Master Of Trading Star Card Game

Translator: Star River from w.a.n.gmamaread

Proofreader: Rhith

After a period of contact with the man, Xie Mingzhe was able to identify him – his [Tuberose], proficiency in plant cards, ID, strong ability to compete with others, continuous focus on him and buying all the [Lin Daiyu] cards indicated that he must be Tang Muzhou.

Xie Mingzhe was frank about it, but unexpectedly, the man admitted that he was Legend Tang honestly.

Tang Muzhou said with a smile, "Now that you know who I am, why do you refuse to be my apprentice? No matter what you want to be, a professional designer or a professional game player, with my guidance your life will become much easier than any others'."

Xie Mingzhe replied bluntly, "Thank you for your kindness. Actually, I've seen Nie Yuandao, a guru in the Adjudication Club."

Hearing that, Tang Muzhou asked with his eyes squinted, "Lao Nie has approached you? Why?"

Xie Mingzhe said, "He invited me to join his club, but I refused. If I recognize you as my Shifu, I will have to join the Fenghua Club, right? My refusal of your invitation doesn't mean that you are unqualified to be my Shifu, on the contrary, it will be an honor to be instructed in person by a guru like you. I just don't want to join any clubs now, so I can't be your apprentice for the time being."

Tang Muzhou, "…"

Xie Mingzhe continued, "I'm sorry, Legend Tang. Thanks again for your invitation. You've taught me a lot today. I'll repay you for your kindness, but I prefer a carefree life rather than a life restricted by the rules of a club."

Tang Muzhou stared at Uncle Chubby with his eyes still squinted, "Restrictions? Are you worrying about your copyright?"

Xie Mingzhe nodded, saying, "Legend Tang, you probably think that I have failed to appreciate your kindness. However, in order to avoid my card copyrights being owned by others, I won't join any clubs."

Uncle Chubby was indeed chubby in the game, although he was friendly and his smile was warm, Tang Muzhou sensed his "fearless" spirit of young people.

Xie Mingzhe was indeed a visionary. Anyone who was gifted in card creation would be unwilling to join a club and transfer his/her copyrights to the club. Tang Muzhou had signed a supplemental agreement with the Fenghua Club, which said Tang Muzhou owned the copyright of all original cards having the LOGO "Tang". So did Lao Nie, Fang Yu and Ling Jingtang. They could take their cards away when they left their clubs.

Their agreements were signed before the fifth season.

However, in the fifth season, something unpleasant happened. Its cause was a copyright dispute.

A guru filed a lawsuit against his club, which took a long time and provoked much discussion among players. Because of this, there were fewer and fewer contracts to allow the card creator to own his/her original cards' copyright. Few players had signed such a contract with their clubs since the seventh season. Every club had strict control over copyright for fear that such a dispute might reoccur.

Players that rose in recent years had signed a contract to transfer their copyrights to their clubs. Among these players, few could create original cards, so most of them used cards made by their club's card designers and didn't care about the card copyright clause.

Obviously, Uncle Chubby cared deeply about this.

He was wise. In the long run, he would earn more money as a freelance designer than as a card designer of a club because he could make various cards with his exceptional imagination if he was not bound by the rules.

Instead of joining a powerful club, Xie Mingzhe decided to make cards himself. Was he that brave?

Seeing that Uncle Chubby was firm, Tang Muzhou said, "Since you don't want a Shifu, let's become friends first. If you have any questions about card creation, you can send a private message to me and I will reply as soon as possible."

Tang Muzhou wasn't arrogant at all and he personally taught Xie Mingzhe a lot. Such a "guru" friend was just what Xie Mingzhe wanted. He nodded at once, saying, "No problem. Let's be friends if Legend Tang is willing to make friends with a novice."

"You'll be an experienced player soon. By the way, do you not read emails regularly? Please check your emails when you are free." Tang Muzhou stood up while smiling, saying, "I have some other things to do in the club, I'll go offline."

“Okay, bye.”

The man disappeared directly without hesitation.

A person suddenly disappeared from his view – Xie Mingzhe hadn't expected that. He was stunned at first, and then he went downstairs, planning to take a stroll through this entertainment planet.

