“First Recharge Gift Pack?” Ian asked in confusion.
“You mean an extra reward for topping up for the first time?”
“Yes!” the system replied.
“By recharging any amount for the first time, you can receive a First Recharge Gift Pack worth 8888 Diamonds!”
“Any amount!?” Ian snapped.
“Then why didn’t you tell me earlier!?”
*Damn it.* If he had known about such a gift pack, he would have recharged back in Shimotsuki Village.
Even though his monthly allowance back then was pitifully small, he still managed to save up a little.
Recharging a few hundred Berries to get this First Recharge Gift Pack would have been a massive steal no matter how you looked at it.
However, the system replied, “The minimum purchase tier in the Diamond Store is 100 Diamonds!”
“…” Ian was instantly left speechless.
If it were possible, he wanted nothing more than to crumple the system into a ball, smash it onto the ground, and stomp on it ten thousand times!
*This is what you call ‘any’ amount!?
Damn it, couldn’t you just say the minimum first recharge is 100 Diamonds?*
*Well played!* Ian could only concede defeat to the system’s mastery of wordplay!
No wonder the system never mentioned the First Recharge Gift Pack when he had Berries in his hands before.
It turned out the minimum threshold for recharging was twenty thousand Berries, which converted exactly to 100 Diamonds…
*It only caters to the rich.
If you’re broke, it won’t even give you the time of day!
This system is truly despicable.*
Forget it.
He already knew the greedy nature of this money-grubbing system, so Ian couldn’t be bothered to complain anymore.
He asked, “What’s inside the gift pack?”
He had to ask.
Having already experienced the system’s wordplay, he knew it sounded nice on paper—a gift pack worth 8888 Diamonds—but heaven knew if it was actually worth that much once opened.
That was entirely up for debate.
“The gift pack includes: a fixed number of Breakthrough Stones, a fixed number of Breakthrough Stones, a fixed number of random 5-Star Red Card Fragments, and one random Exclusive Treasure,” the system answered.
Ian’s eyes widened as he asked, “That’s it?
Just this is worth 8888 Diamonds?”
The system remained silent, seemingly giving tacit approval.
Ian instantly felt sick to his stomach.
He felt he shouldn’t have trusted this system.
Over eight thousand Diamonds was roughly equivalent to twenty million Berries, but the items in the gift pack didn’t sound like they were worth anywhere near that amount.
Well, this was the typical advertising gimmick of game developers.
To them, this kind of stunt didn’t even count as false advertising.
Virtual items were inherently difficult to appraise; whatever price they set was the price it was worth, and there was absolutely no way to argue against it.
*Should I recharge or not?* Ian looked at the twenty thousand Berries in his hands, feeling somewhat hesitant.
Shimotsuki Village was very small, and most of the villagers were self-sufficient.
The island’s economy naturally couldn’t be considered developed.
Coupled with frequently buying medicine for Kuina over the years, Master Koushirou’s savings definitely weren’t much.
Giving Ian these twenty thousand Berries was already his limit.
This was meant for his travel expenses, not for him to use on microtransactions.
Ian still had no idea what the situation would be like after setting sail.
Having money on him would definitely make things easier, but he didn’t know if his current level of strength was enough to protect himself.
He hadn’t even fought any real enemies yet!
He couldn’t forget that this was a world overrun by pirates.
Even in the weakest sea, the East Blue, it was said that the average bounty for pirates here was three million Berries.
Ian didn’t have a clear understanding of the strength corresponding to those bounty amounts yet.
However, operating on the principle of ‘better safe than sorry,’ recharging to get the gift pack and boost his strength was definitely the right move.
So at this moment, Ian found himself suddenly struck by indecision, unsure of what to choose.
Why did it have to be exactly twenty thousand Berries?
If it were just a little more or a little less, he wouldn’t have to agonize over it so much.
By the time he finished eating his rations, Ian finally made a decision.
*Recharge!* Whatever, he would cross the bridge of money when he came to it.
If he ran out of cash, couldn’t he just find a job to earn more?
On the contrary, the 5-Star Red Card in the gift pack caught his interest the most.
Once Ian made his decision, the Berries in his hand suddenly vanished, seemingly collected by the system.
Then, he heard the system’s voice echo in his mind: “You have purchased 100 Diamonds and received an additional 10 Diamonds as a bonus.
You have one gift pack pending collection.”
Ian focused his attention on the system interface in his mind.
Sure enough, he saw a flashing gift icon hanging there, so he chose to claim it.
“You have obtained 100 Breakthrough Stones!”
“You have obtained 100 Breakthrough Stones!”
“You have obtained 60 5-Star Red Card Fragments: Orochi!”
“You have obtained the Exclusive Treasure: Blademaster’s Longblade!”
Ian was stunned.
Orochi!?
Could it really be *that* Orochi!?
He quickly entered his inventory interface and selected the existing card fragments section.
Sure enough, the handsome avatar of a white-haired man was there.
