Augmented Aspects: Chapter 55 Tournament Sign In (Patreon)

Chapter 55

Tournament Sign In

It is amazing how a quick power nap and chance to do what you love can change the entire course of your day. Up until a few hours ago I had been dead exhausted, nearly inconsolable, fortunately I didn’t have too many patients. That and the patients that I had were just people that had to be cured of the toxicity in their blood streams.

Their purging was a lot easier to handle than curing the  Blight and sadly, I got just as much experience from cleansing them.

I also found that curing someone of toxicity was not the same thing as healing them, as my newly acquired talent of Omni-Healing was unable to do anything for the cause of their condition. Granted once I performed the task of cycling their blood for them, and was able to cure them that way, I was then able to use my Omni-Healing to cure their residual wounds and damage to their bodies, but nothing about the underlying cause of the damage they suffered.

On the one hand I was glad that Omni-Healing wasn’t just a one stop shop for fixing everything, as it still seemed the game would require people to know what they were doing, well if they wanted to be truly successful. I could have logically just healed them, and thereby let the toxicity rating continue to build up, causing more and more cumulative damage that would then need to be healed, but that was stupid. Sadly, I feel that is what a lot of healers probably do, focus on healing the hit points, versus healing the whole body.

Needless to say, I was able to heal seven patients in my final two hours of work. Granted they had all waited all day, and let me rest, an act of kindness on their part that I was more than grateful for. That was why I made sure to heal each of them.

Fortunately with my second pool of energy for Omni-Healing, I was able to work through all seven patients with a breeze, for a total of 700 experience. Then my three hours of reading for an extra 180. Then finally I told Ellia about my newest piece of gossip, the fact that I was now a resurrector. Granted the thieves guild likely already knew, but as I could confirm it, I got credit for that discovery. In all, I was looking at a total experience pool of 31,580. Or to put it more succinctly I was 1,580 experience over what was needed to get to and keep level 25. Seeing as I just got this level, and was still going through changes, I didn’t want to lose it.

There of course was only on problem, this meant that I only had 1,500 experience points that I wished to wager. Had this been before my sudden level increase, I would have gladly wagered 25,500 experience or however much experience I had between level 24+ to level 10. Since level 10 was the last class evolution point, I didn’t think going back to there would have been too much of an issue. But now losing my third class evolution, and likely all the prerequisites to get a Class Trait as part of my class evolution, now that would have been too much.

So rather than risking everything, I decided to play it safe. I entered the minor division of Lenny’s grand opening tournament. Spending nearly everything I had to my name.

“75 Gold and 1,500 experience?” The receptionist asked.

I nodded.

I could tell the receptionist likely thought of me as a cheapskate, but honestly my Broke flaw had more ways of finding me and taxing me than I could count. In fact, the only way I was able to get so much gold was because I took out a loan against my monthly earnings from the Mage’s Guild. Yeah, a loan, on account of bad credit. So now I needed to pay back the 75 with interest, or let the interest accrue the longer I tried to earn money.

“You know this is just enough to enter into the lower bracket?” The receptionist asked.

Once again, I nodded. In a way this was good, as it likely meant my level of competition would be weaker. The true card sharks would be at the advanced tournament, of course, there could be a few others who chose to enter the lower tournaments thinking it would be easier pickings. No doubt, that is what this receptionist was thinking of my paltry entrance. Given that I had a permanent seat at the big table, it was clear that I truly liked Swap’em Holdem.

“A moment.” A deep baritone voice called out from behind me, sending chills down my spine. I had known he was there, watching, my Rahul made flesh, but to hear him talk so suddenly, now that was something.

I turn.

“Would you perhaps be needing financial assistance?” Glenn asked.

I turn to face Glenn, not that it matters to me, but people do get unnerved when the blind person just stares off into the distance seeming to talk to themselves.

“Thank you, but I do not require any assistance from Lenny.” I reply, figuring that Glenn no doubt is here representing Lenny’s future interests.

“Madame,” he says, his voice causing my heart to flutter. Gods, why does he have such an amazing voice and presence. “I assure you, that I am here for no ones interest save my own.”

Hearing him, I almost believe him, his statement that he is only here to represent himself. “Terms? I am a good deal away from the minimum needed for the high table. Both in terms of gold and experience.”

“What would you say to a sixty to forty split?”

“How about fifty to fifty, you get any gold I might earn, while I get the experience?” I counter.

“I do not see this as being a problem, though I do have one caveat.”

“Oh?” I ask, while raising an eyebrow in a gesture clearly asking him to go on.

Guh.

He stammers for a moment, mouth fully agape and everything at my subtle gesture. I almost lose character at the moment and laugh, but I got the normally stoic Glenn, the muscle for Lenny’s branch of the Thieves Guild to get flustered. It was a look that looked oddly cute on his strong face.

