After Felix opened up his eyes, he noticed that the helicopter was just about to land in a military airbase.
The base was packed with soldiers running back and forth, and army jets of all shapes and designs, parked at the side.
“Get down and head straight for the private jet.” George, who was riding in the front seat, ordered Felix and the rest while unfastening his seatbelt.
Everyone heeded his orders and got out of the helicopter. Felix looked around and noticed that the private jet was already in its position for liftoff, waiting just for them.
The 2nd helicopter soon landed as well, letting the 2nd group disembark.
Seeing Olivia, who was wiping her sweaty forehead with her sleeves, Felix couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed to him that even in the other helicopter she was nervous the whole time.
Soon, he shook his head lightly at her belief in superstition and started walking towards the private jet.
No one was having their suitcases with them as they were going to be sent here by a cargo helicopter in the next couple of minutes.
Thus, everyone embarked on the jet and straightway sat down.
As always, Felix chose the window seat. Since Olivia was probably still mad at him, he chose a single seat at the way back of the private jet.
He didn’t want that pest Adam to sit anywhere near him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.” Hearing the abrupt announcement, everyone dropped whatever they were doing and paid attention to the captain’s polite words, “Welcome on board. We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off. Please turn off all personal electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones. Smoking is prohibited for the duration of the flight. I hope that you enjoy your flight as it is going to be a long one.”
Seeing that the announcement was over, Felix closed his eyes and dove back into his consciousness.
He knew that the flight was going to last ten hours, giving him all the time he needed to continue his conversation with the Jörmungandr.
…
“Hm? You guys are playing Royalty?” Felix raised his eyebrows in surprise at the sight of the Jörmungandr and Asna, concentrating on a chess-like board, that had only 15 pieces remaining.
The rest was lying on both sides of the board.
Ignoring his existence, Asna lifted a goblin-like green piece and placed it next to a dwarf-like piece. “I use the goblin’s greed innate trait for a chance to steal the dwarf’s artifact creation innate ability.”
Immediately after saying so, Asna threw a hexagon-faced dice on the board and watched it roll while holding her breaths in hope.
Ting!
“F*ck this shit!” Asna immediately lost it after seeing that the dice had landed on number 1 when the dice had up to 20!
She needed at least 18 for her order to take effect.
“You better not flip the board again.” The Jörmungandr smiled faintly as he took her goblin and placed it next to the tens of fallen pieces.
“Damn, take it easy on her Elder.” Felix couldn’t help but defend Asna in pity after seeing that she literally had only three more pieces left and one of them was the Queen.
Meanwhile, the Jörmungandr still had more than 70% of his pieces on the board.
Such a vast difference only implied that Jörmungandr’s skills in the game were surmounting Asna’s by miles.
“So, do you surrender yet?” The Jörmungandr asked the sulky Asna, who kept looking at her two remaining spiders and the Queen, hoping to spot a miracle to save the game.
Alas, three pieces in the game of Royalty was the same as having only the king with two pawns in chess.
There was no way out for Asna, and even Felix, who barely played this ancient game once in the UVR, could see it as well.
Thud!
In the end, Asna sighed and knocked the Queen down, entailing her surrender.
“Good game little Asna.” The Jörmungandr said, nodding his head.
“Whatever.” Asna looked at the other side and noticed Felix, gloating at her.
Instead of feeling irritated, she just sneered, “Morons who don’t even know how to play the game, shouldn’t be gloating at others.”
Unbothered by her mockery, Felix coughed to attract the Jörmungandr’s attention and asked, “Elder, are you familiar with the sand primogenitor species?”
“Yes.” The Jörmungandr nodded his head while setting up the pieces back up on the board.
Felix sighed in relief after receiving a positive confirmation.
He truly didn’t want to buy multiple bloodlines from different species in order to find out the real species of the primogenitor.
He knew that he would be wasting hundreds of millions in the process and if he was unlucky it might reach a billion SC in losses.
“May I know?” Felix asked politely.
Instead of receiving and response, the Jörmungandr gestured for Felix to sit in Asna’s seat.
Seeing so, Asna gladly stood up and gloated at Felix’s unsightly expression.
“Elder, I don’t know if you heard Asna or not, but I really can’t play the game.” Abashed, Felix let out a forced laugh.
“I know, but you can learn.” The Jörmungandr gave him a side-glance, “You don’t want to?”
