For a few long seconds, the only sound after notifications had ended was the sound of Sami breathing heavily.
’I’m blind.’
He couldn’t believe it.
If someone had told him yesterday that he would be disabled today, he wouldn’t have believed it.
Infact, he would have even argued if he was told that he would be the one to do this nonsense to himself.
’I really hope that this was worth it.’
At this moment, a frown of confusion crossed his face as he realized that he was no longer holding his eyeballs. The round texture had suddenly disappeared.
Instead, in his right hand, he could feel that he was now holding what felt like a playing card.
’This is a dilemma. How am I supposed to survive now?’
He fell into deep thought as he felt the fear and uncertainty beginning to loom over him.
’The system had been speaking to me even in the absence of my eyes. I can recall that I had awakened the Talent... uh... what was it? ...Charlatan? What’s that? Can it help me in any way?’
He had barely finished the thought when the notifications began to sound again.
[The Player has awakened the Talent: Charlatan]
[As a wild card, this talent falls outside the Grade Classification System. Because of this, it does not fall under any of the four Archetype Trees.]
[Talent Description: Bluff]
[Base Skill: The Player can tell a lie about their playable state and Card, making it a reality for as long as their Prana allows.]
’What?’
Sweat began to bead on Sami’s face, followed by a small twitch of his lips.
[Condition 1: The lie the Player tells must fall under the powers of the 52 standard deck of cards and the four Archetype Trees. It must also be within their Tier.]
Sami frowned, having no idea what this meant.
[Condition 2: The lies told must be believable for them to become a reality.]
[Condition 3: There are only two Jokers in a standard deck. The Player can only tell two lies at a time. One major lie and one minor lie.]
[Condition 4: You must shuffle the Deck of Cards.]
[Weakness: A Bluff can be called at any time. This is the ultimate counter to the Charlatan. The moment a bluff is called, the lie fails.]
For the next few seconds after that, the notifications fell silent. Sami, who had been listening to the words, suddenly felt like his head would explode due to all the information, mainly because he did not understand half of it.
’So... I’m a fraud?’
After thinking about it for a few seconds, he began to piece together what little he could. Fortunately, after the awakening, his eyes had stopped aching, so now he could think properly.
’I can tell a lie about my playable state? Isn’t that the same as pulling a bluff about my physical state? The lie also has to fall under the powers of the 52 standard deck of cards and Archetype trees, whatever that means.’
He decided to experiment.
Slowly, he pushed himself off the floor, then took a few breaths to compose himself.
Once he was ready, he spoke in a calm voice. "I am in my peak physical condition."
In the next second, Sami felt incredible.
His vision began to shift from pitch blackness to a flood of vivid color. He blinked rapidly, fluttering his eyelids open, and a slow smile broke across his face.
"Ha! I can see!"
He could really see again. In fact, he was seeing much better than he used to before he took his eyes out.
Looking around the apartment, he could see blood on the ground, as well as the kitchen knife and the bloodied towel. The deck of cards that had appeared during the Game of Cards had disappeared.
Except for the gore, everything almost felt normal.
Then a frown creased his brows when he couldn’t find his eyeballs. They were gone.
He assumed that they had been taken since they were meant to be a sacrifice in the first place, so he didn’t bother looking for them.
Instead, he quickly hurried to the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror.
When he reached the sink, the reflection of a man in his early twenties with messy dark hair, sharp features, and rough stubble across his chin and cheeks came into view.
He wasn’t exactly ’the ladies’ man,’ but he wasn’t unappealing either. He had the worn, drained look of an exhausted nine to five worker, yet there was an understated charm about him that was hard to ignore.
As expected, his face was smeared in blood, but he didn’t focus on that. Instead, he locked eyes with the deep, dark irises he currently possessed.
’This seems great, heh. I was scared I’d have to spend the coming days blind with no means to see.’
He shivered at the thought. Being blind when the apocalypse had begun meant zero chance at survival!
’I wonder what sort of powers fall under the 52 standard deck of cards, and what other lies I can tell about about my playable state.’
He narrowed his eyes as he began to formulate a different lie.
After a moment, out of curiosity, he opened his lips and whispered, "I, Sami Hong, am a boy no older than twelve."
In the next instant, to his surprise, his body began to shift. He watched his height drop in real time, and his features softened until he stood as a young boy barely reaching twelve years old.
"What the...?!"
He took a startled step back, and almost fell after stepping on his trousers that were now too big for him. However, in that moment of disbelief, the bluff shattered on its own, reverting his frame back to normal.
Sami blinked, stepping forward and leaning back over the glass to study his restored reflection until his head stopped spinning.
’Ah, so that’s how it works.’
He felt like he was getting the hang of it.
A smile then formed on his lips as he muttered, "I am immortal."
A second passed... and another, but nothing happened. That caused a frown to form on his face.
’So... I guess not?’
Still, that was worth the shot, right?
He began to rub his chin.
During the brief transformation, Sami had noticed that a vast amount of energy had left him to make that lie a reality.
’Even now, I can still feel energy leaving me, though nowhere near as much as the second lie drained. Hm... when I think about it, I wasted my two slots. One on being in peak state, and one on the second lie. The smart move would have been to cancel the first lie and drop back into my blind state before trying the second one. After all, becoming a healthy, young boy automatically gives me eyes anyway.’
A small smile began to tug at his lips as he thought about the potential this power offered, but then, that smile quickly turned downward as he kept remembering the Prana required to maintain his lies.
’At this rate, I think I can only maintain my current state for half an hour at most.’
He sighed and looked away from the mirror.
Only now did he notice that even the card he felt himself holding earlier had disappeared.
’Hm?’
There was something that caught his attention at the moment. Turning to his right, he could see that the same, translucent blue screen that had appeared to him earlier was still beside him. However, upon closer look, he realized that the words were different.
What was now portrayed was his profile information.
~~~~~~~~~~ ====== ~~~~~~~~~~
Name: [Sami Hong]
Player No: [100346]
Age: [22]
Race: [Human]
Tier: [1]
Innate Talent: [Charlatan]
Talent Grade: [???]
Class Card: [Joker(Wild Card)]
Archetype Tree: [???]
Evolution Points: [0/1000]
~~~~~~~~~~ ====== ~~~~~~~~~~
While most of the details were obvious, a few left him with questions.
Just then, a notification suddenly sounded.
[Ten minutes left until the start of the First Main Quest: Noah’s Ark]
[Quest Difficulty: F —> D]
[Quest Reward: Eligibility to partake in Side Quests, access to Player Forums, & 100 EP]
[Penalty for failure: ???]
"...?"