Marke and Kente tossed a few ideas back and forth about how the System worked in this realm, but they didn''t arrive at any conclusions. They did, however, decide on their next step.


    Marke pulled himself out of his meditation and approached the ticket booth again. "Can I sell my name tag?" He asked. The ticket person ignored him and continue to fan themself with their white hat. "Hello?" Marke said. "Hello! Ticket booth person! Can I sell my name tag?" The person ignored him like he wasn''t even there.


    "You haven''t got a name tag, kid." A buffalo person walking past remarked in a deep smooth voice.


    "Huh?" Marke looked down at his completely bare chest. "Where''d it go?"


    The buffalo person stopped walking. "Yeah, I don''t know how you did that but you better get it back before someone important notices."


    Kente! Marke thought. Is my avatar there? Can you put the name tag back on me?


    On it! Kente replied. The name tag appeared, covering Marke''s whole chest and wrapping around his sides. Wrong size! Marke said. The name tag shrunk back to its original size.


    "That''s a neat trick." The buffalo person said. "Can you teach me?"


    "Um. I''m not sure." Marke answered. "I have-" Danger! Kente interrupted. Don''t be free with valuable information about us. Marke cleared his throat and started over. "Do you have any sort of connection to your own, um, soul?" He said.


    "Nope." The buffalo person looked disappointed. "Do you know how to get one?"


    Marke shrugged. "I don''t know exactly, but meditation on the nature of your soul might be a good starting place."


    The buffalo considered that for a few moments. "Alright, I''ll give it a try. Thanks for the tip." The buffalo person tossed Marke a small roll of tickets and continued walking.


    "Oh! Uh, You''re welcome!" Marke called after them. "Tickets!" He remarked with glee. He remembered the ticket booth person and tried his question again. "Can I sell my name tag?"


    "Name tags are worth a number of tickets equal to your level." The ticket booth person stopped fanning themself and glanced at Marke''s name tag. Marke felt the tingle of having his level checked. "Your name tag is worth (-1) ticket. Please pay me (1) ticket to sell me your name tag." The ticket person held out a hand to receive payment.


    "No thanks." Marke said, walking away. "Man those things talk weird. How do they convey asterisks and parentheses through speech?"


    <hr>


    Marke found a concession stand that sold some kind of drink and spent half his tickets on the biggest size available. He gagged after the first sip. "Ugh! Blood flavored soda? That''s disgusting and unoriginal." He managed to swallow a few mouthfuls before needing a break.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Demons love their blood, I guess. Maybe we can sell our blood at the ticket booths?" Kent said. Marke considered it momentarily. "Nah." Marke said. "We didn''t earn it inside the fair."


    They wandered past a few rides that looked nostalgically unsafe and Marke bought a hot dog for two tickets at the next concession stand. Thankfully, it was an ordinary hot dog.


    When Marke finished his blood soda and hot dog, Kente had an idea. "The ticket booth people won''t talk to us without a name tag." He said. "Except for that first one. We didn''t have a name tag and it offered us one. Maybe we can hide this one and get another?"


    "Kente, that''s a great idea!" Marke said. He turned back in the probable direction of the first ticket booth. He was almost completely lost in all the fair attractions, but he could see part of the stone cliff where the starting tunnel came out. After a half an hour of walking, he returned to the first ticket booth.


    "Ok, hide the tag." Marke said to Kente. The name tag vanished from his chest. Marke walked up to the ticket booth. "Can I have a name tag?" He asked the person. The person slid an blank name tag across to Marke. Excited, Marke picked up the name tag and took the offered pen. He wrote "Priority Two" on the name tag and it slapped itself on his chest. "huzzah!" He cheered with success.


    "That''s right, bucko! Welcome to the fair!" The ticket person said.


    Kente, can you- Marke started to say. Already on it. Kente said and the new name tag vanished from Marke''s chest. He looked up at the ticket person and asked again, "Can I have a name tag?"


    The ticket person frowned. Marke''s heart sank as the haze wall behind the ticket booth sprung up to block him in. The ticket person spoke in a low threatening tone. "Player, have you lost your name tag so soon?"


    Marke stuttered. "I- I- It- I don''t know." A pressure on his mind made him feel like a mouse standing in front of a snake.


    I can''t watch this, I''m sorry! Kente''s voice sounded panicked as he retreated from Marke''s certain death.


    The ticket person took out an old camera and snapped a picture of Marke. The film buzzed out the bottom of the camera and the ticket person shook it for a moment to develop the picture. They slapped the picture on the rear wall of the ticket booth under a sign that read, "Suspicious".


    "Don''t let it happen again." The ticket person said. They slid a new blank name tag across to Marke. Marke took the name tag and pen with shaky fingers and wrote, "Priority Three" on the blank line. The name tag slapped into his chest with enough force to make him stumble back a step. The haze wall dropped, but the ticket person continued to frown and stare at Marke. Marke scampered away.


    As they resumed wandering through the fair, Marke noticed that every ticket person would turn and glare at him whenever he got close. "This place is a nightmare." Marke said to Kente.


    "Yeah. Sorry, we got overconfident again. This place is the real deal. I hope we don''t have to die of old age here." Kente said. "Geez, I''m really sorry. Swapping the name tag right in front of the ticket booth was stupid. We should have waited a few hours in order to replicate the first success."


    "You''re right, but it''s not your fault. We both had the same idea and didn''t take any precautions." Marke said. "Is the second name tag the same as the first?"


    "Oh, right, with the whole thing I forgot to tell you. When I pulled the second name tag off your chest it merged with the one on my chest. It''s now level zero and the name says ''Priority One Priority Two''. Also the stats all went up by one point." Kente said. "I think we should merge the third one in."


    "What level is the one I''m wearing?" Marke asked.


    "Level one." Kent said.


    Marke considered it for a moment. "I don''t know if there is an advantage to being able to swap names. Lets hold off on merging for a while."