Dimensional Descent

Leonel grinned as the Go board disappeared. It seemed that Old Bastian had a bit of a temper, though that much should have been obvious after their first interaction.

Truthfully, he was a little embarrassed. The reality was that he planned on giving Leonel a chance even if he lost. That was because he couldn't even remember the last time he lost in a game of Portal. Winning or losing didn't necessarily mean that Leonel was inferior to him, he was just making things a bit difficult on Leonel on purpose.

The reason for this was because the most important aspect of the game, the portals themselves, were meant to be created at random. The issue was that there was no one skilled enough to make them. The game was extraordinarily complex.

As such, usually when you wanted to play with a new person, you would have to buy a board from the Dream Pavilion exchange. Most, though, would have dedicated boards that they used with certain people so that they could maintain a level of fairness.

Every board had a random assortment of portals, and these portals would change and morph over time depending on the moves made, keeping the game fresh. In fact, the number of variations were so numerous that if you only ever planned to play with just one person, you would likely never need to buy another.

This was where Old Bastian's sneakiness came into play. He had several dedicated boards, but this one in particular was the one he always used to play a different number of wide ranging opponents.

Because it had seen several play styles over the years, it was somewhere in the middle-that meaning that Old Bastian was somewhat familiar with its portals, but not to the extent he would have been had he played the same person again and again.

This was all to say that from the beginning, Leonel was playing with a handicap, and yet Old Bastian still lost. It was only right that he was a bit peeved and embarrassed.

Even so, Leonel found it quite adorable. He didn't have much interaction with his own grandfather, but he liked to imagine that Gervaise wouldn't be too dissimilar to this in the event that he lost. Though, it was also difficult for Leonel to imagine that man losing in the first place.

At that moment, there was a sudden tremble and a letter of challenge, wreathed in silvery white fog appeared before Old Bastian.

was honestly the worst timing. He was already pissed off, and seeing

clearly to rise back to the top 300, and then hopefully the top 200 soon afterward in a bid to "pay back" Leonel and Aina for

Leonel was already waiting for them here, ready to slap them

wanted to see where they would pivot after

like lightning. He looked at Leonel as though he could see

put a finger to his lips, urging Old Bastian to

he couldn't see the whole picture, he was still a Dream Force master. Was it really a coincidence? Who else could

have a challenge to prepare for. How many did

Two," Old Bastian said

In that case, my

enter? It

and the margins this time will likely be smaller. We need to make sure

than

attention to Little Fox's death all the

the game Leonel liked to play the

If you're going to bet, don't half ass