"You're from the Resistance?" Raina raised her head in surprise,
Martha nodded as she put down her glass,
"Now that we've done our introductions, why don't I explain some basic things around here," She began, "You see that glass cabinet?"
She pointed at the one filled to the brim with orbs,
"That's where you can buy abilities. You can buy as much as you want if you have the money."
"You can have multiple abilities?" Raina frowned as she stared at the glass cabinet, her eyes locking onto the dark purple orb that was stolen from her,
"As long as you can buy it, you can use it. But judging from the price of your ability, I'd say it'll take a long while before someone can afford it, so you don't have to worry too much about it," Martha assured her.
"What about yours?" Raina glanced over at her,
"Someone already bought it," She sighed, "I didn't make it in time,"
"Can't you buy it back from whoever took it?"
Martha shook her head, "Once someone has absorbed the orb, the only way to get it back is to buy an individual and separate them from their ability, but that'll cost a fortune that no one can afford. For example, I'm valued at 23 grand, whilst my ability was valued at 311 tokens. There would be no point spending over a grand on something that could be worth so much more in the cabinet. So most people would just gamble on it and buy another affordable one. And secondly, I have no idea who has it. It could be anyone in this room or they could have already made it out of this hellhole."
Raina nodded, her eyes slowly drifting to the price tags of the other orbs displayed, all the prices ranged in the triple digits whilst only a handful managed to scrape their way into the quadruple digits.
"Let's talk about earning tokens," Martha began walking over to an empty slot machine, beckoning Raina to follow, "Everything here is a scam. You lose more than you win. But for a newcomer like you, it has its privileges. You have 1 token right?"
Raina nodded, taking it out of her pocket.
"Press the Play 1 button then put it into the machine," Martha pointed at a small slit to the side of the main control panel, the size perfect for the token to slide in, "The first token you get is called a beginner's token." She explained as Raina pressed the yellow 'Play 1 Token' and then slotted it in.
"The first machine it enters, it'll set up the beginner's game." The machine whirred, a bright light flashing on the screen as the word, 'Play," appeared.
"This function makes it so that it's impossible to lose tokens for the next 10 games. If you lose, it'll return that beginner's token to you, but if you win, it'll spit out 2 red tokens. Press Spin."
The slot machine began spinning its gears with a loud clinking sound effect coming out of its two giant base-boosted speakers.
'Bad Luck,' The screen flashed red.
"Go again," Martha nodded, Raina pressed the 'Play 1' option then the spin as the machine spun once more,
'Bad Luck'
'Bad Luck'
'Victory!'
Finally, on the third spin, the screen flashed gold.
"That's basically how it works," Martha said, nodding for Raina to continue spinning.
After another 7 rounds, they gained a total of 6 red tokens.
"Not the best of luck, but that's the basic gist of it." Martha commented as she glanced at the small handful Raina held, "But, I'll show you how people here usually earn the big bucks,"
She glanced over at a small group of people crowded around the casino, all intensely staring at whatever was happening in the middle.
"That's the big risk games. You can earn huge, but also risk losing a whole lot." They approached.
In the middle was a small black wooden coffee table, two people sitting on either side and another between the two. All their eyes were glued on the plastic grey cup placed upside down, held down by the one who sat in the middle.
"They're playing dice." Martha explained, "There are 2 to 4 dice in the cup and they need to guess what the up-facing digits add up to."
"12!"
"11!"
The cup lifted, revealing two dice. Two sixes.
"12!"
"Fuck!" The one who guessed 11 swore as he placed his head between his hands, a mountain of tokens being swept over to the other end and disappearing into a small red card.
"These games are more focused on skill and ability instead of luck and chance like those machines. The one who just won is the all-time dice champion, Aliaera Serinquet."
"Anyone else?" Aliaera smiled as her piercing blue eyes peered into the crowd, noone dared to answer, "Good. That's all for today then." She placed her hand on the table and stood up, the crowd naturally splitting in two to let her pass.
"What's going to happen to him?" Raina glanced at the distraught man still sitting by the table,
"It seems he went all in with the bets. He's going to have to start working."
"Working?"
Martha nodded, "If you run out of tokens, you can either start working in the casino or any building within the territory, they all give you one token per day. Or you can associate and run errands for the 'Top Gamblers'. You can earn more, but most of them… have a bad personality, to put it lightly."
Raina squinted as she watched Aliaera walk out of the building, a group of three other girls walking beside her, one holding an umbrella to keep the sun from hitting her skin too intensely, whilst the other two scuttled around, sweeping away debris that might be in her way.
"I'm guessing you mean like that," Raina nodded,
"That's not even that bad. It gets so much worse. Aliaera could be considered one of the better-behaving Top Gamblers. But, anyway. Let's head over to the apartments for now." Martha changed the topic, taking towards the exit, "The basic accommodation, so small one room with a bathroom costs 2 tokens per night, better ones cost anywhere from 10 to 100 per night."
They headed towards the beach area, Martha pointing to a seemingly newly built, tall-looking skyscraper. An intact and slick building reminiscent of the days before the GGT apocalypse.
"By the way," Raina cut in, "How is this place still so… intact and thriving?" She stared at the working lamps stationed by the footpath as well as the giant Ferris wheel spinning in the background.
"Just know that normal logic doesn't apply here. Everything here is part of Wickler's domain. From the sea to the buildings; it's all owned and bought by him. So it is all under the PaytoWin effect. He wants electricity to start running," Martha clicked her fingers, "It'll run. If he wants… I don't know… the pavement to dance, it'll start dancing."
Raina's eyes widened, "So you're basically saying he's God…?"
Martha chuckled, "Basically. The only thing his powers can't do is repurchase an item. So if you buy something he owns, he can't take it back. And that's why everyone needs tokens, it's the only way to free yourself from the control of the madman, and luckily, it's all a game for him, so it's not too bad."
"Then what's stopping him from expanding his domain," Raina tilted her head,
"He already has. That's the reason he's called the Territory Lord of the Western Coast. He went from conquering his allocated plot of land to expanding along the coast. I heard he wanted to keep going inland but was stopped by the Rift Leader."
"He's met the Rift Leader?" Raina's ears perked up,
"I suppose so," Martha nodded,
Raina lowered her head, slightly chewing her fingernail as she scrambled her brain for a plan.
"Was it a one-time thing, or do they meet regularly," Raina glanced back up, only to see Martha staring at her weirdly,
"If you're thinking of using Wickler to meet up with the Rift Leader, I'm sorry, but I think that's an extremely dumb plan. They meet outside the territory, and he does it alone. There's no way for you to follow him." Martha smirked as she crossed her arms, "Trust me, I've tried."
Raina's eyes hardened as she gripped her fists, "I'll have to try anyway. I wouldn't know unless I try."
A smirk slowly formed on Martha's lips, "Is that a bet?"