Chapter 285: Something Falling Down?
Ian stared at the packaging, at the name of the Stamina Potion, and was momentarily speechless.
He hadn't expected that the Stamina Potion would manifest in the form of alcohol, and it seemed the system had modeled it after the drink he was most familiar with.
Although Ian's skill usage in battle was currently limited by his Psychic Power value, as his Nen Training skill continued to improve, this limitation was gradually decreasing and beginning to tie into his physical stamina. Similarly, his Physical Combat training skill was also steadily improving. While his current physical stamina couldn't compare to monsters like Aokiji and Akainu, who had trained in physical combat for decades and could fight for days on end, it still played a significant role in his Psychic Power recovery.
For example, given Ian's current physical stamina and Psychic Power value, even using the Black Dragon Wave, which cost three thousand Psychic Power points per use, he could fire one off approximately every fifteen minutes!
Of course, this was under the condition of no other combat and with ample physical stamina. Ian could now recover three thousand Psychic Power points in just fifteen minutes!
And now, he could actually obtain Stamina Potions from the King's Tower to replenish his stamina. Although one bottle only restored 5%, and its appearance was this bizarre, it was still a massive supplement to his strength!
Although the method of acquisition was singular, as long as Ian continuously challenged the King's Tower and accumulated Stamina Potions, then if he ever encountered a high-intensity battle in the future, even if his stamina was severely depleted, downing twenty bottles of Red Star Erguotou would immediately have him bouncing back with energy!
This wasn't a Stamina Potion at all; it was like injecting adrenaline!
For some reason, Ian suddenly thought of the violent drug that Hody Jones from Fish-Man Island used. Although Ian's Stamina Potion had no side effects, it still seemed inferior to Hody Jones's drug...
But... twenty bottles of Red Star Erguotou... was this trying to turn him into a drunkard?
"Hey, can I change it to juice?" Ian asked the system. "Or cola, something like that!"
However, the system replied that once a manifested item was finalized, it couldn't be changed...
"Alright, a man of the sea should drink, right?" Ian unscrewed the bottle cap and tried a sip.
Fortunately, although it looked like Erguotou, this stuff wasn't real alcohol. It had a sour taste in his mouth, which made Ian breathe a huge sigh of relief. His biggest fear was that when he needed to replenish his stamina, he'd get drunk from drinking too much alcohol. How would he fight then!?
After drinking the Stamina Potion, Ian did feel a bit more energetic. He couldn't help but think that he could actually use this Stamina Potion during his daily Physical Combat training. This way, he could endure longer under Uncle Fujitora's gravity suppression for practice.
Since such a good thing as the Stamina Potion had appeared, Ian couldn't wait to start challenging the King's Tower again. He wanted to see if there were any other good items.
However, when Ian continued his challenges, he found that the card combinations the system generated had increased in strength. Using four cards, Ian barely managed to reach level 19, but at level 20, he failed three times.
Fortunately, Ian had five challenge attempts, meaning five opportunities to adjust his card combinations. He tried to adjust his card lineup and finally, after swapping in Orihime Inoue's healing card, he managed to clear level 20!
The big treasure chest at level 20 gave him an orange equipment fragment, a high-level piece of equipment that wouldn't appear in ten-draws. Still, this was a bit disappointing for Ian, as he had been hoping for another Stamina Potion.
After clearing level 20, Ian couldn't get past the subsequent levels no matter what. The current combat power of his four cards was still insufficient.
With no challenge attempts left, he had to start over. But when Ian asked how to reset the King's Tower, he found himself falling into another trap!
The system told him that after each challenge session, he had to wait 48 hours before he could spend 50,000 diamonds to reset the King's Tower once!
"Damn it! Do you think my money grows on trees!?" Ian shouted angrily.
Although Ian had recharged a huge amount of money at once, he had earned it by risking his life from the Celestial Dragons! He had been hunted by the Marines for so long because of it. Was it easy for him!?
However, that's how pay-to-win games worked. No matter how much the player protested, it was useless... If they wanted to screw you over, they would. Activating new features was just a way to screw you over even more!
Ian was depressed for a while, but then he came to terms with it. Although he was annoyed at being ripped off, feeling that no matter how much money he poured in, this damn system was a bottomless pit, the system also had its good points. At the very least, it had given him immense power, allowing him to protect himself in this world. That was the greatest benefit. If he were to give up the system, he probably couldn't do it.
Since the King's Tower function was temporarily unavailable, Ian turned his attention to the other two newly unlocked features.
The Collection function, as the name suggested, was for collecting card illustrations. If he could collect all the cards in a specific series, then as long as Ian had a card from that series in his card slots, that card would receive an additional attribute bonus.
According to the system, this attribute bonus was quite significant, at 20%. For example, the Shadow card was from the Yu Yu Hakusho series. If Ian collected all the cards from the Yu Yu Hakusho series, not only would all of Shadow's bond attributes be unlocked, but the Collection bonus would also be activated, increasing Shadow's attributes by 20%!
