All the Skills 2: A Deck Building LitRPG recap

Arthur enters Wolf Moon Hive as Ernest Kane, protects a dying pink hatchling, and helps Cressida obtain the card that lets her bond with Joyberry. Competing for a legendary egg draws Arthur, Pennrow, Marion, and Echo into a disastrous eruption controlled by the Mindsinger. After surviving the field test and a series of duels, Arthur meets Brixaby, a legendary hatchling whose uncontrolled power steals cards. Brixaby links with Arthur's paired legendary cards and chooses him over Pennrow. At court, Arthur is exposed as Arthur Rowantree, condemned, and separated from his dragon after Lionel claims one of his cards for Pennrow. Arthur wins a second hearing by offering Marion's time card and accepting a royal oath. He returns to Wolf Moon with Brixaby, frees Calvan from an old oath, and begins forming a retinue. The book ends when Brixaby absorbs the mind card promised to the Mindsinger, grows larger, and starts gaining its power.

Previously: Arthur escaped the Borderland with children hidden in his time-stopped Personal Space and carries powerful cards that must remain secret. He trusts Freyja, his former orphanage headmistress, to help vulnerable children, and he has existing ties to Horatio and Sams. His history with Baron Kane remains dangerous. A hostile cardholder called Second also holds an unresolved, coerced favor over Arthur after a rescue during an earlier conflict. Arthur begins this volume needing protection and a new home for the rescued children, a sustainable place for himself in the wider carded world, and continued secrecy about abilities that could make him a target for powerful nobles.

Wolf Moon Hive recovers a legendary egg from the body of an unlinked purple dragon. Valentina recognizes Arthur despite his Ernest Kane cover and allows him to remain among the hive's recruits. Arthur places the rescued Borderland children with Freyja, then becomes involved in the hatching of a separate rare egg. The resulting pink shimmer dragon is scourge-touched and has an incomplete core. When no available candidate can bond with her, Arthur hides her in his time-stopped Personal Space to halt her decline. He bargains for consideration by the legendary egg while Cressida searches for a compatible card. Specialists confirm that a successful link might complete the hatchling's core, while a new scourge alarm suggests corruption is already present inside the city. Valentina shows Arthur the legendary egg and quietly permits him to pursue an unconventional solution for the rare hatchling. Arthur and Cressida turn toward the restricted Scholars Guild library, where neglected cards may offer their best chance.

Arthur and Cressida enter the Scholars Guild through Chef Barlow's kitchen and discover that stored cards have decayed into scourge dust. A sealed rare-card room contains scourgelings, and damaged containment runes suggest deliberate cultivation rather than ordinary neglect. The creatures escape during the fight, spreading through the guild while Arthur and Cressida recover several rare cards. They avoid identification, warn Barlow, and bring the cards to the failing pink hatchling. Because she cannot judge them outside a heart deck, Cressida risks placing Quest of Life in her own deck. The gamble succeeds: she bonds with the hatchling, restores her health, and learns her name is Joyberry. Alyssa then carries Arthur, Cressida, and Joyberry to Valentina. The immediate rescue is complete, but the escaped scourgelings and the Scholars Guild's misuse of its collection leave a wider political and public danger.

Valentina accepts Arthur and Cressida's account, takes charge of the recovered cards, and approves Cressida and Joyberry for training. Wolf Moon shifts responsibility for the guild outbreak toward the scholars, while Arthur gives a carefully limited memory statement to the crown. He adds Mental Bookshelf and Eidetic Imagery to his heart deck, creating a useful set with Personal Space, and proves he can train ordinary skills during subjective time inside storage. At the legendary hopefuls' dinner, Arthur attends as Ernest Kane and meets Prince Marion Amberlion, whose card grants short-range future sight. Pennrow Rowantree recognizes the Kane identity as connected to a legendary card missing from his family and attacks Arthur as a test. Arthur conceals the truth and claims to hold an ultimate crafting power. Wolf Moon then presents the egg and removes candidates who react dangerously to it. Arthur, Pennrow, Marion, and an unidentified girl are assigned to one team for a live scourge-eruption field test, making Arthur's family-linked secret and the competition for the egg immediate threats.

The fourth teammate reveals herself as Princess Echo, Marion's half-sister and a legendary mimic. During deployment to a scourge eruption, Arthur first serves in a medical tent, then joins Pennrow, Marion, and Echo outside the defenses. A powerful mental effect traps the recruits in fog and false sensations. Arthur borrows Marion's competence card without permission, extends his mental resistance over the group, and helps them survive repeated attacks. Marion's amplified foresight predicts that the king may destroy the area if the white dragons fail. Arthur stores his companions for safety and tries to warn the dragons, but the Mindsinger captures him. He breaks its control long enough to free nearby captives before a legendary demi-scourgling erupts. The creature consumes controlled civilians for their cards and devastates the region until more than a dozen legendary dragons kill it. Harvest Moon claims its legendary card, while the Mindsinger escapes. Arthur wakes at Buck Moon after a mind healer repairs his psychic injuries, knowing royal inquisitors will question him and Wolf Moon will bear political blame.

