Chapter 548: New Lottery Draw!
He decided to eat the fruits before he would decide on whether to upgrade the system.
He swallowed each Fruit of Agility one by one into his stomach.
These Stats Category fruits were very delicious and did not take up any space in the stomach, so there was no feeling of fullness. After it's put into the mouth, it changes into a heat flux that spreads through the body. Zhang Ye took just two minutes to eat all twenty Fruits of Agility, and then casually lifted his elbow and moved it about a few times. He threw a few punches at the air, and could actually feel quite an effect. He felt that his movements had sped up from before, not because of his muscular strength increasing, but because he had an increased flexibility and reaction rate. After his brain had given its signals, his body reacted much more nimbly. Having eaten so many Fruits of Agility, he felt his body getting lighter. It was a very pleasant feeling.
Unfortunately, it did not seem like there was much use for this.
First, it did not seem like it would help his career since his job didn't require him to be agile. Second, it was only a little important to his self-defense since his main martial arts style was Tai Chi, which wasn't dependent on agility. It instead used a style that was relatively "slower" and did not require him to be too quick.
If he had to insist that these agile fruits could help him in something, it would be the time when he offends others and gets surrounded and attacked by thousands of people. Then he could to depend on this item to help him escape.
Well, at least it can be used for emergencies.
After he was done, Zhang Ye didn’t carry on with the lottery draw. Instead, he lit a cigarette and pondered for five minutes. With a final affirmation of his eyes, he decided to update the system, mainly due to his curiosity. As the system update was there, if he didn’t update it, something would always feel wrong and he'd keep thinking about it. Besides, Zhang Ye was getting more and more popular now, his ranking in the entertainment circle becoming higher. The few items in the merchant shop and the existing lottery draw system were no longer able to satisfy him.
Like before, when the Lucky Bread (Small) helped him create the accidents and opportunities that led to him winning the Silver Microphone Awards. The Lucky Halo also helped to get Zhang Ye's "Woman Flower" playing at Lee Anson's concert and disgust him. It even helped him roll a five times reduced difficulty effect when he used the Difficulty Adjustment Die. Based on these previous experiences, these items had all helped him a lot and were very effective. But right now, and even in the future, this bit of luck might no longer be enough to help Zhang Ye as much any further. Furthermore, the Lucky Halo was not always effective or useful when he needed something to go his way. This did not mean the Lucky Halo or Lucky Bread (Small) were getting lousy. Rather, because Zhang Ye was moving to a higher level now, the situation required a different magnitude of effectiveness.
Like how the "Invisibility Potion" did not work on clothes.
Like how the "Red String of Fate" broke when a slight situation occurred.
Or even the "Unlucky Sticker" that was only effective for five minutes and other Consumption Category items that were similarly limited to a short effective time.
These items all had many restrictions in their functionality. However, since Zhang Ye's demand levels before were low and he had limited situations in which he could use them, they still weren't too bad when used. However, like today's lottery draw, it seemed like they had become a lot less effective.
It was time to upgrade!
200 million? Fine, 200 million it shall be!
Zhang Ye’s heart felt like it was already bleeding. He clicked on the exclamation icon at the lower right corner of the game interface and a system upgrade message popped up!
[Confirm] / [Cancel]
This will hurt!
He could feel the pain of losing all those reputation points at once!
He clenched his fist and firmly pressed down on "confirm"!
[Starting System Upgrade.]
[200 Million Reputation Points will be consumed.]
[Upgrading, Please wait.]
[Upgrading Process: 1%… 12%… 17%… ]
After approximately half an hour, the system upgrade process finally moved slowly towards 100%. The game interface closed with a swish before reopening almost immediately. But this newly reopened interface did not look the same as before. The option selection items had changed slightly and another new option selection was now added to it.
[Reputation Points]: 20,048,211.
[Inventory]
[Merchant Shop]
[Lottery Draw (One)]
[Lottery Draw (Two)]
Zhang Ye clicked to go into Lottery Draw (One). In it, he could see that this was the same “Lottery Draw” interface as before and only was only labeled with an extra "(One)" in its name. To get a chance at the draw, it still required 100,000 reputation points to activate. So it seemed that Lottery Draw (Two) was obviously the newly added option, and was the upgraded lottery draw which the system message mentioned.
He clicked on it!
After choosing the new option, a completely different interface popped up.
Inside Lottery Draw (Two), an interface similar to a slot machine appeared instead of a wheel and needle design. It had a bit of a 3D effect and there was a lever handle on the side. However, unlike a normal slot machine, there was only one middle window viewing panel instead of three. For example, instead of a "7-7-7," it could only show one "7." At this moment, the window was showing a blank icon, and the top and bottom, though partially hidden, said "Consumption Category" and "Skills Category" respectively.
