“This was an ordinary winter night. As darkness descended, the people on Silver Cross Avenue had no idea what story would unfold tonight. And the protagonists of the story—【Night Prowler】Joggeli Deus, 【Charming Lady】Lydia Penggeluo, and 【Mortal's Luck】Xia De Hamilton—vaguely realized that the gears of fate were turning at this very moment.”
A hoarse voice sounded in the darkness. The people at the table instinctively moved closer to the light. The three under the light saw small wooden puppets, representing the three story characters, appear in the wooden stage setting on the table. The positions of these puppets were exactly where Xia De and the other two should be now.
Someone in the darkness sighed, though it was unclear who:
“The thief of Tobesk is the target of the three tonight. No one knows why they are so persistent about that thief, but they are all determined to use the thief to prove their glory. Vaguely hearing the fall of dice, people who seemed to awaken from a long dream decided to do something.
So, what do the three want to do now?”
In the unnoticed darkness, Angelina, hidden behind her sister, felt Leia shift her weight onto her, but then immediately returned to normal.
The Red Butterfly pendant enhanced the connection between the two ladies. Leia on the Fishbone Pirate Ship couldn't swap with Dorothy, but now that they were both PentaCircle, they could.
At Saint Delan Square No. 6, on the second-floor living room, Dorothy, who was reading a book while stroking Mia, suddenly closed her eyes. When Mia curiously raised her head, Leia's soul had already taken control of this body and opened her eyes.
“Mia, it seems we must go to Xia De now, at least to let him know what's happening.”
She sighed and stood up, reaching for the Night Watchman beside the fireplace. The wide-eyed cat blinked and even stood up from its prone position.
On the second floor of the Prophet Association, in the divination room that should have been empty, Xia De, who had just announced he was “going to the washroom,” was talking with Luvia.
The Moonlight illuminated his profile, and Xia De suddenly froze:
“How strange, half a minute ago, some mysterious force tried to make me suddenly forget that I noticed Iluna fighting someone outside, as if Iluna had fallen into a special space similar to a Darkness Domain, which makes people forget.”
He frowned and said to the purple-eyed girl:
“And now, as if invisible threads are manipulating my thoughts and body, I have a strong urge to go downstairs now, stroll on the street, and investigate the situation. This isn't my own idea, and it completely goes against my plan.”
“Thoughts being manipulated? This is a serious matter.”
Luvia said alertly, reaching out to Xia De:
“We can't be stingy at a time like this.”
Xia De's hand fumbled in his pocket. Among the coin of wisdom, the cat and dog coin, and the dandelion coin, he chose to give the latter to Luvia.
The coin was tossed directly into the air and began to decay at its highest point. As the decayed Ashes scattered into the air, the purple-eyed girl opened her eyes and looked at Xia De with extreme surprise:
“You've been chosen by Iluna.”
“What?”
“Very interesting, you've joined a game. Don't worry, they can only know your vague actions, not what you specifically did. Before Iluna gives the next instruction, please let me introduce you to some information about an angel-level relic.”
She quickly introduced the general characteristics of the angel-level relic 【dice story collection】 and emphasized:
“They won't know your specific actions, only roughly what you did. For example, right now, they won't know about your conversation with me, unless you stay here too long without going downstairs. But perhaps this is better; you now have a full reason to pretend to be an ordinary Detective and capture Jack the Thief under everyone's watchful eyes. The only thing to be careful about is not to expose your Ring術士 identity. If this incident is successfully overcome, the Church might even stop suspecting whether you are a Ring術士 from now on.”
She pointed outside:
“Now, follow Iluna's instructions and go outside. She will bring you victory.”
“Pretend to be an ordinary Detective? I understand.”
Xia De nodded. Luvia's “divination” had almost fully analyzed the characteristics of that relic, while the people telling and listening to the story were completely unaware that he, the “character of the story,” already knew everything.
“Wait a moment.”
Before Xia De left, Luvia handed him a divination card:
“Take this.”
The divination card Luvia gave Xia De was the “Divination · Game” card from earlier.
Xia De didn't ask why, he tucked the divination card into his pocket, placing it with his rhode cards deck:
“I'm going to ‘investigate’ on Silver Cross Avenue now. Wait for my good news.”
He pushed open the door and re-entered the corridor. The corridor was not empty, but neither the royal guards nor the Prophet Association staff seemed to remember the Ring術士 team from the Mechanical Church rushing into the room a few minutes ago. They didn't even notice Xia De. According to the relic's characteristics, unless a Keeper mentioned him, no one could notice Xia De.
For example, Luvia just now, she should have suddenly wondered what she was doing standing in an empty room, but Luvia was clearly an exception. Considering she could even exempt from a Level 0 relic, Xia De could understand her exemption from a Level 1 relic's mental suggestion.
“I'll be watching you from the window. If there's an accident, I'll appear proactively. There are actually many loopholes here to exploit.”
Luvia whispered behind Xia De.
In that sealed room, the only light source descended from above, illuminating the table. Although Iluna was angry, she still suppressed her expression:
“You're cheating again!”
Professor Ons shook his head:
“This isn't cheating.”
