The Glorious Evolution

Levi’s previous assessment collapsed after he realized that the Borrower’s fate was in the Rifters’ hands... two dice turns, four rounds.

How much time would that take? They didn’t even need to attack the Borrower, as they could slowly drain his points!

”Move quickly.”

The Borrower gritted his teeth, but the Rifters merely showed him cruel smiles... even the one next in line made sure to waste time before throwing the dice.

Every minute mattered, and they all unofficially agreed to screw the Borrower... no one had any sympathy for him, since he had been given the choice to spend his Fortune Points to reduce the sentence to at least one round, but he had decided to be smart about it.

Fortunately, Gamemaster Gamble didn’t want to bore the viewers and imposed a ten-second limit for rolling the dice.

The Taxman, Burden Collector, and two more Rifters rolled their dice and either benefited, suffered, or landed on an empty tile.

Most of them landed safely on an empty tile, as there were far more empty tiles than those belonging to the five special tile types... Mystery and Gamble tiles were the rarest.

Before long, Levi’s turn arrived, and the crowd immediately greeted his approach with a thunderous wave of cheers and howls, led by his little brother and the girls.

Lev... slap... Celestial! CELESTIAL! CELESTIAL!! CELESTIAL!! CELESTIAL!!...

The chants were so powerful and unified that even the Rifters felt chills coursing down their spines.

They had taken part in dozens of games, and yet, not a single Rifter had warranted this kind of attention at Baron rank... especially not one with a mere three Nocturnal Games under his belt.

Under a thunderstorm of cheers, Levi took a deep breath and rolled the dice without giving it much thought... he knew that using abilities or anything else to manipulate or predict the roll would be spotted by Gamemaster Gamble.

The roll had to be one hundred percent random... otherwise, the game would lose its flavor.

Thud, thud... thud.

Following three bounces, both dice landed on...

[FORTUNE: 6]

[CALAMITY: 6]

[TOTAL: 12]

The expressions of Akira and some of the other Rifters turned nasty while the viewers exploded into a wave of cheers... even Gamemaster Gamble applauded Levi’s luck.

”The best possible roll! Now, you can advance twelve tiles and still roll a second time!” he announced despite the Rifters’ envious looks.

While Levi appeared as nonchalant as always, inwardly, he was screaming his ass off... With no hesitation, he teleported to the twelfth tile, standing ahead of everyone.

Since he still had another throw, the prison tile he landed on remained dormant... Levi picked up the dice and rolled them again.

[FORTUNE: 1]

[CALAMITY: 6]

[TOTAL: 7]

Levi’s happiness was short-lived as he glanced at the beaming Calamity Die... seven tiles away, an ominous, foggy tile called his name.

Calamity Tile!

Arthur and the girls went quiet, their reaction matched by the cheering fans... 6 to 1, with the Calamity Die’s luck dominating and Levi landing on the Calamity Tile.

It was genuinely one of the worst rolls that could have happened in this game, and the fact that Levi dropped it a mere second after that divine roll made it even harder to accept.

Before Levi could react, he found himself standing on the Calamity Tile while a gigantic, dark, foggy wheel manifested before him.

However, unlike the Fortune Wheel, the punishments written across its sections were accompanied by numbers that kept increasing.

[CALAMITY DIE: 6]

[PUNISHMENT SEVERITY: ×3]

The moment those words appeared, the viewers gulped a mouthful of saliva.

”Three times the severity...” Arthur muttered.

”After rolling double sixes?” Nurah stared blankly at the screen. ”What kind of bullshit luck is this?”

Meanwhile, Gamemaster Gamble couldn’t have looked happier.

”You heard the system! A six on the Calamity Die means whatever our dear Celestial pulls...”

He raised three fingers.

”...gets three TIMES WORSE!”

The audience responded with a mixture of cheers and sympathetic groans as Levi stared at the wheel for a moment before placing his hand against it.

His brows twitched once, and he spun the wheel, also refusing to waste his Fortune Points... he had read the punishments, and all of them would have been much more severe if he were forty tiles or more into the game. But since he was still near the start, he would gladly accept his shitty roll.

TRRRR!!!

The ominous, foggy, black wheel rotated rapidly, making haunting groans with each spin... the punishments flashed past the pointer one after another while Levi waited patiently for his fate.

Eventually, it began slowing.

Ting... Ting... Ting...

The pointer passed Tool Destruction, Turn Tax, Marked for Theft, and many other heinous punishments... then it stopped.

[MOVEMENT RETRACTION]

Levi’s expression remained unchanged until the punishment was calculated.

[RETRACT 24 TILES]

’...Fuck.’

Levi felt his heart turn to stone while the audience’s noise lifted the roof with mixed reactions... mostly mocking laughter from the other Rifters’ fans and the neutral viewers.

”Twenty-four tiles!!” Gamble shouted, nearly doubling over with laughter. ”After he took the lead!”

Meanwhile, Levi didn’t even get the opportunity to move willingly... an invisible force seized his entire body and flung him backward, sending him shooting across the board!

19!

18!

17!

Akira turned her head slowly as Levi flew past her... her gaze met the three celestial stars for half a second, filled with utter ridicule.

Levi continued backward until he went through the Borrower’s prison... the bars opened briefly and closed after he was through.

The Borrower gripped the bars and watched him disappear into the distance.

”My condolences...” he murmured, finding a kindred soul with similarly shitty luck.

4!

3!

2!

Levi’s expression became increasingly dead under the mask with every passing tile until he crossed the Start line... alas, to his utmost surprise and everyone else’s, new ghostly tiles emerged behind the Starting zone!!

Everyone had assumed that Levi would stop at the starting tile once he ran out of tiles to retreat across... sadly, this was Gamble’s Nocturnal Game.

–1.

Levi’s brow twitched.

–2.

’You’re kidding...’

–5.

Only then did the invisible force release him, and Levi landed five tiles behind the Rifters who had yet to roll even once.

Then... two notifications appeared above his head.

[POSITION: –5] [TILE DEBT: 5]

”...”

”...”

”...”

Whether it was the Rifters, his friends, or the viewers... everyone stared speechlessly at him as he stood all alone outside the game’s map.

After a couple of seconds, Gamemaster Gamble exploded into laughter, taking utter joy in every Rifter’s misery.

The viewers followed his lead and laughed their asses off, forcing Levi’s fans to defend him, refusing to have their Lord and Savior made fun of.

’I would’ve been better off not rolling.’

Levi sighed, depressed... hearing the tenants’ stifled laughter, he knew they weren’t sparing him either.

Back in the spectators’ section, Arthur and the girls were equally speechless... Nurah opened her mouth, then closed it.

Jojo covered her face while Jasmine merely stared at Levi’s negative position, thinking of ways he could turn it around.

”... I think we jinxed him,”

Arthur said solemnly, not seeing any funny side in his brother’s serious situation... he even suggested the girls stop watching to help his brother recover his mojo from his previous games.

But one smack on the neck from Jojo made him drop such a stupid idea and continue supporting his brother.

Meanwhile, back in the silver Garden... Madam Future glanced at Levi’s outside the map position and then at the Dealer, who was trying to hide his face using his hat.

His earlier confidence had disappeared, replaced by a frozen smile... Madam Future stared at him for several seconds until the Dealer couldn’t take it anymore.

”It’s not over, just freaking watch the game and leave me alone!”

”We shall see...” Madam Future sneered. ”Great Fortune, he said... Remind me to never book you for anything.”

”...”

The Dealer couldn’t retort, as Levi’s situation wasn’t exactly spewing confidence about his craft.