"Yaawwwn... Open Status Window."

Early in the morning, stretching in his bed, Axel Blaze commanded.

With a blink, a blue coloured, square floating window appeared in front of him. This is a Status Window which can only be seen by the owner.

[6:31]

[Character Information]      [Stats]      [Cards]

Name : Axel Blaze

Age : 20

Species : Human

Level : 1

Experience Points : 356/1000

Class : Non-Combat

Job : Card Collector

Titles : [1]

Affiliation : None

Skills : [2]

[Friends]  [A26,100]

Unlike other people, Axel Blaze's Status Window has three tabs rather than just having 'Character Information' and 'Stats' tabs.

"Yaaawwwn... Switch to Cards." With another yawn he commanded.

With a blink of an eye, the tab switched from 'Character Information' to 'Cards'.

Under the cards tab there are other sub-tabs.

[Case]      [Common]      [Uncommon]

From Axel Blaze's perspective, the Case tab has one black colored Card Case in it in the form of a thumbnail.

Axel Blaze clicked the thumbnail with his finger. A 4x3 inch black, card case appeared in his hand. There's a white, number '1' written on one of the faces. The card case is solid and made up of some unknown material. There is a small button on the lid of the card case.

Axel Blaze pressed the tiny button and the card case vanished like a crumbling dry leaf, leaving a gray color card.

JUMP

Rank : Common

Level : 1

A skill that makes you jump higher. Each level increases your jumping height by 1 foot.

MP Cost : 5

Cooldown : 10 seconds

"Sigh... Only if I didn't have the hobby of collecting playing cards of adventurers." With a nonchalant face, Axel Blaze shoved the card into the Status Window. The card disappeared in the window.

"Close Status Window." With this command the Status Window closed with a blink.

"Hup..." Axel Blaze jumped out of the bed, stretched his arms in the air then went to refresh.

He lives in a shabby shack, so his living conditions are not that great. But it seems he doesn't care much.

...

Late in the morning, Axel Blaze stood in front of a random stall in the town's market. Now at the age of 20, he is 5'11'' tall, with short black hair, black eyes, a somewhat handsome face and fair skin. He is wearing a set of simple pants and t-shirt—chewing a carrot, he is observing the people passing by with a perverted look on his face.

To be more precise. He is looking at the girls passing by.

"Hey Cinthia! Seems like your breasts have grown by two millimeters compared to last week—your parents are feeding you well ha?" With shining eyes and a drooling smile Axel Blaze complimented a girl who is shopping vegetables at the adjacent shop.

"Shameless pervert!" The 18 year old girl threw a tomato at Axel Blaze while twisting her nose with disgust.

"Hehehe—you look even more beautiful when you are angry." With a flick of his arm, Axel Blaze caught the tomato. Then while staring at the girl, he took a bite of the tomato with the juices flowing down his chin.

The girl couldn't help but snarl.

Suddenly a somewhat old woman rushed from behind Cinthia. "You rascal! Get away from my daughter right now! You are not satisfied with teasing the other girls of the town, you even dare to go after my daughter? Watch if I don't break your legs today." She charged at Axel Blaze, holding a slipper in her hand.

"What the fuck! I was just appreciating your daughter's beauty—why are you so angry?" "Are you jealous?" "If you chase away every man who takes a fancy to your daughter, there won't be any men willing to marry your daughter in the future." Axel Blaze shouted while running away from the woman.

"If that happens I will marry her to a dog. It's a thousand times better than marrying her to a wastrel like you." The woman yelled with anger while chasing behind him.

"Watch out you old hag, you will fall down if you chase after me with such speed." Axel Blaze warned with a shout.

"Like hell I will—Aaaah!" Before she could finish talking, the woman fell face down on the road. Her nose hit the ground hard and started to bleed.

"Mother!" The young girl panicked and rushed to her mother's aid.

Axel Blaze stopped in his tracks and turned back. He laughed while holding his stomach like a scumbag. "Haha, told you, you old hag. You are of an age when you should be sitting in a chair, basking in the sun enjoying fruit juice while your daughter and her husband take care of you. But here you are, trying to run a marathon." "What do you say? I don't mind taking care of you as your son-in-law." He showed his glittering white teeth.

