Chapter 31: Vegas

Chapter 31: Vegas

“Purpose of visit?” came the incredibly bored question from the guy at passport control.

Isaac just sighed “Gambling.”

“I see.”

And just like that, he was through the last layer of official interference, free to explore the city of sin in any and all ways he desired.

Isaac just kept walking, the only luggage he needed being his backpack. As he walked towards the taxi stand, he checked his status.

Name: Isaac Thoma

Class: Undying Wraith

Species: Human

Level: 11

XP: 517/2400

Health Status: Healthy

Mana: 250/250

Stats

Fortitude

35

Perception

40

Strength

30

Agility

30

Magic Power

25

Magic Regeneration

30

Free Points: 0 Stat, 0 Skill

Central Skills

Form of Horror II

The Chosen Weapon III

SkillsÑøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

Hundred Faces VII

Stealth IX

Power Strike XIII

Piercing Strike XIV

Sundering Strike XII

Blades XIII

Sneak XI

Sweeping Strike II

Far Strike VIII

Manifold Strike V

Hunter’s Gaze IV

Phantom Step III

Unknown Fear I

General Skills

Gralloch I

Alchemy I

Aspects

Isaac just sighed and shook his head. He truly missed the people from the other timeline, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do so. They were the ... ‘basis’ of the people he’d known, but the likeliness of them becoming who they’d been was basically nil. Perhaps, they were closer to children, someone who was a part of them, but would grow up to be someone else?

Unfortunately, Isaac happened to agree with that metaphor. By changing the timeline, he’d effectively killed the people he knew and now it was up to him to protect their current versions, even if he didn’t feel like he’d ever be able to look them in the eyes again.

He’d save the whole fucking world and kick the ass of anyone who endangered this humanity.

Eventually, he reached the gambling floor, bought some chips and got ready to put this plan into action, though he wouldn’t be going all out right off the bat.

He’d chosen Circus Circus for a reason. It might still be a part of the Strip, but it was also an older casino, lacking the high stakes tables he’d be playing at to win the highest possible amount of money, but if he only won a little money here, then he could start off in the next casino with no one in the security room suspicious of him.

The first thing that jumped into view were the countless colorful slot machines, or as they were called in German, ‘one armed bandits’. Each of those things was fundamentally the same, a massive money pit even he couldn’t trick right now. There were a handful of tricks that might work, but none he could use right now.

A good [Enchanter] could mess with machines, and there were a few ways to get a hold of combat scale precognition, but only at an absurdly high Level. And by the time Isaac was in any position to take advantage of those opportunities, countermeasures would have long since been put in place.

But on the way to finding the Poker section of the gambling floor, he stumbled across the Craps tables. Should he go there? After all, it was hardly the same quasi-sure thing that Texas Hold’em would turn into after a few games, but his high Stats still gave him a small advantage.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” he announced.

“Afternoon.” someone grumbled, but the others were rather focused on the game.

Eventually, the dice came around the table and placed a ten bucks worth of chips on the basic ‘pass’ bet. In essence, all you had to do was keep rolling and not hit 2, 3, or 12. There were quite a few additional rules and qualifiers, but that was the long and short of it. If he could manage to not hit a one with just one of the dice, the chance of him losing this was practically nil.

The first roll ended up on a 5, so he rolled again. And again, until he eventually hit a 5 and got back his ten dollars, as well as another ten dollars from the casino.

Well, that cinched it. He wasn’t in a position to properly control the dice yet. Later on, with higher Stats, he could have made those dice land precisely how he wanted them to, six times out of ten, but not yet. He was good enough to manipulate them away from a losing combination, which was enough to likely eke out a win eventually, but that was all.

As much fun as this had been, the original plan of playing Poker and ‘cheating’ by memorizing cards was a far safer bet.

A few minutes later, he was standing next to the fullest table in sight, with only one open spot available. Theoretically, he could have sat down right now, but he decided to wait a little and watch. Every card he could spot a differentiating mark on was one he’d be able to recognize during subsequent turns.

