“How are you doing, old man?” asked Sam as he checked up on the guest Jen and Tamako brought home. The crazy old man looked down at the action figure for some sort of silent guidance, and replied to Sam in a sing-song voice with the only words he had spoken so far, “More Pudding!”

Sam shook his head. “O.K. Old-man Pudding, I will get you some more, but you’ve eaten almost all the pudding we could find in the market. You’re going to need to eat something else soon.”

Jen and Tamako had spent nearly a week re-growing his hands, tongue, eyes, fixing his hearing, and fixing about every bone in his body. Sam had to place some silence formations in the old man’s room to keep his insane screams from driving everyone crazy, and Jen was using her psych ability to try and rehabilitate his mind and sanity. He was finally no longer screaming, but they still had him restrained to a recliner type bed.

Later that day, Sam was finishing the enchantments on the last of the weapons designated for auction when Jen and Tamako returned. Sam noticed at a glance that Tamako must have lost her sparring match in Plinko’s battle arena, as she glowered while heading directly to the back yard to continue training.

Jen stopped to look in on Sam and said, “Her biggest problem fighting really large opponents is mass. It doesn’t matter how strong or fast she gets, they simply have a size advantage in an open-air arena. Of course, she has the advantage in a narrow alley, small building, or dungeon. She is insane; she thinks she should always win no matter what!”

Sam continued working and just laughed at Jen, saying, “Give me a break. You are just as competitive, just not about fighting. You millennials completely lack the ability of self-reflection.”

Jen snorted, “Whatever Boomer, anyway, what’s our guest been up to?”

Sam replied, “Old-man Pudding has done nothing all morning except ask for more pudding to eat. He’s a weird dude!”

Jen pulled up a chair and leaned in saying, “let me tell you about the gossip we’ve heard.”

Sam raised his eyebrows at Jen in curiosity. “What’s that? Is it something about the Oracle?”

“No, it’s about the old man. In the arena today, we heard some of the Acid Guild fighters saying how Soup Bowl Bob had disappeared. Apparently, almost 100 years ago he double crossed their guild somehow, and after torturing him into insanity, they left him in the streets as a warning to anyone that might try to act against them. It’s said that their young fighters often make a point of kicking and beating him when they are heading to the battle arena. If he ever looks like he is going to die, they send in a healer to do just enough to keep him alive! Slim had it right when he said to keep him hidden away and to keep our identities hidden from him. The Acid Guild is on a rampage trying to figure out what happened to him.”

Sam shook his head in disbelief. “Wow, that’s messed up!”

Jen nodded in sympathy. “Right! One hundred years of insanity and torture. I wonder how he double-crossed them?”

Sam snorted. “With the Acid Guild, could have been anything. He probably failed to bow low enough when one of those jackasses walked by.”

Jen replied, “I doubt it was something as simple as that. You’ve seen that he is level 31 with almost all of his ability points in agility and mana, and he has eight active mana channels.”

Having such a powerful and crazy man in their home worried Sam, and he said, “Well, at least it appears he lacks the strength to break out of the restraints physically. What’s the plan for him, Boss?”

Jen sighed deeply and replied, “that’s going to depend on if I can get through to him. I have my work cut out for me with this guy’s sanity.”

Just as Jen was leaving, Sam called out, “Wait! I almost forgot. Did you know Slim killed that Poison Dagger guild leader when we first jumped to the Second Deck, the one everyone thought escaped?”

Jen laughed. “No, but that makes perfect sense. He wouldn’t miss a chance to get loot from a bad guy that’s on the O.K. to kill list.”

Sam replied, “Exactly, and he bragged to me about a bracer with a mana shield enchantment that he took from the guy. Look, I know that loot belongs to him, and how weird he is about loot. I also agree that he has every right to keep me from copying the shield enchantment, but if he mentions he wants anything, let me know. I want to find something he would trade it for.”

Jen shrugged and laughed, “O.K., but don’t hold your breath. He already has a harem of cats in Plinko City bringing him everything he wants.”

=======

Jen had noticed that her ninja skills, the ones she didn’t regularly use were fading, but now her AI could focus her memories to a detail that felt like she was experiencing them again, re-igniting all the ninja skills she learned from the scroll on the First Deck. Additionally, she could review her memory for all the details her senses picked up the first time, but she failed to notice originally. It was like a movie she vaguely remembered, but now she could re-watch and freeze-frame it, inspecting every item in the background of each movie frame if she wanted to. Unfortunately, as her AI’s power grew, it continued to draw more and more on her mana supply. Jen was thinking about how to increase her mana pool, when Tamako entered the house.

