Watching a new duelist learn the rules of card magic is the most exciting thing ever! You get to see them pull off their first card combo, and you witness that twinkle in their eye. The one that says WOW, look at what I finally did. That is until you counter their combo with a disrupt that combats their combo and destroys them. It never gets old. There is no limit to the number of combos one can pull off, only the limitation of your cards and your mind.

  -An unknown duelist in the pursuit of power

  Cyrus

  When Cyrus came to, he had a massive headache. He was disoriented, but able to stand up. He took inventory of his surroundings and, to his surprise, Cyrus found himself on a beautiful beach. The water was bright blue, and the sand was pure white. While the place seemed too pretty to be dangerous, Cyrus remained on full alert. Not only that, he had no idea what had happened to his friends. His only wish was that Harlow and Tera didn’t get dragged into whatever or wherever he was; If Xander were to be believed. Cyrus’s thoughts were interrupted by an intrusion, one that overtook his mind and eyes. The words and letters appeared simultaneously.

  Loading User data…

  Creating User Profile…

  Welcome, Cyrus, to the Realm of Gods.

  Anchor point attached.

  [A Duelist may use Anchor Point at any time unless a Monster Hunt or a Duel is in progress. Please note that an Ancher Point can only attach to three Users or Duelists. The Duelist must play the Anchor Point card from his or her utility bag. Cannot be a User to play the Anchor Point card.]

  “Utility bag,” Cyrus glanced down at his body. His clothes had changed, and he had a belt that now held his blue cyberpunk-like jeans. His tank top was tan and plain. “Definitely not the clothes I came here in,” Cyrus noted.

  Duelist status, Unlinked.

  [Must link with a major or minor deity for the System to recognize a User as a Duelist. While User can perform Monster Hunt, User can only duel with other Users or NDCs (non-duelist characters). The User must Link to be recognized by the System.]

  “How the hell do I Link?” Cyrus asked the System. However, there was no answer. The System continued to give an explanation, not caring if Cyrus understood.

  “If this is a tutorial of some kind, this has got to be the worst one I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve played a lot of games,” Cyrus mocked. If whatever was in charge wasn’t going to help, he had to take matters into his own hands. Cyrus walked the beach while the System dumped more information into his brain. At least this isn’t as complicated as Emblem Duel, He thought.

  Please pick a Structure Deck. All inhabitants must have a Structure Deck at a minimum. Any refusal to do so will result in System deactivation.

  [Decks]

  Destiny of the Noob

  Survivalist Strikes

  Overly Complexed Magician

  Cyrus saw the choices before him. At first glance, he disregarded the first deck. He sure as hell didn’t want to start with any deck that had the work noob in it. Cyrus was sure of how these things worked, and he wasn’t getting tricked into wielding a brick deck—even if he didn’t fully understand the world yet. While the System didn’t hold his hand, Cyrus thought in his mind's eye and mentally grabbed the Overly Complexed Magician deck.

  User selected Overly Complexed Magician.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  User profile complete.

  Loading data…

  [Cyrus El-Gamal]

  [Level 0 User]

  [Guardian Class: Not linked]

  [Hit Points: 10]

  [Title: User]

  [Duelist Rank: Not recognized]

  [Duelist Type: Defensive]

  [Deck: Overly Complexed Magician]

  [Deck Portfolio: Not recognized]

  [Card Shards: Not recognized]

  [Souls: Not recognized]

  Cyrus looked over his status, or rather, what he pondered to be player stats. He thought it was similar to an RPG if it were based around cards; which he thought was weird. “Alright, let’s see the deck,” Cyrus wanted to know what he was working with.

  “Show me my deck!” Cyrus shouted. But nothing happened. “Well, that’s not cool, not only am I talking to myself on some kind of island, but I thought I had this whole thing figured out.”

  He thought about wanting to look at his deck, and Cyrus finally got his answer. A list of twelve cards populated in front of his very eyes.

