In the quiet of the small, dark room, the light from the monsters above the cards on Riddle’s side illuminated his face.
Unable to get an answer from the God, the Prophet from the fifth epoch turned to look at Xia De behind him.
Xia De nodded:
“I think it’s up to our courage now.”
“Don’t worry, sir, right now I have nothing but courage.”
The man, quite disheveled from not having bathed for a long time, used his left hand to press down the sleeve of his right arm, and with his right hand, he placed all things are impermanent · Balance into the seventh slot in front of him.
Just as Xia De had calculated, the size of the rhode cards perfectly matched the size of the slots on the gambling table. In fact, when Riddle was about to place the card, all things are impermanent · Balance seemed to be actively drawn into the slot.
Both Xia De and Riddle were incredibly nervous at this moment. And the five Witches on the table, as well as the demon, sea monster, and giant dragon, all looked towards this slot.
Suddenly, a sound came from the wall of the room; it was the corpses, in varying states of decay, speaking:
“A card not seen for a long time.”
“So it’s all things are impermanent.”
The two sentences came from two different voices, and even used completely different languages.
“It is the power of Balance.”
“A gamble, I hate Balance the most.”
The overlapping voices made it almost impossible for Xia De to distinguish them, and as the corpses spoke, the card embedded in the slot truly began to glow.
A dark golden small Balance appeared above the card, and in front of the black-robed God, the sixth Witch officially appeared.
Streams of various colored light flowed in front of the fourteen cards, converging along the grooves towards the center of the table. The Witch, demon, sea monster, and giant dragon all flew to the center of the table and began to fight. The magic sword was controlled by the demon, the man-eating house protected the monsters from behind, and the Old God’s altar protected the Witch.
The battle became increasingly real; the shockwaves from the Witches’ light bullet attacks upon contact almost knocked the somewhat frail Riddle to the ground.
Just like last time, the difference in quality temporarily could not make up for the difference in quantity. In the increasingly real six-on-three battle, Riddle’s side was completely at a disadvantage.
“Why isn’t this card working?”
Riddle asked in surprise, and Xia De also frowned.
A dark gold Balance clearly appeared above all things are impermanent · Balance, indicating that the table accepted the effect of this card. But that Balance simply floated quietly above the card, having no effect whatsoever on the game.
“Did you feel anything?”
Xia De asked in his mind.
“That gambling table has Miracle, blasphemy, inspiration, and whisper element.”
But Xia De wanted to know more details, so he reached out to touch his own 【Genesis · Balance】.
This time, however, his hand was still directly repelled by the gambling table. If he hadn’t been prepared, Xia De would probably have been sent flying to the distant wall again.
“Could it be...”
Telling Riddle not to worry, Xia De, holding his own wrist, suddenly thought of a possibility. Neither the people of the fifth epoch nor the people of the sixth epoch could compare to the Outsider Xia De in terms of insight. This insight did not refer to knowledge of mysticism, but rather some ingenious ideas:
“Riddle, grasp that Balance!”
“What?”
The Prophet was a bit bewildered, but quickly understood his meaning. He slightly widened his eyes and looked at the surface of the stone table:
“You mean...”
He stretched out his hand, carefully making a loose grip beneath the Balance. After a moment of hesitation, he closed his palm. And so, the golden Balance was indeed held in his hand. Golden light streaks shot up, subtly illuminating the areas of the room that were still dark.
And when the light streaks disappeared, Riddle seemed to be stunned, still maintaining the posture of holding the Balance.
“How is it?”
Xia De asked nervously, worried that his suggestion would harm this ordinary person.
Riddle was truly in a daze, and it was several seconds before he spoke:
“This item has been judged as a prop for the gambling table. Before the gamble ends, I can use it to interfere with the two sides currently fighting. It can boost our side’s power and suppress the opponent’s power.”
This was quite similar to Iluna’s talent.
“But what is the cost of using the Balance?”
“It’s calculated per use, three march of lifespan each time, with a maximum cumulative use of three times before the gamble ends.”
He carefully released the Balance, letting it float quietly above all things are impermanent · Balance.
“Don’t use it, at least not now. Riddle, put the remaining two cards into the slots as well.”
Xia De reminded him, and the Prophet, experiencing an information overload for the first time, still nodded blankly after several seconds. This time, he picked up all things are impermanent · Darkness.
