Year 454
Entering through the extravagant entrance, the flashing lights inside the casino almost blinded Adam. There were crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. The lights were uniformly golden. The floor was white marble and glistened under the golden illumination.
There were hundreds of machines, with levers on the sides. Various people would go up to the machines and pull the lever, which would then make the machine generate 9 random images. If you get the same three images either, horizontally, vertically or diagonally you would win.
Adam’s eyes never left the machine with the lever as he studied it carefully.
“That there is called a slot machine. It costs 2 chips to play and is one of the cheapest games to play here in Jack’s Gold, though the odds are quite hard to beat.” The guard spoke, realizing Adam was staring at the slot machine. ‘A country bumpkin indeed.’ The guard sighed. He too had been from the primitive lands colonized by Wales, so he understood the excitement and confusion that came with coming to a casino and by extension the city.
“I see. Thank you for telling me, Mr.…?” Adam wanted to thank the man, but realized he had forgotten to ask for his name. ‘Did he tell me his name, or did I not ask?’
Seeing Adam's awkwardness, the guard let out a small chuckle before continuing. “My name is Aaron.”
“Thank you, Mr. Aaron.”
“No worries. Those green tables there are were some customers play card games, such as poker, black and many others.” Said Aaron, giving Adam a basic rundown of all the various games available at Jack’s Gold.
‘I’ve heard of these playing cards. I didn’t know they were used so widely in casinos though.’ Adam thought back to the deck of cards he had back in the village. It was gifted to him by his father, who had once visited the city. Although he didn’t know how to use them, he carried the deck as a memento from father.
“Mr. Aaron, I’ve heard a couple people claim this a place to get rich. Is it true?”
“You can drop the Mr., just Aaron is fine. Well people do claim that this is a place to get rich, but more often than not it’s not. Quite on the contrary I would go so far as to claim, that this is a place where people get poor.” Smirked Aaron at the naivety of Adam. “Think about it. If everyone who came here got rich, why would we continue to operate. This is not a charity.”
“Ah, I see. So, do we cheat?” According to the brief rundown of the casino given to Adam by the coachman, he claimed that the casino often tended to use underhanded methods to ensure that the customers never won too much.
“Hmm, I’m not too sure about other casinos, but Jack’s Gold never cheats anyone. We are staunch believers in Lady Luck and with it comes belief in fairness. All our employees as well. We believe that Lady Luck will never abandon us, never forsake us. It’s because of her blessing that we our able to operate in such as extravagant fashion. If we cheated to ensure victory, where would lady luck play her role?” Spoke Aaron with reverence in his eyes.
‘Lady Luck? Back in the village, everyone believed in the Lord on the Moon. Do people in the city not believe in the Lord on the Moon?’ From birth to youth and finally to adulthood, Adam had believed in the Lord on the Moon. This was his first time hearing about this Lady Luck, who belonged to a different religion.
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“Mr. Aaron, do people in the city not believe in the Lord on the Moon?” Adam asked curiously.
“Lord on the Moon? Ah yes. The Lord on the Moon is a god worshipped by the primitives from ancient times. I didn’t think I’d find a believer of the Moon here.” Aaron laughed.
“So, then who do the people in the city worship?” Asked Adam. ‘Why did he call me the believer of the Moon?’
“There is only one officially accepted religion in Wales, and that is the Holy God and the church of fire. While they don’t prevent the worship of other religions in private, any public display would probably lead to you being locked up.” Aaron spoke, as his voice grew grim. Being a staunch believer in Lady Luck, he wanted to use his money to build a church of luck to show his belief.
“So, are there any believers in the Lord on the Moon?”
“Highly unlikely. Most likely your best bet would be to travel to the primitives’ land to search for believers of the Moon.”
‘Primitive Lands? Does he mean Rains Village?’ Adam understood the difference in knowledge between those in the city and those in the village. ‘I still have a lot to learn. I better work hard.’
