to stop recognizing it?

Lexie's other problem was that, even if she did find the link, she didn't have the material to make another card. But maybe she could simply adjust one of the cards she already had. She might be sacrificing the integrity of the card that way, but it would be worth it to be free of the Fae.

Once she was free, she'd finally be able to rip–

Anyway.

Lexie was wondering which card she should sacrifice when the Fae stopped. She sniffed the air like the V'Sala and then turned to the left. "Something is wrong."

"What?" Lexie asked.

"Different. It feels different. Just like how a –"

Lexie tuned out the story.

She didn't know what was different. She didn't perceive danger on the horizon or anywhere in the vast space.

But if there was danger afoot...

An excited thrum started in her belly and spread throughout her whole body.

Suddenly, the Fae female took a step back. "We must leave here."

"Why?"

"Something is wrong. It does not feel like any of the other first tests."

"I don't understand."

"By the time I explain it, we'll be dead. And I think someone is coming who is not supposed to be here."

The Fae grabbed Lexie's wrist with their cool, long-fingered hand and tried to drag her away, but Lexie resisted the tugging. "Are they part of the test?"

"No. But we might be part of their test. If I'm reading right, we will not be able to defeat him."

"But you're Fae. And I'm Lord Lexie."

The Fae made a sound of frustration. "I don't know how much clearer I can make this. You are not understanding me, yet I'm speaking in a perfectly zigzag way that you creatures seem to prefer."

"I understand. But I'm not leaving. And you cannot compel me to."

The Fae made more sounds of frustration, pulled harder, but Lexie kept resisting, excited to see what they would meet.

Suddenly, the environment changed. A coat of black fell over them, covering the grass and the sky, stretching as far as the eye could see. It darkened everything. The only source of light they had was the Fae's translucent skin that had a muted glow.

"It does not look like our first test." The Fae said. "I believe we have encountered an Eldritch creature, and it has altered our environment."

"So we are trapped."

"I do not know." She made an annoyed sound. "I cannot believe I have managed to avoid this kind of trouble for so long, only to end up in the belly of the beast, as the humans say, with you." She continued talking, ranting more like.

Lexie barely paid attention; she was still looking around. "Where is it? There is nothing to fight."

"This is not the type of thing that you fight physically, Lord Lex-EE. I thought I told you as much before."

"No, you didn't." The Fae had told a long story that might have had that as the intent, but Lexie had already blocked it out before she got to the major point.

Lexie wasn't worried, though. If the creature was Eldritch, she could probably connect with it.

Lexie closed her eyes and reached out psychically. She had to probe for some time before she sensed its general location, and as she got closer, she felt it whisper into her mind. You dare?

"Yes," she responded, aloud and in her head. "I am Lord Lexie."

You whelp. You should know how old and powerful I am. How treacherous. You should tremble and grovel before me so I do not kill you.

Lord Lexie trembled and groveled before no one. She didn't care what he was saying, and she got straight to the point. "I want to kill you. Show yourself."

The creature paused and chuckled darkly. You must be Naem's spawn. I can sense it. Only he would be so audacious as to trespass in the Great One's territory and threaten to kill them.

"I will kill Naem, too. After I kill you."

The creature laughed again. When Lord Neqal told me of your existence, I was not sure what to expect. A half-human Eldritch. What a weak, fragile little thing. So stupid. So bold.

"Tell Neqal that I will kill him as well." Lexie thought about it. "On second thought, you might not get to pass on that message. Because you will die now."

The Eldritch didn't reply.

Suddenly, the Fae beside her made a sound. Lexie opened her eyes and saw that a hole had split through the dark, like opening the mouth of the abyss.

Out of it came…

Lexie.

She frowned.

It was a creature that looked like her, or what she remembered looking like. It had entirely black pupils, but it had her petite build, and it was even wearing the same clothes that she'd worn when she'd first entered the dungeon, with her school robe and everything.

It stood there, staring menacingly at them. Then a smile spread across its face.

The Fae's hands tightened around Lexie's wrist as she said, "I believe I know what this creature is."

"What is it?"

"It is a Guaptyl, an Old One guarded by Eldritch Lord Neqal. A creature of immense pride and power that alters reality. It has mirroring abilities that take your attributes and make them better. It is a creature of immense power. We are in a lot of trouble."

Another hole opened, and another Lexie stepped out. This one was larger, more grotesque-looking, but with sinewy muscles all over its arms and legs. It looked like it would crush Lexie in one swoop.

A hole next to that one also opened, and a Lexie popped out. Lexie no longer knew what beauty was, but she got the feeling that this creature was more beautiful than her and had more beauty than anything that he'd ever seen.

More holes.

More Lexies, all different variations, and all better than her in one way or another.

Lexie realized that this might be a problem. She'd been confident she could defeat the creature, but she didn't know about defeating herself.

Did the other Lexies have her willpower, too, her drive to win? If so, this would be a fight that would never end.

But that might be fun.

"This cannot be a test," the Fae said, her hands still gripping Lexie's with all he nerves showing fear. "It is not fair."

"Life is not fair," Lexie said. "Only the strong deserve to survive."

"This is nothing at all like any of the first tests we have passed. I will not be able to help you."

"Do you have no magic?"

"Of course I do. The Fae are the most versatile of all the magic users. I have more magic types than a human can even fathom."

"So why will you not use it?"

"I'm not sure any of them will be useful here," she admitted bashfully. "Most of my magic revolves around tea-making and weaving, and I don't suppose our new friends here would like a hot beverage or a new robe."

The one in the center, the first Lexie called out a battle cry. Then they all charged.

***

To make a golem, one needed four things:

Material. The earliest golems were made out of earth, then metal, then flesh, and now pure, unrefined chaos. The last method, Aiden knew, was how the Alchemist made golems that were pretty much indetectable from humans, golems that practically thought and acted for themselves without even knowing that they were only tools for their owners.

The second thing needed was essence. It needed a life source from somewhere, needed a real living being to be imprinted on it. Much like with creature cards, the being would act as the controlling 'soul'.

Then, they needed a magic source. With chaos-made golems, the chaos could act as a magic source, but it needed to be stabilized and refined through pathways such that it didn't just go off the rails and do what it wanted. This took the most time and knowledge when creating it.

Finally, the golem needed an activator or a binder that would complete the process.

The problem was that all these things were damn near impossible to find, especially legally.

Aiden was currently in the District 4 underground black market, looking for some of the items.

He walked towards the black, dilapidated building that reached into the coal-stained sky. It was empty on the outside, but inside were mages, most of them cult members and demonists who dabbled in black magic.

When he put his hand on the door handle, he immediately felt the heat signature that registered him as an uninvited guest. It would alert the security protocol to capture and/or kill him.

They arrived immediately.

"You're in the wrong place, sir," a sinister voice whispered behind him. "And it's not your lucky day at all."

Aiden turned to find two cloaked figures in black, looming menacingly over him.

He pointed at one of them and blasted him with a force that flung him through the air, nearly a mile away. Rather than let him crash, Aiden hung him there, contained in a forcefield, as he regarded the other man.

The other stood there, in shocked silence.

Before he could attack, Aiden moved a single finger, and it seized his entire body up, petrifying him. "Take me to Magnus."