Chương 65: Gambling Is A Bad Idea

"Raise," I said and pushed out ten copper.

"Call and swap," Dustin replied. We then pushed in our ante of one copper for the final round and revealed.

"Triple Peak," he said with a smile.

"Dual Core," I replied as he scooped up the main pot and then recorded our scores for that round.

"I believe that is round 100. Good match."

"Good match," I replied as he won a silver coin from me for winning the tournament between us. I had gotten quite good at Pulse Strike, but Dustin was a professional for a reason. He knew all the angles and little tricks to the game, which he happily pointed out to me.

"Are we there yet?" Healer Melon asked groggily. He had been in and out of consciousness for the last two weeks, chugging down Murky Tornadoes whenever he was conscious.

"Attention passengers, we will arrive at our final destination in one hour. Please be prepared, and thank you for using our transportation services," an attendant announced. The weather outside looked miserable. There was a massive snowstorm, and our magical carriage was plowing through. I was glad I was inside, warm, and comfortable. Thankfully, my losses hadn't exceeded a gold coin, even though I was losing money to a professional gambler.

I considered that reasonable for learning about the game and being entertained for two weeks. Other people had books or chatted quietly with their companions and neighbors.

"Well, you should compete in the tournament that is being held there. The College of Advancement is big on math and probability," Dustin said with a grin.

"Maybe. If my mother doesn't kill me for learning a gambling skill." I had felt the skill settle in halfway through the trip. Since I hadn't died, my Mind stat must have gone up again, and then I had immediately gotten the skill.

"Well, I would be willing to play a round or two with her," he replied with a grin while his young wife playfully hit his shoulder.

"You are so bad, Dustin," she said while kissing his cheek, and he grinned.

"Yeah. Um. I will pray you never run into her," I replied while nervously rubbing the ring on my hand. I probably should have taken it off. I knew she would yell at me when I saw her again, dealing more emotional damage.

"Well, it isn't like your mother is the Supreme Warlady. If she was, well, I should probably start running," he said with a grin.

"Yeah. Definitely not the Supreme Warlady," I replied, and his grin quickly faded away.

"Kid, you are a terrible liar," he said while being incredibly nervous.

"Someone corrupting an innocent child like me should be punished, huh?" I said with a smile.

"Ha. Ha." He looked over Healer Melon, who was passed out, and then back at me. I just shrugged.

"You can have your money back." I held up my hand and shook my head.

"You taught me a valuable skill and beat me fair and square. Seriously, don't worry about it and don't make a big fuss."

"Got it. Well, when you become famous, you can always brag that you learned Pulse Strike from Luck Master Dustin Danger Dagger," he replied, gaining back some of his confidence.

"Hmm, I wish you luck in your tournament. I should probably wake up Healer Melon here." I shook my guardian.

"Wahhhh, are we there yet?" he asked groggily.

"We will be there shortly. You need to get your wits about you,""Oh. Yeah. Um. Purify. Ah, much better. How soon?"

"Under an hour,""By the System, this is the worst way to travel." It wasn't bad at all. That was when we hit a bump, and everything shook.

"Horrible, absolutely horrible." We soon reached a tunnel and began traveling underground. There were lights in the magical carriage and in the tunnel. After another hour of traveling through the tunnel, we finally came to a stop.

"Please exit carefully and remember your belongings. Thank you for choosing our service for your travel needs," an attendant said.

"Take care, Justin." I nodded to Dustin.

"Good luck with your tournament." He returned the nod as we gathered our belongings and got off.

"This way. We have to go through customs," Healer Melon said.

"Customs?" I asked.

"Human nations rarely do this, but the dwarves and the elves restrict people from entering their nations much more. That means customs, to make sure we aren't here to cause trouble."

"But the College of Advancement is here?"

"That will let us bypass most of the headache." We made our way to one desk set up in this underground structure. We got express service since we were gold customers. I noted that other people had to line up in much longer lines. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Names and business in Undercraft?" a tired, bearded dwarf said. They all had beards, a sign of their status or heritage, though I wasn't sure that was correct. My knowledge of human culture from the Eldarin Empire was much greater than my knowledge of dwarven culture.

"Healer Melon of the Five Star Institute of Healing. I am accompanying Justin Burnstock, who is enrolling in the College of Advancement in approximately five months at their next intake," he explained, and produced a bunch of documentation.

"A bit early to show up now," the dwarf said.

"We are here to get familiar with the College and for Justin to train in various skills while waiting for enrollment to open. We also have a letter from the College itself," Healer Melon added and placed the letter on the table. The dwarf looked at the letter and then pushed the documents back over.

"Be aware that you are subject to dwarven law while in our city of Undercraft. We heavily restrict the use of social and mental skills. We can fine, imprison, and expel you from the city if we catch you using them. The only coinage accepted is dwarven coin. Be sure to meet with our exchange representative to trade all coinage you wish to use inside the city. Only authorized exchange merchants may make such transactions in Undercraft. Finally, do not harass our craftspeople.

They are free to do business as they wish. Any questions?" Healer Melon looked at me, and I spoke up.

"Any recommended place to stay and skill tutors?"

"For folks like yourself, either the Golden Hammer or Silver Anvil. The first is pricier, but you can't go wrong there. The second is quite popular with people wanting to save a bit of coin during a long stay. As for skill tutors, the City Hall in the center of the city has a map of the city for people who provide such services."

"Thank you," Healer Melon said.

"Then here are your two entry passes. Make sure you don't lose them, or people will question you as outsiders. They are good for one year. Students get a special pass if they want to visit Undercraft from the surface. Good luck with entering the College," the dwarf said as he handed over two copper plates to us. I noted they had a date stamped on them that was about a year from now, along with the city name and a label indicating they were entry passes.

