After a good night’s sleep, Deckard returned to Shell Bay. It felt strangely quiet compared to the chaos of yesterday’s boss hunt.
By the time he logged back in, the sun was high in the sky—a reflection of his mood. He reappeared at the bottom of the sea, the water cool and calm around him, near the same reef where he’d logged out. A nearby player instantly shot him a glare—definitely someone guarding their guild’s territory.
He offered a sheepish wave and kicked off, swimming clear of the wild boss’s spawn zone. He headed toward the reef he’d been using as his temporary base.
As he glanced back, guilds were already gathering for the next appearance of the Turtle Mother in the never-ending grind of Shell Bay. He smirked. He’d pulled off quite the stunt yesterday—he almost felt bad for the guilds still caught in the grind. Almost.
Now was the time to savor the results. Once he was sure no one was watching, he pulled up the two cards he’d captured the night before. One of them belonged to the wild boss.
Turtle Mother
Rarity: Rare
Type: Creature
Affinity: Water
Cost: 3
Points: 2
Effects: Moves all enemy creatures played here this turn into the other lane.
He vividly remembered the very first Terralore match he’d witnessed since joining AstroTerra. Ratu and the other fisherman had been at it, and Ratu had secured the win using this exact card.
No wonder it was the first card chosen by the players who’d traded him the cards to beat Ratu. And now… it was his.
If I’m already winning and I play this in the attacking lane, it’ll be almost impossible to stop.
He turned his attention to the other card—the one that had forced him into this whole convoluted plan.
Triple Psionic Pulse
Rarity: Rare
Type: Skill
Affinity: Wind
Cost: 3
Effects: Send 3 random creatures on the field back to their owner’s hand.
The boss’s telekinetic shockwave translated into a solid Terralore control card—expensive, but undeniably powerful. It was a brutal tempo breaker if the opponent had a full board.
Without wasting another moment, Deckard transferred both cards to his binder.
The usual spectacle kicked off—telekinetic tendrils pulled the cards in, slotting them into place next to the other telekinetic skills and the [Sturdy Turtle] on a blue page.
He frowned as a familiar silhouette phased in alongside them.
Huh?
The Trash-Crushing Turtle manifested again—on the same page.
What?
He blinked, leaning closer.
That turtle’s already part of the underwater junkyard set... isn’t it?
Until now, every card he’d seen belonged strictly to a single set. This was the first he’d encountered that crossed over into another. When he’d first spotted turtles living near Trash Islet, he’d briefly wondered if they belonged to the turtle set instead. But he’d never imagined that a card could belong to both.
The glow faded, and the system flashed with a pair of notifications:
Collection updated:
+10 HP
Congratulations! You’ve captured all the turtles living on Beginner Island.
Your binder cross-references all genetic information, granting you new knowledge of this ecosystem.
You’ve received [Shell Retreat].
Shell Retreat
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trap
Affinity: Water
Cost: 2
Effects: At the counting phase, if your opponent has more points in your defensive lane, transfer all your points to your defensive lane this turn.
Collection updated.
+2 HP
“Good card,” he said immediately.
Being able to shift all his points from attack to defense—after his opponent’s play—could easily save him from a devastating assault.
So far, he’d only collected two other trap cards.
[Seagull Dash] returned a seabird to his hand when targeted by a skill—technically useful, but too situational in practice. He wasn’t planning on running enough seagulls in his deck to justify keeping it.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
[Pinch Point] was more promising, draining one point from each enemy creature in a losing lane for a turn, but the effect felt underwhelming. He hadn’t had the chance to play it in an actual game yet, but since it also shaved points off his own creatures, he didn’t have much faith in it.
This new trap was different. The scenario of having too many creatures committed to attack and barely anything on defense would occur often enough. In those moments, a single card that could shift his entire offense into a full-block defense was priceless.
He filed it away, sensing that he wasn’t done receiving rewards.
You’ve unlocked a new skill: [Telekinetic Reload]
Telekinetic Reload (Uncommon)
After prolonged exposure to telekinetic fields, your brain has adapted, allowing you to retrieve thrown cards using your own mental force.
Skill effects: Active. Pull three cards back to you.
Cost: 5 energy
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Finally—a way to reload my ammo.
He had long needed a more reliable method to recover his cards during a fight. Now, he could push harder in combat, take bigger risks, and set a more aggressive tempo without fear of running dry.
He’d expected a skill like this to appear eventually. He already had [Repository Recharge], which sent the binder into overdrive and produced six extra cards over a minute. This was even better. He could get three throwing cards immediately. The skill had a low cooldown and didn’t cost much energy. He’d be spamming this in fights from now on.
Just as he was about to close the binder, it pulsed again—brighter this time. Deckard hesitated.
“Wait… now what?”
All the completed cards in his binder lit up with that familiar glow. It was the same effect he usually saw upon completing a set.
