3: “Sharp as a stick of butter"

Tanuki stood completely frozen for a moment, then slowly picked up the man’s hand with two fingers as if he was picking up something disgusting, and removed it from his shoulder. Without saying anything, he suddenly broke into a run but the man in the teal armor caught him by the collar and picked him up, as if he was a cat.
“Wait a minute there, bud. What’s your deal? You threw pocket sand at us and then jetted off. We weren’t going to attack you or anything.”
Tanuki, still being held by the collar of his shirt, was slowly being spun around by gravity.
“Yeah, sorry about the pocket sand. When you guys started running at me, I thought you might’ve been someone I owed money to. It was nothing personal. Who are you guys anyway?”
“Let’s introduce ourselves then. I’m-”
“Also can you put me down?”
“Right, sorry.”
He placed Tanuki back on the ground and cleared his throat.
“I’m Atlas,” he said looking over to the girl next to him, “and this is NV.”
The girl who has been mostly quiet up until this point, interjected with a stern look, “I can introduce myself, you know.” Atlas shrugged, “Could’ve fooled me! But you’re right. Sorry, old habits die hard!” he chuckled to himself. They both stood and looked at Tanuki for a moment.
“Oh right,” he realized, “I’m Tanuki.”
“I can tell you’re Gemini by that mark on your cheek. Well, that and I could’ve just done a player scan, haha! But I guess I’m old school and still prefer introductions. My class is Gemini too. NV’s Cancer.”
“I am Cancer,” NV said as if to reinforce this information.
“So, new blood,” Atlas continued, “how are you liking Constellarium so far?”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t know yet. I’ve been playing for like 5 minutes. I’m still Level 1. And my first interaction in the game was you two chasing me.”
Atlas chuckled slightly, “Well, we didn’t really chase you as much as you just ran off for no reason. You must be very skittish.”
“Or paranoid,” NV chimed in.
“Well, whatever’s your deal, you seem fine now,” Atlas continued, “and since you’re new, how about we show you around? Afterward we can stop for some holographic meat loaf, or something. We can’t stay on for too long though, NV’s got class in the morning.”
Immediately after saying that, NV nudged him rather firmly with her arm.
“Right, sorry,” he said with slight embarrassment before turning back to Tanuki, “so how about it?”

Tanuki thought about it for a moment. “Okay. I guess that’s fine. But I was still looking around here. In fact, before you grabbed my shoulder menacingly, I was about to buy this pack here.” He pointed to the Copycat pack, its cover art was a well-done drawing of a cat looking into a funhouse mirror, causing it to have a long, skinny neck and a big belly.
“Eh, that one? I wouldn’t recommend that pack for beginners.” Atlas crossed his arms and made a face like he was thinking.
“I’m pretty sharp, but it took even me a while to know how to use the Tarots in that. You might get overwhelmed, especially if you’re new.”
“Sharp as a stick of butter,” NV remarked.
“I’m pretty sure I want this one,” Tanuki replied, “it speaks to me.”
“Well, if you say so. At least you’re ambitious! I like it!”
In response to Atlas’s praise, NV gave a small nod in approval. Tanuki walked over to the Tarot pack and saw that it was 500 a piece. He purchased 5 in total, 3 of them being part of the free registration bonus.
“Is that all the atomints you have?” Atlas laughed, “I forgot that you just started. Here I’ll get you some packs too. Consider it a welcome gift.” Atlas purchased 5 more packs.
“Here, I initiated a transfer. All you have to do is accept it on your HUD.”
Tanuki opened his HUD and accepted the Tarot packs. “Thanks,” he said in a monotone voice. “So, what do you want in return? Are you going to make me pay you back with interest? Make me your debt slave?”
“Shouldn’t you have asked that before accepting them?” NV said while raising one eyebrow curiously.

