Chapter 671 - Preparing for a far-off promise

The enchantment controlling the wheel was extremely simple; it had two mana signals it could send, ‘Speed up’ and ’Slow down’, and the skeleton used them to make sure very few people ever won, much fewer than what one would expect just looking at the wheel.

“I’ll wager one token,” Sofia told the skeleton when it was her turn, handing him a small gold ingot.

“Just one?” The skeleton asked, “come on lady, you look a bit whealthier than that. Won’t you feel stupid if the wheel lands on the ten times jackpot and all you get for your exeptional luck is ten tokens?”

“I don’t mind, I’m just here to have fun, I don’t need more money,” Sofia answered with a shrug, “So, can I play?”

“Erm… Alright, a one token spin for you…” the skeleton said without much enthusiasm, spinning the wheel without even looking.

The wheel spun and spun, until finally it slowed down enough that people could start to guess around where it was going to stop. Sofia was busy monitoring the skeleton’s next move. He hadn’t used the enchantment at all so far.

“No way!” one of the spectators exclaimed, “it might actually land on the ten times!”

“Such a waste!”

No… It will stop in the losing zone right before at this rate. I need to wait for the right time… But this placement is perfect for me.

Ah? He’s speeding it up?

The skeleton had given the wheel a slight push, enough that it was now likely it might actually land on the ten times prize, if it didn’t overshoot.

“Would you look at that,” the skeleton said as the wheel slowed down more and more, “It looks like I was right on the money, congratulations lady, you’ll have a whole ten tokens to your name.”

“The wheel hasn’t stopped spinning yet,” Sofia said, as it had yet to even enter the x10 quadrant.

“I’ve done this enough to be able to tell,” the skeleton answered, actually starting to slow down the wheel even more with the enchantment to make sure it was going to land perfectly in the center of the relatively small x10 prize.

As everyone was watching with bated breath, the wheel spun until the arrow pointed at the x10… And it kept going, slowly making its way into the largest ‘You lose!’ section of the entire wheel.

“Ugh, we don’t even get to see a ten times prize at all,” a spectator complained.

“Honestly it might be better like this,” another one commented.

Meanwhile, the skeleton wheel spinner’s jaw was agape as he failed to understand what was happening. He checked that his enchantment was active, sending in more mana to make the wheel slow down, yet it continued to inch forward at a snail’s pace.

“Wait! It might still hit the hidden prize!” someone in the audience shouted, drawing in the attention of more onlookers. Fixated on the wheel, nobody except Sofia noticed the very uneasy body language of the skeleton, who was desperately dumping in more mana into the enchantment to try to stop the wheel.

Sofia closely monitored his mana flow, and for each ten point of mana spent to slow down the wheel, she spent nine to speed it up.

The skeleton attendant said nothing but he was going crazy, grabbing his own jaw as he continued pumping more mana into the slow-down command. A futile attempt considering he was fighting against Sofia’s mana reserves.

The wheel slowly crawled past the huge ‘You lose!’ and entered the ‘HIDDEN JACKPOT!!!’ section.

“Noooo…” the skeleton moaned while the crowd erupted in cheers. In a desperate attempt to save his marrow, he dumped all of his mana into the speed up command, hoping for the wheel to gain just enough of a kick to go past the hidden prize and into the next losing section. But at the same time, Sofia was sending so much mana into the slowing command that the skeleton’s struggle was like asking for a rock to start walking. The wheel was slowed down so much that even if he tried to manually spin it now it would not budge. 

The game was over, the arrow firmly pointing at the hidden prize.

Sofia felt like she could see the skeleton’s soul leave his bones as he stared at the wheel.

“Thank you mister skeleton,” Sofia said as she walked up to him and grabbed his hands, “This was really fun! I can’t wait to see what the hidden prize is! I’m so lucky!”

The skeleton was speechless, taking a step back, “N- no, it’s, uh…”

Meanwhile, the crowd started chanting, “Hidden prize! Hidden prize! Hidden prize!”

The skeleton pulled his trembling hands out of Sofia’s, and he reached up to the small hidden prize section of the wheel, peeling off the enchanted paper and revealing the prize.

