Luca peeled open his eyelids and pushed down the blanket. The moment he returned to his personal space, he directly hopped in bed and fell deeply asleep. The game Luca just finished was extremely brief; It didn't even take full 15 minutes from the beginning to the end. Nevertheless, after returning, all of the stress and mental exhaustion hit him at once, forcing him to shut down for a while.
It wasn't surprising. This was Luca's first real challenge, and he had to stay on his toes all of the time; Planning, scheming, plotting, analyzing. In just a quarter an hour, he had to grasp plenty of information, digest it, and regurgitate a complete strategy with the highest possibility of success. This was because after the rules wear announced, Luca decided to choose the hard way.
There was an easy way too. The challenge could be cleared by both winning the game of wits or stealing the reward from the hands of a winner. The second was Ivan Vladimirovich's answer.
"This person is crazy...I hope we never meet again," Luca muttered as he gazed at the sailing. Thanks to Ivan, Luca managed to find out something he had ignored. The reason why the whole room was built of white marble. Perhaps it was the way the Magician was telling them - This is your clean sheet of paper. Now, draw with your desire as brush and blood in place of ink. Show me a beautiful painting. It was really a sick and crazy idea. Perhaps only a mad person could perceive this message. Undoubtfully, Ivan was such a man. He was the Traitor and could easily choose the side of the Evil, winning the game. Yet, he didn't do so. Luca was convinced that this wasn't an accident. The scales tilted in the fifth round, and Ivan was likely to predict the winner. He had the opportunity to use his privilege. But just like Luca decided to be a Schemer, Ivan picked up the role of a Murderer.
Breathing in the stagnant air, Luca put a hand in his pocket and took out a card. After clearing the First Arcana, the front of the card had changed. Now, depicting an upright woman; In her right hand was a staff facing the skies, while her left hand was pointing to the ground. In front of the woman was a table with the four symbols - wand, sword, cup, and pentacle, placed on top. Above her head was infinity, and in her feet were lilies and roses. This was the First Major Arcana - The Magician.
After a few seconds of studying the image, Luca flipped the card back. Before he fell asleep, he had heard the familiar voice mentioning his rewards. There were two rewards given for clearing this challenge. One was a bright red orb called Real Illusion, and the other was a personal title.
The orb was not very large, and it fit easily in Luca's palm. The color was deep red, as if it was made of coagulated blood. It gave a strange feeling of heaviness and viscosity. The voice had mentioned that this sphere was the general reward of the challenge; Meaning it was something everyone would receive. Its use was straightforward. It could be utilized five times to cast a real illusion for 1 minute. Unfortunately, after the fifth time, the orb would shatter and turn into dust.
The target of the illusion could be both animate or inanimate. For one minute, this illusion was real. It could be touched, used, or communicated with. The only restriction was that the caster had to personally have perceived the target before. In other words, Luca could imagine an object or a person he had met face to face but couldn't bring out a fictional character or a TV star. If not for the time limit and number of uses, this orb was a godly item. It had nearly infinite possibilities, and it all depended on the user's imagination.
For just a second, Luca had the urge to call his family. However, he reigned this desire and straightened his mind.
"As expected of a reward from deceit and desire," his lips curved up slightly; The smile not reaching his ears.
The second reward was a personal title. It was an individual reward, and there were conditions to be met for one to receive it. Therefore, not everyone could get this reward even if they successfully cleared the challenge. Luca wasn't aware of the specific condition. It could be related to his performance, the initiative to act and not be a passive teammate, or maybe the level of his understanding of the game's rules and loopholes. Whatever the reason, Luca was happy to get a bonus reward.
After meeting other people in the second challenge grounds, Luca believed that perhaps there were far more lost souls than he had thought. In the forthcoming games, he would likely face and struggle against many. If he wanted to prevail, he needed strength and diversity. And unlike the orb, this title was a personal reward. Not everyone would have it, and not everyone would know about its existence. It was similar to a hidden weapon that could aid Luca in a critical moment.
The title itself was identical to Luca's in-game position - Gambler.
It wasn't something tangible and could be visualized only by using his Tarot; This was likely related to the identification functions of the card.
If Luca wished to prove his identity as a Gambler, he could command the card to display it by changing the front-side image. Then, in place of The Fool or The Magician, Luca's own visage would emerge; A handsome young man with soft brown hair, deep green eyes, and caucasian facial features. In the picture, he was dressed like a typical croupier, and in his hand was a pair of dies.
The title came with both passive and active privileges. The passive influence of a Gambler was a high affinity with probability types of games and locations. Currently, Luca was not very clear what was the exact effect. Nor could he test it. Maybe he was liked by casino owners? Or had a better chance to trick someone on Texas Holdem? If he could be reborn and keep these things, he could enjoy a good life in Las Vegas. What was more noteworthy was the active privilege of the title.
With a thought, a big die materialized in Luca's outstretched hand. It looked like any regular die; Cubic shape with the numbers from 1 to 6 written, one on each surface. And the sum of the numbers on the opposite sides was 7.
However, this die had a shapeshifting effect. Its size and design could be changed depending on Luca's wishes. In other words, it could mimic all existing dies. Nevertheless, there was another effect that made this die interesting. It could affect the probability of a specific event! The higher the number, the higher the possibility of the action succeeding, and vice versa. The most important thing was that the result of the die was not random. It could be controlled by the user. Was there a real Gambler who wasn't able to manipulate dies?!
Of course, with power came the restrictions. Otherwise, such an item would be bugged existence in the challenges.
First, the die effect could be cast only once inside of a challenge. And Luca was uncertain if he could use it in other locations. At least, he couldn't use this effect in his personal space.
Second, he had to specify the event to a certain extend. This restriction heavily depended on the consequences of the event. For example, if he wanted to kill someone, he couldn't just say the guy A will die and throw the die. He had to specify the date, time, place, and reason for his death. If any of these requirements wasn't met, the die wouldn't take effect. Therefore, if it wasn't used correctly, it could easily be avoided.
Of course, if he wanted to do something with fewer consequences then the restrictions would be lighter. Luca could declare that a metal tray will break after being dropped on the ground, and it would happen. Usually, the chance of this happening was extremely minuscule, but with the Gambler's die, it was possible. It was easy because the importance was light. The value of a broken tray couldn't be compared to the value of a lost life.
After studying the die, Luca was very satisfied. He wasn't disappointed by the heavy restrictions. Naturally, an item with such a value had to have a limiter. At the same time, this was a reminder to himself as well. Just because he was a Gambler, this didn't mean he should rely too much on chance.
Anyway, sometimes a straw was enough to break the camel's back. If Luca wanted to affect something with too heavy of consequences, he could do so indirectly. In the previous example, he could increase the probability of A going to a known location. Then he could organize an ambush, and kill him.
Luca chuckled drily at this thought. It was barely the sixth day after his death, and he was already thinking about killing random imaginary characters. On the one hand, this proved how good his adaptability was. This was an indispensable trait if he wanted to walk down this path. On the other hand, it was dejecting how easily he was ready to choose violence in order to protect himself.
Earlier, he condemned Ivan for picking the easy way and killing Jack. However, Luca wasn't any different. Didn't he trick Yuna and used her to win the game? What was the result? This smart young girl's soul perished forever. Yes, he didn't kill her directly with his own hands. He killed her indirectly using his mind and scheming. Who was he to decide who will live and who will die? In the end, both Yuna and Jack dissipated. One died feeling betrayal and indignation, while the other died with a smile on his lips from a single swipe of a knife. Who was the Good, and who was the Evil?
"It is too late to act hypocritically."
Luca's walk on the Path of Life had already begun with a murder.
