Act 3: The Power

[Part 1: The Magic Castanets]

"Bu Liuxing, before you taste this cup of blood wine and the wager officially begins, I need to invite a notary to be the referee for this duel."

Lady Goelia took out an antique-looking box from the drawer.

The box was studded with jewels, and the wooden box had a very peculiar texture. At first glance, it looked like some strange shamanic voodoo tool, a strange box covered with gemstone eyes.

The Immortals took out a crystal skull, and instantly the other three psionicists present, including Meteor, got goosebumps all over their bodies.

Its powerful spiritual pressure was awe-inspiring, like the remains of some mythical entity.

"You can call it [Old Bones]. It's one of my collections, and also a close friend and family member."

So Gloria said--

"--We share a deep friendship, but as the referee, it will never favor either side."

Before the words were even finished, the crystal skull that had been held in Gloria's palm began to change.

It began to tremble and glow, its teeth chattering, and two cyan-blue soul flames emerged from its eye sockets.

"GeGeGeGe!~GaGaGaGaGaGaGa!~"

The sharp, cracking sound of the jaw striking the skull was eerie, like a sinister laugh.

"Wagh! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

The Old Bones finally found the correct way to speak, and fully came to life, flipping back and forth in Gloria's palm, soon materializing into a spirit form.

--Strange and grotesque Evil Spirit Body gradually absorbed the dust in the air, growing necks and clothing.

Gloria let go, the Old Bones immediately floated into the air, transforming into a dark blue robe with two bright red shawls hanging on the front. Ten skull fingers, resembling topaz, emerged from the wide sleeves.

"The bet is settled. Witness my divine power!"

"Bu Liuxing! The nameless, General of Tears! A brave challenger!"

The Old Bones pointed at Bu Liuxing, his other hand holding a black castanet, striking out notes that urged a decisive battle.

"--Your turn."

"How do I do it? Do I need to guide you?"

"You have ample time to think and prepare. Within the boundaries of the laws set by the power of our souls, you can fully unleash your imagination and create one miracle after another."

"This is [The Power]! My soul!"

At that moment, Meteor sensed a strange yet somewhat familiar spiritual pressure environment.

As the Old Bones struck the castanets, the evil spirit seemed to transport him to a wondrous alternate dimension, a colorless Spirit Realm.

Why do I say "familiar"?

[Hot Wind] once borrowed [Fen Feng]'s special spiritual energy, and the superpower of soul power it displayed was accelerated thinking, which gave Meteor the illusion of time slowing down or even stopping.

At this very moment, the Spirit Realm created by the Old Bones also has this effect, and it is much stronger.

The stagnation effect brought by [The Power] is stronger; the meteor can even move freely.

--Whether it was Sirius Parker outside the door, or Duran and Flavia, or even Gloria Sebastian, who called herself a god, they were all completely motionless.

The view of the garden outside the window is breathtaking, and further away in the East Malaysia Industrial Park, the yellow smoke billowing from the chimneys has completely solidified.

"My turn?"

Meteor wasn't quite used to the rhythm yet.

He could hardly imagine how much of an advantage he had within these spacetime rules.

He couldn't help but wonder: if this "Old Bones" was still alive, what level of legendary hero would he be?

"My turn?"

The Old Bones chuckled, "The castanets of fate have already sounded a fierce and uplifting drumbeat! This moment belongs to you, any more questions?"

"There are so many questions!" Meteor immediately became a curious child.

The Old Bones, a man of amusement, shrugged and slowly stepped forward. "Ask away! It's my duty as the arbiter."

A Xing had a lot of questions in his mind, picking and choosing among them, his expression shifting between frowning in thought and sudden realization— Old Bones just found it amusing, rubbing his hands together with anticipation, ready to give this challenger a good thrashing.

One minute passed, then two minutes passed.

The meteor finally spoke, "Ah."

"Ask away!" the Old Bones urged.

Meteor: "Sir, what's your zodiac sign?"

At that moment, the extraordinary spirit that controlled time was defeated by a magical force.

It even felt that time no longer belonged to it, and suddenly froze, unable to move an inch.

After a while, about ten seconds later, its crystal skull began to itch, as if fresh flesh was growing out of it. Even so, it couldn't understand why this young man in his late twenties would ask such a meaningless question.

"According to your calendar, I should be a Capricorn."

The meteor suddenly exclaimed happily, "Yay!"

