Alex finally relaxed after the birds were killed. He began collecting the carca.s.ses of the Flame Talons and began setting up a grill to cook the meat after skinning the birds.

"Are you two hungry?" Alex asked.

Bill and Beth quietly sat down beside Alex as he began grilling the bird. Alex hummed a song in his head.

"How did you end up attracting the aggro of so many birds at once?" Alex asked.

Bill snorted the moment he remembered what happened. "Friend, the person who fled was our guide. Under his a.s.surances, we stole a scarlet fruit that was being guarded by the birds. However, when the birds turned on us, our guide fl.u.s.tered and we had to run."

Alex shook his head. "I saw that guide use a rank 2 card to escape, he must be a Card Apprentice."

Beth nodded. "He was indeed a Card Apprentice our family organized for, to guide us into the Card Dimension. This is our first time entering this world."

Alex nodded. "It is my first time in the Card Dimension as well."

Bill looked shocked. "Are you telling the truth, friend? You had such an experienced and calm deployment in a time of crisis!"

Alex laughed. "Thank you for the complement. I am indeed roaming here for the first time. I am a free Explorer, Alex."

Beth also raised an eye. "I am Beth and this is my brother Bill. We are both from the Flynn Family from the Family Alliance."

Alex nodded. "Family Alliance is the organization of the top card families. So you two are scions?"

Bill grinned but didn't say anything to that question.

Alex then took the grilled bird and split it into three sections. When he ate a bite he was surprised. "This is softer than chicken, but the meat actually has a spicy flavor! Is this because of the fire energy in the bird? How curious."

The Flynn Siblings smiled. "Is this the first time you've eaten meat from the Card dimension?" Beth asked.

Alex shrugged. "Probably. I have had a pretty ordinary life. I only found out about the Card World in the last year."

Bill spoke up. "Alex, is there anywhere you are going in particular?"

"I'm going to look for the Bright Lizards. They are a few days further along this path." Alex pointed in the west direction.

"Oh, we were hoping you would lead us back to the shelter." Beth said.

Alex rejected them. "I'm sorry, I just came out of the shelter a few days ago. I can't return before exploring a bit more."

Bill nodded. "Thank you for saving us. The two of us are injured and we will return to the shelter."

Alex then parted ways with the siblings, heading in the direction of the beasts he intended to hunt, map in hand.

After a couple of days, Alex finally found the spot. It was a valley with a huge waterfall which formed a small, but deep lake. On the banks of the lake were several slow moving lizards which were white in color.

Alex could immediately identify that they were Light Attribute beasts. He had read about these creatures before heading out from the shelter. They were slow, but if surprised, had the tendency to flash a blinding glow from their skin, blinding who ever was trying to sneak up on them.

Alex slowly crawled to a vantage point, observing the lizards. Then he took out the rank 1 one time use card fireball. He quickly wrapped a bandage around his eyes and closed his eyes shut within. Then he activated the fireball spell, letting it randomly strike in between the group of lizards.

A fireball suddenly exploded on the ground, scaring all the lizards into a fright. Immediately, the lizards began flaring up one after the other and the entire valley began flowing like a sun had appeared in the place.

Alex, having antic.i.p.ated this, had cleverly sealed his eyes. When he felt the light energy subside after a minute, Alex removed the bandage from over his eyes and then rushed into the valley with his stick.

The Bright Lizards had a terrifying flash ability, but it could only be used once an hour. Beyond that the lizards were slow and defenseless beasts. Alex didn't even spare a glance as he killed over fifty lizards in a minute.

[You killed 56 Ordinary Bright Lizards. You obtained x12 Fragment - Flash (Light)]

Alex received 12 fragments, but he was unsure what would happen when the fragments appeared in his hand. Would the striped base card swallow it, or could it bring about a change within his light card.

However, against his hope, Alex saw that the fragments were swallowed by the striped base card. His heart had a slight panic. Was even the light card fragment useless for him to create a light card?

Alex was confused and felt a little lost as well. He didn't understand how his base card worked. Why was the striped base card swallowing the card fragments?

As he was pondering these doubts, he was suddenly dragged into his inner world. His statue suddenly began to move on its own amd held the card. Suddenly Alex saw a vision.

It was the vortex. The Vortex constantly absorbed and digested anything that came in its path, but after a limit, it would release a powerful force that was filled with light.

Alex was pushed out of his inner world, but he suddenly had a weird intuition. He didn't have to search for light attribute fragments, he just needed as many fragments as he could to feed his striped card.

When Alex saw the striped base card, he found that beside the vortex he could also see hints of a tiny star in the far distance begin to appear. He immediately had the intuition that once that star completely formed, something would happen.

So Alex continued killing lizards and obtaining fragments which he absorbed. With his pa.s.sive Energy Affinity Card, he could sense the energy fluctuations in the area and discovered that behind the waterfall, a small shallow cave was carefully hidden.