I look at the nu and all kinds of options are available for purchase.
There are about a dozen food and drink items on the top half of the nu written in green ink.
The middle half of the nu is written in yellow, and there are less than half as many items as the green.
Below this, there's only one item written in red text. It's a al and drink combo.
Beside every option, [0 Tokens] is printed.
I look up at the woman and do a quick scan of her status to find that she's over level 700, has extre water magic summoning, and mana control strong enough to face off against a regional director if she wanted.
However, she's just calmly standing behind the counter polishing an unused glass while we read the nu.
I ask her a question.
"What are these color-coded options...? And- What are tokens?"
I scratch my head and look back down at the paper, but she doesn't respond right away.
I turn to Ember and he shrugs.
"I asked the sa thing a few tis, but got no direct answers out of her. However, I did pick up on a few clues and think I have a feel for what's going on.."
I tighten my gaze at him as he continues.
"Everything about this first stage of the exams is about luck-"
As he says these words, lights flash in the background and a dinging noise sounds out from one of the casino tables with a spinning roulette machine.
A tall man with blond hair stands up with a relieved look on his face and yells out in excitent as the thin worker behind the machine hands him a small black coin.
A man on the other side of the table looks depressed and pale-faced. I can't quite tell what exactly is going on. It's on the far side of the room and I didn't see what the stakes were before their ga, but that coin in the winner's hand may have answered one of my questions already.
Ember grins and continues after they calm down.
"Those are tokens. I've seen a few people win them throughout the last hour or so, and a few have even left through those doors."
He points to the back of the room where the [Exit] signs glow with red neon light.
Then I reply, looking down at the color-coded nu.
"So even this is so kind of ga."
The woman behind the counter shows a small grin as she continues to polish the crystal-clear glass reflecting her blue hair in the bright lights of the room.
I point to the nu.
"So what? The green options are safer? And the Red Options are risky, does it work sothing like that?"
I look her in the eyes, and she shrugs.
"I'm not permitted to answer any questions about the exams without proper paynt."
I tighten my gaze, understanding that this ans it will be possible to get so information out of her.
If proper paynt ans tokens, then I'll have to play in these gas to win so, but maybe there's a way to get the answers without risking anything. I saw the look on that man's face at the table when he lost, but if everything is free, then I'm not sure why he'd be so down...
I ask another question.
"Do we have to participate in these gas? Do we even need tokens? Or can we exit right now...?"
"I'm not permitted to answer any questions about the exams without proper paynt."
She responds with the sa tone, but I can tell she's enjoying herself by the small changes in her facial expression while she watches think.
I let out a sigh, thinking over my options.
"Well, if I'm going to play, I might as well limit the tis I'm going to test my luck. I doubt it's as easy as just picking a green al and winning a token. High Risk, High Reward. I'll take the al and drink from your red nu option."
Her grin grows as I push the nu forward, and Ember adds in.
"I'll have what he's having too. If it doesn't look appetizing once it's presented, I just won't indulge."
I nod slowly.
"Sa..."
The blue-haired bartender places the overly polished glass back with the other clean glasses and gets to work on preparing a al before our eyes.
With magic stoves, pre-cut at and vegetables, and top-shelf drinks lined up ready to pour behind her, it only takes a few minutes before our als and drinks are served on crimson-tinted plates and glasses.
The drink bubbles and the food steams.
I can sense a large amount of mana radiating off of both of the als, similar to the dishes I ate back in Valor City. They will instantly re-energize the person that eats them and fill their mana stores to full, even giving minor strength buffs that linger after.
She places them down and takes a step back.
"Please, enjoy your al."
The woman goes back to polishing the sa glass that she put away before, and we stare down at the dishes.
I do a full scan of the food and drinks multiple tis and find no odd curses or magical debuffs present. It's just like the glass that the server at the door handed , nothing is off about it at all, and it feels like I'm just being overly paranoid for no reason.
