Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Clang clang~

The sound of dice echoed around even when no one was throwing them:

"Points 3..."

Shard in the club quickly walked to the window, softly speaking to the sun behind the clouds:

"Arcane Technique - Praise the Sun."

Everything in the story will become reasonable, so—

"Points 4."

"Hmm?"

Those atop the bell tower, even the witch didn’t understand why the points changed, but it didn’t stop the hoarse voice of the black-robed person from continuing:

"[Outlander Traveler] defaults to using four undisplayed special abilities. [Sensitive Cat] [Heart Perception] activate, traits [Outlander (unique)] [Sun’s Blessing] effect activate."

The witch immediately looked at the new content on the parchment roll:

[Sensitive Cat: A special ability trained and learned from living with cats and the Transformation Spell - Cat. Its form is not limited to easily catching cats that don’t wish to bathe, predicting a cat’s paw reaching for the dining table in advance. During perception and reconnaissance judgments on life, if the original points are less than 60, you can make a roll to replace the original points.]

"Miss Charlotte, is she a cat-like girl?"

Shard didn’t know that in the witch’s imagination, he had grown cat ears on his head.

[Heart Perception: A special ability generated from the passive effect of the Arcane Technique, able to sense nearby heartbeat when closing eyes. Thus, as long as the eyes blink, a feedback of the beat can be vaguely received. During perception and reconnaissance judgments on living creatures with "heart" organs, a 1.2 times coefficient bonus is obtained. If the target is human, the coefficient is adjusted to 1.3 times.]

This was one of the few abilities the witch felt normal about at present.

[Outlander (unique): A solitary person living alone, unable to return to their hometown forever, even if they have found their anchor of existence, they still cannot forget their origin. They view everything in the world outside themselves with caution, a means of life. When encountering spies, eavesdropping, or malicious gaze, an additional roll is made, not affected by any coefficient bonus.]

"A lonely person... so pitiful, Vanessa really is."

Then came the last trait:

[Sun’s Blessing: A blessing obtained from basking in sunlight, a gift from the Supreme Lord. Mortals must be grateful for this and offer delicious food and soft bedding as repayment to enjoy this warm, soft supreme glory. This is the granted grace; though the sunlight is not sufficient, the Supreme Lord is still satisfied. During any judgment in occasions exposed to sunlight, an additional 20-point bonus is obtained.]

"Meow~"

The cat sunbathing and napping on the window sill of the second floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, turned over.

"This..."

Miss Belindel slightly opened her mouth. Although this item’s values were far less exaggerated than the others, the descriptive style always made her feel strange, but it didn’t prevent the image of "Miss Charlotte" from becoming clearer in the witch’s eyes:

"Look, this is the advantage of a high-level Circle Sorcerer over a low-level Sorcerer, even without Arcane Techniques, relying solely on their passive and basic abilities is enough to win."

As she said this, she actually knew "Miss Charlotte" was a Seventh Ring but did this to intimidate her opponent.

She picked up two dice again, and the beautiful face that no one could gaze upon, not only had two golden eyes faintly glowing but even the crimson red birthmark at the center of the brow was showing unusual changes.

In her heart she praised:

"Praise the Ancient God: Chaos Witch!"

Clang clang~ clang clang~

"[Sensitive Cat] [Outlander] two extra rolls, 99 points! 90 points! Total points 99 (Sensitive Cat)×1.3+98 (Basic Luck)+5 (Card Set)+5 (Divination Cards)+50 (Inspiration Overwhelming Advantage)+90 (Outlander)=397 points, same as yours."

[Dice Story Collection] rounds up decimals automatically, so it originally should have lost with 396.7, but rules are rules.

"You!"

The man standing behind Miss Finell wanted to reach out but was stopped by the woman sitting down. She was composed:

"It doesn’t matter, it’s just a draw, not a loss. But how do we calculate this?"

The hoarse voice answered the question:

"Both sides make an extra roll, the result this time is unaffected by any special ability bonuses. The victor receives a 1-point ’Gift of Fate’ bonus during judgment."

Then the black-skirted woman and Miss Belindel both picked up two dice, almost simultaneously throwing the results.

"27 points."

"30 points. So I just said, why would you want to play dice with me, a well-known Diviner in the Moon Bay Region?"

The Blonde Witch asked, her heart secretly startled. She clearly felt that Shard’s trait "Blessing of the Sage" had automatically taken effect, adjusting the originally below-30 result to the basic 30 points without being affected by additional values.

Earlier, the 99 and 90 were results she increased using her own means of luck, now it seems:

"Indeed, one cannot easily manipulate fate."

"Judgment ends, 398 is greater than 397, the ’Outlander Traveler’ successfully detected the ’Silencer,’ and the ’Silencer’ did not overhear any additional information."

