In the short time that she had taken to re-navigate to the gambling table, she had already passed two separate spontaneous fights: one between market patrons, and the other between a stall’s private security and an accused ‘thief’. Again, hardly anyone looked at the direction of the commotion unless they were walking past and checking to make sure they weren’t accidentally drawn into the fray.

“Ah, the lucky one returns! I knew you would... the lucky ones always do.” the gambling man said with no small amount of excitement as he caught sight of her approach. “Sit, please, and tell me what game you fancy! I have all sorts, and all with fair betting odds.”

Samantha sat at the seat across from the man, and observed the items on the table top with interest. “That depends,” she began, “tell me what you offer and the bets that can be given and won”.

He nodded enthusiastically as he answered her, “Pick the game and I’ll tell you the odds. I have primarily card and dice games, but I also have some experience reading fortunes with these here tokens if you’re interested?” He gestured to some square tiles with inscrutable scribbles on the surface, but Samantha wasn’t interested in paying for a fake divination ritual.

She shook her head at his offer, and briefly debated between the other options. Dice games were often purely luck based, so those weren’t very appealing for her purposes. Some card games could involve a bit of skill though, such as bluffing, reading body language, deductive reasoning, or memorization. Granted, these could easily be cheated at with sleight of hand, but Samantha was willing to bet that her perception arts would give her an advantage.

“What card games do you know?” Samantha inquired, making the decision easily.

“A fine choice!” he boisterously exclaimed, swiping the tabletop clear of clutter with a flourish and scooping up the deck of cards in the same motion. The clinking and clacking of dice and tiles on the stone below seemed to bother him not at all as he shuffled the stack with expert precision, with numerous flips and tosses that even Samantha with her high Agility found quite impressive.

“I know Lion’s Gambit, River Lily, Crossed Blades… but if you’re in for something quick, I always recommend Chimera’s Fate.”

“How do you play Chimera’s Fate?” Samantha asked, interested.

“Simple. First, I’ll place three cards face up on this table, two spirit beast and one cultivator suit. I’ll then flip them over, mix them up in front of you, and all you need to do is pick the cultivator card! Since the game lacks complexity, it’s a 1:1 bet. So, you bet 10 coppers and win? You get your bet back plus 10 coppers from me, and so on. What do you say?”

Samantha had never seen or heard of Chimera’s Fate before, but a not-small part of her doubted it could be legitimate. If it was really so simple, there was no way that this man could turn a profit.

Seeing her hesitation to play, the man gave her a small smile and offered, “How about this… One practice round with no bets? You can see exactly how the game is run for yourself, then make your decision.”

Not seeing how a free round could cause any harm, Samantha agreed.

As he had described, he started with three cards face up and towards her. The thick cardstock laid flat against the wood surface of the table, and the three faces were beautifully hand-painted. The fine quality of the art seemed out of place in the bustling underbelly of the city, and Samantha took a good look at the images before they were flipped over by the man. The center card depicted a woman cultivator with glowing white eyes, surrounded by misty blue light. The cards to either side of her were a ravenous looking Firestorm Bear and the fearsome countenance of the familiar Iron Boar, both painted with such detail that they looked as if they could jump out into real life onto the table.

She wanted more time to appreciate the cards, but they were soon flipped over and the man asked if she were ready to play. Giving him a nod and looking intently at the cultivator card, Samantha observed as he rapidly switched the cards around on the table for a few seconds. The movements were quick, but it was not overly difficult to point to where the cultivator card had ended up once he motioned for her to choose.

Picking up one of the cards she didn’t choose, the gambler used the edge of that card to flip over the one she selected without physically touching it, presumably to show her that he wasn’t swapping it with something hidden in his palm or sleeves. Sure enough, the card face was that of the cultivator. He then took a moment to flip over the card in his hand and the one he left on the table, showing that the three cards he had originally placed down were still there and untampered with.

“Wonderful! You’re truly a natural. Are you certain you needed this practice round at all?” he said with a teasing, exaggerated wink. “Do you wish to play with bets now, or shall we play a different game?”

Samantha was still uncertain of this game’s legitimacy, but put 10 coppers down on the table and gestured for him to reset the cards. His mask covered the entirety of his face except for holes to see through, but the crinkle in his eyes at the sight of the coin let her know that he was grinning.

The man placed his own set of 10 coppers on the table to match her bet and proceeded to start the game again, though this time with a more complex mixing technique that was more challenging to follow. However, it was still not overly difficult for her to choose the cultivator card from the set with her advanced perception aiding her visual tracking.