Ember also looks down at his dish very hesitantly too.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I co to the conclusion that there is really nothing wrong with these dishes in a magical sense, but that doesn't an it's safe to eat.
I dip a finger that's covered in the silver armor of my gauntlets into the sauce that's cooked into both the at and vegetables on my plate and sar a small amount on my inner right wrist against my bare skin.
I look at Ember's dish and don't even ask him first before I do the sa on my left.
The bartender presents a sanitary towel for to clean the sauce off my hands, but I leave the two blotches on my skin for a few minutes and wait.
In the anti, I do the sa thing with our drinks, dabbing a fresh towel into each of the glasses, and putting it onto my wrist below the sauces.
Nothing happens for a few minutes, and we wait in silence. The food stops steaming, and the bubbles in the drink all pop and fizz away. However, it isn't too long before I begin to feel mana from a passive skill being used up while a very strong burning sensation starts to make itself known in my left wrist.
I whisper under my breath while staring down at the plate where the sauce ca from.
"Poison... This dish is poisoned..."
None of the drink splotches react, and the sauce from my own dish doesn't burn at all.
I wipe the sauce off both of my wrists, and only one is covered in a very faint rash that is automatically healing from the passive poison resistance perk of my self-regeneration skill.
Before it fully heals, I cover it up with my cloak and put my arm below the table, then switch my plate with Ember's.
I speak up while picking up so of the veggies with a clean fork and crunching down on them knowing that they're packed with poison.
Ember smirks, but the bartender's eyes widen with surprise.
I can tell she wants to say sothing, but just gulps and steps back while continuing to polish that glass.
Both of us dig in, and I feel the burning feeling in my mouth and throat rise and fall over and over after every bite.
My self-regeneration skill cleanses the entire al of any harmful substances and even detoxifies the alcohol in my drink before it can reach my bloodstream.
It actually tastes like a unique flavor of hot sauce, slightly sour, and a strong aftertaste.
Whatever poison was in this dish was definitely a strong one, but it'd take far more than this asly dose to actually do any real damage.
We both push our plates and glasses forward when we finish, and the woman behind the counter is almost breaking a sweat at the sight before her eyes.
Despite that, she reaches beneath the counter and pulls out two black coins and slides them toward us.
"Congratulations. You've both earned a token for completing the red nu challenge. Now that you have a balance, you may order from our secret nu if you please."
She slides a new nu toward us while taking our dishes away.
______________
[1 Token] Ask Any Question
[2 Tokens] Choose a Magic Item you Desire
[3 Tokens][Exit Card] Basic Room
[5 Tokens][Exit Card] Designer Suite
[10 Tokens][Exit Card] All Inclusive Lounge
______________
I look up to the exit, then back to her and ask a question imdiately.
"What does all this an? An exit card? Does that an we fail or pass? Is exiting a good thing? Or-"
"I'm not permitted to answer any questions about the exams without proper paynt."
I let out a sigh when I hear her speak these words again, but think carefully about what cos out of my mouth next, because it seems like I actually do have the proper paynt to get what I need now.
Although I am interested in this ga and how it's really played, looking at this entire room on its macro scale is more worth my ti.
I pause for a mont, then slide the black token I just won forward.
"My question is, how do we pass this first portion of the exam safely and efficiently?"
She smiles and takes the token from , finally responding with a straight answer.
"Every vendor in this space has the sa secret nu. To move on from this stage of the exam, you must collect at least 3 tokens and buy an exit card. You must move to the next room by morning and rest up with the remaining applicants before the real exam begins."
Her gaze moves over to the exit doors, then back to .
"As I said before, luck and skill are very similar. One by itself will not make you a strong hunter. You're not only going to be tested by your physical capabilities during these trials."
I nod to myself, then speak up again.
"Well, in that case, if it's that easy, I'll have another course! One option from the red nu please."
Ember is deep in thought too, but adds in.
"Make that two."
The woman smiles and places her polished glass down to begin making two identical als just like before.
They co out steaming hot, and drinks bubbling.
