Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 800: A mediocre start?
Because Tiantis' malicious speculation seriously insulted her dignity as an ethical independent game producer, Alice decided to list her as the number one on her most hated enemy list, and vowed not to let her go and to beat this guy down to his knees!

But to achieve this, we still have to rely on Gloria.

"Um..."

The Third Princess slowly opened her eyes. Although she was still a little confused, she looked much better than before. "I roughly understand the rules. Using card duels and winning by reducing the opponent's basic points is indeed a novel way of fighting. It's like magic from another dimension."

That's what it is.

Everyone except Alice thought so.

It's not magic!

Alice silently retorted: This is a game, not magic! As for why the game consoles and cartridges changed from simple entertainment products to powerful props that can change the rules after arriving in the other world, how could she know? It must be the work of the Game Command Company!

"But," Gloria raised her hands and looked at her empty palms, wondering, "Since we are going to use a card duel to decide the winner, then where are the cards that are the key props?"

Hum hum!
You've asked the right person. Alice snorted twice, and was just about to keep the secret to herself, letting the Third Princess guess. If she couldn't guess, she would make a brilliant appearance, answer questions, and receive a wave of admiring looks. But at this moment, the duelist on the opposite side suddenly chuckled and said, "Is that so?"

"In that case."

So, without a doubt, this is——

"So that's it."

Gloria nodded thoughtfully. With Tiantis's demonstration, she didn't need to pay attention to the mysterious person. She just followed suit, stretched out her left hand, and said slowly, "Duel."

Her Highness followed the example of Tiantis and took out the top card to take a look. The card depicted a familiar image: a detective girl sitting with her back to the light, wearing a monocle, a gray deerstalker hat, and a gray-black plaid cape, with an unlit pipe in her mouth, smiling at the guest in front of her in a room full of clutter. Her smile seemed full of confidence and mysterious, which made people deeply impressed at a glance and would never forget it.

In the erratic mist, cards flew out like black snowflakes, flying around Gloria, creating a strange scene. But soon these cards were also merged into the slots of the duel disk one by one. After all forty cards were in place, the deck used by Gloria was formed.

[This card is also considered a "Girl's Royal Power" monster in the rules. The effect of this card name can only be used once per turn. Discard this card from your hand, select a "Psychic Royal Power Gloria" from your deck, graveyard, or excluded area and add it to your hand. During the turn this effect is activated, you can only Special Summon Level 4 or 8 monsters. ]

Tiantis slowly bent his straight arm, and the duel disk was flush with his chest. In the deck slot, the cards were automatically shuffled, making a swish sound, and calm returned in an instant. Gloria also made the same move. The next moment, the two of them uttered the word that symbolized the beginning of the duel at the same time:

"Duel," the black-haired girl raised the crescent-shaped duel disk in her hand, her long black hair fluttering elegantly in the night breeze. She smiled and said, "Can we start, Miss Gloria?"

As soon as the words fell, the full moon hanging high in the night sky began to create circles of ripples, and the bright moonlight flowed down like a tangible stream, gathering on the slender but straight arm, gradually outlining the shape of a crescent moon. Near the wrist, the moonlight sank inward to form a square slot, and cards with black vortices on the back flew out from the still flowing vortex of moonlight and were automatically loaded into this slot, and soon a deck of exactly forty cards was gathered.

"Duel!"

She stretched out her left hand to the side, and the cold wind blew from nowhere, causing her black skirt to flutter, like a solemn, inky flower blooming under the silver moonlight. She uttered an ambiguous word softly: "Duel!"

[Attack 0/Defense 1200]

As soon as the words fell, wisps of gray mist instantly separated from the platform under the girl's feet, and like shapeless tentacles, they silently climbed up the girl's ankles, wrapped around her waist, and then wrapped around her left hand. In just a blink of an eye, a gorgeous and exquisite new leaf-shaped duel disk was outlined. However, the mist that made up the duel disk was not fixed, and was still wriggling and surging, as if it could change shape at any time.

"Duel!"

