Alucard still struck a deal with James for a small discount, just 5% off the total purchase. In return, James agreed to have his men post the tournament posters across the city, especially in high-traffic areas like markets and pubs. He also assigned a platoon to help with security during the tournament, as well as assist with odd jobs the system might not be willing to handle.
To Alucard, the trade was more than worth it. He lost just a tiny bit of profit, but gained valuable promotion and extra security for the tournament.
As he was ringing up customers buying packs and deck cases, Nina and her gang went up to him to ask if they can still borrow the common decks they played with before for their friends. Alucard glanced at the children in tattered rags, their bright eyes earnestly gazing up at him with some small expectation that they could at least experience playing with their friends and not miss out.
The young store owner who looked like a noble with his bloody crimson pupils, chuckled at them and handed over a box that had an assortment of decks he made. This time he added a few rare cards to make the sample decks a bit more exciting and playable. The children carefully received the box and their eyes trembled in wonder as soon as they took out the decks. Trell and Annie took them to the tables and started teaching them how to play.
Alucard also handed another box containing similar decks to some of the customers who were hesitating, he gestured for them to try it out and play a few rounds. He didn't really mind lending out commons and a few rare cards. The box containing the decks was purchased along a few other new items from the system's shop, the system already assured that the cards will automatically return to the box anyway so he had no fears of them being stolen or lost.
As he continued entertaining customers, the store became more lively with the customers playing and opening packs. Gasps and yelps could be heard from every corner of the store, people were drawn to the cards and the duels being played.
"Heh! Check this out!" Nina raised her right hand, a card with jewel-like glimmer flashed around her. She showed off her prized pull, a full art Blue Eyes White Dragon. The card shimmered like a precious gem and the majestic and primordial beast stood tall with its claws popping out. It had a menacing stance that made it seem to come out of the card.
Her friends that surrounded her muttered 'that's so cool!' and a bunch of woahs. A few nobles aside from the LeFlamme siblings gazed at the card that looked more luxurious and pristine than the rubies, diamonds, and other precious jewels they own. The merchants looked at each other with sly grins, realizing that these toys could potentially have huge value that they can make a profit off.
"Woah! Brother we must get one of those!" Divian tugged Derrick's arm excitedly. Derrick had a helpless chuckle as he stared at the card then at the booster boxes and other merchandise they bought. "Haven't you gotten any good cards from the boxes you bought last time?" He asked.
His sister looked up at him with a toothy grin, "I haven't opened them yet! Those are for backup in case we don't get any good cards in these boxes." Divian laid down the boxes as both of them sat together in one of the dueling tables. James nodded to Derrick and went to his child and his friends while Derrick called out to a pair of his family's guards to sit right next to them and learn how to duel.
Divian pulled out a small knife keychain that looked like the pointed hat of Dark Magician and handed her brother one that looked like the wing of Red-Eyes Black Dragon. She thought for a bit and remembered how the store owner opened the boxes, then she showed Derrick how to tear open the seal on the booster boxes and prop them up to showcase the chase monster on the box cover.
She pulled out a pack from one of their Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon boxes and held it up, "I think this is how you open it!" She turned it around and pulled the tab on the top of the pack and ripped it open, the cards were facing backwards so she had to turn them over to see what she got.
"Haha look at this guy called Beaver Warrior! It's an armored rat knight, I don't know what a beaver is though. Brother you know what a beaver is?" Divian handed the card over to Derrick who shook his head, it was his first time hearing of such a creature.
"Milady, it does look like one of those large forest rodents, Beaver might be the forest it came from." One of the guards commented.
"Or, since it's a knight, it might be the name of the family it's serving!" The other guard said.
"Interesting! I'll ask father if he knows if such a forest or family exists. Let's see the next cards... Oh wow! These two look adorable! Petit Dragon and Petit Angel!" Divian continued with opening packs, Derrick and the two guards who now have the gist also went and open their own packs.
After an hour or so, the siblings each opened a booster box, got some rare pulls and each got a single super rare. The two guards managed to pull 3 super rares which they offered to the siblings. Divian's eyes shone and was quite expectant but Derrick shook his head and declined, saying that this is their reward and hoped that the two can learn the game and teach it to the other guards as well which made the two young men ecstatic since the super rare cards looked almost priceless in their eyes.
Derrick chuckled at Divian who pouted a bit before focusing back on her card pulls.
"So, what next? How do we play with these cards?" Derrick asked his sister who was mumbling in a low voice.
"We build a deck, as the owner mentioned it should have from 40 up to 60 cards. If you have fusion monsters, the purple ones, you can have an extra deck of up to 15 of them. Based on what those kids told me, you need to have a healthy combination of monsters, spells, and traps." The young noblewoman puffed her chest up as she taught her brother.
