Chapter 92: Choosing Guaranteed Attributes
The Poly-Plane System, a minuscule Demiplane.
It was a room containing only a grand, infinitely vast hall, its walls and ceiling entirely comprised of magic mirrors, displaying scenes from different Planes and perspectives.
A cacophony of voices merged into an irritating torrent.
These were the secular representatives of different Worlds controlled by the God of Knowledge, reporting their achievements and predicaments while herding their sheep.
The sound was incredibly chaotic; a normal person would only hear a chorus of croaking frogs.
Nalinael, a Six-winged Angel, stood still in the center of the hall, long accustomed to it all.
Some Worlds had more than one leader, even ones who were adversaries. She had to discern lies from the babbling of these Mortals and make correct judgments.
Thousands of people speaking simultaneously posed no burden to her. She remembered the state of all the Planes and could swiftly provide the most accurate responses.
This was the daily work of the foremost Angel under the God of Knowledge, acting as steward of the Worlds.
Suddenly, Nalinael’s attention shifted to Plane No. 25.
This was a beautiful, prosperous World, perpetually spring-like with fertile land.
Simply sowing seeds required little management, and within months, enough food would be produced to feed everyone.
There were tall trees with long fibers, ideal for weaving fabric, docile livestock with lustrous fur, and a Church that commanded wind, rain, thunder, and lightning…
There were no disasters. Mortals lived in peace and contentment with moderate labor.
The sole political entity, the “Church of Wisdom,” mediated their disputes and prevented conflict.
Currently, thirty billion Mortals had been born there.
Compared to most Worlds, this one easily met the demands of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Everyone had a beautiful house, there was no hatred, no war, no dangerous magical beasts – it was like a paradise for Mortals.
Yet, the Faith Power harvested annually by the female Pope of Plane No. 25 was lower than that of ordinary Planes.
Nalinael’s emotionless voice echoed, “Are the fallen increasing?”
The female Pope bowed her head in shame. “The birth rate is continuously declining. My flock no longer wishes to pray or labor; they spend their time staring blankly, even attacking each other…”
Nalinael was silent for a long while.
She had spent countless effort and time observing the needs of Mortals, transforming Plane No. 25’s environment, and sourcing high-yield crops from various Worlds, fulfilling nearly all their needs.
She had even specially cultivated an intelligent and valiant female Pope to manage them.
However, after the initial prosperity and population boom, the World where everyone should have praised the God of Knowledge did not materialize.
Under the female Pope’s management, the World had operated smoothly for decades. The lambs in a sheltered environment began to fall. They had everything but squandered their lives, their happiness exhibiting self-destructive tendencies.
Nalinael remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, “I have already granted you an additional year.”
The female Pope knelt on the ground, “Your Excellency, please grant me three more months. I still have methods I haven’t tried…”
“My Lord is no longer willing to wait,” Nalinael’s voice remained emotionless. The female Pope could not see that Nalinael had gently closed her eyes. “Flood protocol activated.”
Every Plane had a Faith Power quota to fulfill. The more invested, the greater the harvest should be.
The transformation of Plane No. 25 was not a baseless endeavor; it had consumed immense Faith Power.
Yet, its results were unsatisfactory, much to the God of Knowledge’s displeasure.
Due to her consistently excellent performance, Nalinael had managed to secure an extra year for it.
But after a year, Plane No. 25’s situation had not improved; it had worsened.
To compensate for the prior deficit, she had to initiate the sacrifice protocol, using life essence to supplement the Faith Power that Mortals refused to contribute.
Otherwise, she would be the one sacrificed.
The God of Knowledge was more rational than the other six beings, but that did not equate to benevolence.
He was willing to compromise and exhibit more patience for higher returns.
But patience was not limitless. Nalinael was his most trusted Angel, but not an irreplaceable one.
The female Pope did not argue and bowed before departing.
Moments later, a great flood, sufficient to kill a third of Plane No. 25’s Mortals, descended.
Led by the female Pope, the Church of Wisdom organized rescue efforts.
She herself plunged into the breach, burning herself to call forth a divine miracle, temporarily holding back the flood.
Until her life was extinguished, a doubled, greater flood surged forth!
But it did buy Mortals some time to escape.
In the end, the Church suffered heavy losses among its priests but still saved hundreds of millions of Mortals who should have died.
Nalinael watched the grieving Mortals, carrying the female Pope’s corpse as she walked across the gradually drying land, her expression becoming complex.
The female Pope, peaceful as if asleep, bore a face ninety percent similar to the Empress of Eternal Night.
She had more gentleness and less resolve.
The Six-winged Angel sighed softly, “Shelley 4396, you know, the God of Knowledge only cares about results…”
At this moment, she could easily initiate another flood.
