The Arcade Series

After that little incident, I walked back behind the counter and I started thinking of ways to explain the arcade part of the store to the young man. This would be a good little test of how well my arcade would do in this world. Perhaps some advertising too if he spreads the word.

After a few seconds, I had a rough idea of what I should do so now all I have to do is wait for- “Hey, what do you want me to do with these?” the boy interrupted my thoughts and I looked at him. He is sitting at his table, holding his plate in one hand and his coffee with the other, looking at me expectantly.

“Ah, with those plates you can just put them in the trash bin.” I told him and gestured to one of the large black bins nearest to him helpfully. He looked at me oddly for a second, but he apparently just decided to do as I said and hobbled over to it and tossed his plate and cup inside the garbage bin.

Just as he was about to leave, I called out to him “Hey, do you want to try something fun?” and he paused and turned around. He leaned on his crutches for a second, standing in the doorway “What kind of fun?” he asked me curiously.

“Believe me, it's the kind of fun you have never had before!” I said cheerfully and a little excited “Let me introduce you to a game called Pacman!” I announced, before walking out from behind the counter and walking to the arcade section, down the steps and in front of the Pacman arcade machine with the boy walking just behind me curiously. “What is this supposed to be?” The boy asked, confused at the site of the wooden arcade machine.

“This is something called an arcade machine, you can play certain games on them for a few cents!” I said cheerfully, but the kid didn't look impressed. In a bid to try and get him to play Packman for the first time in this universe, I continued to explain what I had set up for rewards and prizes.

“So, whenever you win a game, or get a good amount of points, you get tickets from the machine. You can take those tickets and bring them up to the counter, where you can get prizes, with better prizes for more points. If you are good, you can even get a magic artifact!” I explain the premise of the arcade and then pause, watching his reaction.

His reaction was interesting, but also very telling. He was nodding along to what I was saying, until I mentioned magic artifacts. His face morphed into surprise and he quickly did a double take between me and the Pacman machine in disbelief. “You expect me to believe that if I win this game, I can get a magic artifact.” He said slowly, clearly not believing me.

“It's true!” I said reassuringly. “Here, how about I show you how to play, and if you don't get a magic artifact you can get another free meal sometime.” I said, making a deal with the kid. He looked unsure about my deal, but he sighed “Sure, why not.” and I grinned at my success.

“Now,” I said, rubbing my hands together, “I will teach you how to play Pacman. Just slide twenty five cent coins into this hole right here, press the button and the machine will start up.” I directed him and he quickly obliged and took out a copper coin from a pouch on his waist and inserted it quickly into the slot and punched the on button.

The machine hummed to life and the screen flashed, causing the boy to stumble backwards in surprise at the light coming from the screen. I patted the boy reassuringly on the back and he turned to me surprised, “What is it doing? Is this some sort of magic?” He said, looking shocked.

“Magic?” I said quietly to myself, before I remembered that technology doesn't exist yet and there is in fact magic in this world. “Yes, yes you could say that. It's a rather new invention of mine.” I said, smiling at the frightened boy. He shuffled closer to the arcade machine again and leaned against the w/ooden box, looking at the starting screen interestedly.

I scanned the screen and realized that he needed to enter a name. “Just enter in your name and you can start playing!” I said, then I showed him how to enter the letters by navigating a digital keyboard with the joystick on the control panel.

The kid was slow at entering his name, but that was expected. I highly doubt that he has used a keyboard much if at all. After a minute of him trying to enter his name, he finished and clicked enter at my prompting, making the screen flash with the words “Welcome Terance. Press play to start!”

‘His name is Terance? Huh.’ I thought to myself in mild surprise, I knew a guy named Terance, he was a good guy. He died trying to save a family of three who he had just met from a bank robber. Then I started directing Terance about the controls and goal of Pacman, which was really simple. Push the joystick left, Pacman goes left, push the joystick right, Pacman goes right, same with up and down. Avoid the ghosts, if you touch them you will lose one of three lives, eat the dots and you get points, eat the power pellets and you can eat the ghosts for a few seconds. The goal is to get the most points possible before dying.

He seemed to understand pretty easily and soon enough I directed him to press the start button.

His first attempt was pretty terrible, but before his last life went out, I could see that his hands were growing more deft, his speed growing, his face showing that he was more sure of himself. He was learning to play the game.

He didn't get very far this time though, he only collected around eight hundred points, which was actually pretty impressive as it was almost half the map and this was his first try. He soon got eight tickets and he looked up at me with them in his hand “What would this get me?” he asked curiously. “Well, not much. You know what? I can get you a discount. If you get thirty of those you can get a random rank one artifact! I think you could get one if you play one more game.” I said to him happily.

