"Wow, the monster from the monster card actually came out!" Looking at the little yellow dinosaur in front of her, Jenny exclaimed instinctively, "This little dragon is actually pretty cute!"
Seeming to notice Jenny's gaze, the Baby Dragon turned around and gave her a wink.
"Wow, it's so adorable! Can I pet it?!"
Jenny let out another gasp of admiration. Women had always found it hard to resist such cute creatures.
"Of course you can," Lucien said casually. "This is the monster you summoned, so it follows your commands completely."
Jenny hurriedly ran over, scooped the Baby Dragon into her arms, and started rubbing it affectionately.
Sure enough, the Baby Dragon obediently stayed motionless, letting Jenny pet it all over.
"Ugh, Lucien, you're clearly capable of designing such cute creatures, so why is Subnautica filled with nothing but terrifying monsters!" Jenny complained while continuing to rub the dragon.
"That's completely normal. I'm just respecting reality. It's the deep sea, after all. Since it's pitch black down there and no one can see each other anyway, the sea creatures naturally just grow however they want," Lucien explained.
Jenny: "..."
Could it really be explained like that?
Just as she was about to retort, Jenny noticed a row of numbers floating above the Baby Dragon's Monster Card:
[Attack: 12]
[Defense: 7]
"Lucien, what's this supposed to be?" Jenny asked curiously.
"Every monster has its own attack and defense values. What we need to do is summon monsters onto the field and have them battle each other," Lucien explained.
"Have the monsters battle each other?"
"Exactly. Tell you what, I'll give you an example. I'll summon a little mob to play around with too..."
Saying that, Lucien also drew a card:
"Come forth, Obelisk the Tormentor!"
[IMAGE:]
With a sharp smack, Lucien slammed the card onto his Duel Disk.
Rumble!
Instantly, the color of the world changed. The originally azure sky suddenly darkened, filled with dense storm clouds as the fierce, rolling roar of thunder echoed from within!
Next, a massive spatial fluctuation appeared in front of Lucien. Then, a heaven-supporting, earth-shattering, majestic blue giant emerged right out of the void!
Boom!
The giant's feet stomped heavily onto the ground, causing the surrounding beach to cave in deeply and kicking up a massive cloud of sand and dust.
Once the dust settled, Jenny could finally see the giant's appearance clearly. This blue behemoth looked to be over sixty meters tall, covered in ferocious muscles that seemed as hard as armor and solid as rock. It glared with bared teeth, its visage utterly terrifying and wicked.
Like an endlessly towering wall blocking Jenny's path, it gave off an absolutely overwhelming sense of oppression.
Jenny and her Baby Dragon's tiny figures were completely engulfed by Obelisk's colossal shadow. One person and one dragon both tilted their heads up to stare at this awe-inspiring, majestic giant that was radiating maximum pressure. Their hair stood on end, utterly dumbfounded!
Looking again at the combat stats for this monster named Obelisk the Tormentor: Attack: 4,000 Defense: 4,000
"No, wait, Lucien, you call this thing a 'little mob'?!" Jenny said, trembling. "What... what is this situation?! Why is my monster so tiny, a literal little mob, while your monster is so ridiculous?"
'Isn't this just bullying honest!'
"Because this is the game I designed," Lucien replied calmly. "I can do whatever I want with it." Jenny immediately choked on her words. She genuinely didn't know how to refute that.
In reality, as one of the three Egyptian God Cards, Obelisk the Tormentor naturally wasn't that easy to summon. It required the sacrifice of three monsters.
However, the game Yu-Gi-Oh! was still only in its earliest stages of development, and the rules were completely unfinished. Therefore, Lucien just pulled it out for a spin to show off, taking the opportunity to reminisce about his childhood. After all, this thing was one of his favorite monsters when he was a kid.
"Sis, get ready," the protagonist smiled faintly, then extended his right hand. "Now, Obelisk the Tormentor, attack Baby Dragon!"
"What, what?!"
Hearing this, Jenny was instantly scared out of her wits. Abandoning the Baby Dragon completely, she turned around and started running!
As for the Baby Dragon, the concept of escaping did not exist in a duel setting. It could only crouch weakly in place, confronting Obelisk, looking pathetic, frail, and helpless.
Roooooooar
Obelisk let out a wild and majestic roar. It then raised its millstone-sized fist, stirring up a monstrous gale that even swept up the nearby ocean waves, and smashed it viciously toward the Baby Dragon!
