SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 20 - Nested Boxes
Added 2023-10-27 11:16:33 +0000 UTCAuthor Note:
Yesterday, I updated the card library with all the cards from the desert. Go check it out!
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Summer of 346, A.D.
“Pssst. Kai.”
Kai opened his sleepy eyes, looking for the source of the noise. In the darkness of his room was Alex, who had repaid him in full and had broken into his place this time.
He jolted upright from the bed, throwing sheets and blankets around him. Alex regarded him stoically, which only made him look creepier. “Alex? Don’t you sleep? What’s wrong with you, man?”
“Come. Tonight is the night I keep my promise.”
Hearing this, Kai’s anger was quenched. It had been a couple of weeks since Alex told him he would explain why he hadn’t been attending the bonfires. Kai had resisted the urge to ask him about the promise multiple times. Alex had promised that if Kai brought it up, he would go back on it. After several days of waiting, Kai had started to fear that the promise was just a ruse that Alex devised to keep him away.
“Where are we going?”
“Get dressed. Follow me.”
Kai hurriedly put on a pair of jeans and a hoodie to protect him from the chill of the night. He also put on a pair of comfortable sneakers in case a long trek awaited him. Alex was already waiting for him at the door. As Kai left the door, too, Alex started walking toward the East.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
He stayed in front of Kai without looking back. They walked away from Park Avenue, where Kai had been living, and headed toward the outskirts of town, where Alex’s apartment was. Kai wondered if his friend had moved somewhere else for fear that Kai would set up an ambush beneath his bed again. Due to how sleepy he felt and how grumpy Alex looked, he didn’t bother asking.
After 40 minutes of walking, they had reached Alex’s neighborhood. They kept heading East. Kai had an unsettling feeling in his stomach. They reached the very edge of town, and Alex wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
“Alex. Where are you taking me?”
For the first time in the hour they had been together, Alex turned toward him and took off the hood that he had over his head. “The wall.”
*
353rd Daisy Exams, Round of 128.
Like before, Kai set to the side all cards with zero hp, creating an area in the table that he deemed the graveyard. Then, he grabbed the very first recipe he wanted to try.
He grabbed an [Oryx Horn].
Oryx Horn (Rare)
A gently swirling ivory tower with a sharp point.
Hp: 4
Vp: 3
When he had found flint in the previous round, he had lacked a way to sharpen it into a stone blade. Unlike metal blades that had to be scraped against a whetstone to sharpen their edge, stone ones had to be serrated. That’s what provided flint with its cutting edge.
In order to create the saw edge, in flint-knapping, people used a sharp piece of bone to flake off small pieces of rock, thus sharpening the blade. He had the flint in the previous round but lacked the bone. He grabbed his new card tightly. He did now.
Kai had a feeling that the [Oryx Horn] was the key that would unlock several new cards. If he was to follow the steps of the documented history of mankind, he was about to open the door to the Stone Age.
He got the Oryx Horn on one side of the table over the engraving. As the crafting table detected a viable ingredient, it lit up, humming to life. Then, Kai reached for one of the flint cards. This was one of the most well-spent [Big Flints] he had, but it was as good a candidate as any.
Big Flint (Uncommon)
Large, durable flint suitable for many things.
Hp: 2
Vp: 0
He decisively put it on the table. He had a lot of work to do, and this was one of the recipes he had decided on beforehand. As the table sucked in the card, it shone brilliantly, and the merging process began.
[Oryx Horn] + [Big Flint]
Oryx Horn | Hp: 4→3
Big Flint | Hp: 2→1
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Knife].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Flint Knife (Uncommon)
A brittle blade suitable for various tasks.
Hp: 1
Vp: 3
Kai studied the new card that had appeared in between the engravings at the table. The picture of a serrated blade edge reminded him of the artifacts Ariel so lovingly maintained in the museum. It was a good thing that Daisy hadn’t been picky about him having to create a handle for the knife.
