Black Market Bingo

Alex, Ludos, and Morcai appeared in a grand palace. Unlike a normal palace filled with beautiful interior decorating, fine artwork, and even finer carpets, it was full of everything video games.

Old video game posters lined the walls: Missile Control, Space Invasion, Massive Cave Adventure, Bork 1, Dark Fandango, and Night of the Tentacle. Those were just the posters in the grand foyer.

The stair cases that led up to the second level were lined with Poc Man carpet. As they ventured further into the mansion, the endless game posters that lined the walls slowly became more modern.

Eventually, Alex saw posters for Boom, Circlet, and Call of Shooty. Alex and Morcai followed Ludos through this mansion of video game culture. As they got further in, they passed through what looked like a museum.

In it were stands with glass cases over them that contained some of the first games ever made in human history. The first board game in recorded history, The Royal Game of Ur, was there, as well as The Lewis Chessmen, Wari, and Senet.

There were even games that Alex had never heard of before. One of them just looked like a pile of sticks.

Finally, Ludos opened a door out onto a courtyard. In the center was an elevated square stage. It was surrounded by an exquisitely kept-up garden full of flowers and shrubbery.

"This is where we will train," Ludos said. "And don't be so tense. While time is of the essence, nothing hurts training more than tension and anxiety. Besides, we have two months. You should be able to reach Sophia's level by then."

"I'll try to relax, but it's hard knowing she's a level or two above me," Alex said. "Out of curiosity, what is her level exactly?"

"Pretty Good," Ludos replied.

"Pretty Good? Didn't you say it went Noob, Meh, Not Bad, and then Pretty Good? That's three levels above me! How am I going to reach that in two months?" Alex said.

"Don't worry. You'll hit Meh by the end of the day, Not Bad in a week, and Pretty Good three weeks after that," Ludos said.

"Oh so I'll be on the same level as a trained killing machine. That's reassuring," Alex said, sarcastically.

"Hey, if you train hard and you're lucky, you might even hit the next level before we get out of here," Ludos said.

"I have to rely on luck now? That's even more reassuring," Alex said, still being sarcastic.

"Hey! I didn't make the rules, ok? So don't shoot the messenger," Ludos said.

"You did make the rules, though. It's your system. Only you could've made the rules," Alex said, using logic.

"Oh yeah. I did. Well, I never said it was going to be easy," Ludos said.

"Fair," Alex said. "Let's get this started then. What do I do?"

"What do you want to get better at first?" Ludos asked.

"Fighting in general. Since I have to rely on and protect myself from now on with Sophia and Chet gunning for me, I need to get better at offense and defense. Right now, I'm basically just utility with mild offense," Alex said.

"Well, in that case, let's play a game," Ludos said.

"I feel like that's your answer for everything," Alex said.

"I'm the goddess of games. Of course it is," Ludos said.

With a flourish of her hand, an arcade game machine appeared on the stage. It had graphics all over it that displayed different fantasy classes, but they all had blue concentric circles around their heads.

The title on the front of the machine read, "The Amazing Psy-Kick!"

"Oh, like 'psychic' except with the word 'kick' at the end. That's dumb, but I like it," Alex said. He hit the player one button to start the game.

"This will let you practice your psychic powers in conjunction with physical fighting techniques," Ludos said.

[Choose your martial class] was displayed on the screen.

It offered a wide array of options including warrior, brawler, assassin, monk, and gladiator. While warrior and brawler appealed to Alex, he realized trying to beat a tanky upfront fighter like Sophia as another tanky upfront fighter was just a dick-swinging contest. Whoever had more raw power would win.

Whereas, if he chose a sneaky high-damage class like assassin, all he had to do was not get hit, and with the additional agility that came with the class, that shouldn't be too hard.

He would have to worry about Chet some because he would always be faster than Alex, but that didn't matter if Chet never joined the fight. If Alex could kill Sophia before Chet noticed, Chet would probably back down.

Chet had no real allegiances to anybody. He was just backing the person he thought was the strongest. He would fall in line if Alex showed Chet he was wrong.

And Assassin perfectly synergized with his psionic powers. With his telekinesis, he could make throwing knives come from any direction. When he learned mind reading, he would know exactly where to be so no one could see him.

Alex chose assassin.

[Stats: Strength-Low, Dexterity-High, Constitution-Medium, Intelligence-Medium, Wisdom-High, Charisma-Medium]

[Starting Skills: Sneak Attack, Dexterous Strike, Dark Vision, Liar's Insight]

[Inventory: Lockpicks, Poison, Daggers (2), Throwing knives (12), Coins (10)]

Alex knew what all of these skills did, but for the benefit of the cosmic spectators, he highlighted each one to display the details.

