Chapter 2350: Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone

Chapter 2350: Chapter 2350: Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone

"You know each other?"

The referee, while checking both players’ decks, asked curiously, standing by to observe the game.

"This gentleman once traveled on my ship."

Captain Rudolf said, shaking his neck, then cracking his fingers one by one:

"Last time we gambled on something else onboard, and I lost badly. This is a good chance for ’revenge.’ I’m quite confident in Roder Cards this time."

This time, Captain Rudolf’s deck included three special cards. According to him, he won these special cards at the tavern:

"At one point, I had as many as five special rule cards. Unfortunately, I lost three of them in one go last summer. During the Year-End Festival, I won one back while playing cards against other captains on the ship. I enjoy this kind of tense and exciting game."

"Captain, you know we’re in a hurry."

Shard said, as Mr. Benhart and Mr. Albert already stood behind him:

"The standard best-of-three format is quite boring. Why don’t we try a different style?"

The Vampire Captain looked at Mrs. Frei, who shrugged nonchalantly:

"As long as you both agree, I have no objections."

The referee from the Prophet’s Society, wearing a uniform, also said:

"As long as it’s fair, it’s fine."

The spectators murmured among themselves, and Shard then suggested:

"Remove the King and Queen from each deck, making a total of 52 cards. We each divide the 52 cards into 10 groups of five cards, with two cards left over, then compare those 10 groups one by one according to Roder Card rules. After settling the 10 groups, ties are not counted for points. The winner gets 1 point, and the one with the most points wins in the end."

Of course, with five cards per group, the likelihood of a blowout is extremely high.

"If it’s a tie, then use the remaining two cards for a final showdown, still under Roder Card rules."

The spectators erupted into a small cheer; a special way of playing cards always excites people. More importantly, this style of play almost guarantees that Captain Rudolf will draw his three special cards.

"Interesting, do people in the Northern Country play like this?"

The captain asked with a smile:

"But this gives me the advantage, as your deck doesn’t have special cards."

"I don’t mind, just make it quick."

Shard said, prompting the captain to generously ask Mrs. Frei:

"Madam, could we borrow that ’Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone’ for now? Let the gentleman temporarily add it to his deck. Although he still has two fewer special cards than I do, he is borrowing cards, making it slightly fairer."

The applause represented the crowd’s praise for Captain Rudolf, even Mr. Benhart and Mr. Albert nodded continuously, acknowledging that although this fellow clan member liked to gamble, he at least had a good character.

"Then I’ll thank you in advance."

Shard did not refuse, so Mrs. Frei took the ’Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone,’ carefully preserved in a notebook from her pocket, and handed it to Shard, who looked at the card’s face:

On the black-and-white card face was an amber placed on a table, with a coiled young dragon solidified inside the amber.

The ’Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone,’ suit Sun 8: When drawn, if the total points exceed 26 points, you win directly.

The rule is ’greater than’ rather than ’greater than or equal to,’ meaning the card only takes effect when the total points before drawing ’Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone’ are 19 or 20.

This makes the card’s rule even more challenging to achieve than the usual ’dice throw’ type special rules but doesn’t hinder the card’s value, which far surpasses others.

After all, any special Roder Card with the rule ’win directly’ commands a 20% to 30% premium over other special rule cards. This win rule surpasses ’King/Queen’ and ’21 points,’ with priority only just below that of the ’Genesis series’ win rule.

When two non-Genesis ’win directly’ cards meet, the principle is to compare the point values of the two cards themselves, though Shard had never heard of such a situation.

Any game that features a ’win directly’ moment is enough for people to talk about for many years. Therefore, even if this Sun 8 were not part of the ’Ancient Alchemy’ series, its value would still be considered precious.

Shard carefully added this card to his deck, then, along with the captain, removed the ’King’ and ’Queen.’ Once the referee announced the start of the game, both sides exchanged decks for shuffling.

When the decks returned to their respective owners, Shard placed his hand on his deck and gently pulled, making the 52 cards fan out beautifully. Although Captain Rudolf’s technique wasn’t as fancy, he also successfully spread out his deck.

The referee placed the hourglass inverted on the side of the table, and under the low hum of conversations, the two began dealing.

With two rows of five groups each, Shard arranged five rows of cards in front of him, leaving the two spare cards temporarily on the outlined card area on the table.

