{"id":268,"date":"2014-12-27T02:42:06","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T07:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/?p=268"},"modified":"2015-11-21T04:05:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-21T09:05:05","slug":"sons-of-sword-tales-of-glory-lost-and-found-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #7"},"content":{"rendered":"

A thousand points?!\u00a0 No way, way too much!<\/em>\u00a0 Even though a small win would be outstanding, a wager that large is not even close to being worth the risk.\u00a0 Metcalf didn’t even try to hide her reluctance.\u00a0 The amount may have been reasonable for Isabeau.\u00a0 The top students had many more points to play with.\u00a0 For Metcalf, a big loss at those stakes would set her down to zero.<\/p>\n

“If that’s too much, we can change the amount.”\u00a0 Isabeau’s expression showed as well.\u00a0 This made no sense.\u00a0 Metcalf was wasting her talents here.\u00a0 She had seen students gambling points in training centers; the competition it created.\u00a0 Even when students worked together, they never stayed in this arena for as long as Metcalf, Naoh, or Koh.<\/p>\n

The students here usually had no other way to get the extra points they desperately needed.\u00a0 They had to win Academy Points or face expulsion, utter failure, and disgrace.\u00a0 There were no other options.\u00a0 Their future, their hopes, the free life of an academy student, the honor of a Protector, everything<\/em> depended winning.<\/p>\n

Most only knew the basics but they used those basics in ways never taught in the classrooms.\u00a0 They fought hard<\/em> for those points, the fiercest competition she had ever seen.\u00a0 At times, more inventive students happened upon variations of advanced strategies and techniques.\u00a0 Isabeau only hoped to gleam some of the techniques to use as her own.<\/p>\n

At the end of the mid-season, the winners and losers were determined.\u00a0 Losers never came back, expelled after the final.\u00a0 Winners rarely came back, not wanting to fight in the Training Center again unless it was absolutely necessary.\u00a0 Metcalf stayed in this environment and thrived.\u00a0 True, Metcalf was low in the student rankings but only because she wasted her time here playing for tens and twenties.<\/p>\n

Isabeau had no doubt that Metcalf would win with the proper incentive.\u00a0 More points meant a stronger fight, right?\u00a0 She was pretty much giving Metcalf points for the honor of a challenge.\u00a0 But, if a thousand points a target was too much, “What about five hundred?”<\/p>\n

Well.\u00a0 Maybe, less than that.<\/em> Though it was definitely more reasonable, it was quite a lot more than usual.\u00a0 So much, much more than Metcalf had ever played for before.\u00a0 Isabeau could be using a negotiating tactic; starting unreasonably high so that a sucker could suggest something unusually high.\u00a0 Things rarely ended well for the sucker.\u00a0 Metcalf was having no more of this. “Two fifty,” she spoke with certainty.\u00a0 It still could be a trap.\u00a0 The amount was well more than double what she expected to bet, but it was still recoverable if she lost.\u00a0 However, that was her final offer, no higher.<\/p>\n

Two fifty?!<\/em>\u00a0 Metcalf is definitely showing her a lot of respect.\u00a0 But if that’s the way she wants it, “Deal.”\u00a0 Such a low bet.\u00a0 She was going to be very upset if she won.<\/em><\/p>\n

The negotiations finished, they waited for their number to be called.\u00a0 They sat without speaking for a while.\u00a0 Sometimes, the wagers were the hardest part of the challenges.\u00a0 They both wanted their way, and each had to flex their wills to get it.\u00a0 It was especially tough for the nicer students.\u00a0 If they became friends later, it would be great.\u00a0 It was never certain though.\u00a0 After the awkward silence, Isabeau suggested they eat somewhere after the mid-season.<\/p>\n

“Sure,” Metcalf said without hesitation.\u00a0 She was still a growing young lady of course.\u00a0 She loved to eat.\u00a0 Also, she could ask her about a few special techniques.\u00a0 Such a high ranked student had to know some techniques that only the Quarter Masters taught.<\/p>\n

“I’ll give you my contact after this.”<\/p>\n

#1 <\/a>\u2013 Lost and Found #6<\/a>\u00a0– Lost and Found #8<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A thousand points?!\u00a0 No way, way too much!\u00a0 Even though a small win would be outstanding, a wager that large is not even close to being worth the risk.\u00a0 Metcalf didn’t even try to hide her reluctance.\u00a0 The amount may have been reasonable for Isabeau.\u00a0 The top students had many more points to play with.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,47,26,2,142,58,170],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-finals","tag-isabeau-bo","tag-metcalf-luo","tag-sons-of-sword","tag-sword-mint-academy","tag-training-center","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonsofsword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}