However, saying it was easier than doing it. Collecting all the cards in a series was not easy, because the Yu Yu Hakusho series also included native five-star red cards. Ian estimated there should be cards like Sensui Shinobu and Raizen, which would require him to spend time slowly refreshing the card shop to obtain.
In the end, it still meant spending a lot of his diamonds...
Ian felt a sense of utter frustration and quickly shifted his attention to the Weapon Chronicle function.
Similar to the Collection function, the Weapon Chronicle was a collection of exclusive treasures. However, the difference was that activating the Weapon Chronicle didn't increase the attributes of the exclusive treasures, but allowed Ian to freely switch between exclusive treasures of the same level!
Currently, several exclusive treasure illustrations were activated in Ian's Weapon Chronicle. From his initial Sword Saint Longsword, to the later Enma, Thousand Cherry Blossoms, Shadow's Cursed Bandages, and Orihime Inoue's Hairpin, all the exclusive treasures Ian had obtained were activated. This meant Ian could now freely switch the exclusive treasures he personally used, no longer relying on the random replacement function like before.
Of course, if Ian wanted more exclusive treasures to switch between, he would still need to continue collecting exclusive treasure fragments, just like the Yasakani no Magatama treasure of Iori Yagami he was currently collecting. He could buy them through shop refreshes or continuously use the replacement function to swap and activate them. Naturally, this required spending a lot of diamonds, without a doubt.
This function was quite useful. For example, if Ian could purchase enough Enma fragments to upgrade Enma to five stars, then he could directly switch to using a five-star Enma in the future. When he wanted to use Thousand Cherry Blossoms, he could switch back to it. This meant that even if he could only equip one exclusive treasure in his one-sword style, he could use many different swords!
Indeed, his decision to get that 10 billion Berry was wise. Although he now had the Thunder Stone business on Travira Island, providing a steady monthly income, if he relied on that business to save up 10 billion Berry, it would take a very long time, even without spending anything. And now, by becoming a Supreme VIP earlier, he had unlocked the remaining functions of the system, allowing him to become stronger sooner.
So, in the following time, Ian had things to do. During the day, he trained on the island using Fujitora's abilities, and at night, he stayed alone in his room, constantly refreshing the card shop, buying all the useful items he could. At the same time, every two days, he reset the King's Tower and challenged it.
To his surprise, the big treasure chests in the King's Tower had a chance to drop Character Experience Books! These were items that increased the experience points of Ian's main character card. Although one book didn't provide much, it was a good supplement. Without opponents to fight, Ian could slowly increase his level.
And so, two months gradually passed...
One day, at the Dragon Hunter Pirates' base, a massive pillar of blue-purple flames suddenly erupted into the sky. Although the huge pillar of fire was only there for a flash, it brought an intense wave of heat to the air in the base.
The members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, even if they saw this sudden pillar of fire, were not surprised at all. They continued playing and drinking as usual.
"Uncle Fujitora, the captain is testing his new ability again. I wonder what it's called. Should I go ask?" Walnut sat in front of a square table, blinking her big, cute eyes, pleading.
That's right, Fujitora was currently teaching little Walnut how to play mahjong. Ever since he became obsessed with mahjong, Fujitora now wished he could turn every member of the crew into a mahjong expert. That way, he would always have someone to make up a table.
But unfortunately, Walnut had no love for mahjong and was always trying to escape.
Margaret had also become familiar with Walnut and the others during this time. Hearing this, she glared at Walnut and said, "Don't go. I heard the captain mention it before. This move is called something like 'Kyoka.' You'd better stay and play mahjong with us!"
The Dragon Hunter Pirates' base now had its own tavern. When they had nothing to do, the crew members would hang out there and chat. Right now, Margaret and the others were playing mahjong in the tavern. Their table was all girls: Walnut, Margaret, Konenai, and Baby-5. Fujitora was guiding Walnut. If Walnut left, Fujitora would have to take her place, and Fujitora's mahjong skills were now unfathomable. Margaret and the others didn't want to lose money, so they directly quashed Walnut's idea of escaping.
So Walnut could only pout sadly and reluctantly continue drawing tiles...
Just then, Fujitora suddenly frowned and looked up at the roof of the tavern.
Boom! Before anyone could react, a large hole was smashed through the tavern roof, and a black object crashed through, falling down. Looking at where it was falling, it was heading straight for the mahjong table where Margaret and the others were sitting.
The girls were still in a daze, but Fujitora had already drawn his sword...
The black object, which should have crashed down, suddenly stopped its descent and floated gently in the air!
Fujitora had sensed something falling from above through his Observation Haki, so he immediately used his ability to stop the falling object.
"Are you all alright!?" Fujitora asked the four girls.
"We're fine!" Margaret and the others snapped out of it and quickly shook their heads, while curiously looking at the floating object above.
It was... a cannonball!?