“Ah! You’ve won again!” he said with some disappointment, pushing his stack of 10 coppers over to her side while he hung his head. “I was certain that my advanced scrambling technique would get you that time. Would you be interested in playing again? Double or nothing! You can keep that same bet plus the 10 I’ve given you, and I’ll bet another 20 copper to match it.” As he finished speaking, he placed 2 stacks of 10 coppers on his side of the table and set up the cards for another round.

Samantha was almost certain now that this man would try and cheat her, but she was curious if she could somehow turn that to her advantage. She agreed to the bet, this time activating Inspect as he shuffled the three cards once more.

Fortunately, now that she knew how to properly use the combat art, she was confident that the small expenditure of qi over time would not stand out overly much to anyone nearby. There were enough cultivators around where her art would blend into the surroundings, versus when she considered using Inspect to identify items and she’d be releasing a large amount of energy at once with poor efficiency.

Oddly, there was no deception in his scramble that she could discern, but she kept the art active as she selected the card that she knew was the cultivator card. That was when she saw it.

As he began to flip her choice with one of the unpicked cards, Inspect noticed how the ‘flipping’ card he held between his index finger and thumb completely slid beneath the one she selected. As the ‘flipping’ card became nearly obscured by her chosen one, he switched his grip so that he was now holding her chosen card instead. Then, he turned over the card he had swapped in as if it were the one she selected, revealing the face of a Firestorm Bear. He had completely switched her chosen card and the ‘flipping’ card with a sleight of hand so quick, smooth, and unobtrusive that if she had not been using Inspect to watch out for the deception, she probably would have missed it entirely.

She didn’t give away that she knew he cheated, yet. She watched as he slid the 40 copper pieces onto his side as he gave a small sigh, “Oh! Shame, that. Unlucky guess. But, you got two out of three correct so far, so I’d bet it was a fluke. If you like, we can bet again and you can try to get your original 10 copper back?” His offer sounded so genuine, that Samantha might’ve mistaken it for actual concern had she not literally witnessed him swindle her, but she had a plan and accepted his invitation.

Samantha placed her silver piece on the table, “How about we up the ante?”

Gleefully, the gambler complied and placed his own silver piece down. “Certainly! Certainly. A woman after my own heart.” He set up the game once more, and mixed the cards even faster this time, but the speed was no match for the still-active Inspect skill, the single qi point investment not yet fully expended.

This time, instead of pointing to the cultivator card from across the table as she had been doing, she firmly placed her finger down upon the cards back, pinning it to the table so that it couldn’t be lifted. A simple, yet quite unbreakable strategy. “How about you flip the other two cards on the table, and we’ll flip my chosen card last?” she said with no small amount of predatory satisfaction, and she saw the eyes behind his mask widen in surprise.

“That-That’s not how this game is played! Besides, don’t you know it’s rude to touch another man’s cards without permission? They are high quality and very expensive, so remove your filthy hands at once!” he stammered, doing his best to sound indignant.

“The faster you flip, the faster I get my hand off the card. Or, is there some specific reason why you’re stalling revealing the results?” she asked coyly.

“I won’t stand for being bullied at my own table. Take your silver piece and leave at once!” he said, gaining an edge to his voice and signaling to a large man that emerged from the crowd behind her.

For a large man, he moved oddly silently. He had the kind of presence that shifted people out of his way when he got near them without him needing to say or do anything specific. She could see him part the crowd with Prey’s Perception even as she stared down the trickster, and as he neared her back his bulging muscles tensed to grab her and haul her away.

Remembering how many fights she’d already seen in the short time she’d explored and how little people cared, and Aiden’s advice to act tough so she would be respected, she knew what had to be done.

Without even breaking eye contact with the gambler or removing her finger from the back of her card, Samantha stood up and extended her left leg towards the signaled man’s sternum. She held back her strength so that she wouldn’t break bone--seeing as he was still a mortal--but he still went down with the sound of thumping flesh and a pitiful wheeze, the wind completely knocked out of him.

As the man lay gasping on the ground, eyes bugged out and mouth gaping open like a fish out of water, she leaned in closer to the now visibly nervous gambler. “Flip. The. Cards.” she ordered, in as low and menacing a tone as she could manage.

Slowly, dutifully, the gambler flipped the two cards she wasn’t touching. Sure enough, two spirit beast cards were displayed on the table and her card was confirmed to be the cultivator. “That’s what I thought.” she said smugly, as she swiped the two silver pieces from the tabletop and added them to her purse.

