“Raise,” I said and pushed out 10 copper.
“Call and swap,” Dustin replied. We then pushed in our ante of 1 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,” Dustin said.
“Good match,” I replied as he won a silver coin off me for winning the main 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 the last 2 weeks, chugging down Murky Tornadoes whenever he was conscious.
“Attention passengers, we will be arriving 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 snow storm our magical carriage was plowing through. I was glad I was inside, warm, and comfortable. Also losing money to a professional gambler. Thankfully my losses hadn’t exceeded a gold coin. 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 about math and probability,” Dustin said with a grin.
“Maybe. If my mother doesn’t kill me for learning a gambling skill,” I replied. I had felt the skill settle in halfway into 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 should have probably taken it off. I had no doubt 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.
“Corrupting an innocent child like me,” I said with a smile.
“Ha. Ha.” He looked over at 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,” I replied. “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,” I replied.
“Oh. Yeah. Um. Purify. Ah, much better. How soon?” he asked.
“Under an hour,” I told him.
“By the System, this is the worst way to travel,” he muttered. It wasn’t bad at all. That was when we hit a bump and everything shook. “Horrible, absolutely horrible,” he muttered. We soon reached a tunnel and began traveling underground. There was lighting in the magical carriage and 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 at Dustin.
“Good like with your tournament,” I replied. 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.
“It normally isn’t done in human nations, but the dwarves and the elves are much more restrictive about people entering their nations. That means customs, to make sure we aren’t here to cause trouble,” he explained.
“But the College of Advancement is here,” I said.
“Which will let us bypass most of the headache,” Healer Melon said. We made our way to one the desks set up in this underground structure. We got express service, since we were gold customers. I noted other people had to line up in much longer lines.
“Names and business in Undercraft?” a tired bearded dwarf said. They all had beards. A sign of their status or heritage. I wasn’t sure. My knowledge of human culture that came from the Eldarin Empire was much greater than 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.
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“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 said 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. Use of social or mental skills is heavily restricted. If you are caught using them, you can be fined, imprisoned, and expelled from the city. 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 are allowed to make such a transaction 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?” I asked.
“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 for 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,” he explained.
“Thank you,” Healer Melon said.
“Then here are your two entry passes. Don’t lose them, or you will be questioned as outsiders. They are good for one year. Students get a special pass if they want to visit Undercraft from the surface. Good luck on 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 around a year from now along with the city name a label saying 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 in the center but slightly off center going straight up to the cieling.
“Let’s go exchange our money,” Healer Melon said. The exchange rate wasn’t terrible. We only lost out on 5% of the value switching the coins over to dwarven currency. I didn’t touch the 100 gold 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. The Silver Anvil, we were told it 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 you get a commission?” Healer Melon asked.
“A small one, but I wouldn’t recommend the place if it wasn’t good. You can trust me. Anerac, is a dwarf of his word, that’s me,” he said.
“What do you think?” Healer Melon asked me.
“The cheaper option as long as it isn’t terrible. I want a comfortable bed at least,” I replied.
“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 together 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 accelerated. “The merging is a bit 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. I was crushed up against the side by the groaning Healer Melon. His bald head pushing 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 be going 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 was agreeing 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 establish,” 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 already.
“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 their next enrollment,” Healer Melon said.
“Oh perfect. I have our Blue Room available. Now breakfast is included, just basic porridge, but dinner is extra. The room is half a silver a day for a long term stay and quarter silver for dinner each,” she said. That meant a 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 and pulled 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 was fine if quite plain and smaller than the apartment suites I was used to as just a single room and bathroom. At least it had indoor plumbing.
The dwarves were 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 on cores had risen over the last 4 decades almost doubling in price.
While supply had increased, demand had 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 had been 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 quick,” Borton said with a smile.
“Perhaps we should walk,” Healer Melon said.
“Nonsense, that would take at least an hour and time is money. And you have to go so far. 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!” We were slammed into the back of our seats as the magical carriage 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?” he asked.
“Tutors in the city for various skills,” I said.
“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 a huge 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,” he said.
“What?” I asked as I held on for dear life.
“Now really hang on 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.