Age of Summoner

“Worry not, young man. Rin will be teaching you all about it. I guarantee that you cannot find a person who knows more about AOS other than adorable Rin. And here… your ID card has just been completed.”

She then pulled out the black card that had been inserted into the computer and handed it to Joke. It looked similar to a credit card: hard and sturdy with his name and ID number embossed.

“Thank you...”

Joke accepted it in confusion. Madame Fon then grabbed another card from the counter and inserted it into the computer again before pressing something on the keyboard until a “bleep!” sounded. Soon after, she pulled out the card with the word “Quest” largely written on it in red, handing it to the lady standing next to him.

“And this is your Quest Card, Rin,” she then smiled widely. “Look after him for me. He’s a beginner with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever. Plus, he’s also Tid’s friend.”

“You’re Tid’s friend?”

The lady named “Rin” smiled widely at Joke at the instant. When she heard Tid’s name, she seemed to be smiling at him in a friendlier manner.

“Yes. I’m Joke.”

“I’m Rin,” the younger person quickly introduced herself. “I’m kind of close with Tid. So, don’t worry; I’ll take great care of you. Tid helped me with a lot of things before. Anyway…”

Rin asserted while narrowing her eyes at the ID slot on the counter and then at Madame Fon.

“Even though he had absolutely no idea about it, you could still trick him into buying this ID slot?”

“Hey. Don’t put it that way!” The older lady grinned ear to ear. “Every AOS player has to buy one of these devices anyway, right?”

“But you could have let him try out the tester first, couldn’t you? What if it turns out he did not like it?”

Joke stared at Madame Fon as soon as he heard the word “tester”. The person who was the one who tricked Joke into buying the device turned away, whistling irritatingly to the point where the person who stared at her pouted.

“Quit the talking, Rin. Go do your job quickly before I change my mind, reducing your quest reward to only one Retina Pack.”

“Alright, alright.” The younger one smiled sweetly before nodding at Joke. “Oh, if you’re a new player, this means you do not have a deck, right?”

“Deck?” Joke raised his eyebrows.

“Ah… it’s a set of cards for playing AOS.”

“Oh… I don’t have them yet.”

The young man shook his head, which caused Madame Fon to grin widely from behind the counter.

“Great timing, young man. I would like to introduce you to a starter deck for new beginners. We currently have all sorts of decks, no matter what type of race or element. And for the price…”

“The tester deck for a beginner would be just fine, Madame Fon.”

When she was about to put on her sales hat, she was abruptly interrupted. The younger person simply smiled sweetly in return while putting her hands forward towards the (super strict) owner. A “hmph!” sounded along with her dissatisfied expression. Madame Fon then crouched down to grab a rectangular plastic box, handing it to Rin in irritation.

“Thank you so much, madame shop-owner. Oh, and newly registered guests can use the Online Center device free for four hours, correct? For me, even though it’s considered as completing a quest, I'm working for you. So, just to let you know, I’ll be going online for free.”

“Hmph! Just quickly take this dude before I really change my mind about your quest’s reward.”

Upon hearing those words, Rin grabbed the white plastic box from Madame Fon’s hands before smiling sweetly at Joke.

“Follow me this way. I’ll teach you all about AOS.”

“Okay.”

Joke responded obediently before picking up that ID slot device along with its packaging box and insurance slip. The tall figure eventually followed the adorable little lady, passing the group of guys who were still chattering together gleefully.

“Hey, young man. You can learn with Rin all you want, but don’t you dare hit on her!”

A voice shouted his way, causing Rin to cry out something along the lines of “Stop it!” charmingly before taking Joke up the stairs to the upper floor.

“Everyone here is kind of weird. Don’t mind them Joke,” she stated while stepping up the stairs. “We've known each other for a long time, so we are very close with each other and like to joke around.”

“Oh, I don’t really mind.”

Joke responded calmly, which caused Rin to smile broadly.

“Oh, and don’t mind what I previously said. Madame Fon did not take advantage of her customers. It is true that you can try out playing AOS before registering an account, but the goods Madame Fon sells are cheaper than the market price. And what Madame Fon was saying was also correct, everyone needs an ID slot to play AOS… consider it as paying for the gaming device and my mentoring or something like that.”

The young man nodded. As a matter of fact, he did not actually care about those things (even though he only had a few hundred-baht bills left)

“And you have never known nor played AOS before?” Rin asked.

“Yes.”

“And why are you interested all of a sudden? Or did Tid convince you?”

Joke nodded to those questions. The actual reason that made him have to study about AOS was in fact the twenty million baht sedimenting at the bottom of the bag weighing on his shoulders right now.

“Then, I’ll explain to you every detail,” Rin stated while extending out her arms. “Let’s start with this card. Perhaps you saw one of those Card Factory stores before, right?”

“Yes.” He went into them, actually.

“I’ll then first let you know that those Card Factory stores, or commonly known as CF, are different from stores like this. Those stores are created by the AOS’s parent company to directly facilitate its players. And for stores like Butterfly, they are stores operated by owners who signed a contract with the parent company. A lot of their services are different, such as in trading or even in completing a quest.”

“Quest?” Joke raised his eyebrows.

“Ah, I will explain about that in a short while.” The young lady smiled before turning around and walking up a few steps to the third floor. “I guess that Tid recommended you to start learning about the game in a store like this first, which is correct because stores like ours contain quests for veteran summoners to teach the newcomers, such as what I am doing now. And we also have devices and goods more suitable to new beginners, which the shop-owner can recommend to you, Unlike those CF stores that accommodate players who are considered as more experienced. They will assist you as you ask but do not really give advice. The products sold there are of international standard, so there are no bargains there. As for other services, I guess they are quite similar. For instance, both have Duel Center or Online Center devices available for use. But their service charge is a bit higher than ours.”