“Just where are you getting rank one artifacts anyway?” Terance asked me in disbelief. I paused for a second, unsure how I should answer him, but I quickly said “I have my sources.” In a mysterious voice, chuckling a little to myself.

Terance did not look very amused by my answer, though he seemed to accept my answer in silence, before he put another one of his small copper coins into the slot of the machine to try and get more tickets.

The machine loaded up and Terence started to play. As he was playing, I watched his face harden, his hands start to speed up, his eyes darting around the screen but the most interesting thing of all, I could feel a rush of… something go through the room and its starting point is Terance.

It was almost like a sixth sense, I could tell where… something was surging around into Terance, sending tingles down my spine and my brain started to almost get a boost in energy that sent a shock through my system.

‘What is happening?’ I thought to myself, extremely confused and a little frightened as I watched the boy’s reflexes and strategies become better and better over the course of thirty seconds, then the energy I felt faltered and he slowed down to what he had been like before.

‘Was that magic!?’ I thought to myself in disbelief, it was one thing to read that the people here could control some energy types, like magic, but this was…

Whatever he had done, it worked really well, as I watched his points tick upwards. Two thousand, three thousand, it kept rising until the map was completely empty and he quickly died on the next level.

Terance sighed, rubbing his sleeve over his sweaty forehead. Apparently his burst of speed came at a cost. “How did I do?” he asked tiredly, breathing heavily as he did. “You did really well! Three thousand points is really great, especially for a second try. Though, I don't really think that you needed to activate a skill.” I said to the boy, internally thinking of ways to make these games a bit more challenging for better players with abilities like Terance.

“I activated…” he asked me, looking towards me confused. “Yes, you used some sort of skill that made you react faster.” I told him casually, “You should probably take a breather after you come and collect your magic artifact, you look tired.”

“What? I did it!?” he yelled out. “Yup, congratulations kid.” I said, smiling and holding up the thirty two tickets that were just dispensed by the arcade machine and handing them to him. Terance took them with shaky hands and stared at them like they were gold, eyes wide and a small grin spreading across his face, like a kid when they are given candy.

I chuckle at his reaction and pat him on the back “So, you want that artifact or what?” I said, a little excited. I had not actually seen how the artifact generator worked yet. “Yes!” he said quickly and we walked to the counter together to get him his prize.

When we had reached the glass sales counter, I took thirty tickets from him, leaving him with an extra ten, and I reached for the tier one artifact generator. When I picked up the square bin, I took a close look at it, admiring its details, the red lines that formed runes and the slight glow that came off of it. I also realized that it was much heavier than it looked and I nearly dropped it before I put it on the counter. Terances eyes were wide as he took in the magical box. “What is that?” he asked me quietly.

“This? Oh, it's nothing. Hang on a second while I get your prize.” I said quickly, realizing that I probably should have just left it in the small space behind the counter. I will make sure to keep it where it was next time.

I slid in the strips of tickets and watched the box eat them up and I could feel a hum coming from the box and a slight increase in its glowing, before a slight thud and the box went quiet and the glow died down. I opened a small hatch in the box and I took out a small white pendant in the shape of a moon. It also seemed to be glowing a little.

I hear a Pop! and I watch as a very small blue screen appears beside the pendant, words scrawling quickly across it.

“Pendant of the Restful Moon. This pendant increases natural healing speed and stamina recovery by twenty percent during the night, thirty if the pendant is under the night sky or under direct moonlight.” The system says, a picture of the pendant beside the description and name.

“I think that this could be useful for you!” I say, impressed by the magic artifact and the effects. “What? What does it do?” Terance says eagerly, leaning over the counter to get a closer look at the pendant in my hands. I chuckle at the boy's behavior, then I place the pendant on the counter, letting him take a look. “This artifact is called the Pendant of the Restful Moon, it speeds up healing and stamina during the night by twenty percent and thirty under direct moonlight.” I say, almost quoting what the system told me.

Terance took the pendant in his hand, a look of shock on his face and his hand shaking. I think he likes it! “Thank- thank you!” he said, choking up a bit “You have no idea how much I needed this.”

“Don't worry about it.” I said, brushing off his thanks quickly and he pocketed the pendant. “Oh, and I think you can get an ice cream sandwich with your leftover tickets if you want something for a snack after using that skill earlier.” I said helpfully.

He nodded and gave me the tickets, which I took placing them in a small box meant for non-artifact prizes before walking a few paces in front of a freezer, which I took a ice cream sandwich from and handed it to Terance who accepted it, not even asking what it was, definitely having never had ice cream before, and he walked out of the store quietly.

“Kids these days! Not even a goodbye after all that!” I said dryly to myself and relaxed in my chair, waiting for another customer to walk in.