Chapter 139: Dungeon Summoning Stone
[October, Year 8 – At a noble banquet, you officially meet Prince Varian Wrynn of Stormwind and Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron. This is your first time encountering major characters from the game. Varian is not yet 17 and looks very much like a young Liam Neeson. Arthas is only 13, but already taller than you—you honestly have no idea what he's been eating to grow like that.]
[Interestingly, both of these young men are not only avid readers of your work but also devoted card game enthusiasts. Arthas in particular is quite skilled, his playstyle downright diabolical. After the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters manga was introduced, he quickly assembled a complete Gearfried deck. Thanks to your intentional efforts to befriend them, a few games later, you three hit it off and became close friends.]
[At the banquet, you also meet Jaina Proudmoore. She's only 11 at this point, a typical blonde loli who reminds you a bit of Hermione—adorably precocious. Varian Wrynn tells you he will be leading his people back to the southern Eastern Kingdoms tomorrow to rebuild Stormwind on its ruins. You're fairly indifferent, but your old man companion Lothar seems quite moved. "Varian will be a good king," Lothar tells you.]
[Late October, Year 8 – Varian Wrynn sets sail to return to Stormwind. You generously provide him with substantial supplies and gold. After all, only you—the transmigrator—and the bronze dragons who manage time know how powerful Stormwind will become in the future. Even with the butterfly effects of your transmigration, investing in a nation in its time of need is bound to pay off.]
[November, Year 8 – News arrives from the front lines: the Horde is regrouping. Ner'zhul reopens the Dark Portal in a new attempt to invade Azeroth. Around the same time, a woman named Lady Katrana Prestor appears in Stormwind—none other than the black dragon princess Onyxia. To be honest, this is the first time since arriving in this world that you've truly felt like you're inside the game.]
[You could expose Katrana's true identity, but as always, you refrain from changing the course of history too drastically while you're still not strong enough.]
[April, Year 9 – This marks your second year in this world. Over the past three months, you completed your third novel: Romeo and Juliet. Love is a universal weakness. Upon its release, it swept up the tears of countless hopeless romantics—and filled your coffers to the brim. Notably, back in November, after using Yu-Gi-Oh! to break into markets in the New Stormwind and Lordaeron regions, you founded your own publishing company.]
[Besides your own works, you also met a new up-and-coming writer, Marcus Gill. He published a novel through your company titled A Tearjerking Romance. Although only a few chapters are out, the content is already eye-opening. The story's protagonist, a paladin named Marcus modeled after the author himself, experiences unspeakable romances with a gnome warlock, her succubus companion, a goblin riding instructor, twin high elf priestesses, the Blington 4000 robot, and even a human male stablehand. The scene with the Blington 4000—where Marcus uses the Light to remove her armor and oil spills everywhere—left quite the impression on you.]
[You like married women, succubi, and female warlocks—and you're damn good-looking. So why is he the walking cannon while you're still stuck being single?]
[February, Year 9 – To better promote Yu-Gi-Oh! and further your world-changing plans, you launch the first Duel City Tournament right after Azeroth's Lunar New Year. The event takes place in Lordaeron. Recently, you used puppet alchemy to craft and seal a few Gear cards, which will serve as the tournament prizes. Frankly, if not for fear of bronze dragon interference, you could've gone as far as crafting sentient life forms.]
[March, Year 9 – The number of contestants far exceeds expectations, with many gnomes from Gnomeregan and dwarves from Dun Morogh. Unlike the dwarves who are mostly just making up the numbers, the gnomes are endlessly curious and incredibly clever. The tournament is thrilling. Arthas performs brilliantly, his sinister Gear deck carrying him to the finals, where he faces off against Gelbin Mechatorque, the newly appointed High Tinker. You know this guy—he's the leader of the Gnomeregan gnomes and arguably the greatest scientist in this world.]
[In the end, Gelbin narrowly clinches victory and becomes the first Duel King. He earns your prize—a Gear deck that can be summoned in real life. After summoning green parts, yellow parts, and even a massive mechanical fortress, Gelbin's eyes light up.]
[Upon hearing your ideas, Gelbin tells you it's theoretically possible to create a real duel system just like in the manga. Gnomish engineering already includes image-storage tech, and he can develop holographic projection. Before returning to Gnomeregan, he promises to build the system for you—and he's no braggart. He soon produces both technologies. Sadly, you lack the scientific acumen to understand how they work.]
[April to August, Year 9 – After four months of effort, the first duel disk in this otherworld is finally completed. It's packed with black tech. The moment you slap a monster card onto it and a gorgeous mage girl cosplaying Dark Magician Girl jumps into the field via hologram, your eyes well up with tears.]
[July, Year 9 to June, Year 13 – The next-gen duel disk launches, and perhaps due to the lack of entertainment options in this world, it quickly becomes a smash hit among players. For a long while, nobles stop dueling with swords or magic—instead, they duel with cards. You even find orc prisoners in war camps who own paper Yu-Gi-Oh! decks. Monopoly yields profit. Though you split some revenue with Gnomeregan, your wealth balloons to unimaginable levels. (Wealth +15, Happiness +7)]
[You don't idle away these four years either. You publish six or seven more long-form classics, solidifying your status as a literary giant. With commercial and literary success in hand, you surpass Aaron Rodane and become the new Duke Rodane.]
[On top of that, you've made major strides in puppet alchemy. Through several collaborations with Gelbin Mechatorque, you successfully restore a massive mechanical puppet and seal it inside a card. As a tribute to your shared twisted sense of humor, you name it Obelisk the Tormentor.]
[This mechanical puppet is somewhat like the fel reaver mech units the Burning Region will deploy in the future. Based on your tests, it can easily crush a horde of standard puppets and even level a building in one blow. Its only downside is its astronomical production cost. As with the hologram tech, you still can't grasp the underlying principles.]
[July, Year 13 – You receive a distress call from Gelbin Mechatorque. His assistant, the mechanist Sicco Thermaplugg, has launched a coup using troggs to invade Gnomeregan. Sicco successfully takes over much of the city. You rush to support Gelbin. When you summon Slifer the Sky Dragon, the problem is instantly resolved. The treacherous dragon wipes out Sicco and his troggs with ease, though the cost is steep—nearly half of Gnomeregan collapses in the battle. (You've obtained the Dungeon Summoning Stone: Gnomeregan.)]
Upon reading this, Zhou Ning froze slightly—a dungeon summoning stone?
In Apocalypse Game, dungeon summoning stones were a real mechanic. Usually tied to major storylines or historical events, they allowed players to enter and clear instanced scenarios. The Jasonat Haunted Mansion he tackled when he first transmigrated was one such dungeon. And now, he had managed to obtain one inside the simulated world?
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