Jack is an archetypal son of Calamut—a city undergoing a technical and social revolution. Ambitious and intelligent, he embraces the progress the city has made and the wonders the future seems to hold. His own prospects rely on the quality of his first carding—the moment when otherworldly forces manifest in him abilities of profound power.

In a world routinely ravaged by apocalyptic upheaval, where change is treated as a threat, how will those who wish to buck inevitability respond?

What to expect?

I'm going to focus on characterization and world-building, as I think these facets are what make the story rich for the reader. The narrative starts off slow by LitRPG standards, this is intentional. Establishing stakes is what makes the later payoff more impactful. If you can't happily read through 30 pages without a fight scene, you won't have a great time in the early part of the story. But if you like a slower buildup, characters you start to care about, detailed world-building and then the culmination of all those elements into an intense narrative struggle, you're gonna have a good time.By my own estimation, the first 5ish chapters are a bit rough. I've improved a lot as a writer and intend to polish those up, but if you're feeling uncertainty be aware that it gets significantly smoother past that point.

Strength in the story will come through clever application of card effects, strategic acumen, and occasional use of overwhelming firepower. There won't be anything like 'cheat abilities' or ridiculously overpowered cards on their own. Strong combo's on the other hand…

You'll have to read the story to learn about the specific mechanics of the system, but you should know that it is a veiled system! No stats, or even explicitly described card effects, or physical cards for that matter.

What does persist is the actual mechanics of card deckbuilders: drawing and discarding hands, drafting strong cards over weak ones, optimizing decks, etc. These mechanisms have profound and far-reaching implications for the society that developed around them.

Villains will be smart, threatening, and motivated; just like real life.

To address popular confusion: There is very little parkour past the early chapters. What? Would you have preferred his hobby was cooking?

Updates weekly on Tuesdays 9:15 a.m. PDT. Once I'm done accruing a backlog, this will become more often.

Average Chapter Length: ~2,500-3,000