Eugene was barely keeping himself from jumping for joy. He finally managed to find something Ryuze was interested in! It didn’t take long before the boy crawled under his bed, confusing the Dragonoid.

When he came out he was holding on his hands a plastic container filled with several small boxes. He placed it on top of the bed and opened several of the boxes. One box was filled to the brim with deck cases.

“They look like your mana crystal my lord. There are a lot of them” Ryuze inquired, curious about the large collection.

“Yeah, they each have their own set of cards with their own strategy.” Eugene began to explain.

“Fascinating”

When Eugene opened another box there was inside several rolled-up rubber mats, each inside their own containers. “Why don’t you pick one of these playmats. Whichever looks interesting to you. They’ll be where we place our cards when we play.”

Ryuze nodded as he took the time to look at each container. Though with them all rolled up it was hard to tell what they looked like, making it hard for the Dragonoid to pick.

Eugene noticed this and quickly apologized. “Oh, right sorry you can take them out to see.”

Ryuze did as he was instructed and took each one out to examine each of the playmat’s designs before placing them back inside. A lot of them were simple colored while there were a few that had the outlines for the card game Eugene was about to show. But what really got Ryuze’s attention was the playmats with unique designs. Ryuze noticed that a lot of them were based off creatures that could have come from one of the other five worlds. Not only that but it was obvious a lot of them were Beastmen.

But what got Ryuze’s interest was the playmat that had imposing red Dragonoid who had a katana in their hand while pointing it down while looking right at him. Ryuze couldn’t help but stare.

“Found something you like? Oh neat, it’s the Flaming Samurai. That’s a popular choice. Do you want to use it?”

Ryuze slowly nodded before rolling it and returning it to the container, keeping it in their hand.

“Alright since you choose that mat then you might like these decks.” Eugene placed several deck cases in front of Ryuze.

He then began explaining what each of them do and what kind of strategy they implement. At the same time, he explained the rules of the game as well as how to win. All the while the black and red Dragonoid pondered on his decision.

Upon his choices, he noticed that all of them focused on the Dragonoid species. He guessed that his summoner chose them specifically because Ryuze saw interest in the Dragonoid Samurai. He was surprised that there was a decent amount of themes based off his home world. Not only were there a few decks based on the Samurais that were respected, but even ones on the shoguns who had command over military might. He was even surprised to find one involving the lute priests who inspire and looked over the respected rituals. But there was one deck that immediately captured his eye.

“This one.” Ryuze stated.

Eugene stopped his explanation in surprise. He didn’t expect Ryuze to decide on a deck. He could barely contain his excitement. Though when he saw his deck he couldn’t help but chuckle a little over the obvious reason. “Good choice Ryuze, I should have known you’d pick the Lotus Ninjas deck. They’re a bit difficult to learn but they’re known to be rather unpredictable and hard to counter once they could set up.”

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Ryuze listened intently as he stared at the chosen deck, tightening his grip on the case. “I see. Still, I wish to use this deck if you permit me lord Eugene.”

“Great! I’ll set up the game then!” Eugene quickly went to work, setting up the table he normally uses when he did a practice run with a newly made deck. He grabbed his own chosen playmat and deck and set them up while he instructed Ryuze how to set up his own. He made sure both of their decks were properly shuffled and placed at the proper location of the playmat.

He continued to help Ryuze with the initial steps on starting the game. “Now we start with five cards in are hands.” He drew his cards first with Ryuze following suit. “The aim of Grimoire Games, that’s what this game is called, is to reduce your opponent’s Health Points or HP for short to zero.”

The Dragonoid nodded as he listened. Just like they noticed Grimoire Games cards are also categorized the same as the cards from Eugene’s Mana Crystal Instant and Equipment. There was also three more times and Eugene suspects that they would also be available to him once he pulls new cards from the system that is built on his Mana Crystal; Set, Summon, and Special. Though he’s less so sure with Summon since his own familiars worked pretty much the same way. He did find it interesting that both players would have the same 100 HP as he has from the system.

Eugene would have to consider looking more into Grimoire Games to see how similar it is to his own mana crystal and how he could use that knowledge to his advantage.

For now, he wanted to focus on Ryuze’s first match with his favorite card game. Eugene went with one of his classic decks inspired by Beastria. It was an upgraded version of the starter deck that was based on the archetype of military Dog Beastmen, simple and easy to use that most people drop after finding a deck that better suits them, but Eugene found it fun to play with.

It went as you would expect for a new player versus one who has played the game for so long. In short, it was over rather quickly. Eugene managed to beat the ninja quickly before he had a chance to set up. Granted, Ryuze did well in understanding the rules and picked up on it a lot better than Eugene predicted. Especially for the fact he was using a rathe difficult deck. Even Eugene hasn’t fully mastered it yet. Still, Eugene wondered if maybe he took it too far and should have held back as he looked at the Dragonoid silently looking at the board. He normally doesn’t like to, finding it disrespectful to his opponent if he did but he didn’t want to turn Ryuze off from the game after showing a lot of interest.

It turned out that he was worried about nothing as Ryuze replied. “Let’s go again my lord.”

Eugene was taken aback. The expression on Ryuze’s face was one who was upset over losing so he didn’t think he would ask for a rematch. “O-oh sure, do you want to try a differen-”

“I’ll use the same deck.” The Dragonoid interrupted. That was the first time that he did that, and Eugene noticed. It seems he’s a lot more invested than he thought.

The two went for another round. Ryuze had a more determined look in his eyes, which Eugene was glad to see. He was thankful that the ninja Dragonoid was feeling a lot better and seemed to have gotten over their tie with Axel and Androcles. He could tell that he was taking their match a lot more seriously. He could see how he was intently staring at his starting hand, pondering what his first move would be.

Their second match went a lot better this time around. Ryuze was even able to start his deck’s combo. Eugene of course was ready for that; the beauty of his deck was that its simplicity allowed it to adapt to most scenarios. Sure, it doesn’t have the biggest combos or the strongest damage potential, but Eugene liked the reliability of it. Eugene won once again but he definitely had to work for it this time around.

“Another my lord.” Ryuze requested, already shuffling his deck for another round.

Eugene was ecstatic, he couldn’t help but agree to another match. They began their third match. This went on for a few more hours through the night. They were both fully invested in the game. And Eugene loved it. Even if he kept winning their matches, Ryuze wanted to go again.

Meanwhile, Sife was deep asleep on the couch. Snoring loudly while having the romance comic book on his face. It seemed he was on the tail end of the book before sleep took over his body. Abdul was already going at it on the computer, its robotic fingers speeding through the keyboard with one hand while quickly moving the mouse with the other. It seemed he decided to play a shooter game with a space theme to it. Abdul’s aim was perfect and precise as he shot down each enemy that appeared on the screen.

Overall, everyone was enjoying the various activities that Eugene provided. He was thrilled that they each found something to enjoy from his interests and was hoping they would do something like this again.