The choice was simple a hobbit was a great choice for a thief they were small light and unlike other things they weren't eye catching. A fairy type race could have been argued but people would probably stare or notice a fairy and really remember a male player as one.
In sticking with the short size he could have picked a dwarf as well but they were not the fastest of races plus hobbits were generally well liked and had no problems with most races.
He had decided to change his hair to black with dark brown eyes he changed his face to what he looked like when he was younger and changed his height to 3 ft 6 tall enough to get into things short enough to hide in a cupboard. Walking into the rickety old tavern he took a seat at the bar.
He watched the men walk up the stairs and show a large beastman a card then he opened a door and the group was gone. After ordering doubles off rum and vodka which surprised the bartender as well as some patients an older man who looked to be late 40’s early 50 walked down the stairs with a scowl obviously things had gone bad. Spencer had thought about just going up and trying to get in but there were a lot of problems. First, they didn’t know him for all they knew he was an undercover cop or guard.
Secondly, it looked like members only meaning that even if they didn’t think he was a cop he still couldn’t get in. thirdly if he wanted to get in unnoticed and wreak havoc at the games he needed someone who could counteract him. If one man comes in and wins every hand and every game he becomes suspicious but if he keeps loaning money to a guy who constantly loses it could be considered he was the lucky one that night.
The grumpy man began to order drinks and spencer began to pick up the tab. Eventually, the two became chumier and chumier most would think it was because they were drunk but spencer had found out a few years earlier that it was actually difficult for him to get drunk first even though his size currently was 3’6 his actual body was 6’8 but besides that his body dealt with it incredibly well.
The only reason he was able to find that out was that emancipation was generally given to those 15 and above 14 being on the low end but he was 10 being the exception so by the time he turned 14 his ID thought he was 18 and he could buy t from select vending machines. After an hour of drinking, spencer made his move
“Ehh why'd you look so mad coming ere lose all your money”
“The casino’s rigid they cheat!”
“Ehh maybe you just suck”
“Pahh you'd not even last a turn”
“Nah I'm the best lady luck has the biggest crush on me”
“Bull but I'd like to see your smug face when you lose”
The two stumbled to the stairs and used each other for support eventually making it up to the door. Showing the guard the card the two entered the casino.
On the other side there was a complete 180 in the from where they had come from glass gold and crystal was everywhere decorating the entire hall there were quite a few games Poker blackjack baccarat and some that were unique to this world such as conquest the min bid was a gold and the rest played like risk however you had one chance to buy troops less money fewer troops.
But for now, he wanted to draw attention to himself so that he would be invited to the VIP games. First up was blackjack after watching the dealer run out of cards and shuffle he sat down because now he couldn’t lose unless they cheated.
The eidetic memory made it so that he remembered everything so he concentrated on the location of the cards with every card located he started with one silver doubling to 2 then 4, 8, 16, 32, eventually hit 16,384 silver while continuing to drink.
Getting up he left for the poker table and repeated the process after cleaning out some minor nobles he was up to around 2 gold. Considering when the game company opened the gold exchange a nickel was worth a real dollar 1 gold was 100,000 so he was at around $400,000 in gold but it really depended on the market if people bought a lot of gold the price could skyrocket and if people dumped the money it would become cheap.
However the inverse was true like all currency the more money that disappeared the more valuable the money became plus there was a lot of expensive things in the game that travelers could earn for free through quests or pay for it such as titles and nobility.
But those cost 100’s of gold. Considering Spenser now had a thousand times more money than before the pit bosses came for him still playing drunk they brought him to the VIP table. These were what the casino ‘s called whales and a shark whales being those that were stupid rich while kings may earn a platinum a year in some cases these nobles were really close the sharks were the casino sponsored players. Spenser was neither so the plan seemed to squish him.
Unlike most VIP rooms this one didn’t have a designated game it was up to the VIP’s to pick one some would play others watch and goad the players. However, as Spencer entered there was no desire to play cards as he was insanely good winning every hand so they decided on dice. They decided to play the only game where one could buy the win. Under normal circumstances, one could just buy more troops and place them and win but what happened shocked them all.
Spenser bets one gold the minimum that granted 100 troops on the board three others placed a bet of 10 gold with a pot of 31 gold and granting the opponents 30,000 troops each person was given a set of two magic dice that the casino made themselves as to avoid cheating. The first target was of course amongst themselves and spencer did nothing but practice rolling the dice.
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Eventually a noble had defeated the others and attacked spencer and he rolled an 11 spencer rolled 12 and every time he attacked spencer rolled a perfect 12 after the tenth the man furiously accused spencer of cheating and demanded a rematch with the hobbit removing his shirt to ensure fair play.
Spencer just laughed and did so, however, the next round progressed the same way but only with a larger pot it had risen to 51 it had ended the same way with another claiming he was cheating saying that he was changing dice in his pockets in his pants.
