Chapter 242 - 204: Don’t Forget the Compensation

Chapter 242: Chapter 204: Don’t Forget the Compensation

Badilon could never refuse such an invitation.

Because this God of Luck was a gambler through and through.

Badilon stared at Zhang Ji.

Aside from restraining his aura, Zhang Ji hadn’t changed much.

So even though Badilon was only an avatar, he could still see that Zhang Ji was extraordinary.

’An unconventional god,’ Badilon inwardly judged.

In terms of sheer scale, at least, he determined that Zhang Ji had already reached the level of a god.

"What’s the wager?" Badilon asked.

"Gambling is about pulling an uncertain result from an infinite number of future possibilities," Zhang Ji said. "Luck works on the same principle—it’s just finding the most favorable possibility for yourself among the infinite. My game is very traditional. Guess the number on the die. If you guess right, you win. If you guess wrong, I win."

As he spoke, Zhang Ji took out a bronze dice cup, dropped a die inside, and began to shake it slowly.

"This is too simple," Badilon said with a smile.

But just as the words left his mouth, he sensed that something was wrong.

Zhang Ji set the dice cup down and said, "You can make your guess."

The dice cup was forged from Tier Six immortal bronze; once it was sealed, not even Zhang Ji’s own Spirit could easily probe what was inside.

Only then would there be a modicum of sport.

Of course, even so, it wouldn’t be easy to beat Badilon.

So he still had to cheat.

"It’s still very simple," Badilon said with a laugh. "What are the stakes?"

"One thing," Zhang Ji said. "Help me curse someone. Strip him of his luck and make him unfortunate. That’s all."

"Then I’ll have you promise me one thing in return," Badilon said. "However, I haven’t decided what it is yet. I’ll have to wait until this game is over."

"It has to be something within my power," Zhang Ji said.

"Of course," Badilon said. "So, do we have a deal?"

"We do," Zhang Ji said with a nod.

After he nodded, a special kind of power from the unseen world bound itself to Zhang Ji, and it wouldn’t be easy to break free.

It was similar to the sword of judgment he had faced from Yilin Bona, which had locked onto him directly. If Zhang Ji tried to go back on his word, he would be attacked instantly.

This was Contract Magic.

The eighth seat of the Crown of Sinful Thorns, Vincent, who had been captured by Dugu Yunfeng, was most adept at tricking believers into signing permanent slave contracts, then inflicting endless torment upon them as they watched in despair.

Of course, Badilon’s Contract Magic was different.

His was a use of much deeper rules.

It was a special kind of mechanism.

"Let’s see..."

Badilon began to use his authority, trying to see the answer.

Luck was often accompanied by misfortune.

Just like in the various miracles Badilon had performed in the past—when he slew a great dragon, he had certainly stood on the side of luck, but the dragon had stood on the side of misfortune.

When one side rises, the other must fall.

It was just like gambling: the winner takes all.

So although he was called the God of Luck, his role was more that of the God of Gambling.

Believers who used his Divine Skill were all overdrawing on their future good fortune.

A temporary boost in luck would be followed by a long period of decline.

But if their luck held and they won a crucial round, then they won everything.

Very easily, Badilon saw the result.

It was too easy, as if it wasn’t concealed at all.

Three.

He was about to say it, but his authority told him that the correct answer shouldn’t be three.

Badilon looked at Zhang Ji and gave a wry smile. "You can’t do this."

"And why not?" Zhang Ji retorted. "I’m just using my own advantages."

"Fine. The answer is six," Badilon said.

Zhang Ji opened the dice cup. Inside, the die showed a three.

Badilon wasn’t the least bit surprised. He simply asked, "Who do you want me to help you curse?"

"The leader of the Crown of Sinful Thorns, the Lord of Entropy," Zhang Ji said.

Based on the name Zhang Ji had given him, Badilon performed a trace on an informational level.

He locked onto the target almost instantly.

A common legendary figure, it seemed. Nothing special.

"No problem. From this moment on, he will be unlucky," Badilon said.

His authority was used, and unseen, the Lord of Entropy’s fortune was altered by Badilon.

Misfortune would now pay him more attention, while good luck would stay far away.

Badilon discovered that the drain on his Divine Power was immense.

This curse was far from what it should feel like to curse an ordinary legendary figure.

But he had expected as much.

For someone of Zhang Ji’s strength to ask for his help, the opponent was bound to be anything but simple.

"Thank you. If I can be of help to you in the future, I can still carry out that favor," Zhang Ji said with a faint smile.

"I just hope that the next time I’m at the gambling table, you’re not the one sitting across from me," Badilon said with a sigh.

Zhang Ji shrugged noncommittally.

His method for winning was simple.

If Badilon had won, he would have unscrupulously attacked and shattered Badilon’s avatar.

Although the loss of an avatar wouldn’t cause too much damage to his true self, creating one wasn’t easy for Badilon either. After weighing the pros and cons, Badilon chose to go against his own conscience and give the wrong answer.

On the surface, it looked like he had lost, but this was actually the best choice.

It wasn’t worth offending an unknown god from another plane.

Yes, Badilon had already guessed Zhang Ji’s identity.

For a Demigod, this was a very easy thing to do.

Beings of this level have a much more thorough understanding of the information within matter; tracing cause and effect is a simple technique for them.

It was a qualitative change brought about by a quantitative accumulation.

An ordinary person looking at a speck of dust can only see that it is dust.

If they use external tools, they can observe the more detailed, deeper levels of its particles.

