Chances of Death: Seven Decks Book I

by S Bailey

  Tamako was slowly shaking her head, and was almost speechless, but found a way to exclaim, “All of those skills would cost thousands of gold in the System shop! I will never be able to repay you!”

  Sam smirked at her and gave her a wink. “We already agreed on a price; you can’t back out of the deal now!”

  Sam asked Tamako to lie down on Jen’s bed. “These enchanted rods I’m placing around your body are to help gather mana which will speed up the process, but it also filters the mana going into your mana channels.”

  “Interesting, this purified mana actually gives me a feeling of greater power.”

  “Exactly, you have commented about how refreshing it always feels in our home, I must confess I was not telling you the truth when I told you it was from my HVAF units. We filter the mana in our home using these rods. Right now, with the rods placed all around your body, you are getting pumped with a high concentration of purified mana.”

  “How does this help me long-term? I can’t lay rods around my body when I am fighting.”

  “The filtered mana from these rods is not completely clean, but it is much better and more powerful than the ambient mana. We are going to teach you a skill that will allow you to filter the mana on your own. However, until you get your filtering skill level up, it will slow down your ability to draw in and regenerate mana. You will need to constantly filter your mana for the rest of your life.”

  Tamako looked over at Jen as if she had figured out something and said, “Are you and Sam Deck Droppers!?”

  Jen shook her head and said, “No, we are not Deck Droppers. Sam and I are just very good at trying to blend in and gathering information.”

  Tamako still looked a little shocked after hearing all this from Sam and Jen, but asked, “If I change my mind, will anything you are suggesting keep me from using my mana like I always have in the past?”

  Sam considered Tamako’s question and answered, “Even if you choose not to stay on the path we are going to teach you, your control and the power of your mana will only be better.”

  Tamako nodded in agreement at Sam’s explanation and turned to look at Jen and said, “Let’s get started then.”

  Jen sat down on the bed next to Tamako and said, “Listen to my voice and try to open your mind. You are going to feel my presence in your mind when I walk you through learning these skills. The more you are able to open your mind to my instructions, the quicker you will be able to learn these skills.”

  Jen used her psych skills to nudge Tamako’s thoughts and understanding in the right direction while Tamako learned and practiced the skills. It took most of the night, but Tamako was able to acquire all the skills, and become proficient enough with multi-focus to clean her mana channels while going about normal activities.

  Tamako was exhausted, but very excited with learning so many skills in only one night, and said to Jen, “When I was much younger, my father purchased a sword technique book for me to immediately learn the skill. The technique book left me with a terrible headache just like the one I have now. I have never heard of anyone learning so many skills so quickly without a technique book. What did you do?”

  Jen reviewed a system message she received while helping Tamako.

  ***System Message – psych skill has increased to Apprentice level. You have learned the skill Mind Imprinting ***

  Jen forwarded the system message to Sam and he texted back “ I think we should keep your skill private for now.”

  Jen looked at Tamako and said, “I would love to be able to tell you more, but I do not wish to create any conflict with your oath to the City Lord.”

  Tamako smiled and hugged Jen before saying, “I understand your need for privacy. Thank you both for everything.”

  Sam pulled some jewelry from a drawer on his worktable and said with a grin, “Put on these bracelets and necklaces. They will help filter the ambient mana, allowing you to use your multi-focus on cleaning your mana channels. As you are aware, after expelling corruption from your mana system, you will stink, like you do now!”

  “Yes, that is true, but you must be very weak to be so effected by the smell of this grime. You need to train more with me and Jen to get stronger.” Tamako replied trying to joke in their strange way.

  Sam chuckled at her response and continued. “When you leave the clean mana of our home, you will feel like you only have half a mana channel open as a result of these filter bracelets. If you have an emergency, store the bracelets and do what you need to do, otherwise suck it up and keep filtering your mana and cleaning your mana channel. I want you to focus on cleaning your mana channel and cleaning your mana center. Your mana channel is so full of grime, it is almost closed off. When they are much cleaner, we will then open one of your closed mana channels.”

  Tamako was inspecting her mana channels as Sam was talking, and she asked, “How long do you think it is going to take?”

  Sam instructed Tamako to inspect his mana channels. Tamako gasped, “Your mana channels are so much larger and healthier looking than mine!”

  Sam nodded with a disappointed frown on his face, “Exactly, the corruption has been building up in your channels your entire life. Jen’s been inspecting people’s mana channels all over the city. She believes your capacity for mana is less today that it was when you were young, because of the buildup and clogging of your mana system.

  Tamako nodded. “That might explain why children always seem like they can learn new skills and spells easier than adults.”

  “Yes, so unfortunately even with just one channel, I think it will take at least a month for you to scrub away the corruption, and then more time for your mana channel to breath and heal after the scrubbing. Additionally, you will need to continue working on cleaning up your tangled mana pool in your center.”

  “I will,” replied Tamako.

