The Smile
"Alright. Bet."
The crowd cheered after hearing Bruce's answer. This bet was way more exciting than anything they had ever seen in the casino.
Some people hoped that Bruce would lose the bet because 5,000,000 gold coins was an absurd amount of wealth for a normal person. Meanwhile, some people hoped that Bruce can win the bet so that they can kill him and obtain wealth.
"I knew you would take the challenge" Felicity ordered her men to bring a gigantic table with 300 cups placed face down. The stone has already been placed underneath one cup.
"Now that you've set up everything. I'll go take a look" Bruce walked toward the table.
"Hold on a minute young man" Felicity held out her hand to stop Bruce from walking forward.
"What's wrong?"
"How thoughtless of me, I forgot a crucial condition" Felicity pulled out a fan and hid her face behind it as she revealed the caveat to the challenge to Bruce.
"You must stand 50 meters away from the table and guess which cup contains the stone."
The condition that Felicity brought up seemed weird to everyone as this entire game was all about guessing. It didn't matter which cup you guess whether you were close to the table or not.
'Fuck, she knows how I cheated!' Bruce freaked out internally. The only reason why Bruce was able to determine the location of the stone was because he was able to feel the electricity inside the stone in proximity. Now it'd be much harder for him to guess the location of the stone.
Contemplating if he should forfeit the bet intentionally, Bruce looked at Felicity. For some reason, he had a feeling that she had no bad intentions toward him. He sighed and decided to move ahead with the bet.
"Okay big sister. That's not a problem" Bruce stood 50M away from the table and looked at the table.
He felt faint electricity on the table and had difficulty determining the precise location of the stone. He closed his eyes and focused on the source of electricity on the table. After a few moments of silence, he gave out his final answer.
"I choose the 10th cup from the far right as my final answer"
Hearing Bruce's answer, Felicity lowered her fan and smiled at him. It was such a beautiful smile that he thought that the smile itself could bring down empires and attract disasters.
"Congratulations once again young man, you've picked the right cup" Felicity beckoned one of her men to reveal the stone and it was placed under the cup that Bruce chose.
"Please wait a moment while my people gather the money for you" Felicity smiled at him again which caused Bruce to blush.
"Big sister, could you stop smiling at me? People are looking at me with bad intentions" Bruce pointed at the men who wanted to beat him up for gaining favors of beauty.
"Fufu. Smiling is a part of life, I smile when I am happy. Are you trying to tell me to stop being happy?" Felicity retorted back at him which caused Bruce to be at a loss for words for the first time in his life.
"Come on to my private chamber, I want to know more about you." Felicity dragged Bruce against his will to her room while the men threw a murderous gaze at Bruce.
The kid had just won big time in the casino and was about to enjoy a private moment with a goddess. How can there be such a lucky person in the world?
Meanwhile, the bandit group was so happy that they won 5,000,000 gold coins that they ignored what happened between Bruce and Felicity.
"Men, tonight we're going to party! We're now forever rich!" Sean started yelling and everyone in the group joined him. Meeting Bruce was the luckiest moment in their lives.
In Felicity's private chamber.
"Come in and sit down on the bed" Felicity sat gracefully down on her bed and pointed a spot for Bruce to sit.
"Big sister, I like standing up. A commoner like me can't sit next to you" Bruce then had a bad feeling about Felicity. Being around someone like her would just attract disasters to him.
He already imagined how many young masters from giant influences gunning for him after seeing how close Felicity was being to him.
"Have it your way. So, tell me your name" Felicity chuckled and decided to get to the main topics.
"My name is Bruce Pendragon" Bruce replied. Revealing a fake name to her shouldn't be a big deal.
"Bruce Pendragon… I never heard of a clan called Pendragon in the Valrok continent." Felicity was amused by the fake name that Bruce had given her. She had an extremely deep knowledge of all the major clans on the continent.
Pendragon was not a name of an influence on this continent, especially an influence that can raise a genius that has an affinity to lightning.
