With Big Big Wolf's help over the past two days, Ethan's card-making vision had sharpened considerably.
The deck wasn't perfect yet — he still had gaps to fill and synergies to test — but the core was in place. He had a strategy. He had a direction. That was more than most people could say.
Sunday afternoon, he slung his backpack over one shoulder and headed for the train station.
Bayshore Tech was in a different city, about two hours out by Amtrak. Ethan found a window seat, plugged in his earbuds out of habit — then remembered he didn't have any music on this phone — and pulled up the Card Master forums on his browser instead.
A few headlines caught his eye:
"Registration for the Bayshore City School Card Master Competition closing soon — 137 teams already registered..."
"BREAKING: First Tier 3 Gold card in THREE YEARS. This month's Card Making Leaderboard updated — Uzumaki Naruto takes the #1 spot!!"
"Rift exploration mission at Nightfall Manor recruiting Card Master teams. Tier 2 and above. Generous rewards..."
Ethan tapped into the leaderboard. Naruto was still sitting at #1 for Tier 3. Big Big Wolf held #3 for Tier 1.
He'd looked up the monthly ranking rewards earlier — they were solid. Enough to cover living expenses and card-making supplies for a while. Once the month closed out and the rewards hit, money wouldn't be as much of an issue.
The train pulled into the station at six. A quick ride-share later, and Ethan was walking through the gates of Bayshore Institute of Technology.
The Card Maker major dorms were on the north side of campus — a relatively new building with double rooms and decent amenities. Nothing fancy, but compared to the original Ethan's cramped apartment, it felt almost luxurious.
Card-making courses started in high school here, but you couldn't actually create cards until the System awakened at eighteen. After six months of trying, most people discovered they couldn't reliably produce even a Tier 1 card, and quietly transferred to other programs.
The ones who made it into a university-level Card Making major could at least consistently craft Tier 1 cards. That alone put them in a small minority of the population.
Ethan swiped his student ID and pushed through the dorm room door.
"Holy crap — Ethan, you're finally back!"
A guy sprawled across the opposite bed, phone in hand, shot upright so fast his phone nearly launched off the mattress.
This was Jake Porter. Ethan's roommate.
The two of them had been classmates since Riverside Prep and had always gotten along. Getting assigned to the same dorm at Bayshore Tech was either lucky coincidence or the universe's idea of a joke.
Ethan tossed his backpack onto his bed. "How was your week?"
"Don't even get me started." Jake swung his legs off the bed with a grimace. "Boring as hell. There's literally nothing to do here except study card theory and practice card-making. It's the same thing every single day." He perked up. "What about you? How was your week of solitary confinement? You make anything good?"
"It was fine. Made a few things." Ethan opened his locker and started unpacking.
"A few?" Jake's eyebrows shot up. "What system? Arthurian? Or did you try High Fantasy again?"
"Some new stuff," Ethan said vaguely. "Hey — did you sign up for the tournament?"
"Obviously." Jake walked over. "Signed up for both solo and team. For the team bracket, I'm riding Sophie Harris's coattails. Her squad's still short one person — you want in?"
"Sophie Harris?" The name didn't click immediately. Ethan dug through the inherited memories.
Right — she'd been a classmate at both Riverside Prep and Bayshore Tech. The original Ethan's relationship with her was lukewarm at best. Friendly enough, but not close.
Jake clearly meant well, but Ethan shook his head. "I'm not really looking to do the team thing right now."
The team bracket was 4v4. His deck was strong, but he couldn't call it dominant — not yet. The people at this school weren't pushovers. He was fairly confident he could win most 1v1s, but team dynamics were a different beast.
"Come on, man." Jake leaned in with the desperation of someone who'd already told his team he had a fourth lined up. "You and me — the Dynamic Duo of Riverside Prep. Together, we are unstoppable."
"That was a high school nickname, Jake."
"And it was earned. Plus — Sophie just developed a Tier 2 Purple card. Healing and damage output. It's legit."