  “You are welcome to come and use the purified mana in our home anytime you like. I’m sorry; I had hoped we could open a new channel by the end of the week. Remember to always keep your mana system illusion going, otherwise, there will be some very powerful people in this city taking notice of you.”

  Tamako replied, “Possibly, but I think you are mistaken. The City Lord, some of the nobility, and guild leaders use a spell to hide their experience level so that no one can really know how strong or weak they are. I don’t think they are aware that this spell is also preventing you from seeing their mana system.”

  Jen looked a little flustered at learning this, but said, “Just in case, keep the illusion spell going, O.K.”

  Tamako nodded with understanding at both Sam and Jen, and said, “No problem. This is so amazing! Just thinking of having another mana channel open in only a month!”

  Chapter 50:

  Luck

  Sam was looking pretty pleased with himself when he asked Jen, “Did you take that gambling-quest for teaching all those skills to Tamako?”

  Jen looked shocked at Sam and replied, “Of course not. I haven’t touched euphoria. What are you talking about?”

  Sam looked surprised and said, “My gambling-quest didn’t mention anything about euphoria. Take a look at the quest I forwarded you.”

  Jen brought up Sam’s gambling-quest in her onboard.

  System Message:

  The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

  ==

  Gambling Quest: Tamako’s New Skills!

  ==

  Requirements: Tamako must learn four new skills within the next 24 hours– odds of failing 35%

  Select your Fortune:

  Accept reward of 1 ability points for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 1

  Accept reward of 2 ability points plus euphoria for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 3.

  Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding little bitch!

  ==

  Sam selected “a” and the quest was accepted.

  ==

  Sam was nodding at Jen, and said, “You see, it was a grea
t bet for an ability point. I know how smart and what a hard a worker Tamako is. I took the bet without the euphoria, and I just received my extra ability point.”

  Jen looked like she had been robbed, “Look at the quest I received.”

  System Message:

  The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

  ==

  Gambling Quest: Tamako’s New Skills!

  ==

  Requirements: Tamako must open two mana channels within the next 24 hours– odds of failing 90%

  Select your Fortune:

  Accept reward of 3 ability points plus euphoria for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 4.

  Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding little bitch!

  ==

  Jen selected “B” and the quest was declined.

  ==

  Jen said, “See, that’s not fair. I would have taken your gambling bet in a heartbeat! Why did you get a better gambling-quest than me?”

  Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Just lucky I guess.”

  Jen’s jaw dropped, as the light bulb turned on in her head, and she said, “Finally!!! That’s what the damn luck stat does for you. You’re getting better gambling quests because you invested so many points in your luck stat. What is wrong with the people in this world? Why won’t they just tell each other how everything works?”

  Sam raised his eyebrow and gave Jen a directed look, and said, “Really? Who are you now going to tell about the luck stat? I bet only the nobility or the really old and powerful guilds even know what the luck stat is for.”

  Jen still looked frustrated to no end, but she nodded her begrudging agreement to Sam’s point, “True, everyone’s stat sheet I’ve viewed has almost no points in the luck stat. Everyone just considers it useless. That’s why I was so upset with you when you told me you put 7 ability points into your luck stat. The gamblers usually have almost no ability points, and the only thing they are after is the euphoria. I wish I could hack into the stat sheet of Director Loshen and see what his luck stat is.”

  Sam glowered, “Don’t even think about it. You know if they were to detect you trying to do something like that, we’d have to run for our lives.”

  Jen nodded, “I know, I know, just wishful thinking.”

  Over the next few weeks Jen had finished opening her 4th mana channel, and Sam had opened his 3rd mana channel, boosting their mana pool and mana regen. The process was taking longer than they hoped. Cleaning the corruption off the walls of the mana channels, after they tunneled them, was a laborious time-consuming process to keep from damaging the channel itself.

  Tamako had been relentless in scrubbing her entire mana system and channel, but her open channel was so nearly clogged, they finally decided it would be quicker to tunnel through it to clear out most of the grime. Even then it took longer than Sam expected for her channel to heal after being cleaned.

  It was six weeks before they were able to open Tamako’s second mana channel. During this time Jen opened her 5th and Sam his 4th channel. Tamako beamed with pride as she inspected her SECOND open mana channel.

  Sam pinched his nose and said, “Jen, please show Tamako to the shower!”

  Jen laughed, and Tamako asked, “what is a shower?”

  Jen winked at Tamako, and said, “just follow me.”

  Tamako looked amazed as water poured out of the “shower head” as Jen called it, and then flowed into a drain, but not a drain.

  Jen explained, “Sam created a storage device that he fills with warm water and we hang it above our heads so that it will pour water on us like a waterfall. He then created a another storage device that automatically opens and allows the water to drain into it.”

  “I had no idea your father could make such powerful storage enchantments!”

  “Wait till I show you a “toilet” he also invented which works almost the same way, but for going to the bathroom instead of a chamber pot. We send Long bi’s kids out every few weeks to refill and empty the storage devices as needed.”

  Tamako was amazed as she basked in the luxury of the water flowing over and cleaning her body, and said, “you could make enough money selling these showers and toilets, that you would never need to work again!”

