CHAPTER 9

They played through the night so the tournament fifth day was going to start soon. Mir decided to go. He might be a child but a single night missing sleep is still okay. Since he awakened a core, the toll on his body wasn’t that violent. Once more, the Burning Sea School was betting as one with Mir and they won every bet. They were all rejoicing. The students even more. To them, this was a great fortuitous event to have met this betting god of a kid. After the tournament, this time, Elder Lan invited Boras and his child to sleep in the Burning Sea School area. They ended up becoming guests of guests. They were treated as VIPs inside the reserved mansion. Mir didn’t care much. In his previous life, he had been served by many in such ways. Boras however was still not sure whether he was dreaming or not. However, as soon as they got to the bed, they slept without care. The next day was the same. They went to the arena and started betting. However, something strange happened during the fourth match. It opposed a young thirteen-year old girl to a thirteen year old man. Both at the seventh realm. But the young girl had something special. Her core was strange. Rather than it being a simple blue circle, it was a red rectangle. Mir was frowning. Even though he could see what it was, he didn’t know what it referred to. And behind him were around thirty people awaiting his betting orders. Of course, the lady was going to win but…He was questioning her core. Feeling something amiss with Mir, elder Lan asked:

“Mir, is it difficult to determine the winner in this duel?

-No, elder. The girl will win but it’s strange.

-Strange? What is?

-Her core. It’s different. I’ve never seen one like that. They were always blue and circular but she’s got a red rectangle.

-Oh? Then, this must mean she is a bloodline owner. What can you see exactly, little Mir?

-Her core is fused with the Raging Inferno Squirrel bloodline. But I don’t know what it is.

-Hum…Raging Inferno Squirrel bloodline. She must be from the Squi clan in the east. A bloodline is basically something earned by an ancestor. By making a contract with a beast or eating thousands and thousands of them, a bloodline develops. It is the fusion of the power between men and beasts. It is extremely rare as the method to make such contracts disappeared with time and there aren’t enough beasts of the same race to go for the second option. Even more so when it comes to powerful bloodlines. The stronger the beats, the less they exist in numbers. However, having a bloodline is an incredible help to martial artist. It enables one to be far stronger. For example, here, you can probably see the difference in both their powers. They are both geniuses, yet, because of her bloodline, her future will be brighter and she will be far stronger.

-I see.”

Indeed, the power she had was far higher. She could contend with eight realm artists while being in the seventh realm. That’s how powerful the bloodline was. However, Mir was still curious.

“Elder Lan, what’s this Raging Inferno Squirrel?

-Little Mir, you do know about the rank and realms we use to determine a cultivator’s level, right?

-Yes. In each rank, there is nine realms.

-And yesterday, you learnt about weapon’s rank.

-Yes.

-Well, beasts are the same. We rank them so we can have an idea of their races value. Beasts have their own strength measured the same way as ours, in ranks and realms. However, depending on their races, they have strength bigger inside the same realms. To rank them, we used letters. It starts from the weakest ordinary (E) to the (A). There are two more ranks though. (S) is just higher than (A) but it refers to a beast that can become strong enough to destroy a kingdom, a ‘Special Beast’. And finally, higher than that is (M). It encompasses all beasts able to become strong enough to destroy the whole continent. This is their bloodlines rankings. This squirrel is no more than a (D)-rank. But it’s already incredible. If that girl ends up reaching the third rank, with that bloodline, she would no doubt have the brightest of futures!

-Bloodlines uh…Thank you for the lesson elder Lan!

-Hmm, Hmm, you’re welcome little Mir! So, should we bet on the girl then?

-Yes.”

Mir could see the bloodline and just like for the core, he understood the principles behind it. Now, with the knowledge related to it, he could create bloodlines. So, of course, his next step was to get the required ingredients. And for that, what best is there than a prince? The envoy arrived to meet Mir and elder Lan after the day’s competition. Mir told him:

“I want 20L of a (M)-rank beast or I won’t play!”

This was enough to surprise both the envoy and elder Lan. While the blood of such beasts was rare and priceless, it wasn’t worth the rank 4 armor. At least, in this period, the blood had no real use. It was hard to make weapons and this blood was too valuable to try to use it so it ended up being useless. Except for its value as a treasure and a rarity, it didn’t mean much. The rank 4 armor however could be used! If the prince had enough blood, he would agree is what they thought and he probably had that much blood. If a prince didn’t, then who would?

Days passed and the night of the tenth day, Elder Lan and Mir went to the casino once more. Boras decided to go with his village friend drinking for once so he left Mir in elder Lan’s care. He had absolute trust in elder Lan after everything that happened. After all, elder Lan had given him 35 million golds already… He was fine with having Mir play at the casino a bit with the elder. And so, at the third floor of the casino, the ninth prince was waiting for Mir and elder Lan. There were dozens of high-ranked individuals here, with the desire to witness this second monstrous bet. The prince walked towards Mir and elder Lan and welcomed them:

“Elder Lan, little friend Mir, I am glad to see that you’ve come to play with me! I reserved the whole dice roll for us tonight, let us enjoy ourselves. Please take a sit.”

