Age of Summoner

“There’s someone knocking on my door, perhaps someone in my tour group. Uh, I gotta go. I’ll call you back. Don’t stress too much about landing a job. It won’t take long for a smart guy like you to find a way out.”

The best friend who was in Japan hung up his phone without even waiting for Joke’s response. He could only sigh in return. He placed his phone back down on the table before reaching out for the problematic card to have a second look at it. A part of him wanted to discuss this with Tid, but another part of him thought that it would only frighten him. It would be better to keep it a secret and slowly reveal it after he had some idea about AOS.

As of now, he had at least ten million baht in his hands. All that mattered was how he could make the most out of it. Nevertheless, he had very little knowledge about it, so what harm could it bring for him to learn more about it so that he would make the best use of it? At the very least, he had nothing much to do as he was currently out of work.

Consequently, he then looked down at the location Tid had sent him.

It was a small card game store called the “Butterfly Card Shop”, which was located not far away from Ekkamai skytrain station. Seeing that, Joke looked down at the card in his hands indecisively until he glanced at his clock, seeing that it was only three o’clock in the afternoon. And he currently had no plans for tonight.

“Fine. It never hurts to check it out...”

……………….

Joke traveled from Ari skytrain station in front of his apartment to Ekkamai in a short period of time with his monthly skytrain pass. The man had previously changed into a more comfortable set of clothing and took a shower to let go of his fatigue. But it seemed like an array of emotions could still be seen on his face. It looked like the alley that he had just walked into was connected to a four-lane street, making it easy to walk along and there were pedestrians constantly walking to and fro.

The store’s location was considered not too terrible: convenient and also not secluded, quite safe actually.

After walking around five minutes from the skytrain station, Joke finally stopped in front of the Butterfly store. The storefront was decorated with an enormous banner featuring an image of a unique-looking butterfly. The front of the store consisted of a window and an automatic door that was plastered with various AOS posters. The store seemed to not be as large as Card Factory, having the size of two commercial buildings. Looking from the outside in, various counters could be seen. It was also brightly lit and the surroundings seemed nice and tidy. There was a customer, who seemed to be a bit older, sitting on a white bench with an ashtray outside the store. He assumed that this was the spot for customers to smoke so that it would not be disturbing to the other customers.

“The vibe’s way different from the previous store.”

Joke muttered while deciding whether to enter the store or not. The difference between this store and the one he previously went into made him amazed, with the size of the store and the number of customers which seemed to be a lot lower. He sighed upon these thoughts before deciding to immediately enter the store.

The automatic doors slid open with a soft ringing from an electric bell. Several customers who were gathering at the back of the store glanced at him for a moment. When they saw that he was not someone they recognized, they went back to chattering among themselves without much care. It was cold inside the store without any musty smell along with bossa nova music opening softly in the background, which caused Joke to feel relaxed, thinking of luxurious coffee shops.

Looking around, there were glass shelves hanging from the ceiling in every direction. Various types of AOS cards were displayed on it with price tags attached. This made it feel more like a retail store, and that the store’s decorations seemed to go together well. Soon after that, cheerful laughter was heard from the customers gathering around the reception chair at the back of the store. As Joke started concentratedly, it could be seen that a teenage girl was sitting in the middle, surrounded by men of various ages.

“Hello there. You need some help?”

A voice suddenly greeted him from behind the counter in front of the store; a figure of a lady suddenly burst out from beneath it. She was dressed in a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a pair of comfortable-looking jeans. She glared at him with an uncheerful expression plastered on her face. With her black hair, which was tied up into a ponytail, and wrinkles, she seemed to be in her early thirties.

“So, what are you waiting for? Lay it on me.”

That blunt question rendered Joke stunned. It could be clearly assumed that the lady who suddenly came out from behind the counter was the store’s owner without doubt… because greeting a customer in this manner was absolutely absurd!

“I’m interested in learning about AOS,” Joke answered smoothly.

“Learning?” The interlocutor went still for a moment before crying out in realization. “Oh, you’re Joke, right?”

“Yes… and how did you know my name?”

“Tid just messaged me a moment ago. He told me to look after his friend for him, but I didn’t know you’d be here so fast.”

The lady then placed her phone down on the table, revealing a chatbox on the LINE application on the screen with the contact name “Tid the Turd” massively headlined. Joke meekly smiled upon seeing that. Tid actually seemed to be close with the owner.

“So, you’re Madame Fon?”

“Yeah, right,” she curtly nodded. “And you’re an absolute beginner who totally has no idea about AOS?”

“Ah...I guess you can say that”

Joke did not want to say that he was a few steps ahead with certain knowledge… of the cards’ prices at the very least.

“I see.” The owner looked exhausted as if she was somewhat too tired to explain it to him. “If so, you will have to first register your information as a new player. There’s a hundred and fifty baht registration fee. But if you buy the game’s ID slot, the registration will be free of charge. The slot’s four hundred baht, which I recommended buying as it is more cost-effective; because if you really want to play AOS, you will need an ID slot like everybody else.”

The young man went still as if he was paused by remote control. His stunned expression caused the lady to raise her eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“You have to pay for registration?”

“Of course. There’s always a price for every service. Or else, how would my store survive?”

That high-pitched voice caused Joke to smile sheepishly. Joke eventually nodded reluctantly. As a matter of fact, he had already expected that there would be payments involved in playing AOS, but who would have thought that it would be up to four hundred baht like this?

“So, one ID slot?”