My Level Zero System-Chapter 312: Cyrus’ Winning Strategy

In fact, if there wasn't the option to attack leading to reduced income, it's highly likely that quite a few players would have adopted the strategy of accumulating money until the very last turn to use it.

That is why, while it might seem like Kain only made the simple choice of bidding 0 gold coins each time, the considerations involved were absolutely not few.

"Kain, for the next three turns, you can comfortably accumulate gold coins, but once that alliance successfully retreats with full pockets and is no longer maintaining the winning streak, you will definitely become the target for everyone to aim at."

"I wonder, will you abandon the accumulation strategy, or will you break through the increasingly tightening siege?"

...

Cyrus looked at the current situation with some contemplation.

He was hoping that the factions would spend more in this turn 2 bid, but he didn't expect this outcome.

"Something strange is going on."

This thought flashed through Cyrus's mind.

The development in bidding turn 1 was entirely created by him, primarily because he wanted to lay the first bricks to control the game situation. And Cyrus had already anticipated what to do next.

He had divided the possibilities into two scenarios.

The first scenario, which was the most ideal, was that Cyrus wins the bid in turn 1 with 10 gold coins.

At this point, he planned not to put the successfully bid gold coins into the treasury, even though it was the immediate optimal benefit.

Only those who are not far-sighted, who don't know how to probe the "hidden rules" beneath the surface layer of the game, would do that. Anyone wise in this situation should understand that there are things that are correct in terms of benefit but wrong in terms of strategy.

This was also intentionally exploited by Cyrus.

A hunter will not always appear in the form of a hunter; a hunter can also silently appear in the form of prey.

He took great pains to enter the game as a substitute for the Bethel Family for this very reason.

No one takes a substitute too seriously, because a substitute means a secondary item.

Cyrus wanted others to think exactly that.

Right from the start of turn 1, Cyrus himself exhibited such behavior.

This led to the fact that in the eyes of others, when Cyrus had won the bid, even if he did nothing else, as long as he deliberately "accidentally" showed an expression of anxiety, everyone would realize that Cyrus was intentionally concealing the fact that he had "put the winning gold coins into the treasury," even though he hadn't done so.

As a long-term game, the other players would certainly not choose to kill the goose that lays the golden egg right now. Instead, they would pretend not to notice that Cyrus had put the money into the treasury, deliberately allowing Cyrus to nurture his treasury to grow.

To later, have a competitor step in and seize it.

And for Cyrus to be able to maintain the lie that his treasury was very full.

No one would proactively expose this lie, because everyone would consider Cyrus an easy target, a novice. And the more the other players "know" Cyrus is putting a lot of money into the treasury, the less vigilant they will be, because gold coins in the treasury, although they are the winning condition, are frozen money that cannot be used.

And money that cannot be used has no competitive power. Until the end, Cyrus would only be able to helplessly watch his treasury be scraped away piece by piece.

Meanwhile, to compete for the "fat sheep" Cyrus, the factions, in the process of plotting to consume each other's gold coins, would indirectly continue to nourish Cyrus and reduce their own competitiveness. Cyrus just needs to sit back and watch, occasionally adding fuel to the fire, as long as the core idea that "Cyrus's treasury is full of money" remains.

But the truth is, there's nothing in his treasury, because Cyrus would have accumulated tons of gold coins in hand, directly overturning the game in the final turns.

In other words, the winning strategy Cyrus devised had two main points.

One, turning his own treasury into a "winning sign" for other players, signaling that whoever successfully seizes Cyrus's treasury will be the biggest winner.

Two, secretly accumulating gold coins for the final phase. That's right, the very strategy that Faith called foolish, but Cyrus would handle it so that no one knew he was accumulating gold coins. This would naturally cause the amount of gold coins he could accumulate to be significantly lower than the ideal situation, which is a maximum of 500 gold coins after 50 turns, but that is the price to pay for this strategy to work.

In this game, there is no such thing as a perfect winning strategy; it's only about seeing who is one step ahead.

But the above was only Cyrus's most ideal situation.

As for the second scenario, sadly, that is what actually happened: Cyrus could not win the bid in turn 1 because someone else also bid 10 gold coins, preventing Cyrus from quickly setting up the game situation.

And the one who made the move was Faith.

The only benefit of this scenario is that Cyrus learned that Faith was someone who could see through his entire calculation in turn 1. As for the overall master plan, Cyrus did not believe Faith could see that far.

Nevertheless, this struck the first warning bell in Cyrus's mind: that this young man named Faith... was not simple at all.

And this was further reinforced in turn 2 of the game. Faith not only announced that he would bid 0 gold coins this turn, giving the reason that he had spent all his gold coins in the previous turn, but also dragged Cyrus along with him.

Crucially, Cyrus could not refute it, so in bidding turn 2, he could only bid 0 gold coins.

Because that was the most reasonable choice for someone without competitive power.

Cyrus originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that the factions' treasuries were still meager and spending was reserved to attempt another bid with 10 gold coins. But he was stopped by Faith with a logical reason.

At this point, if Cyrus still insisted, it would be highly suspicious.

He could appear "just foolish enough" to deceive people, but being "too foolish" would raise everyone's vigilance. Because even though Cyrus entered the field as the substitute for the Bethel Family, the Bethel Family would not be foolish enough to let an idiot represent them in such an important game.

Therefore, Cyrus could only continue to wait for the opportunity, because as long as his disguise was not exposed, his plan remained feasible.