500 Worth deposited into ‘Compounding Interests’.

Worth can only be deposited or withdrawn while in the presence of the Banker.

Payment of ‘High Stakes’ initiated.

Golden magic emanates from my Class Card in a soft glow, spreading over the entire table with a thick sheen of power. Nobody reacts to it at all, which is definitely weird, but I guess it’s something just for me. I raise a hand to admire the golden sheen over my skin, but before I even start to take it in, it shifts to a cosmic black shot through with so many colours. The same as Pearl’s gooey form.

“Ooh! Now that’s a strong wake-me-up! Brrr!” Pearl shakes her head, all sleepiness wiped completely free from her voice. “I don’t really know why your skill is including me in this, but it’s calling me the ‘witness’ to your skill? Um… I think I’m supposed to make sure whatever you use it for is actually fair?”

That makes sense; the skill did say it would fail if I was caught cheating the last time I looked at its description. Though it was a pretty damn long time ago, so maybe it’s changed since then. I nod to Pearl and swipe over to my own skills to check out High Stakes.

High Stakes: Gambler Class skill.

Create a situation with a non-determinative outcome.

Any Worth you wager on that outcome will be paid out based on the situation’s odds.

If you are caught cheating, you instantly lose.

Worth gained in this way cannot be used again with this skill.

If used on a coin with a Worth value that is not a pure Worth coin, this skill cannot be used for two hours.

Current maximum odds: 1/1.

Upgrade cost:???

Upgrade requirements:???

I sigh to myself and scrape away the last three lines, then gesture at the screens with the intent to put my skill up on it. Somehow it actually shows up next to Noland’s skill. The three of them all turn around at my gesture, and each of them takes their own time reading up on what I can do.

“I don’t get it.” March says with a frown. “Can someone explain it to me?”

Ursula scratches her chin before trying to explain my skill. “It looks like Shelby can let us legally gamble our Worth? But only on situations where we’re equally likely to win or lose. And… wait. We can wager any coin, not just Worth? Does that put in on cooldown for us, or for Shelby?”

Everyone turns to me like I have an answer to that question. “Don’t look at me; I’ve only used it on myself. You know; playing with house money? I’d have to host a game for you to see what happens.”

“Well, then let’s host a game!” Noland exclaims eagerly and pulls out a deck of cards. From… somewhere. “Blackjack! One on one, since it won’t be equal odds otherwise. Me against Ursula. I’m using our contract right now!”

He slides the deck over to me, and as it slides across the table, it gathers a golden coating. I catch it before it can slip past me, and I feel my skill start to work. Noland glimmers with a golden outline, cementing him as one of the players, and everyone else in the room just has a slight golden sheen rolling over them. Marking them as… potential players, I guess?

Cards flow out of the metal box and into my hands. I toss the package to the side and nod at Ursula as I shuffle them, deftly moving them from one hand to the other in a myriad of showboat-y ways. She doesn’t bat an eye, but she definitely would if she knew I’d never done anything like this with cards before.

“Are you happy playing against him?” I ask and stand up to walk between the two of them. “I think I have to get at least one round out of the way before I can see the description for a multiplayer game. You can just bet the minimum if you don’t want to risk anything.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” She grins warily and raps her knuckles against the table. “Maximum bet. You set the rules. I’m interested to see how this works.”

March nods in agreement and leans forward in her chair without saying a word. Looks like she wants to see what my skill can do, too.

“Alright. Noland and Ursula both bet the maximum, whatever that is. The game is blackjack. Whoever gets the closest to twenty one without going over wins, and if there’s a tie, whoever has more red cards gets the victory.” I say and cut the deck once, then place a face-down card in front of each of them. “Aces are either one or eleven based on what’s better for you, but two aces can’t be two different things. Face cards are all ten. First to win three rounds takes the pot. Do we have a game on our hands?”

Noland and Marchasa share a look, then both nod.

“Perfect. Taking bets now.”

The golden outlines that surround both of the players flare bright, then slither off of them and onto the table. After a second to rest they unravel into threads of light, revealing two huge piles of iron fives in front of each of them. I know they’re both exactly five hundred Worth worth of coins, and my skill gives off a satisfied sensation before I reach down and flip up both cards.

