Back on the island, the system scanned Ding Shi and confirmed he had no permanent disabilities. The conditions plaguing his body—parasites, skin disease, malnutrition, and the like—all fell within the scope of what modern medicine could cure, so the system wiped away every injury and ailment.
However, the system did not wipe away hunger. Ding Shi knocked the tsundere Little Tangtang flying, dashed into the house like the wind, and first got himself a boxed meal.
With a boxed meal in his belly, he returned to the realm of the living. Ding Shi bought a self-heating hotpot, set it down on the stone platform in front of the house, and only then noticed that the road was finished. A handsome asphalt road stretched from the beach right to his doorstep. From now on, he could ride his little electric scooter down to the seaside whenever he wanted. Before the road opened, a round trip had taken more than an hour.
"Congratulations on clearing the Human instance: Primitive Society. Camp overall evaluation: Grade C+. Personal evaluation: Grade A+. Below are the instance rewards.
"1. Two Fusion Cards. A Fusion Card can combine two skill cards of close affinity into a new skill card. 'Close affinity' refers to patterns such as three-of-a-kind, straights, flushes, straight flushes, pairs, and so on. For instance, the Seven of Spades and the Seven of Clubs constitute a pair and can be fused to obtain a new card. A new card represents a new skill.
"If one wishes to fuse a second time, the target playing card must still be a Seven. For a third fusion, the target card must still be a Seven. After three fusions, it becomes three-of-a-kind, reaching the limit of fusion.
"If one chooses the flush route, they must fuse using playing cards that are all Spades.
"2. One Facility Scratch Card, which grants one facility.
"3. Five hundred dao.
"4. Human Instance Special Reward: 1 Personal Enhancement Card. Choose one of four.
"Option 1: Miraculous Brush. Infinite ink, indestructible, can only be used to draw talismans.
"Option 2: Origin Force Conversion Technique. Greatly shortens Origin Force conversion time. Conversion time is the weakness of Pure Origin Force classes; classes like inner strength practitioners no longer possess Origin Force once they learn inner strength.
"Option 3: Hidden Weapon Aim-Assist System. Within 15 meters, hidden weapon hit rate reaches 99%.
"Option 4: Master Blacksmith Card. Can process two Bloodthirsty Eagle feathers. Process 1: Forge Divine Feathers. Divine Feather: hidden weapon; upon hitting a target or exceeding maximum range, it automatically returns to an inventory slot. After successful crafting, it gains random bonus attributes and is indestructible. Process 2: Forge Bloodthirsty Brush: can draw talismans using one's own blood, greatly boosting the power of talisman paper."
Damn it, he wanted all of them.
After completing this instance, Ding Shi had only four throwing knives left. If he had infinite Divine Feather hidden weapons, he could fling a dart at an earthworm on the roadside just because he felt like it.
The Bloodthirsty Brush seemed stronger than the Miraculous Brush, but it didn't say it was indestructible. More importantly, he didn't belong to a True Qi class and was not a proper talisman-maker.
The hidden weapon aiming system was likely the worst of the rewards. Even without an aiming system, Ding Shi's accuracy with hidden weapons within fifteen meters was already extremely high. Of course, shooting bacteria was another story entirely.
The Origin Force Conversion Technique was clearly the most enticing, but it had a trap—and that trap lay in the words "greatly shortens."
Two were item enhancements, and two were personal enhancements. Without much agonized deliberation, Ding Shi chose to leap into the fiery pit of the Origin Force Conversion Technique.
Upon choosing to use the technique, a wheel appeared before Ding Shi. The large roulette wheel was divided into 101 slots, labeled 0% to 100%. Due north of the wheel sat a pointer. Whichever percentage the pointer landed on, the conversion technique would reduce the conversion time by that exact percentage.
0%—a raging blaze in the pit, giving you jack shit.
100%—soaring through heaven and earth, invincible without rival.
As for the outcome, that would all come down to Luck.
Starved half to death, Ding Shi hadn't checked his Luck stat all this time. Only now did he open the system interface. He deliberately kept his gaze averted from the Luck slot, then inch by inch, slowly slid his eyes over.
Luck: 1.
"Aaargh!" Ding Shi clasped his hands behind his head and let out the shriek of a marmot.
To the side, tsundere Tang gave a disdainful snort. "I can raise your Luck to 10 points and maintain it for one minute."
Ding Shi asked, "What do you want?"
Little Tangtang replied, "The Seven of Hearts."
Ding Shi frowned. "The Seven of Hearts?" Then he remembered—he had obtained another Truth Card in the instance. He opened his notepad.
Truth 12: Fight for the soul, fight for existence, fight for eternity.
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
Whatever it was, what he had received was indeed the Seven of Hearts playing card. Unlike the Seven of Spades, the bottom of this Seven of Hearts was an earthy yellow.
Ding Shi asked, "Will the Seven of Spades do?"
Little Tangtang: "No baiting."
Ding Shi asked, "What about the Wordless Heavenly Book?"
Little Tangtang: "No." An utterly crisp refusal.
Ding Shi stared at Little Tangtang for a long time, then asked, "What's the maximum value for Luck?" He recalled back when he saw the Taoyuan Village chief's favorability reach 101, and how his sanity had nearly broken.
Little Tangtang said, "You can trade the Seven of Hearts for that intelligence."
Little Tangtang's answer was well within Ding Shi's expectations. He continued muttering aloud, "My Strength and Agility are both 7, doubling to 14 after Origin Force enhancement, so 10 points is clearly not the limit. That means 10 points isn't the limit for Luck either; it's just that under normal circumstances, Luck cannot break past 10. And as strong as Wang Meng is, his Strength can only reach 9. 10 points is the human limit." After drinking blood, Ding Shi could boost his Strength or Agility all the way to 21 points.
Ding Shi said, "Little Tangtang, you're a fraud."
Little Tangtang didn't care in the slightest and retorted, "Then go ahead and use your 1 point of Luck. Just a reminder: the wheel has a time limit. You have four minutes left."
Ding Shi looked at Little Tangtang for a moment, washed his hands, and then, offering Little Tangtang as a sacrificial pledge, prayed to the deities of the four directions: so long as he spun a value above 60%, he was willing to surrender Little Tangtang to be slaughtered or sliced however they pleased, without batting an eye.
With the prayers, supplications, and vows concluded, Ding Shi spun the wheel. The wheel began to rotate, an enchantment forming around it to shut out interference from human hands or wind.
Ding Shi truly felt nothing for gambling; he simply liked having fun, so he wasn't swayed in the least by the system's tricks to entice a gambler's impulse. As the wheel slowed and the pointer swept past number after number, his emotions didn't fluctuate in the slightest. He only wanted a result.
Floating above Ding Shi's shoulder, Little Tangtang watched even more intently than Ding Shi. It hoped the wheel would grant it a chance to mock Ding Shi; it had even rehearsed the motion—it would present its backside to him, give a wiggle, and fly off.
The wheel came to a halt. The pointer finally stopped on the 92% slot.
Little Tangtang and Ding Shi locked eyes. Unfazed by the obnoxious grin on Ding Shi's face, it put on airs and leisurely drifted off toward the cliff beach. Out of Ding Shi's sight, Little Tangtang clenched its fists and silently bared its teeth. How could this jinx be blessed with such outrageous luck?
4.95 seconds minus 4.95 seconds multiplied by 0.92 equaled 0.39 seconds, roughly 0.4 seconds. In other words, Ding Shi had attained the ability to convert Origin Force nearly instantaneously, allowing him to switch between Strength and Agility in an extremely brief moment.
Chapter 83