"Are you sure this isn't a pirated Rhodes brand? Why does it look so new?"
At the table, Shade frowned as he held Mr. Darkness' special cards. The table where both parties played cards was specially customized for Rhodes card players in the tavern. Although the tabletop was wiped clean, you could still see the wine stains that could not be removed for many years.
"I just went to the Prophet's Association to exchange for new cards not long ago. The old cards have been seriously damaged."
Mr. Darkness shuffled Shad's deck expertly, and Shad nodded.
Since the Rhodes deck was issued hundreds of years ago, special cards have inevitably been damaged over the years. Therefore, the Prophet Association also provides a replacement service. According to the value of the card, the Prophet Association will spend a sum of money to recycle the cards that are more than 80% intact and replace them with new cards.
This also avoids the problem of special cards and decks being in different states of old and new, which would result in the cards being identifiable by the card backs.
After shuffling the cards, the game officially began. The young bartender dealt the cards to the two, while the burly bartender kept score for them.
The first card is a hidden card, and in the next two exposed cards, Shad has Flower 3 and Sun 7, while Mr. Darkness has Sun 9 and Moon 4.
"There's no reason to fold in the first round."
Mr. Darkness said with a smile, he was probably really bored, and he was very interested in playing cards. His thick fingers directly opened the cover, Sun 3, 16 points, he raised his eyebrows and signaled Shade to open the cards.
Xia De was not nervous at all and casually flipped over the cards. Sun 11, exactly 21 o'clock.
"Good luck."
Shade said with a smile, then motioned to the bartender to keep score.
In the second round, Mr. Darkness showed Moon 9 and Moon 7, and Shade showed Star 3 and Star 13.
The points of their open cards are all 16, and according to the Rhodes rules, the risk of the third card exploding is similar.
"Want to fold?"
Xia De made a gesture of invitation.
"Of course not. Do you?"
Mr. Darkness asked, and in the light of the tavern's gas lamps, both men seemed to be laughing.
Of course, Shade would not fold, so he flipped the cards open. Sun 1, totaling 17 points.
Mr. Darkness picked up his Moon 9 and gently lifted the cover. Star 13, he knew it was a bust without having to calculate.
"At least I have one less 13."
He said with a slight ease, stacked up three cards and threw them to the side of the table, then motioned to the young bartender to continue dealing.
In the third game, Mr. Darkness had Flower 9 and Moon 1. He directly opened the cover and got Star 9, totaling 19 points.
He gave Shade a smug smile, and Shade squinted at him, then looked at his own cards, Sun 1 and Star 11.
He hesitated for a moment with his finger on the covered card:
"Discard."
Shad turned over the cards, Sun 13.
His brows furrowed slightly, and he folded the cards not because Xia De guessed that he would definitely bust in this round, or because he was not confident in his luck, but because when he was about to open the cards, the voice in his heart reminded him that the opponent was actually using magic.
The traces of the magic were very slight, and there was no sound or light effect. If it weren't for Shade's extremely sensitive perception, he wouldn't even be able to detect the traces. The hesitation just now was actually to give the voice in her heart some time to determine what effect the magic had.
After Shade's hand touched the object of the magic, that is, Shade's trump card, she really gave the answer:
He has replaced your cards.
"Change cards? Space-type replacement ability?"
It is not space, and I cannot tell you what it is.
After playing cards for so long in this world, Shade finally encountered a guy who could cheat when playing cards. After losing twice in a row, Mr. Darkness started to think of something crooked.
“How despicable!”
In fact, Xia De's use of Blood Echo when playing cards, or his preparation to draw Moon Dance Festival last time, could be considered cheating, but he didn't expect that someone would be even more excessive than him and actually directly replaced other people's cards.
The rules of the gambling game in the tavern were the same as those of a regular Rhodes card game for ordinary people. Shad knew that his opponent was cheating, but without evidence, he could not report him because he could not prove his statement.
Normally, there would be no cheating when two ring sorcerers played against each other. The effects of magic or incantations would either be immediately discovered by the crowd watching, or invisible to anyone except the caster himself.
But that doesn't mean Shade has no way to deal with it.
"After the cards are dealt, I will change my bottom card to Genesis Balance. If the opponent dares to change his card, I will let him try the magic backlash."
Unlike Kasenrick's Southern Folklore·Moondance Festival, which must be placed in the deck to be useful, Genesis·Balance can appear anywhere and at any time, regardless of whether it is in the deck or not, as long as Shad wants it to appear.
Furthermore, although the Genesis series cards do not have any extraordinary properties and are normally affected by magic and spells like ordinary playing cards, Genesis Balance is different.
After experiencing the night of the evil god's advent, this Rhodes card seemed to be used by Shade as Luvia said. Although Shade did not have the power of the chosen one like Iluna, and the power he showed had nothing to do with the ancient gods, as a card, this magical card would not accept any spells or magic effects except Shade.
After playing this card, Darkness would suffer a backlash from the magic. At this time, Shade used his other hand to change the card again, and moved the Genesis Balance to the palm of his hand, so that the original bottom card would return to normal, so that he would not have to worry about being discovered.