At Buck Moon, Arthur releases Marion, Echo, and Pennrow from Personal Space and returns the competence card he took. Horatio obtains a mana card that lets Arthur shield the group from a royal thought sensor during questioning. The inquisitors steer their testimony toward blaming Wolf Moon, then approve all four survivors as legendary-egg recruits. Arthur trains his body-enhancement abilities and rises high in the rankings. Wolf Moon's leaders privately back him, lend him defensive cards, and ask him to choose their hive if he links the dragon. Pennrow challenges Arthur to a duel and uses the isolated arena to demand the identity of the person who took his family's legendary body card. Arthur refuses. He turns the prolonged beating into resistance training, infers that Rowantree blood allowed the stolen card to accept him, and finally tricks Pennrow into conceding by feigning a fatal wound. Arthur reaches third in the standings, but the victory deepens Pennrow's suspicion and invites more challenges.

Arthur defeats Francis Orchardtree by resisting his illusion and charm, then deliberately loses to Marion so the prince can qualify for the second group near the egg. When the legendary egg hatches, Brixaby emerges as a tiny dark shimmer dragon driven to steal cards. He takes legendary cards from Francis, a hive leader, and Marion, and ordinary restraints cannot contain him. Arthur draws Brixaby into Personal Space and recognizes that the dragon's incomplete core and overload are making him ill. Brixaby agrees to return the cards and links with both of Arthur's legendary cards, creating Counterfeit Siphon, which can temporarily copy nearby active powers. Arthur removes the stolen cards, but Marion refuses his time card because constant foresight has burdened him since childhood. Arthur chooses Wolf Moon Hive and returns there with Brixaby. Valentina identifies Lottie Rowantree as Arthur's mother and warns that the king may execute Arthur over his paired legendary cards. Arthur begins rider training while preparing for royal scrutiny and seeking answers from his absent father, Calvan.

At Wolf Moon, Arthur begins forming a retinue when Brixaby accepts Cressida and Joyberry. Arthur and Brixaby train their shared powers and physical skills, but repeated portals to the border cottage fail to locate Calvan. A royal summons brings them before the king, whose mythic dragon suppresses their cards. A truth-seeker exposes Arthur's false claim to be Baron Kane's son. Lionel and Pennrow Rowantree petition for one of his legendary cards, forcing Arthur to reveal that he is Arthur Rowantree, Calvan's son and Pennrow's cousin. Lionel then discloses that Arthur holds two cards from the same legendary set. The king orders Arthur's execution and commands Brixaby to remove a card before bonding with Pennrow. Brixaby refuses, while the mythic dragon separates him from Arthur and court officials take Arthur to prison. Arthur's cover is destroyed, his family connection is public, and his bond with Brixaby is under direct royal attack.

In prison, the Mindsinger offers Arthur an escape distraction in exchange for its sister's mind card, and Arthur accepts in order to preserve his life and bond. Brixaby refuses every demand to choose Pennrow and would rather become wild. Lung Bai, the king's mythic dragon, gives Arthur a second audience after a reported crisis draws Lionel and Pennrow back to their duchy. Arthur offers Marion's unwanted time card, admits intercepting Master of Body Enhancement, and swears a legendary oath to answer the king, obey lawful direct orders, and serve the kingdom. He is allowed to keep Brixaby and both cards. Lung Bai assigns royal mind mages to address the Mindsinger. Arthur then visits Calvan, learns that complete legendary sets may ascend to mythic rank, and has Brixaby remove the oath confining his father to Baron Kane's territory. Back at Wolf Moon, Arthur settles into training and retinue-building. Brixaby takes the mind card promised to the Mindsinger and absorbs it instead of linking it, becoming larger and beginning to gain its power. Arthur can no longer fulfill his bargain, leaving the Mindsinger conflict open.

Arthur survives the king's attempt to break his bond with Brixaby by surrendering Marion's unwanted time card, admitting how he obtained Master of Body Enhancement, and swearing a binding oath of service. He returns to Wolf Moon Hive with both legendary cards and begins building a retinue around Cressida, Joyberry, Carly, Horatio, and Sams. His identity as Calvan Rowantree's son is now public. Lionel and Pennrow retain their claim against him but are sent home to handle trouble in their duchy. Calvan is freed from the royal oath that confined him to Baron Kane's territory, although he remains in danger. Marion has abandoned his title and succession rather than take back the card that burdened him. Lung Bai directs royal mind mages to handle contact with the Mindsinger, but Brixaby absorbs the creature's sister's mind card before it can be returned. The act makes Brixaby grow and begin acquiring its power, while leaving Arthur unable to fulfill his bargain and worsening the unresolved scourge threat.