Ch.138[Chapter 138] Trial

Sir Dominic headed to the Card Pack Exchange.

Specifically, to the section responsible for card pools.

In the still-crowded place, Sir Dominic took a number and sat in a chair waiting for his turn.

Perhaps because it was early morning, Sir Dominic’s turn came quickly.

“Welcome… Sir Dominic.”

Was it a coincidence?

Sir Dominic had once again reached Shenlong’s counter.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, Sir Dominic. From the looks of it… have you come to print new cards?”

Shenlong’s eyes gleamed.

Currently, with Little Sir Dominic being a massive hit, all attention was focused on Sir Dominic.

For the Card Pack Exchange, which earned continent-level profits from each of Sir Dominic’s cards even after taxes, it was impossible not to be interested in his visit.

“That’s right.”

Sir Dominic said.

Yes! Shenlong inwardly rejoiced.

“A reprint? Or new cards?”

Hearing Shenlong’s question, Sir Dominic pondered for a moment before asking.

“What’s the difference between the two?”

“A reprint is exactly what it sounds like—printing more copies of cards you’ve already made.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Shenlong’s explanation.

Noticing that Sir Dominic understood, Shenlong continued his explanation.

“New cards are possible when you have new attributes or special skills. To explain roughly… it’s like this.”

Shenlong pulled several cards from his deck.

They were sample cards he carried around.

Placing two cards with his image printed on them one above the other, Shenlong said:

“This is a reprint. Printing the exact same card that was printed before.”

Then he placed two more cards beside them.

One showed Shenlong in human form, the other wearing a kimono.

“And these are new cards. The example cards are Shenlong (★★★), Mortal Shenlong (★★★), and New Year’s Shenlong (★★★).”

Sir Dominic nodded.

He understood the general concept.

But one question remained.

Sir Dominic immediately posed this question to Shenlong.

“How is this… different from skins?”

“It’s quite different.”

Shenlong said.

“A skin is one per character. That means, no matter how many skins you buy, you still have just one character, and that character can only wear one outfit at a time.”

“But by selling characters separately like this, people can enjoy various ‘yous’ in a single party.”

“Surprisingly, both methods sell well in Gacha Land.”

Sir Dominic understood Shenlong’s words intellectually, but couldn’t accept them emotionally.

The former made sense, but the latter—aren’t they all the same person?

Selling the same person as multiple cards?

But this was Gacha Land.

Gacha Land—the magical word that makes anything acceptable, no matter what happens or what anyone does.

Sir Dominic was no exception.

If it’s Gacha Land, nothing should be surprising. Sir Dominic convinced himself.

Seeing Sir Dominic just nodding, Shenlong casually asked:

“So, is it a reprint, or new?”

“Both.”

“Both?”

Shenlong briefly looked confused at Sir Dominic’s answer.

Then, as if realizing what Sir Dominic meant, he exclaimed with surprised eyes:

“You’ve become three-star, haven’t you?”

“That’s right.”

New characters required new attributes or special abilities.

And attributes or special abilities rarely changed.

Either one experienced a major turning point that changed their attributes, or they became three-star and selected new attributes.

Since Sir Dominic’s appearance and demeanor hadn’t changed much from when Shenlong last saw him, he must have become three-star.

“Then… how many do you plan to print this time?”

Shenlong smiled with capitalist spirit.

A hundred thousand total? Perhaps a million?

With Sir Dominic’s popularity at its peak, the more cards printed, the better the results would be.

As Shenlong was running these happy calculations, Sir Dominic, after some consideration, replied with a determined expression:

“A thousand.”

“A thousand?”

“Yes. A thousand.”

“Each?”

“Total.”

Ha. Good heavens. Shenlong’s legs gave way.

Of course, being an Eastern-style dragon, his only legs were the short ones holding his orb.

“Look, Sir Dominic. I understand you’re underestimating yourself.”

Shenlong finally couldn’t hold back and began lecturing Sir Dominic.

“Remember when you only printed 10 cards last time? One of my biggest regrets is not convincing you to print more, that you absolutely had to print more.”

