"Back?" As soon as he walked into the room, Miko's voice came from inside again.
"Yeah." Youying seemed already used to Yae Miko frequently spawning in his room, and he placed the bag of fried tofu he had brought back in front of her.
"The little one is quite sensible, bringing me fried tofu again." Miko opened the bag with satisfaction, picked up a piece of fried tofu with her chopsticks, and took a bite. "How did it go?"
"It's all sorted out. Though it's probably best if someone from our side goes and discusses the specific content and details with Yoimiya properly," Youying nodded.
"Mm, I'll have someone from Yae Publishing House go find that little girl later," Miko said. "I've already found the illustrator for the card art. It should be the best available illustrator I could find who has free time recently."
"Alright, you can handle the arrangements for that," Youying said.
"However, they are all the way over in Mondstadt, so going back and forth might be a little slow, but it should make it in time for the first batch of releases afterward."
"In Mondstadt? It wouldn't happen to be named..." A figure suddenly popped into Youying's mind.
"Seems his name was... Albedo?" Miko tapped her cheek with a finger and thought for a moment.
"Oh crap, it really is him?"
"You know this person too?" Miko looked at Youying with some curiosity.
"Of course. Do you know who his true identity is?" Youying took a deep breath. "Albedo, the Chief Alchemist of the Mondstadt Knights of Favonius."
"Oh my, such impressive backing?"
"That's actually the minor part. He himself is the most perfect creation of 'Gold' Rhinedottir, and he even has some connections with the Witches' Circle. Tell me, isn't that fierce?"
"Is that so... Should we change the illustrator then?" Miko's eyes narrowed slightly when she heard the names Rhinedottir and Witches' Circle.
"There's no need for that. This guy's professional level and work ethics are quite guaranteed," Youying shook his pen—wait, shook his head. "Besides, if he really runs into any trouble, let the Knights of Favonius and that slacking Anemo Archon worry about it first. Inazuma is so far away from Mondstadt, we don't need to mind these things."
"Alright then, the illustrator is settled for now." Miko nodded, and then pulled out a deck of cards from somewhere unknown. "I had someone print a version of the game cards without illustrations first. The card names, descriptions, and whatever suits and numbers you mentioned are already printed on them. Do you want to take a look?"
"For real? Let me have a look quick." Hearing Miko say that, Youying eagerly took the cards.
The size of the cards was just right. Compared to Genius Invokation TCG cards, they were slightly shorter in length but wider, similar to the cards Youying used back on Planet Blue.
As for the touch and feel—well, you don't even have to ask, it was thanks to wondrous Alchemy.
After a brief look at the contents, Youying handed the cards back to Miko. "Mm, basically identical to what I imagined."
"Since that's the case, why don't we test play a game first?" After swallowing her last bite of fried tofu, Miko placed the cards between the two of them. "Why don't you briefly name a few characters from your world for the character cards? Even if we aren't printing them for sale, practicing with them like this should be fine, right?"
"Sure." Youying nodded, then found a piece of paper and wrote down the skills of the 27 characters from the standard expansion separately. Although from today's perspective, aside from a couple of exceptions, the characters here were already at the level of being buried and forgotten, they were still the most suitable for beginners to learn the ropes.
However, Youying didn't plan on using those standard characters for the first game. Instead, he and Miko each chose a 3-health vanilla character. The main goal was to teach Miko the rule details and some trivial content from the past couple of days. Using 3-health characters would also speed up the pace, and with Miko's intelligence, this game would finish well within enough time.
"No way, by what logic can I not untarget you?"
"It's +1, big sister. Do you understand the value of a +1 distance, keeping the enemy a thousand miles away?"
"Horsemanship is truly a divine skill." Miko seemed to finally understand why Youying had previously pointed at someone's skill and called it something like a horse god.
"It's indeed quite interesting." After playing a few rounds, Miko gave her own evaluation. "But there are only twenty-something characters here right now. According to what you said, there are still hundreds more?"
"Yeah." Youying nodded. "Well, it's a long-running game, you know how it is. Naturally, the later characters released get stronger and stronger, and power creep happens."
"In the end, every single skill turns into a short essay." Youying thought for a moment, then started writing on the paper again. "I'll write a few for you first. Do you want to try them out?"
"You've evolved straight from short sentences to prose right here." Miko complained after casually glancing at one of them. "Is this what they call the difference between cavemen and Trisolarans?"
"Pretty much. Want to give it a trial run?" Youying decided to trick Yae Miko. "I'll let you win a bit. I'll take this character whose skill is only two lines long."
"The little one is being so kind?" Miko raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but she didn't refuse either. Instead, she casually picked up a character card with a relatively long skill description that looked very powerful.
"Let me see... This card of mine is quite comprehensive. It has health-loss-for-card-modification, trial-modifying, damage-boosting, and deck-controlling all in one." Miko was very satisfied with the card she chose. "Since you're letting me take advantage like this, I'll let you go first."
"I was just waiting for you to fall into the trap." Youying was already grinning inside, but on the outside, he put on a poker face, nodded, and said, "Alright."
Then Miko couldn't laugh anymore.
Anyone out there understand this feeling? Right before her eyes, Youying suddenly acted like a completely different person. First, he played a Dismantling, and then he kept chanting things like "If you dare to invade, I shall surely make you return in utter defeat!" while shouting "Break!" from time to time. Immediately after, he unleashed a Slash boosted by alcohol, unceremoniously snatched the cards right out of her hand, and tossed them aside. And just like that, Miko here was dead in the dirt.
"Wait, what?" Miko was filled with a head full of question marks.
"Do you understand the value of my Big Treasure?" Youying patted Miko on the shoulder. "Sometimes, strength isn't just a pile of words in a short essay, but pure numerical beauty."
"I see it now. There is a certain kind of aesthetic to this strength." Miko said, "Compared to these two, the ones you wrote at the very beginning are simply too weak. Look at what these are—turning red cards into Slashes. Can this skill compare to your so-called 'Supremacy'? It simply can't compare; it lacks that level of power, you know."
"How bold! This is the divine skill of Martial Saint that shook China, alright?" Youying retorted. "If you go ask in our world, anyone who knows how to play will absolutely never say Martial Saint is weak."
"Of course, you can't *only* have Martial Saint." Youying added mentally.
"Forget it, let's just stick to the standard expansion to get familiar with the strength levels first," Youying said, and continued the match with Miko.
Interestingly, in the very next game, as soon as Miko picked Lady Zhenji, she drew a heaven-defying hand of cards.
"Wait to die, little one." Miko triumphantly waved the cards in her hand, deliberately showing them to Youying.
"Good grief, a Crossbow, three Nullifications... Miko, did you secretly cast some sort of spell? That's just cheating, cheating!" Youying took a deep breath after glancing at her hand.
"A tiny little game isn't worth me spending all that demonic energy," Miko said, starting her turn first and drawing 1 card from the deck.
Sure enough, Nullifications were social animals. Another Nullification; Miko drew all 4 Nullifications in the deck in one go.
Wait, why did this plot feel so familiar? Youying frowned slightly as he looked at those familiar character portraits and hand cards.
Then, unsurprisingly, Miko played the Crossbow and a Dodge.
"Martial Saint is truly a divine skill." Miko said angrily, and a faint phantom of a fox seemed to have already appeared behind her.
"Actually, Gallant is fine too, and it would be even better if there was a Charge."