Noland gets an eight of spades. Ursula gets a king of hearts. I hold the top card of the deck with my thumb and gesture down at Noland.

He doesn’t need a second to think before he smacks his palm on the table. “Hit me.”

I nod and flip over another card. The ace of diamonds. Which technically puts him over Ursula’s score for the moment, so I tilt my chin up at her with the same unspoken question.

“Obviously hit me.” She says with a little tension in her voice. “And if I’m still lower than he is, hit me again.”

…Not quite sure if that’s how it works, but hey, I’m the one in charge here. So I say it works. I flip her a second card; the two of spades. Then the two of hearts. Then the… two of diamonds. Wow. That’s some weird-ass randomness. And it still puts her lower than Noland, so she gets another card. The three of hearts.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She sighs in relief as I gesture at Noland. “She’s winning the tie right now. Keep going, or give up for no reason?”

“Keep going, obviously.” Noland says excitedly. “I wonder how the payout’s going to work. Is it going to double the value of the Worth I put up, or is it going to give me everything she bet? Oh, crap, we forgot to bet a non-Worth coin to see how that works. Eh, I guess we’ll just have to hope your skill doesn’t put in another cooldown for using it on other people.”

“Sure, yeah.” I say nonchalantly as I flip up another ace; spades this time. Something about my skill makes me want to take this way more seriously than is needed. “That puts you at a whopping total of ten. Keep going?”

With a wave of his hand, I flip over the next card. “Ten of hearts. That puts you at a damn solid twenty. Ursula’ you’re up.”

Little chunks of nail fly everywhere as she nervously nibbles on her thumb. “I guess you have to give me a card. Wait!” She cries as I go to flip one up, fresh sweat starting to dribble down her forehead. “Noland, are you sure you don’t want to try hitting again? You–you could get twenty one and completely blow me out of the water! Rub salt in the wound and prove how huge your balls are!”

“Uh, no.” he laughs. “Not when I’m already winning. Hit and take the chance, or stay and guarantee your loss.”

Ursula groans, then pulls me down by the sleeve with a desperate look in her eye. “Hey. I know your skill says something about ‘getting caught’, but if we don’t get caught, then there’s nothing to be scared of, right? You–you have to know what order the cards are in. Just put the last two on top and I’ll… I’ll give you half of my winnings! That sounds pretty good, right?”

I roll my eyes, but just before I can say anything, a notification pops right up.

You are not a player.

Any attempts to sway the results in a particular participant’s favor will invalidate the game, returning the wagers with an additional ten percent added from your own Worth.

“No.” I state and swipe away the notification. “Am I giving you another card?”

Wind whips against my chest as Ursula snaps her head from side to side. She goes from her thumb to her pointer finger, chewing the nail down as she manically tries to make a very simple decision.

Eventually she turns away completely. “Okay. Hit me.”

So she’s not even going to look, huh? Well, I wouldn’t blame her; there’s one two left in the deck, and that’s basically the only card she can win with. I slide the card off the top, push it towards the table, flip it over and press it to her stack.

The two of clubs. Twenty one.

Noland shakes his head and laughs. “Blackjack. Don’t bother giving me another; I know when I’ve lost.”

Ursula whirls around in her chair, but instead of relief or excitement, she just looks exhausted. She lazily scrapes her cards up, hands them to me, and breathes a sigh that says she’s still got at least one more round to go. I shuffle the cards in, place them face-down in front of both of the players, and get ready for another round.

----------------------------------------

“Wow. That looks like it took years off your life.” Noland notes and reaches over to pat Ursula on the back. “And that’s what it looks like when you win. How have I known you for this long without learning how horrible you are with gambling?”

“Because I avoid it like the plague for this exact reason?” Ursula groans with her head on the table. “Next time Shelby needs someone to test something out, you and March can volunteer. While I’m not even in the same room. Better yet, don’t even tell me that it’s going to happen. That way I can live in ignorant bliss.”

I shuffle the cards one last time and hand them back to Noland. He shakes his head and holds up a hand, preventing me from doing exactly that.

