In the silence of the small dark room, the light from the monsters above the cards illuminated Mr. Riddle's face on his side.
Unable to wait for the god's answer, the prophet of the Fifth Epoch turned to look at Shade behind him.
Xia De nodded:
"I think it will depend on our courage next."
"Don't worry, sir. I have nothing but courage now."
The man, who was very dirty because he hadn't taken a shower for a long time, pressed down the sleeve of his right hand with his left hand, and put the "Impermanence·Balance" into the seventh groove in front of him with his right hand.
Just as Shade had calculated, the size of the Rhodes card was exactly the same as the size of the groove on the gambling table. Even when Mr. Riddle was about to place the card, the Impermanence of All Things Balance seemed to be actively sucked into the groove.
Both Shade and Mr. Riddle were extremely nervous at the moment. The five witches (note), demons, sea monsters and dragons on the table were all looking at this groove.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the wall of the room. It was the corpses in different stages of decay talking:
"It's been a long time since I last saw this card."
“It turns out that everything is impermanent.”
The two sentences come from two different voices and even use completely different languages.
“It’s the power of balance.”
"In gambling, the most annoying thing is balance."
The overlapping sounds were almost unrecognizable to Shad, and as the corpses spoke, the cards embedded in the grooves actually began to glow.
A small dark golden scale appeared above the cards, and in front of the black-robed god, the sixth witch also officially appeared.
Flowing streams of light of various colors converged towards the center of the table along the grooves in front of the fourteen cards. The witch, demon, sea monster and dragon all flew to the center of the table and started fighting. The magic sword was controlled by the demon, the cannibal house protected the monster in the back, and the altar of the old gods protected the witch.
The battle became more and more real. The shock waves generated by the witches' light bullet attacks after contact almost knocked the weak Mr. Riddle to the ground.
Just like last time, the gap in quality could not make up for the gap in quantity for the time being, and in the increasingly realistic six-on-three battle, Mr. Riddle's side was completely at a disadvantage.
"Why doesn't this card work?"
Mr. Riddle asked in surprise, and Shad frowned.
A dark gold scale appeared above the card "Impermanence·Balance", indicating that the table accepted the effect of this card. However, the scale just floated quietly above the card, without any effect on the game.
"Do you feel anything?"
Xia De asked in his heart.
That gaming table has elements of wonder, blasphemy, enlightenment, and whispers.
But Shade wanted to know more details, so he reached out and touched his own origin, balance.
This time, his hand was still bounced away by the gambling table. If Xia De had not been prepared, he would probably have been knocked to the wall in the distance again.
"Could it be..."
Don't worry Mr. Riddle. Shade, who was holding his wrist, suddenly thought of a possibility. Whether it was the people of the Fifth Age or the Sixth Age, they were probably not as knowledgeable as the outsider Shade. This knowledge did not refer to mystical knowledge, but some fantastic ideas:
"Mr. Riddle, hold on to that scale!"
"What?"
The prophet was a little confused, but soon understood what he meant. He slightly widened his eyes and looked at the surface of the stone table:
"You mean..."
He stretched out his hand and carefully held the bottom of the scale. After hesitating for a moment, he closed his palm. Then, the golden scale was really held in his palm. The golden light shot up into the sky, illuminating the dark area in the room.
When the light disappeared, Mr. Riddle seemed to be stunned, still holding the scales.
"How about it?"
Shade asked nervously, worried that his suggestion would hurt this ordinary person.
Mr. Riddle was really stunned. After several seconds, he said:
"This item has been judged to be a prop for the gambling table. Before the gambling game is over, I can use it to interfere with the two parties in the fight. I can increase the power of our side and suppress the power of the other side."
This is very similar to Iluna's talent.
"But what is the cost of using the scales?"
"It's calculated on a per-use basis. Each use lasts three months. You can use it up to three times before the bet ends."
He carefully released the scale, letting it float quietly above the impermanence of all things.
"Don't use it, at least not yet. Mr. Riddle, put the remaining two cards in the recess as well."
Xia De reminded, and the prophet, who was experiencing the information shock for the first time, still nodded blankly after several seconds, and this time he picked up Impermanence and Darkness.
As Mr. Riddle's eighth card entered the groove, the eighth card also appeared on the god's side. But this time, the card was no longer a witch, nor was it the altar that had appeared once, but a temple.