Tamako stored her armor and weapons, and laid down on the couch resting her head in Jen’s lap, and asked, “Have you seen Slim lately?” Interrupting Jen’s musings on her mana usage.

Jen could sense Tamako's feelings of guilt, and started running her fingers through her hair, and said, “It’s your lucky day. Slim came in earlier, and he’s in Sam’s work-room, inspecting that storage ring Sam picked up when he visited the Gnome district.”

Tamako quickly sat upright, almost hitting Jen in the face, saying, “Sorry, my flower! But I thought we should ask Slim if he knew anything about the rumors of the slave market that's supposed to be set up somewhere just outside of Plinko City.” Tamako was still trying to make up for killing Lady Domino without giving Jen a chance to decide if they should heal her or not. Tamako, hadn’t brought it up, and to her surprise, neither had Jen over the last month. However, Tamako was trying to apologize through taking actions that would support Jen's interests.

Jen replied with a mischievous grin, “Watch this,” and she pulled a sealed metal can out of her storage device and opened the lid, making a “creesssshh” sound.

As quick as a blink-step, Slim was waddling into the room rubbing up against Jen’s legs saying, “You didn’t tell me you got more of those canned lizard nibbles from the gnomes!”

As she placed the food on a plate and set it on the table for Slim, she replied, “I didn’t. I was saving this last can as a surprise, but don't worry, we should be getting more from Melvin soon.”

Tamako waited patiently while Slim garbled down the entire contents of the can, and then said, “You interested in a trade?”

“What kind of trade?”

“Next time we are traveling together, I’ll trade you my first choice of loot, if you can find out if the rumors of a slave market are true, and if they are, where it is being held. I need you to do it quickly though.”

“Why do you care who’s taking people?” Slim said as he jumped into Jen’s lap and batted at her hand with his paw, demanding that she scratch him under the neck.

Tamako sighed, and said, “They are kidnapping and hurting poor people in the City, and we’re just sitting around waiting for the Oracle Deck to open. However, I…”

“Wait!” Slim interrupted. “As you started speaking, I realized I don’t really care, or actually need to know more. It’s a deal.”

Jen sensed Slim was about to pull a fast one on Tamako, but before she could say anything, Tamako replied, “Great! I’ve done a little investigation of my own, and you need to start with the Black-Deck Merchant Caravan because they are planning to leave the City any day now, and if it’s them, they’ll be taking the slaves with them.”

Slim corrected Tamako, “That caravan is actually pulling out in five days, but don’t worry, I’ve already completed my part of the bargain?”

Tamako looked at Slim suspiciously, “What do you mean? How do you already know who’s kidnapping people and running a slave market?”

Slim replied, “A scout with the Double Down gang, named Roach Dice, travels with the Black-Card Merchants. He put a quest on capturing the Cat lady. I don’t know the Cat Lady's actual name, but she’s the one that gives savory treats to a bunch of my girls in the City.”

Tamako asked excitedly, “When’s he going after the Cat Lady?”

“Samira, my Persian, was in the Black-Card camp and overheard Roach talking with a thin lady about creating a quest to kidnap her.”

Tamako jumped up, and said to Jen, “You coming? We need to find the Cat Lady before she’s taken.”

Slim twisted to keep Jen from shifting him off her lap, and said, “Slow down! I already killed Roach and the thin lady that was helping him. Nobody is allowed to mess with my cats or their human friends.”

Jen gave Tamako a frustrated look at Slim's words, but simply took in a deep calming breath, and asked him “What about all the other slaves the caravan is holding?”

“That I don’t know, and that was not part of my deal with Tamako.”

Sam had entered the room when Tamako was making her deal with Slim, and when Tamako started to get up again, after learning the kidnap victims were still in captivity, he was relieved when Jen raised her hand to Tamako in a motion to hold-up, and she said, “Also, we can’t just barge into their caravan, kill them all, and free the victims.”

“Why not? You want us to free them, don’t you?” Tamako replied.

Slim jumped from Jen’s lap and said, “We should just kill them all and take their loot. That’s actually a great plan!”

“And free the kidnapped victims.” Tamako reminded Slim.

Slim replied to Jen, when responding to Tamako's comment. “Of course, that too pure-heart.”

“Not helping Slim!” replied Jen, and then explained, “If the Double Down gang controls them, many of the members of the Black-Card Caravan may be innocent of any wrong-doing.”

Tamako frowned at Jen’s words and said, “So let me guess. You think the merchants are being strong-armed by the gang. Then if we kill all the gang members traveling with the merchants, and set the prisoners free, the rest of the gang will slaughter the merchants for allowing it to happen.”

