Chapter 104 - 102: New Money-Making Idea

Chapter 104: Chapter 102: New Money-Making Idea

"I was a little bored, so I wanted to kill some time."

"As it happens, I brought two sets of Gwent Cards."

"Bai Ya is a fast learner; she picked it up right away."

"So, do you want to learn?"

"If you do, I can teach you."

Mirana looked at Lu Wei, her tone calm. She waved the small cards in her hand as she spoke, extending a less-than-sincere invitation.

To be honest, she seemed rather exasperated at the moment.

There was no excitement of finding a fellow enthusiast, nor was there the joy of a recent victory—just the reluctant feeling of ’humoring a child.’

It was a bit like when you have little kids over for the holidays. They see you playing Baldur’s Gate, start clamoring to play too, and you’re forced by parental pressure to begrudgingly humor them.

"Here, this little guy is you, you can move him by clicking... How about we watch Pleasant Goat instead?"

"You don’t want to? Fine..."

Yeah, that was pretty much the feeling.

"Well..."

Lu Wei glanced at the cards on the rock. He’d heard of Gwent Card, but he’d never played it.

After all, for a low-class youth like this body’s previous owner, entertainment consisted of catching fish in the river and birds in the trees. Card games were a bit too high-end.

And he himself wasn’t really interested either.

So he was about to refuse.

But the next second, Bai Ya suddenly looked up, staring warily at Mirana.

"I’ve already learned! I’ll teach the captain!"

"Er, alright then."

Mirana was taken aback for a moment, then nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Then you can use this deck."

"Mhm, thank you!"

Bai Ya nodded, quickly gathering the cards, and then pulled Lu Wei over to another spot.

"Good thing I was quick..." She glanced back, saw that Mirana wasn’t following, and let out a long sigh, muttering something under her breath that sounded utterly fantastic to Lu Wei.

Then she adopted the air of a teacher, planting her hands on her hips and commanding:

"Sit! I’ll start teaching you now!"

"Uh, I’m not really..."

"Save your questions for later! Listen to me first!"

"No, what I was trying to say is..."

"Still talking! Are you the one teaching or am I?!"

"..."

???

’Did she get into character that fast?’

’Why do I suddenly have this feeling of déjà vu?’

Lu Wei stared blankly at Bai Ya, and after a moment of silence, he finally shut his mouth.

The girl gathered her skirt and sat down across from him, tilting her chin up smugly.

"You see, Gwent Card is actually very simple. I grasped it completely after learning it just once."

"Of course, you might be a little dumber than me, so you’ll have to listen carefully."

"First are the card types. There are five of them: Leader Cards, unit cards, event cards, weather cards, and trap cards."

"The effect of each card is just what it says on the tin."

"For example, right now, I’m the Leader Card, you’re a unit card, and Mirana is a trap card..."

...

...

At some point, a small change had occurred in how Bai Ya addressed Mirana—

the "big sister" suffix had disappeared.

And unlike when Furen forced her to stop calling him "Sir," this time, Bai Ya had made the change entirely on her own.

The reason might have been that the two of them had grown more familiar and no longer needed such formalities.

Or perhaps they had entered some sort of adversarial state.

But none of this had anything to do with Lu Wei.

In any case, after a dozen or so minutes, he had already learned the rules of Gwent Card.

It was similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! or Hearthstone from his previous life. Two opponents draw cards, then arrange their forces to fight for the final victory.

When both players use their own custom-built decks, it’s called a "Free Match." It’s basically a competition of who’s richer and whose deck has more Epic and Legendary cards.

When both players use the same Standard Deck, it’s called a "Fair Match." Since the cards are identical, it’s a contest of luck and wits.

Of course, the specific rules, settings, and so on were still very different from Yu-Gi-Oh!.

But it was roughly the same type of game, so the learning curve was very low for Lu Wei.

"So, do you have any questions?"

Across from him, Bai Ya finished her rapid-fire explanation and finally gave him a chance to speak. "If you do, ask away."

"Hmm..."

Lu Wei looked at the exquisite little cards in his hand and asked, "So, is this stuff expensive?"