The card’s point count was excellent. He saw the three extra victory points being added to his scoreboard. He couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of his opponent’s score. It had climbed by the same amount. He turned his attention back to the work at hand.
A good thing about this recipe was that he had plenty of flint, and [Oryx Horn] had a generous amount of hit points. He had more than enough resources available to make several more of these. But that wasn’t the best part. The fact that Daisy had replicated humanity’s technology tree gave Kai several ideas of things he should look out for in future arenas.
Additionally, the way this exam was structured was an advantage for him and his people. Daisy required trial runners only to know the ingredients behind the technology, not the full technical knowledge of how to assemble it. Since they prized for general knowledge and not specialization, that gave him an edge over his opponents. Take that, Alex! See? Our culture does have potential.
Instead of going down the rabbit hole and starting to fabricate flint blades left and right, Kai moved to the next logical recipe. He grabbed the smaller version of the flaked hard stone and tried to see what came from knapping it, as it were, with the [Oryx Horn] card.
[Oryx Horn] + [Small Flint]
Oryx Horn | Hp: 3→2
Small Flint | Hp: 2→1
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Arrowhead].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Flint Arrowhead (Uncommon)
Hp: 1
Vp: 2
Kai looked at the new card on the table and put it next to the [Flint Blade]. The points it offered were slightly less than its blade counterpart. He sighed. From the perspective of sheer points, [Flint Arrowhead] wasn’t the most efficient card to mass produce.
However, this didn’t mean he had to settle with the [Flint Blade] right away. From what he remembered, there were other tools that could be fashioned out of flint. He had hoped for two of them but had gotten other alternatives. The thing was, he really wanted the other ones because, if his gut was right, that would open the door to many new recipes.
He tried to remember what he’d learned in Ariel’s lesson. It had been such a long time ago, but being in love can do wonders for one’s memory. He closed his eyes and tried to remember all the different exercises she had them do. He drummed his fingers on the table. He remembered using a screw to serrate flint to make blades. But what had Alex made? Hadn’t it been…
Kai opened his eyes and searched the pile of cards for one that would hopefully help him get what he needed.
Granite Brick (Uncommon)
Durable building material crafted from granite.
Hp: 1
Vp: 2
Good. It had one hp left. He could use it for what he needed. He picked the big flint card he had used earlier, which only had one hit point remaining. Even though flint could be serrated, some tools didn’t require that technique. Hopefully, he was right. He really needed the card he was looking for.
[Granite Brick] + [Big Flint]
Granite Brick | Hp: 1→0
Big Flint | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Axehead].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Flint Axehead (Uncommon)
A blunt and brittle axehead. It might be crafted into a functional tool.
Hp: 1
Vp: 3
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” He was right! There really was this type of tool. With this, a whole new door of possibilities had just opened up to him. Why not have a flint axe if he could have a rusted pickaxe? He now just needed a handle, and he had the perfect card in mind to do that.
Acacia Branch (Uncommon)
An acacia branch with exceptional strength and resistance to environmental stressors.
Hp: 4
Vp: 0
[Acacia Branch] + [Flint Axe]
Acacia Branch | Hp: 4→3
Flint Axehead | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Axe].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Flint Axe (Uncommon)
A primitive cutting tool with a flint blade. It doesn’t look too sturdy.
Hp: 1
Vp: 3
Kai frowned. This was a little bit of a letdown. He had expected this tool to have a little more durability. It was a one-time-use card. He ran some numbers in his mind, comparing the number of hit points in the [Acacia Branch] card and the [Big Flints] he had left, and shrugged. He should have expected it. Stone tools weren’t great and deteriorated quickly. He should be thankful that he even got his hands on an axe.
Now that he had an axe to play around with, there was an obvious contender for the next merge attempt. Of course, axes were supposed to be used on wood, and thankfully, he had at least two tree cards. But he turned to another card first, for now.
Acacia Trunk (Uncommon)
Sturdy and often gnarled piece of hardwood.
Hp: 3
Vp: 1
This seemed a good match for the experiment. He placed both cards on the table and watched as the circuitry activated and motes of light started to condense into the shape of a new card.
