The first dice was a one.

It was a rather terrible start, but it must have meant all my luck went into the second—the other could be a six.

I leaned over in my chair, and counted the indents on the second dice.

One.

A terrible pain suddenly tore through my entire body as I keeled over, shrieking in pain. My voice shattered the intense focus of Wei and Yang as they suddenly sprinted toward me, both of them trying to hoist me back up.

I gritted my teeth together to try and hold back the unspeakable pain. It traveled like seismic waves through my body, volcanic and explosive.

“Peijin! Are you alright?” Wei shouted in my ear, trying to stabilize me—his eyes were wide and panicked, and Yang was searching through the Azure Dragon store for something that could ease my pain.

Amelia stared at me with a horrified expression, the dire wolf nudging her cheek in a feeble attempt of comfort.

“I’m fine,” I groan, reaching down and grabbing the dice. Sweat dripped down my face in thick beads, and I could taste the saltiness as they ran down the cusp of my upper lip and into my mouth. Parts of my body were flaking off in gold scribbles, and the pieces almost looked like short phrases. Those were all my future years slipping away.

If that was my luck tenfold, and the chance of rolling a sum of two was already incredibly low, how bad was my luck? It must have been nearly zero if a tenfold increase still turned out with the worst outcome.

Observer 'Socrates': So much for being a god of fortune

But even with the tenfold increase, I wasn’t guaranteed to roll a sum over seven. Perhaps I’d just gotten unlucky—though I knew it was flawed and weak logic in every sense. In part because I failed the probability assessment at school and also because if my luck was that bad with the editor's pen, there would be no hope for me during a second bet.

Yue nervously glanced through the maze, quickly becoming panicked as she struggled to reach the end. Beside her, puppet Yang used his staff to break through pieces of the maze to try and find the correct path while puppet Peijin scrambled with the maze ball. Yue wielded her spear, fighting off the creatures that were quickly approaching from behind.

Puppet Yang slowly snuck up behind an unsuspecting Yue and lifted his glistening gold staff just behind her head, tensing his arm as he got ready to strike.

"No!" I screamed, "Yue!"

The staff sped right past Yue and pierced a humanoid creature in front of her, instantly killing it. Yue turned around, grateful, and let out a deep sigh in front of puppet Yang. With a warm smile and quick pat on the shoulder, the duo continued to fight back the beasts.

I glanced back down at the two red dice in my white hands.

This was the only way.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook the dice, not bothering to read the ghost letter paper before rolling again. “Same bet, alright? I’m gonna get it this time you ghost asshole,” I swore under my breath.

Divinity ‘Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts’ is begging you to stop!

Yang looked at me, his brows furrowed and creating stress lines on his forehead. “Peijin? Are you gambling?”

The dice bounced on the carpeted ground before rolling to a stop. I scrambled forward to check the faces, my lips tightly pressed together to form a white line.

One and one.

This time, I was prepared for the pain. It ripped through me once more, and it felt like a sword had been stabbed through my stomach before stirring and tearing into all my organs. I gripped the soft ground and cried out in pain as more gold phrases flew out from my body.

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“Peijin, stop!” Yang shouted, gripping onto my shoulder and kneeling on the ground to keep himself level with me. His eyes peered straight into mine, and his expression was firm and unrelenting. Wei had left to comfort Amelia, who began to panic at the sight of my breakdown.

I groaned and slowly sat down, facing him and panting. My hair was strewn across my face, and it stuck with the beaded sweat on my skin to form thin strands plastered my forehead and large clumps on my cheeks.

“Peijin,” Yang responded firmly. “You need to tell us what you’re doing. You can’t keep doing everything on your own! I don't care if you're a god or not!”

Ignoring him, I reached my hand out for the dice once more, but he quickly slapped my arm back. I shoved him back and crawled over to the dice, cupping them in my hand.

“Come on, Chance Sought Gold Serendipity. Do you offer discounts when I’m rolling this many times for one outcome?” I let out a strained laugh, my spit thick in my throat. “Thirty-four years is really cruel, you asshole.”

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5 / 5: Peijin is like a tsundere. She pretends she doesn't care about her party members, but here she is convulsing on the ground and giving up half her life span. Good stuff good stuff!

Yang tackled me to the ground, his hands gripping my forearms. One of his hands pressed right against the tower tattoo before lifting me and slamming me on the ground, causing me to fall backward with a loud thud.

“Let go of me! You’re wasting our time!” I struggled against him before I kneed him between the ribs; he immediately coughed and his grip slackened.

Yang hacked, struggling to catch his breath before grabbing my ankle and pulling me back. I immediately fell to the ground, my forehead ricocheting off the floor as I tried to crawl away. I kicked him repeatedly in the head during the struggle, but he flipped me over and his long arms reach up, trying to pry open my hands which still held the dice.

Wrestling on the ground, Yang fought to catch his breath.

“Do you not trust us enough to tell us what you’re doing?” Yang shouted over the chaos. “What the hell are you thinking, Peijin?!”

I pursed my lips and avoided his gaze—my focus was locked on breaking away so I could roll the dice again. If I told Yang or any of them my plan, they would have tried to stop me, and Yue’s death would have been certain.

A small flame burst beside my head, and another note appeared. Yang’s eyes quickly flickered to it as he let go of my hands and pounced for the note.

My shoulder pushed into the ground to propel myself forward, and I planted my knee into his lower back to stop him from grabbing onto the note. Looking over his shoulder, Yang shoved my head back and used the force to grab onto the note and quickly read it.

Zhige unsheathed himself and jumped out of my holster, darting over to Yang’s head to knock him out.

“Zhige, down!” I shouted, and the blade quickly halted mid-air before slowly returning to me like a scolded puppy. Practically crawling up Yang, I reached my hand out to grab the paper, but he had already read it.

He flipped over to face me, and my face was twisted into a distinct expression of frustration and nervousness.

Yang’s voice was considerably softer, and his brows furrowed. “Are you gambling years of your life away?”

I couldn't meet his gaze and tell a lie at the same time.

“I’m not. Give me the paper back, or I’ll roll the dice right now.” Kneeling above him, I raised my hand up in the air and showed the dice, reminding him that he couldn’t stop me if I decided to roll now.

“If I give you the paper, are you going to roll the dice?”

“I’m rolling either way.”

His expression was complicated; his lips were pressed into a white line and the ends were curved downward as if he was trying to hide his offense or disappointment. “Let me roll. Please.” Yang was practically pleading with me now.

“No.” My response was curt and cold. “Hand me the paper.”

“It says the penalty will decrease by two years for each of your rolls. Tell me, how many years have you already lost? Were those the gold words coming off of you?” The phrases came in quick bursts, and the speed caused him to trip over his own words.

“Hand me the paper,” I repeated firmly. What Yang had told me was most likely the truth, since he was able to deduce the penalty, but I had to be sure. The dice began shaking in my hand once more as a threat.

Scathing Reviewer activated!

Admittedly, I was rather nervous to go through the pain again. Fearful I was not, but having pieces of my life forcefully extracted wasn't the best thing. But if losing my years could save Yue, I'd do it over and over again until I'd die, and even then, I'd come back as a ghost to haunt this shitty world.

"I'm sorry, Yang." I brought up my hands and shook them once last time, closing my eyes and praying the outcome would be better, but a blue notification suddenly appeared before me.

Divinity ‘Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts’ is willing to gamble with you.