I was with Ravi as her father started his narrative and she attempted to escape the room without anyone soon after she realized what he was doing, which after hearing the entire story, I completely understand.
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I retired for the night and prepared myself for the next week
The week started up again and we continued, until one fine morning, this morning in fact, I was asked by Kline if I would be willing to help with an event that the guild runs every so often. One of the people who were supposed to run a station couldn't come last minute, so he asked me. He warned me it could get a bit crazy, but there was going to be enough staff there that I wouldn't need to worry too much, just needed to stay alert.
I was a bit dubious at first, but when he told me I would get 10% of the money I won, so I no longer cared. I readily accepted his offer, and told him he had nothing to worry about. It may be a side effect of being a really poor person for a long time, but money is money and any opportunity to make money is an opportunity I am willing to take. He told me to meet him at the restaurant thirty minutes before I usually go to work, and that was the end.
I continued with my day as normal, until I was starting my combat class and Ms. Talfa gave me a clearance card that allowed me entrance to the guild building that night. This already set off some red flags in my brain but I had already accepted and I was technically an adult, a very young adult, in the body of a child, but an adult nonetheless.
I made it through the rest of the day and I met with Kline. He taught me how to shuffle cards, which I was a master at due to my many hours of playing solitaire in an apartment room brooding over my lack of money. Once you play for long enough you realize shuffling is just as much fun as the game itself, but I digress. He also taught me how to deal for a game awfully similar to Texas hold em poker. No, wait, that's exactly what it was.
And I do believe that brings us back up to now, Friday night, at work, standing behind a poker table I need a step stool to reach the top off, dealing cards to a bunch of people ranging from sober, to stupid, to blackout drunk. I had a guy pass out at the table in the middle of a game, so I just stuck him in a corner, notified some of the people working security, and continued with my shift.
I drew quite a lot of attention, because I was a child and they were prohibited from entering the main hall of the guild at all between 6 PM and 6 AM while this event was going on. My eyes barely made it over the edge of the table standing normally on the ground, and I hadn't lost yet.
Children who lived in dorms and could only get to them through the guilds main hall were escorted to the bottom of the stairs leaving to the dorms and vice versa. I saw a lot of envious stares from the occasional kid walking through to the dorms, but it wasn't my problem so I ignored then.
My height was the real issue. This, I solved with a barstool, some leaning and occasional use of telekinesis, which was now at least strong enough to maneuver and hold one or two knives in the air now without excessive drain on my Mana, so cards were manageable as well.
It is honestly pretty fun. I'm not sure if it's because it was a card game or if it's because I have yet to lose after an hour of constant games, but I've had a great time so far. Not to mention, I am raking in money.
The guild runs this makeshift casino for the adventurer's who have money to spare to try their luck, to give adventurer's that have hit a roadblock in their progression a chance to possibly gain the money to get an item to help them, and to gain a profit for the guild itself. The guild has a lot of profits and expenses it has to pay, these typically end up roughly evening out, so it's nights like these that allow the guild to gain some pocket change.
Anyways, their is a pot of money that the guild as a whole owns, it is evenly distributed among all the employees, running the games. Of the operator hit zero with their funds they could no longer participate in the games. This amount given is deducted from the total money earned at the end of the game and that's what the bonus is calculated off of. This beginning money was so that the dealers could make bets and play the game like other players, but we're stopped if they cause too much of a loss to the guild.
In my case the chance of not continuing wasn't a concern because I just didn't lose, I kept winning and people started flocking to my table, giving each other crap for losing to a little girl then getting pissy when they lost too. I became a challenge that everyone wanted to beat. Any time someone attempted to cheat, I either beat them by pure luck, wasn't going to win anyways, or the cards I, or someone else pulled made it obvious they were cheating and they were removed after a small inspection.
One particularly drunk individual threw a knife at me, claiming I was cheating. I luckily had the reflexes to dodge the knife but it still spooked me, and the others around me. To please the man and to keep me safe I was specifically assigned Talfa as a guard for my table to ensure no one was cheating and to make sure I don't die by pissing someone off, even thought it's their fault they lost. My shuffling privileges were also revoked. How sad.
