Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

The witch was the last to make a choice. As her voice fell, three rolls of parchment appeared beside each of the three people. Meanwhile, a dense array of building blocks descended from the sky onto the large round table.

The falling blocks produced a strange rustling sound, and the seemingly chaotic small squares constructed a detailed map of Moon Bay City’s terrain and street architecture on the tabletop. The block map didn’t cover the entire city, only about a third, centered around the Belindel Big Bell and the city council.

But even this was large enough, as the water symbolizing the Taton River magically appeared, filling in the position symbolizing the "canal" within the blocks. Every tiny grain-sized part of the "Bridge of Moon Bay," not yet completed, was extremely intricate. It could be said that within the "Building Block City," aside from the absence of a large population, everything else was almost equivalent to a miniature version of the real city.

The crowd heard a voice:

"The Dice Story Collection is about to begin, and the parchment records each character’s abilities. During actions, dice are rolled for judgment, and extra bonuses are gained based on the character’s uniqueness and abilities. Some unique symbols can grant special powers to manipulate characters, enriching the story’s fun."

But before the witch, eager, could unfold her rolled parchment to verify the reality of the "Seventh Ring," the woman in the black skirt again threw the Coin of Wisdom, this time numbering four:

"Although Lady Amethyst and the priest are not allied, they both oppose me. To balance this story, I hope this game will be more interesting —

Everyone sees the parchment information with all values entirely hidden, and the introduction of special abilities can only reveal a maximum of four items. This information hiding will not affect the actual abilities, but only when the dice are thrown will the size of hidden values be known."

"Values can appear when used, but if one doesn’t know the specifics of a special ability, then the special ability can’t be used."

Miss Marina, behind Mr. John O’Connor, immediately noticed the true trap of this additional rule, the man from the Light Worshipper Training Association nodded to her:

"So, this not only bets on luck but also on how much you truly know about the person you chose. You didn’t just choose someone you’re not particularly familiar with to win, did you?"

The witch, whose expression turned somewhat unpleasant, clearly sensed a mocking tone in his words.

The three of them picked up their respective parchment rolls together. The witch, looking at the letters covered massively in black squares, first directed her gaze at the character name marked at the front:

[Foreign Traveler Miss Charlotte]

"Hmm? Is her real name truly Charlotte?"

Then she read the four special abilities she was able to see:

[■■■■Witch’s Wordplay: This is an innate talent. Some have said that even if the body is bound leaving only the mouth, the holder of this ability can always take advantage of the situation. The pinnacle of wordplay, perhaps, is nothing more than this. In any situation involving judgments of "wordplay," "enchantment," "persuasion," etc. directed at women, "wordplay" gains an extra bonus of 20, "enchan■" gains an extra bonus of 31.]

Because of the presence of the word "witch," the Great Witch of Destiny deemed this a talent exclusive to the witch’s followers. Though the full name of the special ability couldn’t be seen, the values were indeed astonishing. However, this ability could not be allowed for Miss Charlotte to use, as using special abilities requires specificity, but the word "witch" must never be disclosed.

She was very curious how Miss Charlotte acquired such ability from opera troupe training:

"Vanessa does have quite a good eye, wordplay and charm... truly knows how to enjoy."

Next came the second ability —

[Power of the Earth: Standing upon the earth, the ancient■ earth grants power. This is the blessing from the earth as a keystone, proof of completing a ■■■■ great feat, proof of gaining ■■ recognition. In cases where both feet haven’t left the ground, "strength" judgment gets a 3.0 coefficient increase and an extra bonus of 90 points.]

This means that even if the strength judgment rolls a "33," it equates to "99+90+the character’s base strength." Miss Belindel wasn’t surprised by such a special ability; to her, it was merely a special blessing granted by the Witch of the Earth who has already risen to the Twelfth Rank to her followers. She had never played "Dice Story Collection," thus didn’t know what such exaggerated bonuses truly meant:

"Vanessa is indeed quite capable, and this young woman under her too is quite remarkable. It seems that it is absolutely necessary to have Miss Charlotte help me with some local matters."

Afterward came the third ability —

[Blessing of the Red Butterfly: Completes the ending to an originally tra■ tale, adds new ■■ to a story already ended. Non-human creatures are still able to receive salvation, and non-human creatures are willing to offer their own ■■. Besides this, having intimate rela■ with humanoid relics is also enough to demonstrate courage as a human. Illusion resistance extra bonus of 50, facing relics, psychic resistance extra bonus of 73.]

