Jen and Sam went down to breakfast the next morning and took an extra-long time eating while Jen used her psych skill to eavesdrop on the conversations around them. She heard the waitress complaining to the cook. “You did warn me about the ‘quarter years,’ Jack. It’s good to make all this extra money from all the guilds and gamblers entering the city, but it’s only halfway through the year, and I’m sick of it already!”

The cook replied, “Just be glad you’re not one of those Earth Transfers. There’s only been a few teleported near our City, but The System gambling quests for their death or capture are enormous. They are either being forced into shitty guild contracts, killed, or worse!”

The waitress went to wait on a table, and Jen changed her focus to a table where she heard some traders talking. The big trader bragged, “With all these guild members in town, I’ve been able to sell all my supply. These last few months I haven’t had to go to The System Shop even one time to sell any surplus.”

The bearded trader grunted, “You can’t hardly break-even at the System Shop after paying taxes, but I like to browse through the list of all the items for sale.”

The big trader laughed, “Me too, but that’s one of the quickest ways to go broke!”

The bearded trader said, “If I could just get the guilds and gamblers to bring me their loot to sell, instead of them all heading directly to the Shop interface selling their stuff and going right back out of the city to hunt monsters while hoping a person from Earth gets teleported in close to them.”

“I heard a rainbow was spotted landing in Gango’s gang’s territory a few days ago.”

“No one will challenge his territory, but the poor bastards with the bad luck of teleporting into there,” replied the other man shaking his head sadly.

The big man changed the subject back to trade, and warned, “I wouldn’t even think about trading with someone that turned out to be a gambler though, be careful.”

“You’re right, and I am very careful.”

The traders started talking about some of their lazy employees, and Jen listened in on a few other conversations but didn’t hear anything else of interest.

Jen messaged Sam with the information she overheard.

“Well, at least it seems like no one is specifically looking for or expecting us,” replied Sam.

“I hope not. All we can do is try to keep a low profile.”

Sam just nodded knowingly in reply.

After a few minutes of thought and silence, Jen said,” I think we should go towards the city gates, we can look for a guild team entering the city and simply follow them to this System Shop.”

Sam nodded, “Works for me, Boss.”

“Incoming!!” Jen yelled, as a crazed looking junkie ran into the restaurant and charged right towards Sam.

Sam jumped up from his seat, quickly side-stepped, and punched the man full force knocking him back through the air, almost all the way back out the door. The waitress didn’t see what happened, but she saw the gambling junkie on the ground. She walked over, kicked him, and screamed uselessly at his unconscious body, “You god-damn gambler. What were you going to get? A few copper and euphoria from the system, and now you’ve probably lost your last ability point, and you will be taken to the city prison when the guards get here.”

The waitress calmed down and turned to Sam, “Sir, I apologize. The hotel security usually catches these dirty gamblers before they even get close to our hotel.”

Sam replied, “It is of no concern; I understand these kinds of things can happen,” as he waved off the waitress and left the hotel with Jen.

As they were leaving, Jen heard the big trader say to his friend, “Damn! Did you see how fast that man moved?”

His friend replied, “Sure did, and his punch was so powerful he must have knocked him 10 feet!”

“Shit!” said Jen, and messaged Sam about what she heard. They circled back to a side entrance of the hotel, went back up to their rooms and changed clothes.

Sam read a system message he had received after knocking the guy out.

System Message

==

A gambler has failed his quest. The system has received 1 ability point in luck, and you have received 1 ability point in luck from the unlucky gambler.

Jen’s reply was simple: “We make our own luck!”

They went out the side door to leave unnoticed, and Jen said, “I don’t think with our change in clothes anyone will recognize us, but we are out the money we paid for the room tonight. We’ll have to find another inn to stay at.”

Sam nodded and said, “Their security was clearly shit anyways.”

The System Shop was amazing, but simple to use. Near the center of the city was a small ornate building with a sign over the entrance that said “Safe Zone.” The inside of the building was much larger than the outside, and it was full of guild fighters and gamblers in front of podiums with storage rings or what Jen guessed were storage necklaces touching their podiums.

Jen and Sam walked up to an empty podium, and they both touched the podium with their rings, and the system popped up a private message that only the two of them could read.

System Message:

Select one of the following:

Gamble Buy Sell

First, Jen selected “Sell.” A system screen opened with all the items in their inventory and a list of all their ability points and skill/spells, with an amount next to each item the system would pay for it.

Jen did a mental dance, when she saw that the system would pay them the 1,000 silver for the Ganjo Bounty ticket they had received. Jen sold some of the other junk they had looted, but she decided to see if she could get a better price for Ganjo’s armor somewhere else. In all, they received a total of 1,035 silver.