Captain Rudolf was equally fast, and once they finished dividing their cards, they each declared the order of their decks.

The judge from the Prophet’s Society took the scoreboard from his assistant, and Shard said to the captain:

"Let’s do this together."

"Alright, although this makes things faster, it is indeed interesting. Want to guess in advance how many card groups won’t result in a blowout?"

The first group of cards, both sides had a blowout, which was completely expected. After all, the average number of the entire deck is 7, and the average sum of five cards is 35, far exceeding 21 points.

Neither side was in a hurry, but once the cards were dealt, neither spoke.

The speed at which the two flipped cards was almost identical, and apart from the judge, there were many others around holding notebooks to help calculate points.

Among Captain Rudolf’s three Special Cards, there was actually one in the remaining deck, and the other two appeared in the third and seventh groups respectively.

In the third group appeared [Carsonrick Specialty Dish: Fish Head Pie], suit: Star 5. Roll 3 dice, and if the points match, win instantly.

On the card was the image of six dead fish heads with eyes wide open, stuck in a round pie... Shard had indeed seen this dish in Carsonrick, but he still found it hard to understand it as a delicacy.

This card also came with the "instant win" rule, but unfortunately, the captain was clearly unable to roll three matching dice:

"I’ve had this card for two years, and I have yet to win with this rule."

He said with a worried face looking at the three dice on the table, and then added:

"But the cats Tom and Jerry I keep on the ship to catch mice do enjoy eating fish head pies."

Shard shook his head:

"My cat doesn’t like eating fish."

As for the Special Card appearing in the captain’s seventh group, it was [Steam Era: Coal Miner at the Worksite], suit: Sun 9. After this card is added to hand, during points calculation, if opponent’s hand contains a King or Queen, their total points are regarded as 20.

The card depicted three miners at the end of a mineshaft, wearing short-sleeves, faces smeared with coal dust while mining, with sparks flying as pickaxes hit the ore.

Shard was no stranger to the "Steam Era" series either. Last year, when competing for the 1853 "Big City Player" championship, Mr. Vigil Cameron of the Duchy of Seth in his hand had Moon 1 [Steam Era: Textile Worker off Duty] and Star 6 [Steam Era: Platform in the Whistle].

But in this particular match, there were no "King" or "Queen," so the captain’s card naturally couldn’t take effect.

All in all, when all ten groups of cards were revealed, the score on the scoreboard by the side of the table was "2:2."

"I thought we wouldn’t even have the last point, so now let’s see these two cards."

As Shard spoke, he took the last two cards in hand:

"Among these two cards, I definitely have Sun 8’s [Ancient Alchemy: Dragon Transformation Stone]."

As he said this, he placed the card face-up on the table, then felt Mr. Benhart on his left nervously gripping the chairback.

The captain squinted his eyes for a look and nodded:

"Then among my remaining two cards, I surely have this ’Flower 9’ [Life Ritual: Pistol Duel]."

He tossed the card onto the table, its image showed two men with revolvers and cowboy hats standing back-to-back.

[Life Ritual: Pistol Duel]: In the points calculation phase, if neither has a blowout and the difference in points is 0, 1, or 2, both roll a 20-sided die, the higher wins, this effect must activate.

"I don’t quite understand why a pistol duel counts as a life ritual?"

Shard said curiously, and laughter erupted from the crowd. The captain thought for a moment:

"Perhaps before the Firearms Era, people considered knight duels to be an activity that could bring honor. Now that the tales of knights have faded, pistols have become mainstream weapons. They’re not common in the city, but if you’re on the ship as well, you’ll find yourself often seeing fools shouting to duel with pistols."

"So do people really die?"

"Usually not, you can’t expect everyone to be a sharpshooter; as long as bullets hit non-lethal areas like the limbs, I’ll have sailors stop them. But in unusual cases, well... Aren’t you in a hurry? Let’s reveal the cards."

He threw out his last card, a Moon 5, which meant Captain Rudolf’s final score was 14.

Shard leaned forward slightly, and said in surprise:

"What a coincidence."

He flipped over a Moon 6, thus totaling 14 as well.

"A tie, the card’s effect actually triggered?"

Under normal circumstances, this results in a tie, and the judge from the Prophet’s Society decides whether to add a round or settle with sudden death. But with the effect of "Pistol Duel" triggered, the dice roll will decide the final outcome.