Chapter 105: Bet (I)
Chapter 105: Bet (I)
The scrolling feed of the streaming panel seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second before the messages erupted with renewed vigor:
> Nine Nether Thirty-First Young Master: What did you just say, primitive? A bet? Are you truly so delusional that you think you have anything left to bargain with while sitting in the digestive juices of a nascent beast?
Uhtred did not break his steady gaze from the floating screen. He leaned forward slightly on the black carapace, the light from his luminescent orb throwing long, dancing shadows across the pulsing stomach walls.
"I said exactly what you heard," Uhtred said aloud. "You’ve all been spamming my feed for the last minute about how I’m a dead man walking... How I have no chance of surviving this ’ordeal’... So you shouldn’t even bat an eye at any kind of bet now, should you?"
The chat log flickered as several newer subscribers, multiversal entities who had quietly paid the hundred-token entry fee over the last few days, finally decided to chip in.
Some of them were just as loud and obnoxious as the older sponsors, while others had remained muted until now.
> Star-Devouring Cultivator: The mortal is right. Even though he is a Pathfinder, in his current circumstance, he lacks cosmic essence, which means it is impossible for him to breach the internal defenses of a Level 25 Nascent realm beast as a Level 23 Mortal cultivator. His death is assured.
> VoidBlade99: It is a certain conclusion at this point. No matter what he tries to do, he simply lacks the cosmic essence to do it. To defy the odds and break limits, you need cosmic essence in the first place. I simply see no possibility of him finding the essence he needs to even stand a chance.
The messages continued to pour in, and even the more reasonable entities in the stream seemed to share the exact same sentiment.
> FriendlyDaoistStormwarden: Young friend, this daoist has watched your progression with great interest, but entering the belly of a Nascent Realm entity as a Mortal is a fatal miscalculation. Your chances of survival are less than two percent.
Uhtred paused when he saw the message from FriendlyDaoistStormwarden. Out of the new members who had watched his stream since he put up the paywall, this particular entity had consistently been the most rational and balanced.
The fact that even Stormwarden was explicitly stating he was going to die made Uhtred realize just how dire his situation looked to these entities.
But instead of discouraging him, it only made him more certain that his plan was going to succeed. These guys were entirely convinced that his death was an absolute certainty. Their arrogance was his leverage.
"It seems we are all in agreement then," Uhtred said, a small, cold smile playing on his lips. "Since you are all so entirely certain that I am going to perish here, and you are all currently lamenting about the waste of my Pathfinder core, why don’t we let the System mediate the situation? Let us place an official stream bet."
The feed paused for a brief moment as the sponsors processed the words.
> Myriad Sword Ancestor of the Seventy-seventh Heaven: Explain yourself more clearly, mortal.
Uhtred shifted his weight on the carapace, balancing his star-metal axe across his knees.
"It is simple. If it’s possible through the stream interface with the System acting as the official mediator, I will wager my own essence core. If I die inside the belly of this serpent, my core will not be left to dissolve into basic energy sludge to feed this beast. Instead, the System will automatically harvest it at the exact moment of my death and transport it directly to the coordinates of whoever wins this bet."
The chat log went completely dead for three seconds. The sheer audacity of a mortal offering to auction his own core to cosmic entities like them was something none of them had anticipated.
> Anuran All-Mother of Fertility: A highest bidder bet? Young one, you do know that multiversal tokens are strictly barred from being utilized or traded within your trial grounds, do you not?
"I am well aware of the restrictions," Uhtred responded calmly. "But I’m not talking about multiversal tokens. I know you cannot pass them to me while I’m inside this place. I’m talking about something else... We will bet using Merit Points."
The moment the words left his mouth, the chat log completely froze. Then, the bold text of the nine nether thirty-first young master burst across the screen:
> Nine Nether Thirty-First Young Master:Hahaha! Merit Points?! You truly are a madman! You must be dreaming if you think the System will allow a mortal to trade raw merits with cosmic powers like us! Do you truly believe your measly, unrefined Pathfinder core holds enough value to justify a merit-bound transaction? It’s just a damn Unique grade core! You think we haven’t seen hundreds of Unique grade cores in our lifetimes?!
The rest of the sponsors immediately followed his lead, aggressively attempting to downplay the worth of Uhtred’s core.
> Vengeful Grandmaster of Nyxos: A newly congealed core of a Pathfinder from a fledgling integration world is barely worth trading with Merits. The mortal is simply trying to inflate his own value before he gets turned into snake faeces.
> Myriad Sword Ancestor of the Seventy-seventh Heaven: Merits are the currency of the high heavens, gifted only through achievements and titles. To suggest we wager them on a primitive is an insult to our status.
Uhtred did not even blink at their scoffing words, even when they were derogatory. He had spent enough time watching these arrogant entities to understand exactly how their minds worked.
The more they ran their mouths to downplay his offer, the more it proved that they were deeply interested in what he was selling. They were simply trying to lower the price before the bidding even started.
"You guys sure are a lot of talk, but absolutely no show," Uhtred sardonically commented, his voice dripping with blatant disdain...