I rubbed my hands together.
“This is gonna be good.”
Basil looked at me and shrugged. “Whatever you say, boss.”
I lightly punched his arm. “C’mon, get excited! We’re here to gamble.”
“Gambling is frowned upon, where I’m from.”
“Yeah, well, you also spent a hundred years without gaining a level. I’m exciting, this place is exciting. Let’s go earn a bunch of money.” I jogged ahead, passing the first ranks of jingling, jangling, musically jarring slot machines.
“That’s not how it works,” Basil said, before sagging his shoulders in defeat. He sighed and started after me.
On the third row of machines, I finally spotted one that looked interesting. It had a highly-detailed moving image of a massive wolf fighting a dragon in an apocalyptic scene. The gray wolf was wreathed in a nimbus of lighting, while the dragon had a fire aura, and the two were clashing in an epic battle, with the rocky landscape crashing and erupting far below. Even the sky roiled with black storm clouds and forks of lightning. It was all set at around sunset, for stunning orange, red, and purple hues.
“Now this looks incredible.” I took a seat at the machine, then took it in. The screen was five feet tall, curving well over my head in an immersive experience. As if it knew I was sitting there, the monsters started to fight. Well, animals? Creatures? The only thing that was monstrous was the size.
They were something like fifty feet tall. The wolf was, at the shoulder, at least. The dragon was probably actually like a hundred feet long, but with arms near the head. It was an odd mix of European and traditional Chinese design elements. The wolf was gray with black striping. It had brilliant golden eyes, matching those of the dragon. The two backed away in what looked to be a very convincing video, then flew in and clashed with a visible shockwave erupting from their fight.
“This is amazing.” I finally saw the flashing digits in the bottom left. It only read ‘10’ in a flashing red block font. I pulled a chip from my inventory, noting that it came out in increments of ten.
“That is less amazing.”
“What is?” Basil leaned over from his seat, having broken the spell from his own screen.
“The chips are in increments of ten. Which means it’s artificially inflated, nominally to make bigger numbers.”
“That’s a lot of big words. What do you mean? In plain speech, please.”
“The casino makes the chips artificially bigger- that’s why it’s the same cost as a copper, but you can only spend in units equivalent to a silver. It’s so you see bigger numbers and feel a bigger dopamine hit.”
“Still big words.”
I sighed. “Big number make players feel good. Casino make small numbers bigger to make players feel better.”
“Got it. Why do we care?”
“It’s just textbook manipulation. We are in a casino, though, so I guess it’s to be expected.”
Basil stared at me for a moment. “Well, go on then. Try it!”
My point had gone completely over his head. “Fine.” I put the chip into the machine, which made a pleasing money chime sound. Three buttons lay on the console in front of me, but only one lit up: the one labeled ‘10.’ I pushed it.
On the video the two creatures began fighting with a thunderous roar. I nearly covered my ears it was so loud. Three rolling bars appeared on the left, then three more on the right. The left set had white, gray, and black coloration, while the right set were red, green, and orange. They matched the colorsets of the animals fighting. Finally, two healthbars appeared near the top. I had to crane my head back to see them. Each said ‘100.’
“Looks like a fight is about to go down.”
Two buttons appeared on the screen. One said ‘Wolf, 4/1’ while the other said ‘Dragon, 1/4’.
“Four to one odds in favor of the dragon. Well, I have to go with…” I paused and a smirk slid onto my face. “The underdog.”
Basil groaned. I laughed, then tapped the Wolf button. Their fight began in earnest. All six slots stopped, with 2, 1, and 5 on the left, and 4, 2, and 2 on the right. The dragon swarmed in, slashing with its claws across the side of the wolf. It scored a hit, taking a chunk of the wolf’s HP.
The fighters reset, and the bars started rolling once more. The two circled, then paused in dramatic fashion as the bars came to a stop. 1, 5, and 6 on the left, with 5, 4, and 5 on the right. The dragon was successful once more. It breathed fire, startling the wolf and sending it tumbling backward. It was suddenly down to 60% health. I started to bite my nails as I watched the action unfold.
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The two took their places again, this time going for a yin-and-yang type lunge, with the wolf above and dragon below. They paused in place, waiting for the bars to stop. 1, 3, and 1 on the left, with 2, 3, and 4 on the right. The wolf’s jaws opened wide, then seemed to unhinge as it lunged in and bit the dragon along its body. Blood sprayed in a fantastic show of gore. The dragon roared in response, shaking itself loose. Then they circled and prepared for the next attack.
5, 4, and 1 on the left, 2, 4, and 5 on the right. They both lunged, missing entirely. I laughed as they both took on surprisingly human looks of frustration and bewilderment. Then they were ready once more, reared back with forelimbs presented. 1, 4, and 6 on the left, and I groaned when I saw the right click into place. 4, 4, and 5. The dragon raked its claws across the wolf’s chest, causing another spray of blood. The wolf howled in indignation, pushed the dragon back, and readied. The wolf’s health bar flashed orange, with a blinking 40%, while the dragon was still at a healthy 80%.
“C’mon, wolfy!”
I clenched my hands, hoping for the best. They prepared for the next round, crouching in place for a lunge.
