Launch Event and Limited-Time Gift Packs

Grandma Zhao next door was all alone. She had never married or had children, and she had practically watched Jiang Liu grow up. The neighbors got along quite well. Back when Master Jiang's legs were still good a couple of years ago, he had even danced in the square with Grandma Zhao for several years.

After hearing from his grandson that Spirit Stones were valuable, Master Jiang went to Grandma Zhao's home at three or four in the morning to get the Spirit Stones from her.

Three or four in the morning, for over two hours.

Jiang Liu found it strangely unsettling, but the unexpected windfall quickly overwhelmed him. He gave Master Jiang a thumbs-up. "That's my grandpa."

Just when he needed them, they appeared. Fifteen Spirit Stones could do wonders in his hands, and he was immensely grateful to his grandpa.

"Wait, why are there fifteen?"

As Jiang Liu put the Spirit Stones back into his inventory, he froze and asked Master Jiang, "Didn't you two have ten?"

"She had yesterday's too."

Master Jiang replied, "The person who came to buy Spirit Stones yesterday spent over an hour trying to teach your Grandma Zhao, but she couldn't learn it. He thought it was a waste of time and left."

Jiang Liu: "..."

That was Grandma Zhao for you.

Jiang Liu hastily ate breakfast and returned to his room. Including his Daily Sign-in reward, he now had twenty Spirit Stones. They could be spent as two thousand Spirit Stones, so he was finally rich.

The moment he logged into Cultivation Era, a huge page popped up. The title displayed on it made his face darken, and a bad feeling immediately rose in his heart.

[The First Major Cultivation Event Has Arrived with a Bang!]

[Invest Foundation Establishment Stones to Obtain Perfect Foundation Establishment!]

[Get Ahead by Laying Your Foundation Today!]

Behind the flashy title was a blazing background. Within the flames, a human-shaped shadow sat cross-legged. Its outline glimmered faintly, as though someone were sitting inside a furnace, being tempered a thousand times over.

It was here, it was here!

The Launch Event was here!

Jiang Liu had been wondering how a game so steeped in pay-to-win energy could have such a clean interface. There had been no Launch Event, no Limited-Time Gift Packs, and even the goods in the Mall had seemed perfectly normal.

Well, now it was here. It was making it perfectly clear: it wasn't that there were none, they just hadn't wanted to make the first day of launch a complete mess.

They gave you a good impression on the first day, then dropped the act on the second.

Fine. He had expected this.

Having already been thoroughly poisoned by pay-to-win mobile games, Jiang Liu felt no emotional stir whatsoever. He directly opened the Launch Event to take a look.

[Forge Perfect Foundation Establishment]: During the event, place Foundation Establishment Stones into the forge to increase the Perfect Foundation Establishment progress bar. Once the progress bar is full, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage will result in Perfect Foundation Establishment.

Foundation Establishment Stone acquisition: There is a chance to obtain Foundation Establishment Stones through Story Trial, or acquire Foundation Establishment Stones through Limited-Time Gift Packs.

Progress bar: 0/100%.

A gift pack icon also hung on the right side of the event interface. Jiang Liu casually opened it.

[Foundation Establishment Stone Pack I]: 10 Foundation Establishment Stones, price: 98 Spirit Stones.

[Foundation Establishment Stone Pack II]: 40 Foundation Establishment Stones, price: 328 Spirit Stones.

[Foundation Establishment Stone Pack III]: 100 Foundation Establishment Stones, price: 648 Spirit Stones.

"The third tier is the best value."

Jiang Liu silently did the math, but instead of immediately buying the third-tier pack, he first tentatively bought the first-tier pack.

Original price: 98 Spirit Stones. Current price: 0.98 Spirit Stones.

After buying it, he immediately tossed the Foundation Establishment Stones into the forge, then stared fixedly at the progress bar.

The sight made his heart go cold.

Progress bar: 1/100%.

One percent!

"Damn it all! It takes a thousand Foundation Establishment Stones to fill it up!"