This time, there would be no female Pope to save those Mortals, and the desired life essence would be smoothly reaped.
But Nalinael did not do so.
She took a portion from her own savings and compensated for Plane No. 25’s deficit.
Then she wrote the assessment comment for the year: “The experiment encountered some turbulence; adjustments have been made. Please anticipate the results, my Lord.”
She strode lightly, crossing space, and arrived beneath an immensely large peach tree.
A ripe peach fell before her, splitting open to reveal a stunningly beautiful Young girl within.
Just like Octavia Shelley in her untouched youth.
“Shelley 4397, please inherit your predecessor’s aspirations and manage more Faith Power for my Lord.”
Nalinael extended a finger and touched the girl’s forehead, transmitting the memories of previous clones.
“I… I refuse…”
With a *bang*, the girl’s head exploded, and her body toppled over.
The bloodstain was blocked by Nalinael’s passive shield, but she herself was stunned.
Clearly, Shelley 4396’s memories had caused some change and persisted, influencing the successor.
She raised her head, her red hair flying without wind, her six wings spread to their limit, the tips of her feathers trembling softly.
They seemed to question this eternal fate.
Why could Faith Power only be born from ugly wars, while happiness bred degeneracy?
Mortals, what is it that you truly desire?
Nalinael’s face, perfect like a fantasy creation, had a slight upward curve to her lips, as if mocking or perhaps conveying amusement.
Another peach fell.
“Shelley 4398, please strive to explore further.”
Memories inputted, command altered, successfully accepted.
“Thank you for your blessings, Angel.”
Shelley 4398 turned and walked towards Plane No. 25.
Nalinael then went to the Rift of All Things and entered the first thatched hut.
A young boy wearing a simple white robe was laboriously moving a very thick tome onto a table.
Nalinael knelt before him, presenting a pure white radiance: “My Lord, this year’s harvest from herding.”
The young boy extended his chubby little hand, looking at Nalinael with a half-smile. “You’ve come a little later than usual.”
“May my Lord’s reign be prosperous. As you control more Planes, I need more time to manage them.”
“Is that so? I hope you haven’t shown sympathy towards those planar beings. A summer insect cannot speak of ice; remember, we are different from those ants trapped in small cages.”
The young boy’s eyes lit up with a fervent glow, his short arms vibrating in the air. “Our journey is into the sea of Planes!”
…
…
The City of Mysteries, Maple Spirit Moon Shadow Palace.
Despite the many events that occurred yesterday, Roger was not surprised to receive a random treasure chest.
Having transmigrated for so many days, understanding the system’s operational patterns, and engaging in self-hypnosis and psychological counseling, he could now maintain a state of inner peace or even contentment in most situations.
As long as he maintained this “F*** it, the Goddess of Fortune lifted her skirt, but I’m too lazy to look” kind of calm attitude, exceeding a certain threshold, he would successfully obtain a random treasure chest.
Although the system was powerful, it was, at its core, a program, and not a particularly intelligent one at that, with singular functions that could be figured out relatively easily.
If he lacked this kind of intuition, he wouldn’t have survived in the game zone or maintained a stable fanbase.
Nowadays, if a billboard falls and kills ten people, nine of them are likely content creators, and one of them is a big shot from some short video platform.
The competition is so fierce; who would watch you without some unique skill!
In short, through repeated experimentation and learning from mistakes, Roger had managed to turn his “lying flat” system into a daily check-in system.
Therefore, two prompts appeared. The first was expected, but the second was worth pondering.
A guaranteed reward. This had been a staple of new-age pay-to-win games since who-knew-when.
With a guaranteed reward, players who were on the fence about spending money could be more firmly convinced that spending money leads to power.
Compared to pay-to-win systems without guaranteed rewards, they might have earned less from a few big spenders, but their overall revenue had increased significantly.
Players thought they were getting a deal, but the game developers always profited.
Every welfare gift was meticulously designed by teams of highly educated data analysts and operations staff observing every numerical fluctuation.
The goal was to increase daily active users, boost engagement, and ultimately squeeze out the potential of players with different spending capabilities.
It was like how every commercial app is born not to improve your life, but to increase its own traffic.
Thus, Roger remained vigilant about his “lying flat” system’s upgrade, which had followed the trend, fearing traps or hidden pitfalls awaiting him.
However, after searching, he found that the system interface was still rudimentary, lacking even a pay-to-win entrance. He felt both relieved and disappointed.
Relieved that the system had no opportunity to trick him into spending.
Disappointed that the system didn’t even bother trying to trick him!
He was playing Eternal Night OL, after all. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he could pay to accelerate his game progress?
But having an additional guaranteed reward function was, in the end, a good thing.