3, 5, and 1 on the left, with 1, 6 and 5 on the right. They sailed past each other, having calculated wrong. It only took a moment for them to correct and reset.
“This is quite exciting,” Basil said from his seat. I looked over and saw he was watching the same fight on his screen, though it showed he had bet on the dragon.
“You bet on the dragon? Traitor!”
Basil looked hurt. “Of course I did. It’s the odds-on winner.”
I shook my head and returned my attention to the fight. “Come on, wolfy!”
2, 4, and 1 on the left, 6, 5, and 1 on the right. Both faked a lunge, rearing back to stop the other in unison. The dragon was ready quicker, with the bars going in super speed. The wolf was overbalanced, and its slot read 2, 3, and 5. The dragon, on the other hand, sped in cloaked in a firey glory. 4, 4, 4. It rolled triple, and shot straight through the wolf’s chest. The wolf exploded in a cloud of blood and fire.
“Damn!”
“Yeah!” Basil shouted at the same time. My credits went away, while Basil’s tipped up to 12.5.
“Do you feel good about yourself?”
He grinned cheekily at me. “Of course, my team won.”
I growled, feeling like it was my own loss. I clenched the console, keeping my head down. He’s a friend, calm down, I thought to myself. I breathed a few times to get the strange surge of emotion to dissipate. When I felt calm again, I looked at what I had been blankly staring at.
Three buttons. ‘10’ was the cheapest. ‘50’ had a little plus icon below it, but the most expensive was labeled ‘100’ with a little picture of a man below it. I didn’t know what those icons meant, but I had a feeling. The screen went black for a moment, then the dragon and wolf were back, battling as if nothing had happened. My total read ‘490’ in my inventory.
“Might as well try it,” I said. I had a feeling the gambling here was not strictly numbers based. I took 100 chips out of my inventory and fed them into the machine. It ticked up with each token. When the final one was counted and chimed, the third button lit up. I smiled and pressed it. The two options appeared again, with a small variation. ‘Wolf, 5/1’ and ‘Dragon, 1/5’ were displayed. I tapped the wolf button again. The world around me went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing at the wolf’s side. It was massive, shoulder-to-shoulder with me. I looked down, clear to the ground. We were hundreds of feet in the air, though it was hard to be sure just how high. I was somewhere around sixty feet tall, if the measurements held true from earlier. The dragon was an imposing sight. It glared at us, flames licking out the sides of its mouth.
“Let’s do this wolfy.”
I saw the slot bars appear in the corner of my vision, as well as repeated well out near the horizon. The ones near the horizon were truly gargantuan, seeming to stretch into the heavens. They started to roll, though I noticed I had four bars on our side, versus the three on the other.
I got into a fighting stance, with the wolf crouching in preparation. We took off, closing the distance, and went for a pincer attack. The dragon, startled by my sudden appearance, was unprepared and went between us. We paused, mid-attack. The bars settled. 1, 4, and 6 on the left. Then the fourth bar, my bar, came to a stop. 4. I cheered internally, still frozen in the moment. The dragon’s bars slowed, then stopped.
1, 5, and 6.
I wrapped my arms around the dragon in a grapple, while the wolf slammed into it with claws bared. Sixteen slashes were rent in the dragon’s hide. The dragon roared and thrashed wildly, tossing me to the side and sending the wolf scrambling. We readied for the next attack. This time, we were on opposite sides of the dragon. I ran in, the wolf doing the same. The dragon coiled up.
Time froze. The bars rolled, rolled… stopped. 3, 6, and 5, with my bar stopping on 3. The dragon stopped on 5, 3, and 2. The wolf went low while I threw my shoulder in, slamming into the dragon. It toppled, taking damage again. I saw the health bar at the top right of my vision change to 60%.
“We’re doing this!”
I rolled to my feet, once again on the far side of the dragon. It eyed me warily, practically ignoring the wolf. I felt a sense of dangerous intent rise from the dragon. The bars rolled. I felt the thunder overhead. Lightning split the apocalyptic sky. Our bars stopped, and I felt a surge of energy and pride. 6, 6, and 4, with my bar stopping on 6.
“We’re coming for you now!”
CRITICAL ATTACK!
The dragon’s bars stopped with 4, 3, and 3. We unfroze, and I flew in with a superman punch. Just before I impacted, lightning struck my fist. The wolf slammed in with fangs bared. I connected, feeling the power surging through my body. This clash of titans wasn’t over, but it was possibly the most exhilarating thing I had ever experienced. The dragon’s tail caught me out of nowhere, sending me flying. I took a hard hit, halving my health. The dragon, on the other hand, had a flashing red bar with ‘10%’ blinking away.
“Son of a bitch, that hurt,” I said as I stood. I put a hand to my chest and felt the squish of broken ribs. The pain was blinding.
“One more hit,” I hissed out. I raced in, gathering power in my hands. The wolf was closer, jumping with its mouth open. The dragon was fast, however, and it went for a headbutt. The two skulls collided in a thunderous crack that sounded like an earthquake. The dragon fell to the earth far below while the wolf howled in celebration. I slid to a stop next to the wolf. It nuzzled me, and I felt my health restored.
“Nice job, wolfy.”