As seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours, Jekyll and Valyr continued to play game after game of blackjack against each other, the concept of time lost to the recesses of their minds. In fact, the only reason they realized it had already become night was the fact that the gambling den had become bustling once more, with their little game attracting a couple bystanders.
Noticing this, Jekyll suggested to Valyr that they take their game to the back, where they wouldn't be disturbed by the noise the supposed audience was causing around them. In response, Valyr agreed to the suggestion, prompting Jekyll to lead Valyr to the back amidst the boos and jeers those in the surroundings let out.
Nevertheless, by the time the two had gotten to the back of the den, their surroundings filled to the brim with boxes upon boxes of various items, the two returned their attention to the multiple games they were playing, their minds not even registering what had occurred earlier.
Just like how their first two games of blackjack had gone, Jekyll won every game with a blackjack, eliciting a light frown to appear on Valyr's face, which only worsened with every consecutive loss he faced. Eventually, Valyr had gotten fed up with the fact that Jekyll blatantly won every single game with a blackjack, lashing out at the man before him.
"Play fair for once, won't you?" Valyr exclaimed, which only made Jekyll let out boisterous laughter. Though, the dimness of the area made the laugh feel slightly malevolent.
"And what? Lose against you? You're too naive." Jekyll shook his head, an arrogant smile plastered on his face. "You're in a gambling den, Valyr. Never once has a gambling den operated on fair play. Its only purpose is to rake in tons of money. And you know what that means?"
"It will cheat no matter how much you cry foul." Hearing those words come out of Jekyll's mouth, Valyr could not help but let out a long sigh as he told Jekyll to start another game.
Unsurprisingly, even though Jekyll had admitted in a roundabout way to the fact that he was cheating, he felt no shred of remorse at the fact, continuing to win the subsequent games with a blackjack. With yet another loss under his belt, Valyr could not help but wonder if there was even a way for him to win a single game.
However, it was then that a thought appeared in his mind.
'Now that I think about it, Jekyll wouldn't cheat for no reason, no? After all, he gave me an opening to exploit during the final round of the cup guessing game, that telltale sign of his.' Valyr pondered over his thoughts for a bit as he continued to lose more and more games of blackjack.
Eventually, as he pondered more over it, Valyr finally realized what Jekyll wanted him to do, his eyes briefly widening in excitement. 'Although the game has changed, what he wants me to do hasn't. Just like the third round of the cup guessing game, he wants me to find an opening and exploit it to win the game.'
'But now, the question is… where's the opening?' With that in mind, Valyr shifted his attention away from the cards Jekyll was dealing, instead focusing more on the man's hands.
Naturally, Jekyll noticed this subtle change, making him inwardly let out a sigh of relief. 'Took you long enough to figure it out.'
'Now then… will you find the opening I've given you?'
With most of his attention focused on Jekyll's hands, Valyr pushed his perception to its utmost limit, quickly finding results thanks to it as he noticed a slight peculiarity in the way Jekyll handled the cards. Thinking that he had caught onto the opening, Valyr focused on this slight peculiarity during their next game, only for him to go bust.
Wondering what had gone wrong, Valyr intently watched Jekyll's movements once more, noticing that the peculiarity he had previously caught onto was nowhere to be found. Hiding the slight shock he felt from this realization, he looked at Jekyll, who had a wide smug grin on his face as he looked back.
'From the looks of it, Jekyll has figured out the limits of my perception.' Valyr lightly scratched his head in puzzlement. 'In other words, I need to figure out a way to increase it to find the opening.'
'But how do I do that? I don't even have a skill that increases my—' Just as Valyr thought he was going to have to think outside the box in order to even out the playing field, he could not help but inwardly let out a sigh as he suppressed the urge to slap himself on the face.
Ding!
[Would you like to spend 10,561 XP to upgrade 'Astute Eyes' to Level 6?]
[Would you like to spend 10,561 XP to upgrade 'Astute Mind' to Level 6?]
'Although upgrading [Astute Eyes] would be more than enough, the temporary increase in my INT stat might come in handy.' With that thought in mind, Valyr went ahead and accepted both prompts, decreasing his stock of unused XP by 20,000 as the effects of both skills had undergone a significant increase.
Ding!
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[Astute Eyes] (Level 6/10)
Rarity: Common
A skill that allows the user to temporarily increase their perception for a short amount of time. Increases the user's PER stat by 20% for 8 seconds.
Cooldown: 8 minutes
Cost: 40 MP
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'I hope this is more than enough for me to find it,' Valyr thought to himself, taking a deep breath before asking Jekyll once more to start another game of blackjack. Once Jekyll started handing out their respective initial hands, Valyr went ahead and activated [Astute Eyes], instantly feeling that his perception had gotten wider.
Knowing that the boost to his perception was temporary, Valyr focused his entire perception on Jekyll's hands once more, finally noticing an opening Valyr was certain Jekyll wanted him to exploit. With that, Valyr activated [Astute Mind], utilizing his increased intelligence to plan out his winning move.
"Hit!" With his voice becoming slightly louder, Valyr told Jekyll of his move. In response, Jekyll dealt Valyr a card, increasing the value of his initial hand from 13 to 17.
"Hit!" However, just as Jekyll thought Valyr was going to stand, Valyr called for another hit, briefly being taken aback as he wondered what made Valyr change his mind. With that, he took a look at Valyr's face, swiftly realizing that Valyr had finally done what he wanted him to do.
Suppressing the smile that tried to creep up his face, Jekyll gave Valyr another card, increasing the value of the latter's hand at 20. 'Now, your next choice will tell me whether you've truly found my opening or not.'
Fortunately, Valyr had made the move he wanted to see, allowing the smile he had been holding back to appear on his face, swiftly turning into a wide grin.
"Hit!"
"Congratulations, Valyr." As Jekyll dealt Valyr his third hit in a row, the latter watched with rapt attention as he wanted to find out if he had truly found the opening Jekyll gave him. Seeing that an ace was added to his hand, Valyr could not help but inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he responded to Jekyll's grin with a grin of his own.
"You've finally got yourself a blackjack."