Chances of Death: Seven Decks Book I

by S Bailey

  Jen slapped herself in the forehead, and said, “Of course! Take a look at the channel I opened yesterday down my arm. As you can see, even after cleaning on it for many hours last night, there is still quite a bit of corruption around the edges. I think it may take me several weeks of regular mana scrubbing to get it completely clean.

  “If we simply smashed a small hole right down the middle of your channel, you may have weeks or months of scrubbing the corruption. However, if you could form your mana into the shape of a hole saw, like those used to cut out holes for door knobs, you could just cut a thin circular line around the edges of your mana channel, breaking free one large chunk, and then use your mana cleaning skill to blow that one large chunk out of your system.”

  Sam listened to Jen’s idea but had a worried look on his face and said, “Sounds good, but I’m concerned a large chunk of corruption like that may get stuck in the center near my mana pool. It would look like a giant snake of corruption floating around my center. Maybe like a large loose chunk of cholesterol that breaks free, it can cause a stroke or heart attack.”

  “Maybe, but I agree with your point. We should take it slow and be careful,” replied Jen.

  Sam thought for a second and said, “I’m going to try to form my mana into something like the blades in a garbage disposal. I’ll then spin the saw blades and smash them into the clogged channel like a hammer drill. As the mana blades spin and pound into the corruption, I will reserve some mana to carry off and expel the smaller bits of corruption that break free. I just don’t know if I will be able to generate enough clean mana, to keep it all going at the same time.”

  Jen’s eyes widened as Sam finished his thoughts, and she jumped up. “I’ll be right back,” and she ran outside. Only a few minutes later, Jen returned, left the door ajar, opened the windows in the house, and said, “It just hit me! Both of us have been inside filtering the same ambient mana for almost a full day now. The ambient mana in here is horrible. When I walked a little way from our house, it was like I had left a coal plant and was able to get a fresh breath of air. My mana generation outside is still lower because of my filtering, but it’s much better than in here!”

  Sam looked a little flustered and said, “Of course! You’re brilliant, Jen! I’m going to need a day, maybe two, before we work on my second mana channel.”

  Sam was a little put out. His pure mana was much more powerful, and he had greater control over it, but even with the doors and windows open, his mana regen was terrible. Sam had to constantly slow down his work and wait for his mana pool to fill up, but he refused to let any mana enter his body that was not purified.

  It actually took almost two weeks, but Sam had finally outfitted their shop and home with enchanted mana filtering and gathering rods. Sam wanted to put more mana gathering rods around their building, but more rods might have caused a literal breeze of mana, possibly bringing unwanted attention. The purifiers released all the clean mana into their home, but unfortunately, for those around them, all the dirty mana was vented straight up into the air like a smokestack. Some of the pure mana leaked into the shop area of their building, but the customers believed the jolt they received from the pure mana was simply the relaxing feeling from Sam’s mini AC units.

  ***System Message*** Mana Regen increased by 2X while in mana dense and purified area.

  Jen looked at Sam when he finally finished modifying the building and said, “I’m glad you’re finally done. You spent a shit-ton of money on all those materials. We are going to have to build up our savings again after all this.”

  That said, Jen did stretch and just let the mana flow into her and purred. “This pure mana is glorious though! Not to mention the doubling of our mana regen while in the house!”

  Sam replied, “Once we get back into a rhythm, we can make tons of gold selling the mana filtering and purification rods to the System Shop. Also, I couldn’t have gotten it all done this quick without you taking care of the business and getting all the supplies; you’re the best.”

  Jen inwardly smiled at the compliment but said, “Enough procrastinating. Let’s get that mana channel of yours opened.”

  Over the last few days, Sam and Jen had discussed exactly how they were planning to open his mana channel. They also discovered that Jen could push her mana into Sam if his mana pool was low as a result of his mana regen not keeping up. They had done this several times to allow Sam to work on some of the more complex enchantments for venting the corrupted mana out the roof.