  “Remember, everything is confidential.”

  Tamako sighed in contentment from the water, and said, “fine with me, as long as I am allowed to visit a lot.”

  Jen smiled, and said, “That’s a requirement!”

  Chapter 51:

  Donut Travels

  “Hey Slim! I was getting worried about you.” Jen said, as Slim walked into the kitchen and jumped up onto the counter and rubbed against her. Jen gave him a good scratching behind the ears.

  Slim purred and flipped over for a belly rub as he said, “Wow, the mana feels amazing in here. It reminds me of some of the dungeons I was forced to go into.”

  Jen was rubbing his belly and scratching his neck and replied, “Yeah, Sam built a mana filtering system for our home.”

  Slim continued to purr but opened one eye and looked closely at Jen “You have five mana channels open! How did you do that?”

  As Jen explained what she and Sam had been doing, Slim rolled over and took a closer look at her mana channels. “Your mana channels are beautiful! Not as amazing as mine, but quite lovely for a human.”

  Jen laughed and scratched his neck even more, “You definitely have the ego of a cat! What have you been up to anyways?”

  Slim was about to tell Jen his story when Sam walked in and said, “Hey Slim! It’s good to see you, Big guy!”

  To Slim’s horror, Sam then proceeded to pick him up and sit down on the couch with Slim in his lap and then started scratching his neck. Jen completely failed to protect him, as she dropped down next to Sam, and both of them started to give him scratching and affection.

  Slim whipped his tail with the indignity of his treatment by Sam, but then began to purr with pleasure as they both worked at scratching and cleaning his fur. Slim looked up at Jen and said, “Log is lucky that you do not wish him to be hurt, and that he is good at cleaning my fur!”

  Sam said, “Hey, I can hear him, too!”

  Slim looked annoyed at Sam’s outburst and said to Jen, “Did you just have to help Log improve his psych skill enough to talk?”

  Sam laughed and said, “You are going to fit right in around here, big guy!” as he continued to scratch Slim’s chin.

  Slim looked exasperated but continued to let Sam scratch his chin and said to Jen, “Just let me know if you would like to get rid of Log.”

  Jen just chuckled and said, “Log makes lots of neat gadgets and jewelry for me, so be nice to him. Anyways, you were about to tell me what you’ve been up to.”

  Slim was trying to stay aloof, but these two within just a few minutes made him feel like they had all been part of the same pride for years, and he didn’t really know how to feel about this, so he rolled onto his back for more grooming before telling them what he had been doing.

  “Since you were both safe, I went to stretch my legs and ran into a couple of panther sisters. After a few weeks with them, I decided to head into the city, that’s when I ran into a caravan that had the most delicious smelling food. It turns out that these things called “donuts” are kind of addictive. After eating all of the donuts, I felt like taking a nap in the back of one of their wagons. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the caravan was leaving the city, and when I woke up a couple days later, I was in a small city south of here. I’m sure you are aware of this, but female felines find me irresistible, and there was a literal plethora of all breeds, sizes, and shapes of female cats in that city. Unfortunately, they were all mind-numbingly basic and dumb, but their pheromones were intoxicating. I would probably still be there if I didn’t feel the mana bond tugging on me. Anyways, I found a wagon heading this way and hitched a ride back.”

  Jen looked a little shocked at his sex-escapades but just shook her head laughing and asked, “Did you run
into any trouble during your adventures?”

  Slim rolled over and hopped down off of Sam’s lap, and as he strolled around taking a better look at the house, he laughed at Jen’s question, “None of these simpletons would even think of interfering with me! Why are the two of you still hanging out in the First Deck anyways?”

  Jen replied a little sadly and said, “We won’t be here much longer. Sam’s a little bit psycho when it comes to over-preparing. He has been building enough log and crossbow bolt enchantments to supply an army, and he’s been working on decrypting some legacy technique spell scrolls. He is almost finished.”

  “I hope?” Sam chimed in.

  She then looked at Slim and asked, “Slim, do you need to be with us when we transport to the Second Deck?”

  Slim kept looking around and said, “If you leave, I won’t feel your presence, and I will know to travel up or down the Decks, until I feel the pull of our connection. Anyways, I like the mana in this house. I’m going to hang here with you until we go to the Second Deck.” Slim didn’t admit it, but the family connection and acceptance he was feeling from Jen and Sam’s aura was…nice.

  Slim nudged open one of the large spare warehouse rooms and announced, “This is mine. I’m going to take a nap.”

  Sam asked, “Do you want some blankets or pillows or anything?”

  Jen sensed something between her link with Slim and looked over at Sam and said, “No, apparently he does not sleep on cushions when claiming a den. This is going to be interesting!”

  Slim circled the center of the room, unhinged his jaw, and “clean-vomited” out a pile of gold, jewels, weapons, armor, spell scrolls, beast cores, mana steel, and a whole bunch of other stuff in a pile the size of a minivan. He then jumped on top of the pile and nested in the middle of it.