James yawned as he fumbled for his phone. Its wake-up alarm blared, causing his head to pound from the noise. He grabbed his phone and shut off the annoying alarm. With the annoyance dealt with, he yawned and curled up into the soft blankets of the hotel bed. He would rest for a few more minutes, he thought as he drifted off to sleep once again.

He checked the time on his phone during a bout of lucidity. It proudly informed him that it was noon, and he had slept an additional 3 hours. He jolted upright at the revelation and stumbled out of bed onto the floor. It was a vacation, and he couldn't waste it sleeping. There was still enough time to get some breakfast or, more likely, lunch.

He quickly threw on some clothing, left the hotel, and hurried through the city's busy streets to a burger joint. He had planned to get something better but was in a rush. He retrieved his greasy 'food' and sat down outside in the early afternoon light.

He quickly went over his plans for the day as he ate. Some of it was hopeless now that he slept in, but he wouldn't waste it. First, he planned to walk over the scarlet suspension bridge and take in the view. That was one of the main reasons he was there. After that, there was the central Summon Monsters card shop. He paused as he grabbed another bite of his food and considered skipping it. He wasn't really into the game as much as he used to be, and he could hit the card shop back home. He sighed before popping a mushy, undercooked fry in his mouth.

He decided to keep it. It was just over the bridge, and he could just slip in for a few minutes. Though he knew it wouldn't just be a few minutes. After that, he would go see the... no, he would have to skip that. He mentally crossed off a few places he could live with missing out on. He frowned as he did so, but it was his own fault for sleeping in. At least he could still go see the northern shrines. They were said to be beautiful. Some of the ancient magical arrays still worked. He didn't want to miss those.

He finished eating and threw away the remnants of his meal in a nearby trashcan. He glanced at his phone, checking the time, and nodded. He made for the bridge. The walk wasn't much, and he wanted to get a good look at it.

The walk over the bridge had been quicker than he had expected. The view from the center had been excellent. He even got a close-up look at one of the original magical lights the city paid through the nose to maintain. The magic had kept it bright and vibrant for over a hundred years. He was reviewing the photos he had taken as he neared the card shop.

The shop was busier than he had expected. Still, he pushed inside just as a group of three kids came out, deep in a discussion about their latest selection of cards. As he entered, he walked past a statue of the iconic Death Knight, standing just inside the shop's doors, its massive great sword raised in the air as if it were about to cut him in half.

In the middle was a massive island built from glass display cases containing several rare and hard-to-find cards. Legions of store workers helped numerous customers as they bought and sold cards. Bins of stuffed monsters and other paraphernalia lined the walls. Shirts, hoodies, hats, and backpacks hung from posts on the walls. The store had placed racks of posters around the shop. There was part of a wall filled with the magical game boards in different shades and designs. Each section was color-coded, denoting one of the four main factions in the game.

Above, the entire ceiling was covered by a massive, magical mural of a forest scene in which a Dire Forest Wolf was fighting against a Giant Python in real-time. He was fixated on the ceiling and watched the scene before someone knocked and bumped into him.

"Excuse me," the large man said as he pushed past James toward one of the counters.

James shook his head and glanced around in awe at the store's sheer size. He didn't have a good view of the entire thing, but only part of it was dedicated to the cards themselves. He made his way into the shop and started glancing through a few of the bins on his way to the card counter. Wolves, snakes, rabbits, and some of the other more common monsters were depicted in a soft and cuddly form within.

"I wonder if they have the killer rabbit," he said under his breath before turning back toward the card counter. He didn't really have much of a plan for what he wanted to get, but he decided to have a look at the selection regardless. That was easier said than done, however, as a number of rather enthusiastic collectors took up the counter space.

Eventually, though, he found an employee who had finished with their previous customer, and he slipped into the gap before someone else had the chance.

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"Hello there, are you looking for something to start with?" The woman in the black polo asked in her best customer service voice.

