Achieve New Accomplishment: Slot Machine Killer!

Once again, it was Central Park in the heart of Manhattan, New York. Today, Annie's school had organized an extracurricular activity. Two large school buses had brought the students from several of her classes here, and the park management had even set aside a separate patch of grass exclusively for the use of Julia Academy's students.

Today, Maine's assigned lesson was simply to take the students to play in the park. That's right—this afternoon, the students' entire curriculum was just play! Teacher Maine believed that playing could also cultivate students' hands-on and practical abilities. Moreover, by playing in the park, not only could the students get proper exercise, but the park's excellent environment could also give them an initial exposure to nature and help them love it!

In Maine's view, students shouldn't be stuck on campus or in the classroom all day. Coming out to play more, getting in touch with and breathing fresh outside air, would also be immensely beneficial to their physical and mental health.

"Oh! God! Annie, I think you can take a break and sit out for a while! Look at you, you must be exhausted!" At the start, Maine had set up two simple goals on the park lawn and divided her class into two groups for a friendly match.

Maine thought this would be enough to keep the students occupied for a good while, and then she could sneak in a little rest. However, reality dealt her a cruel blow! It forced her to prematurely abandon her plan of secretly resting for twenty minutes.

Because Maine discovered that no matter where Annie was on the field, no matter how many opponents were blocking her, as soon as the soccer ball reached Annie's feet, she could always kick it into the goal from some tricky angle! Just now, after Annie easily scored her eighth goal, Maine had to interrupt the match and politely ask Annie to sit out and rest for a bit.

She had to do this, because Annie's opponents were on the verge of collapse. After letting in so many goals in a row, the fat goalkeeper, Jack Harper, was so wronged he was almost in tears.

This kind of one-sided match was never part of Maine's plan! It was extremely unfair to the other half of the children! If it continued like this, it might even leave a bad shadow on their young hearts. So, she had to step in to adjust and promptly swapped Annie out.

Hmph! This thing called soccer isn't fun at all! There's no challenge whatsoever; it's way too simple.

Annie, pulled from the game early for playing too well, sat on a park swing. She took a bottle of water from her backpack, drank while smugly watching her other classmates. Only after Annie left the field could they start a normal match, now chasing the soccer ball, striving back and forth with all their effort.

My master! If you didn't use magic to guide the soccer ball when you kicked it, your thoughts just now might be a bit more convincing! Tibbers couldn't stand it anymore. It's just playing with classmates, do you have to be so serious? Look, that fat kid Jack is about to be brought to tears by you.

You don't understand, Tibbers, I did that on purpose just now! That fat bastard tattled on me again the day before yesterday! Of course, I had to punish him properly. After drinking, Annie quickly stuffed the bottle back in and re-fastened her backpack. She didn't want to discuss this with Tibbers right now.

"Annie, you played really well just now!" Seeing Annie leave the field, a little blonde girl immediately came over.

This was Angelina Roberts. Ever since Annie played a piece at her birthday party, she had become Annie's best friend. At school, she was almost always inseparable from Annie.

"Ah-ha~! Thanks!" Annie felt a bit embarrassed, after all, she had cheated with magic! But magic was also one of her abilities, right? Winning by relying on your own abilities isn't cheating, is it?

"So, Annie, can you find time to play another piece for me? My dad and I really want to hear it again!" Angelina kicked the grass hard, setting the swing in motion. Then she turned her head and looked at Annie with hopeful, big eyes.

This little girl pestered her once or twice almost every day at school, each time asking to hear Annie play again. But Annie knew that listening to magically enhanced music too often could become addictive. And it was very bad for people! Especially for those with worries in their hearts or those seeking spiritual solace. So, Annie never played for Angelina again, no matter how many times she begged, it was impossible!

"Ah... Angelina, I can't go to your house every day to play for you guys!" Sure enough! Here it comes again, Annie knew it would be like this.

"But... but I really, really want to hear it one more time..." The little girl lowered her head dejectedly upon hearing this. Angelina actually knew her request was a bit excessive, pestering Annie every day, but she really, really wanted to hear it, even if it was just one last time!

"How about this, I'll teach you!" Annie felt she couldn't let this pestering continue; she had to solve the problem once and for all.

"Teach me? But I can't play the harp, I only know how to play the piano..."

Hearing that Annie wanted to teach her, Angelina was stunned for a moment. She started to get happy, but then immediately wilted. Because she suddenly remembered she couldn't play the harp. She had tried, but she didn't have much talent for it; playing the harp was really too difficult for her.

"The piano works too, as long as you play it like this!" Annie silently chanted a spell, pointed her finger at Angelina's forehead, and transferred the meditation method for training magic power and the basic method for applying magic power to performance all at once to Angelina.

Of course, these methods weren't the powerful, enchanting, mesmerizing sound Annie had used twice. What she gave Angelina were just some little tricks that wouldn't harm the human body! It was mostly just the basics of magical music theory, but even that was already quite impressive!

"Ah! Huh? This? This? That's all it takes?!" Angelina couldn't understand what the knowledge Annie had directly imparted into her mind meant, or what achievements it would bring her in the future.

Even Annie herself didn't realize that this casual thing she did today would one day create a super heroine in the Marvel world who would make enemies tremble at the sound of her name! A heroine specializing in music, known to the world as the Voice of God: the Soul Player, Angelina! Of course, that's another story entirely...

"Annie, it's amazing! How did you do that? This feeling is so strange!" Angelina was still carefully experiencing the newfound knowledge that had suddenly appeared in her mind.

"This is our secret, okay? Don't tell anyone!"

