(Heaven's Key, Streets)

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

When I step foot into the street again, I see that unsurprisingly it is day. The city is lively again, but I ignore the people going past the streets and make my way to the inn, ready for some well deserved rest...

~~~

A mountain of golden life chips, 100,000 in number, towered in the darkness. A magical circle layered of several rings was inscribed in white sigils on the inky black floor. Slowly, the life chips became bright, illuminating the dark space in a golden radiance. It turned pure white and then shrunk in the form of a man. On his knees and elbows, the white haired man breathed heavily. His face was contorted in shock. In this weird space the light was inverted, and the features that were supposed to be lighted were instead darkened.

From his side, a stern faced, well built, middle aged man stepped forward on the dark ground. He came to Gray.

"It is too bad you failed Gray. How was the kid?" The Head of the Enforcement Division asked him.

"Wolfe?" Gray wondered at him, and taking some time to compose himself, he stood up on his legs. "He is unbelievable. He isn't an Episteme, but something higher. He outclassed me as much as I'd outclass an Aleator."

"He is that good?" Wolfe inquired further.

"I am guessing the rule change followed by waves of Introspects is next? If he manages to conquer that I am going to move from the city. I never want to face him again."

"It is your right to do so. Here are you chips back." Saddened to hear those words, the Head transferred a veritable mountain of life chips back to Gray.

"Please write a report as soon as possible about how the duel went."

"I will. I'll do that first and then take a long rest. I apologize for not being able to fulfill the request."

"It happens to the best of us." Saying that, the two went on their way side by side, along the inky black path whose sides were marked by white sigils. The white portal of the exit was off in the distance.

~~~

(Heaven's Key, Raven's Eye Casino)

[https://i.imgur.com/M2BOPcR.png]

After the battle with the Episteme level enforcer, I spent the following day and night fast-forwarding in bed. Then I frittered away the morning playing the 1 chip duels with Dale's group. I was going easy on them and just biding time until the Enforcement Division's next move.

"Duel?" I offered, pushing a single chip in. It was only noon, so we still had plenty of game time left.

"Shall we take a break instead? We've been playing for a few hours." Dale suggested. "I have a membership at a restaurant that serves citizens exclusively, so why don't we have it there?" The Enforcement Division’s next move is here! I’ve been reading his mind and noticed he got a message to lead me out.

"Why not? I'll go with you." I agreed.

"Sure."

(Heaven's Key, Outside the Raven's Eye Casino)

[https://i.imgur.com/5qjPIYP.png]

As soon as we stepped out, a huge crowd greeted us. I looked around, and realized that the entire casino had been encircled by hundreds of people. Thinking I was distracted, Dale and the guys took a chance to run and vanish into the crowd. I could have shot him, but there is no point in picking a fight with people running away when I have actual enemies coming after me. I have more important things to deal with.

"He's here!" Somebody yelled out.

In front of me there was a line of people, all armed with pistols, staring at me like they wanted to fire. As soon as they realized that I had stepped out, the line of people started to contract and converge to my position. I wasn't worried, what could these losers do to me? Firing a bullet would just start a resolution match. Even if all of these were as tough as the white haired guy, it would have made no difference to me, but I seriously doubt it. I do not know how good he was, but he was way better than the first enforcer, so he was probably highly rated.

Besides the people who were armed and looking ready to start a fight, behind them was a throng of onlookers, murmuring and whispering. Excited yells came my way.

"Is that him?"

"He is just a kid!"

"He beat two enforcers, one of which was Gray!"

I caught that name from one of the onlookers. Was the white haired guy Gray? The ghost in the park I met in the other timeline, Mickey, told me about some of the Epistemes. I remember him saying that Gray was renowned to be the best player in the city. I really caught a big fish yesterday, haven't I? In that case I'll be safe with these guys. If my guess is right, they intend to barrage me with duel after duel in order to wear me down.

...It is a reasonable strategy. Take the white haired guy. He could probably beat anyone, but even he'd start to slip after 12h of constant gameplay. After a certain point, fatigue would set in and talent and skill would cease to matter.

But I am not like him. I literally don't need to sleep. Fatigue is not a factor for me. I can keep going forever.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I step forward and face the person who seems to be in the lead. The people carrying the guns stood out from the crowd as they were wearing golden military uniforms. On their chest was a badge showing what seemed to be a chain made of interlinked chips. On them it was inscribed "May We Never Change." in Latin. It is a very NPC-like phrase to use as a motto.

"Euclid, you are guilty of opposing the laws of this city! Give up and surrender yourself to judgment!" The mook in the lead yelled.

"What law am I guilty of breaking?" I wondered. "Massacre in the streets?"

I feel my body being filled with bloodlust. I clench and unclench my fists imagining tearing him apart. I grin demonically.

"Start it!" I roar out. The leader makes the first move.

Bang!

The resolution match starts.

(Heaven's Key, Celestial Realm)

[https://i.imgur.com/SAKXLV6.png]

It is time to start the based slaughter! I will first tear apart this guy, and then everybody else out there!

This city of heaven, this game of life, I will drench in blood with my own hands! Shrouded in golden light, the matches I've been waiting for sleeplessly for a day and a half finally begin. A small angel's feather flutters past me, but I ignore it. The reason for the golden background and the white nebulae do not matter. In the overflowing light, I only attend to my opponent.

