"Then let me play a game with you crazy people."
Yin Luna said softly after sitting down, and then she put her hands on the huge round table and looked at her opponents in the other two directions. She frowned slightly. A huge amount of information was pouring into her mind through "another me". It was a very complicated set of game rules.
"Miss Pavlo said that we have the honor of playing a game with the chosen one. I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Miss, I hope you can enjoy it."
Professor Ans still smiled, and then he said loudly:
"All the gamers are ready, Mr. Secret Keeper, please start tonight's story."
As soon as she finished speaking, before anything happened, Ajelina suddenly trembled and grabbed Resia's sleeve. Then, with the sound of dice falling to the ground, on the west side of the round table where there was no chair, in the darkness that was not illuminated by the skylight, a figure wrapped in a black robe and wearing a hood walked to the table, as if it had been standing in the darkness, waiting for the three people to sit down.
No one could see any of its physical features clearly. The robe dragged on the ground, the sleeves covered its arms and hands, and it was pitch black under the hood.
No one spoke for a moment. The strange whispering element made everyone frown. The two high-level warlocks protected the three princesses, but in fact, the three of them had their own thoughts.
Yin Luna frowned, and her long brown hair swayed as she turned to look at the black-robed "Secret Keeper". This was not the first time the 17-year-old girl had faced an angel-level relic, and she felt that the power displayed by the relic this time was not strong enough.
The figure in the black robe did not speak, but raised his right arm, which was covered by the robe. Six ten-sided ivory dice fell from his sleeves, and the clanging sound made everyone feel that their heart beat frequency changed with the sound.
Six dice rolled on the table towards the three people and finally stopped next to them. Each person had two dice, one with ten numbers from 0 to 9, and one with ten numbers from 00, 10, 20 to 90.
Professor Ans of the Truth Society picked up the dice with a smile on his face, as if he was admiring some work of art under the light; the cultist who believed in the evil god Mr. Doom looked down at the dice, his frown meaning something unknown; Yin Luna also reached out and grabbed two jade-colored dice that looked like they were made of bones, and the cold feeling made her take a breath.
The people around were looking at the three people. Princess Margaret narrowed her eyes. She did not notice that Leicia was observing her. Ajelina hid behind Leicia, half afraid and half excited, biting her lip as she looked at the three people under the light.
"Sixth Era, Common Calendar Year 1857, Dice Tales, Act 1472 - Chasing the Thief Jack. Storytellers: Isaac Ons, Fripper Dion, and In-Luna Beas."
The voice seemed to come from all directions, and Professor Ans smiled:
"This is the scene we chose for this purpose. Winning one game means we have two victories. Miss Pavlo's plan is really brilliant."
"But how can we catch the thief while we are sitting here? Since we are the storytellers, who are the characters of the story?"
Yin Luna asked in a low voice, and the next sentence made her face change.
"Please select an ordinary human as the character to be manipulated. The target must be familiar to you and currently active in the area."
"What?"
From the wide sleeves of the black robed keeper, a silver hourglass fell onto the table, with fine sand flowing down continuously. Yin Luna knew without explanation that it meant a countdown.
Professor Ans chuckled:
"I will pay one coin of wisdom for an additional choice."
A blue coin is placed on the table:
“I choose the first-ring warlock Chogori Deus as my controlled character. He is currently located at the Golden October Restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue.”
"I also pay a coin of wisdom to make additional choices."
Dion, a cultist who believed in Mr. Doom, also said with a smile, and took out a blue coin and placed it on the table:
"I choose the First Ring Warlock Lydia Pengelo as my controlled character. She is also currently located at the Golden October Restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue."
"You cheated! I can only choose ordinary people, but you..."
Yin Luna scolded in a low voice.
"Young Chosen One, this is fair game."
Professor Ans said softly. This professor in a straight suit was speaking like a real professor in a university classroom:
"Extra effort means extra reward. We paid for the relic, and you didn't, so it's only fair. By the way, the hourglass is running out."
He also gave a "kind" reminder.
"Beyas, there are quite a few armed police officers outside now."
Miss Green had remained silent at first, but now she had to whisper a reminder to Yin Luna. She put her hand on Yin Luna's shoulder to calm her down:
"Think carefully about the people you know."
"Beyas, do you know any devout believers of the Church of the Sun who live here?"
