Being in a Dilemma

As we walked further along the street, being watched by every pedestrian, we arrived at a city square. The place was booming with people, and every one of them seemed like they were ready to go to battle.

Some of them had cards stuck to their forearms, some had cards rolled around the shaft of their staff, and some strange ones had the cards hanging down their belts on a thread.

Market stands were placed at the edge of the square and people gathered the most there. The merchants of those markets loudly advertised their goods and made potential buyers come closer.

Instantly, numerous thoughts filled my head: "Sticking cards onto the forearms seems like a really good idea. And since when can cards bend around a staff? Why don't they break? And what is up with the cards hanging on the belt?"

"Jingyin, hurry up!" screamed Bao Lie.

I turned my head and saw that everyone was already further away from me. Bao Lie was waving at me and signalled me to hurry up.

I ran toward them and managed to join up, positioning myself back into formation. The red-haired guard, Ling, turned his head back to me, scoffed, and turned back.

Before I could curse inwardly at him, Bao Lie turned around and asked me, "Is this your first time being here?"

I nodded my head, and he explained, "Well, this is the city square of Shamo City. It's quite popular for people like us who have phones. The reason for this is the teleportation platform," and pointed towards the middle of the public square.

A big, circular platform of clean granite stood grandly there. Three enormous statues of gold circled around the platform, facing into the center of it.

The first statue depicted a good-looking man wearing a skin-tight breastplate and gauntlets resembling the scales of a serpent with claws instead of fingers.

His hair cascaded down to his hips and horns grew out from his head. The arms were spread wide open and the gaze fixed towards the heavens.

The second statue showed a beautiful woman dressed in a robe. She also had long hair and was in the exact same position as the other statue. The only difference was that she held a staff in her hand.

The third statue was of a hooded being. I couldn't tell the gender because a robe covered its whole body and the hood hung so low that it covered its entire face.

It stood in the same position as the other two: spreading the arms wide apart and looking into the heavens.

Bao Lie continued his explanation, "Each of those statues is a portal to a specific space. We are heading for the Palace of Cards."

"The Palace of Cards is guarded by the statue called Tu Shu. He is something like the librarian of the palace. You can ask him about any card you want, and he has it."

"The difference from buying cards from him and from the marketplace app is that you can test it beforehand. For example, if you see a skill in the library which you like, you can test the skill out. But in the marketplace app, you can't test cards; you can only buy them."

*ding* *ding* *ding*

Message notifications came ringing into my ear; but it wasn't mine. We all looked at Li Fu who pulled out his phone and looked at the messages.

His face turned pale and his hand began to tremble. He seemed as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out from his mouth.

He looked anxious.

"Jingyin, buy your equipment alone. I need to return to the City Palace. Lie, Ling, you guys stay with me," he said and shot a card at me.

I caught it with my fingers and gave it a glance. The card was totally black; neither a circle nor picture was on it. Nothing.

'What is this? Is that even a real card of the game?' I asked myself and raised my head again.

They were gone. At the place where they were earlier was now a group of fighters discussing something. I looked around, searching for a familiar face, but I couldn't find anyone.

'Did they really just ditch me?'

'Well, who cares? I will just go into the Palace of Cards and look around,' I decided and walked into the middle of the platform, standing encircled by the statues.

And then it hit me: 'They didn't tell me which one of those three holds the entrance to the Palace of Cards. And they also didn't tell me how to use the transportation…'

I looked around again, hoping to see someone using the transportation so that I can copy them. But nobody stood with me on the platform. I was all alone here.

I wanted to ask someone for help, but I couldn't think of a way to actually ask them. I had no voice after all.

So I discarded that thought and remembered what Bao Lie told me: The entrance to the Palace of Cards is guarded by the librarian called Tu Shu.

But this didn't help me much. I only knew that Tu Shu was a man which eliminated the woman from my list.

So I looked at the statues again. The first one with the horns didn't give me the impression of a librarian. What does a librarian need horns and gauntlets for?

He seemed more of a fighter kind of person. I could picture him fighting a horde of monsters or killing a massive beast.

But as a librarian? No chance! He would be bored in a library.

The third statue actually gave me the impression of being a librarian. A robe and a hood made that person seem mysterious, and I could picture him or her in a library, working with old books.

With the outfit, the person seemed like he or she had no need for all those rare cards in the library. As if the person wasn't tied to worldly desires like dressing in the rarest armour.

Stepping towards the statue, I looked at the hooded being and just gazed at it. 'Maybe something will come to my mind when I stare long enough at it,' I thought and continued with it.

…

…

'Oh! How about my phone?'

I pulled my phone out, opened the profile app, and showed it at the statue. 'If it worked at the city gate, maybe it works here too…'

Seconds flew by and nothing happened. The statue remained still.

"Jingyin~! … Jing~yin~!" shouted a familiar, female voice.

I turned my head around and looked at who called me.