When he heard the Guardian’s words, the world stopped. Everything became still, and the moment was imprinted in his soul. Pos forgot to breath. A new God! A new god had arrived, and he had claimed the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques as his own.

Pos’ mind raced. He knew the other gods would never accept that. The other Gods were here first, Gressian was the first god that came to this dungeon. She had the better claim on the dungeon, and even if she did not claim the dungeon, the other Gods would not accept a newcomer coming in and claiming a dungeon as his own. It would cause a religious war. Pos’ head spin, and his face turned blue before he finally remembered to breath.

“Great Guardian, please tell… does Carda claimed this dungeon as his own?” Pos asked, fearing the answer. The dwarf’s relief was palpable when the Guardian answered in the negative.

“No, only this room. Carda has no desire for territory, or conquest. He only need a room, a small room to offer the people a ‘chance’.”

“A chance? For what?”

“To challenge their destiny. To change their fate. To roll the dice for fortune or misery. To offer people a Chance.”

“And if I wish to forego my ‘Chance’, what happened then?”

“Then, you forgo the chance at the treasure on offer. However, this is a dungeon. If you do not play, you must fight.”

“Of course,” Pos smiled grimly, realizing the catch. He gripped his ace tightly.

“What are we playing for? What happened if I lose?”

“If you lose, you can walk out or continue playing. The treasure on offer will depend on the stake.”

“Stake?” A startled Pos asked.

“Yes, this is a game of chance. You must put up something to gain something. It is only fair.” The Guardian said as he finally put the last card on the table. He smiled, showing his teeth. “Carda is Generous, but he is not the God of Charity. Now, do you wish to play?”

“You haven’t told me what we are playing yet?”

“A simple enjoyable game that is new to this world.” The Guardian took back the cards on the table and began shuffling the deck. “Two cards are dealt to both players. Players may ask for more cards if they wish. The objective of the game is to reach as close to 21 points as possible without going over. The King, Queen, and Prince cards are worth ten points. If both players are tied, then whoever has the higher Royal wins.”

That did sound simple to Pos. “What happens if I go above 21?”

“That’s means you have zero points, which is almost a certain loss unless your opponent also goes above 21.”

“In which case, whoever has the higher Royal wins.”

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The Guardian nodded. “That is correct. Do you have any other questions?”

“It does not seem fair, Great Guardian. I have never played this game before. I would lose.”

“You do not need to play,” the Guardian smoothly replied. “You can choose to fight.”

Pos sighed. “I only have to play one game. Then, I can leave?”

“If you still choose to, the dungeon will open a portal behind me. The portal will also open if you defeat me in combat. Do you have any other questions?”

After a few moments of thought, Pos gave the Guardian a small shake of the head.

“Then, what do you wish to stake?”

Pos reached into his pouch…and realized it was almost empty.

Pos had forgotten that he had emptied everything in town before coming to the dungeon. Why would anyone need money in a dungeon? What if you lose them in the dungeon? Wouldn’t it be more sensible to put everything in town and be as light as possible when entering a dungeon?

Like most adventurers, Pos had this thinking and only had a few coppers on him at the moment. Embarrassed, he took out everything he had and placed it on the table. The Guardian’s raised brow told Pos what he thought of his stake. After hesitation, the Guardian shook his head.

“A poor stake. A lousy bet on the altar of Carda. Your bet is rejected. We will need to fight.”

“Wait! Wait! How about this?” Pos quickly took off his helmet and placed it on the table. “My helmet. Dwarven-made armor made of solid steel. Surely, this is good enough?”

It hurts to bet his armor, but Pos knew he would win get some reward when he reports this room to the Adventurer Guild. He could always buy a new helmet; he couldn’t buy a new life if he fought with the Guardian.

The Guardian looked at the helmet for a moment before nodding. “The stake is acceptable.”

The Guardian offer the deck to Pos in one hand. “Please cut the deck.” At Pos’ confused look, the Guardian explained further. “Take a bunch of cards from the top, as many as you want, and placed it down on the table. We shall use the cards on the bottom part of the deck to play.”

Pos did not understand why he needed to do this, but he did as requested. The Guardian took one card from the top and placed it, face-down, on the table in front of Pos. He then took the next card from the top and placed it in front of himself. The Guardian repeated this process, only this time he placed the cards face-up.

When both of them had two cards in front of them, the Guardian placed the remaining cards in his hand on top of the cards on the table. Pos saw that his face-up card was an 8, while the Guardian’s was a 4. The Guardian and Pos shared a look before they both looked at their face-down cards. Pos had another 8, which gave him a total of 16.

“Do you want another card?” The Guardian asked.

Is this enough? Do I need another card?

Pos remembered what the Guardian said about the game. Since the objective was to get as close to 21 points as possible, taking another card was dangerous as any card above 5 meant that Pos would go beyond 21. In fact, the more cards you have, the higher the chances were of going above 21. Four houses of thirteen cards each meant that Pos’ chances of going above 21 were more than half.

“No, I don’t.” Pos said as he placed his card back face-down on the table.

“I shall take a card,” the Guardian said as he nodded. The Guardian took the top card from the deck, looked at it, before placing it down in front of him.

“I shall take another card.” The Guardian said as Pos’ spirits lifted. The dwarf knew that with four cards, the Guardian has a good chance of going above 21. The Guardian placed his card in front of him.

“Please show your card.”

Pos turned his card over to show his total of 16. The Guardian turned his first face-down card over and revealed that it was a 5. That gave the Guardian 9, which turned to 15 when his third card was revealed to be a 6. Pos’ heart pounded as he awaits the Guardian’s last card. The Guardian showed Pos his teeth, before slowly turned his last card over.

It was a Prince.

Pos pumped his fists and hollered in delight. He had won. The Guardian had gone above 21! Then, Pos remembered where he was. He quickly controlled his emotions. Any celebration should be done after he had left the dungeon. For now, he had something important to ask.

“What did I win?”