[ —Cypher Card Info Trade—
Name: Dia Laos
Race: Human
Gender: Female (♀)
Age: (Censored)
Health: Healthy
Gioncore: Peck-grade (Censored)
Grim Deck: Legendary (Censored)
Grim Cypher: Word Will
Your words embody your will and intent, letting you communicate by any means with all things and effortlessly persuade those with weaker will than you.
i) Meta-Lingual: Grimlock can intuitively understand, translate, and communicate in any language—spoken, written, digital, or unknown, while understanding the underlying logic that makes it work.
ii) Divine Disclosure: Grimlock can converse and command all things—living, dead, or inanimate—so long as your/ its will is strong enough to reach and hear it/ you.
iii) Enchanted Wordsmith: Grimlock can manipulate every aspect and attribute of your words written or spoken to your whim.
Note:
i) Grim cypher's effect will vary with Grimlock's mental strength and will.
↑↓
Name: Crayon V. Wyatt
Race: Human
Gender: Male (♂)
Age: 19 years, 1 month, 26 days
Health: Malnourished
Gioncore: None
Grim Deck: Latent (2/54)
Grim Cypher: Fateless
You have no fate of your own and can temporarily mirror another's Grim Cypher, if identified and recorded in the Fate Index.
i) Fate Index: An index to record identified Grim Cypher to mirror later.
ii) False Fate: You can reveal a Grim Cypher of your choosing from Fate Index as your Grim Cypher instead of your true one.
Note:
i) A Grim Deck can contain only one Grim Cypher, which is etched onto the back of all fifty-two cards in the deck.
ii) Cards in a Grim Deck are divided as major and minor cards. Major cards are bound to and grow with Grimlock. Minor cards aren't bound to Grimlock and are tradable.]
…
[ — Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < Word Will > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
…
Back in the guest room, I caught sight of my Grim Cypher reflected in the mirror, illuminating within my pupils. It resembled a miniature black hole—liquid-gold swirls stretched across a midnight-black backdrop, circling a central void like an accretion disk. When I moved my eyes, the golden lines twisted and flowed inward, mimicking light being drawn toward an inescapable center.
At that moment, I instinctively understood the full extent of my Grim Cypher's capabilities—and just how absurdly overpowered it and its auxiliary effects truly were. Fate Report in particular was outrageous, granting me the ability to glimpse another's fate. I wanted to test these abilities immediately, but I held back, wary that using them before I condensed my Gioncore might drain my life force.
Knowing exactly how dangerous and unbalanced my Grim Cypher was, I used False Fate to forge a fabricated Cypher Card and traded it with City Commander Dia. I altered Fate to Grim Cypher, since a Grim Cypher was inherently part of one's fate and well within acceptable parameters—after all, countless Grimlocks could replicate another's Grim Cypher. This allowed me to shield myself while simultaneously recording a powerful Grim Cypher in my Fate Index.
…
After the Cypher Card information was exchanged and my G-book distributed, City Commander Dia reviewed the materials in silence, betraying no reaction. Seeing this, the other city leaders shook their heads and, one by one, initiated Cypher Card information trades. Since City Commander Dia had accepted my proposal without criticism, none of them dared voice any objections.
With a polite smile, I accepted each exchange, shared my G-book with all of them, and offered my thanks—Chief Grim-Tech Director Margaret Mitchell included. After all, if not for her earlier stunt, none of them would have shown such interest in my cypher card. She might not care about the prestige of her rank, but others clearly did, especially the City Commander. I believed this was the Commander's way of making it up to me for her subordinate's rudeness.
[Grimlock Col D. Blade's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
[— Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < White Arms > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
"Thank you for your patronage, Deputy City Commander Blade."
…
[Grimlock Mark Payne's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
[— Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < Glass Eye > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
"Thank you for your patronage, Deputy Grimgate Commander Payne."
…
[Grimlock Harrison Hawthorne's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
[— Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < Dream Engine > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
"Thank you for your patronage, Chief Research Director Hawthorne."
….
[Grimlock Ethan Scott's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
[— Fateless —
You have discovered Grim Cypher < Vibro Domain > and recorded it in the Fate Index.]
"Thank you for your patronage, Chief Medical Director Scott."
…
[Grimlock Margaret Mitchell's Grim ID saved in your Grim Web community.]
"Thank you for your patronage, Chief Grim-tech Director Mitchell."
…
As they went through my Cypher Card information, every leader could not help but take a second glance at me, finally understanding why I had made such a proposal. They didn't like the taste of being tricked, but had no grounds to complain, since City Commander Dia had done the same. At the very least, most of them attempted to conceal their dissatisfaction. Chief Grim-Tech Director Mitchell, however, openly glared at me before returning to skim through my G-book like the others.
The G-book itself was only a few pages long. With their superhuman capabilities, it took them less than half a minute to read it from cover to cover. Compared to the Grim sutras and mantras they had memorized, this was nothing.
"So you believe it was your emotional investment in your breakfast that made it worthy of serving as Grimmyth's tribute," Commander Dia said, speaking only after confirming that the others had finished reading.
"Yes, Commander. I cannot stress how much that grilled corn cob and potato, bought with the last of my savings, meant to me at that moment—especially after everything I had been through over the past few days," I replied with a nod. I avoided going into further detail, unwilling to repeat what I had already written in the G-book and make it sound rehearsed or insincere.
"I believe that by accepting the grilled corn cob and potato as my tribute, Grimmyth was actually accepting the emotions attached to them. There are Grim Cyphers capable of using emotion as energy, converting them into gion, etc. Because of that, I think it is highly likely Grimmyth wanted my emotions at that moment, not the grilled corn cob and potato themselves."