Ch71 - [Too lightweight] Gambling often accompanied the appearance of competitions.

He developed interest in the ‘amusement park chosen by Sirius’.

The corridor wasn’t very long. After making a turn, a pair of giant double doors could be seen at the end of the hallway. A complicated motif was carved onto the doors, faintly like the style seen in ancient times.

The two servants standing guard at each side of the doors gave them courteous smiles.

“Welcome to Carnival City” As they spoke, the big doors opened.

“Boom–”

In a split second, a cacophony of sounds entered their ears like a flood. Cheers, screams, yells…… mixed into an enthusiastic, fevered loud noise that surrounded the two people. If Sirius wasn’t the one who led him here, Nalun would have suspected this to be some illegal gathering.

What entered his view was a dome shaped stadium. After passing through the big doors, they arrived at the high spectators’ seats. The spectators’ seats were filled with men and women. Everyone wore different designed masks on their faces. Their gazes gathered on the center of the stadium while speaking noisily.

Nalun: “……” There didn’t seem to be a lot of people with emoji masks. In other words, was it truly because he’s too unlucky?!

He looked downward and vaguely saw an area of lush…… forest?

“Ahhhhh he dodged!”

“Osway is really too cunning, but Spear is best at teaching schemers a lesson!”

“Schemer? His score is already top ten and it wasn’t because he relied on schemes.”

“……”

Nalun curiously listened briefly and guessed that they should be discussing the competition.

He walked forward a few steps and saw the huge 3D virtual screen beneath him– In an ancient, primitive forest, two men in hunting clothes were currently fighting each other.

Sirius threw a hand around Nalun’s head and stopped him from looking around all over. Moving Nalun to look ahead, he said quietly: “Follow me.”

Nalun: “Okay.” But please don’t touch his head, thanks.

After entering the private booth, everything instantly quieted down. Nalun examined around briefly. The building material of this room was extremely soundproof. There was only a two-person sofa in the private room. Leaning on it felt soft and comfortable.

Sirius popped open a few buttons on his shirt and took out a drink from the side to hand to Nalun.

After Nalun accepted it, he took a sip. Green eyes flashing, he was clearly very satisfied with the taste. He looked forward and discovered that he could observe the competition just now perfectly. Not to mention, he didn’t even need to waste effort looking down.

“What’s this?”

Sirius said: “The final competition before the holiday ended. The match system in this place is very diverse. Other than calculating the daily results, there’s also a 7-day, accumulative score count.”

He pointed at the scene before them: “This match is the final competition between the top 10 competitors of the highest accumulative scores. It’s also the highlight of the amusement park.”

Nalun said: “I really never imagined you’d bring me to this kind of place.”

Speaking honestly, he rather liked it.

Not only can the competitors have an almost complete virtual experience. The observers can observe a ‘realistic’ match through the 3D screen.

Nalun then asked: “Just now, that group of people seemed to have been holding different lots in their hands?”

Sirius got ready to explain.

“Oh, I understand.” Nalun answered first: “Gambling often accompanied the appearance of competitions.”

Sirius closed his mouth and nodded correspondingly.

Nalun keenly noticed a little booklet placed on the side table. Flipping it open to take a look, he discovered that it gave introductions to the 10 contestants.

“This person.” He pointed at Osway: “is pretty lucky.”

As a result, Sirius leaned over, gave a glance, and then expressed: “It probably isn’t only luck.”

This contestant’s score was the lowest of the 10. Their physical attributions were also the weakest. To be able to reach the finals was already at the top of their limit. Their physical strength was the worst of the 10; however, their reflex was the highest. Furthermore, they liked to engage in verbal taunts before and after the fighting.

His opponent Spear was exactly the opposite. He was #4 in points, extremely outstanding. Furthermore, he didn’t register to compete on the first day. Instead, he entered the competition midway three days ago. Within a few short days, he had already accumulated enough points to surpass a large number of people. He was even more anticipated than the #1 Stanell University bigshot and was the most popular favorite to win the championship this season.

Nalun said: “We can also play a round?”

Putting down the booklet, he picked up the drink again and took a few sips.

Sirius naturally agreed: “Okay.”

Then he warned: “This is fruit wine. The alcohol content is very low. The taste is also more similar to juice.”

Wine?

The lightweight drinker Nalun thought briefly and then ended up placing down the cup in his hand.