"Ah!"
Seeing that fist crashing down, the Baby Dragon could only willingly take the hit. Meanwhile, Jenny was still constantly running away. She didn't even run toward the sandy ground behind her; instead, she jumped into the nearby seawater with a huge splash.
Seeing this, Lucien was left quite speechless. It seemed Jenny had reached a whole new level of immersion from playing Subnautica. Rather than fleeing onto land, she actually ran into the water!
'She really treats the ocean as her home now!'
"Roar!" The next moment, accompanied by the Baby Dragon's tragic cry, the poor little baby was instantly smashed to dust by Obelisk's punch!
"So satisfying!" Lucien couldn't help but shout. He remembered how much he loved imitating the characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! when he was little, commanding monsters to battle. Although he could play cards on the computer after growing up, the gap between that and the anime was still enormous, lacking the thrill of having monsters physically fight face-to-face.
Now, that dream had finally come true.
While Lucien was enthusiastically caught up in his own fun, Jenny was still swimming desperately in the sea, getting further and further away.
It seemed her swimming practice lately had truly paid off. With Jenny's current in-game skills, she probably wouldn't have any problem swimming in the Nile River.
"Where are you swimming to, Sis?" Lucien said helplessly, then commanded, "Obelisk, go fish up that fleeing duelist."
Obelisk obediently executed Lucien's order. Taking a step forward and bending its body like a monkey reaching for the moon's reflection in the water, it grabbed Jenny in one hand while she was still struggling to swim through the sea.
"Ah, no, don't grab me!" Trapped in Obelisk's palm, Jenny was still screaming. At this moment, she genuinely felt no different than when a Reaper Leviathan got all up in her face.
"Sis, it's not going to hurt you. It's just a game, and it's my game at that. What are you so afraid of?" Lucien's exasperated voice drifted over. Upon hearing this, Jenny obediently quieted down immediately. Enduring her fear, she let Obelisk carry her in its grip back onto dry land.
This scene truly looked a lot like the moment the giant ape grabbed the female lead in the movie King Kong.
Stepping onto the sandy ground once again, Jenny clutched her small chest, looking at Lucien with a deeply resentful expression.
"I just asked you to play a game of cards. Why did you run into the ocean?" Lucien was thoroughly speechless.
"You call this playing cards?!" Hearing this, Jenny immediately couldn't hold back anymore. "I can't believe I fell for your nonsense! And you had the nerve to say it was just like Poker? The two aren't just slightly different, they have absolutely nothing to do with each other! I've never seen Poker summon all sorts of different monsters before!"
"And... and such a ridiculous monster at that!" Jenny waved her hands around, speaking in sheer agitation.
"Playing cards like this is the only way it's fun. If it were truly like Poker where we just place bet, it'd be so boring." Lucien shrugged. "What, you don't like playing this? If you don't like it, we'll switch to another one."
"Switch to another one?" Jenny froze. "Lucien, exactly how many games have you made?"
"Actually, I haven't completed a single official game yet. I've only made a tiny bit of material for a few different games," Lucien explained. "I've produced a little bit of material for almost every game genre. For the board and card game genre, it's the Yu-Gi-Oh! material."
"Several different genres? Then what else is there in the other genres?" Jenny couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Oh, so you're saying you want to experience them all?" Lucien looked at Jenny with a beaming smile.
Jenny paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Forget it, forget it. If your card game is already this terrifying, who knows how scary the other genres might be..."
"Okay, wish granted! I'll let you experience all of them, Sis!" Unfortunately, Lucien rudely interrupted Jenny's words and called out, "Gaia, change discs. Let's switch to... hmm, the FPS game Left 4 Dead first."
"Understood." Gaia's voice echoed through the space. "Loading assets now, adapting scene..."
"Scene adaptation complete. Generating now."
Following Gaia's words, in the next second, the shockingly terrifying Obelisk the Tormentor in the middle of the sandy ground vanished abruptly. Jenny simultaneously noticed that the Duel Disk attached to her left arm had also disappeared. In its place, she was now clutching an Uzi submachine gun.
What was going on? Did they suddenly go from playing cards to shooting guns?
Just as Jenny was feeling somewhat bewildered, a densely packed crowd of people suddenly surged out from the entrance of the alien building in the distance!
"Roar!"
"Grah"
"Uargh!"