He unrolled the parchment scroll:
“Before our manipulated characters move to Silver Cross Avenue, I want to announce—
Because 【Night Prowler】Joggeli Deus carries the symbol ‘Broken Bugle,’ his combat power is enhanced. When attacking in combat scenarios, he gains a 12-point bonus to his dice roll;
Because he carries the symbol ‘Mother's Necklace,’ he receives damage reduction in combat. When defending in combat scenarios, he gains a 20-point bonus to his dice roll;
Because he carries the symbol ‘Expensive Rhinestone Monocle,’ he can see certain subtle traces. When investigating, he gains an additional 15-point bonus;
Because he carries the symbol ‘Broken Stem Candle Match,’ when investigating in the darkness, he gains a 25-point bonus;
Because he carries the symbol ‘Desecrated Silver Cross Holy Emblem,’ when encountering evil creatures, he can exempt certain attacks by rolling an additional die.”
As his voice fell, five items—a necklace, a bugle, a monocle, matches, and a holy emblem—actually appeared on the wooden puppet in the tabletop setting.
The Cultists Dion, who was beside him, also stated the “symbols” carried by 【Charming Lady】Lydia Penggeluo, the character he manipulated. The number he stated was four.
The so-called “symbols” were not items with extraordinary power, but ordinary items that, for some unknown rule, were judged as special items by the 【dice story collection】. The two prepared in advance with these props, which is why they were confident in using the special rules of the 【dice story collection】 to win the game and capture Jack the Thief, but Iluna didn't know about these things.
She opened Xia De's parchment scroll again and read the dense text, searching for usable symbols. The basic rule of the game was that it had to be read aloud to take effect; unread effects would not take effect:
“【Mortal's Luck】Xia De Hamilton carries the symbol ‘Invincible rhode cards deck.’ His luck is enhanced; whenever he rolls dice, he automatically gains a 5-point bonus.”
Professor Ons was not surprised:
“Indeed, Chosen One, the target you chose should be the best target. This increases your pitiful winning rate by at least ten percent.”
“Luck and misfortune are only a fine line apart.”
The Cultists whispered softly.
Iluna frowned and continued to look at the parchment in her hand. relics would not be judged as game symbols, and most of the items on Xia De, apart from relics, were toys; these items were also not symbols. But she discovered that, compared to her first look at the parchment a few minutes ago, Xia De had an additional item:
“【Mortal's Luck】Xia De Hamilton carries the symbol ‘Beloved One's Divination Card 【Game】.’ His luck is enhanced; whenever he rolls dice, he automatically gains a 5-point bonus.”
Iluna knew this card could only have been given by Luvia. The phrase “Beloved One” made her a little uncomfortable. Among the spectators, Dorothy pouted, Princess Margaret frowned deeply, and Angelina didn't know what she was thinking.
The black-robed figure, with a hoarse voice, pulled everyone's attention back:
“Those pursuing the thief arrived at the brightly lit Silver Cross Avenue. The bright gas streetlights indicated safety. But the ordinary police patrolling the street noticed them. Roll two dice to form a number; the number must be higher than 105 to continue moving on the street. Social credibility and charm can provide bonuses to the dice.”
The puppets representing the three characters had all arrived on the Silver Cross Avenue in the tabletop setting, but the maximum roll of two dice could only be 100. Theoretically, no one could pass the judgment.
Professor Ons was the first to roll two dice:
“I'll go first.”
The rolled dice formed the number “29.”
“【Night Prowler】Joggeli Deus, local credibility bonus is 10, personal charm bonus is 19, total points 58; using the power of the ring in his hand, casts ‘Charm Human,’ making himself trustworthy. Because the target is an ordinary person, the judgment passes directly, gaining an additional charm bonus of 50; character special skill - rhetoric, additional bonus 32. Total 140, judgment passed.”
The Cultists, who rolled the dice next, rolled a 51:
“【Charming Lady】Lydia Penggeluo, local credibility bonus is 15, personal charm bonus is 81, total points 147. Oh, I won't read the rhetoric and such, the judgment has already passed.”
He smiled, while Iluna looked at the table hesitantly. Miss Green comforted her from the side:
“It's okay, you have to believe in your luck. Even if Mr. Hamilton is an ordinary person, there's still hope of winning.”
Iluna nodded, but what she was worried about wasn't that.
She casually rolled the dice, the number was 39:
“【Mortal's Luck】Xia De Hamilton, local credibility bonus is 64.”
Xia De had quite a reputation in this city, mainly due to his “scandal” with Miss Jialinna, but he was, after all, only the lowest nobility, so the value of 64 was mainly due to those strange rumors.
Iluna skipped over strange bonuses such as “Spirit Affinity,” “Rhetoric Capable of Tricking Witches,” “Moonlight Luck,” and so on:
“Personal charm bonus is...”
Iluna pursed her lips as she looked at the parchment scroll in her hand, which piqued everyone's curiosity.
--- --- Digression --- ---
PS: Because it involves a lot of content like “how much bonus” and “how much value,” it seems to lack a concrete story, so I'm adding an extra chapter. Since some readers definitely don't like this story format, the game won't be very long.
This year is officially halfway over.
Asking for votes at the beginning of the month.
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