She found herself surrounded by neon lights on the side of an unnamed street at the corner of a dark and smoggy city. Although it appeared to be endless in every direction, a foggy barrier clouded everything except for one person. He stood in the middle of a row of neon signs all with symbols of wealth surrounding him. Dollar Signs, Severn 7s, a Pair of Dice and Cards all appeared above a small fold out table that illuminated the raggedy man at the corner of a street.

He was wearing a shaggy patch work set of clothes, ratty fisherman’s hat and fingerless gloves with a missing area between the knuckles and wrist on his right hand. From underneath the soot of his dirty hands, Cee could make out the impression of a strange mark, but that was hard to distinguish from the smog. As he was the only figure in sight Cee concluded he was her next challenge.

“Step right up, don’t be shy!” The raggedy man said. “Everyone’s a winner, chicken dinner. Don’t be left in the dust, come over to Dusk.” He played like a sideshow caller shuffling a deck of cards in his hand like a ball in the air. “I’ve got everything from Sand Dollar conversions to feats of chance guaranteed to improve your skills.”

“You’re pretty straight forward,” Cee said, approaching his table.

“Ah-ha, a new customer, welcome.” He tipped his hat and shined his long golden fangs there engraved with a beetle on either side. “How may I help you this evening?”

“You mention something about improving my skills?”

“Ah-yes, it’s a simple matter, but before we get to that I must mention that this process requires sand dollars only, however if you have Luck or Karma you’re willing to spell I can convert it for you as you can see.”

A screen appeared before his eyes which she read carefully to make sure he was true at his words.

[ Conversion Lv. 7

A dealer skill.

You may convert Karma and Luck Points into G$,

A minimum of 2 LP or 200 KP required.

Cost: %2 G$ ]

“You just show your skill to everyone?”

“I play my hand when I have, it’s what fosters a relationship between clients.”

“The price seems a little steep, given my current situation.”

“Tell you what, why don’t I cover the conversion costs myself. That’s a 100 percent money back, pretty good for a time customer, right?”

“I'm still not sold.”

“I don’t give this deal for everyone, you know, and if you want to level up your skills my methods only require sand dollars, without that I can’t do a thing. All you gotta do is place your hand on the table to get it started... So, come on, what do you have to lose?”

Cee looked at the player’s smile, curled up like a beetle ready to devour here if she made the slightest mistake. All the challenges she had so far had either been advancing or acquiring new skills, then perhaps this was the only way to advance to the next challenge. Still, given that she had limited resources left she decided to air on the side of caution and play her hand small. With a number in mind she placed her hand on his table and went through the motions of this mysterious dealer's skill.

KA-CHING! A bell sounded as the light of a new window appeared.

[ Converting KP into G$. ]

[ You have lost -200 Karma Points. ]

[ You have gained G$ 2,000. ]

“Well, now that the business side is over, what do you say we right down the main attraction.” He said, rubbing his grimy hands together. “The way to advance skills is very simple, you need to compete in a challenge.”

“I know that already.”

“Aaah, but there’s a secret to how to gain efficiency.” He said, waving his finger. “What do you think the odds are for gaining a new skill? 1 in a million, a billion?”

“1 in 1000,” she recalled what the bunny boy said before.

“Ordinarily yes, but most people don’t know how to use their skills well. It’s always grind, grind, grind, doing the same thing, over and over again, day in, day out, rotting away like mice on a wheel. However, when faced with something you can’t explain, the body is forced to react to a new situation in ways we never expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d tell you but not for free if you get my drift.” He rubbed his fingers together as if holding two invisible coins.

“Okay, how much.” She was not surprised at this pitch.

“Well, it’s hard to put terms of value for information, but like I said, I like you kid, so for you, how about say...one thousand sand dollars?”

“That seems...reasonable.”

She summoned the copper seashell-coin into her hands and placed it on the table. He quickly picked the item up and placed it in between his teeth with a bite with his right fang. When he was certain it was real, he placed it under his index finger and thumb as if getting ready for a coin toss.

“Now, what would say the odds are of this coin landing on heads?”

“Are you serious? That’s a fifty-fifty chance.”

“Do you really think so, so what do you say we test that theory...call it in the air.” He tossed the coin into the murky fog leaving time to stop as a new challenge caused the area to freeze.

[ Palming (Lv. 2) vs Tossing (Lv. 7) ]

Wait, is tossing a coin even a skill? She thought in the moment before the results were played. It’s gotta be, because this is happening, but what does Palming have to do with it? Wait, change the outcome of dealer skill. Then there must be a dealer challenge, but what’s the point...he says that this deal will come out heads, so if I make it come out tails does that mean I’ll win? Only one way to find out.

[ ACT FAILS! ]

[ Activate Magic Lv. 1 ]

[ ACT SUCCESSFUL! ]

“Tails!” She said as she grabbed the coin an inch before it hit the ground.

