First Lottery Draw!

Second floor laboratory.

Here, Kureha had created a warm and humid environment in a corner, where the captured salamanders were kept.

They were sliced and studied from time to time.

Sometimes limbs, sometimes organs, but the main focus was the brain region.

When the salamanders regenerated, useful regenerative cellular material was extracted from the regenerated parts. It was cultivated in a culture medium, injected with drugs, and its growth cycle was observed.

Through drugs influencing the growth and changes in the salamander's brain, research was conducted on drug development for "brain region" expansion.

Time passed day by day.

Bear Cub molded the gold into gold bars.

Garp visited once during this period, and Mercer did not go to the East Blue with him.

Instead, he focused on his own work.

Half of the gold was taken away by the visiting Garp and, along with the gold obtained from the previous slave ship, was used to purchase some experimental drugs and equipment.

These "miscellaneous" tasks were entrusted to Garp by Kureha.

Of course, there was compensation for his hard work.

It was also a form of social interaction.

After a month, Garp delivered the purchased supplies to them.

As a result, Kureha's daily routine became even busier, and she was sometimes nowhere to be seen all day.

Bear Cub delivered all three meals every day. As for Mercer, he was still immersed in crafting more "famous swords."

Bear Cub ran back and forth every day, going to the caves to refine metal ores, delivering them to Mercer, and then returning home to cook.

When it was mealtime, Mercer would return with the prey he occasionally caught.

After eating, he would go back to the forging cave in the eastern Drum Mountain to continue forging.

The crafting of famous swords was not always successful.

But even if it failed, the weapons crafted were still considered Refined Weapons outside.

Due to time and efficiency constraints, Mercer only crafted small weapons, such as daggers, short swords, or arm shields, minimizing the time cost.

Every day when he returned for meals, Mercer would bring Bear Cub one or two Refined Weapons or scraps as rations.

These superior weapons and equipment, sought after by others outside, were treated as rations by a bear in an unknown corner.

If swordsmen or other weapon enthusiasts knew about this, they would surely be so angry their chests would heave and their bodies would tremble.

Time flowed on.

As he crafted more and more items, Mercer's techniques became more skilled, and the chance of producing Fast Swords increased.

His understanding of integrating metal veins and gathering the spiritual essence of materials for forging deepened.

Mercer's and Kureha's equipment had both been updated.

Even the Surgical Knives were replaced with Fast Sword quality.

Even the kitchen knives at home were of Fast Sword quality, although the blades were not sharpened as keenly as weapons.

They were sufficient for cutting vegetables, meat, and even bones.

Sea Year, 1505, May.

Time flew by, and another year passed.

Mercer was five years old.

"We're out of iron ore raw materials."

Apart from the ore veins held by the king, almost all the iron ore that could be found on this island had been mined by Bear Cub.

"A clever cook cannot cook without ingredients."

Sss! Sss! Sss!

Mercer, sweating, was sharpening a silver-white short sword, about the length of his forearm, on a whetstone.

Sharpening completed.

The hilt was attached and secured.

The scabbard fit perfectly.

"Appraisal"

[C-rank Short Sword (Good Grade Sword): A high-quality short sword crafted from a special cold-attribute alloy. The blade has the characteristic of condensing moisture from the air into dew.]

"Muramasa?"

Mercer blinked. This short sword, the first Good Grade Sword he had crafted in his life, which took him a week to make, had given him a pleasant surprise.

"The C-rank alloy, the only one refined and fused from a piece of cold-attribute meteorite iron Bear Cub accidentally found in the cave's iron ore two months ago, wasn't wasted."

Meanwhile, Mercer opened his status panel and looked at the Gifted Abilities section.

As expected, his D-rank "Forging" had grown to D+ over the year, with the increasing output rate of "Fast Swords." The birth of this Good Grade Swords short sword marked its official quality upgrade.

[C-rank Gifted Ability: Forging]

Mercer fiddled with the short sword, pondering, "Forging a fine weapon is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Melting and forging metal is a difficult process in itself, requiring a lot of time just for this step.

But with Bear Cub's Gulp-Gulp Fruit ability, this prerequisite is completely bypassed, saving me a huge amount of time."

"All I need to do is spend energy forging with the refined alloy.

For forging Fast Swords, ordinary alloys are easy to handle, but gathering the spiritual essence of the materials is troublesome. However, once gathered successfully and if subsequent steps are flawless, it can be forged.

But Good Grade Swords are different. Rare alloys are harder to integrate, and gathering the spiritual essence of the materials is even more draining. Every step of forging must be perfect. It's fortunate I can enter the Unity of Heaven and Man state, achieving absolute tranquility and focus, otherwise this Good Grade Sword couldn't have been born."

Mercer summarized his year of forging, from crafting Fast Swords to successfully forging a Good Grade Sword today.