In fact, there were quite a few cases of people threatening Shenlong after discovering he had made Sir Dominic’s cards.

“Let me change the subject for a moment. Do you know about Little Sir Dominic?”

Sir Dominic nodded.

The doll sold under I’m Not Little’s management.

“Well, that Little Sir Dominic… yes, today is the first day. Do you know how many sold?”

“How many?”

“Twenty.”

“I see.”

Sir Dominic nodded.

It sold more than expected, but he had anticipated about that many would sell.

However, Shenlong’s next words made Sir Dominic stop nodding.

“Sold out in 15 seconds.”

Sir Dominic looked up at Shenlong.

“The number of people on the waiting list…”

Shenlong took out a magnifying glass from his pocket and placed it on the bridge of his nose.

Then he slowly read the figures searched on his phone.

“Currently about 20,000 people on the waiting list.”

20,000 people!

Sir Dominic was shocked.

He never imagined so many people would be waiting to purchase Little Sir Dominic.

“That’s just for the doll. Moreover, I hear Little Sir Dominic can have character cards installed. So that’s at least 20,000.”

Shenlong continued.

“And do you think only those who bought the doll want your card? No, no. You’ve already proven and been recognized for your value. How many pioneers and Stars do you think want you? Shall I tell you? The number of Stars and pioneers who gathered to draw your card last time was 37,200. And now that your recognition is even higher? I don’t even want to think about it.”

Only then did Sir Dominic realize his popularity.

50,000 people.

Looking at Gacha Land as a whole, it wasn’t that large a number.

But considering Sir Dominic had been in Gacha Land for less than a year, it was an enormous figure!

“Do you now understand how foolish your statement was?”

Sir Dominic nodded blankly at Shenlong’s words.

He had been planning to print just a thousand cards when he should have printed at least 50,000.

“…Then let’s set the reprint at 50,000. As for the new cards… well.”

Shenlong inwardly cheered at Sir Dominic’s words.

For the entire card pool, 50,000 cards meant about a 0.5% chance of drawing from a specific card group.

It was enough to ensure rarity as well.

While Shenlong was rejoicing internally, Sir Dominic was thinking about his attributes.

He had received new attributes but hadn’t properly checked what they were.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Sir Dominic took out his card to check his attributes.

[[Rider]: When riding a mount, gain a special defense type and increased mobility.]

[[Knight Banneret]: You are a knight among knights. Your banner gains additional effects.]

[[Steampunk]: Brass and steam, and Belle Époque!]

[[Field Commander]: Increases the effect of banners.]

Some had intuitive effects, while others were difficult to guess.

However, Sir Dominic felt he somewhat understood these attributes.

“So, how many new cards?”

Shenlong asked Sir Dominic.

“Four.”

“Four?”

An absurd number.

Shenlong thought Sir Dominic was trying to print too few again, but this was actually a misunderstanding between them.

What Shenlong was asking was how many copies of new cards to make, while Sir Dominic was thinking about how many different new cards to create.

Seeing Shenlong’s frowning face, Sir Dominic suddenly thought his words might have been misunderstood and clarified:

“I’m going to create 4 new cards.”

“Four?”

Shenlong’s previously frowning face was now filled with surprise.

It was the most attributes Shenlong had seen since a regressor got 7 and a reincarnator got 5.

“No, with the tank attribute, that makes 5.”

Shenlong sighed.

“50,000 copies of each of these too—”

“No, wait.”

Shenlong interrupted Sir Dominic.

Shenlong’s eyes began to roll quickly.

“Except for the reprints, let’s add a premium to the others.”

“Premium, you say?”

Sir Dominic asked.

“Yes. Too many cards can actually lose their value.”

Like Park Chun-bae, the pride of Gaeam 3-dong. Shenlong giggled.

“So except for the reprints… let’s print only a small quantity of the other cards for value’s sake.”

How about a reasonable 1,000 copies each? Sir Dominic pondered Shenlong’s suggestion.

For the sake of value.

Sir Dominic quite liked that idea.

Sir Dominic met Shenlong’s eyes.

And soon… the contract was finalized.