Chapter 39: Swarming
On the first day of the Month of Flowing Fire (April), the Warren Pharmacy Store has not yet opened, but a large number of customers have gathered at the door.
These customers included ordinary workers who took time out of their busy day, nobles who enjoyed life with nothing to do, ladies in long dresses and fans, and children who have not yet enrolled in school.
They came from all corners of Prester and came together for the same goal.
That was to buy the latest batch of Cola.
The publicity of Daily Prester was quite effective in this city. For three consecutive days, different forms of reports had made the news that Cola was going to release new cards a household name. Although some people scoff at this kind of thing, most people were still willing to join in the fun.
"What's the use of these cards?"
A teenager asked. His father was a businessman who liked to collect all kinds of cups, so he had no worries about money. When he heard that Luna Nova Cola was about to be launched a batch of mage cards, he came over with curiosity, but he didn't expect such a long line.
"I don't know, but I heard someone came over early this morning, worried that the Cola would be sold out."
A woman next to him said, and at the same time, she couldn't help but glance at the young man, thinking that the young man looked just right to her liking.
"According to the information released in the newspaper, there are various legendary mages on this card. After collecting all the cards, you can exchange them for mysterious cards. Most people may not be able to tell, but as a collector, I know that this kind of thing will inevitably become a very valuable collection, like those antiques and famous paintings."
A man with a big belly pushed his glasses up and said coldly, making the woman and the teenager look over.
"Collectibles, really? But they are just cards. What collection value can they have?"
Just as they were talking, the door of the store was opened, and Warren walked out with two clerks. Looking at the many waiting customers, he smiled and then spoke.
"Everyone, I can understand your feelings, but in order to ensure that everyone can enjoy Cola, the rule of this shop is that everyone can buy at most three bottles of Cola and similar drinks. Thank you for your understanding."
This time, Warren had enough goods, but for better publicity, and for the hunger marketing plan that Reiner mentioned before, Warren made such a limit.
The crowd did not protest. In fact, many people didn't know much about the cards, they just followed the trend.
The queue moved forward slowly, and the person at the front of the line quickly bought Cola and exchanged for three cards through the label.
Moria was one of them. Since he came into contact with Cola, he has been fond of this exciting new drink. He needed to drink at least three bottles a day. He also liked the new products of Luna Nova Cola very much. It could be said that he was the most ardent fan.
After seeing the news about Cola releasing cards, he was very excited. He came to the Warren Pharmacy Store early this morning to wait, but he didn't expect that someone would be there first.
Of course, as one of the first few people to arrive, Moria got his wish and got three bottles of Cola. He tore off the label impatiently to make the hidden number appear, and then got three packs of cards from the clerk who was responsible for issuing the cards.
He immediately opened it without thinking about it. Fortunately, these three cards were not repeated.
Moria gently stroked the three cards in his hand. The hard paper used for these cards had the texture of an ancient book. The back was a magic circle for anti-counterfeiting. Moria didn't know magic, but he saw a mage apprentice casting some magic power into it, causing the magic circle to appear in mid-air and the card to spin. Even though it was a simple magic to verify the authenticity of the card, it still made Moria very envious.
Turning the card over, Moria examined the content of the card he got.
A man stood on a cliff, looking into the distance, surrounded by four animals: Brown Bear, Eagle, Lynx, and Dragon Hawk. The name of the mage was written in the gilded font at the bottom of the card: Fandral Aman, Lord of Nature.
"Fandral Aman became famous in Year 353 of the Blue Moon Calendar. He was the master of the transformation system and could transform into four kinds of beasts. At the same time, he was also a pioneer in Bloodline Research. Throughout his life, he devoted himself to the perfect integration of the bloodline of magic creatures into the body of a mage. The knowledge was later carried forward by the bloodline mages and became the origin of Beast Mage. "
Below this paragraph describing the life of the mage, there was a line of small yellow characters.
"Only when you are transformed into a beast can you experience the wisdom of mankind - Fandral Aman."
In addition, in the upper right corner of the card, there was a serial number 23 in a swash font. Obviously, this was the twenty-third card.
Moria looked at the mage on the card again. He had never seen such a way of depicting characters before. Although it was obviously exaggerated and omitted a great deal of detail, it showed all the characteristics of the mage, which was quite impressive.
He didn't know whether the real Fandral Aman was like this in history, but Moria believed that if he had a chance to see the other side's portrait, he would recognize it by the impression of this card.
"This is simply a work of art."
Moria exclaimed and hurriedly looked at the other two cards.
An old man in a gray robe was painted on a card. He held a pure white magic wand in his hand. At the top of the wand was a brilliant crystal. The old man was on a tower and seemed to be thinking about something. By his side, countless rays of light gathered and turned into a rainbow of colors.
This was Lincoln Woolthorpe, The Light Chaser. Even Moria, who didn't know magic, also knew that this mage was the first one who discovered that sunlight was actually a mixture of multiple colors. And using special equipment, light could be divided into seven colors, which were the colors of the rainbow.
The introduction also stated that Lincoln Woolthorpe was a master of illusion. Among the commonly used illusion spells, seventy-two of them were named after him.
The other card was a young man with a handsome face. He was dressed in a loose robe and was sitting at the table writing. Beside him, countless triangles were intertwined with circles and rectangles. And formulas were looming in the background.
Moria didn't know this mage, but through the introduction of the text, he knew that this was Thales Anakshi, a mage who was active one thousand eight hundred years ago. He was the first to discover that on a plane the sum of the squares of the two sides of a right triangle was equal to the square of the hypotenuse, a conclusion that came to be known as Anakshi's theorem, one of the first mathematical theorems in the history of magic.
His name was also quite resounding: Arbiter of Theorem.
Just when Moria was immersed in the stories of these mages, a girl next to him suddenly screamed.
"Wow, this card is so shiny!"
Moria looked at the place where the voice came from and saw that although the card in the girl's hand was also a mage, the entire card was shining and looked more valuable.
"Oh, look at this lucky lady."
Warren said with a smile on his face.
"She got a rare shining card."