Fated Meeting
"Bruce, did I hear correctly? Did you say we're going to the casino?" Sean looked at the kid who was laughing hysterically while holding a bag of gold coins.
"You heard correctly we are going to the casino" Bruce dragged the group to the casino in the city.
"Are you insane? Do you want to bet all our hard-earned money away?" Sean finally realized that Bruce was absolutely a lunatic. He had never thought about gambling away their entire fortune in a casino.
"Wait, are teaching us how to become gamblers so that we can quit being bandits?" Sean did dream about becoming a gambler once. However, he lost all his money and got dumped by his girlfriend right after. Afterward, he swore to never step into the casino again.
"You're joking, right? No one can be a professional gambler because the house always wins!" Bruce gave a weird look at Sean.
"To remove the mayor of your village, we must remove his backer" Bruce began to explain his plan to the group.
"Bruce, his backer is at Late Stage Soul Manifestation. I won't be able to win against him even with everyone's help" Sean got worried as there is a huge gap between an early stage and late stage Soul Manifestation. Even several Early Stage Soul Manifestation would struggle to win against a Late Stage Soul Manifestation.
Body Refinement stage is the beginning of cultivation where people cultivate their bodies to be able to absorb the energy around them. Almost everyone in the world can do this besides those who are born with broken meridian veins.
As one travels through the stages of body refinement, one gain increased physical strength throughout the body. The elemental Profound realm is where cultivators can harness the energy around them to create elemental attacks or imbue elemental energy onto their weapons.
The Soul Manifestation realm is an entirely different beast compared to the two previous stages. Most mortals are stuck at Body Refinement while most talented people are stuck at Elemental Profound due to Soul Manifestation.
As the name suggests, the Soul Manifestation realm is about one's soul. Without a soul, a body is useless. One can reach Soul Manifestation when that person can cultivate his or her soul.
As the soul strengthens over time due to absorbing the world's energy, a powerful Soul Manifestation cultivator can unleash soul attacks that have the capability to mentally cripple a weaker soul.
"Don't worry too much Sean, I'll be right with you to fight against him. You trust me don't you" Bruce looked at Sean briefly and smiled. Seeing Bruce's confidence, Sean gave up trying to persuade him and followed him to the casino.
"You guys don't have to do anything other than look tough behind me." After walking into the casino as a group, everyone looked at them. It was quite weird seeing a kid walking into the casino with a group of grown men behind him.
"Bruce, are you planning to gamble our entire wealth in the Casino?" Sean looked around and saw countless people at different gambling stations. The casino is a big hit in this city.
"Wrong. I plan to legally rob this place to multiply our wealth." Bruce walked toward a gambling table where many people gathered around one person.
There, the group saw one man and a dealer seriously staring at the table. On the table are 100 cups faced down. Beneath one cup is a stone. If you manage to guess the cup that contains the stone, then you win.
Normally, this game is impossible to win as your odds are 1/100. Some people like to try their luck because if they win, they get to increase their bet by 50 times!
When he was young, Bruce snuck into a casino in the City of Gold. When he was there, he walked toward a table like the one at the current casino.
At that table, the same game was played. Weirdly enough, he was able to sense where the stone was due to the small current running in the stone. This was how he knew he had an affinity with lightning and how the casino always won.
If the bet was high enough, the casino would move the stone beneath the table and place it onto a different cup should the victim chooses the right cup.
The entire movement was facilitated by electricity. Most cultivators wouldn't see anything wrong as almost no one on the continent had an affinity with lightning.
"No way! I could have sworn I had a feeling the stone was under that cup" The man at the table despaired after the stone revealed itself under a different cup that he had picked. Bruce didn't feel any cheating from the casino side, the man was simply unlucky.
"Hello, I'd like to play this game." Bruce walked up to the table and jumped on the chair.
"Kid, you can't play in the casino. You're too young" The dealer brushed Bruce off the table.
