Jake's Magical Market
J.R. Mathews
Meddling gods shuffle Earth like a deck of cards, scattering monsters, dungeons and magical items across the globe. Jake, a slacker working at the neighborhood market under his apartment, survives the apocalypse alone and must master a new magical card system to fight monsters, build his market into a sanctuary, and navigate gods, elves, rival powers and eventually divinity itself across time and worlds.
Progression: Central LitRPG card-based progression. All survivors receive access to a magical card system granting powers; progression is via collecting, upgrading and deck-building cards (time-manipulation, spatial magic, illusion, rune cards). Cards function as both powers and currency (shards). Jake advances from mortal survivor -> card wielder with time-stop/future-sight -> rune initiate (carving runes into himself) -> ascended divinity who crafts his own cards. Later books add complementary cultivation-like mortals who meditate for centuries to reach god-like tiers, rune magic ranks, and divine ascension levels among jealous gods hunting divine power. Power scaling is explicit and continuous across the trilogy.
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