All the Skills 3: A Deck-Building LitRPG recap

Arthur and Brixaby are abducted to Mesa Free Hive, where they discover a society outside kingdom rule and prepare to confront the escaped Mindsinger. After finding Mesa's hidden combat-card library, they survive an emissary attack that kills Shadow, and Brixaby consumes the captured legendary weapon and grows large enough to carry Arthur. They repel an invasion, only to learn that the Mindsinger has stolen dragon eggs across several hives to harvest cards from hatchlings. Arthur unites Mesa volunteers with Wolf Moon forces, frees controlled victims, and reaches the operation's center. Brixaby prevents the Mindsinger from taking Arthur's body, but the enemy escapes inside a corrupted white dragon with eggs, followers, and a legendary card. The surviving eggs are recovered and the damaged hive evacuated. Arthur rejects Wolf Moon's political future, recovers Call of the Heart, and deliberately escapes with Brixaby. Its map sends them through a portal toward an unknown resource in a distant kingdom, while Cressida, Joy, Horatio, and Sams plan to follow.

Previously: Arthur, traveling under the name Ernest Kane, became linked to the tiny legendary dragon Brixaby and acquired extraordinary cards centered on learning skills and consuming cards. His true Rowantree heritage places him amid a dangerous family dispute involving his father Calvan, his uncle Lionel, and his cousin Pennrow. Baron Kane remains tied to Arthur's assumed identity and the danger facing the borderlands, while Second claims an unresolved debt against him. At Wolf Moon Hive, Arthur formed important connections with Cressida and her dragon Joy, as well as Horatio and Sams. He also became entangled with senior leaders Valentina and Whitaker. Most urgently, Arthur and Brixaby helped release the Mindsinger, a mind-controlling Scourge entity that remains at large. Their responsibility for that escape, the enemy's unknown plans, and the struggle over Arthur's legendary powers all carry into this book.

So far this book: Four months into rider training, Arthur leads a class exercise that turns dangerous when Maurice injures Lilac. He removes the offending pair and accepts responsibility just as the class is sent to a major eruption at Guardian City. Valentina orders the trainees to prioritize noble card stores, but Arthur redirects them to rescue trapped civilians. Their improvised defense succeeds at a cost, leaving several pairs injured. A quest then draws the remaining group toward Noble Woodmore's card library. Brixaby senses danger before they land, and Arthur warns a Blood Moon trio away from the courtyard. The estate explodes, killing that trio and scattering the class. Riderless dragons emerge from a protected crater, capture Cressida and Joy, and seize Arthur, Brixaby, and Shadow as well. Arthur recognizes one red dragon from his childhood, but the abductors' purpose and destination remain unknown.

Arthur's party wakes in Mesa Free Hive, a hidden desert settlement beyond kingdom control. Chablis and Laird hold them as constrained guests, using enchanted locks to suppress Arthur's abilities. The free hive supports humans and dragons as independent workers, relies on practical cards, and reveals that other settlements survive outside the kingdoms. Laird explains that he once refused a forced rider link and that he placed Arthur's legendary Master of Skills card in the border village. He wanted to keep it from Baron Kane and acted on a prediction that the gift would later benefit him. Arthur also tells Cressida the truth behind his cover: Ernest Kane is Arthur Rowantree, son of the former Duke Rowantree. Cressida accepts why he hid his identity. Both begin considering what Mesa's social model offers, although the council remains divided over whether Arthur and Brixaby are allies, assets, or threats.

Mesa Free Hive gives Arthur's group limited freedom. Brixaby apprentices under Dimitri as a chainmail worker, while Len and his rider voluntarily join the settlement after describing how Wolf Moon treated lower-ranked pairs as expendable. During a card-gifting ceremony, an assassin strikes at Arthur. Joy intercepts the poisoned blade and survives only by absorbing rare necrotic and nullification cards, which leave her with a dangerous green forelimb and venomous claws. Brixaby secretly takes the assassin's stealth-class card, allowing Arthur to copy its practical skills. Arthur also studies Mesa's agriculture with Flossie, tests unusual plants, and stores psychic-blocking apples. When the council questions the attack, the cardless assassin compulsively calls Arthur Rowantree a liar. Arthur infers that the Mindsinger may be influencing another free hive. Arthur, Brixaby, and Cressida agree that they helped create this danger and must grow stronger before confronting it.

After two months at Mesa, Arthur and Brixaby earn rare shards while expanding their skills. Brixaby develops chainmail craft, uncovers Mesa's secret trade in weapons and armor, and uses a secondary core to copy the assassin's stealth class before passing that card to Cressida. The group completes a rare metal-control combat card for Arthur, giving his chainmail rivets a second use as projectiles. Their search for Mesa's hidden combat cards takes them into a secured underground complex. They avoid a trapped armory, take books on enchantment and rune security, and discover maps showing that surviving kingdoms and free hives are isolated amid Scourge territory. A requisition letter names Call of the Heart, a legendary card that may belong to the same set as Brixaby's Call of the Void and may be at risk of destruction in a seeker enchantment. A concealed map points toward Mesa's combat cache, while Joy's quest redirects the group into a dungeon whose rules and rewards remain uncertain.

