“Hey! Serenon! That's not what you said!”

‘About what?’

“You said you were going to give me the power of that game you were playing!”

‘No one said anything about VR powers. No, no one said anything about the power of VR games, just that they were my favorite games. Well, I didn't dare correct you.’

"...... Why did you do that?"

“Hahahahahaha! Why did you do that?”

Oh, no. He was the type of guy who would do anything as long as it was fun. He was a trickster like Loki and Hermes.

　

He was a trickster like Loki and Hermes. He was the type of god you should never get involved with! How come I didn't notice this ......? Why didn't I notice it before I metastasized?

I'm sure you're right, it might have been a little too much of a prank, but it sure gave you some power.

"Are you sure about ......?"

‘It's true. And I gave you a little something extra to make up for the deceitful way I treated you.’

“What's the extra?" 

‘In addition to the ability to manipulate cards, there's language ability, mental toughness. In addition to the ability to manipulate cards, you'll also have the ability to speak, mental toughness, and a robust body to ward off poison and disease.’

"Oh? I certainly appreciate that, but ......".

I think I'm a cash cow, but when I heard about the extras, I was a little happy.

Besides, I had no choice. Now that I've been transferred, it would be interesting to think about the power of manipulating cards. I can't do without it.

“So? What do I have to do to manipulate the cards?”

‘You're so quick to switch. That's what I'm talking about! I'll explain it to you now. I'll explain it to you now.’

"...... Okay. Binder, come out."

As soon as I did, the deck case vanished into thin air and a card binder with a similar metal cover appeared in front of me.

Apparently, you don't have to pick it up to keep it floating in the air.

'You're the only one who can see the binder, so be careful. The deck case and cards are visible to others as long as you pick them up and materialize them.’

"Okay."

‘Try to open the first page. Open the first page. Of course, you can open it by hand.’

"Hmm. ...... Oh, it's open."

As Serenon said, it seems that you can control it by reminding yourself. The binder opens automatically when you remind it to open.

The first page was not a card file, but a page of papyrus-like paper. There was some kind of list written on it. I remembered all the names on it.

"These are all names that look familiar to me from ....... Could it be a deck recipe?"

A deck is a collection of cards that you need to play a card game. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

‘You're right. That's why it's your deck!’

“I see. ....... Early green deck."

　I also remember this deck recipe. I remember this deck recipe, it looked just like the one in the introductory set for beginners.

"But there are no land cards.”

‘But you don't have any land cards. If you summoned mountains and rivers, the world would be a mess.’

"Well, that's true too, but ....... "Well, that's true, but won't that leave you with insufficient magic power?"

Let's briefly review the rules of MMM here.

A deck can consist of any number of cards, as long as it is at least 50. Some players have made decks with more than 100 cards. You first draw six cards from your deck, and you can draw one card each turn. Also, since the game was turn-based, there was a first attack and a second attack, but the rule was that the player who started as the first attacker could not draw on the first turn. This was a measure to reduce the advantage of the first attacker.

Only four of the same card could be incorporated into a deck, and only one LR card, the highest rarity, could be on the field. If you wanted to summon the same LR card that your opponent had summoned, you had to somehow eliminate their LR card.

Hit points were 20. in MMM it was called Life Barrier. In MMM, it was called a life barrier, because the player was a sorcerer, and the sorcerer was an automatic barrier. The main objective of the game is to attack each other using monsters and sorcery to reduce the opponent's life barrier.

If this life barrier was reduced to zero, or if no cards could be drawn from the deck, the game was lost.

In order to use a card, you must spend magic power equivalent to the cost of that card. In order to obtain the magic power needed to summon or use magic cards, you had to use either the main power, which automatically increased by one point each turn, or the power generated by using magic sprouting cards such as land cards.

There was a limit of 10 or one-eighth of the total number of cards in a deck, so a 100-card deck would have 12 cards with fractions rounded down.

There are six colors of magic power: red fire, blue water, green earth, yellow wind, white light, and black darkness, and each color can only be used on the card that corresponds to it. However, only the main body magic is called universal magic, and can be used with all colors.

In the event that you're not sure what to do, you'll be able to find out how to do it.

“I'm not sure I understand how you can accumulate your own magic in the first place. ......”