As she got up to walk away, the man balled up his fists and slammed them down on the tabletop. She thought that would be the end of it, until he pointed directly at her and cried out “thief!”

A pack of market guards honed in on their location, and Samantha felt her irritation bubble to the surface. She should’ve known this man was a poor loser. Turning back towards her accuser, she held her tongue and waited for the guards to reach them. Running would only make her look guilty and lend credence to his claims.

“Arrest her! Kick her out! She’s robbed me of two silver, she has!” the man wailed shamelessly as the guards arrived, not allowing her to get a word in edgewise.

“Is this true?” the nearest guard asked her, his voice monotone and dry.

Just as she was about to respond, the gambler cut in again, “Of course it’s true! This worthless vagabond cheated me during our bet. She blatantly stole from me, then dishonorably attacked my right hand man as soon as I confronted her!”

Samantha could not believe the bald-faced lies that were spewing out of this man’s mouth, and he didn’t stop talking either.

“I knew I should’ve been more careful, with this filthy beggar flouncing about. I gave her a chance because I felt bad for the wretch but…” and he kept going, and going. Insulting her, insulting her lineage, lying through his teeth, and Samantha felt her mild irritation become outrage, then anger. Whenever she tried to defend herself, he simply yelled louder, accused her of greater and greater crimes and sums of money lost, and all in all did his best to cause a scene, though hardly anyone bothered to pay them any mind.

Eventually, her emotional state reached a boiling point. The audacity of this man and his greedy ploys and lies about her character were unforgivable.

Perhaps her heightened emotional state caused her to lose her grip on her stealthing technique, or perhaps the anonymity of the masks within the volatile marketplace gave her a touch of fearlessness, but either way, her aura began to leak out.

The guards nearest to her noticed and immediately stepped back to a respectful distance, clasping their hands and lowering their heads slightly towards her. The liar hadn’t realized yet, though. He was too busy inflating his tale to even more ridiculous heights.

She stalked forward towards him, guards she passed getting out of her way as soon as they felt her cultivator’s spirit, and it wasn’t until she was within arms length of the man that he turned to address her once more. This time, his voice caught in his throat as he felt the weight of a Mid Copper’s aura wash over him.

“Oh.” was all that he managed to squeak out before taking a shaky step away from her, all ‘righteous’ bravado drained from his body in an instant.

“You--You’re. I didn’t--” he stuttered incoherently, before dropping into a kowtow at her feet, shivering.

In the city, insulting a cultivator could have grave consequences. Cultivators could leverage their usually greater resources to hamper businesses, demand pricey reparations, or in some cases physically beat mortals into submission (with a few limitations). As such, showing appropriate respect to cultivators was ingrained in every mortal’s mind from youth, because you never knew if the one you’d offend would be the forgiving or vicious sort.

Openly hurling insults at them, shaming their familial heritage, and falsely accusing them of theft after trying to cheat them were definitely cause for offense, even for the most forgiving of cultivators. Samantha wondered what the standard punishment for this sort of thing was in a place where violence was so casually embraced already.

“Please, f-forgive me! I didn’t know, I swear” the liar pleaded pitifully at her feet.

“It looks like you’ve tried to con the wrong mark this time, Suthan. There’s not really any worming your way out of this one.” A smaller guard said seriously.

“Master Cultivator, would you consent to telling your side of the story? If it pleases you, of course.” another asked her, bowing at the waist.

The distinct switch from arrest-imminent to impeccably respectful gave her a bit of whiplash, but she didn’t let the change stop her from explaining her side of things. The further in her own version of events that she got, the worse the gambler’s shaking got, and she could hear stifled weeping coming up from beneath his bowed body.

“Mercy, mistress cultivator! Mercy, please! I beg of you, spare me the blade! I will give you everything I have on me...all my coin--I swear it on my life.” he implored, his supplications broken up by the sounds of sobs.

A guard spoke up as the man continued his mutterings, “Suthan, do you dare deny these claims?” But the gambler did not challenge her words.

After a few heartbeats without any further word from Suthan, the guard looked to Samantha, “You go unchallenged. Thus, admittance of his guilt is witnessed by all present. The wrongs that Suthan has committed against you, Master Cultivator, are severe. Willfully insulting an individual of higher standing, attempted theft in the market, attempting to sully your reputation, and wasting the guard’s time on top of all that… what punishment would you like executed?”

At the word ‘executed’, Suthan wailed loudly and started beating his head against the stone floor rhythmically.

