Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

After the death of the Charming Lady and the Dark Stalker, perhaps because the story narration only needed to focus on one person, extensive environmental and psychological descriptions appeared in the Black-Robed Keeper's narrative.

Iluna didn't care about those obviously nonsensical psychological descriptions; she was very sure that Shard fully understood the current situation and might even already know the Traits of the Dice Story Collection.

This was not only trust in Shard but also trust in Luviya. On the road of searching for The Chosen One and the grand prophecy of the Whispering Verses, sometimes Iluna Beath felt that she, this genuine Chosen One, was actually the unnecessary one.

All actions were carried out by Shard, all information was provided by Luviya. Sometimes, she would question her position among the three. But this self-doubt, precisely proved her trust in Shard and Luviya.

No matter the time, she would never doubt Shard's combat ability, nor would she easily question the information provided by Luviya.

"Since I'm leading this event, I won't let them down. I'm not like Shard who is always unexpected, nor like Luviya who knows all kinds of information, but at least, I can do my own thing, fulfill my duties..."

Amidst the whistles and bells, the Glimmer from the Brass Ring illuminated the darkness. The Ring of Fate transformed into a Dark Golden Balance, and the Glimmer shone everywhere. In the surprised expressions of everyone, the power of The Chosen One illuminated the tabletop in the light.

"I cannot bring you victory, but I will use my Wisdom to at least ensure you do not lose this game."

"Enter the combat round, please roll the dice for a 'punch' assessment."

With a muffled bang, Shard's punched fist was blocked by a raised arm, and then a gloved black fist swung towards him, which Shard also blocked with his arm.

After a short clash, the two engaged in close combat using only fists and arms. Although Shard hadn't systematically learned boxing, his outstanding Physical Quality itself was the strongest weapon, and the guy covered in black clothing, whose face was always in Shadow from any angle under the hat, clearly had Power and Physical Quality equal to Shard.

The acquisition of the Strength Spirit Rune itself increased power, and Shard also had the Relic, Impure Dragon Blood. When Dr. Schneider and the four arrived at the door, they happened to see the scene of two people swinging fists and hitting each other's arms. Bill Schneider, as a professional psychologist, had received professional combat training during his studies and could see that neither of them knew boxing, only relying on Power to swing punch shadows, to the point where neither could stop the other.

The action mode of Thief Jack was not inclined towards brawling, thus after entangling with Shard, he immediately tried to move toward the window.

"Surround them!"

The doctor whispered, and along with Priest Augustus, Dorothy, and Luviya, rushed into the room.

Priest Augustus was the slowest, thus blocking the direction of the door and window, Dr. Schneider moved the fastest, quickly blocking the way to the dining room and side bedroom, Dorothy walked alongside Luviya, blocking the way to the master bedroom and study. The four formed a triangle, enclosing the two men swinging fists from afar.

As Shard fought and retreated, he and the thief officially moved to the center of the living room.

Under the gas lamp's light, the shadows of the four around them stretched into long lines, as if forming a triangular cage.

Of course, because the four did not directly interfere with the story, just standing there, the people on the second floor of the Prophet's Society witnessing the last part of the story could only see two puppets clashing fists, unaware that there were actually four additional spectators.

"No, we can't catch him like this!"

Priest Augustus spoke to remind them; the Old Cleric, though only at the Second Ring, had considerable insight. He said solemnly:

"Thief Jack becomes stronger when met with strength, Shard, this won't work, you can't win against him with boxing, eventually, you'll make a mistake, but he won't."

"We must think of a way; since we've forced this thief to such an extent, we can't let him escape!"

The doctor immediately said.

"Shard absolutely cannot use the Circle Sorcerer's power, otherwise the Church will immediately know he is a Circle Sorcerer."

Luviya and Dorothy stood together, the blonde girl slightly nervous:

"We can't use Supernatural Power, perhaps ordinary means will work. Thief Jack is suppressed by the Dice Story Collection, maybe we can let Shard touch extra Symbols, add extra Points for him."

"I can almost hear the constant sound of dice falling now!"

Shard squeezed out sounds from between his teeth, as the opponent before him, with equally poor punching skills, but astonishing Power and speed. Priest Augustus's worry was actually redundant, even if Thief Jack becomes stronger when met with strength, but the Relic does not have 'another me,' at this time the gentle woman's voice beside Shard's ear was correcting his punching Direction, striving to ensure he does not fall behind.

"Even if we find extra Symbols, Thief Jack becomes stronger when met with strength, he will become even stronger."