  [Deck List]

  [Overly Complexed Magician]

  [Blight Magician]

  [Feeble Wizard]

  [Red Wizard]

  [Grey Wizard]

  Suddenly, as Cyrus was reading the fifth card in his deck, the earth shook violently. Cyrus glanced over and the words in front of him vanished. Instead, he saw something break through the water and took to the sky. A black creature—furiously heading his way. It appeared to be a dragon. The aftershock of the wave crashed into the beach. While it wasn’t harmful, it did get Cyrus wet; however, the dragon appeared that it wanted to harm him. New words came to Cyrus’s mind and eyes.

  Monster Hunt Engaged.

  User Mana Activated.

  Defeat monster to earn rewards.

  Cannot disengage.

  How the hell am I supposed to destroy this monster, why isn’t this freaking turn-based. Damnit, I’m so dead,” Cyrus screamed as the monster tried scratching him with its talons. He rolled out of the way. Now that the monster was closer, he realized that the dragon wasn’t as large as it first appeared. The creature circled the sky, getting ready for another attack against him. As Cyrus looked up at the creature something appeared. He read it quickly.

  [Black Dragon Lvl 1]

  [Class: Draconic]

  [Basic creature]

  [Power Rating: 1000]

  [Defense Rating: 1000]

  [Intellect: 3]

  [Basic Summon: None, must be leveled up.]

  [The Black Dragon takes to the sky and believes it owns the territory. While the creature can pose a threat to NDPs and subpar Users, the Black Dragon is mostly considered a nuisance on its own. Proceed with caution if grouped together, Black Dragons are known to fuse together.]

  Cyrus swiped away the information and took a deep breath—power reverberated throughout his body. As he focused, a crude wooden shield materialized, along with basic armor. He must have looked like a discount knight, fighting a lame dragon. Cyrus didn’t feel great about reading the creature description. The dragon came in for another attack. Cyrus rolled away again, but tried hitting the creature with his shield; however, the dragon was too fast. It roared in anger.

  “Why the fuck don’t I have a sword since I’m not using my deck,” Cyrus shouted. He found his answer in his off-hand. He was wearing a black bracelet that had a bright green gem. And the gem was glowing, almost shaking. Cyrus reached into the gem with his mind's eye, and five names populated the bottom of his vision. Thankfully, it didn't block anything, but Cyrus didn’t have enough time to read them all, the dragon was coming in for another attack. He yelled the first name that appeared.

  “Blight Magician!”

  Instead of rolling away, Cyrus stood proud behind his shield. “Please, let this work,” Cyrus prayed.

  A warm burst of energy emitted from Cyrus’s shield, and quickly, a white creature wearing a top hat, trench coat, and appearing like a messed-up clown—shot out from Cyrus’s shield. The clown-like monster met the dragon in the air and bashed it with its white staff. The clown-like creature then took its arm and snapped the neck of the dragon. If that wasn’t enough, the Blight Magician threw the dragon to the ground, which crashed to the earth, and the Magician shot a pure white burst of energy—the dragon disintegrated right before Cyrus. The Blight Magician landed on the ground, smiling at Cyrus; at least what he thought was a smile, it was difficult to tell. The creature tipped its hat towards Cyrus, and the Blight Magician returned to Cyrus’s shield.

  Monster hunt complete.

  User victory.

  [Rewards]

  Your life.

  Blight Magician level up. [Lvl 2]

  Black Dragon Lvl 1 sent to Deck Portfolio. Now can add to deck.

  “What the fuck just happened,” Cyrus collapsed to the ground. He was tired, and now that he was on the ground, the sand felt nice and warm. That was until a large shadow blocked the sun, then Cyrus heard an unsettling voice.

  “Your mana is so powerful; we can all smell it from miles away.”

  Soul Shot Skirmisher | Royal Road

  The map is on your skin and the hunt is on.

  Welcome players, to Celestia!

  It's your lucky day! You get to be the newest residents of this little slice of heaven.

  This is a world filled with peoples of all races, monsters, magic and even the odd dragon or two.

  How great does that sound? It’s literally every nerd’s dream come true right?

  So, what’s the catch?

  You’re being hunted!