I didn't win every round, I had my fair share of fails, I even tested a theory I had and bet a lot for crap cards, That was the only time I lost any large sum of money. My luck seemed to be I was more likely to get good cards. I had constant straits, and flushes, the worst I ever got was a pair of aces. In the end People finally got a hint and realized I wasn't a worthwhile investment and stopped trying to beat me. Unfortunately it took a while for them to notice, and I was already siting on an absurd sum of money, which almost made me feel bad for the people who lost. Some of the people who lost petitioned to have me banned from running that game. The Guildmaster begrudgingly accepted when he saw almost everyone, even some of the other employees agreed so I wasn't allowed to do that anymore. but it didn't matter, I still made a small fortune and If I play my cards right I may be able to milk some more money out of it if I say I could have made more but I was stopped.
After my banning, they completely shut down my table so I was free to do whatever. I was an exception that night and had express permission to be there. Why not make the most of being banned? Taking my small earnings from work that I had from the previous week outside of my typical expenses I began to slowly rack up money again playing other games. I would join a game ask about the rules and in usually thirty minutes, began dominating until I felt I drained too much and moved onto the next.
I may or may not have also stolen a little alcohol from the bar without anyone noticing, increasing my stealth skill in the process. I Didn't go exactly overboard but I was a little loopy from it. Ok I may have had a little more than that, but I can remember everything surprisingly well, and no one got too hurt. I only set a few people on fire, that's it. I actually got kicked out an hour before it was supposed to end so I returned to my room.
Needless to say I have been permanently banned from any further Guild run casinos and the guild. In one night I managed to make a small fortune that would cover my own expenses for a while, and am now the only person in the entire guild permanently banned from even entering the building during one of these events, regardless of if I live here or not.
From the Games I won after my table closed down alone, I managed to get myself a grand total of about 2 large gold, from my starting four silver I made a fortune. If I were to convert it to the money I used on my old world it would amount to about, a start of 500 USD and an end of 200,000 USD. Not to mention the money I would get from my table I went to sleep a happy, drunk little kitty.
The following morning I was called into the Guildmaster's office to discuss my behavior the night before. He told me that I needed some form of punishment for my behavior. He suggested I have my pay from the night revoked as punishment and stated a few different reason for me requiring punishment. For example, I cheated, I caused am uproar, destruction of property, etc.. For each of his reasons I gave a completely valid counter argument or have an example of someone doing the same thing but worse, with little to no recompense. In the end I one-uped him saying I gave him a reason to ban me completely before I bankrupted the guild and everyone else there.
In the end, after a long discussion and some childish pleading, we agreed that I would get 50% of the money I won, while still working for the guild, and I would never be allowed in again. The old man tried to pull a fast one on me so I returned the favor. I had basically quadrupled my wallet once again.
Easiest fortune ever.
I decided I would still work for Kline because I enjoyed working there and free food is free food. I also feel a little bad for Kline because I have once again been a cause for his hell. This time it was the crap the other guild workers gave him for recommending me for the position. The Guildmaster approved it but he recommended it, and they didn't want to bite the hand that feeds them. So logically they throw the next in line under the bus.
I could see that dark rings under his eyes caused by your truly so I decided I would have to make it up to him. I will make it up to him, That's a promise.
I tried to not bring anything up and work passed as usual, calm with just enough chaos to not be boring.
I went to my classes and I was met with a miniature uproar, some complaining about how I got to go and they didn't, I didn't really care though. I just ignored them and continued as normal.
This week in magic we went over the auxiliary uses of affinities. Magic was split into three different Classes. Attack, Buff, and Healing.
Affinities allow an individual to manipulate an element with their imagination. Ones ability to understand all aspects of an element changes it's flexibility and uses. For example, Light magic, light is fast, warm, and intangible. Light magic is able to buff speed, heal, and pierce defenses. I don't quite understand how exactly those correlate completely, but it's a thing. The more abstract the idea the harder it is to create and the larger the drain on your Mana but it makes the elements become more versatile.