His understanding of forging had improved by leaps and bounds.

For his current self, forging a "Fast Sword" class weapon posed no challenge whatsoever.

The only limiting factor might be the quality of the materials.

The harvest this year had been quite bountiful.

Fast Swords are weapons with legendary characteristics.

Under the "Weapon" concept characteristic, Mercer discovered that once the weapon's form was smaller than a dagger, the Merit Points extracted would decrease drastically.

A normally styled Fast Sword dagger could yield the standard 1000 Merit Points for him to extract.

However, for a Fast Sword quality Surgical Knife, the extracted Merit Points were only 100.

As for Fast Sword quality silver needles, they yielded a mere 1 Merit Point.

Moreover.

"Forging Fast Sword quality silver needles and surgical knives is a killer. Gathering the spiritual essence of the materials is simply hellish."

After crafting the first silver needle, Mercer inwardly vowed never to forge them again unless absolutely necessary, after extracting the Merit Points.

It was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and incredibly cost-ineffective.

Mercer had spent some time this year crafting a well-fitting set of armor and weapons for Bear Cub, as a reward for the hardworking miner bear.

Or perhaps, as payment.

Excluding immovable assets, meaning self-use "Fast Swords," Mercer had accumulated a total of 60 Fast Sword weapons throughout the year, excluding failures.

After extracting all of them.

Mercer obtained 60,101 Merit Points.

It was comparable to extracting an A-rank Devil Fruit.

With the year's summary complete, Mercer's lips curled upwards. It was also the season for farmers to harvest.

He gazed at the few Gifted Abilities on his status panel that had not yet materialized.

Spending Merit Points.

He invested 50,000 Merit Points.

To materialize this Gifted Ability he had long desired.

The next moment.

A peculiar sensation began to develop within Mercer, like a gentle breeze blowing through his entire being.

First, it was comfortable.

But then, an unbearable pain spread throughout his body.

Unparalleled pain.

Mercer gritted his teeth.

He struggled to enter his Breathing state.

Clearing his mind.

After an unknown period, Mercer suddenly exhaled in relief.

Simultaneously, an instinctive feeling arose. Mercer looked at the short sword in his hand, his gaze fixed on a white speck on the rock wall ten meters away. An instinctive urge surged within him.

He casually threw the short sword using a throwing technique. He hadn't intended to aim, but the moment he released it, guided by the thought of hitting the target in his mind, Mercer's fingers instinctively made minute adjustments.

It felt as if this was the natural way to do it.

In the next instant, the casually thrown short sword seemed divinely guided, precisely hitting the sesame-sized white speck.

And it embedded itself into the rock wall.

Mercer fell into deep thought.

"Instinct?"

"The Precision Gift was meant to grant me a talent, an instinct, not a conceptual ability that interferes with probability. It's an ability that allows me to predict through observation and then use my own skills to correct the outcome."

Mercer looked at the Gifted Abilities in his status panel.

[A-rank Gift: Precision] (Can Grow Freely)

[Gift Effect: Through self-correction, interfere with the outcome of hit rates in terms of eyesight, technique, physique, and thought.]

[Gift Evaluation: Precision or not, that's the difference between surgery and butchery.]

A smile played on his lips. Mercer was very satisfied with the Gift's effect.

"Rather than relying on vague, ephemeral chance, I prefer to create the results I want with my own hands.

There's also a surprise. I didn't expect 'Precision' to be a Gift that could grow freely. I really underestimated it before."

Merit Points: 11078

Counting the daily "Sign-ins" over the years, plus what was left from before, this is all the Merit Points I have remaining.

"Merit Points are very useful, and also very difficult to acquire."

"Of course, that was before I forged 'Famous Swords'."

Mercer looked at his remaining Merit Points, and a desire to spend them arose in his heart.

As for how to spend them.

[Lottery]

This was a function Mercer had never used since acquiring Merit Points. Now that he had earned "money," it was time to spend it.

[Lottery]: Use Merit Points to draw treasures from the myriad worlds. These can include Gifted Abilities, items, characters, and more. (The drawing range for each quality fluctuates based on the Merit Points consumed.)

"Since I can forge Fast Swords, I'll spend 1000 points first, just to try it out, to warm up."

No sooner said than done, following that "Lottery" instinct, 1000 Merit Points were "paid." Mercer blinked, wanting to see what kind of lottery it was.

The next moment, Mercer's consciousness was drawn in, entering his sea of consciousness and appearing before that indescribable "Light Orb."

A "vortex" appeared on the surface of the Light Orb, spinning faster and faster.

At a certain moment.

An indescribable "light spot" suddenly appeared.

It shot out from the vortex.

Immediately after, Mercer opened his eyes.

At the same time, he saw an object appear before him, encased in a palm-sized "Light Orb."

