It seemed barbaric. Parker wondered how many goblins had been offered up so far and if any of it had counted. Unfortunately, Parker had nothing to try and offer up at the altar, so they left the plateau behind. On the way back to the bayside town, Parker kept an eye out for goblins as they stopped to harvest the seedpods from the patch of flowers they had seen on the way in.

  Even with Gere's words echoing in their head, Parker's hands were not steady enough. As they knelt down in the dirt, dagger in hand, the wispy petals of the tuftbulb swayed in the breeze just enough to cause Parker to slip.

  The dagger blade cut into the seedpod instead of cutting it away from the flower. A wisp of elemental energy escaped from the cut, startling Parker and causing them to accidentally cut into the flower itself. Another wisp of energy escaped and this time Parker felt it deeply.

  The energy from the seedpod had a faint potential. The energy from the flower had been the plant's life. It escaped up into the sky and dissipated on a breeze. Even if it had just been a plant, Parker had killed it and the feeling was strange.

  For one, Parker did not like it. For another reason, Parker wondered how linked the island's nature, energy, and crystal were. The energy that dissipated on the breeze had felt similar to the energy radiating from the crystal on the plateau.

  With growing anxiety and a forced stillness, Parker tried a second flower. This time the flower survived but the seedpod cracked in their hand. There was a gentleness needed in the collection.

  It took until the afternoon, and several seedpods were strewn about the hillside after cracking, but Parker was able to gather what they needed without killing another flower.

  It felt good but Parker's mind raced at the thought of other Gambler's knowing how Parker felt as that first flower died. Would they call Parker soft? Unsuited to this Gamble? Parker had already heard those words and this felt good.

  With the tuftbulb seedpods gathered in a canvas pouch, Parker thought back to the altar. There was a decent breeze of elemental energy coming from the pouch. Would this be a pure offering?

  Even if it was, Parker felt dishonest in that thought. They had gathered these seedpods for someone else. To use it for themselves instead, after taking the Gambler Request, seemed malicious.

  Following the path back to the bayside town, Parker then followed directions on the back of the Gambler Request. At the end, they found a witchy cottage tucked between two boring stone houses. The cottage was made up of ruddy orange bricks, trellises of vines grew over the walls, and the door was an inviting dark oak archway.

  When Parker knocked, they weren't sure what to expect. They didn't expect someone younger then them though and that is what answered the door. A teenager in a long gray robe with a tangled mat of hair the same ruddy orange as the bricks answered the door with a yawn. Parker wondered if they had been sleeping.

  Parker asked, "Excuse me, are you Balan?"

  The teenager nodded and suppressed a second yawn. "Yep. What do you need? Crafting hours aren't for another two."

  Parker held up the Gambler Request. "I took this from the tavern. I was wondering if you still needed the seedpods."

  Balan took the paper and hummed over it for a second. Then they added, "Oh, I remember this one! Posted it so long ago, I didn't think I'd ever get them. Yes, if you can harvest them, I do need the seeds. It's a tricky plant though, so don't feel too bad if you can't do it, get frustrated, and give up... that's what I did anyway."

  Then Parker offered up the canvas pouch. "Actually, I-"

  Parker was cut off as Balan snatched the pouch from their hands and disappeared into the witchy cottage. Parker stood awkwardly at the door looking down at their now-empty hands.

  After a few seconds, Balan must have realized that Parker hadn't followed behind. The teenager called out from somewhere in the cottage. Their words seemed to echo out of the cracks in the brick.

  "Come in, come in! Straight back and to the left!"

  Once urged, Parker stepped inside. The interior matched the feel that the exterior gave off. It wasn't bright but it wasn't dark. Charms hung on the walls like art, crystals were arranged on shelves to display their brilliance or their power, and jars of what could only be described as monster parts suspended in oil dotted the overfilled bookshelves.

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  An arch to the right opened up to a library, but Parker followed the directions Balan had shouted. Back and to the left, there was another arch. Rather than a library, this was a workroom of sorts.

  Benches, desks, and drawers lined the walls and all were covered with half finished projects. In the center of the workroom, Parker expected to see a bubbling cauldron. Instead, there was a circular table covered in vials, beakers, and decanters filled with liquids of all colors.

  Balan was clearing off one of the desks, close to Parker's left when they entered. Parker walked in right as something like a mechanical spider got shoved into a drawer. Then Balan carefully rolled out a foam mat and picked the tuftbulb seedpods from the canvas pouch one by one.

  Closely inspecting the seedpods and measuring them with a scale, Balan only paused once or twice. Then, one all of them were weighed and lined up, the teenager pulled a headband covered in magnifying glasses down over their eyes for a closer look.

