Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 32: Winner (1)

historical

~Hours earlier

“What’s all the commotion about?”

“Didn’t you hear? Empress Aritzia is challenging the masked wife stealer in a game of Dimensions!”

Everyone knew about the oddity of Ancient Games. Other than an arbitrary name they were given, it was impossible to discuss the games further. This was because one was meant to figure out the rules on their own!

Back when Dyon entered the Elvin Tomb and tried to describe the game that blocked their way to Ri, Ri hadn’t heard a single word he spoke. Even though everyone was aware of the existence of Ancient Games, what made them so intriguing was precisely the fact that no one knew what the exact rules were.

Still, Dyon remembered this particular game, one that he now knew others referred to as Dimensions, quite well. He likened it to a game of blocks, a mobile phone game from his mortal realm where the goal of the game was to push a special block out from a blockade of several other blocks.

There were, however, major differences between this game of Dimensions and blocks. For one, in Dimensions, the so-called penultimate block isn’t a block at all, but rather the human playing. Secondly, the ‘blocks’ stopping you from achieving your goal are far more complex.

Not only did all of the blocks reset the moment you made a wrong move, sending your body back to the beginning, but, the game of Dimensions messed with its player’s senses, making it difficult to even know which direction one had to go in.

At this moment, Dyon and Aritzia stood in a large game center within Central City that reminded Dyon of the Chaos Arena back on Earth.

The game center was a massive circular tower with spectators arranged in several layer rings around its inner circumference. Usually, there would be multiple platforms for multiple games going on near the center, however, considering the fame of these two, there was currently only one!

Aritzia and Dyon stood across from each other, about 50 meters apart. On one side, Aritzia had a confident and elegant smile. Since she entered the tower, her record in Dimensions was 37-0. There simply wasn’t a point to playing anymore because there was no one worthy of being her opponent. In fact, all her life, the only person she had ever lost to was her father.

As for Dyon, his record read as 0-0. Clearly, he had never played before. But, while this made others believe Aritzia would win, it wasn’t to the point of disdain for Dyon. Who here couldn’t remember the scene of the masked wife stealer defeating half a dozen Emperors and dozens of Kings all while suppressed by the Legacy Transfer of the Valley of Geniuses? One would have to be a fool to look down on him.

“I hope you’ll remember our bet, Lady Aritzia.” Dyon said lightly, amusement clear in his voice.

“I hope you’ll remember it as well.” Aritzia replied casually.

A blocky, stiff sounding voice boomed over the game center. In that moment, Aritzia didn’t hesitate to shoot forward, garnering the cheers of the crowd.

Dyon smiled. Before this began, he swore off his divine sense, while Aritzia took off her glasses. In reality, if Dyon wanted to use his divine sense, even with it only being able to display a fifth of its prowess, Aritzia and the game monitors weren’t qualified to see that he was cheating. However, did he need to do so?

The moment the voice flagged the start of the event, the empty space between Dyon and Aritzia completely changed. What appeared was a large crystalline cube cut into segments that made it look like a massive completed puzzle. Due to its appearance, even after Aritzia entered, she could be clearly seen from the outside.

Although the game rules couldn’t be shared among individuals, everyone knew that whoever reached the top of the cube first would be the winner!

‘There’s no fog?’ When Dyon realized this, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself. He suddenly realized that the game he played in the Elvin Tombs, despite years of degeneration, was actually far more complex than this game.

The fog in the Elvin Tomb had the purpose of making it difficult to understand which direction you were going. It was infused with an array that made up, down, and left, right. In addition, it could read your intentions, so it wasn’t as simple to ignore as going in the opposite direction you intended.

However, it was clear to Dyon now that this twist in the game was far above the complexity of what this tower believed its saints should be capable of.

What did this mean? It meant 15-year-old Dyon, with a mere Essence Level Soul, was already capable of more than what the tower expected from this collection of geniuses. Such a matter really put things into perspective.

‘Aritzia… Oh, Aritzia. Today’s going to be a very embarrassing day for you. It might have been a challenge if the fog was implemented into this version of the game without my divine sense… But, since it isn’t, your only option is to lose.’

Dyon leisurely walked forward. At that moment, Aritzia had already completed 10% of the cube and was diligently working her way to the top. Her beautiful figure had mesmerized the crowd so much that no one even realized Dyon hadn’t moved.

Complex golden gears flashed in Dyon’s eyes as he stepped into the cube.