"Hello sir have you seen a little girl her, she has platinum golden hair that are tied into pigtails and has golden eyes, she was wearing a relatively fancy dress." A man with a long scar across his face asked the hunched back man who seemed to be selling what seemed to be small herbs.
The old man smiled and laughed. "Hohohoh, I have not seen a girl of that description but would you like to buy my herbs, they make good healing."
The scarred man was am adventurer, a tier 3 swordsman by the equipment he had and the aura he gives off. The man smiled. "No thanks but we are thankful for telling us the truth."
The men walked away and old man sighed. Goldie was no officially fully fused with Gold and she has a lot of his memories and inherited a bit of his personality, she has to say her alternate self was quite the eccentric person .
He even had a dream of just owning a shop and living peacefully. At the thought, Goldie sighed. "Hmph, well I'll atleast honor that dream then but I have to cause some chaos for that to happen."
Goldie got off from the stand and decided to enter an alleyway, she needed to quickly find a card she could tattoo on herself to escape the terrible clutches of her family. "My only hope is the gacha huh."
But the problem is that she only has two Hirogems and creating an already existing card blueprint to gain cramp once more made her feel that she was insulting her own pride.
She dispelled the disguise card and placed her arms on her hips, she stared at her hands with her big golden eyes and spoke. "I am Goldie Droyar and I am not a scrap collector, at this moment I'll make my own original card."
As she declared, countless blank cards began to appear all around her, her eyes glowed brighter as she activated her skill, Droyars Card Technique. "I now have the memories of my alternate selfs world and the one of my world, I shall create a worthy card that will make even my family acknowledge me or just give me enough Hirogems."
Goldie was not going to hold back, her mana burst out from her body as she began to work, the blank cards around her all turned to dust until a bright blue one was glowing in front of her. She had used 400 mana to infuse a blank card using her family's secret technique.
Her fingers which were a little bit long and sharp and even perfectly clean, clenched into her palms, drawing blood from herself.
The blood began to flow from her palm like tiny ribbons and she personally began to draw something on the card. "There was once a story of a little match girl, she was a girl who was cast out of her home and was forced to sell matches on a cold winter night.
The crimson ribbons of blood tracing patterns on the card pulsed with a dark, rich light, contrasting sharply with the card's brilliant blue glow. Goldie's concentration was absolute, the residual, quiet pragmatism of Gold now fully channeled by Goldie's ferocious aesthetic pride and technical skill.
"She was small, she was hungry, and she was cold," Goldie whispered, her soprano voice barely audible in the alley, yet filled with a strange, compelling intensity. "But those matches... they gave her one final, beautiful vision before the end."
Her golden eyes, wide and incandescent, were fixed on the blueprint taking shape. This wasn't just about utility; it was about art, narrative, and power—the Droyar triad. She was weaving a tragedy into an active spell.
"A simple item, infused with human suffering and the dream of warmth," she continued, her breathing shallow. "In the name of the Droyar Legacy, I call forth the essence of a simple, beautiful, and devastating tragedy. I call forth the power of the end."
As the last drop of blood was absorbed by the card's surface, the symbols coalesced into a complete, horrifyingly elegant pattern.
**[DING! CONGRATULATIONS!]**
A deafening mental chime exploded in Goldie's mind, far more resonant than the feeble notification she received for the Disguise Card.
[You have successfully created an Original Card Blueprint of exceptional quality! The card is a perfect synthesis of concept (narrative tragedy), technique (Droyar Secret Infusion), and unique application (Elemental/Illusionary Combat).]
[Rewards granted for Original Creation and High-Tier Design:]
+50 HiroGems (Gacha Currency)
Blueprint Registered: Little Match Girl's Matchbox
Skill Enhancement: Create Card (Droyar Lineage) has reached Rank 2!
Goldie stumbled back, hitting the cold stone wall of the alley. Her hands flew to her chest, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. Fifty HiroGems! Enough for ten pulls, or just shy of a twenty-pull bundle! She hadn't just created a card; she had cracked the gacha system wide open with sheer, Droyar-level creativity.