Both the prince and Mir sat shoulder to shoulder facing the giant glass and dices. They were going to have a showdown. A 5 year old kid and a crowned prince. The prince said:

“You do still have the armor, right?

-Yes.

-Good. As little friend Mir requested, I prepared 20Liters of blood from a (M)-rank beast. Please feel free to see for yourselves. This blood comes from an Ancient Divine Mammoth. I don’t have to tell you how precious it is. Rank5 beast when alive, extremely dangerous and user of the light element. Despite its weight, this monster was fast and could fly through the sky without wings. He was defeated more than a hundred thousand years ago yet his blood remains, pure, as you can see.

-Mir, what do you think?”

In a huge tank, there was a red liquid that had hints of yellow. Mir got up and looked inside. This was indeed the blood of an Ancient Divine Mammoth, a (M)-rank beast race. This w as going to be a good harvest. Mir turned around to elder Lan and nodded. Then elder Lan took out the rank 4 armor, the golden sparrow armor. The prince heaved out a sigh of relief then he turned around and said:

“Elder Tuan Len, would you mind being our ceremony master for this small bet of ours?

-It is my honor, please let me. … Are both sides agreeing to the bet? From Elder Lan, the rank 4 golden sparrow armor.

-Yes.

-From the ninth prince, Mare Reg Nio, 20 liters of blood from a (M)-rank beast, the Ancient Divine Mammoth.

-Yes.

-Very well. The rules are simple. We will be playing martial dice roll until one side guess the numbers right and so determining tonight’s winner. As per my name Tuan Len and my honor as your guest and an elder of the Imposing Thunder Mountain School, I guarantee a fair match. Now, let us begin!”

As he said that, he took the dices one by one and sent them in the air. Then, he took the giant cup and got the dices inside. He shook the cup and finally placed it down on the ground. The dices were hidden and the game could start. Elder Tuan Len spoke:

“As the challenger, the ninth prince, Mare Reg Nio, is first to speak for this first round.

-Five, six, four, one.

-Contestant Quin Lan.”

Mir was speaking with Quin Lan and told him about his strategy. This would really be making a fool out of the prince and elder Lan liked it very much. So, with a laugh, he said:

“Five, six, four, two.”

Doing this, copying three numbers out of four, was making fun of someone in this game. It was a way of saying, let’s have a draw first, I can win whenever I want anyway. The thing is, to martial artists, their perception and sight are far greater than your average man. So, this kind of dice roll is not that hard to play. The difficulty level of guessing the numbers on the dice ends up being related to the ceremony master’s level and ability. Elder Tuan Yen was a rank three fourth realm just like elder Quin Lan. And the prince was rank three second realm. Basically, the odds were in favor of Quin Lan even without Mir. It was dice roll. A game where perception rules. The prince didn’t think he would lose. Since he had talked with Mir previously, he thought he would be playing against Mir and was confident. However, facing elder Lan, he would have to get serious. He might be a prince but a rank 4 armor and 20liters of Ancient Divine Mammoth blood lost in gambling wasn’t something he could brush off easily. It would remain as a stain on his image.

In any case, the first round ended with both player guessing wrongly and so, a draw. It was time for the second round. It went the same way. This time, it was elder Lan’s turn to guess first. With a laugh, he said:

“Five, six, four, one.”

He repeated the prince’s previous guess. It was clearly a provocation. A technique. Since he didn’t guess it, he was teasing his opponent. But his opponent was a prince. How could a prince not return the tease? What’s more, the prince was unsure about the dices numbers. If he teased back, he would save his face but would have to play one more round. If he tried a different combination and failed, he would lose face. It would be the same as saying that elder Lan let him a free chance and he refused it. He couldn’t take such risks so he went for the back-teasing. He said:

“Five, six, four, two.”

It ended once more in a draw. The prince was faking a smile while elder Lan was enjoying himself greatly. He and Mir were laughing and having fun. The third round started. It was the Prince’s turn. He didn’t get the numbers so he said:

“Five, six, four, one.”

Elder Lan laughed and answered back:

“Five, six, four, two!”

A draw again. The fourth round was the same and so on until the twenty-first round. It was the Prince’s turn. He said once again:

“Five, six, four, one.”

However, this time, elder Lan didn’t go for a tease. He said:

“We’ve been playing long enough. Mir, what numbers did you see?

-Four, Three, One, Six. I saw those elder Lan.

-Very well. Then I will say four, three, one, six.”

This was the same as degrading the prince to the level of a five-year-old child. Everyone thought he went too far with the teasing and this old man didn’t want his head anymore. However, to everyone’s surprise, when the cup was lifted, the dices numbers were four, three, one and six. Mir was right, the kid was right. Elder Lan got up, took the tank containing the blood and with Mir, they were starting leave while everyone was still stunned, unable to accept the result. Mare Reg Nio was first to react and as he got up he screamed:

“Wait! Stop!

-Why for?”