Chapter 322: Sage Bishop
Seeing this, Perry Yates walked over, unceremoniously plopped down in the seat opposite the woman, and stared directly at her.
After they stared at each other for a long time, it was Sage Bishop who couldn’t help but speak first. "You’re the owner of The Card Tavern."
Hearing this, Perry Yates rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Nope. Just a random passerby."
Sage Bishop: ...
’What’s going on? I heard the owner of The Card Tavern was good-tempered. Why is she so hostile from the moment she opens her mouth?’
After composing herself, Sage Bishop said, "I’m interested in the Divine Beast Egg you have here..."
Before she could finish, Perry Yates cut her off. "The butler already told me about it. I don’t do discounts, and I don’t haggle."
Sage Bishop smiled and said coolly, "Don’t worry. I have no intention of haggling, much less asking for a discount. I’ve already prepared the cards to purchase the Pet Egg."
As she spoke, Sage Bishop slid a card shimmering with golden light across to Perry Yates.
Now it was Perry Yates’s turn to be shocked.
’In truth, when she set the price at "a five-star card," she simply meant a quantity of other cards equivalent to its value. She never thought someone would actually pull out a real five-star card.’
’And to think a player in this world was actually willing to part with a five-star card in a trade.’
’After all, even she had never considered doing something like that.’
’Of course, no one would dare make such a demand of her, either.’
Perry Yates’s gaze fell upon the card. It was a five-star item card.
[Card Name: Sealing Staff
Card Level: Five-Star
Ability: Can turn anything it strikes into a card. Can only be released from its card state by being struck with the Sealing Staff again.
To Seal a person, one must call out their name.
The Sealing Staff can separate an already-fused card from a body, but this also requires knowing both the card’s name and its ability.]
It seemed like a very powerful card. It could Seal anything and even extract fused cards from a person’s body. The only catch was that you had to know the name of the person or the card.
And for cards, you also needed to know their abilities.
That made it somewhat impractical. After all, while players might show off after fusing with a card, they rarely stated its name and abilities openly. Most would just be vague or simply show off without giving any details.
Still, it was a five-star card, after all.
Perry Yates accepted the card. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the Pet Egg that had been hanging on the wall flew into her hand.
"It’s yours now."
Sage Bishop was taken aback by Perry Yates’s decisiveness. She’d thought the woman might go back on her word; after all, from her perspective, the value of a five-star card was nowhere near that of a Pet Egg.
’If I’m not mistaken,’ she thought, ’this woman must have mastered or awakened a method or Talent that lets her upgrade cards.’
’In that case, trading a single five-star card is a completely different proposition than trading tens of thousands of lesser cards for it, as per The Card Tavern’s listed price.’
In truth, Sage Bishop had vastly overestimated how much Perry Yates cared about the egg.
While Divine Beast Eggs were rare, she had plenty of ways to get more. After all, she controlled the source.
Besides, the Divine Beast Eggs from a while back had already started hatching one after another. And, well... what else could you expect from Divine Beasts? Their destructive power was off the charts. A whole pack of huskies couldn’t cause as much chaos as a single one of them.
To prevent her tavern from being torn apart, Perry Yates had just tossed them all into a dungeon to let them grow wild.
After putting the Pet Egg away, Sage Bishop didn’t leave. Instead, she said, "Aside from the Pet Egg, there’s one more thing I’d like to discuss with you."
"What’s that?" Perry Yates asked.
"You’re aware of The Dealer’s Domain, I assume."
Perry Yates nodded. "I only just recently learned of it."
"The auction you held gathered most of the Croupiers. It alerted the master of The Dealer’s Domain, and he wants to meet you."
"He wants to see me, so he just gets to see me? He sends you to be his messenger, but isn’t he afraid I’ll refuse?"
Sage Bishop smiled confidently. "You would only refuse because you don’t know how formidable he is. The master of The Dealer’s Domain possesses a special ability—he can endlessly acquire items from inside dungeons."
Hearing Sage Bishop’s words, tinged with admiration, a question mark slowly formed over Perry’s head. ’Endlessly acquiring items from inside dungeons... isn’t that just the Concrete ability?’
’From the way she’s talking, you’d think it was an ability exclusive to the master of The Dealer’s Domain.’
"If that’s the case, then just have him come see me. I’m a bit of a coward, you see. I’m not comfortable on someone else’s turf." Perry Yates blinked, her expression clearly saying, ’If he wants to see me, he can come himself.’ The look was enough to make Sage Bishop’s eyes go wide with fury.
After seeing her out, Perry Yates made an announcement on the giant screen.
Starting today, she was officially opening the "Road to Survival" dungeon. All sorts of treasure boxes would appear within it, containing various daily supplies, items, and Pet Eggs. There was even a chance of finding a Divine Beast Egg.
The dungeon was open to players and ordinary people alike. Entrants had to pay a fee and, upon leaving, were required to turn over one-third of everything they acquired inside.
It was recommended that entrants bring their own vehicles. Of course, vehicles were also available for rent inside the dungeon for a fee. Monsters would appear at night, so staying inside a vehicle was the safest option. The dungeon also contained safe zones that were completely secure.
As soon as the news broke, everyone went into a frenzy.
"Ordinary people can get in too? That’s amazing! I can finally get a powerful pet of my own!"
"That’s right! I’ve been so envious of the players’ pets for ages. I’m not greedy. I’d be happy with just a regular Pet Egg."
"I wonder how much it costs to get in. Whatever the price, I’ll sell everything I own to go!"
"To the guy above, you won’t have to sell everything. It’s only 10,000 to enter once. You just have to bring your own vehicle and food. And make sure it’s a sturdy vehicle. Don’t just show up on your family’s electric scooter. The dungeon info says monsters come out at night."
"It’s probably best to team up with some players. That way, you’ll be safer."
"I was so disappointed that no new players could be made. I never thought we’d get to experience a dungeon without even having to be a player!"
"Hiring players, high pay! Of all the loot we get, I just want one Pet Egg!"
News about the dungeon spread like wildfire across the internet. In no time, the area Perry Yates had designated as the entrance was overflowing with people, every single one of them desperate to get inside before anyone else.