"A bit," Bai Ya said. "Mirana said a Standard Deck costs several Silver Coins."

Mirana nodded. "High Level cards are even more expensive. Some can even sell for over ten Gold Coins."

"Over ten gold?"

Lu Wei’s eyes widened. He never imagined that this world also had a money-grabbing scheme like "gacha."

’Holy crap! That’s so ahead of its time!’

’This stuff must be a gold mine!’

’In the future, I have to try this myself. Create a set of cards like Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! I could make a killing just by selling cards!’

’I could even take the idea further and make something like blind boxes.’

’Equipment blind boxes! Only 1 Silver Coin for a chance to get High Level, or even Rare Level, Equipment!’

’Plus secret chase items! Skill Books, Inlaid Gemstones, and other goodies are waiting for you to pull!’

’It’s a guaranteed moneymaker!’

’I won’t have to sell the junk equipment I find to recyclers for cheap anymore. I can just stuff it all into the blind boxes!’

His expression grew more and more excited. Thanks to Bai Ya’s comment, Lu Wei suddenly had another brilliant idea, and he decided to put it into practice as soon as this mission was over.

But Bai Ya had no idea what he was thinking. She pouted and urged him on.

"Hey, hey, are you going to play or not?"

"Oh, let’s do it."

Lu Wei snapped back to reality and put down the cards in his hand. "I get it completely now. We can start."

"Hmph hmph, then I won’t hold back!"

Bai Ya shuffled the cards excitedly, her tone full of confidence. It seemed she intended to win back her pride at his expense.

「Twenty minutes later.」

"...Ahhh! I lost again!!"

"Th-this is impossible! Something must have gone wrong!!"

"But I have 12 points of Intelligence!!!"

...

...

When the moon had climbed to the center of the night sky, quiet finally fell around the campfire.

The canopies of the Dome Trees linked together to form a colossal dome, filtering the starlight and moonlight into shimmering silver flecks. Unknown insects chirped in the grass, their faint rustling adding a deeper sense of peace to the silent night.

Bai Ya and the others had already crawled into their sleeping bags, fast asleep in various crooked positions.

They had just played three games of Gwent Card, with her losing two and winning one... It was a good thing Lu Wei lost the last game, or she’d probably still be clamoring for another round.

Now, normally, this would mean Lu Wei had intentionally let her win a game.

But in reality, Lu Wei had no such intention. He only lost because his luck in the final round was just that bad.

’Don’t give me any of that "going easy on a girl" crap!’

’A card game is like a war!’

’Once you’re on the battlefield, who cares if you’re a man or a woman!’

’All enemies must die!’

’Hmph, you got lucky!’

Glancing at the blissfully snoring Bai Ya, Lu Wei pouted and then turned to look at Furen on the other side.

While he was playing cards with Bai Ya, Furen had also been learning from Mirana. But after trying for a long time, he still couldn’t quite grasp it. In fact, Zovir and Anna, who were just watching from the side, learned it before he did.

It was clear his Intelligence was probably lower than those two young slaves’.

So not only was he a Magic Dullard, but he was also a bit of an idiot.

’But he’s so damn noble...’

Recalling their discussion that morning about the "weaknesses of human nature," Lu Wei felt that compared to Furen, he was as despicable and shameless as a goblin.

And this was exactly why you couldn’t be friends with people whose values didn’t align with yours, especially those whose moral character far surpassed your own.

Because their dazzling moral fiber would always shine like Holy Light, leaving no corner for your dark side to hide!

And there was no way to drag them down to your level, to make them wallow in the mud with you!

"Sigh..."

With a sigh, Lu Wei could no longer bear to look directly at the radiance of Furen’s humanity. He quickly averted his gaze again, his eyes landing on Mirana in the distance.

And then he fell into a long silence.

’Extremely controlling, with a contradictory personality.’

’A freakish obsession with comrades and promises.’

’Likes poetry and painting.’

’Can earn over ten Gold Coins in a day or two.’

’And she also plays cards...’

’Wait, the more I think about it, the more I feel like this broad is bad news, huh??’