Vnator

I'm back! But also some good and bad news, good for me, bad for you. I got a life! So that means I'm spending a lot less time in front of my computer and having enriching experiences outdoors. This means less time and energy to write, but I'm still going to do it. I'm absolutely finishing this series because I've spent too much time and effort dreaming up absolute insanity that I NEED to put into words and share with others. You will read it, and you will enjoy it!

Anyway, enjoy this chapter! You'll probably see what I mean by insane ;)

The next morning, I got out of bed on time and finished working my first job in record time. It seemed that either Ultarian Festival Week was finally settling down, or my [Tinker] Skill was getting really powerful.

[Skill Level Up! Tinker 9-> 10]

Powerful enough in fact that the level ups were beginning to slow down, despite how hard I worked.

[Tinker Perk Obtained! Build: Simple Mechanism]

But on the other hand, I now had a new avenue to gain experience from! But chances were, just like with repairs, whatever I built likely had to be sexual in nature for me to actually get a level up. So the Skill had essentially peaked! But I didn’t mind, I was an absolute machine at my job, so I didn’t really need any more than I already had.

Once all of those tasks were completed, I very thoroughly washed my hands, changed into my suit, and drove over to the casino to start my second job. On the way, I opened up the System menu to take a look at what my new [Tinker] perk did, and almost drove onto the sidewalk.

“Magic?! How the hell is that a Skill, and when did I get that?” I shouted out loud.

After getting back control of my car, I looked at my wrist. The magical bracelet was hidden underneath my suit, far up my arm so as to not show. So it actually was magical, huh? Maybe I could practice magic later.

It annoyed me to no end to think that. Later. A childhood dream was sitting on my wrist right now, but I thought my actual responsibilities were more important? When did I get so old and boring?

With a sigh, I put the thought behind me and entered the casino’s parking lot. Once I was parked and at the entrance, the bouncers at the front door let me in without any complaints, and I regarded them and the casino floor with a ready smile.

The bleachers contained an even bigger audience than before, and the place was starting to feel packed despite the fact that there were fewer poker tables laid out on the casino floor. It was a strange feeling. Almost as if the remaining players weighed more on the room than those who had already played and lost.

As the players began to roll in, I could hear the wheels of several cars pull up to the main entrance in a quick succession. Something seemed strange about it, so I decided to head outside and get a quick look.

A white limousine had pulled up to the casino, with several hulking SUVs surrounding it. Coming out of the front SUV was a man in a dark suit with sunglasses, who made his way to the limo. He opened the elongated door and two people exited, quickly making their way past me and inside the building. But not before one of the sunglass wearers shoved me to the side.

In total, it was two men dressed in black suits and black sunglasses, with visible earpieces and holstered pistols, sandwiching a man in a perfect fitting white suit who held a briefcase in his right hand. As he approached the tables, he handed his baggage to the man on his left, and went to meet with my boss who was now walking over with a wide grin. The two chatted for a bit before the man in the white suit took his seat among the players.

“Woah, who’s that guy?” I asked Mr. Goldshanks as he approached me and the other guests. “Never seen someone come here with that kind of an entourage before.”

“That’s because you haven’t been here for that long, but we occasionally get VIPs like that once in a while,” replied my boss with a smile. “That there’s Ian Wachowski, a really high ranking officer in the military.”

“High enough to have his own secret service agents with him?”

“Indeed. And he happens to be quite the poker player too, which is why he was invited to the quarterfinals directly.”

“That explains why I didn’t see him earlier. He would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb.” On a whim, I decided to hit him with [Detect Cheating], just out of curiosity. He was definitely the last person I expected to cheat at a poker tournament.

“Hey boss, are there any kind of secrets that could give a player an edge?” I asked.

“Hm? Not really, unless it’s secrets about the security or the other players. But I bet everyone knows about you by now, and knowing your opponent is part of the game!”

“Yeah, that figures,” I shrugged. I guess whatever he was cheating, it wasn’t at cards. If he was doing something specific, the Skill would’ve told me.

[Skill Level Up! Detect Cheating 14 -> 15]

[Detect Cheating Perk Obtained! Information: Victim]

Huh, would you look at that? So let me see who exactly Mr. Army bigwig really was cheating on.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

My eyes bulged and mouth dropped as I stared at the man in the white suit, the high ranking army officer. The traitor. Of course in a world of little loyalty would there be people who’d betray their country.

But what was I going to do about it? This wasn’t my problem, or my boss’. It wasn’t like selling military secrets to the Russians or whatever national enemy of the decade was going to ruin the tournament or Mr. Goldshanks’ reputation. I knew sticking my nose into that man’s business would be dangerous, and bring me trouble that I absolutely didn’t need, but still. Should I at least try to tell someone about him?

Should I?

After everything that had happened in the past two weeks, I really wanted to live hands-off, to tell the world that I just didn’t care about all of the drama it dangled down my throat. But this was something that could come to bite me, bite everyone I care about here, in the ass. Hard.

But even if I tried, it wasn’t like anyone would believe me if I did! “Hey guys, Ian Wachowski’s a traitor! What did he do? Hell if I know, but send over the police to cuff the naughty lad anyway!”

Seriously, what the hell was I going to do?

“Hey Mike, you don’t look so good,” said my boss, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Everything alright?”

“Hey, Mr. Goldshanks,” I slowly began. “I’ve got a hypothetical question. If I found out one of the players was doing something bad, like felony illegal, prison-for-life bad, but it doesn’t affect the tournament, what should I do?”

“I’d say call the police. I personally don’t care if they’re a hotshot or audience favorite, if they’re doing something really bad then they’ve gotta answer for it.”

“Alright, but what if they might retaliate if they find out it was you, and you don’t have any actual proof of what they’ve done?”

“Well then…” Goldshanks thought for a moment before continuing. “I’d say safely find out what you can, and leave an anonymous tip. The wellbeing of my employees is more important than whatever’s going on in the wider world. And that includes you, Mike.”

“Thanks,” I replied with a soft smile. “That really makes me feel a bit better.”

“Don’t mention it. Now was there someone in particular you’re talking about? I feel that this might not just be hypothetical.” I traced the path of his eyes to Ian Wachowski, but could see a puzzled look in them. “Have you met Ian before?”

“Nope, first time seeing him, ever,” I answered honestly.

My boss simply nodded. “Stay safe, Mike. And don’t do anything that’ll put you in danger.”

“I won’t boss, I won’t.”

Mr. Goldshanks took a seat amongst the audience members and turned his attention to the games. I did the same, trying to distract myself from the fact that a traitor to the country was taking part in them.

As I found and caught several more minor cheaters, I considered my boss’ words carefully. As much as I wanted to, the fact that there was a traitor who could’ve been selling anything between a formula for experimental super-roofies to goddamn nuclear launch codes meant I could be putting everyone I knew and marginally cared about in danger by letting him get away.

Of course, I didn’t have to confront him or play at any counter-espionage. I could just leave an anonymous tip to the FBI and they might handle it. Of course, simply giving a name wasn’t going to get any kind of investigation started on him, I’d have to give them a bone first.

And like hell was I going to get my hands dirty to do that! I wasn’t going to dive into that kind of drama, I had the System to do all of the heavy lifting, and I’d be able to do it while standing in the background! I had a way out; a way to do what was right without suffering the consequences. But as it was, it didn’t give me much to work with. I was limited by my available Skills and their levels.

Just a few minutes ago, I went from not suspecting a thing to having the shock of my life, so I had the answer right in front of me. What would anyone do in a video game when they weren’t strong enough to face the next challenge?

Grind.