The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

"When playing Monopoly, you should choose abilities that can generate consistent profits... This is it."

A variant interpretation: The goose that lays golden eggs can turn the eggs of geese, chickens, ducks, and other poultry into gold.

Lu Wenjun first used the light bridge to touch the UFO spell slot marked with extraterrestrial light. The small flying saucer floated up with the light bridge, transformed into a translucent brick, and merged into his own temple. After that, the image of a goose holding a golden egg came from the other side of the light bridge and landed in the empty spell slot.

In this way, the spell rental is completed. If a new "brick" is extracted from the temple using the light bridge and placed into the corresponding spell slot, then the spell is replaced.

Lu Wenjun exited his introspective state and returned to reality, channeling his magic into the game board, whereupon his character card was generated.

[A tenacious survivor]

[The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs: Starts as a farmer, and your magic coins are multiplied by 1.2 at the end of each turn]

[Personal Trait: This card receives a correction in certain judgments; details are only visible to the game host]

"And there's a GM... Ling Gong, would you like to be one?"

GM is short for Game Master, often referring to the moderator of tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. GMs don't directly participate in the game, but are responsible for creating the ambiance, preparing monsters, and guiding the game's direction—work related to the "game's background." The GM's style directly determines the course of the entire game, making them arguably the most crucial element.

Linggong said with a smile, "My online game friend said she felt itchy to be a GM after not being one for a while, so I let her have the chance this time~"

"Leave it to me with confidence, I'm a super experienced player!"

A hooded virtual character popped up on the game board, with the forum ID "Udumbara Kaguya" on its head.

This ID clearly belongs to a veteran anime and manga fan, because she's referencing the well-known fan-made series "Touhou Project"... The first part of her ID, "Udumbara-in," refers to the madman Tsukito from that series, while the second part, "Kaguya," comes from the arrogant princess who lives with Tsukito.

Unfortunately, Lü Wenjun not only recognized the reference to the ID, but also knew who the ID belonged to. His expression immediately changed: "You... how is it you?!"

"Oh? That voice." The hooded man grinned mischievously. "Isn't that Nerd? So you're the player for this round. Lucky you, I'll take good care of you~~"

"And this guy just had to be the GM!"

Lu Wenjun gritted his teeth and spoke, while Ling Gong asked curiously, "Does Wenjun know any teachers from the Udumbara Academy?"

"I advise you to keep your distance from her... she's a very wicked magician..."

"I heard you. You just wait until tonight."

Ling Gong was shocked: "Tonight?!"

"That's not what I meant! Ah, that's enough, let's start the game!"

The character cards for Mingxiao and Pershka were also completed at this time, and the cards for the other three are as follows.

[The Unexpectedly Lucky One]

[Lucky Star: Increases the probability of rolling a number favorable to you]

[Personal Trait: 2/3 of the unfortunate cards in the assigned route are replaced with normal or lucky events]

"Senior, what kind of card is this that you have that makes no sense?"

"Let me tell you, luck is the key to winning or losing in this kind of game!"

A genius magician

[Rhinegold: Starts with 10000 Magic Coins, and all Magic Coins gained are multiplied by 1.4. As a trade-off, you will experience one unfortunate event at the start of each turn starting from the third turn.]

[Personal Trait: Events requiring multiple people to assist can be completed by one person]

Do you know how to write the four characters for "long-term operation"?

"No need. Competition is about using absolute power to sweep away the opponent."

A shrewd businessperson

[Golden Koban: Allows you to borrow Magic Coins from other players and collect 1.5 times the interest in the next round]

[Personal Characteristics: None]

"This game even has a whiteboard?"

"After all, I'm just an ordinary monster~"

Thus, the game of strategy begins.

Each of the four players starts with 4000 Magic Coins and has one track. The area around each player is visible for 6 squares, after which there are only unknown squares. There are four types of events: regular events, lucky events, unlucky events, and no events. All four tracks will reach a common destination after 100 squares.

"For newcomers who haven't played before, this is a tabletop game where actions are determined by 'dice rolls.' The numbers you roll on the dice determine almost everything, including the outcome of events and the progress of progress. Generally, the higher the number, the better the result," Hisamitsu explained. "The order of actions is also determined by the dice: Lü Wenjun - Mingxiao - Pershika - Linggong. Please proceed."