Mr. Modro also reminded quietly, and added:
"Don't be nervous. I have participated in the containment of more than one relic with similar rules. Just treat it as a game, a story. Extraordinary force may be useful, but in this kind of game, devout faith can also play a role."
"This is the Prophet's Association. Perhaps we can try those fortune-tellers who have high inspiration but are not ring wizards."
The bearded captain of the Church of Creation also spoke softly, but he was not sure whether the chosen one was familiar with an ordinary fortune teller.
Yin Luna pursed her lips and looked at the hourglass in front of her. Every time she wanted to open her mouth and say a name, her "other self" would prompt her whether those names could be chosen. The "other self" of the ring warlock was to prevent the souls of mortals from directly contacting the terrifying power of relics like this, so it came into play at this time.
"I can also give you a suggestion."
Professor Ans smiled as he played with two dice:
"The story characters we manipulate have no self-awareness while the relic is in effect. They will only accept our orders and act according to their instincts, and will forget everything after the relic effect ends. Therefore, you should choose a character with a strong self-awareness."
Yin Luna didn't say anything, as the names flashed through her mind. She was particularly clear-headed at this moment:
"You need weapons and fighting ability. It's best if you know the supernatural and have strong enough mental strength so that you won't collapse easily..."
She was adapting to this strange rule-based relic. During her training at the Vatican, Yin Luna had read about some similar relics. She found it very interesting when reading the information, and imagined what would happen if she encountered it. This time, she really encountered it... If her opponents were not "cheating", she would still find it very interesting.
The sand in the hourglass slid down quickly, and no one came to disturb Yin Luna's thoughts. Because she had thought of a name too many times tonight, abruptly, the name that did not meet the requirements jumped into her mind, and then "the other me" gave a surprising conclusion.
Yin Luna slightly widened her eyes, and after confirming the gentle voice in her ear again and again, she turned around and said to her colleagues:
"I do have a best candidate here, he's my good friend, I feel a little uneasy about involving him."
"You will lose your memory after the incident, and you won't even know about the relics. Beas, you can choose the person you like, and the church will do the finishing work."
Miss Green whispered, Yin Luna nodded, glanced at Leicia from the corner of her eye, and before the fine sand in the gorgeous silver hourglass ran out, she said the name that should not have been spoken:
"The average person... Shad Suellen Hamilton, he should be in the Prophet's Society right now. He should be in this room, but I didn't see him, but he's definitely still on this floor."
"Ordinary people?"
Leicia frowned slightly, but then relaxed her brows. Whatever happened to Shade was normal. Princess Ajelina thought there was nothing wrong with it. She always believed that Shade could do anything. Princess Margaret widened her eyes, suspecting that something serious had happened.
“Hamilton.”
Professor Ans thought about the name in his mind and remembered that Miss Pavone mentioned that she had lost to Tobesk's Knight in Rhodes at Lakeview Manor.
After Yin Luna made her choice, three rolls of parchment appeared next to the three of them. At the same time, densely packed building blocks fell from the sky onto the huge round table.
The falling blocks made strange rustling sounds, and the seemingly messy small blocks built a topographical and architectural diagram of the surrounding areas of Yodel Palace-St. Teresa Square on the table. The church ring warlocks who were familiar with this neighborhood could see that every detail constructed by the blocks was extremely realistic.
"The dice story collection is about to begin. The parchment records the abilities of each character. When taking actions, roll the dice for judgment and gain additional bonuses based on the character's characteristics and abilities. Certain unique symbols can give special powers to the characters you manipulate, enriching the story."
The voice still came from the darkness on all sides. The three people at the table each opened the parchment at hand. The professor and the cultist all showed a satisfied smile. The information of the first-ring warlock was dense, which was the biggest difference between the ring warlock and ordinary people.
Yin Luna opened the parchment of the "ordinary person" Shad Hamilton with concern. She knew from the rules that the person behind her could not see the contents of the parchment.
"Mortal's Luck Shad Suellen Hamilton."
She first saw the names of the characters in the top row. “Mortal Luck” was the name given to each character in the story.
Then, Yin Luna squinted her eyes and continued to look down, and saw letters that were denser than a math textbook. She took a deep breath, scanned the list of abilities of a fourth-ring warlock, and the various ancient characters that she didn't recognize at all, and finally closed the parchment with a stern face:
"Winning is no problem, the key is to hide the fact that Shade is a ring warlock."
She thought to herself.
"Hamilton is very lucky."
She sighed softly.
Tonight's story officially begins here.