In preparation for that, Isaac dialed down most of his senses to the absolute minimum, aka, baseline human. All except sight.

The heightened perception provided by high Stats could be dialed up and down at will, or set to filter out annoying things, such as the neighbor’s TV and/or more ... amorous activities. Eavesdropping on everyone around him as a matter of course could hardly be considered polite or even necessary, so he usually kept his hearing relatively low, the same going for his sense of smell, given the fact that the world could contain some rather smelly substances. As for his vision, that was usually dialed up to the max 24/7 to provide an early warning of any kind of problem.

Limiting everything else like that didn’t improve his other senses, per se, but it also meant he wasn’t being distracted nearly as much. In fact, that was similar to how blind people didn’t actually get better senses, they just used the ones they already had to a far greater effect.

He’d come right at the beginning of the turn, so he ended up seeing both sides of all shared cards in the center of the table. Everyone except one person ended up folding, though, denying him any chance to see what their cards were. And stepping in to take a look at them, even after the turn had ended, would not go over well.

Casinos might take great care to have clean and fully intact cards at their tables, but that was nowhere near what was needed to cover up minor damage, invisible to the naked, unenhanced, eye.

But to him, it was quite obvious that the ace of hearts had been picked up by someone with a ring at some point, leaving a long scratch on the surface, the ten of clubs had had its corner banged against the table and the three of diamonds had been slightly stained by some amber liquor.

Three cards were now a known quantity, ones he could recognize. Just three of fifty-two, though.

The next turn came and went, showing him another seven cards. Hanging around a specific table, not playing, was a little boring though and might draw suspicion, so Isaac sat down at a free spot, his chips going on the table next to him.

The cards were dealt, and as it turned out, two of the cards he’d memorized ended up being dealt to other players at the table. At that, he felt a little bad, knowing that while he’d end up walking out of here with someone else’s money, but not that bad. People came to Vegas knowing they could lose their money, that gambling was never a sure thing.

Besides, he wouldn’t be playing on normal tables for long, instead he’d be heading over to some high roller table that didn’t require an invitation.

He ended up winning that round, but that was mostly due to having a trio of aces, aka sheer luck, rather than skill or subtle cheating. Only around a hundred dollars’ worth of profits, though.

Another round came and went, giving him an even greater grasp of the deck and further heightening the predictive abilities. He nearly ended up folding, though, simply not having had the cards to win, nor was he in the mood to try and bluff his way to victory. That would have required spending a lot of money matching bets he didn’t want to risk losing just yet.

But there was a secondary trick he also wanted to practice in a more low stakes environment. His poker face. It wasn’t actually that bad, certainly above average in most places, but he could take it to new heights using [Hundred Faces]. The ability to manipulate his face’s form could also be used to take direct control of his facial muscles, putting on whatever expression he wanted to and holding it.

The technique cost him triple his regeneration in terms of mana, making it unsustainable to keep up permanently, but it could come in handy in a cinch. It was also an incredibly tricky way to use it and he was likely the only person who could currently use it.

After all, pulling the corners of one’s lips up and to the side might technically be how a smile worked from the technical side of things, but pulling it off in a way that didn’t transform you into a horrific caricature of humanity was a different matter entirely.

“Thank you, everyone, for this lovely game. I wish you all the luck.” Isaac announced, stood up and walked away.

He left the casino on the opposite end he’d entered it from and headed towards the Strip proper. Circus Circus was technically a part of it, but separate from the true, world famous, casinos like Luxor or Mandela Bay.

On the way out, though, he bought himself a new shirt, short sleeved and with a Hawaiian print. It was a hell of a lot more expensive than anything he’d normally buy for himself, but that was a part of the impression he wanted to give off. Of someone who’d shown up here in this town and immediately bought an expensive article of clothing from a casino’s store, possibly even after winning a few games and having gotten overconfident.

