The market was not exactly bustling, probably because it's 11 in the morning, but Cecil didn't particularly care. He needed to gamble or something. 12 silver was not a lot.
There was a casino in school grounds, but he was not exactly sure if Animating a slot machine was a good idea. But he had to try. Not now. He was not going into the Casino with The nauseous White and Cyan academy uniform.
He just walked around for the time being. Nothing much to see. He checked his phone.
11:45 AM
Damn. How did 45 minutes even pass? He checked his phone again.
11:48 AM
What is even happening? He looked at the screen again.
111::448 AAM
He was seeing everything doubled. Cecil thought that he was going to pass out or feel a headache, but he was just seeing twice.
[System overwrite by Admin03]
[
You have gained access to view hidden stat
]
[
You have gained access to view hidden stat
]
The split in his vision disappeared, and Cecil stated at the system message. Hidden stats? He opened his status window.
[
Name: Cecil Velhana
Age: 16.33
Role: Promising
Morality: +30
Lv:1
Hp:10/10
Mp:47/60
Atk-1
Def-1
Spd-1
Mag-1
Skills-Deus Ex Machina(G)(5 subskills)
]
Oh. That does not look good. Cecil basically gained something like a mind read, except it's not very helpful. Unless Role reveals something very big, it's not that big of a deal. And morality is, well, it looks good. A Golden plus thirty on a blue screen looks good.
"Guess I'm a kind hearted fellow, huh."
Cecil checked his phone again,
11:49 AM
Thankfully he was feeling fine now.
The Marketplace was not very crowded, there were a few people here, but that was nothing compared to the evening.
Cecil walked idly. Nothing really caught his eye. Well, a few things did, but the pitiful coins surrounded his mind like a pack of black tigers surrounding a white rabbit.
Well, he could go to the underground fight ring, but he was in uniform, so he would probably be turned away.
Cecil reached a small space lined with stalls. There were multiple of these around here, and it was nigh impossible to differentiate them, besides looking at the shopkeepers.
One stall caught his eyes. It had rocks placed in something like a circle. It just had an old man sitting unnervingly still, his white hair covering his eyes, and his beard reaching his legs. He looked like he would die if breathed too loudly near.
Cecil decided against scanning the man, and scanned the stones instead. However...
[Anti Mana barrier, G rank
Sentience-none
Cost- 50Mp
Suggestion- It is placed to prevent cheating. Animation is discouraged.
]
Cheating?
"Hey, uhh...", Cecil was at a sudden loss of words as to how to approach the old man.
"Wondering what this shop is, boy?"
The old man spoke. His voice sounded strained, thin, but had a sense of mystery in it. "Buy one stone for one gold. Some stones have Jade inside, and to prevent cheating, There is a barrier. But you already knew, didn't you?"
Cecil almost facepalmed. His plan was to haggle the price down to 12 silver. Now he had made a probably bad impression on the old man. Might as well mentally command, *
The old man didn't move. Cecil felt mildly uncomfortable.
"So... I uh... Have 12 silv—"
"One. Only once."
Okay...? Well, he had not enough money to buy one, but he was getting a free chance, so, it's time to make it worth.*Barrier, make a small hole,
[13x Stone]
[6x Jade coated in stone]
[1x Rose gold Coated in Jade coated in Stone]
Um... Excuse me, but what the actual fuck are these stones? Are these artificial? That big of a chunk of rose Gold is worth 50 Gold! How does this man make money?
In Cecil's vision, the stones were colored Grey, Green and a pinkish gold.It was obvious what the colors represented. Grey were normal stones, green were jade and the single pink one was rose gold.
"If you manage to get a haul first try, boy..."
the old man's posture and voice had no changes
"i'll let you choose another for free."
That was enough to cast suspicion on the old man, but gambling and earning money was a bigger priority.
Cecil pointed at the rock shining pink, and the old man did'nt flinch. He did not even check the stone. Well, he would know which stone was stone and which was not, since he set them up in the first place.
Cecil grabbed three jades and then a normal stone out of pity. And to avoid suspicion.
"excuse me?"
Mostly to avoid suspicion, because of how still he was sitting, one could'nt tell if the old man was even alive.
"Interesting display, young man." the old man's beard moved. "you stopped without my interruption."
So much for not arousing suspicion. "I stopped because I found it wierd how you did'nt tell me to stop. More than two wins is rare for a non binder like me."
Cyan garden academy has seperate uniforms for binders and non binders, and cecil had'nt gotten his yet. Both sets are mostly similiar, white shirts and half shirts, with the symbol of the academy, a cyan lotus wrapped in 4 emerald wings acting like leaves, printed at both the shoulders, paired with black trousers, engraved with cyan, green and white vines coiling to the waist, and plain black shoes
The binder version had subtle differences like-
»A shit ton of cyan and green pattens along the sleeve of your dominant hand.
»Two inverted lotuses at the bottom of the trousers, over the ankles.
The old man's beard moved again,"non binder, huh." his head tilted up, his eyes still obscured by his hair "fate seems to have gifted you with luck today. Get going boy."
Cecil was more than happy to get away. He walked away, but with a slightly faster speed than usual. He brushed off a non existentent speck of dust from his half shirt, and checked his stats again.
[
Name: Cecil Velhana
Age: 16.33
Role: Promising Puppeteer
Morality: +20
Lv:1
Hp:10/10
Mp:7/60
Atk-1
Def-1
Spd-1
Mag-1
Skills-Deus Ex Machina(G)(5 subskills)
]
His morality dipped. And his role changed. Well, let's hope there are no consequences fo—
[Achievement Unlocked!]
"Ah, shit."
[The Puppet Master Prerequisite 1]
"Here we go..."