Chapter 22: Worth 8888 Diamonds?
"First recharge gift pack?" Ian asked suspiciously. "Is that the extra reward for the first time you top up?"
"Yes!" the system replied. "Recharge any amount for the first time, and you can receive a first recharge gift pack worth 8888 diamonds!"
"Any amount!?" Ian was indignant. "Then why didn't you tell me earlier!?"
Damn it, if he had known about such a gift pack, Ian would have topped up back in Shimotsuki Village. Although his monthly allowance back then was pitifully small, he had still managed to save a bit. Spending a few hundred Berries to get this first recharge gift pack would have been a steal no matter how he looked at it.
However, the system answered, "The minimum purchase tier for diamonds in the diamond shop is 100 diamonds!"
"..." Ian was instantly speechless. If it were possible, he would have liked to wad the system into a ball, throw it on the ground, and stomp on it ten thousand times!
So this is what you call "any amount"!? Why didn't you just say the minimum for the first recharge is 100 diamonds?
Amazing, my friend! For this kind of wordplay from the system, Ian could only write a big "RESPECT"!
No wonder the system never mentioned the first recharge gift pack when he had Berries in hand before. Turns out the minimum threshold for recharging was twenty thousand Berries, which converted to exactly 100 diamonds...
Judging people by their money, no money means no discussion! This system really was quite malicious.
Forget it, he had long known what kind of money-grubbing nature this system had. Ian couldn't be bothered to argue with it anymore and asked, "What's inside the gift pack?"
He had to ask. He had already experienced the system's talent for word games. It sounded nice on the surface—a gift pack worth 8888 diamonds—but who knew if it was actually worth that much when opened? That was debatable.
"The gift pack includes: a fixed number of Breakthrough Stones, a fixed number of Advancement Stones, a fixed number of random five-star red card fragments, and a random exclusive treasure," the system replied.
Ian stared wide-eyed and asked, "That's it? That's worth 8888 diamonds?"
The system didn't speak, seemingly in agreement, and Ian immediately felt terrible. He thought he shouldn't have trusted the system. Over eight thousand diamonds, roughly equivalent to twenty million Berries, but the items in the pack didn't sound like they were worth that much at all.
Well, this was the usual advertising trick of game companies. For them, this kind of gimmick didn't even count as false advertising because virtual items were inherently hard to value. They said it was worth that much, so it was worth that much, and you couldn't argue with them.
Should he top up or not? Ian hesitated as he looked at the twenty thousand Berries in his hand.
Shimotsuki Village was very small. Most of the villagers were self-sufficient, and the island's economy wasn't exactly developed. Plus, with all the years of buying medicine for Kuina, Teacher Koushirou's savings were definitely limited. Giving Ian these twenty thousand Berries was already the limit—it was meant for his travel expenses, not for recharging.
Ian had no idea what the situation would be like once he went out to sea. Having money on him would certainly make things easier, but he didn't know if his current strength was enough to protect himself. He hadn't even fought any enemies yet!
Don't forget, this was a world overrun by pirates. Even in the weakest East Blue, the average bounty for pirates was said to be three million Berries.
Ian didn't have a clear understanding of the strength corresponding to bounty amounts, but with the mindset of being cautious to avoid big mistakes, using the recharge to get the gift pack and strengthen himself was definitely the right move.
So at this moment, Ian found himself suddenly suffering from choice paralysis, unsure of what to do.
Why did it have to be exactly twenty thousand Berries? If it were a little more or a little less, Ian wouldn't have to agonize so much.
After finishing the dry rations in his hand, Ian finally made his decision: top up! Forget it, he would deal with money as it came. If he ran out, couldn't he just find a job to earn more?
It was the five-star red card in the gift pack that really caught his attention.
When Ian made his decision, the Berries in his hand suddenly disappeared, seemingly taken by the system. Then he heard the system's voice in his mind: "You have purchased 100 diamonds, receiving an additional 10 diamonds as a bonus. You have a gift pack waiting to be claimed."
Ian focused on the system interface in his mind and indeed saw a flashing gift icon. He chose to claim it.
"You have received 100 Breakthrough Stones!"
"You have received 100 Advancement Stones!"
"You have received 60 five-star red card fragments: Great Serpent!"
"You have received an exclusive treasure: Sword Saint Longsword!"
Ian was stunned. Great Serpent!? Could it really be that Great Serpent!?
