“The System book is hiding something, I can feel it in my bones,” Sam explained to Jen.

Jen smiled knowingly and replied, “My thoughts exactly, but it’s good to find out we can pay the System shop and teleport between cities on the same deck without losing our gear and mana. That will make travel much easier.”

Jen knew he was not going to be happy with what she was going to say next. “I want you to read the entire book again,” she said.

Sam gave her an incredulous look, “Have you been smoking some good ol’ Mary Jane? Why would I read it again?”

Jen laughed and said, “What happened to your classic ‘Yes, Boss’ response? And you know only Boomers call weed, ‘Mary Jane’ right?”

Sam gave her the “You’re such a Millennial” look, that made her laugh. Kelly briefly crossed Jen’s mind as she was thinking that it was Kelly’s turn to complain to them both that they didn’t understand what age groups boomers and millennials were in.

Sam cracked first, bringing Jen’s thoughts back to the present, when he said, “Can we get back on point? Why would I read the System book again?”

Jen smiled before explaining. “You remember how you changed up your speech from English to Mandarin, when speaking with Ronald to see how he would respond?

“Yes”

“Well, when you initially changed to Mandarin, I didn’t notice the change. If you hadn’t texted me that you were going to speak Mandarin, I would have had no idea you were speaking a different language. I then had to mentally “switch-off” the automatic interpretation and force myself to actually hear the real words you were speaking. That’s what I want you to do, I want you to “switch off” the interpretation and use your “Words of Understanding” skill to read the System book in its original language.”

Sam became visibly excited about diving into the original language of the Seven Decks.

Jen laughed and said, “I knew that would turn that frown upside down!”

Sam would normally quip back at Jen, but he was already opening the book with the excitement of a true language nerd.

It was getting late into the night, but Sam was working to translate the guidebook like a possessed man, so Jen used her Psych ability to try to feel the emotions of the different people staying at the Inn. She jumped for excitement when she intercepted a signal and could actually “hear” a scratchy noise. “It’s like a radio station you can’t quite get dialed in just right,” she thought to herself.

That’s when Jen perked up again. She started analyzing the tendrils of waves or the signals that her psych ability was picking up. She spent hours trying to categorize the signals, and she could recognize which ones were making “noise,” which ones were carrying voices, and which ones carried emotions, but she just couldn’t understand why there was a difference.

She finally broke herself out of her focused trance to go to the bathroom, and she noticed Sam slumped over asleep. Jen decided sleep was next on her list, too.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Sam said to Jen as she stretched and pulled the blankets over her head.

She mumbled, “what time is it?”

Sam laughed, “It’s time for you to get up. I already went downstairs and extended our stay for two more nights. I also brought up some lunch for you,” he said placing emphasis on the word “lunch.”

While Jen was eating, Sam began to talk. “Two things: One, I gained enough experience from learning the true language of the Seven Decks that I am now level 9. I haven’t spent my ability points. I wanted to wait and talk to you first. Two, the translation you read is correct, but it does not tell the whole story.”

This comment got Jen’s full attention. “How so?” she said.

“Well, it’s like when you read a comment on Facebook from someone you don’t know, and you take it seriously, but the person was writing it in jest, or with inside humor, or to belittle someone, or they intended it to be sarcastic. Since I don’t know the author, and I don’t know the actual rules of the Seven Decks enough, I can only say there is a lot of all the above in the System book. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how this might change the interpretation to specific passages, rules, or other information in the book.” Sam explained with obvious frustration.

Encouragingly, Jen said, “Well, at least you leveled up. I would suggest putting both your ability points into mana. That will bring you to 20, which is the minimum amount necessary to transfer to Deck 2. That way, when we’re ready, we can go.”

Sam nodded his agreement and returned Jen’s smile, but he had a look, as if there was something else he might have figured out. “Anything else?” Jen said curiously. She knew Sam would tell her anything if it was important.

“Not yet, but my gut is telling me that understanding the real meaning of words in the Seven Decks is going to be a good thing. I will tell you once I figure it out. I just think my subconscious needs to work on it more,” Sam said.