Between 2 mountains, deep underground, a small chamber only about 20 meters in width and height hid under the eyes of the world. In the middle of the room, 3 stone sarcophagi were present, markings and designs were etched onto their surfaces, so Intricate and so specific, you couldn't help but marvel at them. While 2 of them were already opened, the one at the middle stayed closed, until...
-Creak-
The stone sarcophagus emitted a low grinding noise, and It's top suddenly slid off from the rest of the sarcophagus, revealing Its contents: a boy, with dirty blonde hair laid there, asleep with his arms forming an X on his chest and his eyes tightly closed. Nothing moved, and nothing changed apart from the stone tomb opening.
"...Uuuuh,"
Finally, low growling could be heard from the boy's throat, and he started to move around; slowly at first, but after a few more moments of uncomfortably shifting around, his eyes finally started to open, slowly blinking and looking around. Then after a few seconds of staying still, he slowly got up, his thin arms struggling to supporting his body, this boy was of course Lukas.
Slowly looking around in a moment of confusion, he unconsciously spoke aloud:
"Huh? wait... where am I...? Wasn't I run ov-"
-ding!-
"-Hibernation complete, preparing tattoo inscription-"
"Hm? Ow!"
A mark, shaped like a european playing card, appeared on the back of his left hand and Lukas, who was, to put it bluntly, a huge nerd for cards, recognized it immediately: A 2 of clubs, though curious at why such an old card from such an old game was imprinted on his hand, he didn't have anytime to ponder as he heard more beeping.
-ding-
"-Inscription complete, preparation for tutorial, summoning fairy-"
As he heard the robotic voice in his head, a blue wisp of light appeared in front of his, in the center of the blue light, he could see the figure of a girl. Her ears longer than ordinary and a pair of small, translucent wings growing out of her verdant green clothes. Also looking at Lukas in front of her, the fairy smiled and slowly flew up to his ear in order to whisper:
"Greetings! This one's name is Isabelle, it will be my greatest honor to guide the grand arbiter for the first few days in your journey, so please don't be afraid to ask me anything!"
After speaking, the fairy did a little curtsey and flew onto Lukas's shoulder. Her little mouth ready to open at anytime in case Lukas asked something. Naturally surprised at this small creature, Lukas's eyes opened wide, and after calming down he slowly started asking:
"Where am I?"
"Approximately 15,000 meters below ground, your highness is currently on one of 7 planes of existence, each one are divided by celestial walls built by the aboriginals of this world, each are named after the seven deadly sins. You are currently on the Bottommost plane: Lust"
"...Where is my sister and my best friend?"
"You mean Anne and your boyfriend Atsushi?"
"Hey!"
"Anne is currently in the middle of hunting a wild boar, and my current permission levels are not at a high enough level to locate another grand arbiter,"
"Uh... what is this card on my hand?"
"Press it and you'll see,"
Hearing her instruction, he tapped the card on his hand, and a blue-turquoise screen resembling one of his Holo-Phones, appeared in front of him. Studying the screen, Lukas could see a few tabs, with the current screen presenting 10 rectangular slots, Lukas turned a to look at Isabelle, who nodded and began to explain:
"These are your card slots, they, are going to hold the weapons you will need to use to survive in this world. there will eventually be 40 slots, but you will gradually unlock those when the card on your hand there grows larger."
Lukas took a quick glance at the back of his hand and saw that the tattoo had changed from a 2 of clubs to a 3 of clubs.
"Hehe, That's for unlocking me!"
"U-uh what else is there?"
As Lukas asked, Isabelle's eyes lit up and she flew to the screen and pressed the other 2 tabs present: Status and Cards
"Status is your status, mana and approximate health,"
saying this, she revealed his status:
--------------------------------------------------------
Lukas Von Falken
age: 18
cards: Osiris
MP: 9999
HP: 1000 (approximate)
Bloodline skill: HoriZon (All cards will be shuffled, in exchange all cards will be in their summoned form with no other cost except mana)
--------------------------------------------------------
"while the cards tab is where you either destroy cards for Ichor*, and create other cards that way, or use them to buy card packs which hold 8 cards!"
"Gacha system?"
"Gacha system!"
As they both agreed with each other Isabelle seemed to have been reminded of something and searched around her hair
"Let's see... Oh, I forgot! Here!"
Saying this, she pulls out a card. The card suddenly enlarges, revealing to Lukas what it looked like, and when he saw it, his eyes had widened to the size of flying saucers!
"T-that's Osiris, my exclusive card from HoriZon! Why do you have it?!"
On the card, there was a pale man dressed in a black shenti*, his body lean but muscular, with a glowing crook and flail* on his hands, and a gigantic scale behind him, on one side a small feather and on the other, wailing black ghosts.
"These cards will be both your weapons and shield, and this will be your first. Master, please read this,"
Isabelle then turned the card over so Lukas could see it too.
--------------------------------------------------------
『Osiris』
Class: Absolute Authority
[Possessive]
Cost: 1,000 mana
Health increase: 100
Power increase: 500
[Summoned]
Cost: 10,000 mana, 15x lich bones
Health: x(max mana of owner)
Power: 5000(ordinary), ∞ (Judgment)
X = number of card slots owner has. Current slots: 10
-Love Life, yet look to Death for answers! Judge Life, yet use Death to execute it! Do this, and Life and Death will be yours...-
--------------------------------------------------------
"Wh-what are these stats?! They're insane!"
Lukas shouted, his surprise evident from his tone, but Isabelle only shrugged and said:
"Master, although we have customized the system to be what your most comfortable with, this is real life, not a game. Gods and monsters will do what they will do in real life, they just happened to be summoned via a card, this is why your health is only an approximate, even if you have 100,000 HP, if you get decapitated, you will still die, Cards though, aren't like that, that's why their HP is not an approximate,"
The moment Isabelle finished her explanation Lukas couldn't help but notice something very interesting...
"M-my Mp is one short of summoning Osiris!?"
"Heheh, it's a little joke the council decided to add as a handicap, don't worry, 1 bottle of Ichor will increase max mp by 1"
"And how do I get more cards?"
"Obtaining the essence of a living thing, creatures like squirrels and ordinary humans have a 1/100 chance of dropping a sub-mortal card, they are the weakest cards in existence, special beings like generals or kings have a 1/10 chance of dropping their essence, they are considered mortals. While entities bordering demigods like『King Arthur』are mortal gods, they have a 1/5 chance of dropping, while gods, mythical monsters, and their ilk will have a certain chance of dropping-,"
Before, she could finish explaining though, Lukas cut her off and asked a question most readers would be asking:
"W-why are the chances for stronger cards dropping their essence higher than lower cards?"
"I was getting to that, but yes, this is because they are likely more powerful, or at least more difficult to extinguish, meaning rewards should be higher,"
Acknowledging her answer, Lukas started to ask more questions when a bang was suddenly heard from behind them.
-Bang!-
"Guh-!"
A cloaked figure resembling a woman, appeared from an opening in the chamber and started shouting at them:
"Who are you?! You have no business here! Leave!"
-----------------