"Thank you," I replied, and we left customs. There were a lot of magical carriages and magical lights, lighting up everything.

"The amount of Mana they must be using is immense," I said while looking at the large underground city. Giant pillars supported the biggest open section of the cavern. There were only giant lights hanging from the ceiling, while the entire city was in an upside-down bowl. The buildings at the edge almost touched the ceiling. I noticed a large pillar that wasn't centered but slightly off-center, going straight up to the ceiling.

"Let's go exchange our money," Healer Melon said. The exchange rate wasn't terrible. We lost only 5% of the value in switching the coins over to the dwarven currency. I didn't touch the 100 gold coins my mother had given me. That was my emergency reserve in my spatial storage. We looked around, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Need a lift, good sirs?" a young dwarf with a thin beard asked as he pulled up with a compact magical carriage.

"Yes. We were told that The Silver Anvil is a good place to stay for half a year," Healer Melon said as we got into the magical carriage with our luggage.

"A good place, but you can also try the Roaring Furnace. A bit more homely and down to earth. Also easier on the coin pouch," the young dwarf suggested.

"And do you get a commission?" Healer Melon asked.

"A small one, but I wouldn't recommend the place if it weren't good. You can trust me. Anerac is a dwarf of his word," he said.

"What do you think?" Healer Melon asked me.

"The cheaper option is fine as long as it isn't terrible. I want a comfortable bed at least."

"Don't worry, the beds are the best. Now hang on," Anerac said, and the magical carriage took off.

"I hate this," muttered Healer Melon. The traffic was crazy as everyone drove as fast and close to each other as possible. I felt my Danger Sense tingling.

"Don't worry, I am the fastest. I know a good shortcut," Anerac said as we swerved down a narrow alley and sped up.

"The merging is tricky, but it is all about timing. And my skills are quite good for this sort of thing." He pulled out of the alley and swerved the magical carriage hard. The groaning Healer Melon crushed me up against the side. His bald head pushed into mine.

"I have finished two magical carriage races so far. The trick is speed and timing," Anerac said as he swerved across multiple lanes and seemed to go even faster.

"As my ma likes to say, time is money!" A minute later, we finally came to a stop.

"Never again," Healer Melon said, and I agreed with him. That was horrible. We gathered our belongings and entered the Roaring Furnace. It felt more like a home than a professional inn.

"Welcome, guests, I am Borton, the hostess of this fine establishment," the dwarven woman said. At least she didn't have a beard. That would have been weird and confusing. My head was already spinning enough.

"We are looking to rent a room with two beds for a long-term stay, around five and a half months, when the College of Advancement has its next enrollment," Healer Melon said.

"Oh, perfect. I have our Blue Room available. Now, breakfast includes basic porridge, but you must pay extra for dinner. The room is half a silver a day for a long-term stay and a quarter silver for dinner each," she said. That meant one silver a day if we had dinner. The cost was reasonable for a place like this. There would be no spa days here, but that was fine.

"This should cover us for the first 100 days," I said, pulling out a gold coin.

"Ah, of course. Be welcome. Let me get your room key so we can move things along. Time is money," Borton said. Healer Melon and I shared a look and smiled. The room, with just a single room and bathroom, was fine, though quite plain and smaller than the apartment suites I was used to. At least it had indoor plumbing. The dwarves were at the center of the Magi-Tek industry, so it made sense. Their consumption of Mana cores was massive. They were trying to develop more efficient processes to cut down on costs.

The prices of cores had risen over the last four decades, almost doubling. While supply had increased, demand continued to go up. The magical carriage we used to get to Undercraft was a perfect example. It would have taken four times longer and been sixteen times more expensive using horses. There was talk that even farming machines would use Mana Core engines back when I was growing up in the Burnstock Duchy under my father's supervision.

After settling in, we got directions to City Hall from our hostess, which was a distance away.

"Don't worry, my son can get you there quickly," Borton said with a smile.

"Perhaps we should walk," Healer Melon said.

"Nonsense! That would take at least an hour, and time is money. We redesigned Undercraft to work well with magical carriages, not walking. Ah, here he is back with another guest. Go on," she said while pushing out the front door.

"Need a lift?" Anerac asked as the other guest stumbled into his mother's inn.

"City Hall," I said as we both got in the back.

"Got it. Let's go!" The magical carriage sent us slamming into the back of our seats as it took off.

"Is it safe to go this fast?" I asked Anerac.

"Of course, everyone goes this fast. Slow dwarves are dangerous dwarves," he replied while swerving in between other magical carriages with barely any clearance.

"What are you looking for at City Hall? Maybe I can help?"

"Tutors in the city for various skills."

"Well, Driving is the best skill you can get. I have Empowered Driving, a tier 3 skill, you know. Now hang on, this intersection can get tricky," he replied.

"System save me," muttered Healer Melon. I was feeling the same way. The magical carriage turned hard and went into a drift, merging with other vehicles in an immense circle. We sped up as Anerac laughed.

"Merging into the super circle is always a nightmare since you have to keep up speed and come in at such a sharp angle. Don't worry, my father was a magical carriage mechanic. I can use the overcharged mode, so I know what I am doing." I held on for dear life.

"What?"

"Now, really hang on to this time!" Anerac pulled a lever, and the entire magical carriage shot forward with a bang. I couldn't take it anymore. I closed my eyes, hoping that this ride would soon be over. A minute later, we came to a stop. I shakily handed over ten coppers for the lift.

"Well, I am off! Time is money!" Sensing a shift in my skills, I was pretty sure I just broke through on my Danger Sense skill.