Chapter 134: Working Of Sovereign Deck

Standing a few feet away, Mom looked at us with bright, glittering stars practically shining in her dark eyes. She whipped out her special smartphone with lightning speed, tapping the screen repeatedly as camera shutter sounds echoed through the dining room.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

"Oh, you two are so precious!!" Mom gushed, snapping photo after photo. "Hold that pose, Seth! Smile for your mother!"

I shook my head with a wry smile, turning my gaze toward Dad, who was standing beside the wooden box of ritual catalysts. "Dad... do we have enough silver dust and spatial ingredients left to run a second binding ritual right now?"

Dad let out a sharp, offended snort, adjusting his cuffs. "What kind of question is that, Seth? Do you truly believe the Fernando family vault lacks basic spatial catalysts? We possess enough raw ingredients in our underground reserves to bind an entire executive deck ten times over."

"Fair enough," I chuckled. Looking down at Yerin in my arms, I asked, "So... which card from the deck do you want, Yerin?"

Yerin looked up, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well... since Val took the Queen card, I guess I can take the Jack."

I blinked, looking at her in mild confusion. "You don’t have to settle for a Jack, Yerin. You can just pick a Queen from one of the other suits."

The dining room instantly fell into a puzzled silence.

Yerin paused, her dark eyes looking at me with a bewildered tilt of her head. "Wait... what do you mean by ’other suits’? Didn’t you awaken strictly with the Spade suit in Uruk?"

It was only then that I realized I had completely forgotten to mention a crucial detail about my awakening to my family.

"Oh... right." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "I forgot to mention it earlier, but I didn’t just awaken a single suit. My Astral Soul Origin actually materialized a complete, fully unlocked Sovereign Deck right from the start. I have access to all four suits...Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs."

Silence.

The entire dining room froze.

Even Yoona, who usually maintained flawless, unshakable high-society composure, stopped smoothing her dress and gave me a thoroughly strange, speechlessly dazed look.

Dad slowly raised his hand, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. He took a long, quiet breath before looking at me. "Seth... come again?"

Instead of explaining it verbally, I focused my intent, allowing the boundless, golden-white authority of Origin to pulse outward from my chest.

SWOOSH!

In a single, magnificent flash of light, fifty-three glowing obsidian and gold cards materialized out of thin air, expanding outward in a sweeping, perfect double-ring formation around my body.

Twelve Spades, thirteen Hearts, thirteen Diamonds, thirteen Clubs and two Joker floated in silent, breathtaking harmony, radiating an absolute pressure that filled the entire dining wing.

Mom let out a soft, breathless gasp, her hands clapping over her mouth. "My goodness... my son is a literal cosmic prodigy!"

Dad stared at the fifty-three floating cards surrounding me, a rare, proud smirk breaking across his stoic features. He shook his head with a low laugh. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less from the holder of Origin."

Yoona let out a quiet, elegant huff, shaking her head in mild disbelief. "Unbelievable... even when I awakened my own Sovereign Deck, I was only able to unlock two suits simultaneously. You unlocked all four on your very first day."

Yerin didn’t care about the high-level soul mechanics or cosmic rarities at all. The moment she saw the fifty-two floating cards, her eyes lit up like fireworks.

She jumped up and down, pointing at the glowing crimson suit floating near my left shoulder.

"I want that one!!" Yerin cheered happily. "I want to be the Queen of Hearts!!"

"Hold on a second, Yerin," Yoona spoke up smoothly, raising her hand to stop her twin sister before I could agree.

Yoona turned her sharp eyes toward me, her tone turning serious. "Seth... do you actually understand the structural mechanics behind the four suits in a Sovereign Deck, or what specific conceptual boosts each suit grants to a bound cardholder?"

I looked at the floating rings of cards, then back at Yoona, shaking my head honestly. "Nope. Nobody in Uruk explained the suit mechanics to me yet."

Mom clicked her tongue in mild annoyance, muttering under her breath, "I really need to have a stern word with my father... That old man should have explained the basic deck fundamentals to you the moment you awakened."

Yoona took a step forward, gesturing toward the cards floating around me as she explained. "Every Sovereign Deck is built upon a fundamental tactical framework. Assigning a card to a partner grants them a permanent conceptual attribute boost, but the type of boost depends entirely on the suit and the sequence position."

She pointed at Val, who was standing nearby listening attentively.

"For example, the suit of Spades governs Frontline Combatants, Assassins, and Martial Enforcers. Because Valerie was bound as your Queen of Spades, she receives a massive, permanent amplification to her physical speed, spatial stealth, critical strike lethality, and tactical awareness whenever she is fighting for you."

I listened to Yoona’s explanation, a realization dawning in my mind. "Wait... so the Sovereign Deck system is basically structured like a classic MOBA or RPG team composition?"

Yerin immediately snapped her fingers, grinning at me. "Exactly! Though technically, human video game developers created MOBA games centuries later based on ancient records of the Sovereign Deck system. Obviously, they can’t disclose that."

I chuckled, looking back at Yoona. "Alright, that makes total sense. So what does the suit of Hearts represent?"

"The suit of Hearts governs Mages, Conceptual Casters, and Long-Range Damage Dealers," Yoona explained. "A cardholder assigned to Hearts receives a massive boost to their mana capacity, spellcasting speed, elemental resonance, and area-of-effect impact along with range."

This was interesting.

[Checks out why Lucifer is a freaking weeb. The stuff she created centuries back became the backbone of many games. Not to mention many MOBA games have gooner community.]

’Oi! Don’t slander us like that. MOBA community is more toxic than anything. Us Gooners goon in peace.’

[Heheh~ so you acknowledge you’re a gooner?]

Shit. I fell for her trap.