A Twist of Events

Hearing a notification sound resound in his mind, a hint of confusion briefly appeared on Valyr's face. After all, he remembered that he wouldn't obtain a notification regarding the quest he sought after talking with Jekyll for a bit more. With that, he checked the notification he had received, his eyes slightly widening in surprise as he had a foreboding feeling of what was about to come.

[Your affinity with Jekyll has increased with 10 points. Current relationship: Stranger.]

Feeling as if the current situation was slightly deviating from what he wanted to happen, Valyr could not help but internally panic for a moment, inwardly letting out a light sigh soon after to calm his nerves down. With his emotions back to normal, he looked back at Jekyll, who seemed to be chuckling at the words he had spat out earlier.

"Out of all the things you could have asked me to do, that's what you're going for?" Jekyll continued to chuckle, wiping off the small tears that formed around his eyes before letting out a somewhat relaxed sigh. After that, he looked at the light gray-haired man and nodded at him, prompting the latter to nod back before leaving the premises. "I don't know if you're ignorant or just plain stupid."

"Then again, if there's any person you'd want to ask to teach you how to gamble, there's no better person who can do that in this district other than me." Pointing at himself, Jekyll slightly puffed his chest out before taking a glance at Valyr, who seemed to be taking in the current situation with a hint of indifference.

Noticing the slight indifference in Valyr's expression, he slightly shrugged his shoulders before ducking under the counter that separated the two of them. From the slight clamor he was making, Valyr had a feeling that Jekyll was searching for a couple of things. "So, tell me… uh… what's your name?"

"Valyr."

"Right. So, Valyr. What made you decide to come to the Silver Gambling Den, look for me, and ask me to teach you how to gamble?" Finding the items he was searching for, Jekyll popped up in front of Valyr once more, his expression slightly curious. While doing so, he laid out the items he had been looking for on the counter.

Seeing that the man before him had brought out a couple of cups and a red ball, Valyr instantly knew what was going to happen. However, rather than approach the situation with composure, he instead panicked once more, recalling through his memories that this part wouldn't happen until after he had accepted the quest given to him. 'Am I doing something wrong here? Did I mess up on a certain part?'

Eventually, the panic ate away at his composure so much that he needed Jekyll to attract his attention to snap him back to reality. "Hello? Am I talking to a rock or something?"

"Ah." Realizing that he still hadn't answered the man's question, Valyr decided to put the matter about the current situation deviating from his original memories to the back of his head for now. Instead, he wracked his brain to the utmost limit, thinking up of an answer that would possibly allow him to return to the original progression of events according to his memories. "Could you uh… could you repeat your question?"

"Was I talking to someone else a while ago?" Jekyll lightly frowned. Soon after, he let out a light sigh, thinking that Valyr was probably intimidated by the aura he naturally exuded. "Anyways, let me repeat my question. What made you come to the Silver Gambling Den and ask me to teach you how to gamble? Is there a specific reason?"

"Er… what if I told you I had no specific reason in mind?" Unfortunately, even after wracking his brain for a while, Valyr couldn't come up with an answer. Instead, he decided to come clean, prompting the light frown on Jekyll's face to worsen.

"So you're telling me… you made me come out here… just so you could waste my time?" Feeling as if he was being played with, a murderous aura soon started to emanate around Jekyll's body, making Valyr's body shudder as he tried to fight against the pressure exerted on him. However, no matter how much he tried to fight against it, he felt that the pressure pushing down on him was getting heavier by the second.

'[Analysis]!' he inwardly commanded, wanting to gain more information on Jekyll to see if he could find a way to escape his current predicament. However…

Ding!

————

[Jekyll Voreis] (Level ???)

Class: ???

HP: ???

MP: ???

Remarks: Well, it was nice meeting you.

————

'You've got to be kidding me…' Valyr could not help but inwardly curse, wondering how he could escape a seemingly inescapable situation.

"I'm going to give you three seconds." At this moment, Jekyll's expression had become ice cold as he stared at Valyr. Unsurprisingly, with the murderous aura surrounding him gradually becoming more and more intense, the people closest to the two started to run away from the vicinity, leaving the gambling den in fear for their lives.

"If you don't give me a good reason in the next three seconds…"

"Alright, I'll speak! I'll speak!" Without hesitation, Valyr conceded, deciding to tell Jekyll the true reason why he had arrived at the gambling den in the first place. Double checking their surroundings to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, Valyr let out a long sigh before opening his mouth. "The real reason why I asked for you… was to obtain a few skills."

"And those skills would be…?" Unfortunately for Valyr, the pressure exerted on his body was still as heavy as ever as Jekyll waited for him to respond.

"[Astute Eyes] and [Astute Mind]…" At this point, Valyr had completely given up on being able to successfully obtain the two skills through this method. After all, from how the situation had deviated from the original progression and had devolved to something worse, it would be no surprise if Jekyll decided to ban him from the Silver Gambling Den altogether. 'It seems I'll have to find another way to get the two skills.'

And yet…

Whoosh!

"You should have told me that in the first place!" In an instant, the pressure pushing down on Valyr's body swiftly disappeared as Jekyll let out a light chortle, a stark contrast to the eerie silence covering their surroundings. Naturally, such a reaction left Valyr at a loss for words, eventually prompting him to tilt his head in confusion while Jekyll continued to speak.

"If you told me you wanted to those two skills from the start, then we wouldn't have needed to go through all this mess." Jekyll let out a lighthearted sigh before shaking his head with a light smile. "Just so you know, aside from people who stab me in the back, I hate liars the most."

"Thankfully, you know when to concede. If not…" With a light smile, Jekyll briefly released the full extent of his aura towards Valyr, prompting the latter to take a few steps back as he endured the urge to faint from the pressure. "You wouldn't have wanted to see what would happen next."

Reining in the aura he had released, he then snapped his fingers to bring Valyr's attention back to him. After that, he pointed at the cups and balls placed on the counter before them. "So, you wanna learn [Astute Eyes] and [Astute Mind] from me, huh? They're definitely skills any skilled gambler would normally have. Of course, I'm not gonna give you those skills for free. Instead…"

"Let me first see if you're worthy of the skills you're asking from me."

Ding!

[You have received a new quest: Jekyll's Test.]

'And somehow, I still got the quest I was expecting to receive if everything went according to the original plan.' Inwardly chuckling at the absurdity of the entire ordeal that led to this current situation, Valyr took in a deep breath, mocking himself for not adapting to the situation that had unfolded earlier before letting out a long sigh. Placing the thought of inwardly lashing out at himself to the back of his head, he soon focused his entire attention on what was about to come.