Those with strong Spirit, or Extraordinaries who have mastered special techniques, can perceive changes on the subtle levels of matter without needing external tools.

But upon reaching the Demigod level, there is another enormous qualitative change.

To put it simply, they can see the whole leopard from a single spot.

A great deal of information about a substance’s activity is retained within it.

And a Demigod needs only a single glance to understand it all.

"I’m off. I’ll come find you for a game of dice again next time," Zhang Ji said.

"I have no desire to play with you," Badilon refused.

He watched Zhang Ji’s departing figure, his expression growing a little solemn.

It was only because he could also see that gravitational pull, like that of a black hole.

However, he couldn’t see it as clearly as a fey, a god-made creature, could. He only vaguely sensed that Zhang Ji occupied an immense position in the web of fate, and that under his influence, anything he touched would be profoundly affected.

Badilon didn’t dwell on it, because the next gambler had already come to the table, and he was starting a new game.

......

After Zhang Ji left the Gamblers’ Guild, his expression relaxed considerably.

Aside from the Lord of Entropy’s true form, Archer the God of Light, the God of Luck, Badilon, was the easiest of the other seven Demigod avatars to approach.

Zhang Ji had approached him with two objectives.

The first was to play a game with him and use him to cause trouble for the Lord of Entropy.

The second was to gauge the strength of a Demigod and to experience the essence of that higher-level power up close.

Among the many Demigods, Badilon ranked in the middle tier.

Zhang Ji felt that his own power level wasn’t much different from Badilon’s.

However, he was somewhat lacking in terms of mechanics.

Previously, when Zhang Ji fought Yilin Bona, he hadn’t quite understood what kind of mechanics were at play.

But now, with the buff from his three Buddhist Kingdom inner-landscapes, his ability to receive and comprehend information had deepened, so he now had a rough understanding.

It was like the difference between throwing a stone and throwing a supersonic stone.

The principle was the same, but the magnitude was higher and the system was hundreds of millions of times more complex.

That method of anchoring and targeting from a higher plane was almost an instinct for powerhouses at the Demigod level.

By using all kinds of information—scent, color, spiritual fluctuations, even a name—they could lock onto a target directly across spatial dimensions and unleash an attack.

It was impossible to dodge.

It was far more potent than sealing off a space or locking on with an aura.

If one had to describe it, it should be called a causal lock.

The Celestial Intent Seal had a similar mechanism.

If you were locked on by it, escape was nearly impossible.

That’s why in the game, Xiang Zhe could only take it head-on with his physical body.

But obviously, he couldn’t block the power of that seal.

Zhang Ji felt that if he were to face a Demigod at their peak, it definitely wouldn’t be as simple as fighting Yilin Bona.

With the kinds of techniques a Demigod commanded, he would have to face almost all of his opponent’s skills head-on.

Meanwhile, a Demigod could very likely evade his attacks with ease.

He would be at a natural disadvantage from the start.

He would need even more terrifying stats to brute-force his way to victory.

’I still need to train more!’

.....

Not many people noticed the wager between Zhang Ji and Badilon.

Even the Lord of Entropy himself didn’t feel the fluctuations in his own fortune.

After all, that was just one of his avatars, and its true strength was only at the peak of the legendary realm.

His true body was the real Demigod.

However, the Saint King Council was already preparing to move against the Crown of Sinful Thorns.

Balder had joined forces with some highly skilled Alchemists to research a low-cost Magic Potion to treat "crystallized lung disease."

Currently, the ones contributing the most faith to the Rusted Moon Monastery were the miners who excavated Demon Crystal Ore.

They were treated like consumables—used up and thrown away. Few of them lived past the age of thirty-five.

If Zhang Ji wanted to cut off the Lord of Entropy’s source of faith, he had to find a way to solve these people’s problems.

Once a war started, killing these people would not solve the problem. In fact, their deaths would only cause them to erupt with even more fervent faith. Therefore, the better course of action was to cure them completely.

At the same time, it was necessary to provide new jobs and have automated machinery take over the mining work.

They needed to be converted to other gods, to the Saint King Council, or to have no faith at all.

People from the Saint Silver Church Country had also arrived at Two Realms City by this time.

The one who came was a Legendary Knight of the Church Country named Ulrich Simmons.

"I implore the Saint King Council to release the three bishops from the Rusted Moon Monastery. We will do our utmost to compensate you for the misunderstanding that has occurred between them and your side," Ulrich said to Dugu Yunfeng.

Dugu Yunfeng was in a hurry to haul ore back to Origin Star and replied to Ulrich with a single word. He said, "Killed."

He hadn’t killed them initially, but after Zhang Ji learned about it and confirmed that no more information could be extracted from the three men, he had Giles kill them himself.

"Killed?" Ulrich was dumbfounded. He stood up and said, "How could that be? Your Excellency, are you joking with me?"

Dugu Yunfeng didn’t want to deal with him and turned to leave.

Ulrich directly blocked Dugu Yunfeng’s path.

But in the next instant, a flash of sword light streaked past. Sword Intent shot directly into Ulrich’s mind, nearly turning him into a vegetable.

Fortunately, Dugu Yunfeng was only giving a warning and didn’t actually kill him.

Ulrich froze on the spot, his expression filled with a trace of terror.

’With this level of strength,’ he wondered, ’could even the Sword Saint of the current Swordsman Guild match him?’

Suddenly, Dugu Yunfeng stopped in his tracks and called out, "Don’t forget the compensation."

Then he vanished from Ulrich’s sight, leaving the Church Knight standing there, dumbstruck, with a bizarre expression on his face.