Moloch looked at Jin and Qiu Yue as they prepared their battle stances against him. He laughed at the sight of the two of them and shook his head. “My, my! Aren’t the two of you feisty! I am not here to fight.” Moloch said as he winked at Jin.
“Wait…does Moloch already know that the System wants Qiu Yue to be part of the store?” Jin thought about it and figured that the System really wanted to know and test Qiu Yue’s capabilities. To check if she was really worth being exposed to the System based on Yun’s request.
Jin was conflicted inside, he wanted Qiu Yue to both succeed and fail. If she were to succeed, he would have someone to share the real success of this dungeon supplier store with, be it as a friend or possibly even a lover once more. (But that was just a passing thought, not his main agenda especially when he had the urgent mission in mind.)
If Qiu Yue were to fail, it would prove to the System, that it had made a bad choice trusting Yun. The System might even recede the recent urgent mission that it had issued, although that had never happened before. Qiu Yue’s failure would also allow Jin an opportunity to criticise the System for hastily making a decision based on Yun’s request.
“Then what do you want us to do? Fight against other monsters? Your minions perhaps? Before fighting against you?” Jin made it sound generic, but he knew that Moloch was a Lord, so he had power over the minotaurs Jin had captured.
“Nope. It’s a battle of wits that I propose. I would compete against either one of you. If either of you two manages to pass my test, I will let you both proceed further to the third stage.” Moloch smirked as he first looked at Qiu Yue. “So this is the one that the System wants me to test?” Moloch thought to himself as he pointed at Qiu Yue who was still confused at the whole situation but stepped forward.
“A battle of wits? Choosing me is the right choice because Jin always needed to copy my notes after the lectures.” Qiu Yue teased Jin as she bumped his shoulder while giggling. Jin reluctantly admitted that she was correct and allowed her to proceed forward.
“What are you testing me on?” Qiu Yue sheathed her katana and folded her arms as she stared intently at the man puppet with the Moloch plushie on it.
“There is no need for any rush. Have a seat.” Moloch clapped his hands, and a stone chair was effortlessly formed out of the ground of the floating platform.
“I have never seen that monster before…” Bin Yong said as he saw how the situation unfolded and for the first time, there was proper crystal clear audio coming from the movie screens, which stunned the entire crowd. Usually, there were a few clips of audio to emphasise certain scenes, but this seemed like a live run of the entire random arena.
“Same for me. Looks like Boss Jin has a few monster designs he has yet to introduce to the public.” Mr Know-It-All commented when he saw the man whose face was covered by a cow plushie. He knew that it was one of Boss Jin’s design, despite how it looked similar to a human. Mainly because Jin had already shown some kind of fondness for metahumans such as Nu Lang, the cowherd boy, and Qi Er, the Magpie Queen from the Qixi Festival and he dubbed them as monsters despite them looking just like humans. It was true that they could be categorised as monsters because Mr Know-It-All knew that there were no such humans with this kind of powers in the world. Even if they existed at one point in time, nowadays they would be some kind of urban myth, only appearing as a tale or legend. But if they lived… then they did out of the public’s sight.
Even the announcers kept quiet and proceeded to watch the scene on the cinematic screen as the banter continued between Qiu Yue and Moloch.
“The scenario is like this; Imagine that you are a Queen, with lots of power in your hands. The ability to terraform your terrain with a flick of a finger or build a wall within minutes. But your town is currently under attack by an army of demons. Demons with terrifying powers and overwhelming numbers.” Moloch explained as he pulled out a miniature town made out of stone from the ground of the floating platform and pushed it near to Qiu Yue.
“I am going to present you a few scenarios to test your wits against overwhelming odds. Tell me how you are going to defend yourself from this kind of scenarios. And while I did say that you have unlimited power in your hand, it was just figuratively speaking.” Moloch urged Qiu Yue to sit down while Jin stood behind her to look at the ‘war room’ discussion that was taking place.
“Whenever you introduce something, this floating platform is going to utilise its magical powers to emulate it. However, if it is deemed as ridiculous, the move that you recommend would not be realised and your turn will be skipped to mine.” Moloch briefly explained the rules of engagement.
“Any more information?” Qiu Yue felt that she was at a disadvantage, but Moloch did not reply at all.
“I am starting soon,” Moloch took a deep breath before describing the scenario. “Your entourage is passing by this particularly small town, and its militia stands at less than 200 men. You were having an afternoon tea with the lord of the town…hmm, something like a royal visit. However, during your tea session, your scouts crashed into the throne room and reported that a demon army is marching towards this particular town, less than a day away. What do you do?” Moloch purposely posted a vague scenario to test her.
As Qiu Yue listened into the scenario, she felt that she was being pulled into a magical world as the floating platform suddenly shifted, the atmosphere around here was turning into something more exquisite.
Next thing she realised, Qiu Yue was sitting on a comfortable sofa chair, and the discussion that she was having with Moloch became so much different. The entire floating platform changed its look to an interior of a royal discussion hall with Moloch on the other side of a long table capable of seating twenty people. Qiu Yue even had a crown on her head, although her appearance did not change a single bit. Jin was standing beside Moloch and kept quiet for the moment while Qiu Yue became fascinated with the beautiful luxury interior of the royal discussion hall.
Right in front of them was a map and the miniature stone town was right in the centre of the map. Various miniatures started to appear on the map, and both Qiu Yue and Jin could see that they were representing Qui Yue’s Militia and the Demon Army.
“So…what do you do?” Moloch, who dressed suitably well for high nobility meeting, was sitting comfortably on the side of the long table and posed the question again to Qiu Yue.
Separately, the question that Moloch posted seemed to have started a heated discussion in the auditorium, especially in the crowd of customers. “I would put up walls, create a defensive parameter to defend myself.” One of the customers said.
“I would retreat since I only have 200 troops at my disposal. Perhaps, move to another town and gather more troops.” Another customer started to voice out her own opinion.
Even Mr Know-It-All had his own personal thoughts about some possible tactics, but he reserved it to himself since the question was too vague and the lack of information was not helping him at all. Besides, Mr Know-It-All was part of the audience, so he acted like one.
“You did say I can do anything to protect my people, as long as the suggestions I recommend are not over the top ridiculous, right?” Qiu Yue smiled as she got up from her seat at the edge of the long table and walked towards the middle of the table.
Moloch nodded his head and extended his hands up. “Please.”
“Alright then.” Qiu Yue started to observe the entirety of the map, thinking and fiddling with the miniatures but the current instance alone immediately began a commotion within the crowd.