It would certainly stand out less than the outfits he normally preferred, simple, unadorned shirts and jeans in colors that wouldn’t show blood too obviously. Of course, those clothes would get progressively tighter as his Agility increased and air resistance became more and more of a problem, to the point where even dodging would end with him fighting in his birthday suit. Magical and [Skill] enhanced cloth were the obvious solution, but that would only become viable long after he hit the point where any ordinary clothing would be reduced to tatters mere seconds after moved at max speed.

Isaac also purchased a flask from a random street vendor and some bottom shelf liquor to fill it with. Merely having a flask would indicate to most people that he was something of a drinker, and he could take a swig of that stuff at the table to get a message across. Namely, either ‘I’m losing and hiding in the bottle’ or ‘I’m so confident I’ll win I’ll even start drinking’. Either way, it barely cost thirty-five dollars and he’d already won that much.

Walking down Las Vegas Boulevard, Isaac grinned as he took in everything. In many ways, it was the same city he’d visited, seven years in the future. The same buildings, roughly, crowds of people outside even in the sweltering sun of a desert in the afternoon, street vendors hawking things to tourists, the usual things that could be found in any touristy place.

But there were also many things that were oh so distinctively ‘Vegas’. The one armed bandits next to the entrances, proudly pronouncing ‘one free roll’.

The people handing out ‘do you want to see tits’ pamphlets to anyone who didn’t look like they had spouses or girlfriends in the city with them. And then there was something oh so much more traditional, the Vegas showgirls ready to take a picture with anyone who wanted to pay for the privilege, in costumes ranging from the standard feathers and fishnets to cowboy outfits ... if all cowboys wore was the hat, a near invisible thong and some black tape masking the bare minimum to avoid an indecent exposure charge.

Really, the moniker of ‘sin city’ had been well and truly earned.

Despite all the things that hadn’t changed, the city still felt quite different. The most immediately apparent thing was the lack of the physics defying edifices to human ambition that were slated to be built in five or so years, possibly sooner if Isaac managed to speed up humanity’s comprehension of the [System].

But the real difference was that this place wasn’t so damn suffocating. The Vegas of a future had every single even remotely private place utterly blanketed by Perception blockers, leaving the entire city drenched in privacy fields. Walking through the city and having your vision fuzz out as you looked at a protected area, having your hearing selectively blocked or having the air currents streaming across your skin suddenly disappear was just plain annoying. The effect hadn’t been quite as bad out on the street, but in the buildings, at least on the Strip ... yeesh.

They’d ended up leaving two days after arriving. Vegas did have a few attractions outside the casinos, but nothing that had really called to people used to high adrenaline combat situations. Who wanted the chance to fire an assault rifle at a firing range when they spent their days slinging around lightning bolts? Who wanted to go indoor skydiving when they’d jumped out of airplanes without so much as a parachute on the regular?

In theory, that kind of oppressive feeling should have killed everyone’s business, but really, all it did was keep the high Level people out, the ones who were the only ones to even notice and be bothered by the Perception blockers.

And then, two years after that, the city had gotten flattened by Belzebub, Demon Prince of Gluttony, and Asmodeus, Demon Prince of Lust. Two immensely powerful [Raid Bosses] had been summoned to this place, though no one knew if they’d been spitefully dumped into this city by someone who’d lost their life’s savings in a casino or summoned naturally by a demonic presence elsewhere on the globe and migrated to, well, sin city.

Regardless of which was actually true, the city would hopefully be able to survive, this time around. Given that Isaac didn’t know the precise mechanisms of that particular cataclysm, he couldn’t directly counter out, leaving him forced to hope his actions in this timeline, past and future, would either prevent those two from appearing, or ensure that they could be fought off.

Soon, Isaac entered the massive mall that ran from casino to casino, connecting them underground to allow any tourist who wanted to stay inside to walk most of the strip without ever having to step into the sun.

Soon, he reached the casino his online research on the plane had recommended, dropped off his backpack in its luggage storage and meandered onto the casino floor. Showtime!