“So this is what it feels like to sit in a padded cell,” I mumbled to myself.

I sat in a chair facing the poker players, an empty table in front of me. There should’ve been a sandwich on top, but it wasn’t.

Just like how I should’ve been out grinding because an actual traitor to the United States was playing poker only a few feet away from me and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it without getting my [Detect Cheater] Skill higher. And there weren’t any cheaters around, so I wasn’t leveling up now, and I couldn’t exactly leave to go grind elsewhere because sitting here was my job!

So yeah. I felt very confined at that moment being stuck there with nothing to do. I tapped my toes, tried humming a tune, and imagined kicking that Fatewatcher in the ribs, but none of it really helped all that much. I needed something to actually do.

While idly scratching at my wrist, I noticed what I was wearing on it underneath my suit; the magical bracelet. I apparently gained a new Skill last night, but must have fallen asleep before the notification hit me. It wasn’t there when I woke up like with my night with Elsie, which was annoying, but I was still grateful for whatever I could get.

“So, magic. [Magic]. What does that do, exactly?” I asked myself as I tried to poke around my brain for the activation.

There didn’t seem to be one, but instead, I found a bit of insight. It told me to focus my mind on the bracelet and the “magical energies” within, and draw them into myself.

I mentally shrugged and tried just that. Closing my eyes and concentrating on the arcane jewelry, I could feel a faint something within. With a light tug, that something began to seep out of the bracelet and into the air, and with another yank, it began to filter into my skin. From the skin through my flesh and into my bloodstream, the magic flowed. I felt my whole body suffused, even if lightly, with the strange energy.

It didn’t make me feel like jumping up and dancing around, or like I could take on the world with a hand tied behind my back. The sensation was more like holding onto the first domino in a chain that would spring up wherever I pointed it.

My eyes began to wander around the casino in search of a target for my domino chain, but opened wide when I found it.

Seated amongst the audience was a man. An ordinary looking one if he wore normal clothes, but instead he wore something a little more… gaudy. Full red velvet suit gaudy.

“Zane,” I angrily mumbled as I looked at him taking a bite out of- that motherfucker was eating my sandwich!

Without even thinking, I pointed the magical energy within me at the breakfast thief and let it loose. It crossed the space between us in an instant, and manifested within the meal, making it vibrate. Zane ignored it and leaned in to take a second bite of the culinary masterpiece. Rather than get a mouthful of deliciousness, he got a faceful of deli meat as the sandwich exploded and rained condiments and toppings all over his luxuriant clothes.

“That’ll teach you, asshole,” I mumbled to myself with a predatory grin of my own.

[Skill Level Up! Magic lv 1 -> 2]

[Skill Level Up! Revenge lv 6 -> 7]

As the rival casino owner quickly got up to run to the bathroom, I remembered my previous mistake with Victoria and rectified it.

[Detect Cheating]

Detect Cheating (lv 15)

Target

Zane Fleming

Method

Soliciting employees

Victim

Ivy Fleming

Nope, he was clean. Very surprisingly clean, though he probably had a long laundry list of cheating he was likely guilty of beyond just this. But the Skill prioritized recent cheating, so that meant he was clean for the tournament. Though there weren’t any cheaters today yet…

Detect Cheating (lv 15)

Target

Alexander Nara

Method

Mirrors reflecting cards

Victim

World Poker Tournament

My head darted over in surprise as [Situational Awareness] dragged it over. It then rubber banded back to Zane to confirm if he was also guilty.

Detect Cheating (lv 15)

Target

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Zane Fleming

Method

Soliciting employees

Victim

Ivy Fleming

No, he wasn’t!

I let the man run out in embarrassment before turning to the task before me.

So, mirrors. What did that exactly mean? Alexander was currently looking at his cards as he made a series of confident bets. To no one’s surprise, he won that round. When the next one started and the dealer began to pass out cards, he leaned back in his seat and craned his neck upwards. It wasn’t a normal stretch, since his head stopped moving back well before it would have been comfortable. In that much too awkward position, he opened his eyes and looked carefully at something in the distance before coming out of his stretch.

I followed his gaze and saw just that. A mirror. It was a relatively large one, pointed downwards, and I was certain it gave him a perfect view of his opponents’ cards.

It would be easy to just call over a bouncer and have him ejected, but something else came to mind. I tugged on the bracelet and let the magical energy suffuse me once more. Rather than letting it all out at once, however, I tried to focus only a little bit of it on the mirror.

Creak

It moved! Alexander didn’t seem to notice since he was busy focusing on the other players’ bets, so he was completely unaware as I began to slowly rotate it.