The Old Bones then added a reminder: "Your duel with Gloria Sebastian is about to begin; it's a matter of life and death, of honor."

"I know! I understand!" Meteor interrupted impatiently, "Then I'll continue! How long does this [The Power] last? Is it always my turn?"

"I am the arbiter, not a cheat code that belongs solely to you," the Old Bones emphasized. "When you make your next move, you begin to interact with your opponent in the game, and time continues to move forward."

"Everyone has different inherent attributes, just like the data on your books measured by Ming De's Polarized Sextant."

"Your ability to act is determined by factors such as your conditioned reflexes, stride length, logical thinking ability, and hand-eye coordination. [The Power] will grant you true [Power] – a world and land that belongs only to you."

"This is interesting!" Bu Liuxing couldn't see or touch this "action power" meter. Time passed little by little. After this round of questions and answers, the surrounding things gradually gained some color, which meant that his round was about to end.

Perhaps in this special environment, Teacher Su Ling's soul power could still activate a special action gauge for [The Power] through the divine power of [Phoenix], allowing her to check this UI section at any time.

"They can't see me? They can't sense me at all?" Bu Liuxing glanced at Duran and Flavia, casually took a few steps, and came to the long table, within easy reach of the blood wine. He met Lady Goelia's gaze. "Old Bones? Is that so?"

"Time doesn't favor anyone," Old Bones further explained. "Before your turn ends, the other participants in the game will have a complete view of your actions—that's one of the arbitrator's responsibilities."

"You and Gloria are old acquaintances? You know her very well?" Meteor suddenly developed a very strong interest in this evil spirit.

Judging from his advanced studies in psychic science, Gloria's soul power is extremely domineering.

It is a power that reverses cause and effect and changes destiny, completely ignoring the opponent's talent and directly using something as mysterious as luck to change the outcome.

Having fought alongside Xue Ming for so many years, regardless of Meteor's combat skills or the loss in the wrestling match, the results of those thirty-odd throws of projectiles alone had already refreshed Meteor's understanding.

This woman possesses an incredible amount of luck. Duran mentioned earlier that the innkeeper he met at the post station also had this ability, but he could only roll the dice once, and even if he rolled a bad result on Twenty-sided Die, he couldn't change it.

However, after more than thirty attempts, the meteor's projectiles only hit their target twice.

--What does this mean? Could there be a spirit inside Gloria's dice?

It's a 50/50 chance, so why does this Immortals have such a huge advantage when it's their turn to roll the dice?

"A seductive devil," Old Bones continued, following up on Shooting Star's question. "She enjoys gambling and always possesses a strange compassion—it's her talent, her strength. Perhaps you'll be confused, perhaps you'll feel frustrated and annoyed by this little die of fate."

"Why does fate always seem to favor this woman?!"

[Part ①·Thirteen Long Steps]

The Old Bones's method of explaining the riddle was simple and straightforward.

"Because she had two dice, and the result of two rolls was the better one—so you might have already suffered this loss before the game even started?"

"Heh," Meteor chuckled, scoffing at the Old Bones's explanation. "This woman still has the nerve to talk about a fair duel?"

"That's also a kind of fairness," the Old Bones continued. "Gloria's willingness to share the dice with you is itself an act of mercy and compassion. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have the power to fight against fate. She is such an arrogant and rampant person, like the blazing sun."

"She must have shared her pheromones with you, right? You didn't detect the lie because it was just her own belief—that it wasn't cheating, that the two dice she possessed were her inherent abilities, an inseparable part of her life, her strength."

Meteor's math skills are barely passable.

--After all this mental calculation, Gloria's advantage lies in choosing the higher of the two dice.

The expected value of a single die is 10.5 (Twenty-sided Die has no 0), and the probability of rolling a number 10 or higher is still 50%, meaning the success or failure is fifty-fifty.

The expected value of the two dice is 13.825, and the probability of a big win is doubled.

The probability of rolling a number ten or higher with a high-scoring die is four to five times higher than that of rolling a number one with a regular die.

In this unequal contest of luck, the meteor has absolutely no chance of winning.

Given his holy bloodline, it's understandable that all thirty-plus throwing attempts failed; hitting twice was pure luck.

To put it in the most realistic and cruelest terms-

--Soul power is also divided into different levels. Some soul power abilities may only bring some strange troubles, such as the pain of dry eyes that cannot be rubbed directly with your hands.