He of course regains his composure almost instantly and states, “all I ask is that should you win the whole thing, you repay the experience.”

I nod, “fair enough, though should I win the whole thing, I hope that you will return my 75gold pieces.”

“Deal.” Glenn said, as he held out his gloved hand. I gently slide my own gloved hand into his and smile mischievously at him.

At that, he faulters for a second time. That is when I am met with my first system message. While I hadn’t been expecting this to be the first system message of the tournament, I can’t say I was disappointed by it.

New Skill Gained: Seduction has increased to level 1.

Skill Seduction is a Strength, Personality, Sociability, Attractiveness, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.

Seeing the skill and its description, I couldn’t help but wonder why Strength? Was it because they made it so you had a strong personality to be seductive? Or was it more of a more primal understanding one that spoke to the fact that strength was inherently seductive and those who had a lot of strength were even more seductive. Regardless of the rationale, I was happy that it was a skill that would improve all mental and social based Attributes, along with Strength.

Still to see it written there on his face, made me feel somewhat special, I am not going to lie. It was one thing to have a slight crush on someone, but to know that they clearly found you attractive was something else entirely. I have to admit that seeing the way he looked at me, I did feel stronger, though more of a mental strength than anything, but it was a form of strength that felt good. Not the power over someone, but the fact that I now felt empowered by the attentions of another. In my regular life I had never been too exceptional, at least I never remember being so. So, this was all new to me, but now that I had it, I couldn’t blame the addition that others might have felt. With that, I make it a note to keep this skill use to minimum, or maybe with that special one.

A deal has been made.

To enter the High Stakes Tables for the Swap’em Holdem championship, Glenn Bloodfang has offered to sponsor your remaining fees and experience costs. In exchange for 75 gold, and 1,500 experience, you will be asked to turn over all financial winnings to Glenn Bloodfang, while all experience gains will be awarded to you, the contestant.

Cost: 75 Gold, 1,500 Experience.

Exception: Should you win the whole Swap’em Holdem tournament you will regain your initial prices of 75 gold pieces, while Glenn Bloodfang will regain his 23,500 experience he put up for your entry.

Seeing the costs, I almost do a spit-take. With my 1,500 experience the entire entry fee was 25, 000 experience? I start shaking just at the thought of that.

“You are trembling.” Glenn says, pulling me close, and hugging me tightly. At first I resist, but after a second I relax slightly as I take in a deep scent of Glenn. This is amazing, breathing in deeply I smell a deep scent of sandalwood and vanilla.

Then after a moment’s pause, he speaks up again, “don’t worry about winning or losing. In this I just want to see you have fun.”

Warning: You are wagering 75 gold and 1,500 of your own experience. These will be withdrawn from your person immediately. Should you exit early or fail to place, you will not gain any of this back. Do you wish to proceed?

That was my warning, letting me know that if I didn’t want to risk that much, or rather, if I didn’t want Glenn to risk that much on me, then I should give up now.

Still, I didn’t like the idea of being beholden to anyone. The fact that this entire thing made me feel confined to Glenn for 23,500 experience was a little disconcerting. I barely liked the idea that I still had to stay at the Mages Guild for eleven months, the idea that I would be bound to Glenn personally, well that was something entirely different. Also, if I was bound for that much experience, how much of his gold was he wagering on me?  No wait, best not to know answers to questions that you really don’t want answered.

Still, this is what I want.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Taking a long calming breath, I focus my mind and realize I can do this. I might not win, but with my Skills I should be able to at least place high enough to earn back the experience wagered and gold put up by Glenn. After that, well I hope I can earn more than enough experience to at least make it so Glenn doesn’t regret helping me. Then with a slightly nervous intonation, I answer the prompt “yes.”

Chime.

You are now Contestant number 823 in the master level of No Limit Swap’em Holdem Tournament.

Warning: Know that in an effort to cut down on cheating a multitude of anti-cheat devices will be enacted, to include but not limited to Skill Restrictions, Power Inhibitors, and Attribute Limiters.

Seeing the warning, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a little late. Had I known I wasn’t going to be able to use my Skills I would have never joined, I mean the only reason I can read anything at all is because of my Skills. Still, this can’t be right, can it?

“Glenn?”

“Hmm?”

“What does it mean that I will have Skill Restrictors, Power Inhibitors, and Attribute Limiters in place?” I ask, trying to keep the fear from my voice that I most certainly am suddenly feeling.

