"Holy shit..." Daz quietly exclaimed. "That's a lot of fucking points for an S-ranked fruit... System, out of curiosity, how much does the tree cost?"

  "A billion?" After thinking for a second, he nodded his head. " I suppose that makes sense. A tree like that probably won't wither anytime soon, so the harvest must eventually outweigh the cost... Interesting stuff."

  Daz spent five minutes after that looking through other options and eventually decided to go with the system's recommendation. As much as he wanted another physical item, he had to admit that he was incredibly strong right now.

  His instincts weren't screaming at him, but whenever he looked at an item that boosted his luck or the ability to gamble, it would give him a light warning that it might be wise to get them, so he figured that the auction wouldn't only involve bidding on precious items. If gambling was involved, then he'd certainly want to have any and all advantages where he could find them.

  Daz used the item token and bought the fruit. It almost looked like an apple, except it was pure blue in colour and almost sand-like in texture. Its taste? Worse than shit. Daz didn't complain, however, when he saw his Luck - his hardest stat to raise - increase. The cap limiter going up by a full thousand as well was very pleasing to witness.

  Now rolling between his fingers were the three item upgrade tokens. Reika was floating next to him as she marvelled at his feat of dexterity. It was like he was a master sleight of hand, which, well, he was. He'd been pickpocketing for over a decade, so he could do these simple coin tricks even without the help of his high stats.

  "System, out of all of my items, can I upgrade each one?" Daz had a feeling there'd be a restriction on Hamson due to its unique method of improving.

  "Hmm, that kinda sucks..." he muttered as he stroked the sphinx-bone earring sitting on his right ear.

  Thinking about it, the earring had been immensely helpful in assisting him with keeping his head in check when he was first starting to get his emotions back. Of course, its paltry luck bonus was almost negligible, but Daz still liked the accessory. 'The damned thing was lucky enough to survive the final attack from Ellie's M Destroyer when even my hair wasn't spared, wasn't it? Guess it wasn't all that bad blocking with the left side of my body, hahaha...'

  "Screw it. System, use two of the tokens on my Earring of Calm Mind," Daz said. 'I'll save the other one for Rose's laptop. It's not a VR machine, but hey, I'm sure it'll suffice as a good early birthday present, right?'

  Daz groaned. "Two-step authorisation here as well? Yes. I'm sure. Thank you for your concern, system, but it really isn't needed. I think several times about my decisions before I make them."

  'Unless you're angry,' Reika noted.

  "... Unless I'm angry, which is far more frequent of an occasion recently... Okay, forget my complaint." Daz just shook his head in defeat.

  Daz ran his fingers across the accessory and noted that it had grown in size. It felt lighter and more stiff in its placement, but it was also now in the shape of an incredibly ornate cross. "Is this being moulded off of Christian lore or something?"

  "Right... I actually forgot about that... I never stopped to care before, but doesn't that totally mean that Earth has been through a test before? System, can you confirm that?" Daz asked, somewhat hopeful for answers now that he had platinum-level access.

  He laughed in response. "Of course. That must be unlocked at rank ten of the merit point ranking then if we're following the flow." Daz should have expected a roadblock there. "Okay, whatever. Higher Identification." He used one of his oldest skills on his newest item.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Very nice... Still, really? 'Death' is the trigger word? Is that a coincidence or was it tailored to suit me?" Daz didn't get an answer since he was speaking rhetorically. He didn't really care. "It is nice to know that this isn't Earth's first test though. I wonder if that has anything to do with esper powers and bloodlines and why they aren't listed by the system?"

  Again, only silence met him. He shrugged and pulled out the last of his tokens: the item exchange ones. "System, what can I even trade these for?" He was going to miss his merit rings, but, to be honest, they really didn't give him that many points every attack day, and he was just happy to at least get something in their place instead of them simply becoming inert now that the system managed his rewards personally.

  "Em, yeah, no. Fuck that." Daz hated how stupidly massive the system was. "Just... show me the best recommendation, please. It's probably luck-related if things keep following the trend."

  "Oh, yay." Daz's voice was saddeningly monotonous. "Do I get a prize for being right?"

  Reika was clapping her hands enthusiastically. She couldn't see his system screens, but she could hear him talking to himself, so the tiny spirit found it funny how he was joking with the system who was - to the best of her knowledge - lifeless.

  "I guess I'll get two of them, system. I'll probably need them for the auction then if you're recommending it. Gambling's confirmed then, huh? Oh, also, do the effects stack?" Daz asked.

  "Hmm... Guess I'll give it to Rose. She could use it. Probably better than I can as well with that big ol' brain of hers," Daz smiled as he formed a prank in his mind that would certainly spook his little sister. "Confirm the exchange of two of the signets, please, system."

  Two small globes of light appearing in front of Daz, so he placed a palm underneath each one. A second later, two rings with large - almost badge-like - signets depicting a hooded figure rolling a dice landed on each of his hands. They were pure bronze in colour, and if he didn't look at them specifically, then they blended into the background like they were trying to hide their presence from him.

  He held his chin in thought for a bit and decided it was time to use his two new stat slots before he had a repeat incident of the liches. He'd rather not waste so many free stat points again in the future, if at all possible.

  He slipped one of the Gambit's Signets on his right middle finger and stuffed the other in a pocket before he browsed the stat section of the store.

  He bought regeneration like he'd promised himself he would, and his second stat was the patience one. This one might have seemed selfish and stupid, but he desperately wanted it to help him with his anger issues. He only bought a single point of regen but splurged on patience by buying two-hundred points.

  His reasoning? Daz wanted to be as calm as he could to be more intimidating and less easily manipulated during the auction. Sure, he could later come to regret this, but for now, it was the stat that made him feel the most emotionally secure. Sometimes, that was more important than gaining the most power at all possible opportunities.

  Nodding his head in satisfaction, Daz checked the time and saw that he still had fifteen minutes, so he left to find Rose to give her the early birthday presents he had as well as to treat her with his 'prank'.

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