"My dad is right behind me, he allowed me to play" Bruce pointed to Sean as he did look old enough to have a kid.
"Are you his dad?" The dealer asked Sean
"Uh.. yeah… I am.." Sean answered back awkwardly.
"Ok then, kid. It costs 1 gold coin to play, and the winner gets back 50x the amount" The dealer knew something was up, but he didn't care. He explained the rules to Bruce and set up the cups once again.
"Ok mister. I pick this cup right there" Bruce intentionally picked the wrong cups every time for a while until he lost about 20 gold coins.
"Bruce… Are you sure you know how to win this game?" Sean started to question Bruce's decision as he had just lost 20 gold coins for nothing, and the group internally screamed inside after seeing the money disappear just like that.
Bruce ignored Sean and kept playing. Then he showed a frustrated expression.
"Damn this game! I have a feeling I'm going to win the next round. Dad, I want to bet everything in this round" Bruce turned around to Sean and grabbed the bag of gold coins.
"Noooooo... What are you doing Bruce? That's all of our money" Sean held back the bag and stared at Bruce. He was surprised to see Bruce's confident smile never waived. Seemingly trusting Bruce, he handed over the bag to him.
"Inside here are 10,000 gold coins. If I win this round, I'll get back 500,000 gold coins right?" Bruce confirmed with the dealer the amount and the expected winning. After all, one can't be too sure if the casino has enough money to pay him.
As soon as he said the amount, everyone around him gasped in surprise and walked near the table to watch the show.
"Yes, that is correct" The dealer smiled while grinning internally as he was about to have the biggest payday of his life. If Bruce by chance picked the right cup, he could just flick the switch to move the stone to another location, it's unwinnable.
The bet started and the cups are once again placed face down on the table. Bruce knew exactly which cup has the stone and pointed at the cup.
"That one right there"
The dealer slightly changed his expression after seeing Bruce pick the right cup. He sneakily flicked on the switch and moved the stone to a different location. Right when he was about to unveil Bruce's defeat, he was stopped.
"Hold it right there mister." Bruce stopped him from removing the cup.
"What do you want kid? Can't afford to lose?" The dealer snarked at Bruce.
"What do you think is going to happen when I tell everyone that this casino has been cheating them for years? Especially when I lift that cup that you just moved the stone to?" Bruce whispered and pointed at the new cup that contained the stone.
The dealer's face turned pale, and he didn't know what to do.
"Please wait here while I call out the owner." The audience was confused as to why the bet was stopped.
A beautiful woman came out after a while and looked at Bruce. She has a slim figure with curves in the right places. Her beautiful black hair was tied in a bun. The huge breasts on her attracted everyone's attention. The men could not take their eyes off her. She walked toward the table and greeted everyone.
"Hello, my name is Felicity Winters, the owner of this casino. I would like to congratulate this young man right here for winning the highest amount ever achieved in the history of this casino"
The bandit group cheered after hearing the announcement made by Felicity. They now have 500,000 gold coins in their possessions. They no longer have to work a day again in this life.
"I will have the gold coins ready for you in a moment. However, would you care for a challenge young man?" Felicity looked at Bruce in an amusing manner.
"What is the challenge?" Bruce was happy to obtain the gold without getting kicked out of the casino or fighting his way to get the money. Even so, he was curious about the mentioned challenge.
"Fufu. It's nothing serious. I will bring out a new table with 300 cups placed on the table. If you manage to find the cup that has the stone, I'll increase your earnings to 5,000,000 gold coins" Everyone on the scene was shocked at the winning amount. Some of the people in the group even fainted.
"What if I lose?" Bruce didn't think there was such a good deal in this world.
"Nothing. You still get to keep your money" Bruce frowned when he heard her reply. For some reason, she really wanted Bruce to take on this challenge. The two stared at each other to understand each other's intentions.
'Let's see if you are the one my grandmother prophesized'
Under those beautiful eyes and flawless face, Bruce couldn't refuse.
"Alright, bet."