The doctor reminded, but Luviya already had an idea, she was the one most familiar with the Dice Story Collection:

"Thief Jack becomes stronger when met with strength, means when encountering an enemy, he will certainly be stronger than the stronger one."

The reality encountered Thief Jack, who was stronger than the strongest among them, so no one could stop him because the combined power of both in battle was not equal to the sum of their strengths. But in the Dice Story Collection, as long as the two were in a cooperative relationship, their points could be added, and Thief Jack was still the points of 'the strongest'. This was the reason why at the beginning, the other two characters collaborated on reconnaissance and actually found Thief Jack!

As she said this, Shard and Lecia both suddenly understood. Although the doctor and the Old Cleric didn't know what they were talking about, they knew they had found a method.

"That's why the professor from the Truth Society would immediately give up the task after one character died!"

The blonde girl also understood:

"That makes sense now."

"So, there's only one way for Shard to win, and that's to help him find someone to collaborate with, who can add points with him."

The Old Cleric speculated, and the blue-eyed psychologist then suggested:

"Annette, should I step in to help Shard? Even if the story includes me, I can say I'm coincidentally visiting him."

"No, only manipulated characters in the story can comply with the rule of cooperative addition. We are just background characters in the story, so even if we help Shard, it wouldn't have the rule effect of the Dice Story Collection. Furthermore, given Shard's current punch speed without showing supernatural power, who among us would dare go up to help directly?"

Luviya immediately shook her head, and Dr. Schneider glanced at the two exchanging punches, understanding her point of view.

"Can Raise the Dead work? Awakening corpses and controlling undead."

The Old Cleric quickly spoke, and although the group more or less knew this old gentleman understood necromancy, the casual way he spoke such words was still surprising.

"No, the other two have already withdrawn, and their corpses are now part of the story background."

This time it was Dorothy who replied; among these people, she was the only one who had personally seen the process of the game.

"No need to worry, I feel I can hold on a bit longer. But the influence below seems to be getting stronger, the power of the Dice Story Collection is affecting us."

Shard whispered, and though the sound of punching was exaggerated, it truly resulted from exchanging blows. Shard never knew he could punch so fast before; this was also his first attempt at fighting with full strength without holding back, which was an interesting and useful experience.

"In other words, only Shard himself can help Shard, but that's a paradox. Any power imposed on him, Thief Jack will also possess."

Dr. Schneider said, but suddenly furrowed his brows:

"It must be a part of Shard or belong to Shard to comply with the game rules of the Angel-Level Relic Dice Story Collection; yet it cannot be Shard himself and his belongings in terms of power, otherwise the Sage-Level Relic Thief Jack would only become stronger... It belongs to him but isn't him, and can collaborate to throw dice, as part of the story."

"Luviya's guess and my initial thoughts are basically the same, encountering strength but it can't become the sum of the strength of 100 people."

Shard laughed, focusing on staring at his opponent, swinging alternating punches and using his right foot to block an incoming kick, head crashing into the opponent's hood:

"It belongs to me but isn't me, and it possesses its own traits, skills, and characteristics, able to collaborate with me. Dorothy, throw it over here!"

"...Due to the characteristic of Thief Jack, his punching points are exactly the same as those of Shard Hamilton, his basic strength, and speed being identical to Shard Hamilton. The battle remains even, please continue to roll the dice for the next round of combat."

That familiar voice echoed once again, and Iluna, who had already rolled the dice three times for this battle, reached out for those two dice once more.

"This won't do."

Those nearby knew whether they could catch Thief Jack tonight depended on this opportunity, even Princess Angelina and Princess Margaret grew tense.

Miss Green behind Iluna gently patted Iluna's shoulder:

"It won't work this way, you first rolled 53, the second time it was 54, and the third time it was 55. Even if each time you roll the dice, the points continue increasing like the last two, Mr. Hamilton will undoubtedly lose eventually."

During the determining process, the initial points of Thief Jack were even once with Shard, while the following two times equaled the extreme value of the previous numbers.

Iluna realized this too; at this moment the Dark Golden Balance on top of her head was radiating light, the power of Balance enveloping the table, directly impacting the relic with the power of the Chosen, barely controlling the points, which was why she made the numbers increment after every roll. After her opponent died, Iluna grasped the key to the game, although she lacked sacrifices, she herself was Balance.

But the highest points of the dice were 100; she would ultimately have Shard's determining points reach the true extreme value. Iluna knew Shard was trying to find a solution, and what she could do was prolong the time.