"Although I want to say that I'm not fully prepared, the stage is ready and the atmosphere is just right. It's a bit unromantic to say that, isn't it?" Gloria smiled and raised the new leaf-shaped duel disk in her hand. Her long gray hair and skirt of the same color fluttered in the night breeze, but she gave people a feeling of elegance and nobility, worthy of being the third princess of the Great Brittany Kingdom: "So my answer is: I'm always here, Miss Tiantis."

Tiandis casually pulled out the top card of the deck, took a look at it, and then a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his lips: "Alien Philosopher Deck? It seems that the theme of the deck is the embodiment of the duelist's inner thoughts. To be honest, I quite like this name."

"Ah, this!" Alice was stunned when she saw Tiantis summon the duel disk and card deck so easily: Are you the time traveler or am I the time traveler? Were you peeping at me while I was making the game?

"Girl's Royal Throne Deck?"

Gloria looked at the detective girl on the card with a thoughtful expression, but she quickly regained her composure and silently put the card back into the deck. She looked up at Tiantis across from her. Coincidentally, Tiantis was also looking at her. Perhaps she had been waiting for the moment when Gloria was ready, because that meant -

[Detective Gloria and her assistant Peanut/Light/1 star/Effect]

……

[Tiantis LP: 8000]

[Gloria LP: 8000]

"I am barely the host, and it would be rude to fight with the guests, so I will let you take the initiative, Miss Gloria."

After both sides drew their initial five cards, Tiantis was very polite and gave the first attack to the guest. Although in a sense, the Third Princess of the Victorian Royal Family was the host in the capital, Lunwitting, but for some reason, Gloria did not refute this statement, and nodded silently to acknowledge it, then pinched a card in her hand with her fingers. When she was about to activate her effect, Alice's voice came to her mind: "No, no, Gloria, don't take this first attack, give it back!" Her voice sounded very anxious. Gloria's fingers couldn't help but stop. She asked in confusion: "Why, Miss Alice? According to the rules, shouldn't the duelist who attacks first have more advantages?"

After all, you can summon monsters first, and the trap cards you set can also be activated during your opponent's turn.

"Oh, it's hard for me to explain to you. Rules are rules, and metaphysics is metaphysics. Do you understand?" Alice was talking nonsense, making it difficult for people to understand. "All you need to know is that in the history of duels, the villains who attacked first almost always lost when facing the protagonist. We are the protagonist now, and the opponent is the villain, so we have to let the opponent attack first. This way, our winning rate is guaranteed to be 50%. Do you understand?"

Is there such a thing?

It doesn't sound very reliable. For the sake of so-called metaphysics, giving the advantage at the beginning of the duel to the opponent, is it really worth it?
Gloria didn't really believe in Alice's metaphysics, but the genius player was very determined and refused to give in on this point. The Third Princess thought about it and felt that after all, she was the game producer and her understanding of the game must be better than hers. Since she insisted so much, there must be some reason for it, so she chose to obey.

She took back her hand that was pinching the card and shook her head regretfully at her opponent: "Thank you for your kindness, Miss Tiantis, but I think I'll give you the first move."

"That's right, that's it!" Alice excitedly pointed out Jiangshan in her mind: "Tell her that I respect your strength and want to fight you fairly, but don't let her know the real reason."

Lingge in the mind & other spirits behind: "..."

Ai-chan seemed to have forgotten that Tiantis could actually hear her voice.

"So there is such a thing." The leader of the Witch Society said with interest, "The curse that whoever attacks first will lose, sounds quite interesting."

Oops!

Ai-chan thought to herself that this was not good. Her opponent had discovered her intention. She would definitely not accept the first attack. What should she do? Should both sides play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would attack next?

"Although it's interesting, I don't believe it." Tiandis changed the subject and said, "Whether it's a curse or metaphysics, they are all illusory things. The outcome of a duel may depend a little on luck, but more on your strategy and planning. Only those who are not afraid of challenges and have the courage to face reality can see the smile of the goddess of victory."

