This black gemstone ornament might contain the Goddess's power or authority… Otherwise, it's hard to imagine why these "fears" lurking in the darkness wouldn't dare approach!
Did the Goddess give me this thing specifically to deal with this place? That doesn't sound right… I'm already very familiar with this kind of environment. I could get through it on my own just fine!
While turning these thoughts over in his mind, Ebner didn't linger. He quickly headed to the far side of the room, while Edwina, as a pirate admiral with even richer experience, followed without needing a reminder, taking it upon herself to watch their rear.
But the darkness reacted to Ebner like ice and snow meeting a red-hot branding iron, retreating swiftly and leaving a clear passage for the two to walk through.
Thus, they soon arrived at the next room.
This new room was square, its floor carved with nineteen vertical and nineteen horizontal lines, creating 324 squares like a Go board.
But there were no pieces here, and the test clearly wasn't about playing Go.
With his gift of prophecy, Ebner observed briefly and then deduced one of Edwina's fate tributaries. Very quickly, he understood the function of the squares.
This room's trial was luck!
Every step onto a square triggered some extraordinary ability—ranging from Sequence 9 up to Sequence 3—as long as it was one the God of Luck once possessed. It could be attack, defense, support, anything.
Positive effects like "Courage" and "Purification" could be granted, or negative ones like "Corruption" and "Curse." In short, everything depended on luck.
Moreover, walking straight forward without turning would gradually lower one's luck, making negative effects more likely.
Yet winding and zigzagging would trigger more effects overall, increasing the odds of misfortune too.
Most importantly, the straight path slightly to the left of the center was dimmed—someone had clearly once forced their way across by sheer strength!
"To be able to ignore Sequence 3-level abilities… that was most likely an angel.
"But we can't follow their path, because any square stepped on before has a one-hundred-percent chance of triggering misfortune."
As Ebner spoke, he suddenly recalled Snake of Mercury Will's warning and hurriedly took out the "Solomon Coin."
This coin had originally been obtained by the Skade couple from an island with murals of the Angel of Destiny, Ouroboros, before eventually ending up in Ebner's possession.
It could bring great luck to its holder, but if not quickly sealed with the fresh blood of an Arbitrator-path Beyonder after use, it would bring immense misfortune… often leading to death. The Skade couple's son had perished for that very reason.
But Ebner had long harbored doubts about the item. As long as it was resealed in time, it seemed one could use it for luck endlessly. That already exceeded the scope of a "Lucky One," and even a "Winner" couldn't achieve that!
After all, even a Winner had to accumulate luck.
Later, Snake of Mercury Will's warning not to use the coin outside Backlund had given Ebner further suspicions.
And then, on the day of the daylight blood moon, Xio had been "lucky" enough in Bayam to be awakened by the burst water pipe, avoiding death from the side effects of a sealed artifact…
So my guess is this coin borrows from the reservoir of luck accumulated by the God of Luck, allowing it to be used endlessly! And that stockpile of luck must be divided into several parts—one of them with little Will, another perhaps here in this ruin.
That explains why I could use the Solomon Coin in Backlund, and why Xio's narrow escape in Bayam drew on the coin's luck.
If that's the case, then using the coin here in this ruin should give me virtually infinite good fortune! Well, at least walking a few squares shouldn't run it dry.
At this thought, Ebner activated the Pure White Eye. Using his deduction as a basis, he borrowed the power of the Wheel of Fortune to conduct a concrete prophecy:
"You step onto square 10-1, Luck Value '9+,' effect gained: Healing.
"You step onto square 10-2, Luck Value '9+,' effect gained: Courage.
…
"You step onto square 10-10, Luck Value '8,' negative effect triggered: Drowsiness.
…
"You step onto square 10-18, Luck Value '5,' negative effect triggered: Lightning Strike.
"Simulation complete."
It really can manifest so concretely… Could this be what Will meant when he said the me of before figured out a way to concretize the Wheel of Fortune's power—by giving the fated one a "role-playing game" system?
Wait… I remember in that fifth-floor scene of the Dream Labyrinth Tower, the people of the Life School called me "Investigator"… Could that have been another title I left behind, linked to the same system?
Ebner's expression turned odd. Probing the uniqueness of the Wheel of Fortune behind the Pure White Eye, he found it readily accepted this "system interface" mode, as if it wasn't the first time he had created such a "manifestation"…
Come to think of it, this thing has always tried to data-fy the environment. And its earlier ability as the "Die of Probability" wasn't much different from running a campaign…
Only, that dice mistress was a bit of a troll, and only the True Creator's concert could make her behave properly.
After a few moments of inner grumbling, Ebner stopped overthinking. He grabbed Edwina, who was preparing to use Lilith's modified Silent Winter oil lamp to summon a heroic spirit and brute-force her way through, and together they stepped onto the first square.
As the Wheel of Fortune's simulation had predicted, they encountered only three attacks at roughly Sequence 5 strength during the eighteen steps needed to cross.
Ebner, with his myriad methods, handled them with ease.
Once past the board-like room, Ebner took out the vial of Xio's blood he had obtained that morning, smeared it onto the Solomon Coin, and sealed it once more.
With that done, he and Edwina stepped into the next room.
This one greeted them first with blinding light.
After their eyes adjusted, they saw it was vast and empty, nothing inside save six blazing lamps at the top, shining like miniature suns and banishing all darkness.
But on the door to the next room, someone had scrawled six Chinese characters in some unknown pigment:
"Huang Tao was here."
At the sight, Ebner's mouth twitched.
You really do turn up everywhere!
(End of this chapter)