As Riddle’s eighth card entered the slot, an eighth card also appeared on the God’s side. But this time, the card face was no longer a Witch, nor the altar that had appeared once before, but a temple.
A phantom of a temple model appeared on the God’s side of the table, covering the six Witches and providing them with even greater power along with the altar. The influx of new power made the demon, giant dragon, and sea monster even more precarious, because all things are impermanent · Darkness also did not provide power, but instead transformed into a prop.
It was a black robe, or something similar to a robe, made of cloth. Riddle grasped it in his hand, and sure enough, he received information again:
“This can be used as a gambling table prop. After use, several black vortexes will appear in the gambling table’s battle arena. For our side, the vortexes can provide spatial movement and healing, while for the enemy, approaching the vortexes will cause them to continuously lose power.”
“What’s the cost?”
“It can only be used once, at the cost of one year of lifespan.”
“Don’t use it for now.”
However, the situation on the table was already quite dangerous. Riddle released the small robe, but did not touch the last card:
“Sir, if we don’t turn the tide now, it will become even more difficult later. I must at least make the scales of the gamble tilt slightly towards the middle.”
Saying that, he disregarded Xia De’s objection and once again grasped the dark golden Balance.
Xia De immediately reached out and pressed his hand on Riddle’s shoulder from behind him. The Prophet, wearing a brown robe, slightly turned his head to look at the hand with golden cracks on his shoulder, and then looked up at Xia De’s face:
“Sir, this is my life’s gamble.”
His eyes looked at Xia De, and Xia De saw determination:
“I just hope you’ve thought it through. Humans don’t have many three months.”
“But to defeat a God, even if it’s just defeating a God on a gambling table, three months of life is well worth it. When I return to my hometown, on a leisurely afternoon, sitting under a tree and bragging about my courage to the children, I can tell this story many times... provided I can still remember it.”
He said with a smile, his tone showing little regret. Xia De sighed, nodded, and withdrew his hand.
So Riddle held the Balance in his right hand and looked at the gambling table, then gently tossed it. The dark golden Balance flew to directly above the gambling table.
Originally, the two ends of the Balance were level, but after it came to rest above the center of the table, it slowly tilted towards Riddle’s end.
Dark golden light particles sprinkled down, and the spiritual light intensity on the Witches was noticeably weakened, while the bodies of the demon, giant dragon, and wriggling sea monster grew at least one size larger.
The phantom of the dark golden Balance remained directly above the table, and the Balance itself returned to above the card. The strengthened demon led its companions to charge towards the Witches. This time, they clearly gained the upper hand.
“Just one use completely turned the tide,” Xia De thought in surprise, and then saw Riddle place 【Founding · Silver Moon】 into the ninth slot.
A seventh Witch appeared in front of the God, and after joining the battle, the two sides were finally evenly matched, but Riddle’s side still held the advantage.
This time, what emerged from above the card was a silver sphere, or rather...
“Silver Moon?”
Looking at this miniaturized Moon, Xia De felt an inexplicable sense of breathlessness. He wanted to reach out and touch this 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 is normal.”
“But now...”
“This is your psychological issue.”
Riddle had already grasped the Moon, and after waiting a few seconds, he told Xia De the answer:
“The Silver Moon can also act as a gambling table prop. When I use it, I can summon a silver Moon, and the battle arena will be defaulted to ‘night’. This will not affect the opponent, but all creatures on our side of the field will automatically gain the effect of healing injuries under Moonlight, and can all use powers related to the Moon. The specific manifestation of the abilities is determined by the basic cards. It can only be used once per gamble, costing three years of lifespan each time.”
“Basic cards?”
“Oh, those are the real life experience cards.”
Riddle explained, but Xia De’s frown was not because he heard an unfamiliar term, but because the gambling rules of this table seemed more complex and complete than he imagined.
However, if this kind of game could only be played on this table, then such complete and vast rules, which it wasn’t even willing to fully explain, were somewhat incomprehensible. So, perhaps there was more than just this one similar table, or perhaps... there truly existed in the past, a game of life circulated among ordinary people.
“Sir, there’s only one slot left now.”
Riddle interrupted Xia De’s thoughts, because this time, no new monsters appeared on his side, so this round of the game was very fast. It had only been 10 minutes and 23 seconds since Xia De arrived here, so it seemed he would have some time left at the end.
“Do you have any similar cards?”
The ancient Prophet asked with anticipation. Xia De was very familiar with this look of wanting to witness new things.