Mercer reached out and touched it. The Light Orb dissipated, and a small booklet appeared in Mercer's hand. He understood a piece of "information."

Flipping through it casually, Mercer found that he could read it. The text recorded within was displayed in the script of this World.

Was this some kind of rule adjustment?

The answer was: Yes.

Mercer looked at the item's description.

[D-rank Item: Crow Breeding Manual]

[Item Contents: Through selection, breeding, and medicinal adjustments, breed high-quality avian creatures that can understand human speech, speak human language, or both.]

[Item Evaluation: Crows are friends of humans. Please treat them with kindness.]

Mercer blinked. "Is this telling me that my next planned manifestation should be the 'Taming' Gift?"

It wasn't particularly useful, nor was it completely useless.

It could only be considered a small surprise.

The Nine Snakes have their own "snakes."

Alabasta has its own "running ducks."

Morgans has his own "news birds."

So, why don't I create an army of talking "crows"?

Speaking of which, can pandas talk?

Don't they also have quite developed vocal systems?

"I'll put that aside for now. While I'm in the mood, let's do another one."

This time, Mercer steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and spent 10,000 Merit Points.

A few seconds later, from the vortex of the "Light Orb" in his mind, a "light spot" appeared.

Another "Light Orb" appeared before Mercer.

"Contact."

A standard-issue red and white capsule with no label appeared in his hand.

Mercer blinked, and the item's information was naturally understood.

[B-rank Item: APTX 4869]

[Item Effect: APOPTXIN-4869 is a chemical poison that prevents death from being detected after death. Under extremely rare circumstances, its side effects can restore a person's physiological functions to their developmental stage.]

[Item Evaluation: "A mythical drug that miraculously revives the dead," but its actual effect is to cause death. Even funnier, if one doesn't die, its residual side effects can indeed grant a form of "youth."]

Mercer was speechless, having read the item information for "APTX 4869" three times. "This thing actually reached B-rank quality? So its high quality is entirely due to its side effects?"

He had seen it all.

Mercer opened the bottle and poured the capsules into his hand. He counted them carefully, a wry smile on his face.

"There are a hundred capsules. It seems they're going for quantity."

Mercer rubbed his chin, a thoughtful look in his eyes, recalling the side effect of "APTX 4869." "In a sense, this thing really is a magical drug capable of reversing aging."

"If it's combined with adjustments and further development of the 'Lineage Factor,' could this 'side effect' be refined into a genuine medicinal effect?"

"I have to say, judging by its results rather than its intent, this is a successful, groundbreaking drug that interferes with the body's genetic reversal.

Although its primary function is to induce programmed cell death, it also enhances telomerase activity in the body, thereby increasing cell proliferation.

And due to its accidental yet inevitable side effect, it causes the human body to regress to the developmental stage of a child without affecting their mental faculties."

"Maybe I should take it back to Doctor Doriel later and see if she can develop it further with her skills?"

"Hmm, its origin is a bit difficult to explain," Mercer mused, scratching his head.

"If I lie now, I'll have to use more lies to cover the loopholes later. Forget it, I'll think about it when I get back."

"This weapon forging should also take a break for a while. Sigh, why is there so little iron ore?"

Mercer pocketed the Crow Breeding Manual and a bottle of "APTX 4869," tidied up the forging room, extinguished the fire, and took down the short sword from the rock wall.

He took off his work clothes, changed into his own, sealed the cave entrance, and Mercer happily descended the mountain.

Walking through the snowy forest.

Mercer read the contents of the Crow Breeding Manual, which contained knowledge about perfecting the taming of highly intelligent crows, refreshing his perspective.

"Especially the drug development section, which even discusses drugs that affect the 'brain region' of living beings. Tsk tsk, it's possible that the biggest gain today might end up being this."

"I remember there are crows on the island too, the white-necked kind, I think. I'll go and try to get a nest of their eggs tomorrow."

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PS: A little story about Kōzuki Oden.

At 0 years old, he fiercely threw out his wet nurse; at 2 years old, he could catch two rabbits simultaneously, displaying astonishing leg strength; at 4 years old, he killed a giant bear by throwing a huge rock; at 6 years old, he began frequenting red-light districts; at 8 years old, he got into a brawl with gamblers while drinking; at 9 years old, he was blacklisted by the yakuza and, in his rage, burned down their casino. Arrested for violent assault; at 10 years old, he served time in a stone quarry as a prisoner, and due to the Kōzuki family's talent, he rose to become the head stonemason. At 14 years old, he caused a great flood by altering a river course due to a drought, becoming a wanted man again. At 15 years old, he threatened a temple abbot and lived in seclusion in the temple, abducting women every night to establish a harem. These women were usually free but were captivated by Oden's Charm, yet this also angered the public, leading to a mass attack. Oden gladly accepted the challenge, and it became known as the "Harem Rebellion" in Wano Country.