That got Ethan's attention. "A Tier 2 Purple?"
In the low-tier card scene, Tier 2 was the most competitive bracket by far. Eight of the top ten cards on the current leaderboard were Purple. Tier 1 only had five Purple cards total — Big Big Wolf among them — and Tier 3 had just three.
"What card?" Ethan asked.
"Join the team and I'll tell you."
"Let me think about it."
It wasn't that he had anything against the team competition. It was more that... well. The original Ethan had been a shut-in. Social interaction was draining. Especially with girls.
Old habits died hard, even in a new body.
"Stop thinking and just say yes. Come on — I'm buying dinner. We'll talk on the way." Jake grabbed his jacket and physically shoved Ethan — who had barely finished unpacking — back toward the door.
"The Dynamic Duo rides again! We are going to be number one at this school!"
Jake talked nonstop the entire walk. Campus gossip, Card Master news, the works. Which professor had developed a new deck archetype. Which senior had struck it rich running Rift explorations. Which upperclassman girl had been signed to an early contract by a major card-crafting firm.
"Oh — by the way," Jake said suddenly, "you remember Derek Walsh?"
"Yeah. What about him?"
"Dude's been insufferable lately." Jake's lip curled. "He pulled a new Tier 2 Purple card — Storm Blademaster or something. Apparently it's nasty. He was sparring in the training hall last week and racked up a three-match win streak."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Storm Blademaster? Arthurian system?"
"Nah, High Fantasy. His dad's a high-level Card Maker, so he probably got private tutoring." Jake waved dismissively. "Now he's going around recruiting a team, talking about how he's going to lead them to a top-ten finish in the city tournament."
"Why didn't you try to join his team?"
"Join his — are you kidding me?" Jake shot him a look. "You know we don't get along."
They arrived at a hotpot place a few blocks off campus, grabbed a window table, and ordered a split pot — spicy on one side, mild on the other.
While they waited for the broth to heat up, Jake tried again. "Seriously though. What did you make this week? Give me something."
Ethan considered it. There wasn't much reason to hide Big Big Wolf — the card was already on the public leaderboard. He reached into his card case and pulled it out.
"No way." Jake's eyes went wide. "A Purple card." He snatched it up, then glanced at the leaderboard on his phone. "Dude — third place?! That's insane."
"Got lucky," Ethan said. "Trying out a new system."
"What system?"
"Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf."
Jake's face went completely blank.
"...What?" He blinked twice. "What the hell is Pleasant Goat?"
Ethan had expected this. Animation in this world was barely an industry. The only cartoons anyone remembered were ancient relics from the early days — stuff that was a hundred years old and had the production quality to prove it.
"You ever watch Looney Tunes as a kid?" he asked.
"Yeah, obviously. Didn't everybody? But that's just — that's a cartoon. You can't make cards from cartoons."
Jake stared at the card face for a long time. The gears were visibly turning.
"Wait. You invented an original story system... based on a cartoon?"
"Yep."
"That's... actually kind of genius." Jake turned the card over, reading the stats. "Any special effects?"
"See for yourself." Ethan slid it across the table.
The System made card info accessible to anyone who held the physical card. You could view stats, abilities, lore — everything. Back when the System first appeared, card theft had been rampant. It wasn't until a Master-tier Card Maker created an entire public security card system that things started to calm down.
Jake studied the card for a minute, then handed it back with a confused expression. "Okay, it reads strong. But what about its combat power? I mean — look at it." He gestured at Big Big Wolf's cartoon face. "It's a wolf in a lab coat. It doesn't exactly scream 'lethal.'"
"Fair point," Ethan said. "In terms of raw combat? Think of it like a regular wolf."
"A regular wolf." Jake stared at him. "That's... really weak, man. A basic Greystone Initiate could probably handle two or three wolves solo. How did a regular wolf get rated Purple?"
Ethan smiled. "Don't worry about that part. Tell me about Sophie's Purple card.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.