[Sneak Attack: Extra damage against surprised, distracted, or unaware foes]

[Dexterous Strike: Attack using dexterity stat instead of strength]

[Dark Vision: See in the dark]

[Liar's Insight: Tell when someone is lying and why]

Next, the game displayed several scenarios accompanied by an image.

[Choose your scenario]

The options were Black Market Bazaar, Temporal Ruins, Cavern of Nightmares, Abandoned Castle, Classic Dungeon, and Enchanted Forest.

After looking at the descriptions, Alex chose Black Market Bazaar. He figured it was the best option to practice and utilize his skills as an assassin.

"Remember, you can still use your normal traits and skills in the game," Ludos said.

The world went dark for a moment. Alex realized his eyes were closed all of a sudden. When he opened them, he was in the black market bazaar from the scenario.

[Primary Quest: Find out what the Purple Platypuses are planning and stop them]

[Side Quest: Pick out a trinket for your sister's birthday. Show her that you know what she likes]

"Ludos. Are you still there?" Alex said.

"Yes, but no asking for hints. You're on your own with this one. Also, all of this is real," Ludos said.

"What do you mean it's real? Like if I die in the game, I die in real life?" Alex said.

"Yes, but not just that. If you kill someone, you're killing a real person in another universe," Ludos said.

"What the fuck? Why would you make it like that?" Alex said.

"You always said you hated that video games didn't have any real stakes. Well, here you go," Ludos said.

"Thanks? I guess. I said that when I thought I was alone. I didn't actually mean it," Alex said.

"Yes, you did," Ludos said.

"Ok, you're right. I did. But I don't mean it now," Alex said.

"You meant it when you said it. No take backs," Ludos said.

"Fine. I guess there are no do-overs in real life," Alex said. "You're still mean."

"I never said I wasn't," Ludos said.

"Damn it," Alex said. "Well, I might as well start playing."

Alex walked around the bustling bazaar, trying not to bump into anybody. He could see and hear people haggling, making deals, and advertising their wares. Some people spoke openly, others in hushed whispers.

Stalls overflowed with legal and illegal goods. Information flowed into Alex's mind as he recalled information from the life of the person whose body he was inhabiting and the world around him.

All of the goods were illegal in some way, actually. Some places sold illicit substances, some sold banned items like alien tech and magic scrolls, some sold counterfeit items, and others sold stolen goods. Some even sold normal goods at illegally low prices.

The air carried the strong scent of exotic spices and something else neither Alex nor his host recognized. Alex paused at a trinket stand. Maybe he could mark a side quest off his list at the start.

An older woman looked at him suspiciously from behind the counter.

"If you ain't buying, move along. My products aren't for looky-loos."

"Actually, I was looking for something for my sister, Anya." Alex smiled while scratching the back of his head.

"Does Anya have an interest in curiosities? You'll find none better than here," the older woman said with a smile and a glint in her eye.

"My sister loves trinkets," Alex said. The information about his 'character' continued to flow through him at a steady pace.

"These are no mere trinkets, young man! These are genuine artifacts from the collapse. Any one of these would cost you a fortune prior to the fall, but now no one knows how they work, so I can only sell them for a fraction of their true value. But if anyone figures out how to fix even one of them, these treasures could be worth more than their weight in gold, possibly even unlocking a way to bring civilization back from the brink!" The older woman raved.

Well, she wasn't lying, but Alex knew a sales pitch when he saw one. Still, he was curious. "Give me one of your finest trink-curiosities." He said.

"That'll be a hundred coins, my fine young man," the older woman said.

"I only have ten," Alex said.

"Then get out of here, you bum! Go on, git!" The older woman shooed Alex away.

"Geez. Some people," Alex said as he walked away.

All of a sudden, everyone in the bazaar stopped talking and looked towards the edge of the market. A man wearing a black poncho, black hat, and black pants was standing on the edge of the market. He called out.

"Anyone see a woman by the name of Gamma Gertrude come through here? She's wanted dead or alive to the count of ten thousand coins. I'll split it with you if you help me find her," The man in black said.

Ten people standing near the older woman's stand pointed at her.

"Thank you, kindly," the man said.

He pulled two revolvers faster than alex could blink. He shot all ten people who had pointed their fingers in the chest. Their chests exploded, and blood sprayed everywhere.

"Nobody likes a snitch," the man said.

With that, everyone in the bazaar started running and screaming. In under a minute, the bazaar was empty except for the man in black, the older woman who was clearly Gamma Gertrude, and Alex.