The system interface faded into sparks of light as I stepped out into the cooling evening air, the city lights already flickering to life like greedy stars hungry for people’s souls.
My heart thumped with that familiar mix of nerves and excitement, the kind that made a person feel alive right before they either hit the jackpot or got crushed.
Perhaps because I’d always been buried in adult life and the pain from both my past and current lives, I hadn’t really felt this emotion in a long time.
But tonight, I could finally feel that familiar rush of adrenaline, and I wasn’t planning on going home a loser, because luck was on my side. Literally.
I slipped into a shadowed alley near the karaoke spot and pulled a demon mask from my inventory. A jet-black faceplate etched with crimson lines, it was the very same one I’d worn to the awakening ceremony.
It fit perfectly, cool against my skin, hiding my face while practically screaming, "Don’t fuck with me."
Once I stepped back onto the main street, it didn’t take long to reach my destination.
How did I know this was the famous gambling den? Well, it spoke for itself.
Neon signs bled into the wet asphalt, and the crowd outside had thinned into a different breed entirely, men in tailored coats, women in dresses that cost more than an annual income, all of them drifting toward the same glowing building.
Golden Vein Casino & Lottery Hall.
I’d heard about it even before the Awakening Ceremony.
Back then it was just another rich-people playground, the kind of place the wealthy went to have fun while the poor went to either lose money or get beat up by some young master.
However, things were different, at least during this period.
Usually after the awakening ceremony, newly awakened hunters, especially those from poor or average families, used this time to let loose and show the world that they had value.
Though to those who were born into money, they all looked like a bunch of fools.
Although I didn’t want to classify myself as one of these fools, this influx of baby hunters was exactly what I needed to enter the casino and make as much money as possible.
Even those bratty young masters wouldn’t go around attacking hunters, even baby ones, especially when they didn’t know their trait rank or what class they’d awakened.
It took several extra steps before I reached the grand entrance of the Golden Vein Casino & Lottery Hall.
Out front stood a huge man in a black suit and thick sunglasses, writing down the names of people who wanted to enter. No ticket needed. No extra payment.
Call it instinct, call it my system’s ever-so-subtle nudging, but something told me a night of gambling under my own name was a bad idea.
Michael Kaiser, unranked civilian turned G-rank hunter, walking into a high-roller casino and walking out with a fortune? That was the kind of story that got you kidnapped by curious associations or greedy loan sharks by morning.
The mask went on. My reflection in a puddle showed a stranger staring back: sharp horns, hollow eye slits, the kind of face that belonged in a fever dream.
"Perfect," I muttered, and walked toward the golden doors.
The inside of the Golden Vein was gaudier than I expected: chandeliers dripping like frozen waterfalls, roulette wheels manned by androgynous dealers in silver vests, and somewhere in the back, the unmistakable clatter of slot machines paying out to nobody.
After giving the guard my name, or rather the alias I’d settled on, Atlas, a hostess in a cheongsam-cut uniform approached me, her eyes flicking to my mask without so much as a blink.
’Looks like wearing masks isn’t a weird occurrence around here.’
Somehow, that made me relax a bit. Sure, a mask could hide your identity, but it could also attract unwanted attention. And if an expert really wanted to know who I was, I doubted a silly street mask would stop them.
"Welcome to Golden Vein, sir. First time?" the hostess said, smiling brightly.
"First time," I replied, voice pitched a shade lower than usual. No sense making it easy to place me.
"Then allow me to walk you through our tiers. We have Bronze Floor for casual play, Silver Floor for our regulars, and..." her gaze swept down, clearly pricing my clothes, "...perhaps Bronze Floor would suit you best tonight."
I almost laughed. ’Haven’t even gotten in and there’s already discrimination?’
I shook my head. "Bronze tier is fine for now."
With the system backing me, making a fortune tonight was well within my capabilities. Even so, there was no need to flaunt it or try to act cool.
The hostess gave me a flat nod and guided me through the floor.
We passed blackjack tables where hunters in expensive jackets slapped down chips like it was Monopoly money, past a roulette table where a woman screamed in delight as the ball landed on her number.
