Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Neither the [Light Worshipper Training Association] nor the [Dawn Church]’s Circle Sorcerers could comprehend what had happened this time. Although many things that conflicted with the basic rules had occurred since the story began, this was the first instance where a direct pass was achieved without any determination.

Only the witch looked at the parchment roll in her hand, at the newly displayed content, and she knew the reason:

[Profession - Sage: A sage recognized by the Ancient God and Angel. In each game, the first [Intelligence] check automatically passes with the maximum value. For each subsequent [Intelligence] check, if the contest fails or the check does not pass, gain 40 professional advantage points.]

"A sage... was acknowledged as a [Sage] by the Ancient God, the Angel, and now the Angel-Level Relic."

The hoarse voice continued narrating:

"The [Outlander Traveler] who solved the riddle obtained a crucial clue from the coroner, but was required to open it only at a high rooftop."

"My question is, what is 1 plus 1?"

At the police station entrance, Mr. Ptolemy Albert asked seriously. Shard had him use riddles for testing, precisely to adhere to the "Dice Story Collection" rules, and Mr. Ptolemy Albert was indeed very "understanding."

"I think, if calculated correctly, it should equal 2."

Shard thought for a moment before replying.

"Very well, congratulations on passing my test. Now I give you this important information, but you cannot open it now. Yes, it must be opened at a high place like a rooftop."

Mr. Albert solemnly handed the wad of paper back to him.

After Shard thanked him, the two parted ways. Listening to the dice rattling by his ear, Shard knew that in the third round of the second turn, while the [Detective] was trying to persuade the church’s priest, the [Silencer] successfully used [Stealth] to enter the police station and also obtained the information Shard had just received from Mr. Albert.

The third round still had two turns left, and according to the story’s progress, the next step should either be to continue exploring the police station or choose to leave early, to either see Freeman Hawthorne or go to the Lower District to gather intelligence, in order to gain the initiative for the next round.

But hearing the story’s description by his ears, Shard left the police station entrance and entered an empty alleyway. At the other end of the alley, also leaving the police station, was the [Silencer], who had now appeared as well.

"The [Silencer] attacks the [Outlander Traveler]."

When the woman from the [Light Worshipper Training Association] uttered this sentence, the witch was not at all surprised; currently, the [Outlander Traveler]’s advantage was too great, and silencing him was indeed the most direct way, rather than catching up in the investigation later. However, the witch did not relax her vigilance despite the [Silencer] being just a First Ring Sorcerer; on the contrary, the fact that the opponent dared to initiate an attack knowing well the high level of the [Outlander Traveler] implied that the enemy certainly had something to rely on.

"The initiative is with me."

The woman in the black long dress told the witch:

"Miss Amethyst, His Excellency the Light Chaser originally thought that this time the greatest enemy was the church, but didn’t expect that the Diviners of Moon Bay lived up to their name. We are quite surprised that the ’role’ you chose would be so powerful, but this time we have won, and afterwards, please cooperate with our actions. If you are willing, I can, on behalf of His Excellency the Light Chaser, invite you and Miss Charlotte to become one of us."

The witch shook the dice in her hand:

"This time, how do you want to cheat? By taking out the Old God Holy Emblem, or do you have coins in your hand?"

She already had an idea of how to win, combining the strength determination coefficient provided by the special ability "Power of the Earth" of that character akin to cheating, and the strength points of the Seven-Ring Sorceress. Even if the [Silencer] himself had other special bonuses, it was unnecessary to worry.

Without knowing Miss Sherlock’s Magic List, using Basic Sorcery like "Firestarter," getting close unexpectedly to defeat the [Silencer] with a "strength" determination was much simpler than using Divination to attempt to trigger unknown Arcane Techniques:

"I performed divination this morning; today is my lucky day."

"Miss Amethyst, over-reliance on divination results could lead to falling into the trap of Fate. Battle round begins, initiative, [Silencer] Stealth! Due to the special initiative state, this attempt succeeds directly without determination."

"Oh, using Illusion Technique?"

Under Shard’s watchful eyes, at the other end of the alley, a First Ring Sorcerer summoned the Ring of Fate and then performed Stealth with an Illusion Technique. Although the opponent’s Illusion Technique shouldn’t have been able to deceive Shard’s eyes, mysteriously, after disappearing, Shard couldn’t perceive him no matter how hard he tried:

"I thought he would take out some magical Relic and end me at once. What does Stealth with Invisibility mean... planning to get close?"

"Want to get close?"