“Nah, keep ‘em. We sell those at the gift shop, and you’re probably going to need a deck to work with your skill. Especially if you eventually get to higher odds”

“True, true.” I pocket the deck, then tap Ursula on the shoulder. “The game still hasn’t paid out, so I guess I have to formally announce a winner. Which means you have to see if your Worth doubles in value, or if you just get Noland’s Worth instead.”

She groans, but summons her Class Card anyway. “I’m watching it. You guys watch my Worth.”

“I’m watching it.” March offers helpfully. “It hasn’t changed at all since it got summoned. Hey, for the next game, could it be something a little more skill intensive?”

I raise an eyebrow as I open my class card to try and finalize the game. “Sure, I guess. Do you have anything in mind?”

“Any kind of actual card game. I wonder if I’d have to build two decks with a perfect matchup, or if I could make one terrible one and a really good one.” March leans forward and starts tracing her pointer finger along the table. “Do you have to be fully aware of the rules before, or do we just have to agree that it’s fair?”

“Probably depends on if I’m actually presenting the game, or just overseeing it.” I tap through my screens, but no new popups have appeared. Pearl probably has to do something. “Since there’s only a rule against cheating, we could easily transfer Worth from person to person by setting up a game and having one person throw. But… hrm.”

The implications of that aren’t all… great. Since we can’t freely exchange Worth, I now have one of the only known ways to extort from someone. Sure, Noland could charge out the ass for making an account, but my games could be easily manipulated. The system wouldn’t just let that happen, would it?

…Actually, yeah, I could easily see it letting that happen. I look up and around the room as Pearl finally seems to get the message, and my skill descends upon the piles of Worth like a pack of rabid bees. Noland watches with rapt interest as his pile disappears one by one, flickering out of existence as Ursula’s begins to glow one at a time.

“That’s… weird.” She says slowly, her voice muffled by the table. “My Worth is going up, but I don’t have access to any more coins. Is it actually doubling how much each coin is worth?”

“I mean, that was one of the options.” I say as my skill loosens its hold on the game. “It does kind of screw up the option of giving over non-Worth coins as prizes.”

With the game said and done, Ursula is now the proud owner of a hundred iron fives worth ten Worth each. Everyone’s focus shifts from me to the pile of ‘impossible coins’, as uttered by Noland with a twinkle of dangerous interest in his eye. I take the moments where I’m not in the spotlight to open up my Class Card one more time, then swipe over to the communication tab and open up a message window to Clutter.

“What did it feel like watching the game?” I type, hoping that Pearl understands I’m trying to talk to her.

“...Oh! Um, it felt fine. The system didn’t do anything weird to me, if that’s what you mean.” She eventually says with a little embarrassment. “All I did was watch for cheating, and since you were the only one touching the cards, it was really easy to do that. I have a feeling it’ll be a lot harder when there’s the option for other people to cheat, though.”

I nod and delete the message before starting to type again. “Good to know, thank you. Don’t be afraid to speak up more. I like hearing your voice.”

Pearl is silent for a moment, then giggles and leans against… something. I can feel all her actions when she’s talking to me like this, but I can’t actually see anything in her shell. It’s a pretty damn weird sensation, now that I think about it.

“Okay, I will! I think Noland’s skill is really, really useful. Probably more useful than anyone else’s depending on how long you’re stuck here before you can go back, since I don’t think there’s any way to actually earn Worth on a world without system overreach.” She says confidently. “But yours is important in a different way that you already touched on; giving people Worth. You should ask them what happens when someone goes over a threshold here, because that opens a lot of really weird doors to play around with.”

“All very good points. I’ll bring them up as soon as they’re done marveling over the coins.” I type, then delete the sentence after giving Pearl a moment to read it. “I’m going to swap over to my skills now. Just tell me if you want a back-and-forth and I’ll come up with some excuse to step away.”

From the way Pearl bubbles with joy, it seems like that meant a lot to her. Her warmth brings a small smile to my lips as I press on High Stakes to see just what’s changed. And… it’s not quite what I expected. Instead of adding on to my first skill, there’s a brand new second one right underneath it. Slightly different, but new nonetheless.

High Stakes: Outward