"Let me prove it, Miss Alice."

She smiled softly, then pulled a card from her hand, pinched it between her index and middle fingers, showed it to Gloria, and said aloud, "Then, for my first attack, I will Normal Summon [Alien Philosopher - Dante of Thought] from my hand."

She gently pressed the monster card in her hand on the blank area of ​​the duel disk, and then, accompanied by a burst of strong white light, the originally calm river water suddenly rolled up a whirlpool on the wide surface of the Tywell River in the center of the duel platform. The whirlpool and the white light intertwined, and a young man in a white robe, holding a feather pen and a white paper, with a gentle and elegant temperament, slowly walked out of the light. He had short silver-gray curly hair, and his appearance was not outstanding but he had a calm temperament. His gray eyes revealed a deep wisdom, as if he could see through all the mysteries of the world.

"It's really you, Carle... No, I should call you Dante now." Tiantis stood at the top of the bridge, looking down at his former friend, companion and comrade-in-arms, with a bit of relief in his tone: "Although it's just an illusion, I have to say that I'm very happy to be able to fight alongside you again."

The young man standing on the river did not speak, but seemed to have his own consciousness. He turned around, bent slightly, and bowed to the leader on the bridge, indicating with a silent attitude: This is also my honor.

"Then, Dante, just like before, use your wisdom to help me win." Tiantis raised his hand: "Activate Dante's effect, I will add a [Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn] to my hand."

[Alien Philosopher - Dante of Wensi / Dark / 4 stars / Effect]

[Attack 1000/Defense 1000]

[The effects of ① and ② of this card name can only be used once per turn. ① When this card is successfully summoned, add a "Alien Philosopher" monster from your deck to your hand. After this effect is activated, you can only special "Alien Philosopher" monsters until the end of the next turn. 】

The young man named Dante smiled slightly, then opened the white book in his hand and quickly wrote something on the blank paper with a quill pen. When the last line of elegant font flowed out from his pen tip, he stretched out his hand to tear off the paper, gently let go of his hand, and the paper flew up lightly and fell into Tiantis's hand, turning into a card, which was exactly the [Alien Philosopher - Martin Luther of Divine Dawn] she had just searched.

After adding the retrieved cards to his hand, Tiandis inserted two more cards into the magic trap area below the duel disk and said casually: "Then, I cover the two cards and the turn ends."

Two huge cards covered with dust appeared on the river surface, flashed for a while and then disappeared.

"Command a monster, retrieve a card, and cover two cards. It's a very normal deployment." The spirit Alice behind him commented: "It seems that the opponent is just a third-rate duelist with a fourth-rate deck. He doesn't pose much of a threat."

When she said this, did she forget that the other party could actually hear her words? Or maybe she did not forget, but said this deliberately even though she knew what she said, in order to undermine her opponent's self-confidence?

“Hahaha.” But Tiantis didn’t look like he was hit at all. He laughed heartily and said, “Don’t underestimate Dante, Miss Alice. As my former comrade and companion, he is one of the philosophers who changed the world. He has a very powerful effect. If you underestimate him, you will probably suffer a great loss.”

"That's right, Alice, don't underestimate him!" In Gloria's mind, another spirit behind her, Ovira, also echoed: "That's Dante, one of the four great philosophers of the Renaissance, Dante who wrote The Divine Comedy, a world-renowned great writer. Gloria, don't listen to Alice, you must pay attention to him!"

Although she now knows that Dante is actually a historical figure from another world and "The Divine Comedy" is also a literary work from another world, but since the other party can inherit this code name, become the philosopher of the Witch Society, and leave a name and record in the history of the Mirror Star World, it is obvious that he is not an ordinary person. It is better to be cautious.

"That's also an enemy." Alice was a little dissatisfied when she heard this: "Who are you speaking for, Ovella?"

“Ouch!” Princess Beman was scolded by her and stammered, “I, I was just reminding you. If you don’t want to listen, Alice, forget it…”

Gloria would listen anyway, right?
she thinks.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)