He glanced at her and then at the expansive selection of cards in the case before him, none really catching his attention. "Ah, I'm not actually sure. I've got a friend who plays, but I've been out of it for a while."

"Well, the Dies the Night expansion just released a few days ago. Are you interested in picking up the latest set? It's got some really great cards to add to your deck," she said as she gestured to a black and red box on the display stand on the counter.

"Uhm," James said, not sure he really wanted to get into the modern scene, so he changed topics. "Well, I actually heard there are contests or something here."

"We do special tournaments every weekend where you can win boosters for the latest expansion. If you want to join, the next one is in a few days." The woman explained as she gestured to a sign that hung above the counter. It displayed a skeleton wielding a scythe, and on it was the tournament schedule.

"Ah, no, I won't be in town for that," James said. "So much for getting some rare cards."

The woman paused before nodding and gesturing back to another advertisement. "We also have the daily draw. If you play you're guaranteed to win something. The price isn't too bad."

"So, all the junk cards you can't sell any other way," James said with a slight frown as he glanced around. "When is the draw?"

"There are a few rare ones in there too. The draw each day is at 2 pm. So you have about 20 minutes if you want to participate." She said as she gestured to the clock on the wall.

He figured he might as well. It was a vacation. Maybe he'll get lucky. "Well, whatever, sure. I can afford that."

He nodded as he peeled the money from his wallet and handed it to her. She accepted it before she gave him a ticket for the draw in return. "Would you like to buy anything else?"

James glanced through the case and saw cards with huge price tags. "Is there anything collectible that's not too expensive?"

"Plenty. Looking for anything in particular?"

"Forest Monsters?"

"Sure thing," she nodded as she pulled a binder from a shelf behind her and passed it over to him.

He opened the binder and looked through it. The forest monsters were mostly low-cost, at least they were for useful and collectable monsters. He was sure they wouldn't help his deck, but it was always fun to look.

He was paging through the binder when he stopped on a page containing humanoid monster cards. Humanoid monsters were popular but rather rare. They were often limited run cards. Only two were in the entire binder, one of which he recognized.

"The Heart Strike Fox," he said as he looked over the tier-five monster. She had light purple hair and magical fire in each hand. Her assets were impressive. Her tails, that's what he meant, obviously. All nine of the fluffy tails danced behind her image on the slightly bent card. A pair of shining silver eyes gazed at him, a mischievous grin on her face.

"I'll take this one." He said almost immediately. The card wasn't very powerful, but it was pretty rare.

"You want that?" The employee asked as she glanced at the card and tapped the sticker on the card's sleeve. "All of them have stickers with the price."

James winced as he finally noticed the price tag. "But it's bent."

"Which is why we have it at all," the employee said. "We don't have another one of those."

He sighed. He'd wanted that card since he'd first seen it, but it was too expensive for his tastes. "Ah, maybe not."

"It also comes with its base card, the Illusionist Trainee," the woman said as she pulled the card from its sleeve.

As she said, the Illusionist Trainee card was hidden behind the Heart Strike Fox card. Compared to the other, the trainee was rather drab in appearance.

The card showed a younger-looking fox girl with short black hair, a single fluffy tail, and an old torn grey hooded robe. Her purple eyes shined against her black sclera, focused intently on a small illusionary scene in her hands.

That was a much better deal. He could add two humanoid cards to add to his collection. He could always turn his arena to observation mode and simply look at the models. He had done that before.

"Oh, fine then. I'll take both. That's only 50 for both of them?"

"That's right," she said.

He nodded and added another monster from the binder, a Kuyo. This small cat monster was popular for its fluffy appearance. It also had a cheap price.

"Alright, is there anything else you want to buy?"

"No, that's it for now."

They went down to the register, and he exchanged his hard-won money for the cards just as the drawing finished.

"Good timing," the woman said as he handed her the ticket back. She checked the number on the ticket before handing him a card sleeve.

"Puppeteer," he said as he looked at the card he had wasted his money on. It was one of the most useless spell cards in the game.