“And we are here. That office his Manager Smith’s office. I have to head back now, can’t leave Dante alone for too long.” Aaron quickly hurried back to his post.
Adam approached the white wooden door, in the secluded golden hall. He knocked 2 twice.
A voice came from the other side of the white wooden door. “Enter.”
Adam proceed to open, and he saw a large office, with the same interior as the casino. A large crystal chandelier hung on the celling of the office. The lights were bright golden, and the floor was made of white marble.
There were various works of arts hung around the office. There were even sculptures made of gold lying about here and there in the office. At the end of the office was a white marble table, with a red velvet chair.
On the chair sat a relatively old man. He had blackish-gray hair, neatly combed back. His facial features were sharp, and he had a thick grey beard that hide most of his cheek and jawline. He wore a pair of bi-focal lens. He was dressed in a black pin-striped three-piece suit, with a cravat instead of tie. There was a golden chain spanning from the lapel of his suit to his breast pocket. The man could be considered handsome despite being well over his prime.
“Mr. Smith, my name is Adam. I was asked to find you by my village elder, Collins, with regards to finding a job.” He spoke as he handed the noted he got from the villager elder.
“Hmm, so you are the boy Collins wrote about. You do look decent, so putting you as a waiter could be arranged easily. The only problem would be your social skills.” Manager Smith spoke, taking a glance at Adam and continued working on the pile of files he had in front of him. “Anyway, take his letter and deliver it to Oliver at the chip counter. He will make arrangements for you to spend the night. And tomorrow we can decide where to place you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Smith.” Adam received the letter from Manager Smith, and gave him a slight bow, before proceeding to leave.
……………………………………………………..
Year 456
In the dark rotten dungeon.
Adam’s cold and indifferent gaze fell on the grotesque. The illusory ace of spades shot towards the bars of the cell, and in one smooth motion cut enough of them more a man to slip out.
Adam withdrew his gaze grotesque man and proceeded to exit the cell.
It was at this moment that the grotesque man quickly spoke. “Oi Adam, let me out. You know you can break out of here alone. I’m a rank 3 Astral of the ‘Malformed Road’. Being a Rank 3 ‘Deformed’, give me extremely power regenerative and strength-based abilities. Your Rank 3 ‘Collector’ doesn’t have that much fire power.”
Adam didn’t reply, but he swept his hand towards the grotesque man, and 10 illusory cards of the suite of spade appeared around him. The cards were Ace, King, Queen, Jack and the numbers ranging from 10 to 5.
The illusory spade cards hovered around Adam, before shooting towards the grotesque man. The bars on the cells, and the chaining holding him up were cut apart, freeing the grotesque man.
The grotesque man immediately felt power swelling within him. His face revealed a wicked grin, as he stared at Adam.
A cold light past Adam’s eyes, and he disappeared from the view of the grotesque man. He suddenly appeared behind the grotesque man, used his right hand to cover his eyes.
The grotesque man didn’t even have time to respond before he heard the words. “Don’t move or your head might roll.”
The grotesque man wanted to struggle, but with his vision blocked, he could feel something sharp gently graze his neck. There were seven illusory cards from the spade suit circling his neck, with distance of about 1-2mm. A word from Adam and his head would certainly roll.
The grotesque man was no fool, he immediately realized that the sharp objects near his neck were the illusory spade cards. The grotesque man knew firsthand how terrifying those illusory playing cards were. They cut thorough the Astral binding cuffs likes they were nothing. Even though he could activate his Astral abilities, he wasn't sure if he would make it in time to prevent the illusory cards from severing his head.
“Don’t try anything funny, Arthur. The second you stop being useful or even if the thought of betrayal pops into your head, just know that I can kill you whenever I want to.” Although the grotesque man named Arthur couldn’t see Adam, he could imagine the indifferent eyes, from the coldness in his voice. Arthur didn’t for a second doubt whether or not Adam would keep his promise. All he knew was that he would die if he tried anything.
“……. I understand.” Arthur dejectedly said.