Placing a bet was very simple. On the side of the armrest, there was a button. After pressing it, a screen would appear in the front. Then swiping the personal comp was enough to carry out payment.

Sirius warned: “The terms of the bet are separated here. One type is calculated with everyone. The other type is…… a friendly game between friends.”

Nalun said: “Then let’s do the second kind.”

It’s not like he was a gambler. What’s the point of betting with a group of strangers? In his opinion, winning against Sirius was more interesting.

Sirius proposed: “The loser…… drinks?”

Nalun looked over coldly.

Sirius innocently looked back at him: “Actually, my ability to drink is also very terrible. Once I only drank this little bit,” He used two fingers to gesture: “In the end, Andrew and the others had to carry me back.”

This wasn’t actually a lie. In reality, the little bit that he drank was a mix of at least three highly concentrated liquor, which made it extremely easy to become intoxicated.

Nalun’s gaze still looked somewhat doubtful.

However, drinking capacity was different from person to person. Despite being powerful, who’s to say Sirius’s drinking ability must be good as well?

“Who do you think will win?” Sirius asked: “For the first round, You can place your bet first.”

The last bit of Nalun’s hesitation vanished.

Osway versus Spear. Who was more likely to win– the answer was obvious here.

He chose Spear.

Sirius didn’t have any opinion and placed his bet on Osway.

The two people could finally concentrate on observing the competition. At first, Nalun was still secretly hoping that Spear would win the match. Later on, he became completely absorbed in the scene of the match itself.

In the intergalactic era, completely virtual technologies were very common. This wasn’t the first time Nalun encountered this kind of holographic environment. What surprised him was the grand scale and details of the environment.

The lush vegetation, the ecology of the primitive era, little animals hiding in terror in the darkness…… and the marks created and left over by the contestants in the passing. All of this already felt pretty realistic even for the observers, there’s no need to mention the participants.

Sirius said: “Asha doesn’t permit extremely realistic virtual games to avoid people mixing up reality with fantasy. However here…… as a competition that only lasts 7 days, there are not too many restrictions for the degree of realism.

During his childhood, Nalun had also had his moment of obsession with games. He couldn’t help but say: “If this environment were released to the public as some kind of top scenery spot, it would be extremely well-received.”

Sirius suddenly picked up his cup: “I feel like I can start drinking.”

On the field, Spear captured Osway, who had been scurrying all over the place. With a heavy punch, he obtained victory. On the screen, it displayed 10% of Osway’s points going over to Spear.

Meanwhile, for Sirius and Nalun’s first round of bets, with the privilege of first pick, the Honored Prince obtained victory as expected.

Osway carried on the tradition of engaging in a ‘friendly exchange’ with his opponent after the conclusion of battle and gave his blessings: “I hope the 10% of my points wouldn’t transfer to someone else too fast.”

His mask was a fox. It looked rather fitting for his personal way of conduct.

Meanwhile, Spear’s mask was a ferocious looking brown bear. Facing the taunt, he didn’t have any response at all. Instead, he turned to search for other contestants.

Osway: “……”

His figure vanished from the screen. The loser would temporarily leave the game for ten minutes. After ten minutes, they could enter the field again until evening approaches. Once the time limit was reached, the final score and ranking would be announced and thus, the victor would be born.

The scene turned, the competing contestants changed to others on the screen. The environment also changed. As before, it was serene and beautiful, a mostly untouched nature without any traces of human activity. Occasionally, the clashing contestants would create flashes of light. The view of the battle was also very spectacular to watch.

At the same time, the difference between the contestants shrank gradually…… This made Nalun rely completely on instincts to place his bets.

Something like instincts… was often connected to luck.

The misfortunate Honored Prince actually shouldn’t engage in this kind of luck dependent game.

After a long time, the Honored Prince, who had drunk three big cups in succession, waved his hand and said with a thick tongue: “Enough, enough.”

He still maintained his awareness; his body just felt very relaxed. The functioning speed of his brain was also a few beats slower than usual. Astute and perceptive, he promptly called for a stop to this activity.

The Admiral, who lost a few times and also drank plenty of wine, still remained very clear-headed.

Nalun’s eyes were filled with accusations of being bullied.

Sirius said softly: “Okay, no more drinking…… Do you need to rest?”

He actually never imagined that Nalun would be so bad at drinking. After all, the liquor content of fruit wine was very low……Although he really did want to see a certain person in an intoxicated state, he wouldn’t go so far as to really attempt getting Nalun drunk.

