The First Legendary Beast Master novel Chapter 1573

Chapter 1573: Burning Money

"Something in particular you need?" One of the elves asked as he started to set up the stalls.

"Not really. I’ve perused the majority of the market, and now I’m wondering what your group might have found."

The sailor rolled his eyes.

"If you’re just bored and looking to burn coin, we’ve got a poker game going onboard the ship."

Karl smiled. "Now we’re talking."

The Elf paused his work to assess Karl more carefully.

"An avatar of the World Dragon, is it? And a powerful one, for your age. I don’t recognize that class tag, but I’ve seen a decoration like that before. Ask the Captain, see if she has a seat at the table."

Karl nodded, and headed toward the dock, where an Elven woman in a bright blue tricorn hat was shouting orders at the sailors.

"Permission to board?" Karl shouted up at her, and the woman waved for him to come up to the top deck.

One leap, and a bit of assistance from his skills, took Karl to the steerage area of the ship, where the Captain was still shouting orders.

"Your man says that you’ve got a poker game going." Karl informed her between orders.

The woman smiled. "You think that you’re good enough at the game to play against us?"

Karl just laughed. "Talent has nothing to do with it."

The Captain whistled, and her first officer, a similarly dressed eleven sailor, waved Karl over.

"I don’t know who imagined that you were a big enough sucker to want to gamble with us, but we do have a game going. The buy in is two thousand coins. Can you afford to lose that?"

"I can."

He followed her beneath the decks, where a dozen older sailors and a handful of desperate looking humans were playing cards around a round table covered in clay chips.

There were six seats, and only five were currently full, as promised.

"Pass me the coin and I will trade you the chips. It’s the rule. We only use chips, as every nation has different currency."

Karl went to exchange more credits, and realized that he had options now that he was standing on the ship. He could exchange for the Clan Coins, which were the local currency, or he could trade for Elven Silver coins.

They appeared to have the same value to the System, one thousand to a Clan Credit.

So, he picked the Elven silver, out of respect for his host.

The sailor opened the bag, and then stared at Karl in shock before handing him a stack of clay gambling chips and nodding to the table.

Karl took his seat, and the dealer nodded as he waited for Karl to place his money on the table before dealing the next hand.

This type of poker was simple. Everyone got two cards, and then five more were placed on the table to complete your hand, with betting in between each drawing.

Karl picked up his cards, and then realized that the deck was enchanted. With the Fundamental Rule of Mana Manipulation, he could see the faint glow on the deck, a flat sheen of power that prevented his senses from penetrating the paper.

Sneaky, but fair.

Not completely familiar with the betting customs, Karl looked at his cards, the four and five of cups, and matched the current bet when it was his turn.

All but two of the others folded, and the dealer laid out the first three cards to start the next round of betting.

The Elf smiled. That was a good win for them.

If he lost the hand, they could buy it from Karl. Presumably, the strange young man with the black eyes that reflected the Chaos Plane wouldn’t be interested in a simple item for moving between dimensions.

He could likely do that on his own.

"Do you fold, or will you match the wager?" The dealer asked.

Karl took out a Villa Stone and tossed it to the First Mate.

"A fully equipped separate space, with food creation and mana gathering arrays?

Yes, I can accept that as equal wager.

Show your cards."

The gambler turned over his cards. "Four sevens"

"Straight flush."

The man surged to his feet, blade in hand. But Karl just smiled at him and set off a small [Chaos Vortex] in front of his face. Not close enough to hit him, but enough to warn him that he was flirting with death.

The gambler stomped out of the room, leaving the colourful chips that were still in his pile on the table.

The First Mate gestured at the chips, and the dealer handed them to one of the sailors, who counted them and grabbed silver from the chest in the corner before running out after the man.

The Elves never cheated anyone of their money.