Chapter 11: Betting Choice.

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"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." — Lord Acton (1887)

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As he examined them, he noticed that no one in the room was eating normal food. There was no cooked food in sight, and all that he saw were bits and pieces of metal of various colors.

While he was examining them, they were also examining him. The green-skinned Big Boss, in particular, examined the three of them slowly and one by one. It was as if she was examining goods that she was about to purchase.

After the inspection, she said, "I choose the medium one. His eyes look sharp, so he should be mentally tough."

The red-skinned Apostle shook his head and said, "I bet on the big one. He has a big body, so the hunger shouldn’t have affected him much. He should be able to control himself better."

"That depends. If he was a fat eater before his body was reformed, he won’t be able to control himself now. In fact, the gluttony worm will only make his lack of control worse," the green Big Boss said in refutation.

The red Big Boss thought she had a point, so he asked Tessa, "Was he fat or muscular before the transformation?"

"Hey," the green woman yelled at him. "No cheating."

The red Big Boss snorted and said, "Fine. I still stick with him. I bet ten silver."

As he spoke, he tossed ten shiny silver coins onto the table.

Then he glanced at Alex as he said, "I’m not changing my choice to that skinny one. He is even shaking. Clearly, he is on the edge of losing control. I wouldn’t bet on him at all."

The green one nodded and said, "I am willing to bet that he will lose control first. I bet ten silver on that. I also bet ten silver that the medium will last the longest."

She too tossed 20 silver coins into the pile on the table.

Then she said to the smaller Apostles, you’re free to join.

So far, the Small Bosses had been quiet or talking in hushed tones. They didn’t dare to speak up for fear of offending the Big Bosses, so it wasn’t clear if they were interested in betting or not.

However, once they were allowed to bet, they all joined the betting pool. Not one of them held back.

This made Alex wonder as he thought, ’It seems this is a normal event to them. Either betting is something they like to do, or betting is something they have to do.’

’I’m sure the Big Bosses enjoy betting. As for the Small Bosses, I am not so sure.’

Anyway, ’What is this restraint training about exactly?’

Very quickly, everyone had dropped money to bet on the outcome of the training. One in ten bet on him to do well. Five out of ten went with the green Big Boss to bet on Robert to perform the best. The remaining 40% agreed with the red Big Boss and bet on Barnabas. By the time everyone was done betting, the table was full of silver coins.

Alex felt indignant that no one had faith in him to show restraint and control himself. Then he remembered that he couldn’t control his body all the time.

So he thought, ’They have a point. I wouldn’t bet on me if I had money.’

If he had money, he would bet on Robert too. Unfortunately, he had nothing on hand to bet. And even the money he saved at home was bronze coins, not silver.

While he thought about how much he could win by betting all his savings on Robert, the betting pool arrangements were finally complete.

So Tessa said, "Let us begin."

Then she pointed at the three chairs in front of her and said to the three of them, "Have your seat."

As they took their seats, the Big Bosses and Small Bosses surrounded them and the table. They formed a wall of flesh around the table while their four eyes fixed on the three participants.

Alex tried to ignore them and focus on Tessa. She was saying, "You have in front of you a delectable piece of meat. It is highly nutritious food that will help you grow stronger faster."

"The flesh of Apostles is a rare delicacy to every Apostle of the same kind. So you should be careful of Apostles who have the same Titan Nature as you," she said with a hint of seriousness in her voice.

"That’s for you to worry about in the future. For now, you need to learn how to stop eating before you lose yourself to food."

She swung her baton in an arc, pointing it at the crowd around them as she said, "As you can see, there are different kinds of titans. Every titan has different dietary needs to support their existence. Their food can range from copper to silver to gold to platinum. In your case, your food is flesh."

"But one thing titans have in common is that they grow stronger by eating, and the more they eat, the stronger they become. This is the main reason why humans have chosen to form a symbiotic relationship with titan larvae, also called gluttony worms."

"Of course, this relationship comes at a cost. The first cost is something you’re already familiar with. The process of transformation is deadly."

"In the best-case scenario, one in two people die during the process. Even Squires who have trained their entire lives to become Apostles still have a 50% survival rate."

"Of course, they are different from you miners in that the main cause of death for them is the loss of control. Their body is too strong to fail the transformation. Their minds are their only weakness."

After taking that jab about the poor quality of their background, she said, "Unfortunately, surviving the transformation is not the end of the struggle. You have to battle your worm every day for control of your mind."