"Okay! I promise I won't tell anyone, not even my dad!" Angelina nodded vigorously, even extending her pinky finger to pinky swear with Annie.

"Then it's settled! As long as you keep training to develop your magic power, you'll be able to play music like mine." That's great! Annie laughed happily. This way, she wouldn't have to worry about Angelina pestering her to play anymore, right? Perfect!

"Hey, Angelina! What's that thing over there?" After pacifying Angelina, Annie noticed a large, house-like object by the edge of the grass, with quite a few people gathered around it.

"Oh! That's a toy vending machine. You put in a one-dollar coin and get one grab." Angelina looked in the direction Annie was pointing. Of course, she knew what it was.

"It looks like fun! Come on, Angelina, let's go play too!" Hearing it was something to play with, Annie's eyes lit up. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, grabbed Angelina's hand, jumped off the swing, and ran straight towards the large toy vending machine.

"Angelina, do you have any coins? Give them to me, I'll grab some toys for you!" Annie watched how others played for a while, learned immediately, and couldn't wait to try it herself! But she didn't have any one-dollar coins. She had gold coins, sure! But a gold coin was definitely too thick to fit into that little slot!

"I do! But I only have three left!" Angelina pitifully pulled her last three one-dollar coins from her pocket! Actually, she had already played a few times just now, but unfortunately, she hadn't caught a single one!

"Only three? That's enough! Quick, tell me, which one do you have your eye on? I'll grab it for you!" Annie snatched Angelina's allowance, then eagerly stood in front of a control panel and inserted one.

"I want that one!!" Angelina pointed at the biggest teddy bear plush toy, which was a full half a head taller than Angelina herself!

"Alright, just watch me." Annie excitedly shook the joystick. A mechanical arm slowly moved over, then reached down and firmly grabbed the big teddy, slowly lifting it up. But unfortunately, when it was only about twenty centimeters off the ground, the toy fell off... The grab was a failure. One dollar gone.

"Huh? How is that possible?"

It clearly grabbed it! How could it just fall off? Annie was stunned for a moment. Not believing it, she inserted another coin. This time, she operated more carefully. You know, Annie could even fly a Quinjet; how could she not handle this toy machine? That was completely impossible!

The second grab was clearly more reliable than the first. The big teddy toy, held by the mechanical claw, slowly moved back. Annie knew that if she could just drop it into the chute, the toy would be theirs!

"Huh?! That's absolutely impossible!" Annie exclaimed loudly!

Because just as the teddy was about to be dropped into the chute, the mechanical claw actually released on its own? That's right! It released automatically! Annie could guarantee that her operation had no mistakes, but the claw just released on its own like that. This couldn't fool Annie the mage's super perception! So that's how it is... This machine actually cheats on its own!?

"Annie, maybe we should just stop playing?" Angelina beside her was so sad she was almost crying. Counting the times she had played earlier, the machine had already eaten several dollars of her allowance today. Now, only the last coin in Annie's hand was left!

"Hmph, don't worry, Angelina! I will definitely help you get that big teddy, I promise!!" Annie was almost laughing in anger. This machine dares to cheat against her? She would make it pay!

After saying this, without waiting for Angelina to refuse, Annie quickly inserted the last coin and operated the machine again. When the claw grabbed the teddy once more, Annie secretly cast a Strong Stickiness Spell on the toy, using magic to firmly stick the big teddy to the claw! Then she started moving it towards the chute.

Sure enough, just as the claw was about to reach the chute, it subtly released its grip a tiny bit again. If not for Annie's spell in effect, the big teddy bear toy would have definitely fallen off by now, right? Hmph, it really does cheat! Annie secretly gloated. She had seen through this machine's tricks.

Finally, under Angelina's worshipful and excited gaze, Annie successfully stuffed the big teddy bear toy she had dreamed of into her arms.

"Hey! Does anyone else want a toy? I'll grab them for you for free! If I lose, it's on me!" Annie decided to properly punish this machine. She was going to grab all its toys, to stop it from tricking people anymore. So she turned around and shouted loudly to her classmates who were still playing soccer.

"Hey! Pete! Where are my students?" Teacher Maine had just gone to grab something, and when she came back, she was shocked to find her students nowhere in sight. She couldn't help but question Pete, the school security guard responsible for watching them.

"Over there." The guard took an indifferent bite of his hot dog before gesturing for Teacher Maine to look toward the claw machines. A brand-new plush puppy toy was pinned under his seat—Annie had just won it for him for only one dollar. What a steal! He planned to take it home to his little son.

"Oh! My God! How is this possible?"

Maine doubted her eyes again. Her students were all holding toys, cheering excitedly around the claw machines! Every single one of them had at least one toy, some even had two, and the most was chubby little Jack—one in each hand, two more tucked in his arms, grinning from ear to ear.

Maine couldn't believe it was real. Since when had those money-grabbing claw machines become so easy to win? Then she hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should try to grab a couple for her three-year-old daughter at home.

"Hello? Boss? It's like this: the claw machine we placed in the park seems to be broken! You'd better send someone to fix it right away, yes, that's right! If you don't hurry, it's going to be emptied!" On the other side of the large claw machine, a staff member was hiding in a corner where no one could see him, sweating profusely as he called his boss.

Happy times are always short. In the blink of an eye, Annie's extracurricular activity was coming to an end. Teacher Maine blew her little whistle, and Annie, along with her classmates, began to line up crookedly—along with all the toys in their hands! They were now ready to finish class and take the bus back to school.

"Classmates! Today..." Teacher Maine had just started speaking when suddenly an air raid siren blared across all of New York. People relaxing in the park stood up in confusion, looking around, not understanding what was happening...