“We’re rich! We have like over $100,000 dollars,” she messaged Sam.

Jen then selected the “Buy” option.

A system screen opened with what appeared to be a never-ending list of items for sale. Jen selected the search function and entered the words “Information on the Seven Decks.” The next item list was still incredibly long. Jen gasped as she saw the cost of the second item on the list, which was a book titled Everything on Mana Channels, and she said to Sam, “Holy cow! That book costs 400 ability points!”

Sam laughed. “You can just move that to your wish list.”

Jen modified the search to limit the results to those items with information on the Seven Decks that cost less than 100 silver. The list was shorter, but Sam had an idea, “Jen, see if there is a sorting function based on reviews.”

Jen started to call him an old stupid Boomer as she looked for the sorting option, but then said, “Shit! There it is. I don’t believe it.”

Sam laughed again. “You Millennials think you know everything.”

Jen groaned inwardly, “He’s never going to stop bragging about this.”

At the top of the list was a book called, The Chronicles of the Seven Decks, by Joan of Arc for only 5 silver.

Jen messaged Sam, “That’s so unreal! Do you think it might have been written by THE Joan of Arc?”

“Possibly. But it costs like $500 dollars!”

Jen nodded, “Maybe we’re not so rich?”

“I don’t know. In medieval times back on Earth items like food and labor were very cheap, but rare items like books were very expensive.”

“Let’s hold off on buying it until we’ve shopped some more.”

“Agreed,” replied Sam.

Another book Jen placed in her “wish list” was called Welcome to the System, by The System, and it cost 1 silver but had very mixed reviews.

After a lot of searching, they ended up buying the Arc and System book. Most of the other books they were interested in cost much more.

Jen messaged Sam, “Let’s read these books first, and then come back when we hopefully know what the hell is going on.”

As they were heading towards another inn, referred to them by a cobbler, Jen flinched slightly at the sudden onslaught of emotion she was feeling from the people around her, as fireworks went off in the sky and a rainbow smashed down on a transfer pad near one of the guild halls.

Sam messaged Jen, “Someone from Earth?”

Jen shook her head and said, “No, wait for it………. There they are.”

A small army of guild members were running out and surrounding the transfer pad, but instead of attacking the traveler, they faced out getting ready to defend them. Gamblers then started coming out of the woodwork looking to get their gambling-quest rewards.

Jen and Sam stepped back in order to stay out of the chaos. Sam looked at Jen and said, “Did you just get a gambling quest?

Casino City System-wide Message:

The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

==

Gambling Quest: Deck Dropper Swarm

==

Select your Fortune:

Accept and kill the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 5x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 10! Odds of death 99.9% Accept and kill a defender protecting the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 3x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 3. Odds of death 85% Accept and knock down a defender protecting the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 2x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 2. Odds of death 60% Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding chicken shit!

==

Sam Selected “D,” and the quest was declined.

==

Jen nodded her head in amazement and replied, “Yeah, I received the same quest. This System is flipping insane!”

They watched as the guild guards defended the Deck Dropper. It was chaos; the guild guards didn’t know which gamblers were trying to kill the Deck Dropper, kill them, or just trying to knock them over and run off. The guild guards couldn’t attack anyone until they were attacked, or they would be arrested by the Casino City guards.

Jen looked confused as she said to Sam, “I can’t imagine why any of them would try to kill the Deck Dropper or guild guards. Even if successful, the warnings posted everywhere say the Casino City Lord will execute anyone committing murder within the city, unless it’s self-defense.”

Sam just shrugged, “Addicts will sometimes do anything for their next fix.”

A large crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle as gamblers threw themselves at the guards; for the most part just trying to knock down one of them. Many of the spectators were making their own side bets on which gamblers would be killed or how many of the guild guards might be knocked down.

Eventually, the guild guards clothed the Deck Dropper and helped her to her feet. A moment later, the time for completion of the gambling quest ended, and the remaining gamblers ran off. The guild members then quickly escorted the Deck Dropper back to their guild.

Jen heard one observer say to his friend, “Do you think that was June Smith, The Acid Hawk, dropping from the second deck again?”

His friend replied, “Who knows? I’ve heard that deck droppers constantly complain that our deck has dirty mana that makes them nauseous and tired all the time. By the time they jump back up to their deck, it is said that most swear they will never come back again.”

Jen nudged Sam. “That wasn’t a traveler from Earth, but a deck dropper from a higher deck.”

Sam looked at the possibly five dead gamblers and maybe another 15 wounded gamblers screaming or crawling on the ground and said, “That makes a lot more sense. I see some of the city guards heading this way. Let’s get out of here and find that inn.”