Sam didn’t like the way the conversation was heading. He didn’t want them to spend their remaining time before the Oracle Deck opened, tracking down and killing every member of this gang. He cleared his throat to get their attention, and said, “I’m all for freeing the slaves held captive by the merchants. However, the caravan needs to take care of itself…”

“but what about…” Jen tried to interrupt, but Sam continued to speak over her and finished, “The Black-Deck Caravan is rich enough to hire guild fighters to protect them or rescue any family members the gang is probably holding hostage. We rescue the slaves, but the rest is not our problem. We could spend a lifetime on the Second Deck trying to right all the injustices. If that’s what you want to do after we get Kelly back, no problem, but let’s get Kelly back first. Right now, we need to spend our time learning more about the Oracle Deck, and exactly how we’re going to stay safe after we jump there.”

Jen then argued, “O.K, but what’s your plan for us leveling up while we sit around here waiting for the Oracle Deck to open?”

“What are you talking about? I’m receiving thousands of points almost every day from crafting, and you just received a bunch from your AI development, and if Tamako’s not getting experience or stats from all of her training, we can think of something.”

Jen’s mouth tightened as she shook her head in disagreement, and directed her AI, “Show Sam’s stats.” Jen raised her eyebrow in frustration before saying to Sam, “Open permissions in your AI Mr. Paranoid.”

“I’m not worried about you reading my stats, but what if someone else breaks into my AI. I like to leave it closed unless you need to access it." Sam then said, "O.K. Bell, please give access to Jen, Tamako, and Slim.”

Jen replied, “I know you trust me, but I can assure you it is firewalled…” Her forehead creased in confusion, then she asked, “Wait, did you give your AI a name?”

Sam raised an eyebrow, “Yea, I did, and Bell’s awesome. She actually finds my work interesting.”

Jen shook her head, and explained, “It’s quicker if you just let the AI integrate with your thoughts instead of giving it a name and voice commands, but let’s not get off topic. Open Sam’s stats.”

Jen highlighted the experience points in Sam’s stat sheet, that everyone could see popped up in their vision, and Slim was able to view Sam’s stat sheet through his mana bond with Jen.

Jen explained, “Yes, you received 40,000 experience points over the last two weeks, but you still need almost 2 million to get to the next level. Additionally, you can see that your stats are starting to stagnate. Tamako and I are experiencing the same thing. Our training isn’t increasing our stats like it used to.”

Sam asked, “O.K., but we already have enough mana to jump to the Oracle Deck and then to Third Deck when we get back from there. What’s the big deal?”

Jen replied, “The problem is the Joan of Arc Guild will not sell us a Deck jump to the Third Deck, and I wouldn’t trust any other guild. I’m not even sure I trust the Arc guild after our dealings with that Deck Director Roger.”

Tamako chimed in, “Jen, you know you just made Sam’s argument for him, right?”

Slim purred, “Let’s start with Sam’s excellent plan. We free these prisoners first, but then we charge the Black-Deck Caravan all their gold to free any of their people being held captive by the Double Down gang. That way we get paid for doing what we know Jen is already planning on doing. Finally, we get to take all the loot the Double Down gang has in its possession. Just imagine all the stuff they have stolen over the years!”

Tamako lightly slapped her hand on the table before saying, “Exactly! Those greedy merchants may not want to be involved with the bandits, but they have certainly been complicit with their actions. They should pay us!”

Sam turned to head towards his work room and grumbled, “Whatever! As long we come up with a plan to safely deck jump first, and our actions don’t slow down getting Kelly back!”

Jen started to yell at Sam about paying attention to his stat sheet, but then had an idea, “Bell! Please make Sam pay attention to his stats.”

A young female voice replied in everyone’s AI, “Will do Ms. Jen. Sam is stubborn, but I will wear him down.”

Jen heard Sam grumble, “Traitor!” and then she heard a giggle from Bell as she said, “You know deep down you want me to, or I wouldn’t have agreed!”

Tamako looked at Jen confused, “What’s happened to Sam’s AI?”

Jen grinned as she replied, “I think his AI modified itself to communicate with Sam in a way to maximize its efficiency. I like her. She’s sassy, and best of all, she can now babysit that old Boomer instead of me!”

Tamako snorted at Jen’s comment.

Jen asked, “What!”

Tamako replied while rolling her eyes, “You love being all in his business.”

Jen harrumphed, “Whatever, help me make a plan to Deck jump safely and a way to get those slaves free.”