It was a brand new lottery draw system!
Zhang Ye was a little unsure, but when he saw the purchase option, he casually pressed it to try. Although he was mentally prepared and expected the new lottery draw system to be different from before, he still nearly swore when he saw the required reputation pointed needed for this upgraded Lottery Draw (Two).
[Ten Million Reputation Points]
[Yes / No To Confirm Purchase]
Ten million! Why don't you go and rob a bank instead!
Although the saying goes that you get what you pay for, it was still too much!
Immediately after that, the system brought up a notification message: [Upgraded system. A reward has been activated. For the first time running of the new lottery draw systems, you are entitled to make a spin with a 100% chance of getting a Special Category item (limited to one time).]
You will definitely draw a Special Category item on the first spin? This gave Zhang Ye some comfort as otherwise, the 200 million reputation points would have just been a waste! Using so many reputation points for a system upgrade plus a chance to get an item that could be bought in the merchant shop? Who knows if this will be worth it!
Draw!
Let’s see what will be gotten from drawn!
Zhang Ye took a deep breath and clenched his teeth as he pressed on Lottery Draw (Two) and spent those ten million reputation points. He purchased the lottery draw rights, then put his hands onto the virtual screen. It was just like the inventory storage. He could feel the physical space from within as he held onto the handle lever of the slot machine!
He pulled and let go!
The slot machine’s lottery wheel window started spinning very quickly!
Special Category!
Special Category!
It was still showing the Special Category!
There were no more “Consumption Category” and “Skills Category” icons shown on the slot machine's window as this was a reward spin given to him by the system! It was guaranteed to give a Special Category item!
And of course he would be fine with it.
The machine was clattering as the icons within the window showing "Special Category" cascaded. It was going at a very fast speed and rolled on for some time before it started to slow down. It slowed down gradually until a click sounded, and the window showed one of the Special Category items.
Clatter!
The slot machine rang to signal that a prize had been won!
The prize was announced: [Congratulations Player, you have received Lucky Halo (Upgraded) purchasing rights at the merchant shop. The previous Lucky Halo purchasing rights will be overwritten by the new version.]
What?
Upgraded version?
Zhang Ye’s eyes twinkled with joy. He cried out in happiness. Earlier, just now, he was still whining about how his luck could not sustain his career development anymore. Now he had gotten himself a great gift? He immediately went off to the merchant shop to check on the item. It turned out that the “Lucky Halo” icon had been replaced by an icon that showed an even larger off-white halo. It was labeled clearly: Lucky Halo (Upgraded)!
[Effect: Increases the luck factor.]
[Price: One hundred thousand reputation points for every second it is in effect. ]
Needless to ask, this upgraded halo was definitely more effective than the normal version. He could tell just from the paying price. The normal version only cost ten thousand reputation points for every second in use while the upgraded version cost one hundred thousand reputation points with every second it was in effect. If the price were equal to the effectiveness of the item's effect, then the upgraded version would likely increase tenfold in effectiveness over the normal version. This was like a free meal dropping out of the sky for Zhang Ye. It was such an ultimate trump card. The only drawback was that the price was really too high. If it was a hundred thousand reputation points per second, then in one minute, six million reputation points would be spent?
The greater the ability, the greater the cost.
Zhang Ye decided to not care about it for now. Having an extra trump card was always good. Then, after checking and seeing that he still had a little over ten million reputation points left, he decided to go for another shot at the lottery, obviously still choosing Lottery Draw (Two).
Purchase!
Start lottery draw!
Along with the reputation points spent on operating the slot machine, most of his 200 million reputation points had now nearly been emptied.
The icons on the window kept spinning at a very high speed!
[Empty]
[Consumption Category]
[Consumption Category]
[Stats Category]
[Empty]
[Skills Category]
The icons cascading in front of Zhang Ye’s eyes had no pattern. It was different to Lottery Draw (One)'s compass mechanism as every icon did not have a fixed arrangement, and were randomly assigned. Some categories were even right next to each other or repeated every other category. It all seemed completely random. There were also a lot of "Empty" icons. Obviously, if the draw landed on one of these, then the ten million worth of reputation points were as good as having gone down the drain. This "Empty" icon basically just meant that there was no prize for it. Occasionally, the slot machine showed a glimpse of the “Special Category” icon, but a faint glimpse of that category was all there as to it and he couldn't see it anymore after that. It was difficult to even glance at it again, so just wonder how low the probability of getting a Special Category item was.
Soon, the spin started to slow down!
Zhang Ye took a deep breath as it was about to stop!
