Even as the dice spun like a washing machine gone out of control, Luo Bo calmly nocked her arrow and aimed at the left die before she took a deep breath in. Her Illusive Rabbit Cultivation emerged from her back and multiple rabbits were jumping around happy as if to encourage her to get this right.
When she released her bowstring, the arrow flew with a quiet tugging sound and in a blink of an eye, it was already on one of the faces of the die. Slowly, the cube ceased its spinning and all those present could see that her result turned out to be a 6. While it was a little close to the edge, it did not change the fact that she had calculated the time, distance and strength of her shot to get it right on the first attempt. (The culmination of her training was shown here as not any archer type cultivator would be to get what they want on the first try unless it was pure luck)
The two Panda NPCs clapped, but their faces did not show any signs of surprise, as if they had known beforehand that she would be able to get it right.
However, the challenge now passed on to Shi Zuo. At least Luo Bo had increased the odds for him with her 6. Their objective was to get either a 10 or 12 so Shi Zuo could now aim for the face of a 4 or 6 to beat this dice game.
Having to increase the odds from one sixth of a chance to one third to a win was a major improvement and he knew he had to make the best out of this opportunity before anything strange could happen with this game.
Alas, he did not have the skill to predict a dice result and even if the Monkey Cultivator could even see the die faces, he did not have the kind of training Luo Bo have to throw it at the precise moment.
Therefore, he was leaving it to pure luck and chance and threw his axe at it without even looking. (Shi Zuo even whispered a little prayer before sending it out)
The axe swirled in a curved direction before hitting one of the faces of the die and when the Panda NPCs stopped the spinning of the cube, they found that the axe was stuck at the edge of 5 and 6! It was an unbelievable turn of events and they thought they could clear this 'simple' event fast.
However, the atmosphere changed almost instantaneously when the Panda NPCs stood at one side to deliberate the results causing the Pandawans to hope quietly that it would be a 'fair' judgement.
"Sorry to say, the axe edge is more towards the face of 5 than rest of the weapon," Hei declared that Shi Zuo had failed the dice roll combination.
"In addition, the handle of the axe is towards the face of 5, so we shall count your result as 5, making your total score 11," Bai commented further and Luo Bo immediately jeered at the result.
"What nonsense! The axe blade is clearly swinging towards the face of 6! And can't you give us a break? We are in the middle of 10 and 12! We do not need any bonus items or whatever, just give us the pass to go through." Luo Bo argued and the two Panda NPCs shook their heads.
"That is not what we agreed upon and we will not change the deal. For fairness' sake, we can let Shi Zuo throw again this one time. We will ignore the previous throw and pretend as if this was his real one." Bai offered, yet this sort of pampering irritated Shi Zuo.
What does the NPCs mean by the handle of the axe facing the direction of the face? What about the portion of the axe blade? If they were being calculative, he too could play that game. Thus, he removed the axe that was on the die and portrayed his monkey cultivation.
"Since you have those ridiculous rules to decide on my axe throw, then let me show you what is called playing fair." Shi Zuo yelled as he gathered his energy and focused it on his axe. Luo Bo could even feel the axe was filled with intense chi which she never felt from him before.
She decided to step back a little when she saw the cultivation portrayal of the monkeys above Shi Zuo to be screaming and shouting incessantly. They, just like him, were clearly unhappy with the Panda NPCs' decision.
Hei and Bai could have said it was a no go right from the beginning and Shi Zuo would have accepted it without any problems. But their absurd reasoning, despite giving him a chance to try again, was the trigger for his sudden flare up and he decided to play a tit for tat.
When the die began spinning again, the Panda NPCs allowed Shi Zuo to throw his axe at any time. They all assumed that he was about to perform a more forceful throw so they decided to step back a little as well.
And yes, when Shi Zuo was ready, he did throw with force… but they were not expecting what he was aiming at.
When he threw the axe, a burst of chi emerged out of him, as if giving the axe the needed push to do its best. In response, the axe suddenly imploded from within and subsequently transformed into a humongous axe. If one needed a comparison, it was about the size of a Humvee when the die was at best a standard medium sized cardboard box. And this time around there was no handle to the enlarged axe blade, just the metal edged portion swinging towards the die.
The Panda NPCs were surprised by the humongous axe blade that they instinctively dodged away, thinking that the Pandawan had gone crazy and had aimed at them. Yet, to their astonishment, it did hit the die and the weight of the axe forced the die to be stuck on its edge while it made a loud bam sound upon touching the ground.
"Due to inconclusive evidence, we have decided to reward you with the benefit of the doubt and count it as a 6 this time. However, because of the ambiguity, we are unable to reward you with the bonus. Regardless, congratulations to you. The two of you have passed the gamble." Bai announced and the two Panda NPCs clapped their hands while the backdoor creaked open slowly.
Shi Zuo thanked the two Panda NPCs despite knowing that they would lose the bonus. (After all, the Pandwans were aware that Shi Zuo's throw was a bit on the cheating side.) Thus the two of them quickly picked up their weapons once more and ran through the backdoor before the Panda duo might change their mind, eager to see what exactly had been hidden that could enable them to defeat the Ooofpa Loopa with ease.
