Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Prototype That Will Change the World

In front of the residence of Mayuna, a lavishly decorated earth-dragon carriage gradually came to a halt. The earth-dragon, known for its ferocity, was tamed by the coachman to behave as docilely as a horse. As the carriage doors were pushed open, a young man with pale green hair stepped down and stood before the iron gates of the mansion. A closer look revealed that his features bore a striking resemblance to the current emperor.

“I’ll come pick you up at dinner time.”

The person seated inside the carriage was shrouded in shadow, making his face impossible to discern. At his words, the green-haired youth nodded and personally closed the carriage door for him.

He had heard much about this place—the residence of the Archmage. It was the first time he had come here, and though he felt somewhat intimidated by the perpetually stern-faced girl he would have to confront, he had to go in. For the sake of rescuing his adorable younger sister.

The green-haired youth placed his hand on a crystal embedded in the wall, channeling his magic into it. This would cause another crystal inside the house to sense his magic and emit a pre-recorded sound, alerting the mistress of the house to a visitor.

Ten minutes passed, and the youth, still left outside, was nearly in tears. Even if she was an Archmage, wasn’t this rather rude? He was a prince, after all—couldn’t she give him some courtesy? Or perhaps she was intentionally refusing to return Tinasia?

The thought that a male creature resided in this house left the green-haired youth restless and anxious. His beloved sister might be suffering inhuman treatment here. Indeed, ever since that person had arrived in the imperial capital, everything changed: his father would occasionally mention the wonders of that individual, and his sister never returned home at night.

Tinasia, after all, was an unmarried imperial princess; cohabiting with a man was absolutely unacceptable. There were other women here as well, but it still wouldn’t sound good if word got out.

Seeing that the door remained closed, the green-haired youth, in desperation, committed his first crime—casting a lightness spell on himself, he leapt over the wall. After all, he had boasted to his elder brother that he would definitely bring his sister home.

“Excuse me…”

He traversed the long courtyard, nervously pushing open the front door. Even upon reaching this point, no one noticed his presence, making him doubt whether the Archmage’s senses were truly as keen as rumored.

Wandering aimlessly through the vast mansion would not do, so the youth quickly cast an auxiliary buff—Perception Spell. This magic allowed him to sense the flow of magic in nearby beings, making it the perfect tool for finding people. After locating his target, he headed toward a nearby room.

He placed his hand on the door handle, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open forcefully. Sure enough, in the hall, he spotted his sister. He was about to call out to her, but his attention was caught by the scene before him: two bizarre, misshapen monsters floated in midair. He immediately recognized them as projections from magic crystals.

Beside Tinasia was a stack of rectangular magic crystals, cut to just a millimeter thick for easy stacking. Calling them magic crystals might now seem odd—Mayuna and her friends simply referred to them as cards. The green-haired princess was anxiously picking up the first card. As she infused her magic into it, the monster within appeared, and a satisfied smile blossomed on her face.

“I offer the two monsters on the field as tribute, and summon the Red-Eyed Black Dragon from my hand. Come forth, my trump card!”

The “field” Tinasia spoke of was a simple version drawn with a pen on the floor. As she spoke, she deactivated the projections of the two monsters; they seemed to shatter and vanished into the air. Then, she summoned her trump card. When the pitch-black giant dragon appeared, its projection gave a clear, audible roar (courtesy of Mels).

“Nana, admit defeat. You have no monsters left on the field, and your life points can’t withstand this damage. After losing seventeen times in a row, I can finally claim my first victory!”

The black dragon, at Tinasia’s command, launched an attack. It opened its maw, and a huge fireball was projected, flying toward Mayuna. If this attack succeeded, she could finally redeem herself.

“Naive. I activate the trap card, Magic Cylinder. Take this attack yourself.”

Mayuna’s long-covered card rose from the floor, and two purplish-red cylindrical objects floated in the air. One absorbed the black dragon’s fireball, the other shot a beam at Tinasia.