‘YOU WON 10 MILLION TOKENS!!!’

“I- I’m dead…” Sofia heard the skeleton mumble with a shaky voice as he stared at the prize like everyone else.

“Of course,” Sofia told him, giving him a slap on the shoulder, “you’re a skeleton, man.” Certainly, the poor skeleton was going to have a bad time, as Sofia knew the hidden prize was not actually meant to ever be won by anyone except fake players hired by the casino itself to make it look like people have a chance to win. “Can I get my prize now?”

“F-f- f follow m-me…”

Sofia left the exchange desk with a confident smile on her face and a box full of crystal tokens. Her winning the hidden prize had caused quite a commotion among the casino’s staff, but they had to give it to her no matter what, considering how many people had seen Sofia win.

With her new fortune, Sofia looked around for her next victim, but was interrupted before she could find a suitable target. Crowie urgently flew in front of her face, signaling for her to follow.

Sofia asked no question and ran after Crowie, soon arriving at an open space where Saint Tartaros was having a rather heated discussion with someone much shorter than him.

Oh shit, do I need to step in?!

“Did you really have to break it?! What kind of selfishness is this?!” the tall orc with a deep frown chastised as he stared down at Kuli, who nonchalantly held his gaze with her hands on her hips.

“If you really wanted to use the strength machine, you should have done so earlier, young man. What’s done is done, I have no justification to give you.”

Sofia stood ready to jump in if Tartaros decided to attack, as after all, it said nowhere in the event description that killing each other was prohibited. Yet, to her surprise, the saint of Strength’s mana was calmer than his demeanor suggested, hinting that he was not preparing to fight.

“Is your brain fried, you rabbit-eared barbarian? Doubling your points is something you do when you already have accumulated a lot, that is the entire point!” an exasperated Tartaros complained.

“Neh, it gave me an early start. Has served me well. Sorry that it ruined your plans but that really isn’t my problem now is it?”

Tartaros sighed, looking up at the ceiling, “Strength give me the patience to deal with these people…”

“Is your little tantrum over?” Kuli asked, “I’m going.”

“Wait!” Tartaros called out.

“Neh? What now?”

“Fight me,” Tartaros said like it was an order.

“Sorry? Listen boy, you wouldn’t be the first Saint I give a good spanking to, but this is a trial, I’ve got no more time to waste on you.”

“Eighteen million tokens,” Tartaros said, flames in his eyes, “That is what I have. I will bet everything I have, you bet everything you have, let us battle it out!”

Right, he is that kind of freak…

“Nah? I only have three millions for now, you know? That doesn’t feel very fair to you.”

Kuli… Why would you say that?

“Hmm, you make a good point,” Tartaros conceded, “Still, you seem strong, and I have yet to battle a rabbit beastman. It would be remiss of me waste such an opportunity.”

Kuli seemed to hesitate, which was more than justified considering who the opponent was, and that her signature skill was now on cooldown.

An opportunity…

“What about a Lumian?” Sofia asked as she finally walked into the conversation, “Ever fought one?”

“A Lumian?” Tartaros repeated, “Wait, are you not the Sofia? No need to make up a fake race, I have been waiting for this! Will you fight me?!”

“Yeah.”

“Sofia? Are you serious about this?” Kuli asked, bewildered at the sudden interruption.

“Don’t worry, Kuli. And there’s nothing fake about Lumians, do you think my horns are for decoration or what? I have ten million tokens,” Sofia said, “Not quite eighteen millions but I’m down for you to wager only ten.”

“Only ten? Forget it! I’ll give you everything if you win, I do not care about some measly tokens!” Tartaros boasted, “Finally a worthy opponent!”

Really starved for a fight, huh. Can I play this to my advantage a bit more?

“Shall I go with a handicap to make it fair?” Sofia asked, which instantly got on the nerves of the saint of strength.

“Are you mad?! COME AT ME AT FULL STRENGTH!” Tartaros shouted, clenching his fists.

“If you insist. Let me use my first specialization, then. Pareth.”

The tall abomination skeleton in shining armor appeared behind Sofia.

It did not seem to scare off Tartaros in the slightest, in fact, it was quite the contrary.