“I am willing…but do I need to win to get the information?” Felix sat down with a troubled expression.
“Don’t be silly, you just need to play a game with me.” the Jörmungandr said, chuckling.
“That’s good.” Felix sighed in relief.
If even Asna, who knew how to play the game got beaten black and blue by the Jörmungandr, Felix knew that his ending was going to be even more embarrassing than her.
As he assumed, the game didn’t last for even two minutes before Felix got forced into surrendering.
“Again.” The Jörmungandr said, “Fix your pieces.”
Felix was also rearing for another round after getting destroyed without even managing to take down three pieces of the Jörmungandr.
After they sat their pieces, the Jörmungandr gestured for Felix to start first while informing him, “During my wandering in the cosmos, I have met with the primogenitor of sand only twice. Once, when I was wandering in her territory and the 2nd when we made the pact.” He knitted his eyebrows, “In both encounters, I realized that she is a bit of an oddball.”
“How so?” Felix asked while placing down a spider-like piece, four blocks to the left.
“She loves riddles a tad too much.” The Jörmungandr shook his head in amusement as he made his move on the board, “Out of ten sentences, one is definitely going to be a riddle, and if you don’t give the proper answer, the conversation with her dies right there, making the atmosphere awkward.”
“That’s indeed quite peculiar.” Felix scratched his chin in thoughtfulness while looking at the board.
After thinking for a couple of seconds, he picked up a dwarf-like piece and placed it next to the spider-like piece from before.
“I use the dwarf’s artifact creation innate trait to create a piece of armor for my spider.” Felix said while throwing the dice on the board. Soon, it stopped on number 12.
“Not bad, with that number you can create a rare ranked set of armor that can tank two strikes.” The Jörmungandr said.
Felix was also pretty satisfied with the outcome. Though it wasn’t high enough to create a higher-ranked artifact, it was good enough for a start.
After seeing that the armor had manifested properly on the spider, Felix gestured for the Jörmungandr to play while asking, “What’s her name and species? Does it have any relation with her odd personality?”
The Jörmungandr answered calmly, “Her name is The Sphinx, but her followers and worshipers refer to her respectfully as the Guardian of Knowledge and Truth.”
“That’s a heavy title to possess.” Asna scoffed as she asked, “What did she do or was doing to earn it?”
“As I said, I only met her twice, and I didn’t bother to interact with her that much due to her troublesome way of speaking. So I don’t know much about her.” The Jörmungandr lifted a glacial barbarian piece and put it in front of the spider, ” I use the glacial barbarian to strike down your spider.”
He threw dice on the board and shockingly it landed on 20! The Jörmungandr laughed in delight while Felix couldn’t help but start to despair.
He knew that a 5 roll was needed for a single strike. Yet, to roll 20 it meant that the Jörmungandr had four strikes at once!
The spider with its shiny new armor was able to tank only two strikes before getting killed by the 3rd one. This left the last strike, which was used to take the life of the dwarf, which was near the spider!
Felix didn’t even get the chance to withdraw the dwarf back to safety before getting killed in the first rounds.
Losing a dwarf in Loyalty was the same as losing the Queen in chess! The game was literally doomed after that happens!
“Elder, with all due respect, but your luck is f*cking bullshit.” Felix couldn’t help but drop the pretense of formality and finally snap.
Well, his dejection was understandable as in the last match he got destroyed just like this
“See! I told him that as well and he called me a sore loser.” Asna also voiced her complaint.
“Hehe, you guys are too young to understand the essence of this game.” The Jörmungandr chuckled while stroking his purplish goati.
“If the essence is cheating, I agree with you on that one.” Asna snorted in distrust.
Felix didn’t dare to say it, but he had a feeling that the Jörmungandr was cheating somehow by rigging the dice.
Alas, unless he had solid proof, he could only complain in his mind while continuing the game, knowing that he was going to lose miserably.
“Elder, you still didn’t tell me about her species.” Felix said while gazing numbly at his pieces getting taken one by one leaving him with only ten to play with.
“Oh?” Being reminded, the Jörmungandr scratched his green-scaled cheek and said casually, “She doesn’t have a specific species. She is actually one of the few early Chimera creatures.”
Hearing the term Chimera, Felix’s hand that was holding a piece stiffened mid-air just like the rest of his body.
He just kept looking at the Jörmungandr in disbelief, hoping that he was joking with him.
Alas, the Jörmungandr simply smiled faintly and said, “Your move.”
