167: Solo.

Solo.

'Two is one, and one is two. Assist or solo, decide, both choices can lead to victory, the answer lies near dust.' Isaac repeated the question in his mind.

'The answer lies near dust...' After repeating it a couple more times, he widened his eyes with a slam.

'All words are useless, except dust... Dust...' He remembered that the front desk was covered in dust, but what could be the answer to the question.

'Lies near dust...' Isaac scratched the back of his head and wondered what it meant.

He knows that he is one step closer to finding out the answer, but he didn't understand the proper meaning.

'Did I miss a clue?' He started having thoughts about missing to notice a vital part, but he was certain that he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

''Answer is 3!'' Out of nowhere, Ormond stood up in a hurry and screamed the answer with a pale face.

''Oh?'' Lucius raised an eyebrow and stopped humming the song, ''Can you tell me the thought process to get that answer? I won't reveal is it correct or not before this other fella gives his answer.''

Ormond nodded shakily and said, ''Two is one, which doesn't seem to be a metaphor and instead actually is only one, while one is two, is actually two. Now, the second part is to find out why the one and two are separated, and the answer lies in the second part of the question.'' He took a pause and caught his breathing.

Lucius waited patiently with a small smile on his face.

Ormond soon continued, ''Assist or solo, decide, both choices can lead to victory. I think 1, 2, and 3 are correct answers.'' After finishing, he stopped talking and looked at Lucius' facial features, which had a small smile.

He had a sparkling hope that he actually guessed right!

A small smug smile appeared on his face, and he turned his head to look at Isaac with disdain.

''Interesting theory.'' Lucius didn't say anything else and leaned on the chair, waiting for Isaac to give his answer.

Ormond smiled and nodded; he sat down on the seat with a much more relaxed expression.

Isaac's chat was panicking.

[Divinity (Mod): That smug bastard! GRRRRR!]

[Tyrant: Lucky guess, probably not even correct]

[Lynch: Lucius seemed to be impressed, this is bad, and when I heard his theory, it sounded valid]

[Sandy: I am here! Sorry I was late, what is happening?]

While the chat was getting busier with each minute, Isaac was stuck in his thoughts.

'Answer lies near dust... There was the sign with words, but also... There was another smaller sign!' He widened his eyes and remembered the arrows and word Split.

'Split... That must be a clue.' Isaac rubbed his forehead, 'Split... Split what?'

He doesn't think that it only meant to split the line, because why only one word?

Isaac felt that it was weird that there was only one word, and after he thought about it more, the arrows seemed to point at the two other lines, but they were actually pointing slightly downwards, straight towards the word Split!

'Split... Maybe.' Isaac's mind was running, and once again thought about the question.

'Assist or solo...' He took a glimpse of smug-looking Ormond, and a small smirk appeared on his face, 'This was always meant to be played as a solo... That's why the reason for the first test is to split the two Players as loser and winner...'

He looked at the other side of the room and almost laughed after not seeing it before.

The doors where they came from had words above.

The door where Isaac came had word [Victory]

The door where Ormond came had word [Loser]

'Both choices can lead to victory...' Isaac was certain and turned his head around and noticed Lucius' smiling face.

'If I choose to say assist... Ormond will be victorious, but if I choose solo, I will be victorious... Both choices can lead to victory.' A noticeable smile appeared on his face.

''Your answer is?'' Lucius asked with a knowing smile.

Ormond looked at Isaac and snorted.

''Solo,'' Isaac said and looked straight at Ormond with a smile on his face.

Ormond almost laughed, but then Lucius spoke.

''Correct. Player Wraith is victorious, congratulations.'' He said and started clapping.

''What?!'' Ormond exploded into a rage, and an axe appeared on his hand, which he aimed at Lucius, ''This is bullshit!''

''Haaahhh...'' Lucius shook his head and threw the card at Ormond, ''Two is one.''

*Stab*

''U-Uhh...'' Ormond muttered some inaudible words as he staggered backward with a white-colored card stuck on his forehead!

Isaac widened his eyes, and his chat became silent.

[DEAD]

A word started floating above Ormond's head as he turned into pixels.

''And... One is two.'' Lucius jumped over the desk and sat down on the chair where Ormond was sitting an only moment ago.

''Shall we play a game?'' He started shuffling the white cards with a small smile on his face.

''What are you doing here, Lo—'' Before Isaac could finish his words after recognizing the identity of the person.

Lucius quickly covered his mouth and leaned closer with a wink of his eye, ''Shhh... We aren't alone, remember?'' He pointed sneakily at the camera, which shocked Isaac.

''You can see it?'' Isaac asked with disbelief.

Lucius snorted and leaned back, ''I am not blind!''

Isaac wryly smiled and didn't know that the NPCs could see the streaming cameras, because so far, none of the NPCs seemed to be surprised to see the cameras flying.

Lucius snapped his fingers.

[Stream is paused!]

Isaac widened his eyes after a sudden notification appeared in front of him.

''Now, we can talk freely.'' Lucius smiled, and suddenly, his body started changing.

The handsome gentleman became a skinny youth with black hair and long bangs, which covered his left eye.

[Loki - God of Mischief]

''I am very hurt,'' Loki said with a pained face.

''Eh?'' Isaac tilted his head.

''Hmph.'' Loki humphed and averted his gaze, ''I told you to sell the statue, but you listened to Artemis and not me. I thought we were best gaming buddies, hmph.'' A pout appeared on his face, and looked to be genuinely hurt.2

Isaac sweatdropped.

''Anyway!'' Loki had a 180-degree turn, and a silly grin appeared on his face, ''Welcome to my store. Game Lord's Mysteries, but also known as Game Loki's Mysteries!''

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