Thrashing their limbs and screeching bizarrely, they rushed out of the alien bunker like rabid dogs, sprinting straight toward Jenny.
Jenny focused her eyes, and it was only then that she saw things clearly. How the hell were these things human? Every single one of them had rotting bodies, bulging blood vessels, and tattered clothes. They were ugly, grotesque, and looked exactly like the terrifying zombies straight out of a horror movie!
"Holy crap, why are there zombies popping out now?!?!"
Jenny was severely spooked. The horde of zombies completely ignored the much closer Lucien, instead shrieking strangely as they lunged toward her!
Lucien's voice rang out again. "Sis, don't just stand there, shoot!" Hearing this, Jenny hurriedly raised the submachine gun in her hands, aiming at the zombie horde ahead of her.
Bang, bang, bang!
The submachine gun spewed violent tongues of flame. There were simply too many zombies. Even without bothering to aim much, Jenny could easily hit them. Batch after batch of zombies in the front swiftly took bullets and dropped, but even more zombies rushed forward in endless waves to take their place!
Baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, they rapidly closed in on Jenny. To the point where Jenny could even smell the putrid stench radiating off the horde!
"Yaaaah!"
Jenny let out another loud shriek. She threw away the Uzi in her hands without hesitation, then spun around and jumped straight back into the sea with a heavy splash.
"..."
However, the horde of zombies didn't relentlessly pursue Jenny. In the very next moment, they all completely vanished into thin air.
"Come on, you've already experienced Silent Hill and Subnautica. How are you still so easily scared?" Lucien said, looking extremely helpless at the sight of Jenny soaking in the seawater.
"Isn't it obvious?!" Jenny shouted. "You made this game so realistic! It doesn't matter how many times I experience this, I'll still be terrified."
"The monsters here are just temporarily loaded assets. I haven't even maximized the realism aspect yet. They automatically disappear once they get within one meter of you, so there's no need to be scared," Lucien explained.
However, Jenny just kept waving her hands incessantly, her face written entirely with refusal. "I'm not playing anymore, I'm not playing! You didn't invite me here to test the game, you clearly brought me here so the game could test me! You heartless jerk!!"
"Don't be like that!" Lucien hastily said. "Sis, there aren't any monsters in the next game's assets. You can give it a try!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Swear it!" Jenny still didn't believe Lucien, continuing to shout loudly. "If there are monsters next, you'll never find a wife!"
'Tsk, tsk, good heavens, is she really being that ruthless?!'
"Alright, I swear!" Lucien griped internally, but still nodded earnestly. "If there are monsters later, I won't find a wife. If I'm lying, I'm a puppy!"
"That's more like it. Then I'll trust you one more time, boohoo." Hearing this, Jenny nodded suspiciously and climbed back onto the shore. "Lucien, you really ought to make some cozy games. Coming up with monsters to scare players every single day is going to give me a nervous breakdown..."
"I will definitely listen closely to your suggestions, Sis." Lucien put on the attitude of an obedient student, then continued, "So, Sis, are you ready to experience the assets for the next game?"
"As long as there are no monsters, I'm ready," Jenny nodded seriously.
"Okay!" Lucien nodded, then snapped his fingers again. "Gaia, change discs. Action genre, Sekiro."
"Loading assets now, adapting scene..."
"Scene adaptation complete. Generating now."
Chang'e's voice echoed out once more. This time, Jenny noticed that her entire body had undergone another transformation.
She had completely changed outfits. Now dressed in an ancient black round-collar robe, she wore a yellow cloak draped over her shoulders, with a Japanese sword hanging at her waist. She looked exactly like a dashing ancient swordsman.
Furthermore, her hands were covered in scars and calluses. They looked weather-beaten, yet incredibly firm.
"Whoa, what style is this? My outfit looks pretty cool! Am I a swordsman?" Just as Jenny was admiring her new gear, she suddenly heard an angry roar ring out from ahead.
"MY NAME IS GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA!!!"
This roar exploded like muffled thunder, stirring up echoes that rolled across the entire open environment.
Jenny threw her head up in a flash. In the distance, she saw a general clad in pitch-black heavy armor, riding atop a massive, towering steed. The majestic warhorse trampled the surface of the sea with its four hooves, churning up the ocean waves as it charged furiously toward the island where she stood!
[Hmph, you can read advanced 30 chapters on patreon .com/EdgyReader]