“No!!”

Tinasia clutched her head and screamed in agony, forced to watch her life points drop to zero as she collapsed in despair, as if burned out entirely.

“That’s why I say you’re a fool. What’s the point of not including trap cards in your deck? After losing so many times, you still haven’t learned your lesson?”

Mayuna felt no particular pride in her eighteenth victory. Winning with such a simple tactic against a reckless fool was hardly satisfying. Yesterday, after Ruby announced the game rules, Mayuna swiftly grasped the essence of this game—it was a supremely cunning game. If she could master her opponent’s attack rhythm, she could remain undefeated.

“Again! Let’s play again!”

Tinasia, shaking off her disappointment, rallied once more, convinced that if she kept at it, she would eventually defeat Mayuna.

“No. There’s no point in bullying a rookie like you. I want to duel with Feiloxis.”

At present, Mayuna could only find an evenly matched opponent in Feiloxis. Tinasia was too inexperienced, Ruby too strong. Across from Feiloxis, the black-haired dragon boy had already been defeated so thoroughly he lay pale and limp on the floor. The Poison Dragon Miss also heard Mayuna’s challenge and gestured that they could have a match.

“Tinasia, what are you doing?”

Unable to hold back any longer, the green-haired youth finally spoke up. Look, just look at what his sister had become! Sitting cross-legged on the floor in a breezy short-sleeved shirt, though her lower body was covered by safety shorts, it was still far too improper. Thankfully, he hadn’t seen any men around.

“Huh, Brother Kaias, why are you here?”

Seeing her second brother suddenly appear, Tinasia awkwardly adjusted her posture and asked in surprise.

“You still ask me? Why aren’t you coming home these days?”

“Don’t ask. Let’s play two rounds of Duel King first. The rules are easy.”

Caught up in her playful mood, Tinasia had no intention of leaving. Since no one else was dueling her now, she decided to drag her brother into the game.

“One round, then you’re coming home with me.”

Kaias, just twenty-one this year, couldn’t resist such a novel game. After reading the rules, he quickly assembled a deck and played with his sister.

“Watch this! I activate Fusion from my hand, combining the Winged Man and the Flame Lady to summon the Flame Winged Man.”

“You—you actually learned advanced fusion summoning?! That’s cheating!”

Tinasia’s life points dropped to zero once again, and she made a dramatic expression that would astonish even Malik. Summoning a high-level monster without tribute? That was cheating! She realized she had no real chance of defeating her academically gifted brother.

“You’re a hundred years too early to beat me!”

Kaias laughed triumphantly, discovering that winning this game brought far more joy than he’d expected. As the laughter faded, his eyes caught the magical clock on the wall—the short hand had slid to six.

“Damn, time’s up. These cards…”

Kaias glanced out the window; his elder brother’s earth-dragon carriage was already waiting at the gate. He looked at the cards in his hand, hesitating. Though hastily assembled, he’d grown fond of the monsters’ designs and wondered if he’d get to use them again.

“Take them. We’ve made plenty anyway.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back.”

Kaias gave his sister a grateful look, all thoughts of his original mission forgotten as he left with the cards.

“Big Brother, I’m back! That Ruby is truly remarkable—she can invent such entertaining things. With this, I won’t need stage plays or storytellers anymore!”

Kaias hurriedly climbed into the carriage and sat across from his elder brother, animatedly recounting how he’d spent the afternoon tormenting his sister.

“…Where’s our sister?”

The Crown Prince listened to his brother for a long while in silence, then asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

“Huh?”

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PS: Please add to your collection and recommend.
PS: What? My sister is living with a man—let’s play a round of Duel King first.
PS: Give me a set of heroes and I’ll crush the kids.
PS: Thanks to Wawu Cat for the 1000 reward, Dumb Bird and Zzzzofd for the 500 reward, Battle Mechanic and Saw Thief for the 100 reward.