Jessica slammed the wooden table in front of her.
"Fun? There's no point to that at all if there's going to be unnecessary risk! Dammit... whatever."
She scratched her hair, messing it up slightly. However, she calmed down rather quickly, putting on a serious expression.
"Ok, since it seems that it's getting a bit more difficult, I'll tell you how this game works in a bit more detail. The cards that we are dealt are chosen randomly from a deck of twelve cards. There are four twos, four threes, three fours, and one five. The two cards that aren't dealt will be our optional reward, and this is also one of the only ways to get a five, but the chances are unbelievably low."
Jessica took a deep breath and put on a serious expression.
"As for the card designated to be its shield can't be overkilled. For example, if it has two health left, and you play a four, that four will only deal two damage. The same doesn't apply to its armor. That matters because you have to deal at least one damage to him directly, surpassing the armor directly to win."
Jack gave a curt nod.
Once again, the giant viking formed, transforming from the cards that shot out of the deck. It was still the Jack of clubs, but this time the weapon was a five of clubs, while his armor was the seven of diamonds, and his shield was the five of hearts.
Then, the hands were dealt. Jack looked down at the cards he had available.
Two of Clubs, Three of Spades, Three of Diamonds, Five of Spades, and Two of Hearts.
He also opened up the glass case and noticed there were two other cards inside as well. The three of diamonds he had as a reward, as well as the red joker card.
[Player 1's Turn]
This time, it was Jessica that went first, indicated by the blue circle of light below her. She took a deep breath and inspected the cards closely. After some deliberation, she used a three of clubs to attack.
It reduced the five hearts on the Giant Viking's shield to two. Then, she used a two of diamonds and a four of diamonds to block, ending her turn. She was only left with two cards.
As for Jack, he took a look at his hand for a few moments before putting down the two of clubs. Assuming he didn't use the joker, it wouldn't be useful for defense in the first place and there wasn't a point in using a number higher than two anyway.
The shield made out of hearts broke apart as the giant viking stumbled backward. Though it quickly recovered, delivering a swing back.
Jack looked at his hand for a moment before discarding the two of hearts and three of diamonds, defending against the attack.
Now, he was left with a five of spades and three of spades.
Then, the turn switched over to Jessica, prompting her to bite her fingernails. Her anxiety wasn't unwarranted, as she only had two cards left and the viking still had seven health. She hesitated for quite a while before using a two of spades to attack. Then, she took out a two from her glass box and paired it with a four to block the incoming attack.
Jack was a bit confused.
She had said before to use the large numbers to attack and the small ones to defend, but that clearly wasn't what she had done. He assumed that she must've forgotten.
When the turn shifted to him, he looked at the two cards in his hand and decided to place down the five. Since there were only five more diamonds on his armor, the weapon struck true and broke apart the armor entirely.
Unfortunately, while the armor was broken, the viking himself was fine. With no more armor covering him, he once again launched an attack. He took a card out from his glass case, the two of hearts. On top of that, he used the three of spades to block the attack, leaving him with no cards other than the ones in the glass box.
From there, it shifted to Jess. She still had a somewhat bitter expression on her face but didn't complain. After pulling out another two from her glass box, she used it on the viking which did the final blow, killing it.
[Congratulations! You have won! Issuing rewards...]
Three cards flew out to both Jack and Jessica, landing on the tables in front of them.
[Select Two]
Jack looked down and saw a three of clubs, a three of diamonds, and surprisingly enough a five of diamonds. From the information Jess gave, he shouldn't have been able to get a five since the five was used in the game, and there was supposed to be only one five in the pile.
It appeared hard mode worked with slightly different rules that weren't mentioned.
After a moment of deliberation, Jack took both the three of clubs and the five.
From there, the game once again asked whether or not they wanted to try again, and without discussing Jessica had already pressed no, ejecting the two of them out of the game and back into the gloomy cave.
Jessica took a deep breath after leaving.
"Well, that was actually better than expected. Somehow or another I got two fours. Though... I still haven't been able to get a five. This luck-based system is going to give me an aneurysm."
Jack tilted his head to the side curiously.
"Ah, but I got a five. Would you like it?"
He even went as far as to take the five of diamonds out from his red deck, handing it straight to her. Jessica was actually a bit startled by such an upfront action. Her eyes glimmered with temptation, clearly wanting it.
She had reached out to take it, but stopped herself.