  Sam lay on the cot in his workroom, and Jen said to him, “Just like we talked about, use multi-focus and get your meditation going and your mana manipulation going. You’re going to be constantly using your mana to run your mana manipulation spell. I’m placing all the mana gathering rods around your body to help your mana regen, which should keep your pool full. If it doesn’t, I’ll pump mana into your system.”

  Jen watched as Sam started filling his mana system to bursting and then he swirled his mana into a claw-like tunneling blade that he started to run down one of the largest clogged mana channels they identified. It was really like a plumbing snake used to clean out plumbing lines. As he spun the claw and drove it down his channel, the corruption was ground off the walls of his mana channels and the blockage was smashed and ground, Sam would bring in the mana he was holding in reserve, and use that mana to sweep up the corruption and expel it out of his body.

  Sam had been grinding through his mana channel for almost three hours. They didn’t want to just blow his mana channel through and have the corruption spread all through his mana system. Jen had spent many hours over the last couple of weeks trying to clean up the corruption from her blown open channel, and she still estimated it would take her another week to get it all cleaned out.

  Jen spoke softly and encouragingly. “You’re doing great; you’re almost to the end of your arm where the channel should loop back into your center like mine does. Keep it up, just a little bit longer.”

  Sam gritted his teeth with strain and concentration, but still hissed out, “That’s what she said.”

  Jen wanted to slap him but smiled inwardly. She could see that he was getting a little tired, but his meditation skill kept him in a focused trance, and he had not let up on the grinding, hammering, or cleaning for even a second.

  Jen saw when his channel eventually broke through, and she calmly said, “It’s broken through. Take your mana and chase down all the corruption that just broke apart into your core.”

  Sam’s mana was chasing down so much corruption and expelling it, that his pool started running low. Jen then said, “I’m placing my hands on you like we discussed. Don’t be surprised; I’m pushing my mana into your system.”

  As Sam spent the next hour cleaning up the corruption, Jen inspected his center and his original channel to see if there were any changes. When he was finally done, she said, “Your channels look pretty good, but there is still some corruption around the edges of the channel you broke through. How do you feel?”

  Sam sniffed at his own stench and said, “I’m pretty tired, but with meditation, I didn’t have too hard a time keeping focused. I was able to get most of the corruption out, but it stuck like glue if it hit any of the corruption that was already on the walls of my other mana channel, then it wouldn’t budge easily.”

  ***System Message*** Mana regen increased by 4 points

  Jen was pleased with these results and said, “That’s great, because my other mana channels are noticeably harder to clean since I didn’t immediately expel the corruption right away. We should both clean all the corruption off our opened mana channels and mana walls before going further. That way when we unclog our remaining mana channels, the corruption will have fewer places to stick. Anyways, it’s been a long night and you stink. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Sam wrinkled his nose as he went to take a shower. He was tired, but with the house purifying the mana and having another open channel, he felt much more in touch with t
he mana around him, and he thought to himself, “Slow is fast, fast is Slow. We’re picking up momentum. I will get you back Kelly!”

  Chapter 37:

  Hot Streak

  Jen was walking with Cristi Ford when Cristi said, “By helping with all the crop problems, you and Sam have really saved the independent farmers from the sleezy farmer’s guild.”

  “That’s good, but I’ve heard rumors they are beating up some of the independent farmers.”

  Cristi nodded, “That’s true, but you can’t do everything. Also, those farmers refused to join in with most of us that hired guild fighters to patrol our lands. They were easy pickings for the farmer’s guild.”

  “They couldn’t afford it?” asked Jen.

  “No, they were too cheap and just hoped the farmer’s guild would do nothing.” Cristi replied, then pointed up ahead of them, “Robert Krane’s farm is on the edge of Hot Streak Dungeon Forest, it’s just over there.”

