*Heart Suite – Infirmary*

I slowly started to open my eyes and noticed that I was lying in a hospital type room. I tried to sit up, but when I did extreme pain ran through my body. I released a loud yell and collapsed back on the bed. The door opened a split second later and I saw Daniel and Sylvie walk into the room. They both smiled at me when they walked in and I tried to lift my hand in a small wave, but yet again it was painful.

I groaned, “Why does it hurt so much to fucking move?” Daniel laughed, “You were thrown into the side of two ships a nearly fifty miles an hour mate. What else do you expect?” I let out a small laugh, but when I did it hurt like hell. I cringed in pain, “Mother fucker! Don’t make me laugh man.” Sylvie spoke up this time, “What were you thinking?” I looked at her and I could see the anger in her eyes along with some concern. It made the pain lessen a little, “I really wasn’t thinking to be honest.”

She rolled her eyes, “That was pretty obvious.” I smiled, “Then why did you ask if you already knew?” Her face turned a little red, “Forget I asked anything then, idiot!” She turned around and left the room after that. I raised an eyebrow and then looked at Daniel. He just shrugged his shoulders and then pulled up a chair. We talked about a few things for a while before he also left. I closed my eyes and rested for a bit.

The next time I opened my eyes I saw that Cammy was sitting in a chair next to the door reading a medium sized book. I could see on the cover that it was called Asuras and Dragons: Asura’s Wrath. I raised an eyebrow at the title and then noticed that my body wasn’t in much pain anymore. I started to sit up and noticed I was extremely sore, but it didn’t feel like I was going to die with every movement. Suddenly if felt like it was a little easier to move.

Congratulations! Due to your class and having seen the skill, you learned the [Geo-Mage] spell [Gravity Release].

[Gravity Release]: Lowers the gravity to the desired amount around the designated target.

I raised an eyebrow at the notification and then looked over towards Cammy. She was looking at me now with a smile on her face and the book was gone. I realized that she had casted the spell to ease the amount of effort it took to move my body. When I got completely sat up she canceled the spell.

She stood up and I found it hard not to laugh at the fact that when she stood up her head height didn’t change much. She must of seen my lips twitch or something, because she stopped walking towards me. She grinned, “Something funny kid?” I didn’t need to try hard not to laugh at the loli calling me a kid, because it wasn’t that hard. Cammy was staring me down basically wanting me to laugh. I could hear that old Clint Eastwood line ringing in the back of my head. I shook my head and just smiled at her.

She held her stomach and laughed, “I am just kidding! Oh my god, you should have seen the look on your face. Do you really think I would do something to you?” I let out a small laugh, is she just that mean or does she really not know how scary she can be? I mean I saw her smash a guy that I had small problems with to the ground without even moving a finger. He was saying the same thing that I was just partially thinking about too.

She stopped laughing and got serious all of a sudden, “You could have been killed you know?” I let out a small laugh again, “I know. I really didn’t mean to upset the guy, but my sarcastic side just comes out sometimes.” She sighed, “It’s a good thing that you have a seriously broken class.” I showed a small smile, but I didn’t say anything. We talked about a few other random subjects, like the books she was reading. She left a little while later and I went back to sleep.

It’s funny how I am sleeping in my character, while my real body is asleep, now that I think about it. The next time I woke up it was night time and I could easily move without any aches and pains. I sat up and that’s when I noticed that I literally had no clothes on. I did have a hospital type robe on, but that was it. I saw some clothes in a pile on the table across the room. I threw the robe off without thinking about it and walked over towards the clothes.

I reached to grab them and I heard some glass shatter behind me. I turned around and saw Sylvie standing in the door and a broken glass of water at her feet. She was extremely red faced and wide eyed. Her eyes traveled down my body and stopped for a split second on my lower half before she yelped and turned around. She quickly stammered, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to barge in!”

I laughed and then quickly dressed before speaking, “It’s okay. It’s my fault for not checking to see if the door was locked. You can turn around now.” She slowly turned around and upon seeing that I was dressed she breathed a breath of relief. I grinned, “Did you like what you saw?” Her face turned even redder and she yelled at me, “Pervert!” She quickly ran out of the room afterwards. I laughed and then shook my head, “I didn’t think she would act like such a pure maiden.” After getting dressed I checked my status.