Atlas light chuckled. “No, Tanuki, not at all. Just a token of friendship. Well, you could join our guild, but that’s completely optional.”
“Good, because I’m not really interested in joining one.”
“I’ll send you an invite anyway. You can ignore it if you want. They expire after a few days. We’re still pretty small, and most of us have never met each other irl, but we’d be thrilled to have you join! Right, NV?”
NV shrugged and looked away with disinterest, which caused Atlas to smile.
Tanuki was mostly ignoring them, checking his inventory. He began to open his Tarot packs. Each booster contained 5 Tarot cards, and after opening all 10, he had amassed a respectable beginner collection. He had an irritating number of duplicate common Tarots, but he had a few Tarots that were rare, and seemed to have pretty good effects. He received common spells like projectile attacks and low HP recovery, but also more interesting spells, like creating mirror images and copying an opponent’s used spells. The rarer Tarots had a nice holographic glow to them compared to the common ones. But what was even more interesting was the last Tarot he checked in his inventory, simply named ‘???’. The description was much the same as the name, and the artwork looked like a glitching screen.
“Well, how were the pulls? Get anything good?” Atlas prodded.
“I think I got enough to work with,” Tanuki replied, “but there’s one Tarot I don’t understand. There’s no name or description.”
“Well that’s odd.” Atlas and NV exchanged glances. “Mind if I take a look?”

Tanuki gave Atlas the Tarot, and after giving it a look over, he handed it back to him. “I can’t make heads or tails of it. Maybe it’s a bugged card. Ever seen that before, NV?” She shook her head. Atlas brushed it off, “Well, at least it seems overall you had some pretty decent pulls. I’ve got pretty much every Gemini Tarot in the game, aside from some mythical ones. You can make a decent starter deck out of those. And if you’d like to trade, I’m always open to offers!” Tanuki put the Tarots away and closed his HUD. “I’d like to dig deeper into deck building, but I can save that for later. Will you show me around now?” Atlas snapped his fingers enthusiastically. “Of course! Let’s go on a little tour.” And with that, Atlas, with NV trailing slightly behind him off to his side, led Tanuki out of the Tarot shop.

They walked around for a while through the city, with Atlas pointing out the names of various buildings, what they offered, and what kind of items Tanuki should look out for, with the occasional interjection or slight correction by NV. Tanuki saw the equipment shops for weapons and armor, the material shops for building materials, an apothecary for various consumable items and more niche materials, restaurants, Inns, parks, and training facilities where you can practice new equipment and deck setups and run through obstacle courses. As Atlas was introducing the digital library, NV interrupted him abruptly, pointing and shouting “CASINO!!!” as she abandoned them and took off towards the flashy building with bright neon signs in an addiction propelled sprint. Atlas sighed. “There she goes. I hope she doesn’t blow all of her money again. I’m not going to keep being her personal piggy bank.”

He resumed walking and ushered Tanuki to follow. “We’ll just let her be for now. There’s not much left to show, so we’ll grab her on the way back.” After a short walk they ended up in the main square where a tall, intimidating, obelisk-like tower stood. It was so tall that it escaped the boundary of human vision, obscured further by clouds. Surrounding it was what looked like a holographic barrier that slowly revolved around the entire tower. In front of its entrance was a magnificent, hovering circle formed by every symbol of the zodiac, and in the center was a symbol that resembled a depiction of the Sun.
“What’s this building?” Tanuki asked.
“This is the Citadel. Basically, this is the place that connects every hub world of the zodiac classes. It’s mostly for PVP, and mostly for competitive play, though you can do unranked matches as well. It’s technically a simulation, so you don’t die if you lose, you just lose rank. But you do get more XP and atomints if you win in Ranked, so it’s popular for grinding XP. There’s solo and duo matches, since this game doesn’t have parties. My partner’s obviously NV. I assume you don’t have one yet?”
“I prefer to work alone anyway, so I doubt I’ll get one.”
“Well, you say that now, but there’s certain content and events you can’t do without one. But all you really need is to find someone and recruit them. You don’t have to worry about it too much yet. Anyway, that’s the gist of the tour. Anything else I’m sure you can find on your own once you’re more accustomed to the city. Half the fun is exploration, after all!”
Tanuki noticed that the Citadel in the main square connected the two cities at a focal point. He could see the pathway stretching out from the obsidian city, Nox.
“Have you ever been to that other part of the hub? Nox, I think it was called.”
Atlas smiled. “I have. Plenty of times. It’s basically just Luxiem with a different coat of paint. Has mostly the same kind of shops, but each side does have some exclusive areas. We can do a tour of that side sometime, but definitely not today. In fact, let’s grab NV and head to my favorite place, then I’ll call it a night.”