The new card blueprint floated before her, emanating a chilling aura despite its delicate appearance.
Little Match Girl's Matchbox (Blueprint: Rare/Legacy)
Mana Cost (Creation): 400 (Droyar Technique Required)
Mana Cost (Play): 50 per Match (Variable)
Effect: Creates an infinitely replenishing Matchbox linked to the user's emotional state. When a match is struck, it summons a powerful, temporary Illusionary Elemental based on the striker's deepest desire or memory (e.g., Warmth, Family, Food). These Elementals are devastatingly potent but last only for the duration of the match's flame (approx. 5 seconds).
Unique Feature: Last Match: If the Matchbox is entirely consumed (all matches used), the final match, when struck, creates a single, reality-bending grand Illusion—the striker's complete 'Happy Ending'—that lasts for 1 minute but completely drains the user's entire Mana Pool and causes severe Mana Exhaustion (Incapacitation for 24 hours).
"Perfect," Goldie breathed, the word a mix of relief, exhaustion, and triumph. "It's tragic, it's elegant, and it's absolutely terrifyingly useful. And it got me fifty HiroGems."
She had achieved the first step of independence, not through force, but through pure, terrifying artistry. The level cap was lifted, and her family couldn't track her by her status anymore, only by her face.
Goldie instantly willed the gacha banner to the forefront of her mind, a shimmering, irresistible temptation.
"[Banner—Red Rust(First Disaster Star)—Disaster—Need 5 HiroGems for 1 pull, 50 Hirogems for ten pulls and 100 Hirogems for 20 pulls.]
She only needed 50 HiroGems for a 10-pull. It was a guaranteed way to get a new permanent card—the kind she could actually use to tattoo herself to make the Level Cap permanent, thereby sealing her independence from her family.
The Little Match Girl's Matchbox is beautiful, but it's a consumable blueprint. I need something permanent, something that screams 'I am Goldie Droyar, and I am not coming home,' she decided.
"System, use 50 HiroGems for a Ten-Pull on the Red Rust Banner!" she commanded internally, the thrill of the gambler overriding the last vestiges of Gold's melancholy.
The banner exploded into a kaleidoscope of red and black light, the sound muffled within her mind. Ten distinct, glowing spheres shot out, each one representing a 'pull.' Nine of the spheres were a dull, familiar gold color.
But the tenth sphere... the tenth sphere was a terrifying, pulsing Iridescent Black with flecks of crimson.
A Super Rare! The old gamer instincts screamed.
The spheres dissolved, revealing ten floating cards. The nine gold ones were mostly consumables and low-level equipment cards—scraps, just as she predicted.
But the iridescent black card pulsed with an ominous, self-assured power. It was tall and slender, depicting a woman with flowing red hair and eyes, clad in a tattered yet regal black and red dress. Across her back was the exact star and chain tattoo Goldie had seen on the banner image.
Disaster Star Card: Red Rust (Permanent/Legacy)
Card Type: Permanent Imprint/Transformation Card.
Effect: Imprinting this card permanently lifts the Level Cap to 100 and grants the skill [Disaster Star Transformation: Red Rust].
[Disaster Star Transformation: Red Rust] (Mana Cost: 500):
Effect: Temporarily transforms the user into the aspect of the First Disaster Star, Red Rust. Grants massive boosts to physical and magical power, grants immunity to low-level elemental attacks, and unlocks the unique Card Maker skill [Shatter Soul] (High risk/high reward AOE attack).
Drawback: Causes extreme personality shift towards violent, aesthetic nihilism and requires a Mana Pool of at least 800 to maintain safely. Failure to meet the Mana requirement results in temporary Mental Degradation.
As she was about to celebrate, Goldie immediately clutched her head.
[Warning, your mana pool is empty, you are experiencing mana deficiency.]
[Warning!!!, You have used a lot of blood and have become weak?!!.]
"Ah, this." Goldie said down to the ground and groaned, she had forgotten the cost of using up her mana and also using her family's secret technique, she should have been smart about it honestly.