Now spenser was getting mad acting slightly soberer he took his pants off much to the female attendant's joy but instead he issued a challenge
“You all say I'm cheating I'm just better than all of you so to prove it I will bet all 92 gold for one troop I will take the last of my clothes off so none can say I cheated and receive new dce every turn. I’ll even allow team betting and sharing “
The last part caught everyone's attention while you could unofficially assist someone to win a bet and split it was frowned upon because it led to people buying the pot but he was now going to allow it. If there was only one person involved in the bet they would probably undercut it and join on one team but there were three people to assist leading to an arms race and a pot of over 2 platinum and 40 gold.
“One more rule if we have a draw the opponent loses if it’s me”
With that they attacked him in the game but he kept rolling 12’s there was no way to beat him as every roll was a 12 after hours of rolls spencers one man was the only thing standing and the room was silent spencer had won enough to buy a kingdom however that posed a problem and was outside his interests as he was playing the long game. Standing up he put all his clothes back on taking his money he was about to leave.
However, the pride of the whales and sharks couldn’t accept they were beaten by a guppy. That wasn’t there fault the truth was spencer was never gambling due to the fact that each die was identical due to magic, spencer used his perfect muscle memory to roll them leading to the same roll in a sense he was cheating but not how anyone could figure out. And the reason he wasn’t as pumped about all his money even if it was worth 20 million in the real world was he would have to pay for a lot of things for his sister clothes, education, food and among others then when she got out he’d probably move into a house then he’d have to buy all the furnishing and her clothes and he couldn’t let her eat cheap crap like he did.
And the price for a decent house near a really good school in a city would cost 5 million furnishing said house would cost tens of thousands and the clothes as well would be expensive due to the fact he didn’t want her to feel left out of things and the people would probably be rich meaning expensive hobbies.
So his 20 million would be eaten fast and that was only if the price stayed at that price point and this was not including taxes and the cut the developers took on both sides. As he was about to leave three people stood in front of the door he had figured this would happen they might not do anything now but they could threaten and follow him.
“Listen, you little twirp one more game give us a chance to win our money back”
“ Listen it’s late and my money pouch is heavy if you want to bet fine but we make it a fight”
“Ha a fight why would we get our hands dirty”
“I meant with champions plus I’ll not show up in case you think I'm cheating but I’ll leave my bet with the casino I lose you get 1 platinum but what do you have that I could want to equal a third from each?”
This was a truly difficult question that was 333 gold enough to buy a small city whether it would run was a different matter, a rare mount could be equivalent such as a dragon or unicorn rare arms as well but if the value wasn’t equal then it had to be worth it to the opponent it was a barter of a bet. The three continued to talk eventually they came to an agreement.
The bet was a mine in the north with all mining rights a book of rare runes and a property within the capital that was to be rebuilt.
Spencer agreed mostly for the mine and the property this would allow him some breathing room in the tournaments.
“Only one rule the champion must be level 10 or lower mine is a LVL 0 but he’s no pushover ask the martial artists about a random level 0 they will know who he is”
The next day spencer returned to his normal human self when the guard saw him he had figured who he was and led him down to the arena where a arms merchant stood there were some practice equipment seeing spencer walk in with peasant clothes he almost laughed he was going to fight the men who had come before they had heavy armour and steel weapons. He was about to say something condescending when spenser walked over to the bench and removed all his clothes except his underwear.
Taking a stance in front of the punching bag the arms dealer just saw a tornado of death hitting a continuous stream of hits from a punch to a reverse elbow to a high kick he continued to rotate his back leg over and hit with his heel this type of combo lasted 2 minutes with no gaps. After that, he took a seat and waited for his match to begin the merchant approached him
“That was incredible how do you fight like that”
“I learned out of necessity”
“Can I ask why you are only wearing your undergarments?”
“In truth, most hand to hand combatants where I come from would wear something similar”
“But why?”
“Speed and less to grab in truth I Should have some oil as well to make hits slide off easier”
“Oil?”
“Yea and some light protective gear but they don’t have anything that fits my requirements”
“You don’t seem nevus most people who come here can’t settle down but you, you seem natural”
“I’m used to this type of thing around 10 years experience”
“You didn’t seem that old I’m sorry I miss judged”
“Nah I'm only 16”
“That means since you were 6!?!”
“Yea”
“What’s your name?
“Ha Still don't have one”
“Really why not pick a famous warrior from your time”
“Hmmm nah altho I think I figured out what name I want how bout Anon”
“Anon what does it meen?”
“It's short for anonymous”
“That's a terrible name may as well be no name”
“ Really I kinda like it it’s like being unknown but that means you can’t be hit”
“Hmmm”
Before they could continue a guard came to escort hi to the arena.