Age of Summoner

“It will turn out the same no matter how many times I open this pack anyway.”

The instant he was out on the road—in which there was an absence of people as it was just ten o'clock in the morning, and it was still during working hours—Joke flipped over the card packet he recently received, looking at it back and forth.

He had relatively known about Age of Summoner, or AOS, since his high school days. It was a card game that was popular across all age and gender groups. The way this card game was combined with an online gaming format made it even more interesting and popular. At the beginning of this year, he heard that the AOS company recently celebrated its success in reaching two billion player IDs worldwide.

He himself had seen his friends play this card game before, but he thought that it was kind of absurd, so he did not really care about it. (The truth was that he was not interested in gaming or cards like this back when he was in school.) On the other hand, his friend Tid was a huge fan of this card game. He also saw that the game was so popular to the point where AOS pro players mushroomed everywhere, generating loads of money not any different from professional football players.

The game became so popular the company decided to open up Card Factory stores all over the world. These were similar to the stores where players could gather to buy and sell cards. But the main point was that these stores were built all around the country like convenience stores; you could always find a Card Factory to facilitate you no matter where you go.

Speaking of which, there seemed to be a Card Factory in front of the alley leading to his apartment.

"Whatever, there probably won't be anything outstanding inside the packet anyway."

Joke uttered monotonously before tearing off the free card pack he received, which inside revealed five sheets of thin business-card-sized plastic cards. This was the first time he ever held these cards. His first impression was that it felt a little strange. The plastic material appeared to be of high quality because most cards similar to this were usually made of paper, but it seemed like AOS was raising the bar.

"Let’s see..."

He said while looking at the cards curiously. First, he had no idea what these cards were for or which would be of value. But he certainly knew that the monsters on these cards looked stupid—the kind of stupid look that at one glance he knew straight away that these were...worthless.

"Well, I didn't really expect anything," the young man laughed. "Hm, wait for a second..."

His tall figure suddenly froze. His eyes behind those large framed glasses narrowed, staring at the last card hidden behind at the back.

The card, which was a picture of a white dragon, was different from the others. He knew straight away that it was on a whole other level.

"It's shiny. This probably is one of the foil cards that the woman mentioned before."

Not only did it appear to be special, but its reflective shine also looked more valuable than any other cards.

"This card probably got some value," Joke stated while flipping the card back and forth. "No, don't get your hopes up. Even if it's one of those foil cards, but if it's me who got them, it will certainly be lame and worthless."

He came to that conclusion based on his past 22-year life experience. He let out a sigh, putting all five cards inside the pocket of his shirt without much care.

"Whatever, there's that Card Factory in front of my apartment's alley anyway. I'll try selling them there. Maybe I'll at least get some reimbursement for my chocolate expenses."

.

.

"Welcome to Card Factory, summoners!"

A voice enthusiastically exclaimed together with the sound of music similar to the ones that could be heard when the convenience stores’ doors open and close. Joke passively wandered into an area he had never seen before, and also an area he had never thought of entering. The automatic doors slid wide open as the door’s automatic music chimed.

"I used to think that it was hella big from the outside. Now being inside, I'm lost for words..."

Joke spoke to himself as he glanced around. Card Factory was AOS's store, created to facilitate players from all over the country. Inside there were various stands displaying a vast array of cards either for sale or show. Posters of AOS card illustrations were posted on several corners. A corner positioned a large television screen that kept the AOS ads constantly open whereas the opposite section was a spot where customers could hang out together.

If you thought of cheap tables and plastic chairs: you should drop that idea.

It was an elegant sofa set. Next to it stood a big brand coffee shop to serve customers. The store was actually two stories. The space on the upper floor was solely dedicated to gaming. On top of that, there were staff dressed in the same uniform: white polo shirts and black aprons with the AOS logo attached to their chests.

Another matter that surprised Joke was the number of customers, around 30-40 people, in the card trading area or the hangout zone. Even though it was still ten on a Tuesday morning—and not on a summer holiday—it was filled with customers. What was even more surprising was the fact that despite a large number of customers, the place did not appear to be overcrowded at all. On the contrary, it was even spacious enough to accommodate twice as many customers.

"Welcome to Card Factory. How can I help you?"

A staff member finally approached him after he stood looking around curiously, not knowing what to do. This young lady looked rather cute. She was for sure well-selected.

"Well...I want to sell some cards. I heard you can sell those here."

"Oh, you are looking to trade some cards? My pleasure."

The young lady responded cheerfully before gesturing at the other side immediately.

"Please follow me this way."

"Sure."

Joke obediently replied. While following her slender figure closely behind, he glanced around the place with fascination. It was not unusual for guys to take an interest in card games, but it was really strange for women to also be interested in playing them. Besides, seeing that they seemed to still be in college, he could not help but feel worried... ‘Shouldn't you guys be better off studying?’ He thought internally.

"There's a lot of customers for a weekday," Joke pointed out.

"Oh, right," the female staff member smiled. "We normally receive this amount of customers every day, but it will be particularly more crowded in the evening."

"They look kind of young. Is it okay to be skipping school like this?"

The female staff fell into silence upon hearing those words before sweetly smiling at him.

"There are a lot of teenagers wanting to become pro players, so many of them reduced their time studying to focus more on gaming. I agree that they should also be paying attention to their studies, but it seems like they don't want to waste their time with their education when an option of being a pro league player arises.”

The word "pro league" was something he raised his eyebrows at curiously, but he let it slide as it was never his intention to care about these things in the first place. Eventually, the young woman guided him to the furthest corner where there were around ten strange ATM-looking machines arranged in a row.

"Here we are. These are our automatic card trading machines."

"Automatic trading?" Joke narrowed his eyes. "Aren't I supposed to be selling them over there?"

He then pointed in another direction where there was a long counter bar with staff looking after customers who were lining up for service.

"That area is for customers who came to buy products," the lady answered. "Because our staff are limited, they have to supervise many sections. Apart from that, it is advised to sell cards that are not of much value—such as what you have here—at these automatic machines.”

The female staff gestured at a customer with a large box of cards feeding his cards into an available machine one by one.

"This process is much more convenient for customers who want to discard cards and turn them into money," she smiled sweetly at him. "Have you created an AOS ID account before?"

"No, I've never played AOS before, but I accidentally got a card, so I came here to sell it."

"I see. We are happy to purchase all cards whether you are an AOS member or not. It's just that if you have an AOS ID, you can collect points, which will be given every time you trade your cards, that can be used to access various benefits. If you are interested in signing up for an ID, the subscription fee starts at only two hundred baht..."

"Sorry, I probably don't have time to take part in the game anyway."