"Did the game devs get their brains chewed up by dogs? Who the hell can afford this?!"

Jiang Liu's face turned green after one look, and he couldn't help cursing aloud. How many Spirit Stones were a thousand Foundation Establishment Stones? Six thousand four hundred and eighty Spirit Stones!

Even with his discount, it would cost him 64.8 Spirit Stones.

Huh?

That actually didn't seem like much.

Ah, right, I get a 0.1x discount. Sorry, I was too loud.

Just pretend I was cursing on behalf of the other players.

Jiang Liu's anger came quickly and faded just as quickly. Once he realized that the cost was nothing to him, he immediately became delighted. He even felt that it was too cheap—it should have cost more.

A Perfect Foundation Establishment only cost a few thousand Spirit Stones? That was far too disrespectful to Perfect Foundation Establishment, wasn't it?

It should at least start at tens of thousands of Spirit Stones!

"It can also be obtained through Story Trial. A lot of people are probably going to grind those trials to death."

Jiang Liu clicked his tongue twice and directly closed the Foundation Establishment event. He was only at Qi Cultivation Level 4 right now, so there was no rush to buy Foundation Establishment Stones. He would wait until he had more money.

After he closed the event pop-up, a flashing Limited-Time Gift Pack appeared on the left side of the game interface, with seventeen hours remaining on the countdown.

The Launch Event and Limited-Time Gift Packs had both arrived. A game where spending money let you ascend was gradually taking shape.

After collecting five Spirit Stones from Daily Sign-in and another three from his Monthly Card, Jiang Liu opened the Limited-Time Gift Packs without hesitation.

[Soaring Gacha Pack]: 20 Permanent Gacha Tickets, 98 Spirit Stones.

[Soaring Cultivation Pack]: 100 Qi Refining Pills, price: 198 Spirit Stones.

[Soaring Artifact Pack]: One random artifact, 128 Spirit Stones.

[Soaring Technique Pack]: One random cultivation technique, 128 Spirit Stones.

The four Limited-Time Gift Packs flashed wildly before Jiang Liu's eyes, continuously assaulting his visual nerves and making it abundantly clear: 'Extremely cost-effective. Hurry up and buy, buy, buy!'

What could Jiang Liu do?

Buy them all!

The four packs cost a total of 552 Spirit Stones, and he got them for 5.52 Spirit Stones!

That was just how extravagant he was!

After buying the Limited-Time Gift Packs, he still had 17.05 Spirit Stones left.

Then Jiang Liu turned his attention to the First-Charge Gift Pack.

[First-Charge Gift Pack Stage Five]: One Dharma-grade pair of wings, 50 Qi Refining Pills, 10 Permanent Gacha Tickets, title 'As the Sun at Midday,' price: 648 Spirit Stones.

Wings.

Jiang Liu's mouth twitched slightly. In this First-Charge Gift Pack, everything else was just filler. The wings were what they were really selling.

They were already giving out wings at Stage Five. Would there be outfits and pets later on too?

Though he complained inwardly, he still bought the Stage Five First-Charge Gift Pack.

He only had ten Spirit Stones left in the end, so Stage Six was beyond his means.

After closing the First-Charge Gift Pack, Jiang Liu saw an announcement scroll across the top of the game interface.

[Congratulations to player Jiang Liu for surpassing 1,000 Spirit Stones in total spending and successfully advancing to VIP1!]

If not for that announcement, he would have nearly forgotten that the game even had VIP. It really had everything.

"What does VIP1 do?"

Filled with curiosity, Jiang Liu opened the Character Panel and tapped the VIP section.

[VIP1]: Unlocks the 'Immersive Experience' function for Story Trial stages. Cultivation speed increases by 10%, and pill refining and artifact refining success rates increase by 5%.

How should he put it? This VIP benefit really gave God-Tier Players plenty of respect.

Not only did it unlock a new function, it also increased cultivation speed and even boosted the success rates for pill refining and artifact refining.

Who wouldn't want to recharge after seeing that?

Cultivation Era had truly won his heart.