The shadow of the temple model appeared on the table on the god's side, covering the six witches and providing them with more powerful power together with the altar. The influx of new power made the demons, dragons and sea monsters more precarious, because the darkness of the impermanence of all things also did not provide power, but turned into a prop.
It was a black robe, or a robe-like cloth. Mr. Riddle grabbed it in his hand and got the information again:
"This can be used as a gambling table prop. After using it, several black vortices will appear in the gambling table's battle field. For our side, the vortex can be used for spatial movement and healing, while for the enemy, getting close to the vortex will cause them to continue to lose strength."
"What is the price?"
"You can only use it once, and it pays for one year of life."
"Don't use it for now."
But the situation on the table was already quite dangerous. Mr. Riddle let go of the little robe, but did not touch the last card:
"Sir, if we don't turn the situation around now, it will become more difficult later. I want to at least tip the scales slightly toward the middle."
Having said that, he ignored Xia De's objection and grasped the dark golden scale again.
Shade immediately reached out and pressed Mr. Riddle's shoulder from behind. The prophet in brown robe turned his head slightly to look at the hand with golden cracks on his shoulder, and then looked up at Shade's face:
"Sir, this is the gamble of my life."
He looked at Shade, and Shade saw his determination:
"I just hope you can think clearly. Humans don't have many three months."
"But in order to defeat the gods, even if it was only at the gambling table, three months of life was worth it. When I return to my hometown, on a leisurely afternoon, sitting under a tree and bragging about my courage to those children, I can bring this up many times... ... provided that I can still remember it."
He said with a smile, not much regret in his tone.Shad sighed, nodded, and took back his hand.
So Mr. Riddle held the scale in his right hand and looked at the gambling table. Then he threw the scale lightly, and the dark golden scale flew right above the gambling table.
Originally, both ends of the scale were balanced, but after it came to rest above the center of the table, it slowly tilted towards Mr. Riddle's side.
Dark golden light scattered down, and the intensity of the witches' auras was significantly weakened, while the bodies of the demons, dragons and wriggling sea monsters grew at least one circle larger.
The shadow of the dark golden scale remained on the top of the table, and the scale itself returned to the top of the card. The strengthened demon led his companions to rush towards the witch, and this time, they had a clear upper hand.
"Just using it once completely turned the situation around."
Shade thought in surprise, and then saw Mr. Riddle put the Founding Silver Moon into the ninth groove.
A seventh witch appeared before the god and joined the battle. The two sides were now evenly matched, but Mr. Riddle's side still had the advantage.
This time, what emerged from the top of the card was a silver sphere, or...
"Silver Moon?"
Looking at the miniature moon, Xia De felt as if he couldn't breathe for some reason. He wanted to reach out and touch the moon, but he knew that the gambling table would not allow an outsider like him to interfere rashly.
“Is there something wrong with my body?”
Everything works fine.
"But now..."
This is your psychological problem.
Mr. Riddle had already grasped the moon and waited a few seconds before telling Shade the answer:
"Silver Moon can also be used as a gambling table prop. When I use it, I can summon a silver moon, and the battle field will be set to 'night' by default. This will not affect the opponent, but all creatures in my field will automatically have the effect of healing their injuries under the moonlight, and can use moon-related powers. The specific form of the ability is determined by the basic card. It can only be used once in a gambling game, and the payment is three years of life."
"Basic cards?"
“Oh, those real life experience cards.”
Mr. Riddle explained, but the reason why Shad frowned was not because he heard an unfamiliar term, but because the gambling rules of this gambling table seemed more complicated and complete than he had imagined.
But if this game can only be played on this table, then such perfect and huge rules that are not even explained in full are a little hard to understand. So, maybe there is more than one similar table, or maybe... ... the game of life really existed in the past and was circulated among ordinary people.
"Sir, there is only one spot left."
Mr. Riddle interrupted Shad's thoughts. Because there were no new monsters on his side this time, the game was going very fast. Now, only 10 minutes and 23 seconds had passed since Shad arrived here. It seemed that he had some time left.
"Do you have any other cards like this?"
The ancient prophet asked with anticipation. Xia De was very familiar with this look of wanting to see new things.