"Well that's just rude." I said offended.
"You literally just pulled an item radiating an unknown energy reading from a card. My question is perfectly valid." Adam insisted.
"To be fair you were warned this would happen." I pointed out.
"It doesn't compute. First it was that army of creatures that vanished without a trace. And now this. It's unscientific." Adam said seriously.
"The Orcs yeah, I still have six of those you know. Plus I did say it was unscientific and OR magical. In this case it's the magical option." I said casually.
"My database is quite firm on the nonexistence of magic." Adam said firmly.
"Your database was made by people who weren't omniscient. I can tell you for sure magic exists and not just the stuff you just saw either. To be fair though my particular brand of magic is special. I affectionately refer to it as Magic the gathering, on account of me gathering cards to use it and all." I said with a grin.
"What are the limits of this "magic" of yours?" Adam asked curiously.
"Well it's kinda complex but roughly the cards only do what they say on the card itself. I pay mana that I get from artifacts like this phial or land cards to summon the creature, artifact or spell effect on the cards." I said simplifying it by a LOT.
"I believe I understand. You use resources to generate more resources in order to summon the effect or objects on the cards. Like paying someone to grow food that you will then sell for more money to do other things with." Adam said calmly.
"That's not inaccurate I suppose. Theres a lot more nuance to it but yeah that roughly explains how it works." I said with a shrug.
"What of the creatures summoned from the cards? Are they truly living things?" Adam asked.
I shook my head "Nope! How to explain this? They are.... constructs. For as long as they are "alive" their bodies behave similarly to normal living bodies in that they bleed and all that but they don't need to breath, eat or technically sleep. They are puppets more or less with no minds of their own, primitive or otherwise. When they "die" they just vanish entirely." I explained as best as I could.
"I see. And that army that vanished?" Adam asked.
"That was a token card. It's a sort of temporary construct rather than a permanent one like this phial or the guy and his horse over there. Tokens expire at the exact point the day ends, same as mana. That's why the army vanished, the time ran out." I explained.
"How do you get more cards?" Adam asked.
"Technically through a magic that is the source of my usual magic. It's a sort of... system I suppose. Anyways I get a pack token that lets me open one of the sets I have currently unlocked. Right now I get one at the roll over of everyday but in a couple days that will be lowered to one per the roll over of the week. I can unlock more sets for more variety of cards by completing unique and somewhat random tasks. I currently have three sets unlocked by the way." I said unsure if I explained it well.
"I see. Are you going to open any packs today? I would like to observe the process." Adam said calmly.
"I was in fact. Because it's been giving me the best options for mana I was thinking of opening another Doctor who pack but I'll let you choose. There's that one, New Phyrexia and the Lord of the rings as options." I said honestly.
"What are the differences between these sets?" Adam asked intrigued.
"Well the first set I got was New Phyrexia. From what I can tell it's all about artifacts and spells. Then it was the Lord of the rings. That set's all about creatures and special lands. Finally was Doctor who which has been so far been mostly creatures and many more lands than any of the other two. It was why I was thinking about going for it again. The creatures I could live without but more mana is ALWAYS going to be tempting. Oh right if you were a card you'd be classified as an artifact creature by the way." I said with a shrug.
"With the information you have provided I conclude that Doctor who would be the best option. Once your pack opening rate is dropped to once a week mana will become a valuable resource to have." Adam said seriously.
"The Doctor who it is then!" I said eagerly as I pulled up the system and wasted no time at all opening my daily pack.
Danny Pink-creature, Bigger on the inside-enchantment, Rogue's passage-land, Sunbaked canyon-land, Feed the swarm-sorcery, The Valeyard-creature, Flatline-instant, Vineglimmer Snarl-land, The seventh Doctor-creature, Davros, Dalek creator-creature, Temple of abandon-land, Swamp-land, Duggan, Private detective-creature, Yasmin Khan-creature, The first Doctor-creature
Rather than explain the result I just took the cards out and laid them in front of me.
"Not a bad haul. The creatures are whatever but the lands and this one are the real treasures." I said tapping the enchantment card.
"If you summon that creature, Davros, can you put that enchantment effect on it since it's an artifact creature?" Adam asked fascinated.
"Good eye! Yep, creatures with two or more labels like that count as both of the things listed there. In this case an artifact and a creature." I said nodding.
"How much mana do you currently have available?" Adam asked curiously.
"Well I used three to summon the phial but that gives me one when I use it anyways. At this exact moment I have eleven mana available to me of all colors. It sounds like a lot but after two or three big cards it's pretty much gone and only about half that amount is available again later since lands vanish after use." I said seriously.
"I believe it best to defer to you on the best use case for mana. This entire system of operation is confusing and illogical. However I suggest some form of mobile cargo transport if possible." Adam said calmly.
"Yeah, if I keep racking up artifacts like this I'll need a place to put them while I'm on the move. The same might be true for creatures as well." I said in agreement.
{New quest generated!}
{Quest: Inventory insanity!
Description: You have discovered the terrible truth! You can only carry so much at once! Luckily for you a solution is available, if you dare complete this task!
Objectives: Reach the game map area of Fallout: New Vegas
Rewards: System inventory function addition update}
"Welp that settles that matter. Adam, we're headed for Vegas!" I said with a grin.