Click, the icon for the Stats Category moved into view as it reached the result zone, then with another click, the "Empty" icon moved into the result zone. Above this "Empty" icon was another "Empty" icon. When Zhang Ye saw this, he shuddered with fear!
Move along!
Quickly, move!
Click, the second "Empty” icon came into the result zone!
Seeing that the slot machine was about to stop spinning, he nearly wanted to kick it a few times with his leg in a bid to get it the icon to move on! Don’t stop! Move along!
Bba!
Finally, the "Empty" icon moved away at the very last moment and slid down inside the window. The next icon that came in its place was the Consumption Category icon. With a final click, it moved into the result zone and stayed still!
It's a Consumption Category item!
The slot machine disbursed the won item!
A golden treasure chest flew out from the slot machine and moved directly into the inventory at the upper left corner of the game interface. Zhang Ye quickly opened up the inventory and took out the treasure chest with his hand, then placed it on his bed. Although this treasure chest was also golden in color, it was bigger than the Lottery Draw (One) treasure chests, much bigger in fact. It measured about one meter in length and half a meter in width and height.
The name for this item was: [Treasure Chest (Medium)]
Medium sized? Then that would mean that apart from the small- and medium-sized ones, there could also be large-sized treasure chests?
Zhang Ye didn’t think too much of it for now and just flipped open the treasure chest's lid as he wanted to know if the ten million reputation points used for the draw was worth it or not. He wanted to know what kind of prizes could be won from the upgraded Lottery Draw (Two) and the differences between it and Lottery Draw (One). When he finally opened the treasure chest, he could only see a tiny, heart-shaped, red object on the inside. It looked crystal clear and full of vitality, glittering in the soft and translucent light as it rotated continuously in its spot.
What was this?
It seemed to be quite beautiful?
When he bent over and took the red heart into his hand, an explanation for the item popped up.
[1-Up] x 1：Gives an extra life to the player.
Zhang Ye was confused when he saw this. 1-Up? Now he even had…an extra life? The games he played before in his previous world like Contra and Super Mario, as well as many other console games, had this sort of a design. An extra life meant an extra chance. He would never have expected that he could also get an extra life. Then did it mean that if he got hit by a car while walking on the road and died, he could be revived on the spot?
F**k!
Then this item was too powerful!
If it were really like this, the ten million reputation points spent would definitely be worth it!
Whether it really had such an effect, Zhang Ye did not know, nor would he dare test it out. Get on the road and get run over by a car? That was basically just seeking a quick death. But from this prize, it could be clearly seen that Lottery Draw (Two) was not a improved version of Lottery Draw (One). For example, one hundred thousand reputation points to draw an Unlucky Sticker that could be used for 5 minutes, while ten million reputation points would gain you an Unlucky Sticker that worked for 500 minutes? It was not a change in quantity, but the quality and level of the prize. The items that could be gained from the newly upgraded Lottery Draw (Two) were of a whole different level of usage!
Like the 1-Up!
Like the upgraded Lucky Halo!
If it were won from Lottery Draw (One), don’t say ten million reputation points, even if he spent one billion or ten billion reputation points, he wouldn't be able to get those prizes. Just for reason alone, the 200 million reputation points spent on upgrading the system was already worthy in itself. At last, he could find some comfort in this.
Yes, only just a little comfort.
200 million!
It still hurt him very much!
Zhang Ye carefully placed the 1-Up item into his inventory and did not go on with the lottery draw anymore. He didn’t have enough reputation points to continue doing so anyway, so he closed the game interface and lit a cigarette. The system upgrade was really a timely arrival for his future career development as it had laid out a bright path for him to walk forward on. It made him look forward to the future with even greater expectations now, but the only thing was…the 200 million reputation points hadn't even been his for long and he had already spent it!
In the bedroom, he kept mumbling to himself.
"Ah, 200 million!"
"200 million!"
"Well, alright, it's pointless to keep rambling on any further. Reputation points can be earned back if there aren't any left. It's no big deal. Who did you think I, Zhang Ye, am? What storms have I not been through before? I only keep rambling on like this because I have nothing else to do. Even if I lie down now, I won't be able to sleep. I'm only complaining a little and besides, it was just a little bit of reputation points. Spending a little is normal. Do you really think that I would keep rambling on for the rest of my life? You really think I see it with such importance? You really think I wouldn't be able to snap out of it? Haha, then I’ll tell you that…Yes! I! Really! Couldn't! Snap! Out! Of! It!"
200 million!!!
Translator's Notes: Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support IRAS by submitting a vote at Gravity Tales Vote Page. The top 3 novels at the end of the month will get a free sponsored chapter!