"You bastard! You mongrel! I will kill you! I will boil you in hot water and— Cough! Cough!" The woman shouted at the peak of her throat while struggling to breathe. Her eyes have turned bloodshot from anger.

"Oh my god! This woman has gone crazy! Save me daddy!" "Oh, I don't have a dad." "Save me grandpa Oberon...!" With his hands flailing in the air, Axel Blaze escaped from the crime scene.

"Hey what happened here!?" A fat man walked to the mother and daughter from one of the shops around.

"Are you guys all right?" A woman came asking.

"Isn't that Cinthia and her mother? How did she get injured so badly?" Someone inquired.

"What are you guys looking at? Go help her." Someone reminded.

Soon a crowd gathered around the mother and daughter to help them.

"It's that bastard Axel again. Causing troubles all the time." "I said before that we should kick him out of the town but no one listens to me. Now see." "Tsk...tsk...tsk, poor Marla, see how bad her nose is bleeding. It's not broken is it?" A brown skinned man with a square face shook his head showing sympathy.

"He always chases after the young girls of the town. Some of the girls are even scared to step out of their house because of his constant harassment." A man cussed.

"He really is an ungrateful bastard. He is already a grown up man but still acts like a scallywag." Someone cussed..

"Sigh! It's really a troublesome problem." "Well it's not like he does any direct harm, all he does is act like a child. He is also a poor man, he always dreamt of becoming an adventurer, but that dream was shattered. It was already a blow to his life but then that past event with Luna... If not for that he wouldn't have turned out like this." "He is definitely suffering from some mental trauma after getting humiliated by the woman he loved." A middle aged man shook his head with sentiment.

"Hey shut up!" "What if the guards heard you? You want your head to fly?" "Don't forget Luna's mother is now the Lord of this village— Ahem!... I mean this town." "You are not allowed to speak about their past." A young man warned the middle aged man.

"That's true. Our small Meri village has turned into such a big town, all thanks to Luna. You don't want to get on her bad side because of that idiot Axel Blaze." A woman agreed.

She continued. "And what do you mean by 'poor man'?" "Blame Axel for his Non-Combat class. Luna just chose a better path for her own future, ditching Axel and choosing Sir Knight. You can't blame her." "Even I would have done the same." "Luna has a Zero Grade job, she is a Saint! She would be an idiot to stick with a Non-Combat class for the rest of her life. Axel would have just mooched off of her for the rest of his life. Humph!" She scorned.

"Ok, enough chatting." An old man clapped his hands. "Let's get back to our work." "You guys! Help Marla and her daughter get to their house." "Call the Physician Carlo!" He ordered and then the crowd dispersed.

...

Running all the way from the market, Axel Blaze reached a one storey sturdy building situated at the corner of the town. This is a blacksmith shop.

"Hey grandpas, got any work for me?" Axel Blaze entered the shop with a bang.

"You rascal! Go easy on my door. Who will pay me if it breaks?" A short muscular old man with a long white beard shouted angrily.

"What are you talking about? That fucking door is thicker than my arm. If it breaks from a simple kick, then the wood should be rotten." Axel Blaze scoffed.

"Humph! Anyway, I don't have any work for you." The old man shook his hand.

"Really? No work? How about I clean the smithy?" Axel Blaze pleaded.

"The smithy is busy today." The old man took out his pipe and started to smoke.

"Sigh!... I wanted to earn a few more amilots before the end of this month." Axel Blaze looked disappointed.

"You need money?" The old man asked, slightly concerned.

"Ah, no. I just wanted to collect A30,000 so I can rest for the next three months." Axel Blaze had just finished talking when he saw the old man grab his shoe ready to throw at him. Without waiting any longer, Axel Blaze took a turn and rushed out of the door.

"Stop there you bastard. Let me give you some amilots." The short man shouted from behind, but Axel Blaze was already gone.

This time Axel Blaze went to play with the small children to pass his time.

At 9 in the night, he returned back to his shabby shack and went to sleep.

...

"Open Status Window." "Switch to Cards." He commanded while laying on his bed early in the morning.

Soon he was holding a black card case with a number '1' in his hand. The case turned into a Common Rank card and Axel Blaze shoved it into the Status Window like before.