“Oh that, these are fairly standard practices for gambling halls. We place a series of three bands magical bans on you that you then wear throughout the entire tournament. These bands will cut off all accesses to skills and powers, meaning you will not be able to influence, or interpret the play of others. Also, to make sure everyone is on the same page, you will have an Attribute band that limits the rewards gained from class levels, this way it is solely down to the base user and their standard chances of succeeding. You will find this practice to be common in all card tournaments, and is the one that is least disputed.” Glenn says, as he opens up a box of three magically glowing circlets.

I recognize their design almost immediately, they are similar to the ones that are placed on people who are put under arrest, as they make it so even a level one policeman could handle a level 900 Mechanoid Master. Still the idea of being bound is concerning. I will effectively lose all my bonuses from levels, but I feel that my base Attributes should be more than enough.

“Know that these only affect skills, and powers that go outside of your body. Any internal spells you have will continue to function properly.” He states, as he pulls out the first ring that seems to glow with a deep inner red light.

“This is the Attribute inhibitor.”

Click.

It snaps into place over my arm and instantly I feel slightly lightheaded. I lurch forward, only to be caught by Glenn’s strong hands. “Easy there.” He says, as he holds me upright for a moment, then once he realizes I am able to stand on my own, he eases back. I look at my stats and realize that Glenn was right, my Attributes feel like they have been cut in half, well most of them. Glenn was correct in his statement that I still had my base Attributes, which I assumed were far higher than most other people’s were, but that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

“Here is the magic inhibitor. Again, this will just affect spells going outside of your body, any internal spells you have will still operate, but spells to enhance sight and other activities will still be in place.”

Click.

With that, he puts a blue glowing band on my body, that instantly begins to cause an odd pulsing resonance that does break apart my external spells. To my surprise I notice the impact almost immediately as the band stops my Spirit Sight spell from working properly, I can still feel the energy being used and applied, but the effects of the spell appear distorted.

“Very good.” Glenn says, as he gives a slight nod of approval. “And lastly, we have the Skill disruptor. Again, this one should only be able to disrupt your external skills. Any internal skills you have like Mathematics, Probability, or anything like that will not be able to be affected by this.”

Hearing that, I pause, as I realize that is likely why Glenn is putting so much faith in me. He likely thinks I have one or both of those skills. That said, now that I know they are a thing, I totally want to get them, but I just haven’t had a chance to learn them in game.

With this Glenn pulls out the last and final bracelet, a green glowing bracelet that he gently slides into place and click. The moment the final bracelet clicks into place I know I am in trouble.

I can still see, despite being blind my Angel’s Sight, still lets me perceive the world, despite my vision going murky. There of course is just one problem. My skill that I had been banking on to win this whole tournament, Blind Eidetic Speed Reading, the gift from the gods that let me read at a prodigious rate is gone. Well, it isn’t gone, I can still see that it is there, but so long as I have this bracelet on, it might as well be gone.

“There we go, fits like a glove.” Glenn says reassuringly to me, as he pats my arm right over top of the bands.

The only problem, I realize that I can’t even interpret how Glenn is reacting to me. I mean, I see his expressions, but the majority of my understanding of people came from my Emotional Insight skill, one that is also currently dead.

“Right this way.” Glenn says, a gentle tone to his words, as he begins guiding me to the main table in the back. This of course is my table that I specifically asked for.

Clap, clap.

Glenn claps his hands, and instantly people off in the distance begin to move.

“We had a special chair made for this special occasion.” Glenn begins, as a few Thieves Guild members go and grab a special chair that had been made just for this occasion. I can see this, just as I always have. I can even see things in the other rooms, but I can’t read anything. Everything that had been visible and legible a moment ago was now a blank black strip. It was terrifying, for a moment I have a flashback to my first few days here, ones where I was forced to go on without the ability to read. Fortunately I had done a nearly impossible task, killing a zone behemoth and had been rewarded with a personalized skill book, one that let me read everything, but now thanks to this stupid arm band, I was now blind.

I also knew that my spells wouldn’t work. Out of curiosity, I tested my Telepathy, and was somewhat alleviated to see that this Trait still worked properly, meaning I could read someone’s mind and see what they thought their cards were, as well as the cards on the table. This of course still meant that I had one glaring problem with my play strategy. I still had no way of knowing what my two hold cards would be.

“Here you go.” Glenn says, as he gestures for me to sit down in a lush leather chair.

Sitting down, I feel a bit of my tension leave my body as this chair was nice.

“A chair worthy of a queen.” Glenn says, “unfortunately, I do have other matters I must attend to, but I do hope you enjoy tonight.”

Kiss.

With that Glenn kissed my hand. I would have so swooned for that gesture had I not been inwardly panicking at the idea that I still had no way to play this game effectively. Other than showing my cards to someone else, I would be at a loss.

It was at this point that I came up with the ultimate solution to my problem, I decided that if I couldn’t play and win normally, then I would do the next best thing, I would cheat.