[Acacia Trunk] + [Flint Axe]
Acacia Trunk | Hp: 3→2
Flint Axe | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Acacia Log].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Acacia Log (Uncommon)
A sturdy section of wood, suitable for various purposes.
Hp: 2
Vp: 2
As Kai traced back his steps, he realized how many recipes he had to go through to get to this simple card. It made him think of a box, inside a box, inside a box. The deeper he dug into this exam, the more complex it got. The resource management was too much for him to keep track of.
Nonetheless, [Acacia Logs] reminded him of the [Granite Bricks]. He was tempted to experiment with these building materials, but he resisted the temptation and focused on the possibilities the [Flint Axe] card had opened to him.
He threw the used-up [Flint Axe] card into the graveyard and made another one.
[Granite Brick] + [Big Flint]
Granite Brick | Hp: 1→0
Big Flint | Hp: 3→2
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Axehead].
[Acacia Branch] + [Flint Axe]
Acacia Branch | Hp: 3→2
Flint Axehead | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Flint Axe].
He looked at the scoreboard. He had just reached 108 points, a little under the amount his opponent had started this round with. He peeked at his competitor’s score and saw he hadn’t been able to cut the gap. His opponent had 130 points at the moment. Kai bit his lip and refocused.
With a shining new [Flint Axe] card in hand, it was time to chop down a tree. He was looking forward to seeing what would happen here. After all, he could capture individual components directly from his camera. But there had to be some upside to using an axe on a tree like this, right? There was only one way to find out.
[Acacia Tree] + [Flint Axe]
Acacia Tree | Hp: 3→2
Flint Axe | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful! You've crafted [Acacia Branch].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Crafting Successful! You’ve crafted [Acacia Leaf].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Kai stared wide-eyed at the new cards that were on his table. What? Had he gotten two cards from one single attempt? He had just hit the jackpot! Excited with the possibilities, Kai hurried to make another disposable axe but finding only two [Granite Bricks] left, he stopped himself. He shouldn’t jump the gun. He regretted not using the [Granite Bricks] in the last round. In retrospect, he should have thought of it sooner.
He looked at the trees and the trunk. Even if he spent all the hp of all his [Granite Bricks], he would still be unable to harvest all their resources. In his opinion, taking his chances at unlocking whatever recipe he could gain from combining the [Granite Bricks] was more important.
[Granite Brick] + [Granite Brick]
Granite Brick | Hp: 1→0
Granite Brick | Hp: 1→0
Crafting Successful!
You've crafted [Granite Shed].
New recipe added to your recipe book.
Granite Shed (Uncommon)
A simple refuge made from granite bricks.
Hp: 4
Vp: 0
Kai frowned as he studied the new card in his hand. It had a picture of a picturesque stone house. He knew he should be happy that the recipe had worked, but there were just too many frustrating things about it. One of them was that he could have just made this recipe last round!
Whenever he went from one round to the next, all his cards lost one hp. That meant that the fewer cards he had, the fewer total stat points he lost. If he had known that he could get a card from merging two [Granite Bricks], he could have four [Granite Sheds] by now.
On top of that, this card didn’t offer him any victory points. Although the mechanic of crafting cards into other cards, which then were used as ingredients for even other cards, was interesting, it was a pit that seemed bottomless. He didn’t know what to use this for. What was a [Granite Shed] supposed to be used for? Was he supposed to craft something else out of it?
He then picked up the [Acacia Trees] cards. Should he have just made more flint axes? After all, that way, he could have made more points. Well, there was no point in wondering about it now. He was sure he would figure out what the shed was for eventually. The fact that it had a high hp told him he could combine it with something else. It was time to move on to the next recipes and see if he could keep getting more points.
“Oh, Kai. This is not your day.” He threw all the [Granite Bricks], [Acacia Trees], and the shed to the side and set out to experiment with a new exciting group of cards. Kai grabbed all the shadow cards he owned.
Ch. 21 - Elephant Conditioning