He was about to close the Status Window when the unexpected happened.

[Congratulations! You have collected 2000 cards!]

[You have unlocked a new Title!]

[Congratulations! Because of the new Title, you have unlocked a new Unique Skill!]

[Congratulations! Because of the new Title, you have unlocked a new tab!]

"Whaa..." With a dazed look and with an open mouth, Axel Blaze blankly stared at the pop-up notifications.

It took him quite a while to calm down. After few deep breaths, with a shaking finger he clicked at the Titles : [2]

A separate window popped out of the Status Window.

Titles

1. The One Who Collect Cards : Everyone has a hobby or two. Yours is collecting cards.

Special Privileges : Gain Unique Skills. Added Cards tab.

2. (New)The One Who Plays Cards : Being a Card Collector doesn't mean you don't like playing cards.

Special Privileges : Gain Unique Skills. Added Decks tab.

"Fwooo... Is this real?" Axel Blaze breathed out with shock. He still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Till a few moments ago he only had one Title which didn't allow him to use the cards he has. But now with this second title he can use the cards.

Is it real? Can I become an adventurer now? Finally... Can I?

His eyes turned moist, but he still has to make sure if it's true.

He clicked the Skills : [3]

Skills

Unique Skills :

1. Lucky Shuffle (active) : After shuffling a deck of 50 cards, pull out a random card from the deck. Your luck will increase from +1-50% according to the card pulled.

Duration : 1 minute

Cooldown : 60 minutes

2. Card Case Drop (passive) : Everyday at 6:00, you will receive a Card Case containing a random skill from your daily activities.

3. (New)Collectible Card Game (active) : You can use the cards placed in the deck. When using any card the stats of the card will increase by +5%.

"Open Decks Tab". Axel Blaze commanded.

With a blink the tabs switched to Decks tab.

[Character Information]      [Stats]      [Decks]      [Cards]

The Decks tab is all empty with two empty card slots placed in a line.

Axel Blaze went to the Cards tab then clicked a Common Rank card from the Common sub-tab and pressed the 'Equip' button which appeared for the first time ever.

The card disappeared from the Common sub-tab and appeared in the first empty slot of the deck.

He repeated this again and equipped two Common Rank cards. 'Sharp Edge' skill and 'Improve Strength' skill.

The Skills : [3] in the Character Information tab changed to Skills : [5]. After inspecting it Axel Blaze noticed another description of skills below Unique Skills.

Axel Blaze couldn't help but jump with joy. He used the Improve Strength skill to punch the thick wooden shack wall and he easily punched a hole through it. He used the Sharp Edge skill with a knife and he could slice the same thick wooden wall like paper.

Holding his excitement in, Axel Blaze checked all the skill cards he had collected till now.

Though the system said he has collected 2000 cards, in actuality he only has about 600 cards in his Cards tab. The reason is simple.

In this world the skills people gain have levels from 1-10. The level rises as their proficiency with the skill rises. But in the case of Axel Blaze, rather than raising proficiency, he has to merge the same types of cards to increase their levels. Two level 1 cards will form a level two card. A level two plus a level one card will form a level 3 card and so on.

Axel Blaze has a certain amount of Common Rank cards which have already reached level 10.

...

It took Axel Blaze the whole day to test out the cards. The people in the town were shocked to not see the ruffian out today. Some people even came to peep at the shabby shack. But no one came closer to inspect and just returned after taking a look from far away.

After testing all the cards for a whole day, Axel Blaze found two important points.

1. He can use all the skill cards till he places them in the deck. After using a skill, when it's on cooldown he can just switch the cards to another skill card and use another skill.

2. He can't use skill cards which have job specific skills. Like the only Uncommon Rank Acid Shot card which he got after hunting one slime with the help of the blacksmith grandpas cannot be used due to the requirement of the Class 'Magic'.

Though slightly disappointed, he is still happy to have taken a step forward to his dream of becoming a successful adventurer. And living a comfortable life. Though the partner he dreamt to be with all his life is not around anymore.

You all made fun of me for having a Trash Grade Job. Now watch how I use this Trash Grade Job to shut your mouths.

That night, Axel Blaze went to bed with a smile on his face. For the first time in a while, he had a sweet dream.