"Um..."
"System-chan."
Lin Jing winked at the screen before him.
"Look... how about we talk this over? Could you give me one spin of the roulette? The life category would be fine."
He poked his index fingers together, looking utterly pitiful.
He was practically ready to drop to his knees and beg.
[No.]
The system refused outright, leaving no room for negotiation.
"System-chan, you don't know how hard things are for me, but I don't blame you. After all, you're not human."
"But I am! I need to hunt for Spirit Rings, and I need to make a living. Which of those two things doesn't require Gold Soul Coins?"
"Just look at me. I'm so broke I can hear my pockets rattling. Please, take pity on me and give me one spin."
[No.]
The system refused again.
This time, a pouty reaction image appeared on the screen before Lin Jing.
[Pout.jpg]
Lin Jing's eyes lit up at the sight. There was definitely a chance.
After pleading a few more times, he suddenly changed tack and said:
"How about this? You give me one spin on that Mall Roulette, and I'll owe you ten Task Points."
The system might have been worn down by his pestering. After a brief pause, another helpless reaction image appeared on the screen.
[Helpless.jpg]
[All right. This system will show mercy and lend you one spin.]
A smile spread across Lin Jing's face. The Thunder System kept insisting it didn't have permission.
But look at that—it seemed to have quite a bit of permission after all. He even felt that if he kept pestering it, he might be able to get a free spin out of it.
Still, he decided to let it go. He should quit while he was ahead; there was plenty of time yet.
The future was long.
He'd have plenty of chances to fleece the Thunder System later.
"System-chan, I love you so much. Mwah~"
Lin Jing chuckled. "First, tell me how the Mall Roulette works and what the rewards are."
[The Mall Roulette holds everything you can imagine—and even things you can't.]
[The Mall Roulette contains countless sub-roulettes, each representing a different category of rewards.]
[The life category the host just mentioned is one such sub-roulette.]
[Opening the Life Roulette pool for the host now.]
"Wait!"
Lin Jing hurriedly stopped the system. "Shouldn't we start with the Mall Roulette first?"
"What if I draw a sub-roulette that isn't in the life category?"
[Didn't the host just say he wanted the life category?]
The system had zeroed in on the key point and shot back immediately.
Lin Jing: "..."
I'm gonna—
He shouldn't have run his mouth earlier. Lin Jing wanted to slap himself.
Why had he insisted on the life category? What good was that supposed to do?
He'd wasted a chance to spin the Mall Roulette for nothing.
"System-chan, what if I told you it was my cousin who said that? Would you believe me?"
Lin Jing tried to argue his way out of it. Maybe he could still salvage the situation.
[Host, do I look like a fool to you?]
[Idiot.jpg]
A picture of an idiot popped up on the screen.
"Fine. Open the life reward pool, then. Let's see what's in it."
Lin Jing shrugged. It was free, after all, and life-category rewards weren't bad either.
As soon as he finished speaking, the screen before him shifted, and a roulette wheel appeared.
It looked just like the one from before, except this time it wasn't a physical object but a virtual projection.
The Life Roulette had a great many prizes, packed densely together.
Lin Jing gave it a quick look. Gold Soul Coins took up the largest area—about half the wheel.
The prizes ranged from five or ten coins to thousands upon thousands.
Next came necessities such as food.
"If I draw 999,999 Gold Soul Coins, wouldn't I be set for life?"
Lin Jing began fantasizing.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine Gold Soul Coins—the Life Roulette's most generous prize, and also the one with the lowest odds.
"Spin!"
Lin Jing took a deep breath and gave the command in his mind.
At his signal, the wheel began to spin.
Two seconds later, the pointer's position was already clear.
Every time it passed a large amount of Gold Soul Coins, his heart leapt.
At last, the pointer stopped.
It landed on five hundred Gold Soul Coins.
The prize wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.
It was pretty average. It might not even be enough to hire someone to hunt a Hundred-Year Soul Beast.
Still, something was better than nothing.
Now that he had money, Lin Jing immediately pushed open the door and headed toward Nuoding City.
He had only just walked out of the village when he stopped.
Because...
He didn't know which way Nuoding City was. If he headed in the wrong direction and ended up in some ravine, he'd be in trouble.
He hadn't been standing there long when he spotted Old Jack approaching from the distance.
Seeing him, Lin Jing considered hiding to avoid Old Jack sending him back.
But then he changed his mind. Instead, he went to meet him.
"Grandpa Jack, are you going to the neighboring village?"
Lin Jing jogged over to Old Jack and asked curiously.
"Yeah. What are you doing at the village entrance, Jing?"
Old Jack looked rather unhappy. Clearly, Tang Hao had left him fuming earlier.
"Grandpa Jack, I want to go to Nuoding City. Which way should I go?"
Lin Jing asked outright.
"Nuoding City? What are you going there alone for? It's too dangerous. Get back inside."
Old Jack tapped his cane against the ground and spoke sternly.
"Grandpa Jack, I've already awakened my Martial Soul. I'm a level-ten Soul Scholar, so I can protect myself."
"Besides, Grandmaster Su Yuntao said I have Innate Full Soul Power. I can go to the Spirit Hall in Nuoding City and claim a Soul Master subsidy."
Lin Jing brought up Su Yuntao. In Old Jack's eyes, Su Yuntao was an unquestionable authority.
He'd deliberately put it that way because he knew Old Jack had never heard of the Soul Master subsidy.
"A Soul Master subsidy?"
Old Jack was taken aback. He'd never heard of such a thing before.
After all, no Soul Masters had ever come from the village. Even if there had been any, they wouldn't have discussed such things with an old man like him.
"Follow this road straight ahead. Don't turn at any forks along the way. You should reach Nuoding City before dark."
Old Jack didn't try to stop him again. After pointing out the way, he warned him:
"Be careful on the road. If you run into trouble, remember to run to the Spirit Hall and find Grandmaster Su Yuntao."
"Thanks, Grandpa Jack. I'll remember."
Lin Jing nodded and set off down the path.
He had two reasons for going to Nuoding City. The first was to buy Whale Rubber.
Whale Rubber should still be available, though it probably wouldn't be particularly old.
A Hundred-Year piece would be enough for Lin Jing.
After all, even Thousand-Year Whale Rubber couldn't let him absorb a thousand-year Spirit Ring as his First Soul Ring.
In the original Douluo II, Wang Dong, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng had all been the same.
Wang Dong was the young master of the Clear Sky Sect and the daughter of Sea God Tang San. She definitely wouldn't have been short on Whale Rubber, yet she'd still only managed a thousand-year second ring.
As for Ning Tian and Wu Feng, one was the young master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the other was her personal bodyguard. They certainly wouldn't have lacked Thousand-Year Whale Rubber either.
The fact that Ning Tian had only a Hundred-Year First Soul Ring could still be explained by her body's low physical strength as an auxiliary Soul Master.
But what about Wu Feng? As the owner of a Red Dragon Martial Soul, her physical strength was definitely no worse than that of other top-tier Beast Martial Souls.
So Thousand-Year Whale Rubber didn't improve physical strength all that much. At most, it could raise the limit by about five hundred years.
Before you continue