Free Web NovelChapter 46: Chapter 22 Preliminaries
"Alright, I’ll head over now."
Ree Shil muttered as he put on his work clothes and walked out the door.
"Take good care of our big gold mine at the Card Club!"
The supervisor’s reminder rang out from behind him, along with a thumbs-up. "Remember not to cut your classes short; many members have complained about your short lessons."
In his world, a thumbs-up was a derogatory gesture because it was short.
"I got it, I got it."
Ree impatiently closed the door behind him.
As he walked down the long corridor to the private booth, he took his time.
About half of the Card Club’s sparring partners were non-card players, and the other half were card players.
Those who were non-card players were usually newly arrived newcomers, or indigenous people who hadn’t yet awakened their card player’s talent.
As for card players seeking sparring partners, most of them aimed to improve their card skills.
Miss Smith was a typical representative of such card players.
Opening the door to the private booth, Ree saw a young lady standing beside the simulated card table.
Her entire body was translucent green, resembling both the ethereal tribe and the energy entity race.
Judging by human or human-like aesthetics, the young lady’s face and figure were a perfect 100 out of 100 points.
If her appearance had been on Blue Star before Ree’s traversal, she would’ve undoubtedly been a stunningly famous big star.
"You’re here."
The young lady smiled as Ree entered the room.
Her smile made her even more beautiful.
"Stop messing around, let’s get to the table."
Ree didn’t linger on her as he walked straight over and took a seat at the card table.
His gaze didn’t linger for long because he knew that this guy was just a paper figurine.
Exactly like a paper figurine - it looked human from the front, but it was only a thin layer from the side.
"Master, you’re no fun."
The young lady pouted, and her form began to change.
Like a candle exposed to high heat, she gradually melted.
Finally, she transformed into a blob.
A round blob, like a big green jelly.
It was called Slame, a slime creature.
"Don’t call me Master; the Card Club forbids sparring partners to develop feelings for members."
Ree pointed at the card table.
"Uh, isn’t the Card Club forbidding a different kind of feeling?"
"Besides, after following Master, my skills have improved so much, mwah~"
Slame bounced onto the seat with a duangduangduang sound.
"Hey, you’ll give people the wrong idea if you say things like that."
Ree turned on the simulated card table’s switch.
"Master, I heard you become a card player; I want to use your card deck!"
Slame stretched out a jelly-like tentacle, tapping the touch screen.
"My card deck isn’t in there."
Ree shook his head.
The cards on the simulated card table weren’t conjured from thin air.
The source of these simulated cards was real cards in existence.
The Card Club would find some talented card players, offer them some rewards in exchange for agreements to periodically duplicate their card decks onto the simulated table for members to use.
The Card Club’s staff card decks were generally prioritized for inclusion.
However, Ree might have had some germaphobia in this regard, as he didn’t want his card deck to be used on the simulated card table.
So when the supervisor suggested it, he just showed them his middle finger.
The supervisor was left confused: Why did Ree unexpectedly praise him?
"Alright, Master, what kind of card game are we practicing today?"
"Hmm... let’s practice dealing with an opening aggressive style using a vertical 3+1 card deck."
"Okay, mwah~"
Both sides prepared their card decks, and the game began 5 minutes later.
"Master, you liar! This isn’t an opening aggressive style at all!"
"This is to teach you never to trust your opponent’s words at the card table."
"Damn it, mwah mwah mwah!"
"It’s fine. I’ll play using aggressive style next game."
"Really?"
"No, you’ve been tricked again."
"55555~"
After two hours, Slame went from 3+1 to 6+1, then 9+1, but she didn’t win a single game.
Everyone’s cards came from the Card Club’s virtual card decks, so they all started from the same level. But why couldn’t she win?
She was puzzled.
So she extended the time by another two hours.
Ree was also quite confused by her behavior.
Why was she so wealthy when she was only a level 6 card player, acting like a little rich girl?
Two more hours passed, and Slame was exhausted.
She went soft, even though she was already soft to begin with.
Collapsed on the ground, she looked like a blob of jelly about to melt away.
"Let’s call it a day."
"I’ve been worn out by you."
Ree pounded his waist.
"By the way, Master, have you signed up for the Nova Championships?"
Slame took a while to recover before remembering something.
"Of course I did."
"Wow, we might get the chance to compete on the same stage!"
Her spirits lifted instantly.
"Oh, I forgot that you could also participate."
"Master, I’ll cheer for you during the preliminaries, mwah mwah mwah~"
"Alright."
After seeing Slame off, Ree took on a few more clients.
It wasn’t until nightfall that he took off his work clothes and left work with the Mossy Mushroom and Grass People.
It was a tiring day.
He only earned 5 Cube coins.
"I really want to live the kind of life where I sunbathe for three days and then rest for two."
As he sat on the returning bus, he rested his chin on his hand, looking out the window.
"..., wouldn’t that just be sunbathing every day?"
"Quit my job, quit my job, Grass!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
"Do you think I don’t want to?"
Ree glanced at Grass People.
He knew that he couldn’t keep working forever, but he couldn’t quit his job just yet either.
