Two days had passed since Louh's evolution. The wood crow, still adjusting to its newfound strength, perched confidently on Max's bonsai tree, surveying the room like a self-proclaimed king.

Max, meanwhile, had decided to take a break from his Kraxtal weaving studies. His brain needed a reset after hours of untangling complex patterns.

"Louh, if you damage the tree I'd literally cook you alive. "

Craw! Louh quickly flew away from the tree, afraid he'd be the next breakfast.

....

Max ignored him, and leaned back to relax planning to watch something entertaining, Lucy appeared, holding a worn deck of cards.

'play?'

Max frowned. "Cards? Where did you even get those?"

Through their mental connection, Lucy cheerfully explained her "perfectly legal" acquisition from passing travelers.

Max scratched his head. " Let me guess, you just took them while no one was looking."

Lucy ignored his comment, waving the cards with exaggerated enthusiasm. Her thoughts buzzed through their link: 'Play with me! I show you the rules.'

"First tell me, where did you learn to play?"

' watched it.' answered Lucy pointing at the laptop, and through their mental link, Max knew it was from the drama he had made for her not long ago.

Behind Lucy, the crows began shaking their heads furiously, their beady eyes wide with panic. One of them even flapped its wings, clearly trying to signal him to stop.

Max chuckled, ignoring their warnings. "Alright, fine. Let's play."

The first few rounds were normal enough, well, as normal as playing cards with a mischievous fairy could be. Lucy won the first game, and Max didn't mind since he just learned the rules.

But then came the second game. And the third. And the fourth. By the seventh consecutive loss, Max's patience was hanging by a thread.

It's not that he was bad or Lucy was good, but it was Lucy's rules or Lack Thereof.

"Wait a minute," he growled, slamming his cards down on the table. "You said jokers were wildcards! This is the fifth time this card changes it's purpose"

"Mimi mimi!" Lucy corrected him gleefully, her tiny arms gesturing wildly.

Through their mental link, she explained that now jokers counted as "reverse cards" that canceled out the previous turn.

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"That's not how the game works! you can't keep changing rules as you like. " speechless.

Lucy crossed her arms, floating with an air of innocence as if to say, My game, my rules.

The crows, still perched in the background, exchanged knowing glances. One even let out a low, pitying caw.

"Oh, I get it now," Max muttered, running a hand through his hair. "This is why none of you play with her, huh?"

A synchronized series of nods from the crows confirmed his suspicion, some of them even wanted to cry, because unlike Max they would get beaten up if they got closer to winning.

As for actually winning my, just forget about it.

...

Max was nothing if not competitive, and he wasn't about to let Lucy's antics get the better of him.

"Alright, this is my house, and under my roof you follow my rules " he said, leaning forward with a wicked grin. "If you change the rules again, I'm banning card games forever, and no labtop for a month."

Lucy froze mid-mimie, her eyes widening in exaggerated shock.

"Mimi mimi!" she protested, frantically gesturing that it was her who made the house in the first place.

Max arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, well, it's mine now. So pick one set of rules and stick to it."

Lucy huffed, reluctantly nodding. The next game began, and for a moment, it seemed like Max might finally win. He had a strong hand, and Lucy wasn't pulling any of her usual tricks. Victory was within his grasp.

Then, just as he was about to lay down his cards, a prompt interrupting him.

Max put the cards on the side and only after storing his phone inside the space ring did check it.

[Ding, according to your set in parameters new world coordinates that suited it got detected.]

"huh?". Max wasn't too exited, at best it would another F or E-rank world, still anything was better than the current world so Max opened it check it's information, just to be stunned on the spot.

"A C-rank world?"

The realization left him stunned, his earlier frustration fading completely.

"Simulator undo the worldlock." spoke Max without hésitation.

[Ding, worldlock lifting.... countdown 23h 59min 47s..]

Lifting the worldlock takes one day, but Max didn't worry much, basically every time a coordinates is detected it will stay there for at least a week.

Max ckecked the information of the new world.

World Name: Valenorth

Power rank : C++.

Valenorth is a realm ruled by human kingdoms with knights as the main force, whose might maintains order and stability.

This balance was shattered during a certain year when witches emerged, bringing dark sorcery and creating twisted beasts to sow chaos.

The humans fought the witches, and Because there weren't a lot witches the world was peaceful, but for how long.

.....

"Simulator lock on this world immediately after the world lock is available."

[Ding, affirmative.]

Max ignored the matter for now because there wasn't much he could do other than wait and focused on the card game, just to be baffled looking at his cards.

" Huh? "

He stared at the cards in disbelief. They were completely different from the ones he'd had just minutes ago. The neatly stacked numbers he'd carefully strategized with were gone, replaced by a chaotic mix of useless low-rank cards.

Max narrowed his eyes, his mental link immediately catching the faintest whiff of mischief radiating from Lucy.

"Lucy," he said slowly, his tone dangerously calm. "Did you change my cards while I was distracted?"

Lucy froze mid-air, her tiny wings fluttering nervously as she avoided eye contact. "Mimi mimi!" she chirped, feigning innocence, but the mental link betrayed her guilt.

Max exhaled sharply, standing up and looking directly at her. "I didn't want to do this, but you cheated first, Lucy. So now, it's time for my ultimate move."

Through their connection, Lucy's thoughts turned frantic. Ultimate move? What ultimate move?!

Max confidently picked up the cards, slammed them down onto the table, and declared, "This is my house, my rules. I win automatically with this set of cards."

Lucy was speechless. She floated in place, her tiny mouth opening and closing as if searching for a rebuttal. Her mind buzzed with disbelief. She had bent every rule, crafted every advantage, even the house she built it, and still, she lost?

Max smirked, walking back to his room. "You should've thought twice before trying to cheat me, Lucy. Maybe next time, play fair."

Behind him, Lucy remained frozen in the air, questioning everything. How could this happen? She lost in her own game, under her own rules. The crows cawed in smug satisfaction, finally seeing Lucy taste defeat.

Max didn't bother looking back. He grabbed a cup of coffee and returned to his chair, his mind now focused on Valenorth. As Lucy floated back to the table in a daze, Max silently vowed to avoid card games with her for a long, long time.