Tanuki and Atlas made their way back through the main square and down the road where they first saw the casino. It had flashing neon signs in the image of slots and phrases like “Win Big!” and “Gamble Responsibly!” which seemed like an oxymoron to Tanuki. The entrance had two holographic doors that were stylized like playing cards, and upon entering, Atlas and Tanuki began looking for NV. The space inside was enormous, covered with smooth red carpet and golden dividers separating different sections. A giant, magnificent chandelier dangled from the ceiling, which gradually shifted through a palette of various colors. The slot machines were large and imposing, and in different areas were scattered arrays of games of chance. The games ranged from complete RNG, such as plinko to ‘Guess the Next Tarot,’ to games with mild implements of skill, such as ice bowling and flaming darts. It was like a carnival, but for degenerate gamblers. Wandering around carrying trays of refreshments such as drinks and snack items were little creatures that resembled penguins, only their beaks were blue and shorter, their eyes red, and they were wearing tuxedo shirts with red bow ties.

Atlas and Tanuki wandered aimlessly for around 10 minutes, with Tanuki taking some refreshments off the trays without the little penguin-like creatures noticing and shoving them into his pockets, before Atlas spotted NV by the slot machines. They eventually made their way up to her, though she made no effort to acknowledge their presence, being too hyperfixated on the spinning slots. Tanuki briefly visually examined the machine, which had depictions of two men in Karate Gi’s fighting each other, under a banner that read “Road Brawler: The Movie: The Game: The Slot Game.” Atlas finally broke the silence of her disinterest.
“So, how much are you down this time?”
NV said nothing as she made another spin.
“That much, huh?”
NV then turned to Atlas and hissed like an angry cat before turning back to her slots.
“Alright, time to go then.”
He picked her up by the collar, much as he did to Tanuki earlier, and began to carry her out as she protested and pleaded, reaching for the slot machine as she gently spun around in the air.
“Wait! Just one more roll! I can still break even! I just need another combo spin!”
But her pleas fell on deaf ears as Atlas carried her outside.

She had begun to inch her way back towards the casino doors when Atlas grabbed her by the back of her collar and began dragging her away standing up. She looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a small, cafe-like building. It looked plain and unassuming from the outside, but warm, golden ambient rays danced in the reflection of the windows from the inside and gave it a welcoming, friendly allure. “This is Chalon de Trois. The best place to unwind at this edge of the universe.”

As the three entered, a small bell rang. “Lyrica, we’re back!” Atlas shouted cheerfully, then suddenly froze, almost causing Tanuki to walk into him. “Hey,” Tanuki yelped, before looking over to see NV also stopped and was staring intently in the same direction Atlas was facing. “What’s going on with you two?” Tanuki said with confusion and irritation in his voice, which caused NV to grab his arm firmly and yank him over to her other side.

“Just be quiet and don’t say a word.” she said. With Atlas’s mammoth frame no longer blocking his view, Tanuki finally caught sight of what had caused the shift in both their demeanors. Sitting at a table in the center of the room was a man with wavy blonde hair, wearing armor that looked like tarnished bronze. It had various cracks and fractures, and visible within the cracks were visages of flowing lava. His chest plate had a design of two majestic angel wings that folded across each other, spanning across the entire chest, as if it was sheltering his heart. Despite its withered look, it had a strangely imposing aura to it. But what caught Tanuki’s eye more than the Level 100 above the stranger’s shoulder was who was sitting next to him. He recognized that dark brown hair and those eyes that looked like they were carved from jade. She looked towards Tanuki, and when their eyes met for a brief second, hers widened, before she rapidly looked away and her eyes began to wander the floor again.“Atlas,” said the stranger, “Long time no see.”