Learning to Gamble

After dropping Wells off at the entrance of their family's manor, Valyr went ahead and rode the carriage to another part of the city, stopping every once in a while to ask some of the passersby regarding directions to the area he was heading to. Due to his reputation in the city becoming negative thanks to the incident earlier, some of those he had asked looked at him with slight disdain. Thankfully, with a bit of friendly banter, all of them responded to his question.

With that, Valyr had arrived at the area of the city he wanted to be in just as it had become midday, eliciting a light smirk to appear on his face as he reduced the speed of the carriage, taking in the sight before him. "I'm finally here. The entertainment district."

As with any large settlement, Anadhar City had a district made for buildings with the purpose of giving entertainment for the people, a great portion of which were restaurants and bars. However, if one knew who to ask and where to look, a darker part of the entertainment district would be shown to them, allowing them to seek pleasures that satisfied deeper desires.

Stopping in front of a considerably large restaurant, Valyr hopped off the carriage and asked one of the workers there to take care of the carriage while he was gone. Just as the worker was about to complain that Valyr was not allowed to do that, the latter had given the worker a few silver coins, making the worker's demeanor do a full 180 as the man obliged.

Giving the worker a rough idea of how long he would be gone, Valyr then walked through the streets of the entertainment district, noticing that a great portion of the restaurants were filled to the brim with people. In fact, even the bars were not exempt from this, with some of them even heading out of the bars to drink alcohol in broad daylight.

Eventually, he grew tired of looking at the sights surrounding him, hastening his pace as he tried to rummage the memories he had regarding his current whereabouts. 'If I remember correctly, the location for the specific quest I'm finding is only a few minutes from where I am.'

Naturally, the main reason why he had arrived at Anadhar City, specifically the entertainment district of the city, was all in order to complete the quest that would allow him to obtain the two final skills he needed for his Rank 1 class: [Astute Eyes] and [Astute Mind]. Though he knew that such a large city would have skills like these in stock if he took a look in a shop that sold skill books, the current Valyr did not have the financial assets to afford the price requested by these shops, even with the small satchel Wells gave him, which actually contained a dozen gold coins.

Aside from that reason, all of the other methods that came to mind either simply needed a far higher level than he currently had, or was simply too far away for him to traverse before the beta version began. With that in mind, he opted for the closest method to obtain the two skills from where he was, with the quest in Anadhar City being one of the easier methods in his memories.

"Found it." Stopping in front of an alleyway between two large restaurants, Valyr looked at his surroundings, wondering if any person had followed him to where he was going. Seeing that everyone seemed to be minding their own business, Valyr took in a deep breath before walking through the alleyway, his surroundings gradually becoming darker before eventually turning bright once more as a new sight appeared in front of him.

Unlike the carefree atmosphere he felt while walking through the entertainment district, this part of the entertainment district seemed to have a dangerous air to it, the sight before him lit up with various colored lights powered by mana.

Although curious as to how the lights were powered and how many advancements in the Innovation Technology Tree he would have to unlock to gain access to the technology in front of him, Valyr placed the thought at the back of his mind as he recalled his purpose in arriving at this part of the entertainment district. With that, he brought up his memories of the quest once more, walking along the somewhat dark streets before stopping in front of a large building that housed more people than it should.

'The Silver Gambling Den,' Valyr inwardly muttered as he gazed at the illuminated sign above the entrance, the latter of which showed Valyr a sneak peek of what he would see once he entered. Seeing as he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to get the skill, he stepped inside the gambling den, his senses quickly being bombarded by the various lights and sounds that resounded throughout the building.

Standing in place for a while, Valyr gradually acclimated to his surroundings before heading to the rear section of the building, trying to recall the various tasks he had to do in order to obtain the quest he needed. Thankfully, after swerving through multiple rows of people, he had arrived at the rear section a few minutes later, the person he wanted to talk to already being there.

"Hi there. I was just wondering if Jekyll was around?" Valyr asked the person in front of him, a man in his late twenties with a somewhat nonchalant expression on his face. "I have something to tell him."

"What do you need to tell the boss? I'll relay your words to him." In response to his words, the man's eyes slightly narrowed as he brushed off the light gray hair covering his eyes. Taking a look at Valyr, he waited for the latter to speak.

"Tell him that someone willing to inherit his legacy has arrived." Making sure that the words he said were exactly what he recalled in his memories, Valyr looked at the man intently, the latter's eyes widening for a brief moment before returning to normal. Soon after, the man nodded and turned around, disappearing from Valyr's field of vision a moment later.

'Thankfully, the man I talked to is the exact one who triggers the entire quest line.' Rummaging through his memories, he recalled that he had done the quest back then during nighttime. Remembering the reason why, he was told that attempting the quest at nighttime increased the chances of being able to talk the man that triggered the quest line. 'And here I thought I would have to wait till nighttime.'

Fortunately, after a few minutes of waiting, the man Valyr had talked to earlier returned, alongside a man who seemed to be in his late thirties. At the very moment his eyes noticed the latter, he knew that he only needed to reenact the things he had done in his memories to assure that he would obtain the quest. 'The fact that I'm at a lower level than when I attempted this back then makes him more intimidating to look at.'

Although the man was wearing a dark gray tuxedo, the aura he emanated was more in line with what one would expect from someone who fought a lot. Add on the fact that a large scar ran from the right side of his forehead through the underside of his right eye, one would be inclined to think that the man was a gang leader rather than the owner of a gambling den.

"I'm guessing you're the one who asked this guy right here to have me come here?" The man looked at Valyr, narrowing his eyes in suspicion as he recalled the words said to him by the light gray-haired man. Aside from the light gray-haired man, only a few more people he deemed close were privy to the fact that he was looking for someone to inherit his legacy. "So, who told you? Was it Harmann? Cruz? Cerves?"

"Dante told me," Valyr said in response, prompting the man to lightly curse under his breath as faint killing intent emanated from him for a brief second.

"That bastard, always running his mouth off." Letting out a long sigh, the man's gaze towards Valyr returned to normal. "Anyways, I'm guessing you're not really here for my legacy, right? Your eyes tell me you want something else from me."

Seeing that he was quickly found out, Valyr decided not to beat around the bush, lightly chuckling as everything had unfolded just like how it did in his memories. Opening his mouth, he then told the man before him his true purpose.

"I want to learn how to gamble."

Ding!