Page 324 of Light Leech

“A little prideful, huh?”

She shrugged. “We’ll see how the next segments go, but the two we’ve had so far prove that these aren’t about what you know, but about how you think.”I didn’t doubt her expertise but knew that neither of us would have come this far without our Gui. I had lived a sheltered life when I was younger, but everything I knew about Ralia convinced me that she had been forced to think to survive. Still, I doubted she would have made it without Sha’s assistance. She was probably boasting of her prowess just to deny to herself that she needed aid from a being she loathed.

“Fine,” she said, but did not admit what she should have. “I guess a lot of it was due to the luck of our given ‘truths.’ Some of the other people had no chance.”

“You think the system is favoring us?”

She shook her head and turned away from me. She didn’t want any excuse besides skill. I felt more assured that she mentioned luck to make me feel better with my argument, rather than hers. This didn’t bother me. Pride seemed like a sin to anyone but Ralia. It bothered me that I thought so, knowing the plague that pride was, especially seeing the danger it placed us in if left unchecked. Perhaps confidence was a better word. As long as she remained confident, so could I.

I sprinted ahead to catch up, seeing that she wasn’t avoiding conversation, but heading for a shining golden card on the ground.

She picked it up, but my gaze remained on the ground for a moment longer. It was neither a matte or glossy black, but what looked like a thin veil that protected us from a grainy abyss of black and grey below. We were a single pixel floating in a cube in a sea of that outer substance.

“What is it?” I asked her.

She held out the card as if to show me but pointed to another that appeared to my left.

Rather than ask, I followed her prompting and saw the others in our chamber do the same as cards appeared all around the floor.

I picked up the one below me and inspected it. Furrowing my brow, I wondered if I was correct in assuming that it was a trading card. I thought I was familiar with the most popular trading card games, seeing that in many criminal circles they were used as currency and as valued as stocks by even some of the most elite businessmen. It looked like one of the monster battling variety, but the frame and stats were unfamiliar.

Zhu snorted.

You know what this is?

His snort turned into a laugh. “That is me.”

I didn’t need to ask anymore as I understood the image. Below the title “Boarrior of the Journeymen,” I saw what looked like a caricature of Zhu taken to a muscular extreme.

Giant tusks extended from his jowls capped with blue orbs. His eyes burned a vibrant blue with white flames burning outward. He wore traditional silks of ancient china, though only on his torso and groin, while cybernetic armor covered his appendages. He held his giant rake ready for an attack.

I read the stats and abilities below, not understanding the health and attacks with the numbers one through four listing specific actions and terms in bold.

I looked on the back side of the card and saw no name or anything to clarify what this was.

I ran to Ralia, who was already comparing her card with fellow competitors.

She turned away from them as she spotted me, despite the silence of my footsteps.

She reached for my card and took it without asking.

I leaned over and inspected her card.

Heaven’s General Sha of the Journeymen. The image was that of a green fiend whose physique was even more rigid than Zhu. A variety of chains and jade ornaments adorned his body with a cracked jade pendant on his chest atop white armor with glowing blue lines that appeared to be sparking out like the light in his eyes. He clutched a giant staff with a wide blade on the bottom and a bi-pronged fork on the top with a lightning bolt between them.

I glanced at the abilities below the health status, noting the same array of abilities next to the numbers one through four.

She looked to the side, gave the other competitors an enthusiastic goodbye as she pushed me to a more secluded area of the cosmic chamber.

She whispered as she returned my card. “How do they know about our Gui?” Any remnant of frivolity had vanished from her voice. “Does this not bother you?”

“Of course it does. Do you think this had anything to do with us using our Gui?”

“Probably? I placed the best cognitive walls I could on us prior to entering, but something that can create and manipulate us like this probably doesn’t have a problem reaching into the depths of our minds.” She sighed. “Best think about it later.”

“Right. If we lose, this won’t matter.”

She scoffed. “We’re not losing this one.”