As they shut the door to the hotel, the ever-studious Leiva rose to meet them.
"Enjoy your trip?" She asked, smiling radiantly.
"Indeed we did." Luke replied, twirling his staff.
He pecked his sister's cheek before walking towards the washroom. He then began to clean the cane, wiping off the years of dust and dirt from its grooves.
The cane began to shimmer in the morning light peering in from the hotel window.
Once he had cleaned and degreased it with the Dusk soap, it looked brand new. There were no scratches, and the strange material looked… vibrant.
He then dried it off and brought it back into the living room.
"That looks a lot better." His sister said drily, still studying her papers.
"Yes indeed." Luke rolled his eyes.
He began to twist the whale head, but nothing happened. There were no invisible buttons, but he knew that something was inside.
He slowly began to spin it sideways. After a while, he heard it again: something shifted.
Taking it even slower, he performed the action again.
There appeared to be a switch of some sort moving back and forth with the exerted force of gravity.
Holding it sideways, he slowly tilted it until it was tilted about 22 degrees counterclockwise from its original position.
He felt something start to shift. With a twist, he rotated the staff forward. He heard a small click.
With his other hand, he twisted off the head of the staff. The gilded space whale revealed a small tail curling around the inner chamber.
The insides revealed, he peered into the belly of the beast. The whale showed a star-like indentation, and the inside of the cane appeared to show a space for a blade…. But the blade itself was missing.
Sighing, Luke turned to look through his other gains. Pulling out the used Star Cards deck, he looked at the theme and searched for the core relations between the cards.
To play Star Cards properly, you had to combo your cards efficiently.
This particular deck was an Obluvian Warlord deck. Centered on the small-scale Obluvian Wars and fighters, they primarily used blood magic. The illusions created by the cards simulated the magic on a smaller level within the parameters set by the game.
Using Illusions on Cards was fairly easy. Simply put, you found an illusionist to create the illusion itself, and then sealed it into an illusion storage rune on the card.
The Obluvian Warlord deck was built on the concept of blood magic, and several warriors held the strong half.
Similar to Leiva's Array style decks, the lower caste of Obluvians would upgrade their higher brethren. They then sent their magic to the warlord, who, if given enough power, could siphon more blood from the enemy.
At the point, he was then buffed enough to win the entire game. In theory, this was an overpowering method; however, it was extremely hard to pull off.
If the opponent cleared his smaller Obluvians fast enough, he would be unable to even summon the higher ranked Obluvian Commanders.
As he was shuffling through the deck, Leiva pointed to his waistknife. "What's that? Anything special to it?"
He smiled and picked it up. He had bought it on a whim, as it looked cool and matched the blue shade of his now cleaned cane.
Unsheathing it, he presented it to Leiva.
Taking it in both hands, she examined it. "Sharp, strong metal… What alloy is this?
"I have no idea."
"Hmm." She handed it back towards him, placing the pommel directly in front of his face. "If you have a knife, you should know its capabilities before using it."
Staring at the pommel reaching between his eyebrows, he looked at the pattern created by the top of the bird's head.
"It can't be…" He muttered.
Taking it from his sister, he grabbed the whale figurine.
It was a perfect match.
He quickly placed the completed item atop the cane. Slowly twisting it, the knife fit within without any issues. As the whale clicked into place, a golden light appeared and shone directly into the sky above.
Leiva immediately pressed the military sigil on her chest pocket before grabbing their mom's arm and tackling him.
"IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION, IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION, IMMEDIATE EXTRACTIIOOOONN!!!"