Chances of Death: Seven Decks Book I

by S Bailey

  The waitress went to wait on a table, and Jen changed her focus to a table where she heard some traders talking. The big trader bragged, “With all these guild members in town, I’ve been able to sell all my supply. These last few months I haven’t had to go to The System Shop even one time to sell any surplus.”

  The bearded trader grunted, “You can’t hardly break-even at the System Shop after paying taxes, but I like to browse through the list of all the items for sale.”

  The big trader laughed, “Me too, but that’s one of the quickest ways to go broke!”

  The bearded trader said, “If I could just get the guilds and gamblers to bring me their loot to sell, instead of them all heading directly to the Shop interface selling their stuff and going right back out of the city to hunt monsters while hoping a person from Earth gets teleported in close to them.”

  “I heard a rainbow was spotted landing in Gango’s gang’s territory a few days ago.”

  “No one will challenge his territory, but the poor bastards with the bad luck of teleporting into there,” replied the other man shaking his head sadly.

  The big man changed the subject back to trade, and warned, “I wouldn’t even think about trading with someone that turned out to be a gambler though, be careful.”

  “You’re right, and I am very careful.” The traders started talking about some of their lazy employees, and Jen listened in on a few other conversations but didn’t hear anything else of interest.

  Jen messaged Sam with the information she overheard.

  “Well, at least it seems like no one is specifically looking for or expecting us,” replied Sam.

  “I hope not. All we can do is try to keep a low profile.”

  Sam just nodded knowingly in reply.

  After a few minutes of thought and silence, Jen said,” I think we should go towards the city gates, we can look for a guild team entering the city and simply follow them to this System Shop.”

  Sam nodded, “Works for me, Boss.”

  “Incoming!!” Jen yelled, as a crazed looking junkie ran into the restaurant and charged right towards Sam.

  Sam jumped up from his seat, quickly side-stepped, and punched the man full force knocking him back through the air, almost all the way back out the door. The waitress didn’t see what happened, but she saw the gambling junkie on the ground. She walked over, kicked him, and screamed uselessly at his unconscious body, “You god-damn gambler. What were you going to get? A few copper and euphoria from the system, and now you’ve probably lost your last ability point, and you will be taken to the city prison when the guards get here.”

  The waitress calmed down and turned to Sam, “Sir, I apologize. The hotel security usually catches these dirty gamblers before they even get close to our hotel.”

  Sam replied, “It is of no concern; I understand these kinds of things can happen,” as he waved off the waitress and left the hotel with Jen.

  As they were leaving, Jen heard the big trader say to his friend, “Damn! Did you see how fast that man moved?”

  His friend replied, “Sure did, and his punch was so powerful he must have knocked him 10 feet!”

  “Shit!” said Jen, and messaged Sam about what she heard. They circled back to a side entrance of the hotel, went back up to their rooms and changed clothes.

  Sam read a system message he had received after knocking the guy out.

  System Message

  ==

  A gambler has failed his quest. The system has received 1 ability point in luck, and you have received 1 ability point in luck from the unlucky gambler.

  Jen’s reply was simple: “We make our own luck!”

  They went out the side door to leave unnoticed, and Jen said, “I don’t think with our change in clothes anyone will recognize us, but we are out the money we paid for the room tonight. We’ll have to find another inn to stay at.”

  Sam nodded and said, “Their security was clearly shit anyways.”

  The System Shop was amazing, but simple to use. Near the center of the city was a small ornate building with a sign over the entrance that said “Safe Zone.” The inside of the building was much larger than the outside, and it was full of guild fighters and gamblers in front of podiums with storage rings or what Jen guessed were storage necklaces touching their podiums.

  Jen and Sam walked up to an empty podium, and they both touched the podium with their rings, and the system popped up a private message that only the two of them could read.

  System Message:

  Select one of the following:

  Gamble

  Buy

  Sell

  First, Jen selected “Sell.” A system screen opened with all the items in their inventory and a list of all their ability points and skill/spells, with an amount next to each item the system would pay for it.

  Jen did a mental dance, when she saw that the system would pay them the 1,000 silver for the Ganjo Bounty ticket they had received. Jen sold some of the other junk they had looted, but she decided to see if she could get a better price for Ganjo’s armor somewhere else. In all, they received a total of 1,035 silver.

  “We’re rich! We have like over $100,000 dollars,” she messaged Sam.

  Jen then selected the “Buy” option.

  A system screen opened with what appeared to be a never-ending list of items for sale. Jen selected the search function and entered the words “Information on the Seven Decks.” The next item list was still incredibly long. Jen gasped as she saw the cost of the second item on the list, which was a book titled Everything on Mana Channels, and she said to Sam, “Holy cow! That book costs 400 ability points!”

  Sam laughed. “You can just move that to your wish list.”

  Jen modified the search to limit the results to those items with information on the Seven Decks that cost less than 100 silver. The list was shorter, but Sam had an idea, “Jen, see if there is a sorting function based on reviews.”

  Jen started to call him an old stupid Boomer as she looked for the sorting option, but then said, “Shit! There it is. I don’t believe it.”

