After setting up plans for developing the online game network, Luya felt completely at ease. Once the network technology and gaming consoles were ready, his income would multiply many times over.
For now, the money he earned was limited to Liyue Harbor… and only from a portion of its population.
That was why Luya placed such importance on developing the online version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Once it went live, he could become something akin to a game developer, implementing first-recharge bonuses, gacha draws, skin fragments, and all kinds of monetization features.
When the online Yu-Gi-Oh! began generating revenue, Luya could literally earn money while lying down—logging in each day just to watch the Mora roll in. He would become Teyvat's richest man without ever needing to work again.
His physical cards, though highly profitable per unit, were limited in daily production by the system. The online version, however, had no such restrictions. Card packs would become infinite resources! All he had to do was tweak the drop rates for powerful cards. Whether it was through special paid events or ranking rewards, everything would bring in massive amounts of Mora.
Luya knew developing the online Yu-Gi-Oh! would require a tremendous investment of Mora… to build servers across Teyvat and hire staff for maintenance.
At present, his reserves were far from enough. Although he possessed overwhelming power and could easily seize more Mora by force, doing so would leave no one able to afford to play Yu-Gi-Oh! and might even start a war. That would doom his mission to popularize Yu-Gi-Oh! across Teyvat.
Thus, Luya decided it was better to earn money legitimately. Upgrading the shop required 360 million Mora—he was still short of that mark. Most of his wealth had gone into upgrading his [Divine Hand] skill, but it had been absolutely worth it.
With the [Divine Hand], Luya now commanded an army of loyal employees. When opening branch stores later, he could simply materialize trustworthy Monster Cards into real-world staff.
Then, Luya checked his shop's current stats:
⌈Shop Level: 6 (Not Upgradeable)⌋
╵Normal Duel Stages: 40
╵Action Duel Stage: 1
╵Bluff Duel Stage: 1
╵Area: 7,000 square meters
╵Daily Automatic Card Pack Generation: 8,000
╵Card Furnaces: 6 (Available for Purchase)
╵Electronic Duel Consoles: 10 (Available for Purchase)
╵Vending Machines (Snacks/Drinks): 20 (Available for Purchase)
╵Available Mora: 294 million
The shop had grown immensely—from its original 500 square meters to 7,000. That was a fourteenfold expansion, and its facilities had multiplied as well. Besides Duel Stages, Luya's shop now featured self-serve vending machines for drinks and snacks, the new-style magic restaurant [Dinner Time!], a [Yu-Gi-Oh! Screening Room], and Yun Jin's [Yun-Han Opera Troupe].
Speaking of Yun Jin's troupe, Luya remembered to install the system's reward—[Voice-to-Projection Machine]—on her stage.
That way, Yun Jin's performances would become more vivid and lively. The audience would love it, and since Yun Jin wrote opera scripts based on Yu-Gi-Oh!, she was also helping promote his brand in her own way.
Plus, half of her troupe's daily profit went straight to him. Their partnership was perfectly symbiotic—Luya helped Yun Jin earn more, and in doing so, earned more himself.
Using the Shop Renovation function, the [Voice-to-Projection Machine] was installed in just three seconds. Then Luya spent 6 million Mora to purchase 50 drink vending machines and 50 snack vending machines. The shop was gradually filling with smaller amenities.
Afterward, Luya realized one screening room wasn't enough. Since the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series had been playing for quite some time, he decided to add 20 more screening rooms—bringing in [Yu-Gi-Oh! GX] and [Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]! This cost him another 2 million Mora. After adding vending machines and screening rooms, Luya had spent a total of 8 million Mora, leaving him with 286 million.
Next, it was time to restock for tomorrow's business. He opened the system shop. A pale-blue screen appeared before him.
⌈Permanent Items⌋
[Card-Draw Bread] — 2,000 Mora
[Starter Deck] — 100,000 Mora
[Advanced Duel Disk] — 100,000 Mora
[Random Theme Starter Deck] — 30 million Mora
⌈Limited-Time Item⌋
[Yu-Gi-Oh! Scratch Card] — 500 Mora
╵If 500,000 cards are purchased, the items become permanent. Prizes determined by system settlement.
Seeing the Scratch Card listing made Luya grin. As they say, scratch, scratch—so much fun! The thrill of scratching was irresistible. He immediately spent 500 Mora and pulled one out to test.
The moment he scratched it, a burst of golden-red light flashed. The card transformed into [Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon]!
Seeing that, Luya was stunned. A 500-Mora scratch card could yield a card of that caliber!? Then he realized—Damn! I wasted it! He should've saved that for a live demo tomorrow. The customers would've gone crazy.
Luya reread the limited-time item's details:
╵If 500,000 cards are purchased, the items become permanent. Prizes determined by system settlement.
Five hundred thousand scratch cards!? At 500 Mora apiece, that would cost 250 million Mora. And with 286 million remaining, even after buying them all, he'd still have 36 million Mora left—enough to purchase other items like more Card-Draw Bread.
Scratch cards had a strong gambler appeal… they would sell themselves! So Luya decided to set the price at 2,000 Mora each… four times the cost. If all 500,000 sold, he'd earn 1 billion Mora. After subtracting the 250 million Mora cost, his net profit would be 750 million.
And once he purchased 500,000, the Scratch Cards would become a permanent item, available forever. That meant he could even open a separate Scratch Card shop—a true goldmine.
There was no way Luya could pass that up. He spent 250 million Mora right then and there, buying all 500,000 [Yu-Gi-Oh! Scratch Cards].
Though the cost hurt, once he flipped them for sale, it would all come back severalfold.
The thought alone filled Luya with excitement.
"Let Teyvat experience… a scratch of shock!"
...
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