Overwhelming Firepower

After meeting with the king, Lucen quickly started preparations. First, he purchased several buildings from different cities. He also informed his head merchant, Aldric Marren, about his plans.

Territory War had once been a sensation in Norvaegard. At its peak, people played it in taverns, noble estates, city streets, and even beside the road whenever someone could place a board down.

However, like all new things, the excitement eventually calmed. Those who truly loved strategy still played it, but the people who had only followed the trend had already moved on to the next interesting thing.

That was not a failure. Lucen had expected this, since in his old world, every year, something new appeared, and only the truly fun things remained.

Once people watched Eren struggle against Kael, saw Argent Sky Dragon descend, and witnessed Demon Lord of the Broken Crown turn the duel around, they would naturally want to play the game and own the cards. This was the effect Lucen was expecting.

So once he was done creating the base of the game and was ready to distribute the cards, he would present the orbshow to the people.

The buildings Lucen purchased were not all meant for the same purpose.

Some would become card shops, places where people could buy starter decks, card packs, card boxes, and printed rule sheets.

Others would become orb shops, places that sold Focus Video Orbs and Storage Crystals containing the recorded episodes of the orbshow.

He planned for cards to be cheap enough for commoners to buy. Even if someone did not have much money, they could still save a few coins and buy a single pack.

Children could trade them. Adults could collect them. Those who liked the game could slowly build stronger decks over time.

As for the Video Orb, no matter how much he cut, it would be expensive; the creation of storage crystals, which needed mana crystals, was expensive.

There was also the Focus Video Orb itself, which was modified from a communication orb and was even more expensive.

So for now, he could not create an item for the masses, but he planned to present the orbshows to the public for free.

With that decided, the next problem was the cards. Unlike the Focus Video Orbs and Storage Crystals, the cards did not require rare materials or mana crystals.

They needed good paper, good ink, skilled artists, and enough craftsmen who could repeat the same work thousands of times without ruining the quality.

There was also the problem that, unlike the show, which seems to summon the creatures from the Cards using the power of the Cards themselves, the truth was that they were created by illusions.

They could not recreate the summoning yet, in real life, but with the effort of Mireya, the Purple Tower Mages, and the Grey Tower Mages, that problem should be solved at some point.

For now, the cards would simply be cards. Lucen did not consider that a problem.

In his old world, the cards he remembered did not summon real monsters either. They were simply pieces of paper with illustrations and rules written on them.

Yet people still became obsessed with them. They still argued over them. They still spent money on them. They still felt joy when they drew the card they wanted and despair when their opponent used a card they hated.

Aldric Marren was asked to come back to manage the flagship stores of both the Card Game and the Video Orb business.

The two flagship stores were located in Caelhart, but in different areas. The Card shop was somewhere near the lower district, while the Video Orb shop was at the heart of Caelhart, where most high nobles stay.

***

The Card Shop was a wide building near a busy street close to the Lower District. Merchants, laborers, apprentices, and children passed through the area every day. There were food stalls nearby, along with several taverns and small shops. It was the kind of place where people naturally gathered even without a reason.

The design of the building was like any other shop; the only difference was the size of the place.

As for the Video Orb shop, it was much smaller than the card shop, but it looked more elegant with fancy decorations.

This was because of the difference in the customers they were expecting to visit. If the Card Shop were to look too fancy, many would hesitate to enter, thinking they would not be able to afford what was being sold.

As for the Video Orb shop, it was the same principle. If it looked like any other shop, even with Lucen Thornehart’s name, the nobles might think that they were selling cheap wares.

The card shop had wide doors, clear windows, and shelves that were easy to reach. There were tables inside where people could sit and play.

Lucen even had a few sample boards placed around the shop, for both Territory War and for Card Summoners. The tables were simple, sturdy, and close enough for people to gather around and watch.

It was not only a shop. It was a place where people could play. Later on, he planned to add more types of games and other people’s ideas for new games.

Just looking at the way the tables were arranged made Lucen feel nostalgic. He could already hear the noises of people playing, of people debating who the best character is, what their favorite card was.

’To be able to create this place in a fantasy setting... Well, I guess it’s leaning more into steampunk, still... It feels oddly nice...’ Lucen could not help but smile at his thoughts.

The Video Orb shop, on the other hand, looked more like a noble salon than a store. The floor was polished.

The shelves were spaced apart. Each Focus Video Orb was placed carefully on cushioned stands, while the Storage Crystals were displayed inside glass cases.

There were also private viewing rooms at the back for nobles who wanted to see the quality of the recorded orbshow before buying anything.

’Maybe later I can build something like a movie theater... It’s also possible to create video games which might become better than the ones in my old world, but that’s for the future... There are still those other troubles to think about, but seeing as Alexander’s progress is doing well, that shouldn’t be a problem. Not to mention I have strengthened Norvaegard more than what it was in the past... Surely, this is enough for now...’

Lucen shook his head as he tried to remove the bad thoughts. For now, he was doing something he liked and was about to show this world a huge step forward in entertainment.

***

While Lucen was preparing the shops, he also continued teaching Alexander and the others, while on other days, he went to help shoot the next episodes of the Card Summoner Show.

A few weeks had passed. During that time, Alexander and his group had already experienced several incidents, some with Lucen, some with Robert, and some by themselves.

They fought monsters hiding within the school grounds, uncovered traces of a student trafficking scheme, and even clashed with a few subordinates connected to the masked spies.

They also had a few solo adventures where each one of them gained their own realizations, power-up, and motivation forward. Of course, most of those were orchestrated by Lucen so that they could improve faster.

Lucen did not feel guilty about it. Alexander and his group needed to grow faster than they did in the original routes.

Like he kept on saying to himself, the world had already changed too much, and Lucen could not afford to believe that everything would wait politely for the protagonist to become strong.

Still, even with all those preparations, Lucen knew that he could not control everything. It was the same feeling he got when he was still in his old world as a player.

Even though he had more options now that he was in this world, it still felt like there was a predetermined route towards a certain ending. Seeing as deities of this world were as real as could be, it was possible that destiny had already chosen a few endings for them.

Lucen pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, seeing as he could not do much about it at this point except continue to do his best going forward.

***

After a few more days of preparations, the day of the first public showing of the Focus Video Orb, the orbshow, and the cards was finally about to happen.

The morning before the showing, Caelhart was already noisier than usual. As per usual, Lucen advertised the show, using the bards and posters.

The bards only said a few words about the show and said a few lines from it. They even sang the opening song, which was like an almost new type of song that the people were not used to.

Still, it was quite a catchy tone. The beat and melody of the song made one feel excited like a warrior before a battle.

As for the posters, they did not explain everything. They only showed Eren standing before a dragon’s shadow, with the words Card Summoners written above him. Beside the title were a few words saying: Come and witness a new story.

By midday, the city square was packed. People gathered from everywhere; a few stood on top of the roof, while some nobles rented nearby buildings to have their own viewings.

Once the excitement was at its peak, Lucen stood before the covered orb, smiling. ”Let the show begin.”