Age of Summoner

“So, what are you going to ask her?”

Madame Fon asked monotonously before going back to typing on her computer again.

“You can also ask me if it’s about AOS. I actually knew more information than Rin, don’t you know?”

“Well, if you won’t charge me extra…”

Joke muttered quietly, causing the other to raise eyebrows at him.

“What did you just say?”

“Oh, nothing.” Joke waved his hands nimbly. “I just want to ask about pro players.”

“Pro players?”

When she heard that, she narrowed her eyes in surprise, not expecting to hear those words from this beginner who had only tried out the cards once. She soon finished setting up the computer and left for its data to run automatically. She grabbed her coffee cup and walked to the sofa.

“Why did you suddenly ask me about this?” Madame Fon asked as she sat down on the sofa next to him. "Don't tell me you're considering becoming a pro player.”

Joke did not immediately answer that question. But seeing interest in his eyes, Madame Fon snorted before placing her cup down on the small round table in front.

“Hopefully you are not thinking that you are good enough to be shining in the AOS community just because you can beat that hardest-level bot from the Singaporean champion’s deck. If you’re that shallow, I have to break it to you that you’re just daydreaming.”

The young man went still before narrowing his eyes, having some trouble understanding.

“Why would I think that way? It was just a computer I was fighting yesterday, but it was already that difficult to beat it. If I meet actual players, I don’t think I can stand a chance. Plus, I don’t think that there’s any job that is easy enough that you can be successful by not taking it seriously.”

Otherwise, why would he still be unemployed like this?!

Joke spoke disheartenedly. Those words made Madame Fon smile widely before nodding.

“It's good to think like that,” she said. “I consider yesterday a fluke—beginner’s lucky knockout punch. Because you still don’t know much about these cards, you only focus on your deck. I admit that your decision-making is a lot better than other newbies, but that is not a factor that will make you successful in AOS. In the world of summoners, there are millions of newbies just like you—you are just one small dot in that world.”

Joke was not sure if this was a warning or what, but those were surely not threats to make him discouraged. At the very least, he did not feel bad from the words coming out of this shopkeeper.

“So, why are you asking me about pro players? Are you interested in actually becoming one?”

“Well, I'm just interested in the earnings of amateur beginners. For those who are not yet famous or affiliated with any organization, how do they get their money from?”

She chucked once she heard those words, before leaning into the sofa comfortably.

“Of course, money is always the main factor,” she said, smiling slightly before making eye contact with him. “For an amateur who truly considers walking down this path, their income depends on each person’s diligence and skill. If you aren’t an award hunter, this is too early for you.”

She seemed to be pondering after saying that before pointing at the store’s counter.

“Most amateurs will start with doing quests from shops like this."

"Quest?" Joke raised his eyebrows. “I thought these quests give out rewards like in-game money or something like that. Are we also able to transfer in-game money to real money?”

“In your dreams.”

“Huh…?”

The contradiction cut him short.

“I was talking about quests in card stores or in CF.” Madame Fon smiled broadly. “There are usually some costs to accepting quests, depending on their reward price.”

“This means we have to pay in order to receive a quest?”

"If there were no expenses, how would my shop survive?" She bellowed. “But don't worry, ‘cause if you complete the quest, the rewards you get for completing them are worth more than the money you paid. Simply put, if you accept a rank E quest, for example, you might get a Beginner Pack as a reward. A rank E quest costs fifty baht, but that pack is worth around a hundred baht. That’s getting your money’s worth, isn’t it?”

“If that’s so, then yes…”

Joke nodded in agreement. But when he thought about it, it was more like being tricked into buying a card pack at a lower price.

“You are probably thinking that it’s like a product promotion, right?” Madame Fon inserted as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. “But don’t forget that there are chances that you will get an expensive card you can resell from these packs. Even though a Beginner Pack does not contain cards worth tens of thousands, it does not mean that there won’t be any good cards in the hundred or thousand baht range.

The young man did not disagree with this part. As a matter of fact, he wanted to announce that he had already gone way ahead of what the madame told him because the twenty-million-baht card he received from a convenience store for free was still resting in his shoulder bag!

"So, we can then sell those cards in the Card Factory?"

“My store also buys them, but only for cards with high market demand. Or, in fact, you can also trade your cards among other customers. As for the price of each card, you can check it with the mobile app. Rin taught you that, I assume?”

“Yes.”

Joke nodded. It was only yesterday that Rin suggested that he download an application from AOS called AOS-DATA, which was an application that the company created to provide various information to the players. With only simply using a phone's camera to scan a card, it would give you all its information, including the pricing details for trading in CF. He, of course, had loaded it already.

"Does this mean that the amateurs only complete quests to get cards to sell?”

"There is another way." Madame Fon lifted up a finger. “You see that there are various monsters living in Arcadia, right? There are many types of monsters that can also be used as our half as well. Those monsters will drop Monster Part Cards if you can defeat them, and if you can gather these Monster Part Cards to a specified amount, you can register it with CF to get a real card.”

"You mean items dropped from the monsters in the game?" Joke asked just to be sure.

"Yes, but not that all of them will drop out its Monster Part Cards—the opportunity’s not that easy—especially the monsters that can turn into finer halves, those are more difficult to drop off parts. But, there are also many summoners looking for Monster Part Cards. And they also give good prices, too. Like recently, someone at our shop had just collected every Monster Part Card needed for a Half Card—a Super Rare card. Someone bought it off from him at around thirty thousand, I think.”

"Thirty thousand?"