I do the sa test I did before, but for so reason, this ti neither of the dishes are poisoned. I'm unsure if that was a one-ti thing, or we just got lucky this ti around... Not questioning it much, we just dig in, and right after, two more black tokens are presented to us.
"Another round!" We both reply.
Without missing a beat, she cooks up a third round of dishes and when I do the poison test, they both co back positive...
The bartender catches onto this phenonon but doesn't say anything.
I share my mythic grade self-regeneration skill with Ember and give him the heads up through telepathy once I do.
We both eat our third al, and the bartender can't believe her eyes once she gives us our third coin each.
I used one up from before, so I just need one more before we can both afford the lowest exit card option on the secret nu, so I speak up the mont she starts to bring our dishes away.
"Let's do one last round, just for this ti."
She turns back with a smile on her face.
"Oh- I'm sorry, we're all out of that nu option."
This isn't the reaction I expected...
She turns back to and begins polishing her glass again.
I reply.
"What do you an? You're already out of food? Is there a limit per item or sothing? Or-"
"I'm not permitted to answer any questions about the exams without proper paynt."
That sa exact response cos back and I drop my face into my palm.
"Well, how about the yellow nu, or even the green nu, are any of those available?"
She shakes her head.
"No, it seems we're all out."
She doesn't change her expression and just stares ahead like we're not even here anymore.
Ember looks very confused too.
He turns to .
"It must be so kind of limit per table, or maybe soone cut us off because we were winning too much."
He jingles the three black coins in his hand, then shrugs and places one down on the counter.
"We're either going to figure out how this is done here, or at least figure out why we can't order anymore. You don't have 3 coins, so we're going to have to play sowhere else anyway, I might as well ask."
He pushes his coin forward.
"My question is, what is the reason we've reached the limit on this table and how can we make sure this doesn't happen again today?"
She accepts the coin but doesn't respond imdiately.
It looks like she's listening to soone talk in her ear for a few seconds before replying.
"That is two questions, but I've been permitted to answer in a long-form explanation."
She points to the basic nu of this shop.
"Every bar, table, or ga in this room has its own set of rules and odds of winning. Here, if you choose green, you have a 1 in 10 chance of losing, however, you must consu 3 full als to win. The yellow is a 1 in 5 chance of losing, but it only takes 2 als to win. Red is a 1 in 2 chance of losing, but only 1 al to win."
I think about these odds, and what she ans by losing is picking the poison... Because the odds of eating deadly poison are 50%, anyone who completes a al with the red label wins a token.
The green and yellow options have better odds not to die, but the person has to eat much more food and will most likely be very drunk by the end of it.
Even though the odds are lower to eat the poison, there is still far more opportunity to be unlucky each ti.
The green option would have been the smartest choice, but using my self-regeneration perk, I've created my own luck.
The bartender continues.
"However, there is one rule that applies to every ga in this room. You're only allowed to play three tis."
I raise an eyebrow, and this makes rethink my thoughts about the odds before.
If you're only allowed to play 3 tis, that ans the maximum amount a person could win on green would be 1 token. So, depending on how hard the gas at the other tables are, maybe this was the best option after all...
I nod and she finishes her thought.
"You have tokens to use. If you'd like to successfully win 3 and move on to the next stage, it will be best to ask other vendors the proper question before you play. You have reached your limit on this table today, I wish you the best of luck."
She smiles and takes the nus away, then goes back to polishing the clean glass like none of this ever happened.
I want to ask her more, but I'm sure she'll give that sa basic response unless I hand over a token, so I let out a sigh and decide that we've gotten all we can from this woman.
"Well, I guess, thanks for the als."
Music, dinging, flashing lights, and dozens of ongoing gas fill my senses as I bring my attention away from the bar we were just sitting at and back toward the rest of the gas.
Over a dozen more applicants have wandered in from outside while we were playing.
Ember and I get up from our stools, both with 2 tokens jingling in our hands, and slowly walk further inside to look for another ga worth playing.
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