Age of Summoner

“So, we have to attack the opponent’s half until their LP’s all gone to win?”

“That’s partially correct.” Rin smiled “There are also other ways to settle battle results. For instance, if a person has no cards left in their deck, that’s considered defeat. If a person surrenders, the game’s considered over. If the fight went past the time limit, the result will be based on who has more LP and cards left or who destroys a higher amount of the opponent’s halves.”

He nodded before inserting the Oberik card back into his ID slot again. His orbs stared at the duel in front of him, which result was about to be announced because this “Sith” person was struggling with all his might to not let his LP touch zero even though that seemed almost impossible.

“And there’s more about discarded cards in a duel. Every card that had been used or every half that had been destroyed, those cards will be discarded into a used pile called the ‘Graveyard’. In Arcadia, every card that was discarded into the Graveyard will start its cooldown period, right? But in a duel, cards inside the Graveyard will not cool down and will stay there until the end of the game, or in other words, they can’t be used again. So, you need to think it through carefully when using any cards in a duel.”

“So, they’re gone upon single use?” Joke nodded in response.

“Yes, but there are some cards that are exceptions such as the Resurrect Half for Battle card or Return Discarded Cards to Deck card. If they’re cards similar to those, we can reuse our cards again.”

Immediately after that had been said, the VR Vision system inside room number six that they had been standing in front of was turned off. Every wall inside that room turned pit-black. It appeared that Sith’s fight had come to ed. Joke turned around, seeing that man walking crestfallen to eject his ID slot from some type of machine before leaving the room.

“Ugh....the hell with this deck? It’s basically cheating, who in the world could win against this?”

Rin turned her head towards that utterance before a smile slowly crept onto her face.

“How was it, Sith? Seemed like you blew the game over there.”

“Oh, it’s you who’s lining up for the machine?” The young man exclaimed. “Yeah, five losses straight in a row. I tried out different types of decks, and still can’t stand against it. The Singaporean’s meta deck is giving me such a headache.”

Rin giggled gleefully, and Sith did not seem to be offended by it. On the contrary, he even smiled in return.

“You should study it if you have time, Rin. You’re about to enter an ASEAN class-D tournament, aren’t you? I bet there probably will be someone competing with this Singaporean’s meta deck.”

“Thank you. I’ll have a look at it, but I have to carry out this new player mentoring quest first.”

“Oh.”

That man looked towards Joke for a moment. Each of them politely nodded at each other before waving his hand and walking away with his ID slot.

“Take your time, then. I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Bye, Sith.”

The young lady raised her hands, farewelling that man before he walked away. Rin turned to smile at Joke again and beckoned him to walk into room number six, which was ready to be used. Joke excitedly stepped into the room without delay.

“The cost for renting a duel room and the online room is usually at the same price. But the great thing is, you can share the cost with other people who are using it with you. This room can currently host up to six people for a tag team duel.”

Rin then pointed at a machine that looked like a spot for inserting ID slots, which seemed to be six of them positioned in different corners of the room. After saying that, she called Joke to walk towards her.

“We insert our ID slots in here,” Rin explained as she reached out her hand, asking for his ID slot. “Once you have inserted your ID slot, press here.”

The ID slot was then pulled into the inside of the wall. The walls in every direction suddenly brighten up with AI voice blasting out similar to the one he heard from the device.

“Welcome to the duel system. ID: Summoner Joker, confirmed. Ready to be used.”

Upon hearing that, Joke raised his eyebrows while looking around curiously because that female voice sounded so realistic as if a person was speaking from right in front of him.

“Apart from the special screens positioned around the room, there’s also a surround sound system as well as infrared sensors to detect a user’s position for the most realistic sound,” Rin explained. “Therefore, it will adjust both images and sound to make us feel as if we are standing in an actual battle arena. And the commanding system inside this room is voice-activated.”

Joke glanced around, realizing that this room was built with advanced technology from floor to ceiling. There were also VR Vision projectors in the corners to enhance the realisticness. Upon seeing this, he seriously wanted to know how much money was spent on building such an advanced room like this.

“Should we try fighting with a lower-level bot, then?”

Rin asked as she gleaned down at her watch, noticing that it was already a bit late.

“That’s good, so you can get over with your quest.”

“Alright.”

The young lady smiled in return. When she was about to command the room’s AI system, she instead stopped short before reaching into her pants’ pocket, grabbing out her phone.

“Excuse me for a second. My family’s calling me. You should try out the system with a voice command while waiting for me. It’s not complicated.”

He nodded sedately. Rin quickly stepped out of the room without even waiting for his reply to answer that call. It seemed she had to find a quiet corner to answer this urgent call.

Joke glanced around hesitantly. He was indeed not used to this type of advanced technology. You could even call him an analog 2.0 homo sapiens.

“Ah....Mr. Computer, sir.”

The young man nudged without much confidence. He then raised his head to have a look around.

“Yes, Summoner Joker? How can I be of assistance?”

The response seemed rather decent. The pleasant-sounding voice caused Joke to be able to smile again. And so he continued:

“I want to try out a duel.”

“Is the command for a duel confirmed, Summoner Joker?”

“Yes, a duel.”

Joke immediately nodded. There was a moment of silence before the whole room turned grey as if it was standing by for something.

“Duel confirmed. Maximum-level bot selected. Deck in use: Candle Gold Magic. Duel starting in three… two… one…”

“Huh?”

Joke could do nothing but raise his eyebrows at the AI’s words. The room suddenly lit up brightly once again.

.

.

“Yes, yes. I’ll be back very soon. Definitely no later than half past nine. I have to run some errands… It’s fine, you don’t have to send dad to pick me up. I’ll take the skytrain… Alright. Alright, see you soon.”

The end of the line was the first to hang up the phone. Rin slightly sighed before putting down her phone and looking at her watch again. She never thought that the mentoring quest would be taking longer than usual. She then let out a giggle, breaking her train of thoughts.

“It’s all because of that guy indeed. Who would dare interrupt him when he’s having such a great time going online.”

She mumbled, thinking about that guy who did nothing but pull a straight face, but let out all his childish side the instant he got the chance to try out Arcadia. She could not hold in her smile upon those thoughts.

“Come on. Everyone who tries AOS has this same reaction. Let’s quickly go help him out and get this quest over with.”