Slamming it on the table she moved her hand away to reveal the outcome, but it was not what she expected. Instead of the tails, the FS logo that should have appeared, it was instead the head of a shell.

“Well, fancy that.” Dusk smiled as he picked up the coin. “I’ll just hold onto this if you don’t mind.”

[ - G$ 1,000 has been deducted from your account.]

How did that happen? She thought. That should have been tails, how could I predict that unless...

“Well, that’s all the information I can give you, unless you want to try again, same bid as last time.”

“Huh? What?” She said, snapping out of her thought. “...could you give me a moment?”

“Sure, I’m in no hurry.” He took out his deck and started shuffling them in his palms.

That should have happened, I should have palmed the coin and turned it on its tail, but how did he know that it would come out heads? Did he cheat? I can’t even tell if he’s cursed or blessed but if he’s part of the system then he shouldn’t be able to cheat. If my theory is correct it’s a skill, a skill that only looks like cheating.

He feathered his cards like a fan blowing away the fog from his face to reveal his cocky smile.

He’s altering fate, and he’s flaunting it, but how? There wasn’t even a message, so it must have been before we even started the game, if that’s the case there might be a trick to alter it like him. I just got to try my luck before the game even starts, like a counter I just have to play it just right.

“You know my dad used to say, if you can’t be lucky, be unpredictable.” She stared into his eyes.

“Is that so?” He said slamming the cards back into his left palm. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well you ask what are the odds of a coin landing on heads, the answer is not 50-50, it’s 100 percent.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s a little trick my dad always taught my dad taught me from always cheating on board games. He never let me win fair, so I called him out as a cheater, but when I got old I realized that only he was rolling the dice so he had a way to make sure it always came out in his favor. Would you like me to show you?”

“By all means, show me this trick.”

She summoned her last copper sand dollar in her right hand and placed it flat on her palm heads up.

[ Activating Intuition (Lv. 1) ]

[ ACT FAILED! ]

[ Activate Magic (Lv. 1) ]

[ ACT SUCCESSFUL ]

[ Activate Reinforcement (Lv. 1) ]

[ Your Act is DOUBLE EFFECTIVE! ]

“Call it in the air,” She said, flicking her right hand in the air.

A set of playing cards appeared in her red gloved hands as she shuffled and shook them in a dazing way that matched the grimy hustler's manner of playing with his deck. In a few seconds the deck disappeared and she slammed the table with her left hand where the coin should be.

“Tails!” she answered, before removing her hand.

Dusk looked at the logo of Fortuna Sands printed on the tail end of the coin.

“A fancy act, but I never said it would come out tails.”

“I never said it had to be you who said it.”

“It’s because I knew it would come out tails.”

“How so?”

“It was your story, whoever your father is, must have been a man quite like me.” He smiled tapping his fingers on the table. “The best way to predict the outcome is to have control of the game. That’s why he kept winning because he controlled the dice. He must have been a real jerk.”

“Actually he’s very caring and considerate, with everything he does.” She replied. “I know now it seems cruel to cheat a little kid at a board game, but I later learned that there was a point. He explained it to me when I was old enough to understand that when the game seems unfair, you gotta make it fair. That’s when I started taking turns throwing the dice instead of just him, because it’s better to develop common sense than assume everyone is playing the same game.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” The scruffy man laughed while holding his face. “Well said kid, well said...”

[ Palming has been upgraded to Lv. 3 ]

[ Magic has been up to Lv. 2 ]

[ Acquired new skill Intuition Lv. 1 ]

“Do you want your coin back by the way?”

“Nah, keep it.” She said, pushing the coin toward the NPC. “My dad also said, if you want to play the game you always gotta pay the fee. That’s how he got me to do my homework every night.”

“Bravo....” He said, clapping his gloved hands together. “...Bravo.”

As he clapped slowly the mark on his right hand began to shine like strobe light bouncing up and down. Having completed her task the only thing to do was to wait, until she returned to the darkness once more.

[ Name: C-note

Luck Points: 13

Karma Points: 65

G$: 0 ]

[ Intuition (Lv. 1)

A passive skill.

Can perform a counter acting skill,

To identify a Lv. 1 preemptive skill,

Before a challenge begins.

Cost: 2 LP ]

“Thirteen Luck Points, not exactly a good number, but at least I got fuel to burn in KP but, that was all very informative.” She walked in the dark with her hand on her face. “Perhaps the key to gaining new skills is not about simply playing the odds, but playing the odds in my favor... I mean, it’s not cheating if the system allows it, right?”

It was then a little sparkle of white light began to flicker in the darkness. It seemed like a willow-o-wisp calling to her for the final stage.

“Alright, let’s see what you got.” She sighed as the light grew more unstable.

Without warning and notice it blew out like a bomb at close range bathing Cee in brilliant light of fire, wind, and lightening. It started to cover the darkness like a torrent of storms transforming every molecule in the area and rearrange it once more into its final form.