But I already got the rewards from the turtle set… didn’t I?
The humming stopped, and a new sequence of notifications appeared.
Congratulations! You’ve captured all creatures living along the beaches of Beginner Island.
Your binder cross-references all genetic information, and you obtain new knowledge of this ecosystem.
You’ve received [Turtle Ninja].
You’ve unlocked a new card sleeve: [Sunny Beach].
Collection updated:
+50 HP
“Say what now?”
He hadn’t seen this coming. And what was up with such a large stat increase? 50 HP? And what set was this?
All the cards he’d gathered so far—seagulls, crabs, turtles, starfish, clams, and their skills—weren’t just part of standalone sets. Together, they formed something bigger: an entire ecosystem.
After realizing the Trash-Crushing Turtle belonged to two different sets, it finally made sense. All his sets had been contributing to another collection this whole time: the beaches of Beginner Island.
Deckard immediately checked his new reward: a card sleeve.
On the binder’s first page, a small rectangle depicted a beach lined with coconut trees. He tapped it.
Sunny Beach (Common)
A card sleeve that captures the beauty of the beaches of an island.
Sleeve effects:
+1 attack;
+5 energy;
+0.1 energy regeneration.
Nice!
In Nova Cardia, card sleeves had been purely decorative. Here, they granted extra stats! Given how quickly he’d burn through energy with [Telekinetic Reload], this reward had arrived at the perfect time.
He smiled. His class came with plenty of restrictions—raw stat boosts did nothing for him—so it felt great to discover he could improve his damage output this way.
He tapped the equip button.
Would you like to equip it?
“Yes!”
The cards shimmered briefly, like sunlight rippling across shallow water.
When he flipped over his deck of throwing cards, their plain black backs had transformed into a bright, beachy scene. He flicked the top card with his thumb, admiring the fresh new look.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Deckard turned to the other reward, grabbing the new card—and his jaw dropped.
“Le—legendary!”
He immediately clamped a hand over his mouth, glancing around to ensure no one had overheard him. Reassured he was still alone, he brought the card closer.
Golden letters shimmered on its surface. The artwork featured a humanoid turtle mid-leap, gripping two massive starfish—one in each fin, like throwing blades. The name and art might’ve been ridiculous, but the card’s effects were anything but.
Turtle Ninja
Rarity: Legendary
Type: Fusion creature
Affinity: Water
Cost: 1 + [Turtle] + [Starfish] + [Starfish]
Points: 5
Effects: Creates 2 [Sea Shuriken] cards in the player’s hand. Heals 2.
Sea Shuriken
Type: Token skill
Affinity: Water
Cost: 1
Effects: Destroy 1 random enemy card.
The card was busted. Five points were already solid, but combined with healing and two token skills that could randomly remove enemy threats, it offered outrageous value for its cost.
He tapped the keyword Fusion and read the explanation.
Fusion: A card that requires you to sacrifice specific ally creatures from the field.
He checked the cost again. So, he’d need to discard one card, have a turtle and two starfish already in play, and then sacrifice all three to summon this card.
A steep price—but fair for something this powerful. Unlike regular three-cost cards that could hit the field on turn one, this required setup, clearly marking it as a mid or late-game play. Fusion meant playing smarter, not faster, timing his summons carefully. It added a whole new dimension to deck-building.
Still, it was worth every bit of effort.
He’d never imagined that exploring the game’s starter areas and collecting basic cards would reward him like this. And it gave him 50 HP? That was so much more than all the other cards from the turtle set combined!
Deckard grinned. Now he just had to figure out how to build a deck around it.
But as he studied the card repeatedly, his initial joy began to fade. This was his first legendary card in Terralore—the result of hundreds of hours of effort, of overcoming his shyness to speak with NPCs, forcing himself into close combat, and meticulously planning to snatch elites and even a wild boss from under the noses of other players.
He should have been thrilled, but something inside him held back.
The memory surfaced without warning: the day Andy had shown him his first legendary card in Nova Cardia. Deckard had never even gotten the chance to see Andy play it.
He pressed the card to his chest. It felt warm, the corners still sharp. He cleared his throat. For a long moment, he just sat there, thinking, remembering.
Then he stood and spoke aloud, “You would have liked this game, Andy. Maybe even more than Nova Cardia. There’s so much adventure here. We would’ve had fun together, you and I.”
He didn’t believe Andy could hear him, but saying the words aloud brought a kind of peace. He hadn’t expected this bittersweet ache after finally achieving something he’d worked so hard for. But maybe joy would always be complicated now.
After a final glance at the card, his fingers hesitating slightly, he slid it back to the depository.
Maybe it was the wild boss, the flood of system notifications, or just the legendary card itself. Whatever the reason, he felt like he’d finally crossed his first real hurdle in the new game.
He looked toward the jungle. It was time to uncover whatever waited there—and whoever “they” were, Deckard finally felt ready to face them.