While thinking about things, the fourth round has begun. Shade's open cards are Moon 6 and Star 10. He puts his fingers on the cover card and looks at Mr. Darkness opposite him. The latter is checking his two cards and has not used magic for the time being.
Do you want to change the trump card to Genesis Balance
She seemed very interested in the matter.
"Wait a little longer. I want to give him a surprise when he is off guard."
To some extent, Xia De can be considered a stingy person.
But this time Mr. Darkness did not change the cards. He changed the cards in the third round because Shade won the first two games, but he probably couldn't use his magic at will. Moreover, with so many ring sorcerers watching, the risk of being exposed if he used magic multiple times was very high.
In this way, it came to the 8th round. At this time, both sides had almost half of their decks, and Shade was ahead by 8 points due to luck. Mr. Darkness had not changed his cards since the third round, but when he saw that both sides had 17 points on their open cards in the eighth round, Shade knew that his opponent was going to cheat again.
"It's about to begin! It's about to begin!"
He stared at his opponent, feeling amused at his own emotions. But at this moment, a hand suddenly fell on Shade's shoulder from behind.
Turning his head back, he saw Miss Princess putting her left hand on Shade's shoulder. Because she was wearing a mask, Shade couldn't see her expression, but he could see that she was shaking her head slightly:
"Mr. Watson, you have always had good luck."
As he said this, he touched the ruby earring on his right ear again.
The Ruby Relic worked.
She reminded herself quietly in her heart.
Xia De sat up straight and looked at the cards under the light in front of him. He had always liked the pattern on the back of the Rhodes cards:
"What are the relic effects?"
Don't change the cards, just lift up your own cards and take a look.
Xia De opened the covered cards, and it was Sun 3, totaling 20 points. The middle-aged man with severe ectropion on the other side looked at the uncovered card in surprise, obviously not expecting this result.
"you... ... "
Of course he couldn't say "Why wasn't your trump card taken away?"
"You are really lucky."
He closed his mouth and snorted through his nose, then turned over his own cards, a total of 23 points, busting.
Mr. Darkness pinched his lips with the nails of his right index and middle fingers and began to get nervous.
One can only guess at the effect of the relic held by Miss Princess, but it is probably the effect of prohibiting thaumaturgy.
"Banned thaumaturgical effects? Miss Princess's earrings are such powerful relics?"
Xia De frowned slightly and watched the dealer continue to deal the cards.
This is just speculation, and of course it is impossible to ban all thaumaturgy. But based on my feeling, the relic is probably above the sage level.
"What? That ruby earring is... Miss Princess, who is she? But since she is still helping me, I don't think there is any need to be too suspicious."
He thought to himself, stacked the three cards he had opened and threw them aside, then turned to look at the blonde girl standing behind him:
"After we leave here, where is our next stop?"
"Want to go see the sea?"
Her voice came from behind the mask, sounding a little muffled.
After Mr. Darkness's cheating method was invalidated, the outcome of the game was already determined. Even though the game of drawing a whole deck was more technical than the normal game, Shade relied on luck and eventually won easily with a 23-point lead.
The middle-aged man who cheated in the card game did not cheat. After the game was over, he took the 9 pounds that Shad had paid in advance from the bartender, then sat back at the small round table against the wall and continued reading the newspaper without saying a word to Shad.
The crowd gradually dispersed, and this incident would probably become a topic of conversation in the pub for the next week or two.
After paying the broker's fee, Xia De naturally also got the poet-level relic universal currency.
Looking closely under the gaslight, the coin is engraved with very fine text around its periphery. After translation, the meaning is equivalent substitute, equivalent luck.
"If I choose to use this coin, can the twenty-sided dice of fate rebound the bad luck it brings?"
certainly.
"Then who is the target of the rebound? The coin? Me who uses the coin? Or the being who created the coin?"
Do you want to try it
She asked with a chuckle in her ear.
"I'm kidding."
Shad quickly stuffed the coin into his pocket.
Of course, to prevent it from being mixed up with other coins, this coin is stored separately.
"I don't have anything else to do here. Want me to buy you a drink before you go?"
After the game, Shade, who was in a good mood, asked his companion. After this game, his favorability towards Miss Princess has greatly increased.
"Would you like a drink too?"
Miss Princess asked back, and Shade thought for a moment:
"I think I'll just have a cold fruit juice."
"Then I want a glass of fruit juice too."
She said, and then motioned to Shade to choose a seat. Both of them were wearing masks, but they would have to take them off when drinking, so it would be best to choose a more secluded seat:
"Mr. Watson, you seem to be very good at playing Rhodes. Why don't you take this opportunity to tell me about your Rhodes experience?"
She carefully selected the topics of conversation in the tavern and asked Shade questions in a relaxed tone.
The gas lampshades on the wall were a little dirty, giving the yellowish light an ambiguous halo. For Shade, the feeling of becoming familiar with a stranger in just a few hours was very strange.