After a second, the mirror caught the light off of a particularly bright light fixture and reflected it like a single beam towards the ground. I saw where it was and began to adjust the reflective surface so that it slowly traveled towards the cheater. As the next round started and he looked up, I finished moving the mirror, and filled his face with a blast of illumination.

He shrieked and fell out of his seat while I called over the nearest bouncer and sicced him on the man.

I let out a little chuckle as he was ejected from the building.

[Skill Level Up! Magic lv 2 -> 3]

Practicing magic helped with the lull, but the rush of catching a cheater helped me realize what I actually needed to properly enjoy myself.

I got out of my seat and walked back over to the catering table while licking my lips. My tongue stopped while stuck part way out however when I saw what was left. A few old cuts of bologna that were starting to smell, half a pickle, and gorgonzola cheese. Along with a pair of white bread slices, I had everything I needed to make… a sandwich. It wasn’t the masterpiece I’d dared to bring to life earlier, but it was something.

I put together the bundle of mediocrity and quickly took a bite before anyone had the chance to interrupt. It went down a little rough, but I was pretty sure that was because the flavors didn’t mesh that well.

I shrugged and headed back to my seat. And just in time to catch the next cheater of the day.

My eyes wandered over a woman who was much too confident in her bets and activated my Skill.

Detect Cheating (lv 15)

Target

Andrea Reaux

Method

Unfairly calculating mathematical odds

Victim

World Poker Tournament

I was beginning to understand the pattern in [Situational Awareness]. Cheaters apparently had a tell that differentiated them from the other players. Today it seemed that they all had way too much confidence. The Skill let me pick up on them in a crowded room subconsciously, and let me handle the rest.

But the real fun was figuring out how they were cheating and to expose it. Whatever did unfairly calculating the odds mean, though? Was it card counting? Because I was pretty sure [Detect Cheating] would tell me that outright. No, this was something different, something more… precise.

Andrea looked up to the sky in a stretch whenever anything happened at her table. Tracing the path of her eyes, I saw her looking at the audience. Specifically at another woman with a notepad and pen. She was quickly scribbling something on it and held up either a thumbs up or down every time. There were several others seated next to her who were doing the same thing, conferring with the thumb-throwing ringleader.

Wait, mathematical odds? Those were mathematicians in the audience! They were calculating the odds of each bet in a way that went beyond counting cards! Normally, I wouldn’t care about card counting too much, since the player is just making use of the information they’re allowed to have, albeit better than they have any right to. But to have a team of mathematicians calculate the odds for you? That was too far.

I slowly made my way to the audience and took a seat behind the set of calculators. I could see the numbers on their notepads, as well as tons of symbols I didn’t recognize.

Well, I recognized one. Namely, the “1” I wrote down using a bit of magic and extra ink lying on the page. There was a big glob of semi-hardened ink the pen left on it that with a bit of fine control, I was able to push upwards in a very messy horizontal line.

But it must have looked enough like the number that the mathematician gave a massive thumbs up to the cheater, who in turn went all-in.

Needless to say, they lost it all and were ejected from the game.

Not seeing them kicked out the way they deserved to be made me feel a little sick, however. No wait, even as I put them out of my mind, I still felt awful. The nausea wasn’t going away, and it was only starting to get worse.

Wait, my new sandwich! I put in whatever leftover crap I could find, and that gorgonzola… that was blue cheese! It had mold in it! And it wasn’t reacting well to my stomach.

Gurgle gurgle

“Bathroom, bathroom…” I frantically spoke while my eyes darted around the room. I found one within several seconds, but it was at the other end of the room, past the audience stands and play area. There were too many people in the way to be able to get there in time before…

“Oh god, why?” My face strained into a terrible grimace as I slowly rose out of my seat and tried to rush over there. I made it halfway before I was utterly certain it was too late. Nestled amongst the audience members, if I shit my pants right now, everyone would notice it. I was doomed.

But there was one last thing to try.

I pulled on the magical energy from the bracelet once more and let it fill my body. But rather than sending it flying out, I focused on pushing it into my stomach. Down the digestive tract, through my intestines, and into my colon.

“Come on, heal, heal!” I thought to myself as I struggled with both my bowels and the nascent spell. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I hoped that [Magic] would take care of the rest.

And within a few seconds, it did.

Maybe it figured out what I was trying to do and played along, or perhaps I was just some sort of magical prodigy? Ah, who was I kidding? I got lucky. The magic somehow worked its way into the pain and made it… evaporate. And somehow, it made the diarrhea disappear along with it.

“Holy shit,” I whispered. “Magic fucking rocks!”

I pulled at the bracelet one last time to celebrate, but it came up empty.

“Yeah go figure. It’s out of juice.”