I am really happy right now. Being tackled by a mob of NPCs is a classical experience in regular games, but so far I've been having weird opponents. I am glad that the NPCs are finally acting with more vigor. What powers will this guy have? The first guy had special eyes, Gray had his guns and helicopters, this guy should have something interesting as well. I hope it will be something I will be able to use in the real world.

As I am on the button, I let the guy make the first move, intending to enjoy whatever attack he comes up with.

He gives me an intense look of determination, gritting his teeth. I can tell he is genuine, so I await his move in great excitement.

His eyes roll upward, showing the whites.

Huh?

Then he sprawls face down on the table. Foam is coming out of his mouth.

Well, this certainly is not what I expected.

Is he dead?

I expand my personal cloud all around the table. And through my disembodied cells I detect he isn't breathing. His heart is not beating and his blood is not running. He is dead.

I convert my eyes to the golden Mind Reading Eyes and see that his brain is inactive. He is definitely dead.

"Ghhhhhhhhhhh---!!!" I make the biggest groan of my life. I was stoked for a battle, but is these fools' strategy to literally waste my time? The NPCs sure are inventive, trying to win by making the player quit the game! Who designed this shitty scenario?

I think about what I want to do. Right now, the option to just quit the game and play something else is heavily my favorite.

But after some deliberation, I decided to just wait out at least this one guy. It is like logging into a HU match on Stars and having the other guy sit out the whole heads-up tourney. I'll consider it a part of my job as a gamer. Maybe not everybody will use this same trick of suicide? And even if they did, they can't have too many chips on their person because the blinds increase exponentially as time goes on.

If it is something like 100 chips, it would take me a bit over 3 hours to blind the guy out if the timeouts are 5 minutes. I can wait just this one time. If literally everybody is trying the same thing, I'll just find a more interesting game to play.

So I wait.

1 minute passes...

2 minutes pass...

3...

4...

With my only company being the corpse on the opposite side of the table, I wait patiently. Five minutes pass, and nothing happens. After a few minutes more, I start suspecting some kind of rule change.

Have the timeouts changed? If so, how long are they now? Let me wait for a while longer.

An hour passess...

2 hours pass...

3...

4...

My patience is really godly, but I am starting to get unnerved. I've been waiting 4h already and the system hasn't auto folded his hand even once. If a sixth of a day is not enough, then should I wait a full day? If not that then a week? A month? Or even longer?

[Pathos check DC 2 Succeeded - Sampled 2.09]

Though I am tempted, I am not going to quit the game over just this. But I am not going to wait for the timeout either.

The main challenge here is finding out how long the timeout actually is. If I can find out how long it actually is I can make an informed decision whether I want to wait it out or stop playing. I take a look at the corpse.

It is too bad I can't ask him. But it is not like he exploded himself. The information I need should still be somewhere inside his brain. I just need to put some effort into digging it out.

My personal cloud is like a pseudo-nanofog, so it might be possible to do this using it. My opponent is a corpse, and has no way of resisting my intrusion. If I focus I should be able to accomplish it.

> Me: Controller, do you remember how in the stories the Inspired can use nanofogs to disassemble objects? I'll try the same thing with my personal cloud.

After a few moments I got a reply.

> Ctrl: It is a good idea. I'll make a program so the brain data can be neatly stored. Wait a bit.

I waited there for a while longer. He must have paused, because he was quite fast in getting back to me.

> Ctrl: I've created the data storing program. I am ready. Take it apart in any order that you like and it will recreate the model the brain emulator could use.

I nod.

> Me: I'll start then. First I'll disassemble the skull.

I've done some nanotechnology studies and have a good model of how nanobots work. Since I am doing it all through my imagination, I do not have to worry about the difficulties of maneuvering them into place. I use my personal cloud to create a simulacra of a nanofog around the skull. It is quite dense and black, but I am not relying on my eyes for this operation. I probe around in my mind and find that I can control the nanofog efficiently. On mental command I put it to work.

This requires intense focus and inflames my being. I can tell that I wouldn't have been capable of this before my mental modifications.

I convert the scalp and the top of the skull itself into more of the nanofog. I can see the brain underneath.

> Me: Done with skull. I'll channel you the data as I go along.

> Ctrl: Ready.

I did the following steps very slowly and meticulously. A real nanofog would be capable of doing this work without need for supervision and would be done in a couple of minutes. I on the hand had to do the work neuron by neuron, and synapse by synapse. I patiently devoured the brain, digitizing it as I went along.

Only after I had completely cleaned out the skull did I allow myself to lean back in my seat and unwind.

> Ctrl: Good work. You might not have been aware of it, but you were working for 53 hours straight. A remarkable achievement. I had to pause a few times to rest myself. You did great.

It is good that I am getting praised, but...

Did he say 53 hours? I look at the cards and the antes. They are still there. Looking underneath the cards with my personal cloud, I confirm that both mine and his are the same as before.

> Me: Neither the cards nor the stacks haven't changed. That means, even after two full days, the autofold still hasn't happened. Could the timeout be infinite?

> Ctrl: I doubt it, that would make this game absolutely broken. It means the Enforcement Division could get rid of anybody by sending a suicider. If that was the case, there would have been no need to fill our pockets by sending actual good players after us first. It is probably just long.

Yeah, it makes sense. I must be a bit dazed from the long workload to not realize something so simple. Even though I don't need sleep, my focus will still be weak after such a long period of intense work. I should get back on track quickly. I shake my head and consider our next goal.

> Me: We have the data. Put it in a brain emulator and we'll query the brain itself for the answers.