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.

worst timing. He was already pissed off, and seeing this he almost shattered it with a

Their intention was clearly to rise back to the top 300, and then hopefully the top 200 soon afterward in

they didn't know was that Leonel was already waiting for them here, ready to slap them back down

where they would pivot after Patriarch Khafra

help but flash like lightning. He looked at Leonel

put a finger to his lips, urging Old Bastian to keep

sense that the old man would figure it out. Even if he couldn't see the whole picture, he was still

a challenge to prepare for. How many did

Old

that case, my

Bastian frowned. He wouldn't even get to enter? It

We need to make sure that we bring out

Could it really be that even this boy's wife was stronger than him in the

two. Not only would it limit the variables further, they would be able to draw attention to Little Fox's death all the more so. To these people, every one of their actions was meticulously chosen so that

the game Leonel liked to play

the most crucial point, old man. If you're going to bet, don't half ass