My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!
Chapter 85: To The Crater

Chapter 85: To The Crater

"F-F*ck... that was exhausting..."

Night had already passed, and the sun was on the rise by the time Hal finished tapping the [Draw Card] button.

’Why doesn’t it have a function that lets me draw ten cards at once? Wouldn’t that be better for efficiency?’ Hal mused as he climbed down, heading back to Root Hollow Camp.

Meanwhile, inside the root hollow, Liora and Loki sat side by side, the atmosphere somber and heavy.

The pup sensed something a moment later, its head and ears perking up.

Then, with sudden excitement, Loki dashed out of the hollow, leaving the depressed Liora confused for a moment before realization struck.

She hurried out after the pup, clumsily but quickly.

Sure enough, just a few dozen meters away from the hollow stood the young man she had feared lost to the night, carrying the relieved cub with a smile while being assaulted with a flurry of kisses.

Liora felt slightly weak, perhaps from the relief of seeing Hal alive, not realizing that her earlier grief had nothing to do with the success of her mission or her chances of surviving the forest.

"Hmm? What’s wrong with you?" Hal asked, too exhausted to think much about it.

All he wanted now was to sleep.

To her disbelief, Liora caught herself flaring in anger but was powerless to stop her outburst in time.

"What’s wrong with me, you ask?! You didn’t come back all night, and I couldn’t sleep! I was waiting for you so we could eat together! But you never showed up, and I ended up not sleeping at all. I thought you were already..."

Hal was slightly dumbfounded when he noticed Liora’s eyes growing puffy, tears threatening to form.

He had no idea what to say or how to react.

Wasn’t she overreacting a bit?

"I-I just did something important for my personal growth. I didn’t expect it would worry you this much... My bad, I guess... I’ll be sure to let you know next time if I won’t be back for the night," Hal explained, a bit confused and flustered.

That was when Liora finally got ahold of herself, gasping in embarrassment.

"I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me... b-but yeah, you should tell me next time..."

A moment later, Liora turned and walked briskly back to the hollow, exhaustion slowly settling in.

By the time Hal entered, she was already lying on her side, facing away from the entrance.

He gazed at Liora’s back for a few moments before lying down himself, deciding not to overthink it.

And so, their schedule was thrown off that day—they slept through the day and only woke up when it was almost nighttime.

Well, Hal, at least...

Seeing that Liora was still sleeping, he quickly tapped on his left wrist and began sorting his cards, grimacing at the mere sight of the messy deck.

’Ughh...this is gonna take a while...’

And it did.

An hour passed, then two, and before he knew it, four.

Hal continued merging all his common-tier spells with duplicates to level them up, while keeping a copy of the permanent-durability ones for his summons, just in case they were destroyed in battle.

As a result, all [Common]-tier elemental, conjurer, and summon-type spells were now of permanent durability.

A few of the rarest common-tier buff and debuff spells were still limited in use, but they had a decent number of charges. Others, such as [Swift] and [Enduring], which had helped him survive the orc party long enough to reach the Stormshade, were now permanent as well.

In summary, his permanent cards were all around levels 15 to 35, with [Glacial Shard] and [Weak Mana Blast] reaching levels 40 and 45, respectively.

The draw chance boost seemed to be real, since by the end he was getting almost one card per draw.

Of course, his [Uncommon] draws also benefited from the boost, allowing Hal not only to expand his collection of [Uncommon]-tier spells but also to gain a few reliable, permanent-durability ones, leveling them up to around levels 3 to 7.

[Blink] becoming permanent was another reason to celebrate.

Hal would have been lost in bliss if not for the way his [Rare]-tier draws made his heart bleed.

Out of the 3,000 points he invested, he had only 9 successful draws.

He couldn’t believe the abysmal draw rates of higher-tiered cards.

Still, 9 [Rare]-tier spell cards were a massive boost to his arsenal.

The cards he drew weren’t as horrifying as the [Gravity Ball].

However, [Summon Blood Parasites], [Spatial Swap], [Radiant Decimation], [Dreadmaw], [Tailwind], [Summon Fire Elemental], [Frost Trap], [Conjurer’s Sphere], and [Tempus Reversal Cube], are all terrifying and crazy useful in their own right.

By the time Hal finished sorting his deck, it was already midnight.

He peered from the bushes and pondered whether he should go out and hunt.

Only then did he realize: Liora was still sleeping.

"D-Damn it. What is this girl made of? How can she sleep this long? She’s paying off her sleep debt and building surplus in one go," he muttered in disbelief. "Oh well, this might be our last peaceful night. I should enjoy it."

And so, after a light dinner, Hal played with Little Loki for a bit before lying down, drifting off again after an hour.

When morning came, Hal felt refreshed.

He turned to look at his comrade after some light stretches.

"W-What the...is she..."

Hal panicked for a moment, calming down upon noticing that she was still breathing.

’How the hell can a person sleep for an entire day?!’

It was then that Liora finally turned, yawned, rubbed her stomach, and awoke.

"Hal? Thank god I wasn’t dreaming that you returned..." she muttered, half her consciousness still drifting into dreamland.

It took another half hour before she was fully awake.

’Damn, who would’ve thought...’

Hal found it hard to believe that Liora, who came off as a diligent nerd, was actually a huge sleepyhead.

She wasn’t always like this, though.

This was the first time Hal had witnessed the full extent of her sleeping abilities.

Who the hell could sleep so deeply and peacefully in such a dangerous runeforest?

"Come to our campfire spot once you’re ready. I’ll roast us some hog meat. I think we’re somewhat ready for the crater now, so let’s pack up and head out after we eat."