(Heaven's Key, Shadow realm)

[https://i.imgur.com/gxNQlUb.png]

After the bullet was fired from a gun, I found myself in the familiar duel space. Looking around, I am surprised that the background is the familiar deep space with bluish nebulas. I thought that resolution matches would be different, but maybe the reason for the background change last time was different. I take a good look at my assailant. Unlike the white haired guy, I am not going to let this guy off. I am going to send him straight to the grave. I am going to kill for the first time.

As I think that, my killing intent surges. Forget those tiny duels against Dale's group. This is what a real match should feel like.

My chips here are my life and blood. Even if I beg, the assassin is not going to let me off. There is only one way to survive, and that is to kill him first.

I calm myself down and take a deep breath. As I do, the well dressed pig on the other side gives a snort and takes a glance at his hand. He looks like a stereotypical NEET, but rather than grease stained sweaters and years-old clothing frayed around the edges, he is wearing a fresh monochrome suit. I think it looks quite decent on him, I myself am wearing the same casual clothes as in the real world, so I lose out versus him on the fashion front. Still, he should consider getting a diet. I am not sure if that is even possible in this city though. He was probably a NEET before he died and got stuck in this form.

So then...that probably gives me a good estimate of his ability. Since people wouldn't want to look like him, and he himself would probably want to change his appearance to something better, I am guessing he can't do form changing using True Belief Modification like I can. This is just a conjecture rather than an actual fact, I can only interpret this situation as making it more likely than if he had regular body mass.

"Check." He makes the first move.

> Modifying the eyes.

As I get a message from the controller, the world becomes covered in a thin layer of blue, which is the UV light as I perceive it.

Using my thumb to twist the cards upwards, I take a peek at my hand. Trash unsuited 2s 9h. As I close it, I make sure to put the red UV markings on it. Rather than stamping my fingers on the cards, through practice I've managed to make it look natural, and I can mark the pigments using only a light brush. My enhanced dexterity is really convenient here. It would have taken a lot of practice to make it inconspicuous otherwise.

I decide to fold this particular hand and we move to the next round.

8d 4h. I mark it again, the NEET guy calls, and we move on to the flop. We check all the way to the river and I lose to a T in his hand.

[https://i.imgur.com/QryrX0p.png]

The cards and the board demanifest, vanishing as if they were getting vacuumed into another dimension. Then two cards get spat out of the air to land right directly in front of me. The same happens for the NEET guy.

"Check." He takes a look at his hand and checks, looking at my reaction.

Ac 3d. On the button, I see that I got dealt a decent HU hand. During the couple of years I spent programming, I did have time to spend some of it playing against my agents, so I at least have the basics of various forms of poker down. As a player I am actually a lot worse than my own trained agents, but I can imitate them to a degree.

"Raise." Making sure to leave the marking on my hand, I pick out the 3 chips from my phantasmal pile of 736, and place them on the table and min-raise to 4.

"Call." The flop comes out next, the cards gently manifesting themselves on the table.

Ac Js 5s. The NEET guy checks, not hesitating, I put in a pot sized bet. He thinks for a bit and then folds.

Poker tends to be like that most of the time. Long periods of folding followed by brief bursts of intense action. It won't be long before the antes go up and become a significant part of our stack. At that point, the markings will play a decisive role. The quickly increasing antes are like the water level threatening to drown the players. The only way to stay above the water is to take the other players by the shoulder and lift yourself up.

Qc 6s...

3d 9d...

7s Jc...

2h 4h...

6d 6c...

The cards continue flowing, and I continue marking them. It won't be long until I have a decisive advantage against my opponent. HU situations really favor me, with Dale's group by the time I've finished marking the cards, the antes tend to have risen high. A lot of the time I've gotten put into a situation of having a good hand, but the interference from having too many players on the table caused the situation to go out of control. 1-on-1 you are never waiting for a good hand preflop, and the action is always flowing. This will maximize my edge.

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(Geoffrey POV - Heaven's Key, House in the suburbs)

[https://i.imgur.com/B3MVd2R.png]

"Here you go." My host and friend, Walter, placed a cup of tea in front of me. Seated at a table, the sweet aroma from it wafted into my nose. It takes some skill to make exotic teas really come to life, the ones manifested using the system tend to get stale after a while. I take a sip. "The flavor of your tea is as good as ever."

[https://i.imgur.com/U1WljP0.png]

"Thank you. I haven't seen you in a while Geoff. It must have been a few years. What have you been up to?"

"Just my work. Since I put in that request, I thought I'd come by and talk to you about it. I am curious who you sent after Euclid." The enforcement requests aren't that frequent of an occurrence, they usually happen one every few years on average. They are especially rare against newcomers who get passed into the true afterlife by the guides. Usually it is the citizens which get tired that start causing trouble.

Walter, a gray haired dandy like myself, tastes his own drink. After a bit he answers.

"You've met him a few times, I think. It was Louis." Louis, Louis...I remember him.

