AN: Sorry for disturbing you reading convenience, but I got to announce something. I have been an author for 2 years, the first year which was 3 years back and it went well I had some fairly successful fan fics and novel. Then, School just got extremely hard and I had to quit writing for a while.
When I finally came back into the writing again, I may or may not have forgotten all of the stories I wrote and when I looked at them they were sort of like new novel. Thus, I deleted those novels and started new ones after jumping around ideas and genres. I made this, why am I telling this because I found the discord server I had and there were fans in their. I don't remember if I did or did not wrote an apology for them since I kinda ghosted them. Sorry, as for those who do like my current work please join the discord: ejchVRnmxf. Thank you and enjoy the chapter.
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I leaned toward Rick, lowering my voice. "Rick, seriously? The Philosopher's Stone? You're willing to risk... whatever the hell Mother's hated for that? Not that I can't fix it, but still, it sounds a very unwise decision."
"What's up with you, buddy?" Rick said, looking at me suspiciously. I just rolled my eyes and said
"I thought it would be good to be formal with you since it is a business meeting, but I guess a fool is always a fool. Answer my question anyway. Is it worth it?"
Rick gave me a look like I'd just asked if water was wet. "Uh, yeah? Infinite knowledge? Infinite matter conversion? Hello? This is like winning the multiversal lottery, except I don't have to listen to some schmuck on TV pretend they're gonna 'stay humble."
I sighed. This was happening whether I liked it or not. I turned to Jerry, who was hyperventilating. "Relax, Jerry. In the worst-case scenario, you get sold into some Universal scam call center. I hear they have benefits."
"BENEFITS?!"
"Yes, in fact, they pay for your food and bedding and also give you money to spend on anything you want. Plus, you get top of the quality insurance in the universe with a private military ready to do whatever you want. You just have to…sit there and let the old man do stuff to you." I said, with a sweet smile which made Jerry look like he saw the devil.
Before he could spiral further into whatever pathetic existential crisis he was brewing, the old man clapped his hands. "The game is set. Quantum Probability Chess." The table reshaped itself, morphing into a glowing, multidimensional chessboard with pieces that flickered between universes. Some looked like normal rooks and knights. Others? Floating eyeballs. A screaming pawn. A single black hole that was… pulsating? Yeah, not normal.
Rick cracked his knuckles. "Alright, let's get schwifty." I sighed and crossed my arms. This was either gonna be a legendary win or a disaster on a scale that would make the Galactic Federation jealous.
Rick grinned as he cracked his knuckles, eyes gleaming with the kind of excitement usually reserved for world-ending catastrophes. Across from him, the old man—who at this point I was pretty sure wasn't even human—folded his bony hands over the glowing, shifting chessboard. Jerry, on the other hand, looked like he was about to pass out. "Rick, please—I don't wanna be sold into some intergalactic slave trade! Do you know what kind of weirdos are out there?!"
Rick rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Jerry. If I lose, which I won't, you'll probably just be used as an organic battery or something. Worst case? They turn you into a sentient toenail collection. Either way, it's outta my hands."
Jerry whimpered. The old man tapped a bony finger on the board, and the game began. The pieces—some normal, some incomprehensibly horrifying—shifted into place. With each turn, reality itself seemed to hiccup.
Rick moved a knight forward. A second Jerry flickered into existence, screaming before vanishing. Jerry paled. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
The old man chuckled. "Quantum Probability Chess. Every move creates a ripple through possibility. Perhaps you just experienced a version of yourself that should have existed but never did."
Rick smirked. "Neat." He was a bishop.
Somewhere in the distance, A universe pops out of existence. The game continued. Every move twisted probability itself. Jerry's skin was shifting colors like a malfunctioning LED, and the old man's presence was starting to leak—I don't know how else to describe it, but his body was glitching between different forms, each one more horrifying than the last. And then, just as I was starting to regret ever tagging along, Rick leaned back, smirking.
"Checkmate, bitch."
The old man's eye sockets burned with an unnatural light. He stared at the board, his fingers twitching as he tried to process what had just happened. "Impossible. No one has ever—" It was Napoleon's Plan or the Scholar's Mate, whichever one you prefer to say. It was a pretty basic move, and if no one has beaten him, then it means that there is something else going on.
Rick cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, 'unbelievable, unimaginable,' get a new script, pal. Hand over the Philosopher's Stone."
"Rick, careful. There is something wrong," I said and warned Rick. He just gave me a look and said
"You're too paranoid, Richard. Get a break." The old man seethed but, true to his word, reached into his robe and produced a glowing red gem. It hummed with power, like it contained the answers to the universe itself.
Rick snatched it up without hesitation. "Neat."
Jerry, still pale and possibly traumatized, stumbled forward. "So… so I'm free?"
Rick shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I guess. Woulda been funny if I left you, though. Also, See, Richard, not everyone is evil."
Jerry groaned, collapsing into a chair. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"
{Smith family home}
I eyed the stone in Rick's hand. "So… what now?"
Rick grinned. "Now? Now we test this bad boy out." But I have a feeling that it is not going to be easy. Rick held up the Philosopher's Stone, rolling it between his fingers like a gambler who'd just won the universe's highest-stakes game of poker. It pulsed with an eerie red glow, humming with the kind of power that could rewrite reality itself.
Jerry, still recovering from his near-existential crisis, groaned. "Can we please not do anything reckless with that thing?"
Rick grinned. "Oh, Jerry, buddy, pal—what's the point of having an all-powerful artifact if you don't immediately do something reckless with it?"
Jerry whimpered.
I sighed. "Okay, but maybe let's not accidentally turn the entire planet into molten cheese or something?"
Rick frowned. "Huh. Do you think that's an option? Because that'd be kinda sick."
Jerry paled. "I'm begging you, Rick."
Rick ignored him and lifted the stone to eye level. "Alright, let's see what this bad boy can do…"
He waved the stone at a nearby table. Nothing happened. Rick frowned. "Weird. Thought it'd explode or something."
"Maybe don't wave it around like a magic wand? You know that's not how it works. We need to extract the energy out of it and then experiment on it safely before we can do crazy shit with it." I suggested.