The witch was the last to make her choice. As her voice fell, three parchment scrolls appeared beside the three of them. At the same time, countless tiny building blocks rained down onto the enormous round table.
The falling blocks made a strange rustling sound. The seemingly chaotic little cubes assembled a detailed model of Moon Bay City's terrain, streets, and buildings across the tabletop. The block map did not cover the entire city, only roughly one-third of it centered around Belinder Big Ben and the City Council.
But even that was already large enough. Water symbolizing the Tatton River appeared from nowhere, filling the channels represented among the blocks. Every rice-grain-sized component of the unfinished Moon Bay Bridge was exquisitely detailed. Other than the lack of a vast number of people, this "block city" was nearly an exact miniature of the real one.
Everyone heard a voice:
"The Dice Story Collection is about to begin. The parchments record each character's abilities. When taking action, roll the dice for a check, gaining additional bonuses according to the character's traits and abilities. Certain unique symbolic items can grant special powers to the characters they control, enriching the story's entertainment value."
But before the impatient witch could even unroll her parchment and confirm the authenticity of the "Seven Rings," the woman in the black dress tossed out Coins of Wisdom again—four of them this time:
"Although Amethyst Lady and Father are not allied, both are hostile to me. To balance this story, I hope this game can be made more entertaining—
All numerical values on the parchments seen by each person will be concealed, and no more than four special abilities may be displayed. This hidden information will not affect the use of real abilities, but the magnitude of hidden values can