Then I saw it. Tucked in the corner, past a velvet rope: the Lottery Corner.
A small booth, understaffed, mostly ignored by the high rollers who considered scratch-offs beneath them.
"Can we stop here for a moment," I asked, pointing a finger toward the lottery section.
The hostess, who I’d just learned was named Kelly, frowned. "Why do you need to head to the lottery? Don’t tell me you don’t have enough money."
I smirked behind the mask. "Exactly."
For someone who’d lived through two lives and met just about every type of person, I knew how to handle people like her. The type who gave face to the rich while humiliating the poor.
I needed to act shamelessly. More importantly, I needed to prove my skill and incredible luck through that shamelessness. Only then could I earn the freedom to move around and make money however I pleased.
Kelly let out a long sigh, her fingers running through her jet-black hair. "Whatever. Just make it quick."
I didn’t reply. I just moved toward the lottery counter, where a brown-skinned attendant, maybe in her early twenties, with dark hair pulled into a low ponytail, waited.
Her nametag read Sarah Banks.
"Evening," she said flatly, not even looking up from the tablet she was scrolling through. "Scratch card, ticket draw, or number pool?"
"Depends," I said, leaning both hands on the counter. "Which do you think will give me the most money quickly?"
I held up both hands, fingers spread wide. "About ten million bucks?"
That got her to look up. Her brow lifted a fraction, taking in the mask, then the rest of me: cheap jacket, cheaper shoes, a stranger clearly out of his depth in a place like this.
"You’re aware the odds are designed to make the house money, right? Nobody ’wins big’ on a scratch card, unless the god of luck himself wanted to kiss their ass."
"Humor me then."
She studied me for another second, then shrugged and slid a laminated menu across the counter.
"Number Pool’s our biggest draw tonight. Ten-million pot. Entries close by seven. Everything else is filler."
She leaned back in her chair and grinned. "Now that I’m offering you such special information, I hope you’ll show me something fun."
I scanned the board she’d placed in front of me.
Ten million was more money than I’d seen in my entire life. Hell, I didn’t even think my parents had seen that much.
But for a place known as a den of wealth and elegance, this amount was far too little; some could even call it pocket change.
If I wanted to make enough money that I wouldn’t need to scrape for cash until I entered an actual dungeon, I had to get into a private table on the Silver Floor, and for that I needed this lottery win.
I took a deep breath. ’System activate one of my Luck cards.’ I commanded, silently praying that I’d actually get a good amount of luck from it.
Ding!
[Do you want to activate the ’Lepricon Luck Card’?]
’Yes.’
Ding!
[Lepricon Luck Card activated. Duration: 24 hours. Luck bonus: rolling...]
[Luck Bonus Granted: +740%]
My eyes widened at the luck bonus the system displayed.
’That’s over seven times my normal luck.’
Even if my luck was truly shitty, there was no way it would remain that way after a sevenfold bonus, unless it had been truly ’zero’, which I highly doubted.
"I’ll take the Number Pool," I said, sliding my last six hundred dollars across the counter. "And, out of curiosity," I nodded toward the private tables glowing on the second floor, "what’s it take to get into there?"
Sarah’s eyes narrowed, equal parts suspicious and intrigued. "Silver Floor minimum buy-in is a million." She paused, then added with a chuckle that sounded more like amusement than mockery, "You look like you’re scraping together bus fare, so how do you plan on getting up there, horns?"
I blinked, then pointed down at the board. "Why did you think I asked for this?"
Sarah’s face scrunched, her hand clamping over her mouth like she was holding back a laugh. "Whatever you say, horns."
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and instead concentrated on the task at hand.
Stretching my hand out, I let the system’s freshly boosted luck stat guide it, marking six numbers on the slip.
She scanned it, printed my ticket, and slid it back with a little more attention than she’d given the last three customers combined.
"Draw’s at seven. Don’t lose your ticket or else say bye-bye to your six hundred."
I moved away from the lottery counter and glanced at the huge clock hovering within the gambling house.
’Ten minutes. Just ten more minutes to go.’