Samantha had gone into this scenario with valid feelings of frustration and anger, but now all she felt was disgust. She knew, intellectually, that this kind of treatment was not out of the ordinary for cultivators. She had seen it before she became one herself. But personally experiencing it made her feel… gross. It made her feel gross because she didn’t entirely dislike the power that she suddenly held over this man, and she didn’t know what kind of person that made her.

“Give me the coin and get out of my sight.” she said flatly, “And if I see you around here again and catch you cheating others…”

A cloth bag half filled with jangling coins was thrust into her palm before she could finish what she was saying, and Suthan--his mask’s forehead now cracked and bloodied from smashing it against the floor--bowed down several more times to her. “Blessings upon you, merciful one! You shall not see me again! Farewell.”

And with those words he was up and running into the crowd, leaving his table and his gambling items behind without a second thought. His supposed ‘right hand man’ had fled as soon as she revealed she was a cultivator, and the guards, satisfied at the conclusion of the situation, dispersed back to their posts and the market continued on without pause.

It was anticlimactic, in a way. As expected, no one really turned to watch the scene as it progressed, even after Samantha had revealed herself as a cultivator. It was over and done with as soon as it began, and Samantha was left feeling unsettled by the whole experience and learning something about herself that she didn’t quite know how to process yet. She was unable to find the place of tranquility required to stealth effectively, and so resolved to just go around as a cultivator for a little while longer.

She opened her new pouch of money, and saw it was mostly filled with coppers. There was the shiny gleam of a couple silver pieces scattered throughout the pile, so her money problem was mostly solved for the cultivation materials tonight. She might even be able to buy a few extra things that she couldn’t have afforded before. However, she wasn’t in the mood to return to shopping right away, and decided to view some entertainment before getting back to browsing and purchasing.

Samantha found herself drawn to the sounds of battles, cheers, and claps from the center of the market. Watching formal duels between cultivators was a popular pastime in the city, and she felt like being able to mindlessly cheer on some masked strangers was exactly the kind of mental reset she could use at the moment.

There was a gap in the rows of the seating circle that surrounded the arena, and in the middle of that gap was a man at some sort of ticketing booth. His aura pegged him to be a Low-Copper cultivator, and as she walked up they exchanged slight bows--his a touch lower than hers since she outranked him.

“Wonderful! Marvelous! You have come at the perfect time!” he said, and Samantha did a double take around her to make sure that he truly was speaking with her.

“One of our scheduled fighters has dropped out of the tournament tonight, you see. He was a Mid-Copper, same as you, and his absence has put us in quite a bind for the brackets. You must be sent from the heavens above with this timing, truly!”

When Samantha didn’t answer right away, he dramatically slapped a palm lightly to his forehead, “Goodness, where are my manners! You may call me Aegis. I am the co-proprietor for this arena tonight, and if you would be interested in earning some quick silver and getting in to see a bunch of other fights for free, I’d love to offer you a spot in our tournament.”

“I’m not much in the mood for fighting right now, I just came to watch a few matches.” Samantha replied.

“Are you certain? You’ll get a silver just for the trouble of participating and putting on a good show, and a percentage of the bets against you if you manage to win any fights. This tournament is non-lethal, and you can yield at any time during the fight--though admittedly you’ll get booed out of the stadium for it.”

When Samantha still didn’t accept, the man tried to sweeten the pot further, “Plus, the best medical treatment the black market can offer for any injuries sustained, free of charge. It’s a gold piece if you make it to the finals and 5 if you win.”

Samantha’s eyes widened slightly at those numbers, and the man’s eyes crinkled in delight at her change in demeanor. She could do a lot better than some sketchy, cheap cultivation materials with 5 gold. She could probably even buy a technique book or two with that kind of money.

“...What’s the range of competitors for this tournament? Does it go up to Bronze?” Samantha asked tentatively.

“Ha! Having two Bronze’s fight in an enclosed space like this? We aren’t looking to kill members of our audience, you know. Copper Rank only, though we do have a Peak Copper participating tonight. As I said though, if it looks dicey you can tap out. So, will you join, or no?” he asked, flipping a shiny silver coin in the air as he spoke.

“Do you have a change of clothes and a different mask I can use? This one isn’t suited for battle.” Samantha said, pointing to her light headgear.

He flipped the silver in her direction and she caught it midair. “Of course! We have a uniform for all our fighters so you don’t ruin your personal clothes. Right this way, miss…?”

After having the nickname ‘Cheese’ thrust upon her and accidentally introducing herself as such when she was unprepared, she had done some thinking to prevent it from happening again. She had thought of several alternative aliases she could use and had at the ready, so she chose one she liked at random from her brain.

“You can call me Lunara.”