Name: Scurra

Race: Human

Class: Ace of Spades Lvl. 3 71%

Strength: 25

Vitality: 25

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 9

Luck: 10

Endurance: 23

I was a little shocked to see that my level went up to three. I didn’t think the fight with Yogi would give me so much experience. The fight with the insect bodyguard only gave me like a half a bar worth of exp. Maybe it had something to do with the difference in level. The experience bar was really close to level four as well. The boost in Vitality and Endurance was amazing as well. They went up by six points from what it was originally. I guess the beating my body took helped out in that aspect. Why the hell did my Wisdom stat go down a point? Did it have something to do with the fact that it really wasn’t wise to be sarcastic to someone a lot stronger than me?

Congratulations! You have gained one Intelligence point.

I stared blankly at the notification for a minute before I spoke, “Are you fucking kidding me?” I went on a verbal tirade against the system in my head before I closed the notification and walked out of the room. I headed down the hallway of the ship and headed towards the briefing room. I wanted to see if anyone was in there and whether there were any new missions. When I walked into the briefing room I saw Sylvie standing there talking to Daniel and some guy, in a cloak, I hadn’t met yet. I was also greeted with a notification that surprised me.

Congratulations! Due to your class and the use of the skill in your precense you have learned the passive [Assassin] skill [Detect Presence] and the active [Assassin] skill [Hide Presence].

[Detect Presence]: Passive skill that allows you to detect the presence of beings in the area. (Skill distinguishes between hostile and non-hostile presences.) (Skill can evolve.)

[Hide Presence]: Skill that allows the user to hide their presence from those that don’t have [Detect Presence] (Skill can evolve.)

I stared at the skills for a minute before I closed the notifications. When I looked up I saw that the three in the room were staring at me. Sylvie put her hand on her face, “Who used a skill?” She looked at Daniel and he shook his head. They then both looked at the other man in the cloak. The guy then spoke, “I unconsciously used [Hide Presence] when he walked in the room. His presence was one that I haven’t met before so I was just being cautious.”

Sylvie and Daniel both sighed and then turned towards me, “Is there any way you can turn your auto learn cheat off?” I raised and eye brow and shrugged my shoulders, “I have no clue.” All of a sudden I heard a familiar voice in my head, “Try saying the words ‘Class Status’.” The voice was very familiar so I did as it suggested, “Class Status.” A window popped up after the words left my mouth.

Class Ace of Spades

Level: 3

Skills/Spells Obtained: 7

Auto Learn Settings

On

Off

Notification

I was ecstatic that there was an option to turn the auto learn off, but there was an even better option if it did what I hoped. I clicked on the ‘Notification’ option and there was another window popup.

Auto Learn has been set to ‘Notification’

Notification – A notification will appear asking the user if they want to learn the skill. (Note: This will not allow the user to learn the displayed skill for twenty four hours.)

This was exactly what I wanted, it prevented me from learning useless skills or skills that I don’t want, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t learn them later if I want to. I looked up at the three in the room, “Okay, I shouldn’t randomly be learning skills or spells now, unless I want to.” Daniel and Sylvie nodded and the guy in the cloak had a surprised look in his eyes. He quickly asked a question, “You can learn skills easily?” I nodded, “Yeah, I can learn any skill or spell that someone displays in front of me.”

I couldn’t see any of his face other than his eyes due to the mask he was wearing. The cloak was draped over his body and when he moved I could see the tight fitting leather suit underneath. I knew he was an assassin from the skills I learned, but his getup just screams assassin or thief. I spoke again, “By the way, you are?”

Sylvie answered, “He is our Jack of Diamonds. Whether he wants to tell you his name or not is up to him, but in his profession it really isn’t appropriate for a lot of people to know it.” I nodded my head and then let it drop, because he didn’t seem like he was going to tell me. Daniel looked at me and spoke this time, “Did you need something? If not we need to discuss Jack’s mission.”

I put my hand on the back of my head, “I just wanted to see if there were any missions available. If not then I’ll take my leave.” Sylvie checked the computer in the table and after a minute she spoke, “There aren’t any missions that the client would be willing to take a One Card right now.” I sighed and then nodded my head, “Okay then. I’ll leave you to your briefing then.”

I turned around to walk out the door when Jack spoke up again, “Wait.” I stopped and turned around, “Yeah?” Jack looked over at Daniel and Sylvie, “If you don’t mind I can take him on my mission.” Daniel and Sylvie looked at each other and then Sylvie spoke, “I don’t mind, but it is a dangerous mission.” She then looked straight at me, “The pay is amazing, but if you fail there is a high possibility of death.”

I raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a minute. If I die then I loose Karen, but if we succeed I can earn more money and make Cindy’s life better. It honestly wasn’t an easy decision to make. Sylvie saw my internal struggle so she spoke up, “Cammy lied to you by the way.” I looked up, “What do you mean?” She smiled, “You won’t lose your partner if you die.” I stiffened up a bit and then an evil thought crossed my mind.

There must have been a look on my face, because Daniel spoke up, “If you want to get back at her you’re going to have to wait. One, you’re not strong enough and two, she isn’t even here right now.” I shrugged my shoulders and put the evil thought to the back of my head and then agreed to help Jack on his mission.

I walked up to the table and started listening to the briefing. Daniel was speaking, “So let’s start over now that Scurra is here. Jack’s mission is to assassinate the king of a small country called Xyndro on the planet of Fernight.” The picture of an overweight looking man showed up on the screen. Sylvie spoke this time, “This is the king of Xyndro, King Alexandrix Xyndro IV. We have been hired by a wealthy family from a neighboring kingdom. They are the Valnix family of the Druxly Kingdom.”

A picture of a happy family showed up on the screen. There was a father, mother, and three older teenagers. There were two boys and a girl. Sylvie pointed to the girl, “This is Stephanie Valnix and according to the family she was kidnapped by men from the Xyndro kingdom. Normally this wouldn’t warrant an assassination of the king, but the family thinks that the king was the one who ordered the kidnapping. The family visited the king one day to set up some trade arrangements and he took a fancy to Stephanie…”

“…A few days later there was a break in at their home and she was kidnapped. The guards managed to injure one of the attackers and he dropped his weapon. The weapon had the royal seal of the kingdom of Xyndro on it. Now the weapon could have been stolen from the royal family among other things, but the client wants you to infiltrate the palace and gather information. You discover Stephanie you are to rescue her if she is alive and assassinate the king. If she is no longer living then recover her body and assassinate the king.”

She stopped talking for a second and then she spoke again, “I just received word from The Dealer that we are to assassinate him regardless. We will get paid from the client even if Stephanie really wasn’t taken by the king himself, but The Dealer said that he has kidnapped many women over the years. You all know how she feels about these types of people, so she has given a kill order on him. Even if you two don’t kill him the order will stay active.”

Daniel and Sylvie took their leave to arrange our transportation while Jack and I looked over some more files. I looked over a few files that pertained to the planet of Fernight. I found out that the planet was similar to earth and that its technology level was a little bit more advanced than the Middle Ages. Most of their technology was based on magic though.

There were some notes stating that we aren’t allowed to take any advanced technology onto the planet other than our ship. The ship itself must be camouflaged and not accessed until our mission is over. I was wondering why there were so many rules pertaining to the planet. Karen decided to say something at this time, “Hey love. You having fun?” I smiled and then answered her, “Besides the ass kicking from earlier yeah.”

She laughed inside my head and it warmed my heart a little. It was a comforting laugh and made you feel at home. She spoke up again, “It’s time for school are you going to be getting up?” I was shocked, was I really out of it for that long? I answered her, “Not today, I have something to do in the game.” She quickly responded, “Okay dear, I will have Cindy take me.”

I smiled again, “Can I ask you something real quick?” She answered almost immediately, “Sure, what’s up? I told her about the rules for the planet we were going to. She answered it easily, “Oh, the rules there are set up by the company. They don’t want civilizations advancing to fast, so they regulate the tech strictly. When you visit a planet as low tech as Fernight you can’t be running around with guns and light sabers.” I raised an eyebrow, “Light sabers?” She laughed in my head again, “God, your such a nerd.”

I grinned, “So.” She laughed again, “But you’re my nerd so I guess it’s okay.” I really wanted to give her a kiss right now, but she wasn’t here. I told her thanks for the information and she said a few more words before heading to school. I looked up at Jack and saw that he was leaning against the wall waiting on me. I smiled, “I guess you’re ready?” He nodded his head and headed towards the door.

I closed the files I was looking at and then followed him out of the room. We left the Suite and headed across the base towards another smaller ship. Daniel and Sylvie were standing by the ship ramp. Jack talked to Daniel for a minute while I talked to Sylvie. She reminded me that I had to leave Heaven and Hell on the ship and I could only take my twin swords with me. She told me to be careful and then we got on the ship and left the atmosphere.

