[Schrödinger's Poster / Seal]
[Type: Item / Creature]
[Effect: When unfolded, instantly used. 50% chance to become a beautiful nude poster that charms the heart. 50% chance to become a magical creature — Seal · 007 — rideable, capable of long sea voyages, and equipped with sightseeing seats.]
[Consumption: 1 use / day]
[Trait: Magical Creation]
[Note: Poster? Seal? Hard to tell.]
"—I guessed right. This is exactly what I wanted."
Rip—
Ren didn't hesitate. He unfurled the scroll, trusting that the odds would not betray him twice.
An orange-haired naked beauty appeared.
Ren's eyes were hooked at once. The nude woman leaned against the wall with a look of contempt, yet a flush of desire rose on her cheeks.
"No way… waves of emotion—ugh! That's Nami!" he thought, incredulous.
Ren tore his gaze away from the canvas with difficulty; a warmth rose in his nostrils.
As expected, this looked like the original Nami sometime after the Marineford War — not bad at all as spell material.
But what good was that!
"This is bullshit!"
Ren, furious, prepared to fling the scroll to the ground, but his hand froze before he let go.
Not because he couldn't bear to part with it — well, okay, partly because he couldn't bear to — but mainly because he'd already used up today's chance. Tomorrow's chance isn't guaranteed.
Earlier, in the storage room where Nezuro's quarters were, Ren had decisively used the Desire-Directing Compass specifically to spend that day's use before midnight. After midnight he planned to use it again, so he could get two uses in a short time and break out of his current mess.
Same logic applied to the scroll: midnight would be his opportunity.
But Ren didn't trust luck-based prizes enough to simply gamble again.
His attribute panel's Luck was only at I+.
'That draw just confirmed that the "?+" in the Luck field actually does something — but the scroll result just failed. There's only one chance left. I can't risk my only shot.'
—So change the approach.
Ren thought it through calmly.
His luck had risen one tier after clearing the deadly tribulation, but I+ was the lowest Luck grade he'd seen. Betting on chance was not his strength right now.
He needed a new variable to change the odds: either a substitute item or something that directly boosted luck.
Luckily, his recent risky run had paid off, giving him enough to buy into the next-level jackpot.
A new notice popped from the Dimensional Roulette.
{One hundred draws reached. Dimensional Roulette unlocked Advanced Wheel. Single stake for this stage: 10,000 Beli.}
Ten thousand Beli per draw, a hundred draws costs one million Beli.
Ren glanced at his balance.
{Chip balance: 3,100,000}
Plenty. The newly opened wheel should have better drop rates; three million was enough for him to play for a while.
Better than gambling his last scroll unfold.
He issued the command.
"Dimensional Roulette — Advanced Wheel, one hundred draws."
One million Beli vanished from his chip balance in an instant. The colorful wheel spun again.
{Drawn — Ornate Bookshelf.}
{Drawn — Colorful Adult Manga.}
{Drawn — Ordinary Longsword.}
{Drawn — Pack of Cigarettes.}
{Drawn — Bottle of Liquor ×1.}
{Jackpot triggered — Drawn: Lucky Lighter.}
[Lucky Lighter]
[Origin: Unknown Dimension][Type: Magical Item]
[Effect: Light a cigarette — gain a temporary +2 Luck bonus for three seconds.]
[Consumption: 1 use / day]
[Trait: Favored by the Goddess of Fortune]
[Note 1: Bad news — it's a crude imitation. Good news — because it's a fake, you don't have to worry about some big boss crossing dimensions with a knife to slice you open.]
At that moment Ren clenched the silver lighter in his hand, eyes fixed on the Trait line.
[Trait: Favored by the Goddess of Fortune]
[Effect: When used, randomly increases Luck by 1–3 points and significantly raises the probability of fulfilling the user's heart's desire!]
Perfect.
He'd gambled correctly. The jackpot rate was high at this tier, and with the mysterious ?+ in his luck field, the draw amplification had toppled the situation in his favor.
He'd pulled a game-changing tool.
But he noticed the question-marked + in his Luck field had dimmed considerably — by maybe seventy percent.
Ren guessed that the ?+ Luck reserve was also finite: two "wish" consumptions had eaten a lot of it.
He had always been unlucky by nature, yet fate had occasionally treated him like a gambling god. There had to be a price.
Another notice popped up.
{One hundred draws reached. Dimensional Roulette unlocked VIP Wheel. Single stake for this stage: 100,000 Beli.}
Ren glanced, then ignored it.
This was his draw—no, his scroll-unfurling round!
Of course he didn't recklessly open the scroll before the time. Midnight hadn't struck yet.
Ren wandered the area until he found a barrel of rotten fish and set it beside him. He picked up a pack of cigarettes from the ground and stuffed it in his pocket, then tossed other potentially useful items for a voyage — bandages and the like — into his bag.
Dong—dong—The church bell in town tolled, announcing the stroke of midnight.
Almost at the same moment, a shrill alarm sounded above the Marine base standing at the island's center.
It was the enemy-encounter siren — once it sounded, the base had initiated the most urgent alert.
Toot~woo—toot~woo—
"Bastards! Stirring up trouble in the middle of the night. If we catch you, you're dead!"A flood of marines burst out through the base gates, cursing. Colonel Nezumi's furious voice echoed above the gates.
"Bring me the one who dared offend me! I'll offer his head to Nezuro and those innocent people who died!"
"Yes! Colonel!"
Hundreds of marines armed with muskets split into three groups.
A small detachment headed toward the general store to collect the bodies of those "innocents."
The largest group fanned out across the town, searching the island's remote corners.
The last group, clearly the elite force, ran toward the port warehouse, guided by a pale-faced ruffian.
The shrill siren woke the island in an instant.
"Here they come. Pretty fast reaction," Ren said expressionlessly, staring into the distance. The blinding floodlights and alarms spelled out his current situation in plain terms.
Failure would mean death.
(End of chapter)