“New game ‘Lucky Leg’ has been chosen.”

  “Round One shall commence.”

  The System says as I cursed teleportation for the fourth time in a day. As we all got over it, faster than last time, we looked at the new room around us. It was dark, and had the exact same seats from Call Out, but this time around a green poker table the size of a swimming pool.

  Then, a deck of glowing golden cards the size of me appeared in the middle of the table. I tried to pour MP into Royal Will to make the cards in my Favor. But all I got was a system message.

  “All active skills use has been banned from this game by the Operators."

  Crap, this is worse than I thought I was going to be.

  Then they shuffled for a few moments like nothing had happened, five cards being passed out to us, one by one, and a pile of three white chips appeared when they reached us. The cards floating in front of me, reading as 5,7, 3, 1, 1.

  Seriously, two ones!

  Then the system says.

  “Please pick three cards that add up to the highest value.”

  I quickly pick the 5, 7, and 3. A big number 15 appearing when I confirm, alongside it, another System message.

  “Would you like to Fold or Raise?”

  “Raising entails placing a bet of at least 1 deflection token. If you have the highest score, you win the pot. But lose the chance to ask question.”

  “Folding entails you won’t be risking any tokens, but it doesn’t guarantee you won’t be asked questions if you’re in the bottom two.

  When I read that, I looked around the table, the other players seeming to be reading a message as well. Then I looked at their card, the backs were covered in a glowing golden pattern, while the fronts were seemingly blank.

  Damn, System won’t let me cheat.

  But that wasn’t exactly what I was checking; I was counting their cards. Each of us had five, and there were five of us, so 25 cards. I looked at the pile of undealt cards, a little more than half full.

  Ok, so there are 4 unique cards. Jack Pots and Pit Falls, and I can safely assume from how many cards are remaining that there are five sets of 1-10 cards, making that 54 in total. If the cards we choose to play are shown, instead of just the big number. Then I can keep track of 17 of the cards, even though I have zero experience with card counting. And again, this will only work on the assumption that they aren’t just shuffled back into the deck.

  Better than nothing, I guess. Which seems like something I’ve been saying too much recently.

  I look at my cards, 15 points in total. I wasn’t the best at math, but that seems a bit below the average. So I folded, and looked around again, two people had raised. Krath Nixm and Fifth of the mist, putting one token in each.

  Urg Floaw had folded, and Second of the Snow was still deciding, but soon folded as well. The cards quickly being revealed, and to my relief, they showed the cards they had pulled instead of just the total.

  Fifth of the Mist had two 7s and a 5, totalling 19

  Krath Nixm had a Jack Pot, a 10 and 3, totalling 25

  “Pot goes to Krath Nixm.”

  The white shellac tokens hovering over to the oversized lizard. Then I looked at the rest of the cards.

  Urg Floaw had a 10 and two 2’s, totalling 14

  Second of the Snow had two 5’s and an 8, totaling 18

  A System message appearing in the middle of the table for everyone to see

  “The players, Urg Floaw and Jacob Davidson, shall be questioned by Fifth of the Mist and Second of the Snow.”

  Then another System message popped up, specifically in front of me.

  “The Players who want to question you are pending…”

  “Second of the Snow wants to question you.”

  “Pending…”

  “Fifth of the Mist wants to question you.”

  “Use a token to block a question?”

  I was about to sacrifice two tokens before I heard someone speaking to me.

  “Jacob Davidson,” I turned around and saw Fifth of the Mist staring at me, their compound eyes freaking me out as they said, “Please do not block my question.”

  I scoff, “And why would I do that?”

  “I have a plan, I’ll ask you if Royal Will can be used to cheat in this game.”

  “SHH! What if everybody else hears us!?”

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  “This is a one way channel.”

  I was relieved that my theory had been confirmed, but I wasn’t going to take the word of Wasp on it.

  And so I said to Krath, “Hey, bug, dumb, stupid, ugly lizard, look at me,” but nothing happened, so I turned back to Fifth of the Mist, saying, “Ok, but what if you ask some other question as a trick.”

  “I’m not going to, I want everybody to think that this game is rigged, and have another vote to play the other game. It is something I think we both want, yes?”

  I groom my antenna for a moment.

  Could this really work, and are they really not lying? They did push for the other game, so it’s not out of character. Also, if I confirm that information, then that would make everybody else not want to bet against me for the rest of the game. But will this even be allowed by the gods? From what I know, this would be considered, like, insider trading. But they haven’t stopped this yet, so…

  Making up my mind, I said, “Ok, but here’s the thing, I don’t know if Royal Will can work in this game. I tried to use another skill earlier, and it didn’t work. But Royal Will is more passive, and so that may get around the restrictions.”

  Fifth of the Mist was quiet for a moment, trying to do something, which I suspected was a skill, but they seemed to fail as well.

  Then they spoke again, “It seems you are correct, but I still think this plan will work.”

  “How?”

  “I’ll just ask you if Royal Will could make the cards more in your favor, I wouldn’t really be referring to this specific game.”