Under the mask, a certain drunk individual with bright red cheeks narrowed his eyes and commented: “The fruit wine here tastes pretty good. If there’s no liquor content, it would be even more wonderful.”

Sirius: “……Nalun?”

Nalun already closed his eyes completely. Although it wasn’t possible to see his expression through the mask, his flushed red ears already exposed his intoxicated state. Even though he still maintained his awareness, it didn’t feel good.

Sirius sighed and resigned to call for a bowl of sober-up soup.

Just when he thought Nalun had already fallen asleep, the other started talking.

“Go sign up.”

Sirius: “……What?”

Nalun turned his head: “Didn’t you say there’s a competition for two people? We can go.”

Seeing Sirius not responding, he urged, saying: “I want to go to an area with a river.”

Sirius: “A river?”

Nalun said seriously: “I need cold water to clear my head.”

Sirius: “……”

He reached out and took off the possessed dog head mask. Unsurprisingly, he saw a completely bright red face.

Intoxicated from the fruit wine?

Nalun smacked away his hand, turned his head and said in disdain: “I only feel somewhat dizzy, but my awareness is clear. This is a good time to let my body take a nap though.”

When entering a virtual world, the body would enter a sleeping state. Plenty of people would choose to sleep while playing games. Once they wake up, it would be like having a vivid dream. Naturally, staying in this state frequently would weaken the body. After all, the brain needed rest as well.

Sirius thought briefly and agreed to this suggestion.

In his original plans, this was also part of the process. He had asked many people online already and understood that there was a couple’s event in the holiday stadium of the amusement park that was extremely popular and well praised.

That’s right. The comfortable private booth, the clear observational view, and the extremely tasty fruit wine, even the virtual environment to come. All of these were part of the deluxe couple’s service package released by the amusement park during the Hunting Festival.

A change occurred on the screen at the center of the stadium. Sirius looked at the time and discovered that the 7-day competition had ended. On screen, the interface started calculating the cumulative points.

The person who won the championship was Spear. Meanwhile, the Stanell University Bigshot who began the games as #1 ended up falling to #2. What shocked people was, Osway actually squeezed into #3.

The award segment was next. The first three were all rewarded with money and prizes.

Sirius didn’t have too much interest. Nalun also had long since dazed off, emitting a light aura of intoxication from top to toe.

Delivered with the all-virtual equipment was the sober-up soup.

After drinking the sober-up soup, Nalun swiftly dove into the all-virtual cabin. With the sound of the system’s notification, the view before his eyes changed. First, a lingering background music sounded. Then a long mountain range appeared before Nalun’s eyes. Not far away, there was a small river, laying across the land like blue silk.

No clouds for miles, birds and beasts chirped and cried leisurely.

The feeling of exhaustion was swept away from his intoxicated body. Nalun felt like he had instantly come alive again.

He examined the surroundings in all four directions, but he didn’t see Sirius’s figure.

Didn’t Sirius say that people can register to enter in duos? How come the two of them didn’t enter together?

This question very quickly received an answer.

He felt like his shin was nudged briefly.

Lowering his head, he saw a golden Chow Chow.

“Where did this fat dog come from?”

He withdrew his gaze and was about to continue walking forward when he felt his shin being nuzzled again.

Nalun: “……”

Crouching down, he reached out and touched the Chow Chow’s fluffy head.

“Made really quite realistically. Feels pretty good to touch.”

“It’s me.”

Nalun: “And it can speak too? Looks like……”

He stopped talking.

Grayish green eyes gradually widening, he cupped the dog’s face and leaned close. Examining it for a very long time, he finally asked tentatively.

“Sirius?”

The Chow Chow expressionlessly nodded his head.

This time it was Nalun’s turn to fall silent.

The Chow Chow sat upright properly, quietly accompanying him.

Nalun solemnly ruffled the dog head, then pulled on the wooden dog face briefly. A few seconds later, he couldn’t hold back anymore and started laughing.

The Battle God of the Asha Empire’s military, the powerful and majestic Admiral Sirius, actually turned into a dog?

“Although the effect is somewhat unexpected, this state is time limited.” Sirius’s calm cold voice sounded: “After a while, it’ll probably be your turn.”

Laughter instantly coming to a stop, Nalun furrowed his brow and asked: “What does that mean?”

He actually saw a sense of wickedness on the fluffy dog face?