The black-dressed woman looked somewhat gloomy but did not dwell on the result:

"Round 2, Turn 3, based on basic information, the ’Silencer’ gives up the investigation here and immediately leaves the Parsifal Club to look for clues at the police station. If no one else abandons the investigation here, the ’Silencer’ will gain an initiative advantage at the Moon Bay City Police Department!"

This time, no judgment was needed; the action was directly successful. Considering that chasing would waste the last action turn of the second round, Miss Belindel carefully decided not to let Shard pursue. Shard shared the same thought, allowing the First Ring Sorcerer he discovered outside the door to leave.

Then, amid the sound of the dice bouncing, he learned that the ’Detective’ finally passed the judgment in Round 2, Turn 3, allowing him to go to the church. Thus, it was Shard’s last action turn of the second round.

In his heart, he praised Miss Belindel for being a "Grand Witch of Destiny," always rolling above 90 points in two dice throws. Otherwise, this confrontation judgment would have needed him to think of another strategy. Although Shard could not use ’Investigation’ in this round, the witch still chose ’Reconnaissance’ for Shard’s last action turn here.

"Detected a stranger, but the ’Outlander Traveler’ did not want to cause trouble, so he did not pursue the departing eavesdropper. He felt somewhat tired and unable to conduct a detailed investigation, but he still chose to inspect this room. The ’Outlander Traveler’ performs a reconnaissance judgment, rolling a dice point greater than 85 for a successful reconnaissance."

"Bodily fatigue preventing detailed investigation" is the story’s reason for being unable to use ’Investigation.’

Clang clang~

The witch once again rolled the dice, and the points were astonishingly high:

"80, two symbols add 5+5 value."

Although it exceeded 85 points, higher points meant additional information. The Parsifal Club’s investigation round was ending, and she understood she couldn’t just settle for basic information.

The divination card set beside her automatically shuffled and arranged itself. The witch, testing the rules, finally got serious. Squinting at the two cards in her hand, she saw the images of ’Clock’ and ’Conch,’ then picked up the parchment roll again:

"Using special abilities—recollection, listening, echo, reverberation—yes, this is it. Using the Arcane Technique ’Echo of the Past’ to listen to things that once happened here. Due to the special nature of time-based arcane techniques, an additional six-sided dice judgment is required, successful if greater than 3."

The six-sided dice appeared by her hand—

Clang clang~

"4 points. The arcane technique succeeded, this arcane technique gains a fixed 65 investigation bonus. Total points 155."

"The Wind of Time brought stories from the past, allowing the ’Outlander Traveler’ to hear a conversation he was not supposed to hear for a mysterious reason. Basic information obtained: The perpetrator comes from outside the Moon Bay Region and is unfamiliar with the local area. Because the total points exceed 150, extra information ’5, the perpetrator is about 6 feet tall (about 1.82m)’ is obtained.

"Time-based arcane technique?"

Mr. O’Connor looked at "Miss Amethyst" and finally couldn’t help but ask:

"Madam, who exactly is this Miss Charlotte? It’s okay, you don’t have to say if you don’t want to, but please note: Church records show that in the ’Dice Story Collection’ game, certain special time-based arcane techniques or relic effects can play an extremely powerful role."

"That’s my girl, she’s my person."

The obscured lady spoke in a muffled tone:

"I have an obligation to protect my girl’s privacy, sir, even if this time we are in a cooperative relationship, please maintain respect for me."

"So, the Dice Story Collection truly is magical,"

Having left the Parsifal Club, Shard, under the witch’s manipulation, was preparing to head to the ’Moon Bay Police Department,’ still conversing with ’her’ in his mind;

"’Echo of the Past’ allowing me to hear myself speak seems reasonable, but how did this arcane technique make me deduce height information?"

’Her’ voice continued to be so gentle:

("This is the special nature of rules-based relics. Last year, didn’t the cultists use its power to forcibly investigate ’Thief Jack’?")

"True... So, next is another hour of a boring journey?"

("Your power still cannot completely escape the influence of the ’Dice Story Collection’)"

"I know, but spending the afternoon of this weekend like this seems a bit too dull."

He boarded the carriage stopped in front of him:

"After these rounds, I almost understand the situation in the tower and the intelligence of the other two players. The police station’s round will completely end this battle... I need to make some preparations."

("This is going to be a battle? Even if you are stronger than a First Ring Sorcerer, be careful of their cheating.")

The carriage slowly started, and Shard looked out the window at the peaceful scenery of Moon Bay City in the afternoon.

He had indeed thought of a way since this relic clearly involved time-based power, the peculiar time power he recently grasped might produce unexpected effects in the battle.