Lü Wenjun rolled a six-sided die. The result was 6.

“Excellent, a maximum score right off the bat…” Lü Wenjun moved his piece, “and it’s a safe, standard event square. I’m going to use this square to expand my farm into a chicken farm!”

Hisamitsu's Record: "You decide to spend 3000 Magic Coins and borrow 3000 Magic Coins to expand your farm, which will increase your income by 5000 Magic Coins per turn."

"Very secure. The loan will be repaid by the end of this round, and after that, it'll be a smooth road ahead—"

Hisamitsu sneered: "At this moment, I'll activate my GM privileges! I'll unleash an unfortunate event at the exact moment this judgment ends!"

"what?!"

A black roulette wheel descended from the game board, and after spinning rapidly, the pointer stopped on a round, dark figure playing a flute... Then, a seal playing a flute inexplicably walked past Lü Wenjun's chicken farm! A large number of chickens ran off with the flute-playing seal!

"Because a certain flute-playing seal happened to pass by on a whim, 7% of the chickens followed the flute music to pursue their dreams of becoming a band. Unfortunately, your per-turn income has been reduced to 1500 magic coins~"

Mingxiao slammed his fist on the table and laughed wildly, while Lü Wenjun shouted, "What kind of Pied Piper is this! This scumbag GM has gone so far as to act recklessly, and nobody's going to do anything about it?!"

Linggong flipped through the rulebook: "This is an operation that complies with the rules of the game."

"Aha?"

Pershka leaned closer and read aloud, "The GM's identity is that of a 'god' of the game's location, and therefore they possess the ability to intentionally bring down unfortunate events only once per game. This is to teach players how to get along with the local gods..."

She glanced sideways at Lü Wenjun: "The educational effect is quite obvious."

"What a terrible game... I seriously underestimated the malice of the magical world..."

Mingxiao excitedly rolled the dice: "My turn. 6, then a lucky event, then a series of lucky events!"

Lu Wenjun made a face as if he had been punched in the stomach, and Ling Gong exclaimed, "What a strong temperature difference!"

“No matter how you look at it, it’s all his own fault.” Pershka rolled the dice. “3. Routine event. Establish a magic agency.”

"Since we have enough capital to avoid borrowing, we can double our investment to increase our income by 1.5 at the end of each round. Do you want to do that?"

"Of course I'll invest."

"Then Pershka will have 7500 magic coins by the end of this round~" Hisako chuckled sinisterly, "while Lü Wenjun will be 500 magic coins in debt by the end of this round! Because his assets are negative, he will be eliminated in the first round!"

"Pfft—!"

Unreasonable malice! The tyranny of the gods! The helpless ones wallowing in debt and crying out! Namo Amitabha Buddha, this is just one facet of the cruel world of magic! Without enough money and ability, one can only fade away amidst the ridicule of onlookers!

Lu Wenjun seemed to see the gates of hell opening. Just then! A single spider silk descended from hell!

"I have no problem lending you 500 magic coins..." Ling Gong clasped her hands together. "How about it, Wen Jun?"

Lu Wenjun struggled to pull himself towards the spider silk: "Lady Linggong, please help me!!"

"There's really nothing I can do about it."

Thus, this round ended with Ling Gong establishing a talent dispatch company. While the other three contestants were making a fortune, Lü Wenjun was still struggling to climb the ranks with a loan of 500 magic coins! He was just one step away! He would soon be back on the land of light!!

Rolling around.

The sound of dice rolling came from the end of the spider silk.

“A blind die is rolled before the start of the round… Ah, Lü Wenjun has entered the second unfortunate event,” Hisamitsu said.

"Why?!?"

Chapter 52 This game is targeting me

The spider silk snapped with the cold sound of dice rolling, and Lü Wenjun once again plunged into the bottomless abyss of despair!

"What happened to the rule that GM privileges could only be used once per game?!"

Miss Hisamitsu calmly replied, "This has nothing to do with me. It's just that for some reason, the effect can't be revealed yet."

Lu Wenjun shouted hoarsely, "It's a cover-up! There's a cover-up!!"

"Two criteria determine the type of event: environmental friendliness and enemy strength."

"Enemies? Is there even combat in Monopoly?!"

The hooded figure on the chessboard rolled two hundred-sided dice.

Environmental friendliness [1d100:4] - A major failure

Enemy strength [1d100:99] Great success

Lu Wenjun let out a scream like a chicken being slaughtered.