  “Ah, ok. I think I could do that.”

  Then I use a token on Second of the Snow’s question, but allowing Fifth of the Mists' question to go through.

  The wasp turned towards me, saying, “Jacob Davidson, could the skill ‘Royal Will’ make the cards more in your favor during a game?”

  A bit of stress falls off my shoulders, despite their argument earlier, I still thought this might’ve been some ploy.

  And I answered, “Yes.”

  The surprise and anger almost visibly reverberated through the room at my answer, especially Krath Nixm.

  Who looked like they were about to eat me, when they said, “Cheater; Strong Affirmation!”

  “It’s just the game, if it ain’t banned then it’s viable,” I said, deliberately adding an edge of joy to my words, like salt to the wound. A skill I had learned well in many Call of Duty lobbies after I had camped a corner, the rage and degradation in skill always a joy to watch.

  Krath is about to say something more, but is cut off by Fifth of the Mist, “I told you this would happen!”

  Krath was about to snap back, but took control of themself, a realization passing through their eyes, and said, “No, you did the phrasing wrong. You only said you could do that during a game, not this game. I checked earlier, and you can’t use your skills here at all, so Royal Will must not be active.”

  “Just admit you were wrong and get over yourself.”

  They bickered like that for a bit, while I just tuned it out like I usually did when something like this happened, having gotten quite good at it over the years. But it died down when the second turn started, an assumption from earlier confirmed as the cards we played were in a different pile, losing their glow. All of us reading our own cards, my mental eyebrows raising as I looked at the first four.

  A 10, another 10! A 9, and a 4.

  Jesus, what are the odds! Lord almighty, and System, you have my thanks!

  But my stomach dropped as I saw the fifth card come in, a purple tint to the art of a rabbit falling into a hole with spikes at the bottom. A Pit Fall…

  God, you know how a couple of days ago I said I was going to become a devout Christian if… when I get out of here. Well, you no longer get that since you didn’t play nice!

  Ok, but seriously, what should I do?

  I called up the rule book and read over it.

  Lucky Leg: There will be a deck of cards with markings on them, denominating their value ranging from 1-10. There are two unique cards called the ‘Jack Pot’ and ‘Pit Fall’. The Jack Pot is a card worth 12 points, and the Pit Fall is worth -7 points; there are two of each.

  Every round, the players are dealt five cards, but are only allowed to play three, discarding the other two. In the event you draw a Pit Fall, you are forced to either play it or keep it ( Other Players can see this action ) and are forced to play it the next round. If you draw a Jack Pot with a Pit fall, they cancel each other out.

  If you draw a Jack Pot, you have the option to hold it ( Other Players can see this action ), and its value will increase to 17 points ( You can only hold it for one round ). In the event you pull a Pit Fall with a holding a Jack Pot, you have to discard the Jack Pot and play the Pit Fall.

  At the beginning of the game, players are given three chips each that they can put into the pot. And the Player with the highest score gains all inside the pot. The two lowest scoring players will have to answer all questions the other players ask, or sacrifice a token to avoid the question ( This can only be done before the question is asked ).

  A round will end when either five turns have elapsed or when only six tokens remain. The game lasting a maximum of three rounds.

  Ok, hmm. Well, this game is not explained very well. They don’t even tell you about the folding mechanic, just more proof that this wasn’t thought out, I guess.

  I decided to hold onto the Pit Fall for the next turn, the card going to the side and turning gray. The other players glancing over with suspicious gazes, but I didn’t react and simply put my cards forward. Going all in with two tokens into the pot, then I noticed that two other people had also saved a card. Second of the Snow and Krath Nixm, meaning that the remaining Pit Falls and Jack Pot had been taken.

  And everyone else put one token into the pot, then the cards were revealed. I didn’t keep track of the cards since I knew they’d be shuffled again. But the points were.

  Krath with 12

  Urg Floaw with 13

  Second of the Snow with 20

  Fifth of the Mist with 17

  And me with 29

  The others looked at my cards with anger, especially Krath. I could feel the rage boiling out of him. Literal waves of heat emanating from his body for a few moments.

  Then he said, “Fifth of the Mist, I think you might have been right.”

  Yes, we’re getting closer to the other game!

  The wasp turns to Krath and says to my horror, “Oh, now you listen!”

  You fucking dumb ass!

  “I’m trying to be amenable over here!" the Komodo roars.

  Ok, maybe we still have a chance, Fifth of the Mist, if you don’t do anything stu-

  “Finally, you admit I'm right! It only took being an idiot this entire time!”

  I do the moth equivalent of leaning back in my chair, staring at the ceiling, the hope draining from me as they continued arguing. Again, only being distracted by the distribution of cards after whatever invisible hands shuffled them.

  And as I looked at my card, the last little bit of hope that I didn’t even know was there was twisted out of my body.

  Two 1’s, a 3, and a 2. Mixed with the -7 points of the Pit Fall, making my max amount of points a whopping -2.