Jessica bit her lip as a swirl of emotion assaulted her.
"...It's fine. I don't need it that badly. Besides, you shouldn't just be giving out cards so willy-nilly like that."
Jack scratched the side of his head in confusion.
"Eh? Why not?"
Jessica put a hand on her forehead and let out a sigh.
"Most people here aren't just going to give things back to you. If you start to give away things, even if it's just a little bit, you're soon going to end up with nothing."
Jack blinked a few times, slowly processing what he heard.
"Is having nothing bad?"
A bitter smile formed on Jessica's face as she placed one hand on his forehead.
"Yes. If you have nothing, then how will you be able to live? Everyone needs food to survive, after all. If you don't want to die, then you have to take care of yourself."
Jack furrowed his brows. He didn't exactly have a lot of common sense developed, so those words didn't mean too much to him.
"Die? Is it that bad of a thing?"
Jessica paused for a moment. She didn't understand how it was possible for a kid to be this naive, much less a kid that was in this place.
"Of course it's bad. You won't be able to do anything after you die. Don't you know your missing father? It's like that, but he never ends up coming back."
Jack pouted and seemed ready to begin crying at any moment.
"T-That's really bad!"
Jessica nodded a few times.
"That's why you can't just hand things out like that. You need to learn to keep things for yourself."
Jack pondered over it before nodding.
"I understand!"
He let out a hum soon after, realizing he felt a bit hungry. And so, he went and fished out his paper bag. He directly took out the lemon and took a big bite out of it, even going as far as to smack his lips a few times.
Jessica's eyes widened all the way.
"You actually eat the lemon that comes with it?... And even the skin?"
Jack looked back at her strangely.
"What do you mean? The lemon's the best part!"
The corner of Jessica's lip twitched. She was clearly rather startled by Jack's strange tastes. It appeared that the strange quirks wouldn't stop appearing.
"...Then do you want the lemon from my bag?"
She pulled out her own paper bag and handed out the lemon. Seeing this, Jack stared at it for a long while.
"But... didn't you say it was a bad thing to give things out willy-nilly? Why are you doing it now?"
Jessica rolled her eyes.
"I'm not doing that. Unlike you, I have no plans on eating the lemon at all. I planned on just throwing it out along with the paper bag that I have before. Since it has no value to me, there's no reason for me to keep holding onto it."
Jack licked his lips in anticipation. He clearly wanted it but was hesitating.
"Y-You're sure?"
Jessica gave a nod and held out the lemon closer to him.
"Yeah, I really don't like lemons. So you can have it."
Jack smiled brightly and took it.
"Thanks!"
He continued to eat his lemon with fervor and didn't pause to eat the other one as well. After finishing all of that, he ate a few more pieces of jerky and drank some water to wash it all down.
Jessica also used the time to eat a little bit.
She then raised a question after Jack tucked away the water bottle.
"How much protection time do you still have?"
Jack, knowing absolutely nothing of what she was talking about, stared back at her cluelessly.
"Hm? What are you talking about?"
Jessica's eyelid twitched.
"...When you enter the Hub, you'll get a notification about your protection time. Every twenty-four hours, you will have twelve where nobody will be able to hurt or steal from you. If you want to fall asleep, then you gotta go there to do it if you don't want to die."
Jack furrowed his brows.
"Hm? But I didn't sleep there before and I was fine."
Jessica gave him a blank stare.
"Then you were extremely damn lucky that a person or monster didn't see you while sleeping, you damn psycho."
Jack was taken aback.
"Eh? Really?"
Jessica clicked her tongue and sighed.
"Yes. Really. Now, do you remember how much time you had?"
Jack scratched the side of his head.
"Um, I only stepped in for a little bit. I think it said something about twelve hours and resetting in twenty-four?"
Jessica gave a few nods before turning to him.
"So that was your first time today. Alright, I also have a lot of time left for protection as well, so whether or not we choose to go back now doesn't really matter. Are you feeling a bit sleepy at all?"
Jack shook his head.
"No, not really..."
She looked around the place before sighing.
"Alright then. It would be ideal to go back and restock on twos in case we need to play any other games. However, chances are we'll be fine. Let's move, it's safer to be moving rather than staying still."
Jack didn't understand what she was talking about, but wasn't against proceeding onward. He picked up the lamp and went in an arbitrary direction, exploring the dark and dreary caverns.