—
Entering the academy, Gustave saw with his own eyes that the Magic Academy of the Twin Realms shared a similar style to the Cintrian one.
And considering that this magic academy was essentially just a branch of Magika Academia Cintrensis, he could see that the instructors and lecturers here were mostly assistant professors from Cintra, seeking experience.
As he walked along the academy's waterways toward Shupe's cave residence, he noticed frogs already croaking in the water.
Looking up at the sky and deducing that rain would likely fall at any moment, Gustave quickened his pace, arriving at Shupe's cave just before the rain began.
Gesturing for his guards and servants to wait outside, Gustave insisted on going in alone, even though they protested, still suspicious of a seemingly harmless troll due to their prejudice against non-humans.
But after a stern reminder, combined with a subtle use of telepathic influence drawn from the framework of Axii, soothing the guards' emotions through rhythmic vocal patterns and carefully progressed chord-like octaves, Gustave was finally able to go in alone, gently shifting their neurotransmitters toward compliance through heightened suggestibility.
Finally seeing the troll who had once been his lucky charm for pulling legendary or epic Gwent cards from barrel packs back on Earth while playing solo Gwent, Gustave knocked on the side of the cave so as not to startle Shupe, who was busy painting a Gwent card.
Knock, knock.
"Umans custom-ers?! Good day, you too! In come, come in!"
Carrying a bag full of glittering meteorite powder on his back, Gustave suddenly jumped in fright, almost throwing the expensive powder to the ground when he noticed a pair of yellow eyes on the far side of the cave staring straight at him.
But his fright quickly turned into puzzlement as he looked more closely at the creature. Even though those eyes were filled with a wild, monstrous intensity, Gustave could also see a deep fear within them, as if the creature wanted to flee but was unable to do so.
And seeing the many different variations of Glagolitic Rune Magic surrounding the yellow-eyed creature, similar to the background of Tugo's card and likely the same Rune Magic used by magic-wielding Relict monsters, he knew escape would be nearly impossible for the poor thing.
Turning to Shupe, he asked, "Is that Nekker not aggressive?"
"No, no gersive. Pet, is he! Here, pat head. Umans can too!"
"Uhh… No thanks."
Seeing Shupe pat the Nekker's head, making the creature shiver in the process, Gustave realized he would likely react the same way. That massive hand could easily crush his skull like a watermelon.
So, seeing the poor creature being kept as a pet by Shupe, he silently wished it good luck and a long life. He knew full well that moderation was not a word found in a troll's dictionary, and he could deduce that this Nekker was probably only one entry on Shupe's long list of pets that had somehow survived the ordeal of being kept by a Troll.
Not wanting to jump straight into his original intentions, Gustave walked up to the Troll and placed the glittering meteorite powder on the ground near him, where Shupe was currently painting a Gwent Card, before speaking.
"Shupe. I want to buy you a set of basic packs of Gwent Cards. I hear rumors that you hold double certification from the Mahakaman Gwent Continental Association and the Gwent Friendship Society of Beauclair to create the cards. So how about it. Show me your vast collection, will you?"
"Couse of, of course! Buy Gwent Card from Shupe. Card good! Win much! Other card bad. Shupe card shiny. Card lucky. Card smash enemy deck. Buy, buy, buy!"
"Yes, yes, I know."
After hearing the slogan of Shupe Gwent Store, Gustave walked among the many crates and barrels to inspect the decks the Troll had created.
And because the Troll, as well as the entire Mahakaman Association, did not possess the same complete knowledge of Witcher lore that CDPR had when creating Gwent, the decks he examined were fairly basic, relying on commonly known history familiar to the masses.
Chuckling when he saw himself included in the Twin Realms deck under the Aristocrat type, Gustave read the card's description, which did not represent him at all, especially considering that many gods and demons liked to call him the Son of Steam.
"You, my child, are the sole reason I pushed myself forward. With your intelligence and my wisdom, let us create a modern Twin Realms together! Let us show the whole world that Rivia is not just a place of thieves and Lyria is not just a land of farmers!"
Knowing that the official patch developers in Mahakam had written this description from the point of view of his mother, Gustave then turned his attention to the attributes of his card.
===
Deploy: Reduce the timer of any Cards by six.
===
Whistling as he realized he had been made into an overpowered card, one that could be easily comboed with his mother's card, which relied on reduced timers, Gustave noticed that the official patch developers in Mahakam were surprisingly knowledgeable about his mother's Elder Blood magic.
It closely mirrored her ability in his Earth Gwent, where she empowered those around her through speech alone, much like the Call to Arms Spell from Skyrim.
But seeing that there were no cards capable of divining the future, such as Eredin's card or certain Nilfgaardian designs, Gustave could rest easy. It seemed that the people of this world, much like its gods and demons, were still unable to divine him.
After spending some time examining the decks, Gustave eventually chose the Monster Ogroid point-slam deck, since his favorite Nilfgaardian Assimilate Spy deck from Earth had not yet been created.
Turning toward Shupe, who had returned to painting Gwent Cards, he asked, "Shupe. How much for this whole Monster Ogroid deck?"
"400 Glittering Rocks!"
"Here. One thousand meteorite powder ore. You can keep the change."
"Tank you, tank you! Umans good! Umans loyal custom-ers! Shupe give special cards. Unique!"
"Oh really. Thanks, then, buddy. I'll come back to your shop whenever I want to update my deck. See you later in class, Shupe."
"Later see you, rinse Gusbave!"
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