*Sylvie’s POV*

I watched the ship leave the atmosphere and I sighed. Daniel spoke up beside me, “Do you like him or something?” I jumped when he spoke and then replied, “What? Why would you think that?” He shrugged his shoulders, “Usually you don’t talk so much to the Number Cards, but for some reason you talk to him a lot. You even treat him very well. It makes me think you like him or something.”

I really didn’t know what to say, I don’t honestly know if I like him or not. I know I don’t love him or anything, but I do care for him. I could even see myself dating him. Sadly we would only be able to date in game. I guess I had a strange expression on my face because Daniel laughed, “It’s okay if you like him no need to get all dejected or whatnot. Yogi is going to be pissed though.” I snorted, “I don’t care if Yogi gets pissed or not.”

Daniel laughed, “So you do like him.” I was shocked that he could come to a conclusion that I couldn’t even come to, “I never said that.” He smiled, “You didn’t deny it either.” He walked away laughing and I could feel my face burning. Maybe I do like him. I looked back at the part of the sky that the ship left from. Why do I like him though? It’s not like he has done anything memorable with me or anything. Hell I have only known him for a little bit in the game. I sighed and then walked towards the Suite trying to answer the questions in my head.

*Karen’s POV*

After I got done talking to Kira I gave him a kiss even though his body was sleeping. I left the bedroom and walked into the living room. I saw Cindy putting on her necklace in front of a mirror in the hallway. It was a pretty necklace, but you could tell that it wasn’t very expensive. It was heart shaped and had her name in it. The dot on the letter ‘i’ was a birthstone from the look of it.

I walked up to her and helped her put the necklace on. She jumped a little when I appeared behind her, but then she smiled and accepted my help. I smiled back, “This is a pretty necklace.” She smiled and then touched the heart. She spoke quickly after, “It was a present from Kira last year. He got it for me on my birthday. I remember that he took this massive jar of pennies with him to Wal-Mart and then he came back with a little box in tow. He had a wonderful smile on his face while he handed it to me.”

I could see the love in her eyes as she rubbed the heart on the necklace. I smiled, “I think he like you even back then.” She looked up at me, “You think so?” I nodded, “Yeah, I think he did. I think he may even like you more than me.” When I said that Cindy turned to me, “Don’t you ever say that! I can see the love in his eyes when he looks at you. It even makes me jealous sometimes.” I smiled at her, “Okay then he loves us both equally.”

She looked at me and then sighed, “How can you just be so casual about letting him be with another woman while he is with you?” I smiled, “You remember what he told you about the game right?” She nodded, “Yeah I remember.” I nodded, “Well eventually he is going to be strong enough that he will have more women following him than just us. It’s unrealistic for us to think that he wouldn’t develop some kind of feelings for a couple of them.” She seemed to be thinking of something after I said that.

A few minutes later she spoke, “I guess what you say makes sense. I just don’t want him to forget about us.” I could see the hurt in her eyes so I gave her a hug, “Don’t worry. I believe his heart is big enough to hold us all in there equally.” She hugged me back and nodded her head. We separated and I told her about Kira doing something in the game and that I needed her to take me to school.

We got into her car and the door made a horrendous grinding noise as she shut it. I looked at her, “You know that Kira would get you another car if you just ask him to.” She smiled and shook her head, “It’s his money I don’t want to ask him to spend it on me.” I shook my head at her, “You are one of his women, he should be spending his money on you regardless. Don’t tell me if it was you with the money you wouldn’t spoil him?” She got quiet for a minute before she started the car without a word.

We got to the school and she turned to look at me, “I know that I am one of his women, but I still don’t want to ask him to buy me something. If he wants to get something for me then I will accept it, but I don’t want to be selfish and make him spend his money.” I laughed, “It’s not being selfish at all. He loves you and would spend the money for you if you would ask. He may spend the money on you even without you asking too. The reward he gets in bed is enough for him anyways.”

Her face turned extremely red at this and she tried to hide in a shell that no one could see. We chatted for a few more minutes before I heard the bell ring I opened the door of the car and it made the horrendous sound again. I looked at Cindy who was still red and hiding. I smiled and then gave her a quick kiss on the lips before leaving the car. I saw that her face was redder than before when I shut the door.