"A Prayer Order System?"
After confirming he wasn't hallucinating from near-death exhaustion, Abel immediately felt a surge of energy.
As expected, a transmigration story without a cheat system was incomplete!
This could change his current nightmare of a situation.
He focused and summoned the system interface.
It was simple, made up of four sections: [Character], [Orders], [Shop], and [Package].
He tapped on Character.
[Host: Gustavus Abel]
[Basic Trading Qualification]
Gender: Male
Age: 10
Height: 140 cm
Weight: 25.5 kg
Lifespan: 5 years, 21 days
Talent: None
Ability: None
Trading Points: 0
Abel frowned slightly. No talent and no ability. Not ideal, but also not surprising.
In his previous life, aside from his face that made people call him Gigolo, he hadn't possessed any remarkable gifts. Unexpectedly, after transmigrating, he was still "useless except for being good looking." Correction—now he was a handsome boy.
Still, he believed this time could be different.
First, he needed to survive long enough to make it matter.
The hellish opening was bad enough, but seeing only five years left on his lifespan cast a heavy shadow over his mind.
He quickly moved on to explore the rest of the system.
After a moment, he finally understood how it worked.
The Orders section was divided into Receive Orders and Publish Orders.
With basic trading qualifications, he received one free "search" attempt every 72 hours. Each attempt gave him a prayer order from another world. Completing these orders earned trading points and sometimes special rewards.
Free search attempts could not be accumulated, but purchased attempts or those obtained through events could.
The "Publish Order" function was currently grayed out, locked until he reached intermediate trading qualifications.
Abel then opened [Package] and activated the newcomer gift pack.
[Newcomer Gift Pack Received]
— 1000 Trading Points
— 1 Four-Star Review Card
— 1 Order Posting Trial Card
— 1 Limited Random Four-Star Discounted Item
Four-Star Review Card (Limited)
Type: One-time use
Effect: Guarantees a four-star rating upon completion of a basic prayer order.
Order Posting Trial Card (Limited)
Type: One-time use
Effect: Creates a "wish order" based on Abel's request and reward, then sends it to other worlds.
Note: If the request is too difficult or the reward too small, no one may accept it.
With the trading points received, Abel immediately opened the Shop.
[Shop – Beginner]
Three random items refresh every seven days, plus one limited-time discount at the start of each month.
Five items were currently available.
At the top was the random four-star discounted reward from the newcomer pack.
Special Item: [Red Heart] ×99
Special items do not disappear on refresh; available while supplies last.
Description: Gamers know a red heart means an extra life.
Effect: Grants a fixed increase of one year to lifespan. Cannot be used on others.
Price: 1000 trading points
*Four-star surprise discount price: 100 trading points each!
Quantity: 99
P.S.: Bargain sale! Buy now or regret later!
…
The second item was the limited monthly discount.
[Talent Mutation Ray] (Purple)
Description: A miracle for the talentless—the ultimate "little pill" for ordinary people.
Effect: Unlocks hidden potential and transforms it into innate talent. (Instant effect; cannot be used if you already possess talent.)
Price: 2000 trading points
Limited-time flash sale: 100 trading points!
Quantity: 1
Time remaining: 23 hours, 59 minutes
P.S.: Will you accept mediocrity, or take a risk?
…
The remaining three were standard weekly items:
Product: [Banana Grenade] (White)
Type: One-time item
Description: Looks like a banana… actually a bomb.
Effect: Explodes after 3 seconds.
Price: 5 trading points
Quantity: 10
P.S.: You banana, you idiot!
…
Product: Lightweight Bulletproof Vest (White)
Type: Equipment
Description: Just a normal bulletproof vest. Its only merit is being lightweight.
Effect: Blocks bullets. Protection value: 100
Price: 50 trading points
Quantity: 1
P.S.: Only protects against bullets, nothing else.
…
Product: [I'm Just a Passerby] (Blue)
Type: One-time item
Description: A love story between three people… yet I don't even get a name.
Effect: Presence is significantly reduced for 10 minutes; others subconsciously ignore you.
Note: Reduced presence ≠ invisibility. Avoid prolonged exposure or suspicious actions.
Price: 100 trading points
Quantity: 1
P.S.: Huh? Who are you? When did you get here?
"This!!"
Abel's heart raced.
The Red Hearts could extend his lifespan. Ninety-nine hearts meant ninety-nine extra years.
In other words, as long as he earned enough trading points, he didn't need to worry about dying young anymore.
And the surprises kept coming!
The Talent Mutation Ray—a purple item—for only 100 trading points? Originally cost 2000? That was beyond a bargain!
(For reference: most system items were ranked white → blue → purple → orange → red, except special items.)