  Moments later, Balan looked up at Parker with bug-like magnified eyes. "You collected these all yourself? How long did it take you?"

  "Most of the morning, I think."

  Balan gasped at that and pulled the lens-laden band off. "A few hours? These are all perfect and intact. I was expecting to lose about half to sloppy gathering techniques. How many did you have to cut to get these?"

  Parker took a second to remember and then explained. "Around twenty. The first one I cut the flower as well, so I took my time on the rest, but I still ended up losing too many seedpods."

  Balan's head tilted to the side like a confused cat as they peered closer to Parker. "Are you a botanist or something?"

  Parker shook their head and recounted what Gere told them. "Just beneath the petals, the seedpod is attached by a few fibrous strands."

  Now it was Balan's turn to shake their head. "I have to pay you more for this. A vial isn't enough."

  Parker interjected as Balan started to pick through drawers for payment. They said, "I'll take the vial and some knowledge if that's okay."

  Balan stopped. They looked down at the single vial of bronze-colored shavings in hand. Finally, Balan agreed. "That's fair, knowledge for knowledge after all. What do you want to know?"

  Parker pointed at the vial. "What is that?"

  Balan let out a loud laugh. "You're new, aren't you?"

  "It's my second day... first full day I mean."

  Balan composed themselves and took a deep breath. "Alright, in that case, I'll give you as complete a breakdown as I can. This vial contains the leftover energy from an elemental coin after it was carved down to make an enchantment. These shavings are pretty common on Air Island because they come from impure elemental coins. I'm not sure why but impure coins are copper and the pure ones are silver."

  That mostly made sense to Parker. There was only one hole in the logic. "What can you do with the shavings? Why does everyone accept them as payment?"

  Balan grew slightly serious at that question. "Look, it's probably none of my business but are you sure you should be here? This is the easiest of the islands and it doesn't seem like you know any of the basics. Who was your sponsor?"

  Parker didn't understand the question. "Do you mean my evaluator at the nexus?"

  "What? No! Oh-" Balan cut off for a second and then took another overtly deep breath. "Unlike you, almost every other Gambler here has a sponsor. It could be a family member, a boss, a raid leader, or a guild master."

  Parker thought of Gere's comment about communicating with their guild master. Maybe this was what he had meant.

  Balan continued, "The role of a sponsor is to bring in Gamblers, teach them the bare minimum, and if that Gambler goes all the way, they get a portion of the reward. Sponsors are like Gamblers who got caught up in multi-level marketing. They recruit their friends and family to the Gamble and EA gives them a bonus for each Gambler they sponsor."

  It was the first time anyone had brought it up to Parker. On the entrance forms and applications, there had been a space for a sponsor to be listed but Parker thought it meant an endorsement from a company, so they left it blank. Benson, the evaluator, hadn't even brought it up.

  Feeling off from the revelation, Parker deflected. "Who was your sponsor?"

  Balan answered without hesitation. "My gran. She ran this place for a few years before wanting to move on to a better island. She sponsored my dad first, but when he decided to adventure instead of keep shop, she sponsored me as well."

  Parker turned the attention back to the tuftbulb seedpods as a larger deflection when the first didn't work. "The request mentioned a potion but are you going to use those as an offering?"

  Balan frowned at that. "No? Everyone knows you-"

  Balan stopped and remembered that Parker was unsponsored. "One of the first things a sponsor teaches you is that to gain a pure elemental coin, you have to sacrifice a creature from that island on the altar. The stronger, the better."

  "That can't be it. I just saw three Gamblers offer up five goblins and they didn't get their 'silver ticket' as they called it."

  Balan nodded. "That's the puzzle. Just yesterday, some newcomers passed almost immediately by offering up a single goblin. Four silver coins for one goblin, but no silver coins for five goblins... Those four weren't even here for a full week."

  Parker remembered Devon's inspirational thumbs-up. Now it felt hollow. What had they done? What was special about that one goblin that the other five today didn't have? Instead of spiraling, Parker latched on to the one thread they had to pull.

  "Is there anything I can help you with to trade for more information?"

  It turned out that Balan needed plenty of help but not in any way that Parker could offer. Distilling, synthesizing, and extracting were the teenager's focus for the next few days. Balan did say that Parker could check back in then to see if that changed. Balan even went so far as to promise any requests to Parker before posting them at the tavern.

  Most of their first full day was gone now, so Parker took their payment from Balan and set out to solve a problem that was growing by the hour: hunger.

  There was a market near the Alta building where Parker was staying. It reminded them of a convenience store with mostly over-preserved and dried goods. At least there was some fresh produce. The single vial was just enough to get food for the next few days, but it was also the only bit of currency Parker had.