Chapter 30: 26: Ten Consecutive Deviations, Drawing Cards Will Surely Bring Disaster

Alright, alright, alright, so this is how we're playing? I refuse to believe this!

Luo En watched as he lost all the gambling funds he had painstakingly amassed without reaping any tangible benefits, grinding his teeth in frustration and decisively sketched out a Hermes Script, opening the Magic Array to pour out his very last bit of capital.

Thirteen bronze badges clinked and clattered to the ground, appearing quite meager—these were the scraps he had saved up over half a month.

Because the difficulty of the [Daily Chapter], [Weekly Chapter], and [High-Difficulty Chapter] almost exponentially increased, their exchange rates were 100:1.

Therefore, to exchange his bronze badges, equivalent to a consolation prize, for a hard-fought silver badge and wager a bigger bet, he needed to complete the [Daily Chapter] 100 times, which is to say, spending a whole 100 days.

Chances were, by the time he'd saved enough to play again, he himself might have already kicked the bucket—the process was sincerely maddening.

With that time, he'd be better off directly excavating resources from the [Weekly Chapter].

However, at the moment, with no other choice, he could only use what little capital he had to try his luck in the friendly pool, even if it meant treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

Luo En inwardly scoffed, picking up the twelve-sided die from the ground with a dispirited toss.

The five familiar snake patterns caught his eye, symbolizing the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, Athena.

The gods of Olympus have many ranking methods, but the most mainstream is to rank them based on strength and status.

The twelve chief gods correspond exactly to the numbers on the twelve faces of the die:

1 King of the Gods Zeus, 2 Queen Hera, 3 God of the Sea Poseidon, 4 Goddess Demeter, 5 Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare Athena, 6 God of Light Apollo, 7 Goddess of the Hunt Artemis, 8 War God Ares, 9 God of Love Aphrodite, 10 God of Fire Hephaestus, 11 Goddess of the Hearth Hestia, 12 Divine Envoy Hermes.

(In Chapter 14 earlier, the number 3 inaccurately represented War God Ares; it has been corrected to 8, please refresh.)

At this moment, seeing the result of the throw, Luo En was far from excited—instead, he had the constipated expression of utter despair.

If it had been the silver pool, this roll might have been the jackpot, but unfortunately, he was drawing from the infuriating friendship pool, where Athena hardly ever provides anything good.

Or rather, it's mostly the lowest-tier reward.

Sure enough, as the die stopped spinning on the ground, the bronze badge in Luo En's hand twisted and transformed into a bronze coin with an image of Athena on one side and an owl embossment on the other.

——Reward obtained: Athena's Bronze +1...

——Specific use: Worth about the same as a common coin, not enough to buy a bread in the city without owing two more...

It always shows up when it's not needed, and when it shouldn't, it barges in; he really was down on his luck.

While sulking and muttering complaints, Luo En threw the Athena's Bronze into the Magic Array.

In a dark corner of the space, there were two more of the same kind, outcomes of previous draws from the friendship pool.

I'd rather have some cash to buy a plot of land for a grave!

Seeing his hard-earned thirteen bronze badges quickly disappearing, Luo En, deflated and filled with anger, clutched the last remaining badge tightly in his hand and looked bitterly at the serpent-rock twelve-sided die on the ground.

His card draws had never been this unlucky before, even that scammy pay-to-win game he had a hand in designing would at least ensure a purple item in ten consecutive draws.

This is the twelfth time without a single hit, even friendship pool drop rates aren't supposed to be this cruel.

Dice goddess, let's not mess around anymore, all right? I don't ask for gold; give me something I can use for now.

As Luo En complained about the crappy card draw system and declared that not even a dog would play such a broken game, his body honestly picked up the die, and he threw it for one last chance.

Under his nervous gaze, the die tumbled two and a half times, finally landing on the number 10.

Meanwhile, as a sudden weight descended upon his hand, a blue oracle emerged within his mind.

"Hephaestus's Collection: Wings of Icarus (Damaged)..."

In an instant, Luo En's face, which had almost lost all hope, lit up with brilliant excitement, his eyes shining as he gazed at the lightweight creation resembling bird wings and surrounded by the essence of wind element.

Icarus, son of the great craftsman Daedalus from Greece, according to myth, Daedalus was once commissioned to build a Labyrinth in Crete for King Minos. Later, to prevent secrets from leaking, the king imprisoned both father and son.

To escape to freedom, the incredibly smart Daedalus lured seagulls into the high tower with leftover food, patiently collecting their feathers, and also gathering wax drippings from candles. In the end, Daedalus crafted a pair of wings for himself and his son using feathers, string, and wax, bestowing upon humans the ability to fly.

Once everything was ready, the father and son took off from the tower on the island and flew over the Sea of Okeanos.

But during the crossing of the great sea, Icarus forgot his father's warning before taking off and kept increasing his altitude blindly, causing the Sun's heat to melt the wax. The feathers on his wings began to fall one after another.

By the time Icarus realized, it was too late. He fell into the sea like a leaf losing control, his wings shattered upon impact, scattered across the sea and lost to view.

Now, based on the current results, it's very likely that Hephaestus, the God of Craftsmanship, had taken an interest in the unique craftsmanship of those wings and casually added them to his treasury as a collectible.

Acceleration, ability to fly?! At this very moment, having figured out the ins and outs, Luo En completely ignored the "damaged" notification following the Wings of Icarus. His head was filled with the four words that summarized the outcome, and the surprise from such a dark turn of events was boiling in his heart.

He had gotten not only equipment for emergencies but also with the necessary repair techniques. Hephaestus was truly generous!

Luo En brought up the Hephaestus's blessing, which he previously considered worthless, looked at it enthusiastically over and over, without sparing any words of praise in his heart, completely forgetting that he had just cursed Hephaestus to his face.

"Boom!"

Just as Luo En was basking in the joy of his loot, a violent roar emanated from the island. Pebbles from the stone wall started cascading down as shrill screams and angry curses were faintly mixed in with the wind.

Those mad dogs are at it again!

Luo En's expression grew stern as he braced himself for the imminent threat.