The top-left corner of the avatar displayed a fragment icon, indicating that this card was still in an uncraftable state, while on the right side of the avatar, there was a “×60” text, indicating the number of card fragments.
Ian instantly got hyped.
*Holy crap, it really is Orochi, the boss from The King of Fighters ’97!
I’ve hit the jackpot!*
According to the system, this Orochi card should be a native 5-Star Red Card.
Whether in terms of aptitude or attributes, it was top-tier.
Cultivating such a card would definitely bring Ian a massive boost.
It was just that the card hadn’t been fully synthesized yet, so Ian couldn’t see Orochi’s skills, but he believed they would definitely be incredibly powerful.
This was the first top-tier card Ian had ever seen.
After admiring it for a good while, Ian finally asked the system, “Hey, by the way, how many fragments are needed to synthesize the Orochi card?”
“The synthesis requirement for a native 5-Star Red Card is 180 fragments!” the system replied.
“…” *Fuck, why do I feel like I’ve been scammed again!?*
He had heard the system mention before that the synthesis requirement for a 3-Star Purple Card was 30 fragments.
So Ian had figured that even if 4-Star and 5-Star cards required more, it wouldn’t be that much higher.
He guessed that a 5-Star card would need around 80 fragments at most to synthesize.
If that were the case, then with his current 60 fragments, there was still some hope of synthesizing the 5-Star card soon.
Yet now, the system was telling him it required 180 fragments!
Ian felt like he had just swallowed a fly.
*Damn it, you only gave me a third of the fragments, and you dare call this worth 8888 Diamonds!?*
*I can look at it but I can’t use it.
How is this any different from not getting it at all!?*
Ian understood the system’s intentions perfectly.
It gave him just enough fragments to bait him into continuing to spend money to draw more.
This was a classic consumer trap.
Was it really this hard to be a pay-to-win player nowadays…?
Continuously rubbing his chest, Ian comforted himself, *’Don’t overthink it.
Just get used to it, just get used to it!’*
It wasn’t worth getting angry at the system, because getting angry was useless.
Aside from making himself agitated and irritable, he couldn’t hurt the system in the slightest.
Therefore, Ian could only temporarily set aside the Orochi fragments and switch to the inventory tab to check out the so-called Exclusive Treasure.
“Huh?
I was wondering what this Blademaster’s Longblade was!” Ian couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp of surprise upon seeing the Exclusive Treasure in his inventory.
Just by hearing the name, it was impossible to imagine what this Exclusive Treasure looked like, as the ‘Blademaster’ class existed in many games.
Ian didn’t know which one it would be.
However, the moment he saw the weapon, he recognized it immediately.
Because he was far too familiar with this weapon!
This was the one wielded by the Warcraft Blademaster, Samuro!
And judging by the color, it was the red version.
Ian didn’t know the actual name of this longblade; it seemed impossible to verify.
It had a long hilt with a circular iron ring at the pommel.
The slender blade extended straight forward, appearing quite long.
The blade itself was a rusty red color, adorned with alternating black and gold patterns, while the cutting edge was a flash of snow-white steel.
Just looking at it, one could feel its blinding sharpness.
The entire longblade exuded a rugged style.
Ian knew that logically, this red version of the longblade should be used by a Blackrock Clan Blademaster.
However, perhaps even the system didn’t know which Blackrock Blademasters used longblades, so it simply assigned it to Samuro.
[Blademaster’s Longblade] Exclusive Treasure for the Samuro Card Star Level: 3-Star Treasure, Upgradeable Strength +100 Speed +50 Destructive Power +25%
Very impressive stats, but…
*Damn it, I don’t have the Samuro card!*
Ian just felt like he was off to a terrible start today.
He had finally managed to get a gift pack, but aside from the Breakthrough Stones, there wasn’t a single thing inside that he could actually use right now.
Just as Ian was about to lose his mind, he suddenly heard a prompt from the system: “The host can equip the Exclusive Treasure of any card!”
“Huh!?” Ian froze.
“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.
Thus, with a ‘let’s give it a try’ mentality, Ian switched to his character page.
Sure enough, he saw a red dot displayed on an empty little box next to his stats.
Ian was no stranger to this red dot; when the Akechi Samanosuke card could equip gear back then, it had displayed the exact same way, meaning there was an equippable item.
Ian selected the small box, and the Blademaster’s Longblade appeared in the pop-up inventory.
After choosing to equip it, Ian’s stats immediately changed.
With the 30% attribute bonus applied, his Strength value instantly increased by 33 points, his Speed increased by 15 points, and he even gained an extra 7.5% Destructive Power bonus!
Before Ian could finish reviewing his stats, he suddenly felt a heavy weight in his hands.
Snapping back to reality, he looked down and discovered that a weapon had actually materialized in his grasp—it was the very Blademaster’s Longblade he had just equipped!
Ian nearly bit his tongue.
*What is going on!?
After equipping an Exclusive Treasure, how did it manifest in reality!?*