When he arrived at the door, he found it closed, with a "CLOSED" sign hanging on it.

No wonder he had talked to Legend Tang for so long but no one had bothered them.

The waiter at the door said with a smile, “Uncle Chubby, Boss said that you can come to our restaurant at any time in the future. Our restaurant only accepts special guests, and you have been added to the list of VIPs who can freely come and go.”

Xie Mingzhe felt flattered, “Thank you.”

After walking out of the restaurant, he looked back at the Qianlin Restaurant. The word “Qianlin” was surrounded by green vines and small light blue flowers. Such a fresh design was quite distinctive.

Since the waiter called Tang Muzhou "Boss", this restaurant was obviously rented and operated by Tang Muzhou. Would anyone spend money on eating in a game? Players could make money by renting a shop to sell something, but wouldn't he lose money by renting a restaurant?

Xie Mingzhe walked to a street of bars feeling confused.

The street of bars was very lively in the evening; some singers were singing in the bars. With jazz and drink all around, Xie Mingzhe found it hard to connect these scenes with a game world.

Xie Mingzhe sighed and sat down casually on the street, and started to ponder.

[Lin Daiyu] was bought by Legend Tang for 660,000 gold, which had created quite a stir in the auction. At that time, many people in the Auction House were doing live broadcasts. He guessed that the card creator using the LOGO "月半" had become something of a celebrity. The other players' impressions of him also included being the creator of IDE cards.

As the Chinese old saying goes, there should be a specific field that one specializes in. He'd be better off relying on the IDE cards to achieve a strong position in the card creation field first. When he becomes really famous, he would then make other types of cards.

He had created two IDE cards, [Wu Song] and [Lin Daiyu].

The copyright for [Wu Song] was sold to Legend Nie, so he could not continue to make this card, but he could make countless [Lin Daiyu]. However, if his card store only sold [Lin Daiyu], that would make people feel that he had exhausted his talent and could only make this one card.

He might as well make more IDE cards and sell them together with [Lin Daiyu].

When it comes to [Lin Daiyu], he naturally thought of another main female character in Dream of the Red Chamber: Xue Baochai.

Since he had made [Lin Daiyu], why didn't he make [Xue Baochai]?

Xie Mingzhe got a sudden idea – Baochai Chasing b.u.t.terflies; Daiyu Burying the Flowers!

These two plots happened in the same chapter in Dream of the Red Chamber. Xue Baochai went to Xiaoxiang Garden to find Lin Daiyu, just to see Jia Baoyu entering the garden. She was afraid to cause a misunderstanding※, so she left silently. When seeing b.u.t.terflies on her way back, she took out a fan and held it open in front of her to chase b.u.t.terflies.

Baochai chased b.u.t.terflies first, and then Daiyu buried flowers, which depicted their different personalities.

Chasing b.u.t.terflies, of course, meant that b.u.t.terflies could be killed. But Xie Mingzhe didn't know how many b.u.t.terfly cards there were in this game.

Xie Mingzhe rubbed his chin, poring over how to make [Xue Baochai].

***

At the same time, the headquarters of the Capital of Darkness Club.

Ye Zhu laughed loudly, “Hahaha, someone bought that card for 660,000? Lol, Tang Muzhou proposed the IDE skill in the last season and now someone made an IDE flower card against him, hahaha! Legend Tang must be very depressed now!”

Seeing the boy holding his stomach and laughing out of breath, Pei Jingshan patted his shoulder, “Xiao Zhu, don't gloat. If the card maker '月半' makes an IDE card against your b.u.t.terfly cards, you won't laugh then.”

Ye Zhu tried hard to stop smiling and waved his hand, saying, “Don't worry, Brother Pei! All my b.u.t.terfly cards have high Agility, so they won't be hit by an IDE easily!” Then he sneezed successively. He rubbed his nose so hard that it turned red.

What's going on? Why did he feel that someone was cursing him?

Translator's Note:

(Xue Baochai) “If I go in now after him, he is sure to feel embarra.s.sed and she is sure to start imagining things. It would be better to go back without seeing her.”

——an excerpt from Dream of the Red Chamber