Prologue

"Hey, Tid. You got a moment?"

“What’s up, Joke? Don’t you know that I’m in Japan right now? I’m currently busy taking some tourists to Asakusa Temple.”

“Can we talk for a bit? There’s something urgent. A couple of minutes will do.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m leaving those tourists off to go make merits and buy some souvenirs, so I have a few minutes to spare."

“I’m going to cut to the chase. Are you still playing that card game Age of Summoner?”

“Oh, AOS? I’m loaded with work right now, so I don’t really have time for it. But I still keep tabs on their major competitions. Why’d you ask?”

“Uh...I’ve got a bit of a question. How much are the cards used in AOS worth?”

“Huh? Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?”

"It's nothing important. I just need a quick answer."

“Ah… There is a wide range of prices for AOS cards. If the card is useless, it will be sold at around ten to twenty baht. But, for more decent cards, prices can jump up to hundreds or thousands of baht depending on how rare they are."

“I see, and… is it possible for a card to shoot up to a million baht?”

“What kind of question is that? A million baht is an underestimation. Someone once traded a Porsche just for a single card!”

“A Porsche? Really? A ten-million-baht car for a card?!”

“Yep. Some cards are worth a lot more than you think, Joke. Because AOS only produces a limited number of cards, and they never produce anything twice. This is why some cards became so valuable and went off the market. The pro players are willing to pay for these cards without a second thought because they can make a success out of the cards and reclaim a tenfold return on their money afterwards, I tell you."

“Really? A single sheet of paper can be exchanged for millions of baht?"

“You’re gonna get it! Don’t you dare call AOS cards ‘a piece of paper’? AOS players considered this as an offense!"

“An offense, why? I don’t understand.”

“Why are you asking me this out of the blue? You never once cared about AOS or paid any attention to those AOS live competitions I watched back when we were in college.”

“Uh...it’s nothing. You should head back to work. Let's catch up once you’re back from Japan.”

“Huh? Okay, never mind. My tour group is gathering. I gotta go.”

The other end of the line fell into silence, followed by a rhythmic ringing of the call’s disconnect tone. Jakkarin Pitaksilp, a 22-year-old known as “Joke” by his friends, was facing life’s biggest challenge that led to him hiding away in a bathroom corner. His rust-colored orbs stared into the mirror reflecting back the image of his pallid complexion. He had fluffy black hair similar to those who never gave much attention to self-care, a gaunt-looking face, and a patchy beard.

“What the hell am I doing here?”

The young man murmured to himself. Looking around, he was surrounded by toilets—bathroom fixtures that probably would not be able to provide him with answers to his dilemma. It was three o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon. Usually, he was out searching for a job during this time.

Not today, however.

He stood contemplating in the bathroom of a store called “Card Factory” to calm himself down after encountering life's biggest decision-making problem—a problem that, to him, felt like a national issue. In all reality, he never faced such a challenging decision-making situation like this before.

“Seriously?”

He murmured to himself for god knows how many times. His rough hands picked up an object so he could have a clearer look at it. The object in his hands was rectangular-shaped, resembling a business card—thin, and made of fine flexible plastic. On the backside of the card, there was a symbol of a sword crossed over a wooden sceptre with white and black wings spread out on both sides alongside the phrase “Age of Summoner” written on it.

The card's frontside displayed a breathtaking three-dimensional CG illustration of a white dragon soaring in the sky with its wings spread. "Snowbelle White Dragon" was written above the image with a long description—all in English—filling out in the space below alongside numeral markings in the card's corners.

Everyone would, at a glance, recognize that this was a “card” from Age of Summoner, the world’s current most popular game that was a perfect blend between a traditional card game and an MMORPG gaming style—a game that guaranteed that there were up to three hundred million player IDs worldwide. And of course, it was receiving a great amount of popularity in Thailand to the point where the game's "pro players" mushroomed everywhere.

But that was not the point!

The thing that was causing Joke great concern was the card in his hands that he had just received.

That card was rightfully his; he paid for it himself.

And the reason why he had to call his close friend from college, Artit—who he usually called “Tid” in short—was because he needed confirmation on some particular matter, and that matter was the fact that…

“Th...This dragon-printed plastic sheet is worth ten million baht?”