  Sam laughed again. “You Millennials think you know everything.”

  Jen groaned inwardly, “He’s never going to stop bragging about this.”

  At the top of the list was a book called, The Chronicles of the Seven Decks, by Joan of Arc for only 5 silver.

  Jen messaged Sam, “That’s so unreal! Do you think it might have been written by THE Joan of Arc?”

  “Possibly. But it costs like $500 dollars!”

  Jen nodded, “Maybe we’re not so rich?”

  “I don’t know. In medieval times back on Earth items like food and labor were very cheap, but rare items like books were very expensive.”

  “Let’s hold off on buying it until we’ve shopped some more.”

  “Agreed,” replied Sam.

  Another book Jen placed in her “wish list” was called Welcome to the System, by The System, and it cost 1 silver but had very mixed reviews.

  After a lot of searching, they ended up buying the Arc and System book. Most of the other books they were interested in cost much more.

  Jen messaged Sam, “Let’s read these books first, and then come back when we hopefully know what the hell is going on.”

  As they were heading towards another inn, referred to them by a cobbler, Jen flinched slightly at the sudden onslaught of emotion she was feeling from the people around her, as fireworks went off in the sky and a rainbow smashed down on a transfer pad near one of the guild halls.

  Sam messaged Jen, “Someone from Earth?”

  Jen shook her head and said, “No, wait for it………. There they are.”

  A small army of guild members were running out and surrounding the transfer pad, but instead of attacking the traveler, they faced out getting ready to defend them. Gamblers then started coming out of the woodwork looking to get their gambling-quest rewards.

  Jen and Sam stepped back in order to stay out of the chaos. Sam
looked at Jen and said, “Did you just get a gambling quest?

  Casino City System-wide Message:

  The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

  ==

  Gambling Quest: Deck Dropper Swarm

  ==

  Select your Fortune:

  Accept and kill the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 5x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 10! Odds of death 99.9%

  Accept and kill a defender protecting the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 3x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 3. Odds of death 85%

  Accept and knock down a defender protecting the Deck Dropper within 20 minutes, receive 2x the ability points you gamble and euphoria. Maximum bet 2. Odds of death 60%

  Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding chicken shit!

  ==

  Sam Selected “D,” and the quest was declined.

  ==

  Jen nodded her head in amazement and replied, “Yeah, I received the same quest. This System is flipping insane!”

  They watched as the guild guards defended the Deck Dropper. It was chaos; the guild guards didn’t know which gamblers were trying to kill the Deck Dropper, kill them, or just trying to knock them over and run off. The guild guards couldn’t attack anyone until they were attacked, or they would be arrested by the Casino City guards.

  Jen looked confused as she said to Sam, “I can’t imagine why any of them would try to kill the Deck Dropper or guild guards. Even if successful, the warnings posted everywhere say the Casino City Lord will execute anyone committing murder within the city, unless it’s self-defense.”

  Sam just shrugged, “Addicts will sometimes do anything for their next fix.”

  A large crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle as gamblers threw themselves at the guards; for the most part just trying to knock down one of them. Many of the spectators were making their own side bets on which gamblers would be killed or how many of the guild guards might be knocked down.

  Eventually, the guild guards clothed the Deck Dropper and helped her to her feet. A moment later, the time for completion of the gambling quest ended, and the remaining gamblers ran off. The guild members then quickly escorted the Deck Dropper back to their guild.

  Jen heard one observer say to his friend, “Do you think that was June Smith, The Acid Hawk, dropping from the second deck again?”

  His friend replied, “Who knows? I’ve heard that deck droppers constantly complain that our deck has dirty mana that makes them nauseous and tired all the time. By the time they jump back up to their deck, it is said that most swear they will never come back again.”

  Jen nudged Sam. “That wasn’t a traveler from Earth, but a deck dropper from a higher deck.”

  Sam looked at the possibly five dead gamblers and maybe another 15 wounded gamblers screaming or crawling on the ground and said, “That makes a lot more sense. I see some of the city guards heading this way. Let’s get out of here and find that inn.”

  Chapter 20:

  The More You Know

  The Chronicles was the first book in a series of books written by THE Joan of Arc. The author’s note explained that this first book had to be very basic or The System would have charged more for it than people on the first deck could afford, and there were 5 more books written by Joan of Arc, but the costs of those books rose drastically, and the cost somewhat mirrored what a very wealthy person could pay on each of the decks.

  Joan explained, “The System and the Seven Decks are a horrible ungodly place, but you can find peace in small villages or any cities that kill all the euphoria addicted gamblers on sight! Unfortunately, if fate has laid your path up the Seven Decks, your life will be filled with death, …. No one knows how The System was created or why it exists, so don’t waste valuable time trying to figure it out. It just is. What you really need to know about the Seven Decks and The System is…..well, I can’t tell you that, or you would never be able to afford this book from The System shop. Alternatively, let me explain what is happening on the First Deck…”

  Jen finished reading The Chronicle and summarized for Sam. “Basically this quarter year we heard about, is actually every 25 years.”