‘I will explain that to you as well. For now, you've got six land cards removed from your beginner deck. You'll need to replenish them.’

"Refill?"

There's no such thing as a card store in this world, so what do you do?

“What do I do? Hold the binder open and think (Buy a pack).”

"Buy a pack: ...... Oh, so this is what it looks like."

The page that was supposed to contain deck recipes now showed a row of card packs.

‘The page that should have contained the deck recipe now showed a row of card packs, Right now it only shows the green packs, but there are many other types, so you'll have to buy them soon.’

"Purchase? Does that mean I have to pay  for it? Money?”

‘What do you want me to do with the  money? Well, you'll see. Now, why don't you pick a pack?’

"Hmm. Okay, here's the--oh?

I touched the green card pack on the display, and the pack popped out of the page. What had been a picture materialized in the real world. As expected, I was surprised by this.

But my surprise didn't end there.

The actualized pack opened by itself, and the cards popped out from inside. The cards emerged from the pack and floated neatly in a line in front of me.

I like this automatic floating system, it's very convenient.

‘Killer Bees, Howling Dogs, Tree Bind, Ore Discovery, and Cheshire Cat.’

"Wow. You've suddenly won a SR.”

MMM cards have a rarity rating, which indicates how rare they are. Starting with Common, which is the most common card in a pack, the rarity ranks go up in order of Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare and Legendary Rare. These were often labeled with the initials C, UC, R, SR, and LR.

The cards I drew this time were C for Killer Bee, Howling Dog, and Tree Bind, UC for Ore Discovery, and SR for Cheshire Cat.

"Oh, so green packs only contain green cards?"

‘That's right. Okay, let's put the cards in the binder.’

"Do I have to remind myself to do that?"

‘You're starting to get it. Yes, yes. The binder can hold an infinite number of cards, and it has sorting, list and library functions, so you can experiment with it. Well, this time, let's add the card I just drew to the deck recipe. And this one—'

"I just have to think about it, don't I?"

‘Yes, yes!’

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but it's a good idea. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this, but I'm afraid of God's binder.

I thought to myself, (I want to incorporate them into my deck.) The names of the five cards I had just drawn were added to the deck recipe, and before I knew it, they were sucked into the deck case that had been floating next to the binder.

‘Okay, now to practice. Take out the deck case.’

“All right. Okay, deck, out.”

Then a card was drawn from the deck case in front of me, and floated in front of me.

Apparently, the levitation system is still alive and well. Normally, it is transparent, but it becomes visible when you think about it, and materializes when you want to touch it with your hand. Moreover, when I remove it from my hand, it seems to become transparent again and return to me automatically. It seems that I will never lose my card.

‘The next step is to take a look at the back of your own hand.’

"When did this happen?"

I don't know when the numbers were written on the back of my hand, but they were. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

‘On the right is magic power, and on the left is life. You can check them both in the binder, but I thought it would be better if you could see them right away. Both are restored at the stroke of midnight. Yeah, they're invisible to others. Also, check the front of the deck case.’

"The deck case says 43....... Is that the number of cards left in the deck?”

‘You're right. I appreciate your quick understanding. You're right, it's very easy to understand. Also, if for some reason you have more than six cards in your hand at the time you use a card, you won't be able to draw.’

He gave me a brief explanation of the draw, but there was one thing that bothered me.

But there was one thing that bothered me “Hey, what happens if the deck runs out?"

In MMM, if you can't draw, you lose the game. That means death. You're not going to die, are you?

‘Oh, don't worry, you won't die if the deck runs out. When you run out of decks, the deck will be shuffled again and you'll be back to where you started. That's when the deck recipe will be reflected. So, no matter how much you tweak your deck recipe, you won't be able to use the new cards until that time.’

“I see.”

‘So, it's time for the real thing. Now it's time to play. Pick up the gray wolf card from your hand.’

"Okay."

I did as I was told and picked up the gray wolf card. It felt just like the MMM cards I used to play with on Earth. The only thing is that you can't fold or bend them. I guess there's some mysterious power at work there.

‘And then you have to strongly remind yourself to summon it.’

‘Is that all of it?’

"That's it? Yes. Isn't it easy?”

It's so easy, I don't even appreciate it. ...... Well, let's give it a try.

"Here we go. Summon--!”