In recent days, he had opened useful items from random chests, but also a lot of useless “chicken ribs.” After all, the system’s gacha pool was too vast; anything could pop out.
He had been waiting for Magic Power enhancement since the game’s launch, but hadn’t gotten it yet…
While he could gain Magic Power by sleeping in his “Wax Nest,” it simply wasn’t as direct and efficient as system-based instant enhancement!
Furthermore, even with Magic Power and Mental Power, there were still spellcasting, casting skills, and super-magic specializations that needed enhancement.
The profession of a magician was tiring to learn on one’s own. Those spell models were complex and headache-inducing, no less so than advanced mathematics. If you couldn’t learn them, you just couldn’t.
As a transmigrator, to be reduced to painstakingly researching magic himself – that picture would surely be miserable, right?
He still had more important things to do and couldn’t be learning right now!
System, I advise you to stay alive, don’t force me…
To beg you on my knees!
The good news was that he didn’t have to beg now; the system had updated itself with a new feature.
The bad news was that this guaranteed reward function still depended on luck.
Setting aside the new term “World Fusion Degree” for now, Roger looked at the guaranteed reward feature and inexplicably thought of gacha recruitment in a certain gacha game.
Above the interface for opening random treasure chests in the “lying flat” system, four labels had now appeared.
These would randomly display attributes like “Attack,” “Defense,” “Warrior,” “Control,” “Rare,” etc.
Roger could select any number of attributes. Then, when opening a random treasure chest, there would be a 10% chance of obtaining a guaranteed reward matching the specified attributes.
For every non-guaranteed chest opened, the probability of obtaining a guaranteed reward would increase by 1%.
The three ways to refresh the four random labels were: a free refresh every seven days, a Wish Card, and opening a guaranteed reward.
Each refresh of the labels would reset the probability of obtaining a guaranteed reward to 10% for recalculation.
This was why Roger felt this guaranteed reward function was a bit of a scam; it merely reduced the probability of random treasure chests, but essentially, it was still a game for the lucky.
If he was exceptionally unlucky, it might take him three months to get a guaranteed reward.
However, with ten years remaining until the main storyline officially begins, he could at least obtain forty guaranteed rewards…
“It’s a free feature anyway, so it’s always a good thing.”
As a newly refreshed feature, Roger currently had a benefit.
He had one free refresh opportunity every seven days, and the probability of obtaining a guaranteed reward from the next treasure chest was 100%.
Unfortunately, he had become accustomed to opening chests as soon as he got them. The one he had just acquired had already been opened, yielding an item he considered perfectly suited to his current situation.
Currently, the four labels on the guaranteed reward page were: “Melee,” “Demon,” “Mind,” “Defense.”
Roger’s first reaction was, “What garbage are these?” He wanted to discard them quickly!
Having experienced the Magic Power of the Empress of Eternal Night, he now desperately wanted to become a powerful magician who commanded the battlefield.
But as he looked at the “Mind” attribute with its golden frame, compared to the “Demon” attribute with its silver frame, and the “Melee” and “Defense” attributes with their gray frames, he felt a twinge of regret.
Clearly, attributes also had different rarities.
While he wasn’t sure if there were attributes as inherently non-existent as “Senior Veteran Operator,” given his average luck, what if after this refresh, there wasn’t even a golden attribute?
Wouldn’t that be a waste of the 100% guaranteed reward probability?
He knew his luck wasn’t terrible, but it was certainly not “European” (lucky). The probability of continuously refreshing golden attributes… emmm…
Now, before him lay a 100% certain golden attribute, and magic-related attributes that were only possible…
He chose certainty!
Stay calm, don’t get reckless!
Roger lit up the “Mind” and “Defense” attributes. He felt this should give him a skill or item similar to a Mind Firewall, reducing his risk of being mind-read.
In this dangerous Magical World, the risk of his transmigrator identity being exposed would be much lower, right?
Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll get my guaranteed reward, hooray!
…
…
After waiting for a while longer, Roger was summoned by the Empress of Eternal Night to the inner hall.
This inner hall was not the Empress of Eternal Night’s actual bedroom but a much more casual reception area than a conference hall.
The Empress reclined on a soft couch, wearing only a loose black robe that revealed half her lower leg and delicate feet.
Her toes were crystal clear like beans, presenting a healthy pink hue.
The Empress’s immense Magic Power, comparable to an ocean, had been expended on transforming the realm of inner demons. She was slightly fatigued now, rubbing her temples as she closed her eyes to rest.
Upon hearing Roger’s footsteps, she couldn’t even be bothered to open her eyes. She merely raised a hand slightly, finger pointing at a separate sofa opposite her, indicating that Roger could sit there.
Only then did Roger realize this offered an excellent “viewing spot.”