Though luckily she had a few mana potions and health potions in her inventory card so she didn't fear, wasting no time at all, she took out her inventory card from her deck which was near her waist and placed it onto the ground.
The card shimmered gently and a list of items appeared before her eyes, the majority of them were clothes and physical blank cards and card creation materials, the othere were just miscellaneous gold and silver coins she didn't use.
Her stock of potions were impressive too as she had twenty bottles of health and mana potions. She immediately took one of each and began gulping them both down at the same time after she popped off their lids.
The taste was vile—sickly sweet and metallic, a potent cocktail of concentrated magical energy and synthesized healing essence.
The mana potion was icy blue, hitting her system like a jolt of liquid lightning, while the health potion was a dull, earthy red, soothing the throbbing pain in her palms from the blood cost.
A wave of warmth instantly spread through her small frame, chasing away the cold sweat and dizziness.
The system warnings immediately ceased.
[Mana Deficiency resolved. Mana Pool restoring rapidly.]
[Status: Weakened (Blood Loss) resolved. Health restoring rapidly.]
Goldie sighed in relief, leaning against the cold alley wall as her energy returned. She felt the invigorating rush of her mana pool climbing back towards the full 500 capacity.
"Okay. Crisis averted," she muttered, her voice regaining its clarity. "Now, the important part."
She looked at the two cards hovering before her: the elegant, terrifying Little Match Girl's Matchbox blueprint, and the pulsing, iridescent Disaster Star Card: Red Rust.
The Red Rust Card was the solution to her independence. It was a permanent imprint card that would secure her level cap and—more importantly—give her an S-Rank Legacy appearance, far superior to the bulky 'Masculinity Card' her family favored. It was the ultimate aesthetic protest.
But the drawback was severe.
[Drawback: Causes extreme personality shift towards violent, aesthetic nihilism and requires a Mana Pool of at least 800 to maintain safely. Failure to meet the Mana requirement results in temporary Mental Degradation.]
Goldie frowned. "800 mana... I only have 500. Using that transformation now would turn me into a giggling, nihilistic vegetable. Cute, but ineffective."
She reached out and gently plucked the Red Rust Card from the air. It felt cold and dry, imbued with the oppressive gravity of ancient, immense power.
"I can't use the transformation yet, but I can use the imprint," she determined. "The imprint only locks the level cap and grants the skill. The transformation is what requires the massive mana."
The Droyar memories surfaced, instructing her on the ritual. Imprinting a permanent card was not a simple act of equipping an item; it was a painful fusion of magical essence and flesh, turning the card's power into a physical, lifelong tattoo.
She held the card up to her back, precisely where the Red Rust Star and chains were depicted. This was the ancestral spot for permanent Imprints—the back, the canvas of the Card Maker's Legacy.
"Alright, Goldie Droyar. Time to make a statement," she whispered.
She focused her entire mana reserve, channeling it into the Red Rust Card. The card flattened itself against her skin, and for a terrifying moment, it felt like molten metal was being stamped onto her back.
She didn't scream, but her body seized up, her small hands digging deep into the palms again. The raw pain was blinding, a fusion of agony and exhilarating power. She felt the magic of the card rewriting the very limits of her body, locking the Level 20 cap permanently and simultaneously expanding the potential of her spiritual pathways.
When the card was fully absorbed, all that remained was a burning sensation. Goldie slowly reached her hand behind her and felt the smooth, slightly raised texture of the fresh tattoo: the large, elegant star covered in chains, an indelible mark of her newfound independence.
The status window updated with a flash of triumphant golden text:
[Permanent Imprint Successful: Disaster Star Card: Red Rust.]
[Level Cap Locked: 20 -> 100.]
[You are now recognized as an independent Card Maker within the Droyar Lineage.]
[Acquired Permanent Skill: Disaster Star Transformation: Red Rust.]
Goldie stood up straight, feeling lighter, the magical chains that had restricted her growth now broken. She had escaped her family's forced aesthetic choice with a far superior, and far more dangerous, one of her own.