Sam was looking pretty pleased with himself when he asked Jen, “Did you take that gambling-quest for teaching all those skills to Tamako?”

Jen looked shocked at Sam and replied, “Of course not. I haven’t touched euphoria. What are you talking about?”

Sam looked surprised and said, “My gambling-quest didn’t mention anything about euphoria. Take a look at the quest I forwarded you.”

Jen brought up Sam’s gambling-quest in her onboard.

System Message:

The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

==

Gambling Quest: Tamako’s New Skills!

==

Requirements: Tamako must learn four new skills within the next 24 hours– odds of failing 35%

Select your Fortune:

A. Accept reward of 1 ability points for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 1

B. Accept reward of 2 ability points plus euphoria for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 3.

C. Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding little bitch!

==

Sam selected “a” and the quest was accepted.

==

Sam was nodding at Jen, and said, “You see, it was a great bet for an ability point. I know how smart and what a hard a worker Tamako is. I took the bet without the euphoria, and I just received my extra ability point.”

Jen looked like she had been robbed, “Look at the quest I received.”

System Message:

The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward!

==

Gambling Quest: Tamako’s New Skills!

==

Requirements: Tamako must open two mana channels within the next 24 hours– odds of failing 90%

Select your Fortune:

A. Accept reward of 3 ability points plus euphoria for every ability point gambled, maximum bet of 4.

B. Decline Quest and continue your life as a risk-avoiding little bitch!

==

Jen selected “B” and the quest was declined.

==

Jen said, “See, that’s not fair. I would have taken your gambling bet in a heartbeat! Why did you get a better gambling-quest than me?”

Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Just lucky I guess.”

Jen’s jaw dropped, as the light bulb turned on in her head, and she said, “Finally!!! That’s what the damn luck stat does for you. You’re getting better gambling quests because you invested so many points in your luck stat. What is wrong with the people in this world? Why won’t they just tell each other how everything works?”

Sam raised his eyebrow and gave Jen a directed look, and said, “Really? Who are you now going to tell about the luck stat? I bet only the nobility or the really old and powerful guilds even know what the luck stat is for.”

Jen still looked frustrated to no end, but she nodded her begrudging agreement to Sam’s point, “True, everyone’s stat sheet I’ve viewed has almost no points in the luck stat. Everyone just considers it useless. That’s why I was so upset with you when you told me you put 7 ability points into your luck stat. The gamblers usually have almost no ability points, and the only thing they are after is the euphoria. I wish I could hack into the stat sheet of Director Loshen and see what his luck stat is.”

Sam glowered, “Don’t even think about it. You know if they were to detect you trying to do something like that, we’d have to run for our lives.”

Jen nodded, “I know, I know, just wishful thinking.”

Over the next few weeks Jen had finished opening her 4th mana channel, and Sam had opened his 3rd mana channel, boosting their mana pool and mana regen. The process was taking longer than they hoped. Cleaning the corruption off the walls of the mana channels, after they tunneled them, was a laborious time-consuming process to keep from damaging the channel itself.

Tamako had been relentless in scrubbing her entire mana system and channel, but her open channel was so nearly clogged, they finally decided it would be quicker to tunnel through it to clear out most of the grime. Even then it took longer than Sam expected for her channel to heal after being cleaned.

It was six weeks before they were able to open Tamako’s second mana channel. During this time Jen opened her 5th and Sam his 4th channel. Tamako beamed with pride as she inspected her SECOND open mana channel.

Sam pinched his nose and said, “Jen, please show Tamako to the shower!”

Jen laughed, and Tamako asked, “what is a shower?”

Jen winked at Tamako, and said, “just follow me.”

Tamako looked amazed as water poured out of the “shower head” as Jen called it, and then flowed into a drain, but not a drain.

Jen explained, “Sam created a storage device that he fills with warm water and we hang it above our heads so that it will pour water on us like a waterfall. He then created a another storage device that automatically opens and allows the water to drain into it.”

“I had no idea your father could make such powerful storage enchantments!”

“Wait till I show you a “toilet” he also invented which works almost the same way, but for going to the bathroom instead of a chamber pot. We send Long bi’s kids out every few weeks to refill and empty the storage devices as needed.”

Tamako was amazed as she basked in the luxury of the water flowing over and cleaning her body, and said, “you could make enough money selling these showers and toilets, that you would never need to work again!”

“Remember, everything is confidential.”

Tamako sighed in contentment from the water, and said, “fine with me, as long as I am allowed to visit a lot.”

Jen smiled, and said, “That’s a requirement!”