“What’s he in such a hurry for? Aren’t the low and high points canceling each other out?” Pershka asked.

“No, Pershka-kun. The enemy strength die is rolled from the enemy's perspective, which means…” Reiko pushed up her glasses, “It’s a terrible environment with an incredibly strong enemy! It’s actually a double failure!”

"This is the first time I've ever seen someone so incredibly unlucky. Let me think about how to make this up..."

Miss Hisamitsu flipped through the book for a while and said, "So, Lü Wenjun was unexpectedly summoned to an unfamiliar secret realm on his way to repay his loan. All the friendly units in this secret realm were dead, and a terrifying robot from a super-future technological empire was rampaging across the wasteland. It detected Lü Wenjun's activity signals and decided to dissect him and retrieve him as a sample."

"Isn't this unfortunate event a bit too dramatic?!"

"What is the truth behind the mystery of the destruction of the secret realm? What is the true strength of the terrifying robot? Will the summoned hero from another world be able to save enough money to pay off the loan?" Hisamitsu slapped the rulebook. "The rest will be revealed at the end of this round, so please look forward to it!"

"Oh, oh~" Mingxiao clapped her hands. "By the way, what spells can he use?"

"The goose that lays golden eggs."

Lu Wenjun was shocked: "How exactly are heroes from another world going to fight terrifying robots with geese?!"

"It is precisely because one can overcome the impossible that one is a hero. So, it's Mingxiao's turn."

"Another lucky event, I won the lottery!"

Hisamitsu tapped the game board, moving Lü Wenjun's character card off the board.

So, while Mingxiao was indulging in a life of debauchery with his lottery winnings, Lü Wenjun was battling the mist in another world. While Pershka was establishing a spell research society with her incredible speed, Lü Wenjun was scaling cliffs. While Pershka was building a large-scale magical artifact factory in one fell swoop, Lü Wenjun was fighting monsters bare-handed.

"It feels like someone plays a different type of game than the others," Hisamitsu commented.

"Who on earth caused this?!"

"Go ahead and struggle in the mire. I'll laugh at you mercilessly once the factory is built," Pershka laughed. "My factory... what's going on?"

The wealthy businesswoman Pershka was shocked to discover that her factory was only halfway completed. This was because many fish had taken over the construction site, holding up signs in protest.

“While factories can generate high profits, they also cause dissatisfaction among the surrounding residents, so their construction progress is only half that of normal facilities,” Hisamitsu explained. “In this case, players can choose to wait two turns or bribe local authorities to make things easier.”

"Isn't this garbage game a bit too free?" Lü Wenjun said.

"The bribe amount is a whopping 20000 magic coins; we're not making ends meet," Pershka mused. "These greedy old men..."

"Are you really planning to bribe them? Your heart is even blacker than the old folks'!!"

At this moment, Reiko, the director of the human resources office, raised a small bill.

"Our company has recently been looking to contribute to the local security industry." Ling Gong revealed a mysterious smile. "What do you think, Mr. Pershka?"

"There's no reason to refuse, let's bribe each other!"

The two capitalists clasped hands together, and Lu Wenjun, the hero from another world, let out a desperate cry!

"This city's moral standards have completely collapsed!!!"

Ling Gong twitched her fox ears: "I think I heard a faint wail..."

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just the howling of a forgotten loser.” Pershka sneered.

"So, Reiko borrowed 10000 magic coins from Pershka as a joint bribe, securing the city's security services." Hisamitsu chuckled. "Oh dear, this is truly... So, proceeding with the events in sequence, first, Pershka's factory will be completed at the end of this round, Reiko's agency will expand, and then Akira's income will double because she found the legendary diamond..."

“There’s this guy who’s been rising to prominence through some inexplicable route, you know,” Lü Wenjun said.

The nouveau riche Mingxiao waved his feather fan and laughed loudly.

"Oh ho ho ho, a loser like you who rolls and crawls in the mud can't understand this. Only luck is the key to reaching the top!"

"Senior, you're getting carrot salad tonight."

"No! I want beef!"

Ling Gong narrowed her eyes: "Tonight...?"

"It's that one, I've been helping my senior make light salads lately," Lu Wenjun said. "Shouldn't it be my turn now? What was the final outcome of the otherworldly hero adventure tale?"