  Jen explained to Sam that every 25 years in the Decks, which equates to about 28 Earth years, The System teleports one of seven different intelligent beings from other worlds into the Seven Decks. “Oddly enough, Joan’s hypothesis is that the teleportation beam is somehow attuned to seven “home” planets via the seven colors of the rainbow. Anyways, The System teleports humans, elves, dwarfs, goblins, orcs, trolls, and gnomes into the wild zones around the cities that are dominated by their respective species. As a result, every 200 Earth years, humans get teleported into the Seven Decks.”

  Joan’s book stated that gnomes and elves have the lowest odds of dying upon their transfer to the first deck as a result of the solidarity within their cultures. The dwarfs and humans have the next lowest odds of dying, which isn’t that great, since over 90% of the new transfers die. The trolls, orcs, and goblins kill their own kind like it is going out of style; they don’t even need the encouragement of the gambling quests offered by The System. However, their birth-rate is five times that of humans, so there are still a significant number of them in the Decks.”

  Sam chimed in. “Wow, that’s unreal. I wonder what type of stats they have, and what their home worlds were like.”

  Jen replied, “I’ll let you read this Chronicle later. There are small sections about the different cultures of the other races.”

  Sam nodded, “Cool, anything else?”

  Jen laughed. “Lots! However, Joan is only able to vaguely explain that the three main ways to grow your power are getting ability points through gaining experience and leveling up, getting ability points through gambling, and third, building your mana system. She hints at there being other methods for getting ability points, but they are not as straight forward. She suggested that the most successful new worlders are those who pick a profession or skill, join a guild, and min/max with a group. It’s your classic D&D advice.”

  Sam grunted, “Who can you trust with all these gamblers and The System offering random gambling quests that could turn people against you!”

  Jen nodded in complete agreement. “Yeah, the book goes into that exact issue. Joan basically agrees with you, but she also says that if her guild, The Arc Guild, is still around when this book is being read, you might check with them because it was originally founded on the principles of honor above all else.”

  Jen tossed the book to Sam. “Read through it and let me know what you think. I’m going to read the Welcome to the System book, at least it looks really short.”

  Sam nodded, “A little later, right now I’m working on some enchanted charms.”

  A few hours later, Jen finished and closed Welcome to the System, and said, “Something about this book just doesn’t sit right with me.”

  Sam looked over at Jen, and asked, “What is it?”

  She laughed. “Oh no, you’re not going to get away with not reading the book and just relying on my cliff notes again.”

  Sam made a groaning sound as he finished the charm he was working on and motioned for Jen to toss him the book.

  Chapter 21:

  Hidden Meaning

  “The System book is hiding something, I can feel it in my bones,” Sam explained to Jen.

  Jen smiled knowingly and replied, “My thoughts exactly, but it’s good to find out we can pay the System shop and teleport between cities on the same deck without losing our gear and mana. That will make travel much easier.”

  Jen knew he was not going to be happy with what she was going to say next. “I want you to read the entire book again,” she said.

  Sam gave her an incredulous look, “Have you been smoking some good ol’ Mary Jane? Why would I read it again?”

  Jen laughed and said, “What happened to your classic ‘Yes, Boss’ response? And you know only Boom
ers call weed, ‘Mary Jane’ right?”

  Sam gave her the “You’re such a Millennial” look, that made her laugh. Kelly briefly crossed Jen’s mind as she was thinking that it was Kelly’s turn to complain to them both that they didn’t understand what age groups boomers and millennials were in.

  Sam cracked first, bringing Jen’s thoughts back to the present, when he said, “Can we get back on point? Why would I read the System book again?”

  Jen smiled before explaining. “You remember how you changed up your speech from English to Mandarin, when speaking with Ronald to see how he would respond?

  “Yes”

  “Well, when you initially changed to Mandarin, I didn’t notice the change. If you hadn’t texted me that you were going to speak Mandarin, I would have had no idea you were speaking a different language. I then had to mentally “switch-off” the automatic interpretation and force myself to actually hear the real words you were speaking. That’s what I want you to do, I want you to “switch off” the interpretation and use your “Words of Understanding” skill to read the System book in its original language.”

  Sam became visibly excited about diving into the original language of the Seven Decks.

  Jen laughed and said, “I knew that would turn that frown upside down!”

  Sam would normally quip back at Jen, but he was already opening the book with the excitement of a true language nerd.

  It was getting late into the night, but Sam was working to translate the guidebook like a possessed man, so Jen used her Psych ability to try to feel the emotions of the different people staying at the Inn. She jumped for excitement when she intercepted a signal and could actually “hear” a scratchy noise. “It’s like a radio station you can’t quite get dialed in just right,” she thought to herself.

  That’s when Jen perked up again. She started analyzing the tendrils of waves or the signals that her psych ability was picking up. She spent hours trying to categorize the signals, and she could recognize which ones were making “noise,” which ones were carrying voices, and which ones carried emotions, but she just couldn’t understand why there was a difference.