Sinner System-Chapter 497: Calm Before the Storm (Part 2)

"By the way, Cleo...how was it that you got comfortable around the two of us so fast? It’s seems a lot more gradual with other people, but you warmed up to us in no time, at least in comparison," Remarked Aria curiously, as she rolled the dice, before moving her piece.

"Huh? Well...when I met you guys, my mind was more preoccupied with how concerned I was over being found out. I thought maybe you’d, like, blackmail me or something, so yeah. And once I realized that you weren’t that kind of people and relaxed, I’d already spoken to the two of you a fair bit," Explained Cleo, before adding, "Well, I mean, it’s not like I fully understand how my mind works."

"I see. Fighting seems to help too, you were less awkward around the other X-Aces after you sparred against them," I recalled thoughtfully.

After sparring against Jaden, she faded Aarav and Iseul, defeating both. She was pretty frustrated after she lost to Jaden, but those two subsequent victories definitely boosted her confidence.

And she was stuttering a lot less when speaking to them after that, she was still awkward, but not nearly as much as she was before that.

Anyway, we were currently chilling in the rec room, playing a game of snakes and ladders, and having some snacks.

We played a racing video game before, and Cleo turned out to be pretty damn good at it. She was an avid gamer in her previous life, before the Monsters appeared, and it’s her go-to hobby in her free time in this era too.

She came in first in every race we played, so after Aria and I got completely destroyed by her five times in a row, we switched to a board game.

"Alright, I’m five away from the finish line, and there’s no more snakes ahead of me. Do I have to get the exact number, or do I win if I get a six too?" Inquired Aria, as she picked up the dice.

"No, let’s not do the exact number, you win even if you get a higher number," I replied after mulling it over.

"Yeah, I agree. I’ve seen a couple different rule options in regards to this. The two you mentioned, of course, either needing the exact number to reach the finish line, or a higher number being allowed too.

And another one I’ve come across is, if you roll a higher number, you do move, but then go backwards for the excess.

For example, if you’re two spaces away from the final square, and roll a six, you’d move forward two spaces, and then back four spaces," Remarked Cleo, as Aria rolled a three and moved her piece forward.

"Oh, I haven’t heard of that before. It sounds interesting...but that rule, and also the rule where you have to get the exact number, can often make the game last way too long. It’s no fun if it drags on, at least for me," I replied, before rolling the dice.

Nice, a five, that puts me...four spaces away from the final square.

Cleo’s lagging behind a fair bit, she’s twenty spaces away, and there are two snakes in her path, including one that’ll drop her all the way down to the starting square, it’s a brutal one.

Aria’s two spaces away, and I’m a couple of spaces behind her...if she rolls anything higher than a one, she wins, so she’s got a five in six chance of winning this in her next turn.

"Okay, here goes," Muttered Cleo, rolling the dice.

She rolled a six, moving her piece before picking up the dice again and giving it a roll, a gleam appearing in her eyes as she rolled another six.

With that, she’s in the clear, she avoided both snakes in her path, and now, she’s eight away from the finish line, and since she got a six, she can roll for the third time this turn.

There’s no way...

"Another one?!" Blurted out Aria, as Cleo rolled a third six in a row, moving up to the same square that Aria’s piece was on.

"You’ve gotta be kidding me," I sighed, as Cleo picked up the dice.

"Come on, two or more, two or more...yes!" She exclaimed triumphantly, rolling a four.

"Seriously? You were so far behind, and you not only caught up, but won, in just one turn?!" Exclaimed Aria incredulously.

"You’re certainly on one hell of a winning streak right now. Well, at least with the video game, it was a simple case of you being more skilled than us. But for the streak to extend over into a game that’s pretty much entirely based on luck, that sucks," I sighed, as Aria half-heartedly rolled the dice, getting a three and sliding her piece over to the final square.

"Hm...ohh, I know! I’ve got a way to make this game more tactical and less reliant on just luck. What if we each play multiple pieces, like two each? We can pick one piece to move each turn, and we win if one of our pieces reaches the finish line. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

With this, we could play one piece with more risk and the other more conservatively. Or if we roll a number that would lead one of our pieces straight to a square with a snake, we can move the other piece instead. What do you guys think?" Grinned Cleo, looking pretty pleased with herself.

"I don’t know, wouldn’t that completely take the snakes out of the equation?" Responded Aria skeptically.

"Not necessarily. They’ll be a lot easier to avoid, sure, but they’re still very much in play. The board we’re using has a lot of snakes, we could easily end up in positions where both our pieces are the same number of squares away from a snake, but with two pieces each, we can pick which ones to move, so there’s definitely some strategy involved that wouldn’t be there with just one piece each," I pointed out, before adding, "Yeah, sounds fun. At the very least, it’s worth giving it a try."

"Alright, let’s see if I can keep my winning streak going," Smiled Cleo, as she picked up the dice.