The Initial Allure of Elemental Cards (Seeking Recommendation Votes!)

Ron returned to the shop and managed to grow over a dozen Nether Orchids before lunch.

He was becoming increasingly proficient with the cultivation space, and since he had been planting the same type of crop, he had essentially developed the rhythm of an assembly-line worker.

It now took him only about ten minutes to grow a single Nether Orchid, and he skillfully used time acceleration to skip over the periods that required no intervention, perfectly saving a great deal of time.

After finishing his lunch, he continued to run the shop for the afternoon.

Ron sat leisurely in the recliner in front of the counter and took out a copy of the Elven Epic to read.

This time, there was nothing tucked inside the pages.

Ron was genuinely reading the book with focus.

Come to think of it, although Chaos City was the intersection of the four major races, Ron hadn't actually seen many elves or gnomes in his daily life.

The most common races here were only humans, dwarves, and goblins.

The Human Empire was located to the north of Chaos City, with the north-central and northwestern parts of the continent serving as its territory.

The Dwarf Kingdom was located to the southwest of Chaos City, with a land area slightly smaller than that of the Human Empire.

The gnomes lived in the Bondless Mountains to the southeast of Chaos City, spending their days in caves, delving into fields like metallurgy and astrology, and rarely venturing out.

The elves lived in the Forest of Forest to the northeast of Chaos City, gathered around the Tree of Life.

The elves were relatively arrogant and somewhat xenophobic, usually staying within the forest and rarely engaging in outside activities.

Beyond these four major races, goblins were a special race without their own territory.

Legend had it that they migrated to the continent from a volcanic archipelago in the far southern seas. Because the continent's territory had already been carved up by various races, the goblin race split into three branches, forming three major merchant alliances that roamed the continent without settling in any one place.

They were masters of commerce and natural-born merchants; most of the external trade for the elven and gnome races was facilitated by these goblins.

In addition to these, there were the orcs.

The orc race lived in the far north of the continent, possessing the vastest territory, but the land was barren, so their population was not particularly large.

They were separated from Chaos City by the entire Human Empire, so Ron had never seen a pure-blooded orc in the city.

Half-orcs, however, were very common.

Because the human and orc races broke out into war every winter, humans often captured orcs. Many of the females were divided up and toyed with by the upper-class nobility, eventually giving birth to half-orcs.

Due to their lineage, half-orcs were heavily ostracized within the empire, and even the lowest-ranking paupers were considered more noble than them.

Strictly speaking, Ron could also be considered to have orc blood.

Because his mother was a half-orc fox-girl.

Therefore, one-quarter orc blood flowed through his veins.

Perhaps because the bloodline of Andre was too dominant, his body did not exhibit any orc characteristics, save for his pupils being a pale red—

The pupils of the orc race were scarlet, while those of half-orcs were pale red; this was one of the ways to distinguish between an orc and a half-orc.

This was likely the reason why Ron had been sent out of the palace by Andre III.

"Yo! Ron!"

Just as Ron was thinking about these things, Lyle's voice came from outside the door.

"Good afternoon!" Lyle said enthusiastically.

"Good afternoon, Lyle." Ron put down the book in his hand, stood up, found a stool, and handed it to Lyle.

"Hehe." Lyle sat down on the stool, rubbing his hands together with excitement, and said, "Ron, do you know? Yesterday, I launched the meat skewers for the first time, and the customers all found them incredibly novel."

"After tasting them, they all praised the seasoning, saying the grilled meat was ten times better than before!"

"The shop's turnover yesterday was several times higher than usual, yet the amount of meat used was about the same as always."

"Ron, I don't even know what to say! You are simply my... my..."

Ron smiled and interrupted him: "No need for that, Lyle. We just made a simple trade. Don't forget, your barbecue shop is supposed to be free for me for life."

"Of course, of course!" Lyle touched his thinning hair and burst into laughter.

"By the way, you should be free now, right? Nothing else going on at the shop?" Ron asked.

Lyle nodded: "Yeah, I left the skewering to those two little guys working for me, so I'm free now."

"That's perfect. I want to show you a little gadget." Ron's eyes lit up, and he smiled as he stood up to head upstairs.

When he returned, he was holding a stack of cards two fingers thick.

"What is this?" Lyle asked curiously as he took the stack of cards and began flipping through them one by one.

"Cards I made myself." Ron sat down and said with a smile, "I call them Elemental Cards. We can use them to play some games."

"Play games?" Lyle was a bit stunned, not quite understanding. "What's fun about this?"

He looked down at the cards in his hand and found that they were all much the same.

The top-left and bottom-right corners were marked with patterns of flames, water droplets, yellow earth, and tornadoes, along with numbers.

The center of the cards featured some beautiful patterns, looking like various types of magic?

Among them, Lyle also found two cards that were different from the others, each depicting a figure, though he didn't know what they symbolized.

Ron then gave Lyle a rough introduction to some of the ways to play Elemental Cards.

Most games required three or four people, and there were quite few variations for two players, but since Lyle was a beginner, it was perfect for him to play some simple two-player card games.

For example, in Go Fish, each person takes turns playing a card until a card appears that matches the number of a card previously played; the person who played that card then gets to take all the cards on the table.

According to these rules, the game is won once one side has won all the cards.

This little game has simple rules and requires no brainpower, making it very easy to get hooked on.

Lyle found it quite interesting after just one round, feeling a bit like he didn't want to leave.

Ron hadn't had any entertainment for half a month either, so he was also playing with great relish.

This could be considered reliving the joys of his previous world.

A long time passed before they even realized it.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, the two of them had already switched through several different games.

Games like Texas Hold'em, 24 Game, and Fishing for 14 Lobsters kept Lyle thoroughly entertained, and he couldn't stop at all.

It wasn't until Ron checked the time and realized it was time to close the shop that the two of them finally stopped.

"I really don't know how your brain is wired; how did you come up with such interesting things?" Lyle was still marveling as he stood up.

"Heh, as long as it's fun," Ron laughed.

And this was just the beginning.

He hadn't even let him play Dou Dizhu, Red Ten, or Shuangkou yet.

Two-player card games were considered the more boring type.

Thinking this, Ron also stood up and followed Lyle to the barbecue restaurant, preparing to have dinner there.

Failure Diary:

A couple of days ago, a big shot in the group who had just launched their book received tips from two alliance leaders. Everyone in the group was feeling sour inside while typing "666, big shot is mighty."

Then the big shot said dejectedly: "So annoying, I have to add more chapters, I'm about to be drained dry..."

Me: I really want to experience the feeling of being drained dry... (crazy hints)