The room was too quiet.
It wasn't a normal silence. It was the kind of quiet that happens right before a storm hits. It felt heavy, pressing down on everyone's chests. It felt like something bad was already in the room, waiting.
No one was talking. No one even looked at each other. They were all staring at the floor, or the walls, or their own shaking hands.
Everyone knew.
Today was not just an exam. Today was survival.
**"Card Master Selection will begin in five minutes."**
The voice came from the speakers above. It was cold. It had no emotion. It sounded like a machine counting down to a funeral.
When the voice spoke, the tension snapped.
Some students lowered their heads, praying to gods they hadn't spoken to in years. Some closed their eyes, trying to stop the tears. Some were shaking so hard their teeth clicked together.
No one felt ready. No one *could* be ready for this.
Because everyone knew the truth of the Selection.
Out of 10,000 students standing in these halls across the city… only 10 would be selected.
And the rest?
The rest wouldn't just go home and try again next year. Most of them would not even make it out of the room alive.
Last year's result was still a nightmare that stayed in everyone's mind.
90% died.
Not "failed." Not "disqualified." **Died.**
The world was cruel. Even among the few survivors who didn't die, only a tiny handful actually earned the title.
**Card Master.**
It was a title that changed everything. If you got it, you won at life.
Money? You'd have more than you could spend.
Security? You'd be protected by the strongest armies.
A perfect life? You'd live in the clouds, looking down at the struggle below.
It was like the ultimate government job, but a thousand times better. A five-star life. No fear. No hunger. No more struggle.
But the price was blood.
To get that life, you had to prove your worth inside a place where death was the only thing that was normal.
A boy stood near the back of the crowd.
**Arthur Kael.**
His face was calm. If you looked at him, you might think he wasn't afraid. But his eyes were different. They were sharp, moving, and full of a strange light.
He was thinking.
*Another world… same system… same pressure.*
Arthur wasn't like the others. He had a secret buried deep in his mind. He had memories—memories that didn't belong to this world.
In his "first" life, he hadn't fought monsters or drawn cards. He had lived in a world of technology. He had played games. He had read thousands of stories. He had watched legendary characters perform impossible feats.
To everyone else here, the concepts of "skills" and "powers" were new and terrifying.
To Arthur? Everything was still inside him. Clear. Alive. Every strategy, every overpowered character, every legendary weapon from his past life's fiction.
He wasn't just a student. He was a library of a world that didn't exist here.
**"Portal opening."**
The air in the center of the room began to scream.
The space in front of the students broke. It didn't just open; it shattered like glass. A dark hole appeared, swirling with purple and black energy.
It looked wrong. It looked like the world itself was turning upside down. It felt like a mouth waiting to swallow them whole.
Someone whispered, their voice cracking with terror: "The Upside Down…"
That was the name of the trial zone. A place where the laws of physics didn't matter. A place where no one could help you.
No internet. No connection. No teachers to save you if things went wrong. No escape.
There was only one way to leave that darkness.
You had to create your card.
And that was the hardest part of being a human in this world.
The world did not give you cards. You didn't find them in chests or buy them at a shop.
You had to draw them from your own heart.
But there was a legend—a name whispered in the dark corners of the card-making world.
**Abyss, the Card Maker.**
They said Abyss could craft cards that defied the laws of the world. They said Abyss didn't just draw from a heart, but from the void itself. Most students here only knew the standard methods, the safe paths. They were terrified because they lacked the imagination of a true creator.
But Arthur had studied the whispers of Abyss. He knew that to make a card that mattered, you had to be willing to look into the darkness and not blink.
The Selection process forced your soul to manifest. The stronger your connection to your own "myth," the stronger your card.
But there was a trap.
If your will was weak, or if your heart was filled with nothing but fear… your card would break during the process.
And when a soul-card breaks, the person breaks with it.
Some lost their minds, turning into empty shells. Some lost their lives instantly, their hearts stopping the moment the card shattered.
Because the card was not just power. It was your soul made into a weapon.
The line began to move.
Students started walking toward the portal. One by one, they disappeared into the black hole.
Slow steps. Heavy breaths.
Usually, in a crowd of thousands, there is pushing and shoving. Not today. No one rushed. No one wanted to be first.
Because deep down… everyone was terrified that the moment they stepped through, their life was over.
Arthur watched a girl in front of him. She was crying silently, her shoulders shaking. She stepped into the portal and was gone in a flash of dark light.
Arthur looked at his own hand. He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
In a world where you draw power from your "inner stories," most people had nothing. They had boring lives, small dreams, and no imagination. They tried to draw "Sword" or "Shield" and failed because their connection was weak.
But Arthur? He had a multiverse of stories in his head.
A small smile appeared on his face. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a gambler who knew he had the best hand at the table.
"A world where cheating is impossible because it's based on the soul…" he whispered to himself. "Good."
As Arthur stepped forward, the world twisted.
He didn't feel his feet hit the ground anymore. Gravity disappeared.
Darkness swallowed everything.
There was no sound. No light. No cold or heat. It was like being underwater in a sea of ink.
It was just him and his thoughts.
Then—
A cold, blue screen ignited in the darkness, hovering right in front of his eyes.
**[Deck Creator System Activated]**
**[Soul Synchronization: 100%]**
**[User: Arthur Kael]**
**[Instruction: Draw your first card. Focus on a memory, a concept, or a legend. The world will judge your truth.]**
Arthur took a deep breath.
This was it. The moment that would decide if he died as a nameless student or lived as a god.
His heart started beating faster. It wasn't the fast beat of fear. It was the frantic, electric pulse of excitement.
For the first time since he had been reborn in this world, he felt alive.
"So this is where it begins…"
He slowly raised his hand into the empty space.
He didn't think about "swords." He didn't think about "fire." Those were too simple. Too weak.
He went deeper.
He reached into the memories of his past life. He thought about the characters who broke the rules. The ones who stood against heavens. The ones who turned the impossible into a joke.
He remembered the battles that shook universes. The heroes who never gave up. The villains who had reasons to burn it all down.
Everything he had ever loved, every story that had made his blood boil with hype—he pulled it all to the front of his mind.
He wasn't going to draw a normal card. He was going to draw something this world had never seen. He was going to craft something that would make even Abyss, the Card Maker, look twice.
"If I fail… I die," Arthur said aloud. His voice echoed in the void.
He looked into the endless darkness, his eyes glowing with a sudden, sharp light. The system screen began to flicker and spark. The energy around his hand turned from a dull grey to a blinding, golden white.
He smiled. A wild, dangerous look.
"But if I win…"
His eyes sharpened until they looked like blades.
"I break this world."
His hand moved through the air, tracing a pattern that didn't exist in this reality.
The void began to scream. The system started throwing errors, unable to handle the sheer scale of the "story" Arthur was trying to pull out of his soul.
**[Warning: Concept too vast!]**
**[Warning: Soul pressure reaching critical levels!]**
Arthur ignored the warnings. He gripped the light.
The first card… was about to be drawn.
And the world of the Card Masters was never going to be the same.
**[Card Construction Commencing...]
[Theme: The One Who Stands Above All.]**
**[Final Result: ???]**