He quickly entered his backpack interface and selected to view the existing card fragments. Sure enough, there was a handsome white-haired man's icon. In the upper left corner of the icon was a fragment symbol, indicating that the card was still not synthesizable. On the right side of the icon was an "x60" mark, showing the number of card fragments.
Ian immediately got excited. Holy crap, it was the boss Great Serpent from King of Fighters '97! This was a huge score!
According to what the system had said, the Great Serpent card should be a native five-star red card. Whether in terms of aptitude or attributes, it was top-tier. Cultivating such a card would bring Ian massive boosts.
But the card wasn't fully synthesized yet, so Ian couldn't see Great Serpent's skills, but he was sure they would be impressive.
This was the first top-tier card Ian had ever seen. After admiring it for a while, he asked the system, "Hey, by the way, how many fragments does it take to synthesize the Great Serpent card?"
"The synthesis count for a native five-star red card is 180 fragments!" the system replied.
"..." Damn it, what was this feeling of being tricked again!?
Earlier, the system had said that the synthesis count for a three-star purple card was 30 fragments, so Ian had thought that even if four-star and five-star cards required more, it wouldn't be by much. He guessed that a five-star card would need at most around 80 fragments to synthesize. If that were the case, then with 60 fragments now, there was still some hope of synthesizing a five-star card.
But now the system told him it required 180!
Ian felt like he had been screwed over. You only gave a third of the fragments, and you dare to claim it's worth 8888 diamonds!?
Something you can see but can't use—how is that any different from not having it at all!
Ian understood the system's intention very well. Give you a few fragments, not too many, not too few, just enough to tempt you into spending more money to pull fragments. This was a classic consumption trap. Even being a pay-to-win player was this hard these days...
Constantly patting his chest, Ian comforted himself: "Don't overthink it, get used to it, get used to it!"
Getting angry at the system wasn't worth it, because anger was useless. Besides making him emotionally agitated and irritable, he couldn't hurt the system one bit.
So, Ian had to temporarily set aside the Great Serpent fragments and switch to the backpack option to check out the so-called exclusive treasure.
"Huh? I was wondering what the Sword Saint Longsword was!" Ian exclaimed softly in surprise when he saw the exclusive treasure in his backpack.
Just from the name, it was hard to imagine what the exclusive treasure looked like, because many games had characters called Sword Saint. Ian didn't know which one it would be. But when he saw the weapon, he recognized it immediately.
Because he was too familiar with this weapon! It was the one in the hands of Samuro, the Blademaster from Warcraft! And judging by the color, it was the red version.
Ian didn't know the name of this longsword—it seemed impossible to verify. It had a long handle with a round iron ring at the end, a slender blade that stretched straight forward, looking quite long. The blade itself was a rusty red color, with some black and gold patterns interwoven. The cutting edge was a streak of snowy white, and just looking at it, you could feel the piercing sharpness.
The entire longsword had a rough, wild style. Ian knew that this red version of the longsword should, in theory, be used by the Blademasters of the Blackrock Clan, but perhaps even the system didn't know which Blackrock Blademasters used longswords, so it directly assigned it to Samuro.
[Sword Saint Longsword]
Exclusive Treasure for Card Samuro
Star Rating: Three-star treasure, upgradeable
Strength +100
Speed +50
Destructive Power +25%
Very good stats, but... damn it, I don't have Samuro's card!
Ian felt like today was just starting off badly. He had finally gotten a gift pack, but aside from the Breakthrough Stones, none of the other items were something he could use right now.
Just as Ian was starting to get frustrated, the system suddenly chimed in with a prompt: "The host can equip the exclusive treasure of any card!"
"Huh!?" Ian was stunned. "I can use it?"
"Yes, the host can equip the exclusive treasure of any card, but only one can be equipped at a time!" the system replied.
So, with a try-it-and-see attitude, Ian switched to his character interface. Sure enough, he saw a small empty box in his stats showing a red dot. Ian was familiar with this red dot—it had appeared when the Kenshiro card could equip gear, meaning there was an equippable item.
Ian selected that small box, and the item menu that popped up contained the Sword Saint Longsword. After choosing to equip it, Ian's stats immediately changed. With the 30% attribute boost, his Strength increased by 33 points, Speed by 15 points, and he gained an additional 5% boost to Destructive Power!
Before Ian could finish reading, he suddenly felt a weight in his hand. Looking down, he was shocked to find a weapon in his hand—it was the Sword Saint Longsword he had just equipped!
Ian bit his tongue. What was going on!? After equipping the exclusive treasure, how did it appear in reality!?