Akashic_Tales & VIPER SCANS
CardMaster: Awakening the Mythic Codex
Chapter 3: Supernatural Awakening, Chaos Emerges
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Ethan had returned to his room.
The first thing he did was examine his hands. His slender fingers were completely clean, without a speck of dirt, and his palms were unharmed.
The foot he had sprained in the game could now move normally.
This meant that injuries sustained in the game wouldn't carry over to reality.
But what about everything else that had happened?
Thinking of this, Ethan tried calling out, "Status panel."
To his surprise, the panel he had seen in the game actually appeared before his eyes.
The Mythic Codex in his mind also remained.
This meant that the supernatural abilities gained from the game were truly reflected in his physical body, but injuries weren't?
After organizing his thoughts, Ethan removed his down jacket and put the knife back in its place.
He opened his phone, intending to check the three major forums to see what was happening.
But then he glanced at the time. 00:01:30
The time hadn't changed?
In the Realm Gate, his battle with the rabbit had taken at least a few minutes.
This made Ethan even more eager to see what was happening with other people.
[I encountered monsters in the Realm Gate]
[Soul Card quality classifications (incomplete)]
[Let's welcome the arrival of the supernatural era!!]
[OMG, look at my supernatural ability!-]
The three major forums were exploding with activity. Ethan browsed through the posts that interested him.
"Hello everyone. After waking up, I surveyed many friends and compiled statistics. The quality rankings I've discovered so far, from lowest to highest, are as follows."
"Common, Distinguished, Rare, Epic!"
No Mythic?
After memorizing these four quality levels, Ethan closed that post and moved to the next one.
This post contained a video. When he opened it, he saw a person wearing a mask and glasses, almost completely concealing their identity, excitedly telling the camera, "Guys, supernatural powers are real!!"
As they spoke, flames appeared on their hand, growing larger and smaller according to their commands.
The most upvoted comment was asking the poster about the quality of their Soul Card.
But this person wasn't foolish, they deleted the post shortly afterward.
Show off and run.
Ethan silently reported the post, then looked at others.
But it was still too soon after the event.
Useful information was scarce; he'd need to wait a while and let things develop.
Just then, a message popped up on his phone.
"Students, please study at home for now. Class schedules will be announced later. Additionally, please minimize going outside, and do not use your newly acquired supernatural abilities for illegal activities."
Ethan replied with a simple acknowledgment.
Other classmates were also responding.
The class president, Lance Blue, even posted a video.
In the video, Lance addressed the camera, saying, "Classmates, what quality Soul Cards did you awaken?"
Then he proceeded to lift a 100kg barbell from the gym with one hand.
"My ability significantly increases my strength."
"This supernatural power is really—"
Ethan closed the video at that point.
He turned to a video from a spiky-haired classmate.
"My Soul Card is pretty decent too."
As he spoke, the spiky-haired student used chopsticks to catch a fly without even looking at it.
After watching for about half an hour, Ethan had seen all sorts of abilities, all stemming from their respective Soul Cards.
But Ethan noticed something crucial.
All these people had only one ability.
So his Mythic Codex with its 108 pages...
It seemed like it would help him progress more easily?
It looked like his plans needed to change.
From academic excellence to Cardmaster excellence!
After organizing his thoughts, Ethan turned off his phone and went straight to bed, turning off the lights.
According to his usual routine, he should have been asleep by 11 PM.
Now he had stayed up almost two hours later.
He completely ignored the messages in the class group chat that kept mentioning him.
Early the next morning, Ethan opened his phone.
He found an explosion of messages.
The most active discussion wasn't in the class group chat.
It was in a part-time job group chat he had joined previously.
Ethan first got up to wash and then made a bowl of porridge. While waiting for it to cook, he scrolled to the top of the chat history and began reading.
"Holy crap, the two households above mine are fighting."
"Damn, I can even hear explosions. I need to get out of here for a while."
Below were messages from group members urging him to provide updates.
Scrolling down, about half an hour later, the person finally responded to everyone by posting a video.
The video showed the person standing in a green area, pointing the camera at a building.
It was about seventeen or eighteen stories high, with one apartment on fire, billowing thick smoke.
Then the camera captured someone opening a window and jumping from that height. The camera followed the person as they fell.
With a loud "Thud-", the person hit the ground with tremendous force.
Incredibly, they got up and ran away as if nothing had happened.
This caused Ethan to pause the video and zoom in to examine the details carefully.
After watching it seven or eight times, he noticed something.
At the moment of impact, the person's skin had turned completely white.
"Iron Man??"
Ethan listened to the landing sound several more times before reaching this conclusion.
But the video was only halfway through, so he continued watching.
The person filming saw "Iron Man" running toward them, so they quickly moved to the side and crouched down, continuing to film with their raised phone.
After the person ran past, the camera refocused on the building.
The apartment that had been clearly visible with flames was now extinguished?
And a long-haired figure was standing at the window, raising both hands toward the fleeing "Iron Man."
Just as Ethan was wondering what this person intended to do...
Flames began to appear on their hands, gradually coalescing into a fireball about half a meter in diameter, which they hurled toward "Iron Man."
The camera quickly followed the fireball's trajectory.
However, after traveling about ten meters, the fireball dissipated in mid-air.
The video ended there.
Group members began flooding the chat.
"Damn, these two people's supernatural abilities are so powerful!!"
"Hey, did you all awaken supernatural powers too??"
"Idiot, don't you know everyone over 16 years old worldwide can see it?"
"Compared to them, my supernatural ability is so weak."
Ethan glanced through these messages but found no particularly useful information, so he skipped ahead.
Until the person who filmed the video posted again.
"Damn, the Federation people arrived so quickly. They cornered Iron Man at the entrance, and I even heard gunshots. Not sure what's happening."
"Crap, that fire-summoning woman burned down my home."
"My God, it sounds like the police are fighting with that woman upstairs. I heard gunshots."
"Seems like the woman is gone. The paramedics came and covered her with a sheet."
Ethan stopped reading at this point.
He got up to serve his porridge and enjoyed it with a small dish of pickled vegetables.
This kind of incident was just something to observe casually, though it did prompt him to double-check that his doors and windows were securely locked.
But it was evident that the Federation's response threshold seemed to have been raised significantly.
In the past, arguments and fights rarely escalated to the point where guns were used.
Buzz buzz~
His phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from Noah.
"Drake, check out this website right away. It's absolutely mind-blowing!!!"