"I know that you don't trust me as I know your secrets. But I promise you that I have no ill intentions toward you." Felicity spoke frankly to Bruce as she saw his nervousness around her.
"Anyway, you don't have to tell me your real name. You probably won't even tell me anything about your parents or background. But would you tell me where are you heading to?"
"Big sister, I don't know what you are talking about. My dad is outside celebrating my winning" Bruce still tried to convince her that he's just a commoner who has a bandit dad.
"I don't like it when people lie to me." Felicity's face turned cold for the first time and her aura leaked.
'Oh shit, she's a Divine King expert. At such a young age too!' Realizing that Felicity could kill him and his friends, Bruce finally gave up.
"Big sister, please don't be mad. I just don't want any attention to myself and live my life in peace." Sensing that Bruce finally spoke the truth to her, Felicity returned back to her normal self and continued the conversation.
"In this world, you cannot dodge attention if you have talents. Do you plan to hide forever from everything?" The question that Felicity asked him resonated so deeply with Bruce that he felt something inside his soul burning.
Something powerful opened its eyes and arrogantly looked down on all beings.
"I don't plan to hide forever but the reality of the situation requires me to be discrete. Once I obtain sufficient strength, I will walk openly and welcome anyone who dares to challenge me" Bruce stared at Felicity trying to understand her true intentions, but he could not find anything. She briefly was shocked by his statement and returned to her usual self.
"Well said. That's all I need to know about you. We'll meet again in the future when you can walk openly in the world" Felicity stood up and escorted Bruce out of her room. It was time for her to leave this small city.
'But I really don't want to see you again!' Bruce thought secretly.
"Big sister, you're very beautiful. Any man who can marry you will be very lucky!" Bruce complimented her before leaving since she had given him a large fortune to use in the upcoming battle.
Felicity also didn't seem to have any bad intentions toward him. This will probably be the last time they see each other.
"Oh my, aren't you a sweet talker? Go on back to your 'dad' and enjoy the rest of the evening" Felicity bid farewell to Bruce and disappeared from the city.
She got on an ark, which has the capability to travel extremely fast, only those with at least great emperor background could obtain a treasure like this.
"Princess, why did you squander away your allowance? Your father would not be very happy about this" A figure appeared beside Felicity.
Anyone who had bad intentions toward Felicity would run away immediately after seeing this figure since he has impressive cultivation at Divine Emperor stage. In the Alliance Kingdom, a Divine Emperor cultivation would qualify one to rule over a Kingdom.
"It was well worth it. After all, I got to confirm whether he had an affinity to lightning" Felicity stared out the window while remembering the interactions that she had with Bruce.
"That peasant kid has an affinity to lightning? That's impossible!" The figure didn't believe in Felicity's statement as affinity to lightning is extremely rare, even across the continent.
"For one to have an affinity to lightning, they would need to inherit it from their bloodlines. Only ancient families blessed by the lightning spirits and divine beasts could obtain this privilege"
"No influence in this barren area has lightning affinities. Princess, it is impossible for that kid to have an affinity to lightning" The figure explained.
"You can choose to not believe me, but I know what I saw." Initially, Felicity still had doubts that Bruce has lightning affinity as he could have just made a lucky guess.
The odds were 1/300, though improbable not impossible. Which is why she brought him to her private chamber. She wanted to inspect him closely to clear her doubts.
When she looked deep into his soul, she saw something that she would never forget. Something deep in his soul was in slumber, and it detected her. She felt something slowly awaken with so much power that it made her feel like an ant.
She tried her best to maintain her expression, but it was futile. Luckily, she stopped staring at his soul, and everything went back to normal. Even her father, a Great Emperor, could not compare the existence that dwells within his soul.
At that moment, she knew he was the one her grandmother prophesied about before she passed away. She recalled the day that her grandmother died.
'Little blue, one day you will meet an extraordinary man with lightning affinity. If you manage to link your fate to his, he will protect our empire from the imminent disaster.'