What a surprise.

"Wha?" Shadow's mouth dropped open. "How is this even possible?! Did you save the universe in a past life? Is your fate really that heaven-defying?"

John was stunned. "What do you mean? How is it possible to even get five Jokers? Did you modify the deck? And what does this have to do with fate or luck?" John let out a derisive snort. "It's impossible to do this without using some cheat method."

Shadow was flabbergasted. "Do you not know? This is my Innate Talent, Cards of Fate!" Shadow looked at him incredulously. No one she met before hadn't known of innate talent, it was the only way to survive here. After all, the competition was insanely fierce, especially in this city.

"..."

"You know what an Innate Talent is, don't you?"

"....No."

"..."

"You have got to be kidding me." Shadow let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't know what an Innate Talent is. How is that even possible? You really are an idiot."

John groaned inwardly. "What is that supposed to mean? I don't even know how I got here, much less anything about this insane place, yet you somehow expect me to know what an Innate Talent is? Are you even slightly sane? Did you even consider the fact that I might not know what you were doing, even a little?"

Facepalming, Shadow explained. "Everyone is supposed to have an Innate Talent. You get one when you arrive, it's literally innately comprehended right then and there and you expand its uses throughout your life. How was I supposed to know you were an absolute freak of nature that didn't know what an Innate Talent is. All I know is that everyone should have a talent, and you shouldn't be different. However, your Fate is too good for me to believe you don't. It's very weird."

"What do you mean I have an Innate Talent? I didn't even know what one was before now." John felt a headache coming on. He randomly woke up here, he didn't even know where 'here' was, and the first person he saw got shot right in front of him. Anyone should and would be scared out of their wits by that. John, however, remained rational throughout and made the best of his quite drastically changed lifestyle. He just didn't care, as long as he had food.

Then, after peacefully living here for a bit, a stranger comes into 'his house' and searches the entire damn thing, before finding him, and completely different from what you would expect, didn't immediately shoot him, even though he had a gun. Nothing had made sense ver since this girl had barged in here.

Immediately after just reflexively shooting him once, not even hitting him, John is then offered a chance to live by playing a game of poker. Who would even believe that?! But, having no choice, he accepts, and the game is actually pretty fun until he pulls out a five of a kind. That doesn't even exist! Then, the same person who, by the way, still has not shown any real intent to kill him, suddenly comes up with some bullshit Innate Talent story, and expects him not to freak out? Yin Peng had experienced more than he could currently handle, and he did not like it. Still, he was curious. "So I may have an Innate Talent?" He asked.

Shadow nodded her head. "It's completely possible you just didn't awaken it previously." Nodding his head in return, and still not believing her, John asked a very important question. "So how do I figure out if I have Innate Talent."

Shadow let out a laugh, clearly accentuating all of her beauty, which had John mesmerized for a moment. "Just focus on the space under your belly button." He was confused. "Really? That's It?" Shadow laughed again. "Yup, that's it. Well, and imagine something you really like. That's how we all first use our talents anyway. Not sure if it'll work for you, but you might as well try."

"Okay." John closed his eyes and focused on his belly button as he thought about, of course, a hotdog. Suddenly, he frowned as he felt something intangible near his belly. A warm feeling began to spread across his body and he felt very comfortable. he got lost in the feeling it felt so good.

A blinding light flashed in Shadow's point of view. She could hardly see, not that it mattered as she couldn't comprehend even what she could view. Inside the pure white light, she could just barely make out a golden trimmed deck coming out from John's dantian and shuffling before revealing an even more blindingly bright golden card. Then the card disappeared and the deck went back to where it came from, leaving behind some light as the Innate Talent manifested. Shadow felt that she shouldn't tell John about this, as it was the most glamorous manifestation of talent she had seen, and he might cough blood if he heard that. Not that it mattered anyway, any thoughts Shadow had about telling John about his manifestation disappeared into thin air the second she saw its product.

Shadow immediately squealed and tried to capture the talent, who was confused and became scared at the sight of a girl running at it and trying to molest it in its eyes. John heard the squeal and was jolted out of his reverie. He slowly patted his stomach as he blinked and leisurely opened his eyes, full of content. That had felt good. Still, what was that crazy girl screaming for?

John looked around and saw a little ball of fur trying to run away from Shadow, who was chasing it around the room. Alas, after a small while it failed, and Shadow caught it, cuddling the ball of fluff tightly in her arms. On the bright side, Yin Peng was finally able to get a clear look at his supposed Innate Talent. It was small, white, and extremely cute looking. It was also quite grumpy, and kept scratching at Shadow who kept petting it and keeping her hold on it.

It was a cat.

Wait. A fucking cat?!!!