Even the three ordinary items had their uses, making them tempting.
But a thousand trading points only went so far.
After careful thought, he spent 150 points on the Lightweight Bulletproof Vest (white) and I'm Just a Passerby (blue).
Both offered survival value, and survival was what he needed most right now.
Everything else could wait until he reached safety.
As soon as Abel confirmed the purchase, the items appeared in the system inventory.
The Inventory space was unlimited but could only store system items.
Abel took out the bulletproof vest and slipped it on.
It was black, surprisingly sleek and comfortable, weighing barely a pound. He wondered what materials it was made from.
Then he pulled his blood-stained uniform jacket back on over it.
After finishing, he checked Orders again.
Start searching for prayer orders?
Current search count: 1 (free)
Abel thought briefly, then confirmed.
It made sense to test the feature immediately and gather information.
The system activated at once.
Searching for prayer orders… Search complete!
Basic prayer order acquired.
Request: A boy known as the "Reaper Elementary School Student" has been captured while investigating a murderer and urgently needs a sharp blade to cut the ropes binding him.
Order target: A sharp cutting tool
Reward: Stamina-enhancing shoes, 100 trading points
Time limit: 4 minutes, 59 seconds
…
"There's a time limit?"
The five-minute countdown surprised Abel, though not enough to make him panic.
Instead, he calmly began analyzing the information.
"It seems completing an order doesn't require adhering to any principle of 'equivalent exchange.'
Otherwise, there's no way a simple kitchen knife could equal the value of stamina-enhancing shoes."
"Of course, this assumes the 'Reaper Elementary School Student' in the request is the one I think it is."
"In other words, the system probably generates orders based on supply and demand. What someone needs right now versus what they're willing to pay right now. The true values are not necessarily equal, and whether it's profit or loss depends entirely on my judgment."
Abel grew thoughtful.
It was simple enough to illustrate.
A man stranded in the desert might carry bags of gold but have no water. In that situation, what matters more—water or gold? If someone offered him enough water to survive and escape in exchange for all his gold, what would he choose?
Ninety-nine percent of people would agree without hesitation, because survival comes first.
As for the few idiots who would value money over life, there was no point discussing them.
In Abel's view, the value of an item constantly fluctuated depending on a person's immediate needs.
A bottle of mineral water might only cost a dollar in the city, but to a dying traveler in the desert, it could be worth a chest full of gold. That was essentially how this worked.
After grasping the concept, Abel wasted no time and started searching through the corpses around him.
Although most people in Flevance had been shot, a considerable number had been killed by blades—and some residents fought back, however futilely.
So while any valuables had long since been stripped away, plenty of "worthless junk" remained with the bodies.
Just by looking around, Abel could see dozens of broken knives embedded in ribs or still clutched in cold, stiff hands.
He soon found what he needed.
It was a kitchen knife, sharp enough, gripped tightly in the hand of a man in his forties. The man's eyes were frozen wide open, filled with unwillingness—evidence of a desperate struggle before death.
The blade, originally meant for chopping vegetables, had several chips along the edge.
If Abel had more time, he would have searched for something better. But time was running out, so he went with what he had.
[Order confirmed… Delivery in progress]
The kitchen knife vanished from his grip almost instantly.
[Initial prayer order fulfilled. Customer rating: 2 stars (just so-so)!]
Comment:Are you kidding me?! I asked for a sharp knife, not a saw!
Rating effect: 2-star rating deducts 20% of base transaction reward.
Remaining rewards have been issued automatically.
"Two-star rating?"
Abel blinked, then checked his rewards. He had only received 80 trading points and a pair of stamina-enhancing shoes. The deduction was real.
"System, what's going on?"
Please review the specific rule details.
Abel opened the rule description and quickly understood.
Every completed order received customer feedback, rated from one to five stars.
One-star rating — Terrible. Deducts 50% of base trading points.
If three one-star ratings accumulate, trading qualification is automatically downgraded by one level.
If already at beginner level with no downgrade possible, the system unbinds from the user entirely and deletes the trading account.
However, upgrading trading qualifications clears all accumulated negative ratings.
Two-star rating — So-so. Deducts 20% of base trading points. No negative accumulation.
Three-star rating — Neutral positive. Meets needs adequately. No deduction and no extra reward.
Four-star rating — Pleasant surprise. Exceeds basic needs and fulfills hidden expectations. Increases base reward by 50% and may award tips from customers.
Five-star rating — Perfect. Fully satisfies all needs. Doubles base reward and has a high chance of extra tips.
In short, the rating system not only gave users more flexibility in choosing traded items, but also encouraged them to fulfill each request sincerely rather than cutting corners.