  Once they arrived at Robert’s farm, Jen said to Cristi, “This shouldn’t take too long, but why don’t you go relax with Robert and his wife at their house while I inspect the fields.”

  Cristi knew that Jen wouldn’t allow anyone to accompany her while she cleaned the farms of any poisonous mana or infected plants, and said, “Okay, see you in a bit.” As she headed to tell Robert they arrived and that Jen would inspect the fields for problems.

  Jen had an iron rod with a fake enchantment on it. She would use her psych skill to identify if any poison mana rods were causing the crop problems. In case anyone was watching her, she would pretend that the enchantment on the iron rod would help her locate infested plants that were harming crops. In reality she would use the iron rod to smash any poison rods she found.

  When Jen finished smashing the last of the poison mana rods on Robert’s farm, she noticed mana flowing from the woods carrying what felt like a volatile almost fiery flavor. After Jen went to the farmhouse to meet Cristi, Robert and his wife, she asked, “What caused the destruction of the dungeon?”

  Cristi’s friend Robert, the owner of the farm, spoke up and said, “About 100 years ago, when my dad was just a young boy, a group of adventurers was granted permission from the City Lord to visit the dungeon. Instead of just farming the dungeon for monsters and loot, the adventurers must have done something to destroy it, because they were never seen again, and the dungeon never produced any more monsters that would give loot drops. The City Lord was furious because the dungeon produced spell scrolls, technique scrolls, armor, weapons, and other valuable drops. He sent in several dungeon teams to find out what happened, but those that came back, always came back with nothing.”

  Jen was excited about investigating a dungeon, even if it was empty. Plus, there was that strange mana she was sensing. She turned towards the forest and asked Robert, “Is anyone allowed to explore the forest and dungeon, or is it off limits?”

  Robert replied, “Go explore all you want. Because of the quarter year, most of the bandits are out in Blackjack Forest where the majority of transfer pads are located. Years ago, the City Lord did keep a guard force at the dungeon entrance, but since it was destroyed, it’s been left open. Every few years, an adventuring team will go in there. Some don’t return, but those that do always come out complaining about wasting their time. It’s probably been almost 20 years since the last group went in the dungeon. I haven’t heard of anything unusually dangerous in the forest lately either, but… you should always be prepared for the worst when in the wild.

  Jen turned back to look at Robert and his wife, and with a smile on her face changed the topic, “I think we’re all finished here. You should notice an increase in the health of your crops.”

  Robert had heard how much better Cristi’s and other independent farmers’ crops were doing after Jen’s and Sam’s visit, and hesitantly said, “You only want payment if the crops improve right?”

  Jen really liked most of the farmers around the city, and she replied with a smile, “That’s right, you pay 3% of the value of only the improved crops at the end of the season. If there is no improvement, then you pay nothing.”

  Robert and his wife were watching Jen and Cristi head back towards town when Robert said to his wife, “I’ve never heard of such a powerful mage helping out farmers for such a paltry fee. We’re in the Decks! Do you think she is working on some sort of gambling quest and is out to ruin us?”

  Robert’s wife looked sternly at him and said, “Only the truly powerful have the luxury of helping others. Cristi’s brother, the Director of the Honorable Arc Guild, has vouched for them. Without her aid, we would certainly have lost our farm by the end of the season. Now, we have a chance. Say nothing to anyone about what she has done for us today. Those in the farmer’s guild will surely be angry that she has improved our crops. Now, they can no longer hope to steal our farm for a fraction of its true value at the end of the season.”

  When Jen returned to the shop, she was surprised that the lines of customers had disappeared, and Long Bi and Ji Bi were nowhere around, but then she spotted Richard Loshen meeting with Sam in the shop. She had never met him before, but she knew of him. He was the Director of the Stone Guild, the largest and richest guild in Casino City.