Arthur, Brixaby, Cressida, and Joy enter a constructed wave dungeon guarding Mesa's combat-card library. Repeated attacks push their stamina, mana, and defenses close to failure. Arthur studies enchantment under stopped time, and Brixaby transfers part of Cressida's fire card into metal bars, giving each fighter a compatible fire enhancement. Laird and a teleporting companion join the later waves, admitting that they also want combat cards because Mesa's council trades such cards away instead of arming its defenders. After the group clears the trial, Arthur uses his personal storage to bring everyone into the reward room. They take a limited selection from a large but incomplete library. On leaving, they meet four dragons controlled by the Mindsinger. The scarlet emissary unleashes legendary sound magic that kills Shadow, and the card's backlash leaves its wielder dying. Laird, Cressida, Joy, and Brixaby defeat the yellow and blue attackers, but the brown dragon remains alive and the legendary card is not yet secured.

Brixaby consumes the recovered legendary sonic card through Call of the Void. While he sleeps through the change, he grows into a more mature dragon large enough to carry Arthur. The timing leaves the group vulnerable when agents of the Mindsinger demand Mesa Free Hive's surrender. Chablis attempts to pay tribute with combat cards, but the emissaries open a portal for an invasion force. Laird reveals a concealed combat retinue, and Arthur distributes cards from the hidden library to civilian volunteers. Fighting beside Mesa's new defenders, Arthur uses his mental shield to free one controlled attacker, then copies mana and portal magic to collapse the enemy gateway. The awakened Brixaby catches Arthur as he falls from the closed portal.

Arthur and Brixaby move defenders through a temporary portal and break the enemy formation shaping a vast saltwater flood. Brixaby's stunning shout disrupts the attackers, and the defenders collapse the wave before it reaches Mesa. Arthur orders captures where possible, allowing him to release several dragons from the Mindsinger's control. The victory immediately reveals a larger loss: every dragon egg in Mesa has been stolen, along with nesting mothers, and the experimental gardens have been poisoned. Arthur restores the captured brown dragon by grounding him in memories of his rider and gains a Deprogramming skill in the process. The dragon identifies himself as Digger and explains that his rider is a hostage. Reports of matching raids at other free hives support Arthur's conclusion that the Mindsinger is using stolen eggs and hatchlings to produce rare cards. Despite Chablis's objections, Mesa begins organizing willing card holders into a mobile defense force, and Arthur decides to seek help from the kingdom hives.

Arthur leads Mesa volunteers to Wolf Moon Hive under worsening political conditions and an unnatural blizzard. Horatio and Sams, who believed Arthur dead, rejoin him. Arthur warns Whitaker, Valentina, and Buck Moon's leader that the Mindsinger has raided multiple hidden nests and is farming cards from stolen hatchlings. Wolf Moon agrees to intervene, although Buck Moon refuses. Valentina privately gives Arthur her Subtle Influence card and acknowledges earlier manipulation around his cards and the king. She also warns that Whitaker is positioned to dominate Wolf Moon after her death. Arthur rejects the future expected of him within the hive's hierarchy.

The assault on Free Hive of the Waves begins in confusion as unprotected Wolf Moon fighters fall under the Mindsinger's influence. Arthur uses Mind Block anchors as projectiles to free controlled riders and dragons, while Sams, Laird, and the Mesa volunteers help his retinue advance. Whitaker retreats after losing control of part of his force, but Arthur continues into the infected hive. Digger opens an underground route where the group finds stolen eggs, controlled nesting mothers, and evidence of mass hatchling deaths. Arthur frees mothers and organizes the evacuation of eggs before pressing toward the operation's center. There the Mindsinger attacks through a Scourge-rotted white dragon and card-bearing scourgelings. Its reserve shimmer dragons nearly overwhelm the party, but Arthur weakens the mind attack with a psychic-blocking apple. When the Mindsinger tries to exchange minds with Arthur, Brixaby's bond and nullification divert the spell into the white dragon. The Mindsinger escapes in that body with eggs and followers, while Arthur's side captures a legendary card from a fallen defender.

The Mindsinger's remaining thralls recover after its retreat, and healers stabilize the Scourge Rot. Arthur returns stolen cards where possible, distributes others, and seals the hatchling-killing chamber as the Tomb of Hatchlings. Free Hive of the Waves is evacuated because the lingering damage makes it unsafe. Digger reunites with his rider and leaves Arthur's retinue to assist the refugees at Island Free Hive. Laird returns Mesa's surviving eggs and stays to build its volunteer defense. Cressida, Joy, Horatio, and Sams remain alive and plan a separate journey before joining Arthur again. At Wolf Moon, Whitaker accuses Arthur of misleading the hive and undermining command. Arthur tells Valentina that he will leave rather than accept Wolf Moon's political path, though he still intends to strengthen the war against the Scourge. Brixaby reveals that their recovered legendary card is Call of the Heart. They deliberately trigger Return to Start to escape, then use the seeker's map and copied portal magic to travel to an unfamiliar kingdom on the far side of the world. The Mindsinger remains alive in a corrupted white dragon, carrying eggs, followers, and another legendary card.

Arthur's coalition liberates Free Hive of the Waves, ends the active control over its surviving victims, and recovers many stolen eggs. The victory does not kill the Mindsinger. Brixaby's bond and nullification divert its attempt to seize Arthur, forcing it into a Scourge-rotted white dragon that escapes with followers, eggs, and a hidden legendary card. Digger reunites with his rider and helps relocate refugees to Island Free Hive. Laird returns to Mesa Free Hive to develop a volunteer defense force, while Cressida, Joy, Horatio, and Sams remain together and intend to rejoin Arthur later. At Wolf Moon Hive, Whitaker accuses Arthur of undermining command, but Valentina accepts his decision to leave. Brixaby identifies their recovered legendary card as Call of the Heart. Arthur and Brixaby intentionally trigger Return to Start, obscure their trail through Mesa, and follow the seeker's map through a portal to a kingdom on the far side of the world. They hope its unknown target will strengthen the wider fight against the Scourge.