For a moment, Bella Belindel thought she was seeing things. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and below this special ability, there was unexpectedly an additional section:

[Legendary Status - Butterfly Player: Play with butterflies, fly together with wings, under forest snow, achieve legend. In charisma judgment, total points gain a 2.0 coefficient increase. Facing human■ relics, gain an initial extra goodwill of 30 points. Creates an intimidation effect of additional 1.8 coefficient increase on all who understand the ’relic’ concept.]

"With the relic... what?"

At this moment, she even forgot to breathe. Afraid of reading it wrong, she read it again, and inevitably imagined a tall, charming human girl, speaking high-level flirtatious words with a seductive expression, reaching out to lift the chin of a pitiful, beautiful, yet strangely alluring relic with tentacle-like organs, flirting within the bizarre ruins.

She swallowed a mouthful of saliva. If there wasn’t much time left to review the materials, she would even want to read it once more:

"Vanessa, do you know what your followers have done? Wait, you can’t possibly really know, can you? What do the girls of the Golden Dawn usually do? Oh, you celibate, behind the scenes won’t you..."

Although surprised, or perhaps shocked, at least from the current situation, the lady claiming to be "Miss Charlotte" is indeed a Circle Sorcerer. After all, even Circle Sorcerers can’t become intimate with relics...

She shook her head, forcing herself not to think or imagine, but to continue looking at the fourth item—

[Capricious Fate: The outlander arriving by an impossible accident, no one knows the next story. Not within fate, sitting under the stage. Divination resistance extra bonus ??.]

Although the last special ability was brief, the Great Witch of Destiny was most concerned about this special ability... After all, the very powerful third item was too shameful. Her eyes became slightly fervent; she loved girls with special destinies like this:

"Although it might be exaggerated by the [Dice Story Collection], this kind of special fate is indeed fascinating... Vanessa, where did you find this girl... After the story ends, I must give her a divination, no, perhaps twice or three times."

The witch with a crimson birthmark on her forehead licked her lips, her curiosity about "Miss Charlotte" had reached its peak.

Though the four capabilities weren’t comprehensive, the witch believed "Miss Charlotte’s" basic values were definitely high. Of course, because she couldn’t see other abilities beyond these four special abilities, maybe the woman from the [Light Worshipper Training Association] had other conspiracies. The ensuing game should be approached with caution; Bella Belindel also plays Roder, and she knows that an early lead doesn’t necessarily mean victory.

Especially when it is clear the opponent will definitely cheat.

Of course, while basic values and special abilities were hidden, the "symbols" each character carried could be seen. Miss Belindel noted that "Miss Charlotte" carried a total of three symbols, one of which originally belonged to her.

[Special Divination Cards - Empress: When the fated person chooses the fated person, the symbol of forming a bond. Luck enhancement, whenever dice are rolled, automatically gain a 5-point bonus.]

This was the item the witch left in Shard’s hands when they met on Friday evening.

[Exceptionally Expensive Roder Card Deck: No one can imagine the contents of that deck. Luck enhancement, whenever dice are rolled, automatically gain a 5-point bonus.]

This was actually the "invincible Roder Card Deck" Iluna saw originally, just with a different name.

[Beloved Crystal Shoes: The shoes of a certain red-haired lady, carried and carefully preserved, frequently used in private. Gain an additional 10-point bonus for female charm checks.]

"Miss Charlotte’s beloved girl’s crystal shoes... carrying someone’s shoes, frequently using them..."

"Miss Charlotte’s image became more vivid in her eyes, even somewhat excessively vivid:

"Private use is just trying it on, not anything else."

She told herself in her heart.

As for the origin of the crystal shoes, she didn’t think much of it. "Miss Charlotte" was a girl from the Golden Dawn Opera Group, carrying items like "Crystal Shoes" that are obviously theatrical props was quite normal:

"Wait, could these be Vanessa’s shoes?"

After the witch finished reading all the contents on the parchment roll, the black-skirt woman from the [Light Worshipper Training Association] and Mr. O’Connor from the [Dawn Church] also finished reading the content. Like the witch, the latter could not see many entries, while the former already knew all the information about the chosen Circle Sorcerer, so she briefly glanced at the four special abilities and already had confidence.

"It’s a normal afternoon in summer, people in the City of Wealth - Moon Bay City Center do not know what kind of exciting story is about to happen here. The audience is seated, the players are settled, and the protagonists of the story—[Silencer] George Pitt, [Detective] Connelly Osborne, [Outlander Traveler] Charlotte, have already vaguely realized, at this moment, the gears of fate are turning once again."

Accompanied by the hoarse sound of the introduction, the people on the bell tower terrace all looked at the Building Block City scenery on the large round table. Three small puppets suddenly appeared, identical in shape but wearing different clothing, indicating the "protagonists of the story" and their positions and states at this time.