On the bell tower, the witch made a similar judgment. At first, she was pleased, then surprised. Because what she also wanted was close combat, but there must be a reason for the opponent to do the same:

"[Outlander Traveler] will not cast a spell this round and will focus on waiting for the opponent to strike. Abandon this round’s action, next round [Silencer] will no longer have first-move advantage, [Outlander Traveler] can act simultaneously with [Silencer]."

The reason for not performing [Reconnaissance] to locate [Silencer] is because not acting this round allows the advantage of the opponent’s first move to be negated next round. And since combat rounds have multiple actions, it ensures that each action won’t be disadvantaged by the opponent’s first-move advantage. Meanwhile, the advantage [Stealth] provides for striking is limited to the current action.

"[Detective] attempts persuasion again."

Mr. O’Connor declared once more, and casually tossed some dice. Confirming it was still unsuccessful, he turned, intrigued, to watch the two ladies at the table with his companions.

Their "duel" will determine the direction of the story; though the investigation is only halfway through, if "Miss Amethyst" wins, it means the investigation can continue safely. If those from the [Light Worshipper Training Association] win, it suggests that even the [Detective] needs to be cautious of such direct confrontations.

The [Silencer] and [Outlander Traveler] noticed each other simultaneously during the chance meeting. [Silencer] recognized the traveler who had investigated at the Parsifal Club, and the traveler realized the Circle Sorcerer in front was the eavesdropper earlier. Successful stealth made [Silencer] disappear from [Outlander Traveler]’s sight. The chilling wind of a summer afternoon swept through the alley, with a quiet air laced with murderous intent, seemingly freezing everything. Second action of the combat round—

Although this action was simultaneous for both [Silencer] and Shard, the woman in the black dress was still the first to declare her action:

"The distance is close enough, within range. Miss Amethyst, your biggest mistake is letting the [Silencer] approach your girl. [Silencer] uses Arcane Technique—Light Spell!"

"What?"

"Adel’s Time Stasis!"

Far in the alley, Shard’s decision was naturally unknown to the witch at the bell tower, especially since she didn’t see the name of the Arcane Technique when he used [Praise the Sun]. The witch was surprised by the "weak" Arcane Technique chosen by the woman in black; more surprising was the hoarse voice’s additional commentary for the round:

"Conduct [Light Spell] resistance check. Immunity requires a resistance to ’Anomalous Power - Light’ of 1000; otherwise, perform a luck check, success results in severe injury, failure results in instant death."

"Wait, just what Light Spell?"

"Determination paused! As the bell strikes, the gears halt! [Outlander Traveler] gains an extra action round. This action is exclusive for [Outlander Traveler], [Silencer] can perform no counteractions."

"What?"

The surprise instead became that of the woman in the black dress:

"Why is there an extra action round... Time Pause!? No, that Miss Charlotte, is she Twelve Rings or Thirteen Rings?"

After more than two hours of the game, the calm woman finally stood up from her chair in shock. Equally surprised, the witch quickly gave the final order:

"Extra action round, [Outlander Traveler] uses a strength-determined punch.

"Then, farewell!"

In the alley, having evaded the emerging faint glimmer from the fingertips of the Time Stasis-frozen stranger, Shard observed briefly, curious why the opponent used the [Light Spell], as he maneuvered around to the opponent’s back.

Instead of waiting for the time stasis arcane technique to be lifted before striking, he simply extended his hand to punch the man in the quiet back, a man who hadn’t uttered a word the entire time. The fist did not pierce through the back; while the witch’s clattering dice roll sounded in his ear, the [Silencer]’s heart and other organs shattered inside the body.

As the corpse hit the ground, the faint glimmer in [Silencer]’s hand also disappeared. Curious, Shard crouched to inspect the body, while atop the bell tower, with the declaration "The [Silencer]’s stamina resistance check failed, character deceased," the woman in the black dress clutched her chest with a groan, then collapsed bleeding from the seven orifices onto the table.

The man behind her tried to support her, unclear about what had happened. Yet the actually victorious witch, maintaining composure, smiled and said:

"The extra combat action step concludes, time resumes its flow. In the third action of the third round, due to the enemy’s death, as [Silencer] used the Light Spell, I chose to have the [Outlander Traveler] jump to a high rooftop to read the note obtained from the coroner earlier."

Since they directly entered battle just now, the clue hadn’t been read. While "jumping to a high rooftop" differs from the instantaneous arcane technique in time consumption, since both fall within the same action, the witch, smiling happily, began to have more thoughts about recruiting the other’s follower. She quickly received feedback on the information.