  When Sam saw Jen enter the store, he texted her a quick update, “Director Loshen is trying to get me to enchant a rod with a powerful healing spell. He says he has a healing enchantment that I can copy but just wants another healing rod – offering 50 gold. I’ve told him that I can only repair SOME enchantments and can only create simple charms.”

  Sam looked over at Jen and said out loud, “Director Loshen, please let me introduce you to my daughter Jen.”

  Jen curtsied and bowed her head and said, “Director Loshen, it is an honor to have you visit our humble store. Please excuse my father’s complete lack of manners. May I get you a drink or something to eat?”

  Director Loshen smiled kindly at Jen with a slight nod and laughed, “Your father has been perfectly gracious. I rather like dealing with men as straight forward as him.”

  Jen could sense with her psych skill that everything about Director Loshen was just a front, and his true emotions and intentions were kept hidden from others. She also noticed that his stats, mana channels, and mana center were somehow hidden from her mana sight and psych skill.

  Sam said to Jen, “Director Loshen wishes me to re-create the major healing enchantment on this rod.” While Sam explained to Jen what Director Loshen wanted, Jen was making an obvious and unmistakable frowning face of disappointment, trying to give the impression that she knew her ‘father’ could not re-create the healing enchantment. Jen replied to both of them, “Did you inform Director Loshen of the healing charms you can make, or of that new charm you are working on that will dull the pain during healing by almost 10%?”

  Her response successfully convinced Direct Loshen that Sam wasn’t lying when he claimed to be unable to re-create the healing enchantment, because Loshen quickly indicated that he would not personally be interested in the healing or pain-relieving charms. He thanked them both for their time and hospitality and promised to send them as much business as he could.

  Sam texted Jen, “Shit! That was a close one. He wasn’t taking ‘No’ for an answer, but your performance convinced him.”

  Shortly after Director Loshen left. They opened the shop back up, and Jen went and called Long Bi and Ji Bi back to work. When other customers were in earshot Jen gossiped with the Bi’s about how they were fortunate enough to have a private meeting with Director Richard Loshen and how Director Loshen said he would send them as much business as he could.

  Sam and Jen both worked in the shop for the rest of the day, and it wasn’t until later that night when Sam said, “I’m glad Loshen didn’t ask for that pain relief charm, I don’t have any idea how to make one.” Sam cringed when he saw Jen grimace at his words. He hadn’t meant it as a rebuke, and so he said, “You saved my ass! Without your quick thinking, I have a feeling I might be
a permanent guest of the Stone guild.”

  Jen replied, “A weak pain relieving charm was the only thing that popped in my mind.”

  Sam laughed, “It worked. That’s what counts. The only thing I could think of, was whether or not they had cushions in their permanent guest ‘room’.”

  Jen cheered up and asked, “How do you think we came up on his radar?”

  He shrugged. “I’m confident that Victor keeps my orders confidential based on our magical contracts. My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that his spies saw us meeting with Director Devon a few times, and they believed our store was just a front for something more. So… Director Loshen decided to offer us a literal fortune to see if I would re-create his healing enchantment. I only wish I could’ve had some time to decrypt it. His rod was crazy powerful.”

  Jen replied, ripping on Sam, “That’s what he said!”

  Sam laughed, “You got me with that one. Why does everyone have to refer to these wands as rods!”

  Jen and Sam joked around a little bit more, and when Jen brought up the dungeon, she was shocked when Sam immediately agreed to check it out.

  He said, “I feel like we should get out there and evaluate our skills in a somewhat safe place. It made me sick over the last few months when we heard the rumors about the rainbows coming down in the Black Jack forest and not knowing what happened to the people from Earth. There’s only 2 months left in the year, but if we could just do something to help others like us!”

  Jen could only frown with sympathy and agreement, “It makes me sick too, but I told you it didn’t matter. Tamako said she heard that the gamblers and guilds keeping watch on the transfer pads were furious because the people teleported in were already dead.”

  Sam grimaced. “Earth can be just as evil as the Decks.”