"Ah, I remember. He is the young man who came by a few times. Wasn't he just starting out his training?" I start to feel concern and show it on my face. "Are you sure about sending him out? Will he be fine?"

Walter looks at me for a bit, and laughs lightly at my expense. It seems my grasp on time must be more tenuous than I thought.

"Good one, Geoff. He finished his training over a 100 years ago. I think it was 150 years ago when I first introduced him to you." It is like thunder is running through me. I'll never not be shocked in situations such as these. I've lived in this city for a long time, and it seems it is true what they say about old people. Some of them can't remember yesterday, but can remember 20 years ago as if it were that.

"That is good to hear. What is his rank now?"

"Mid-Aleator." Very few people have the talent to become Epistemes, and most of the Introspects in the city cannot reach even the level of an Aleator no matter how hard they try. I myself couldn't become an Episteme. I remember being arrogant in my youth, but I realized that talent is something beyond people's control eventually. That was a long time ago. Now I can accept myself, and other people as they come.

"I suppose there is nothing to worry about against a newcomer then." I enjoyed my tea. The most important thing in life is to flow along. Even if you don't have talent, you can still live, and if real trouble arises, the Epistemes will take care of it. I used to think it was a tragedy that my desire could only get me so far, but then I turned around and realized that it would be hell if everyone were allowed to rise. If everyone had the talent of an Episteme, this world would long have ended. I used to hear stories about how the city was at the beginning, and am glad I wasn't there to witness it.

"If you don't mind telling me Walter, what is his speciality?" I inquired.

"Are you curious?" He teased me, raising his eyebrow.

"Of course." I smiled.

"His eyes. It took him 30 years, but he managed to improve his vision to a level where a reflection in another person's pupil is as good to him as we see regularly." Peering Walter's gray pupils as he said that, I could see a light reflection of myself.

(Heaven's Key, Shadow realm, Resolution duel with Louis)

[https://i.imgur.com/DjKSMVT.png]

Ghhhh...

The blinds have doubled twice and I've marked most of the cards, but I am not winning. I've started the game at 750, but since then I've fallen to 520.

The button comes over to me, and I get dealt my cards. I do not even have to look at them to know what they are Kc Qh, a good preflop hand heads-up. On the other side I see that he got Ks 2d. If I could get a king pair, I could take some of my losses back.

"Check."

"Raise." I min-raise to 16, he calls and we get taken to the flop. I hope that a king comes out there.

3s 5c Kd.

"Check." The NEET guy checks after thinking about it for a bit. It wouldn't be unusual for a player to bet anywhere between half a pot to a pot here. His hand is pretty strong, but it seems he is slow playing it for some reason. In that case I'll do it.

"Raise." I bet 16 chips, half a pot. I am keeping a poker face, but I expect he would at least call here. This bet is not unusual for me, I usually put in this much on both bluffs and value bets.

"Fold." What the hell? That was such a good setup, I should have won at least 50 chips on this hand. How is it possible that he folded this? Usually he plays like a calling station, just waiting for me to put money in. Most of my losses so far came from trying to bluff him out of a low pair. Why is he folding a high pair?

I've been looking at him this whole time, it doesn't seem like he is doing any kind of marking.

> Hey, what is my mental state? Is it possible that I am giving out some kind of tell? This fold was too good.

I ask the controller. It is his responsibility to take care of this.

> No, you are fine. You are a bit frustrated at being down so much, but I've been keeping hold of your facial expressions and body language. Absolutely nothing should be showing up.

I can't do anything but trust him. If he got it wrong, I am prepared to die here, but otherwise I'll reason as if nothing is wrong on my face.

The next couple of hands proceed as usual. The chips clank as they are moved around, and each of us folds to some light bets after missing the board. The blinds double from 4/8 to 8/16. I can already feel my entire stack being at risk. While at the start I was over 350bb deep, right now I have only 32bb to bet. If the blinds keep doubling, in a couple of revolutions, winning a hand will become a pure coin flip.

A new round starts. I am on the button and get dealt Ts Th. I look at what he has and see him holding 6c 6d. This is really good, my hand is dominating his. If we went all in preflop I'd be 80% favorite to win.

"Check."

In response, I min-raised him to 32. He calls.

6s Tc Td.

...Holy shit. I admit, if I'd been playing as a normal human, I'd have definitely given off a tell in this situation. I'd have straight up jumped out of my seat. Instead, I experience the expert work of the controller, and keep it perfectly cool at this huge stroke of luck in a death match.

I have quads, while he has a full house. Unless he can really see what I have, there is no way he can avoid going all in here.

"Check." I honestly feel annoyed that is slowplaying this particular hand.

"Raise." I bet 32 chips into a pot of 64.

"Fold." He just throws his hand away like it was trash.

Shivers run through me, and it feels like somebody splashed a bucket of cool water over me. I feel ants crawling up my spine.

It seems my dumb cheating method will not work. I am going to die.