Divian continued, "You should have a good amount of level 1 to 4 monsters or else you'll get a brick hand, that's what the children say when you have cards but can't do anything." she said as she pointed towards Nina's group. She then pulled 3 monster cards and showed them to Derrick.
Curse of Dragon LVL 5, Flame Cerberus LVL 6, and Hyozanryu a LVL 7 monster.
"You can only summon these monsters if you sacrifice one of your monsters on the field, Level 4 to 5 monsters need 1 monster, Level 7 and above monsters need you to sacrifice 2 monsters in order to summon them. It's called Tribute summoning and I learned while watching the duels in the store yesterday!"
Derrick nodded as his sister taught him, the two guards nodded alongside and were focused on the lesson. "Then the next would be these green and red-ish cards right? I believe they're called spell and trap cards as it says here." Derrick put forward the spell card Pot of Greed and the trap card Two-Pronged Attack.
Divian took the cards and held them up, "Yeah! I was about to say that! This trap card that you have is a bit more tricky since it needs you to have 2 monsters you're fine destroying and you'll only get to destroy one of your opponents! While this card that has a funny face allows you to draw two cards, which could be helpful in some situations. "
Alucard who took a small break after selling to customers twitched his lips. Some situations? This card is the most powerful card in existence! The ultimate forbidden banned for eternity card, I'm even hesitant in not banning it! Well, I'll just have to see how it goes in this world, He thought.
Divian handed the cards back, Derrick took them and glanced at his obviously eager sister. "Okay, then with that in mind let's build our decks and duel afterwards." Divian's grin widened as she excitedly went back to making her deck.
~~
After half an hour of deck building, the siblings finally crafted their decks. With some help from James who checked up on them, they were able to turn on the duel mode feature of the table. The two faced each other, one was eager to best her accomplished brother who frequently was touted as the pride of the family. The other was looking forward to learning and having a fun time with his sister, maybe this could help ease his mind and help him find much needed relaxation.
Divian pressed the coin toss button and a projection of a coin flipped up the air and landed on the table with a clink, on it's center was a mysterious golden eye that made one ponder its origin, Derrick got the blank 'tails' side.
"Since mine was heads, I get to choose to go first. Hehe, don't blame me for taking advantage of this, my dear brother. I go first, now I draw 5 cards hmm... let's see..." She thought hard on which cards to use, and quickly formulated a plan.
"I activate the field spell card: Forest! This makes all Insect, Beast, Plant, and Beast-Warrior monsters on my field gain 200 more attack and defense points!" Divian's side of the field suddenly underwent a drastic change, trees and other types of greenery sprung up, birds and small animals were seen scuttering around the forest. It did not obstruct the player's view as it was a virtual projection that melded with the card zones.
She then raised her hand, "Now I summon the level 4 monster: Beaver Warrior! It originally has 1200 ATK but since it's a beast-warrior monster it gains an additional 200 ATK!"
Beaver Warrior LVL 4 Beast-Warrior, Normal Monster 1200 ATK/ 1500 DEF => 1500 ATK/ 1800 DEF
"Graa! clang! clang!" "A rat-like creature in gleaming blue armor stood upright, gripping a sword and shield. Its solemn gaze locked onto Derrick's field as it clanged its weapons together with knightly resolve.
"Wow, that little creature looks like a stalwart knight. You can't attack on your turn, so is it mine now?" Derrick asked as he studied the projected Beaver Warrior.
"No! I'm not done yet, and brother, your opponent must say announce the end of their turn before you start yours, that is the proper etiquette that the children told me yesterday. Anyway, I also activate this equip spell card called Horn of the Unicorn! It's going to further increase my monster's power!" Divian said in a bout of excitement.
A spiraling, pointy horn suddenly materialized on top of the Beaver Warrior's head. It growled once again, its aura became stronger and its eyes fiercer.
Beaver Warrior 1500 ATK/ 1800 DEF => 2200 ATK/ 2500 DEF
"With that, I end my turn! Let's see how you fight that, my dear brother!" She announced as she smirked. The two guards beside them and the surrounding audience had their eyes-glued watching at the sibling's duel, they all clapped at the prowess of the young and beautiful noblewoman.
Derrick was taken aback on his sister's current bearing, It seems that she all grown up and now has something to prove to others, and maybe herself. Okay, I'll take you seriously this time, my adorable sister, He sighed and thought.
"I'll do my best, My turn now!" Derrick drew a card. A glint flashed across his eyes. Before him, a smirking, evil-looking ceramic jug manifested with its menacing, squinted red-eyes.
Pot of Greed.