Gloria Sebastian's soul power is almost at the pinnacle of this set of rules, on par with the blessing of Ming De. However, the goddess of fortune only favors the duchess who holds two dice.

If you can get a single die, you can fight against this force. According to mathematical expectation, there is also a probability of about 27.5% that you can use a single die to fight against two dice.

If we fail to obtain Gloria's holy blood, it will be a 100% failure, leaving us with no chance to fight back.

Having figured these things out, Meteor had no intention of backing down.

--This duchess could stand so confidently before her guests and speak of Judas's divine birth to the nameless soldiers; she must have been prepared for a fight to the death.

The body and will forged through countless trials are prepared for this moment; a meteor will always find the power to change its destiny.

The enemy is arrogant and tries to tame Bu Liuxing with this wager, turning the Ming De warrior into a servant of the Immortals.

Meteor sees this as a good thing, as it reflects both Gloria's strong personality and her Gate of Death.

"Old Bones."

Meteor grabbed the wine glass, finally completing the last major action of the first round; his action points for this round were now exhausted.

"I'm very curious, since you possess such powerful soul might, how did you end up in this woman's hands?"

"My fate is ultimately due to greed," the Old Bones replied calmly. " To Lady Goelia, my life was but a fleeting moment in the long river of history. She coveted my psychic abilities and used this wager to keep me in that coffin of destiny—and from then on, I became one of her treasures."

"And you warrior who possesses a human form and a human heart, beware! Greed will bring you endless regret."

Once the energy for movement was depleted, everything around it began to move again.

--Duran's eyes shifted frequently, as if he had watched the entire process.

Flavia's eyes were filled with panic and curiosity. She had overheard the conversation between Meteor and Old Bones, but had not yet grasped the inner meaning of the "two dice." From beginning to end, Her Majesty the Queen had not heard any dice sounds.

"Your turn is over." The duchess was in no hurry. She wanted her guests to understand the rules of the contest so she could have a good time. She wanted to completely conquer her enemy, both physically and mentally, so that he could become her friend.

"I need to change my clothes, it's getting late. Flavia needs to go to the market tomorrow to buy ingredients to make chocolates and earn money, right?"

Flavia responded blankly, "Oh, is that how it is?"

Those who had not drunk the holy blood, and those who had not received the dice, were almost powerless against such interrogation.

"Then let's continue according to your schedule!" Gloria had just turned to leave.

Bu Liuxing picked up his wine glass and immediately pressed, "I want to fight you! Let's start now!"

"Don't rush," Gloria turned around, frowning angrily, "There will be plenty of opportunities! But there are still about ten guests in the reception hall. Even if you don't care about your own life, you have to think about them."

"If we fall out and you refuse to follow my rules, then these crew members will be in trouble."

The duchess threatened in a low voice—

" --Cici mentioned before that she wanted to stay here for a few more days, right?"

Flavia was immediately convinced, as if under a spell.

"Indeed. That's definitely true."

It was clear that she had tried her best, concentrating all her strength to fight against this cruel fate, but as soon as the two dice landed and the result was revealed, she lost her composure and could no longer say no.

"This is my wager." Gloria laughed confidently and radiantly. "General of Tears, go back to your room and rest! Get your energy back! This Old Bones will stay with you. Tomorrow morning I will hand over the details of the first wager to you. Divide this cup of blood into thirteen portions. You must cross this long staircase to be qualified to sit at my table."

Bu Liuxing pressed further, "Not just you and me? Are we going to drag all these innocent people into this?"

"So what?" Gloria threatened. "Once they entered my manor, they were already human bargaining chips. Returning you to your own hands is the greatest respect I can show to Ming De and the Nameless One. Otherwise, how would you gamble with me? What right do you have to gamble with me? With those two worthless silver coins as stakes?!"

"To get your partner back, you have to win these thirteen rounds and take back all these chips, one by one."

"Of course! Flavia can do whatever she wants during that time!"

Gloria's anger turned to joy, and her face lit up with happiness.

"--She can still go to East Horse Port to have fun! See the scenery! Experience life! Create happiness with candy! Why not?!"

"Your boatmen friends, your Captain Quack, they are all free to come and go from the church, and I will never interfere in their lives before the gambling match is over!"

"I hope to see you grow stronger with each battle, and forge ahead with high morale and triumphant spirit."

"My boring life has finally been somewhat amusing; there are now some more treasures in the display case."

That's all.