In Combat training, I have noticed I've grown a lot from all of my efforts. The coolest part is I brought all my stats down to about twenty to thirty using the control skill, and I still am able to gain additional stats with physical training. We also, finished our class on short swords and I had made my way into the intermediate level of short sword Mastery. More than half of the class were already using these weapons and had no interest of learning a further array of weapons, despite the recommendation to do so, given by Talfa.
I returned to Balor and told him of my accomplishments. He told me he would get on making me one right away. He seemed really excited and it made me happy. We talked about the dimensions of the sword.
" So, Alice do you know a rough estimate of how tall you'll be in the future
' Cynthia, How tall do yo think I will be in the future?'
[Analyzing]
[Following estimated Evolution patters User has the potential to grow to a maximum size of 6' 2" and a minimum of 4' 5". Users estimated Height is... ]
[Calculating]
[System has estimated User will be Around 5' Tall with a 85% probably.]
' Damn, why so short?'
[Heh, Shorty]
" Alice, snap out of it, If you don't know just say you don't."
" Screw you." I said intending to think it to Cynthia, not say it out loud.
" That was rather rude, I'll let it go and assume it was a slip of the tongue but you better watch yourself little missy."
" Sorry! I wasn't talking to you."
" Who were you talking to."
"... Um"
" I'm listening."
" No ... one?"
" ... Well whatever, Back to the question. How tall do you think you'll be in the future? Have any Idea or am I going to have to wing it?"
" ~ angry mutter~ "
" What was that"
" Five feet!" I yelled irritated
" Jesus, Alice are you okay, you seem to have a rather short fuse today. Have you been stressing yourself out?"
" I'm fine, I think I'll go to bed early tonight. Thank you for everything."
I made my way out and headed home. On my way out I snuck four large gold pieces and a thank you note in a corner of the room. The gold was to pay for my metal and the thank you was for everything else.
I had a nice long nap to forget my frustrations after that.
The next weapon I would be learning is the broad sword. It was a large weapon and is pretty funny to watch me use because the standard size ones the school had was even bigger than I was. It was rather fun swinging the massive sword but it became awkward because I couldn't attack from the bottom since I would scratch the tip on the ground and I being the size I am, couldn't use it as well as a smaller sword.
Not much else to note about the week, The end of the week came and I Lied in bed in a blissful sense of peace. To think that just about a month ago I was in another world brooding over my own existence. I could tell I've gotten more peppy and enthusiastic over my stay here. It may be exhausting and hard but I feel more alive here than I ever had before. A happy feeling washed over me cradling me in it's warm embrace slowly rocking me into a belated slumber. A faint smile on my face, dreaming of all the good times to come.
[Status Update]
[STATUS]
[NAME: Alice ✳️
[RACE: Eclipse Black Cat (Unique)
[CLASS: [Black Cat Lv:19/30]
[GENDER: Female
[TITLES: [Child of Nature][Child of the Eclipse][Champion of Clover]
[Lv: 1/20 Exp: 0/2
HP: 750/750 MP: 2190/1190{1000} SP: 760/760 Status: Healthy
[VIT: 45
[STR: 76
[END: 55
[INT: 119
[Wis: 73
[SPEED: 95
[LUCK: 56
[UNUSED STAT POINTS: 0
[SKILLS:
- PASSIVE: [Catlike Reflexes (lv7)][Basic Claw Mastery(lv2)][Regeneration(lv7)][Eye For Treasure][Night Vision][Lucky Strike][Intuition][Mark of Madness][Intermediate Short Sword Mastery(lv3)][Basic Exhaustion Resistance (lvMax)][ Basic Poison Resistance (lv6)][Fear Resistance(lv1)]
- ACTIVE: [Basic Mana Manipulation (lv7)][Basic Moonlight Magic (lv5)][Basic Sunfire Magic (lvMax)][Basic Void Magic(lv5)][Basic Telekinesis(lv4)][Stealth(lv4)][Claws(lv1)][Basic Claw Arts(lv1)][Intermediate Short Sword Arts(lv1)][Mimicry(lv3)][Universal language][Control]
[UNUSED SKILL POINTS: 18
[BLESSING/CURSES: [Blessing of the Cat God Clover] [Innate luck]
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