Chapter 1 The Road Beneath My Feet

• The day Uncle Travis threw me out of the house, I hugged Aunt Rhea for one last time, thanking her for raising me all these years. Then I turned to Uncle Travis and told him that if he ever laid a hand on her again, I'd kill him.
• My name is Saturn Cress. From the day I was born, my parents sent me to live with my Aunt Rhea and Uncle Travis in Nheron.
• At first, my uncle, Travis Fleming, treated me well.
• Of course, it wasn't because he liked me.
• It was because my parents would regularly send him money for taking care of me.
• And it was a lot of money—so much that, every time Uncle Travis got drunk, he'd slur through his grin, calling me his cash cow.
• I was too young then to understand what my parents did for a living.
• Until that summer day when I was six, when my father came back.
• He didn't walk back. He was carried back.
• On a stretcher, my father lay without arms or legs.
• Blood soaked the white bandages wrapped around his body, turning them a shocking red.
• By then, he was barely alive.
• His last words to me were simple. "Live a quiet life, be an ordinary man, and never gamble."
• That day, I cried until my tears ran dry.
• And I don't think I ever truly smiled again after that.
• When my father passed, my mother disappeared too.
• Without their money, Uncle Travis turned on me.
• First with insults, then with beatings.
• And my cousin, Mike Fleming, five years older than me, joined in.
• I remember every blow they dealt—2,436 slaps, 3,487 kicks, and 2,329 punches.
• They whipped me with belts and beat me with sticks. Altogether, it happened 336 times.
• If it weren't for Aunt Rhea shielding me, I'm sure they would've beaten me to death by now.
• I hated them and held grudges.
• Otherwise, I wouldn't remember the numbers so clearly.
• Back then, I didn't know how to fight and dared not fight back, but I learned to endure their beatings.
• Uncle Travis kicked me out, but I stayed off the streets. I went to Friday and became his student.
• Friday wasn't his real name. He never told me what it was.
• After I told him my name was Saturn, he insisted I call him Friday.
• "Because after Friday comes Saturday," he said. "And Saturn rules Saturday."
• He arrived in our small town a year after my father died.
• When I met him, he told me he was the world's greatest magician.
• He was also willing to teach me everything he knew.
• I knew his tricks weren't just for entertaining crowds on the street. They were high-level gambling techniques.
• I thought about my father's dying words, telling me to live an ordinary life and never gamble.
• Still, I agreed to learn the magic tricks from Friday.
• I wanted to avenge my old man.
• My father had lost everything at the gambling table.
• I was going to win it all back.
• Friday's tricks were amazing.
• With cards and dice, he could do anything. They appeared, disappeared, multiplied, or vanished, all in the blink of an eye.
• So at seven years old, I started learning Friday's magic tricks.
• Friday's life was carefree.
• When he wasn't overseeing my training, he was drinking, partying, and chasing women.
• He had an unusual obsession with women.
• Even in his sixties, he partied nearly every night.
• Once, he bragged about spending a night with three women.
• He even tried to find a woman for me.
• She wasn't old, probably eighteen or nineteen, with a thick layer of makeup plastered on her round face.
• As she stood in front of me, her fake smile in place, slowly peeling off her clothes, I only said one word to her, "Leave."
• It wasn't that I didn't like women. I just didn't like that kind of woman.
• The woman I wanted had to be obedient, loyal, and dependent on me—someone who'd treat me like a king.
• On my twentieth birthday, Friday threw a small party.
• It was just the two of us.
• He sat there, his silver hair glowing in the dim light, and smoked his favorite pipe. As always, he was the picture of calm and cool detachment.
• "Saturn, pour me a drink."
• I poured the golden whiskey into a glass, watching as it swirled and danced.
• "How long have you been with me?" he asked, puffing on his pipe.
• "Thirteen years, two months, and twenty-two days."
• "What have I taught you?"
• "Gambling skills."
• "And what are gambling skills?"
• "Breaking the rules and winning everything."
• Friday nodded slightly.
• He was satisfied with my answer.
• He tapped out his pipe, picked up his glass, and looked at me.
• He asked, "Do you know why I took you in?"
• I shook my head.
• Without waiting for a response, he continued, "I knew your father. He was an extraordinary gambler, but in the end, he was crushed at the table ... against that man. The man who defeated him possesses a level of power that leaves me feeling hopeless. However, God led me to you. You're a genius and a born gambler. You're the only one who can beat him. If you want to avenge your father, remember this: that man is at the biggest casino in Macvale. He's the king of Macvale. You have to sit at his table and knock him off his throne."
• Then he handed me his glass in a nostalgic manner and said, "Drink this and you're free. You don't have to follow me anymore."
• I knew this day would come, but I simply didn't expect it to be on my twentieth birthday.
• As the whiskey went down, a fire spread from my stomach to my head.
• After setting the glass down, Friday said, "Remember this; you've learned the gambling tricks. From this day forward, you are no longer an ordinary person. You are a professional gambler—someone who will stop at nothing to achieve your goals."
• I thought of my father's final words, telling me to live quietly and never to gamble.
• But who would've thought, after all these years, I still became a gambler?
• Fate has a strange way of turning things around.
• "Saturn, let me ask you one last question. Do you want to be the card master of Macvale or just some low-life gambler in Pehwell's underground casinos?"
• "I want to be a card master."
• Who wouldn't?
• "Good. Then in three years, I want you to use everything you've learned and defeat your enemy. I want everyone in Macvale to know the name Saturn, the King of Gamblers!"
• Three years?
• Could I really do it?
• I felt lost.
• All these years, I'd been to countless gambling dens with Friday, but I had never gambled myself.
• I didn't know how talented I was.
• But I still nodded.
• Friday had repeatedly told me, "The hardest part of gambling wasn't the technique." It was the mind.
• "In front of thousands, whether you can fully display everything you've learned throughout your life, is the real test. Alright, from now on, you'll walk your path alone!"
• Friday's tone was calm and easygoing. but I saw a trace of reluctance in his eyes.
• "Path? Where's the path?" I asked, staring out the window, my voice barely a whisper.
• "The path is beneath your feet."