Talent Draw Wheel

[Talent Draw Wheel]: The first draw costs 50 Luck Value.

(After that, the Luck Value consumed by each draw doubled, while the chance of obtaining rare talents increased accordingly.)

Chen Ji looked at the Talent Draw Wheel and was astonished to discover that the starting price alone required 50 Luck Value?

The Luck Value needed for another draw would double too?

What if he drew black...

He couldn't be that unlucky, could he?

Chen Ji's eyes flickered. Then he gritted his teeth and stomped his foot.

"Fortune favors the bold!"

"Let's do it!"

Chen Ji spent 50 Luck Value and activated the Talent Draw Wheel!

The next second.

The Talent Draw Wheel immediately lit up with a brilliant radiance.

The wheel was divided into seven distinct sections, each displaying a different color.

White, green, blue, purple, red, gold, black!

A Golden Talent represented a top-tier talent!

A Black Talent...

Did that even need explaining?

Chen Ji silently prayed.

Please, no Black Talent.

Even a White Talent would be acceptable to Chen Ji!

Then, with a crisp ding, Chen Ji's nerves tightened to the limit.

[Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Green Talent: Fortune in Misfortune]

[Fortune in Misfortune] (Green): You are favored by the Goddess of Fortune. In the face of life-and-death danger, you can always find a sliver of hope.

"Nice!"

Chen Ji's eyes lit up.

A Green Talent?

After all that bitterness, sweetness had finally come.

The name of this Green Talent delighted him as well.

Fortune in Misfortune!

Even if he encountered indescribable aberrations in the Nightmare World, he would be able to turn danger into safety!

And now, he had five talent traits!

[Total Recall] (Green), [Martial Arts Master] (Green), [Minor Affinity] (Green), [Fortune in Misfortune] (Green)!

[Nightmare Bound] (Black)!

Four Green Talents and one Black Talent.

That was anything but unimpressive!

This was freaking amazing, wasn't it?

Chen Ji was thrilled.

But he did not let down his guard. Even with four Green Talents, if he could not survive until the next dawn, it would all be for nothing!

Before long, he calmed himself and opened the Book of Arcane Arts Murphyson had recommended to him, Foundations of the Arcane Arts.

This Foundations of the Arcane Arts was an introductory work on Secret Art Magic, mainly covering the types of arcane arts and common black-energy magic.

It helped Apprentice Mages build a solid foundation.

After all, a towering building rose from level ground. Without a sufficiently solid foundation, even the grandest structure would crumble!

With the talent [Total Recall], Chen Ji's reading speed increased more than tenfold.

As long as he flipped through something once, he could nearly recite it backward and forward, as though it had been branded into his mind.

Then, he went through the Book of the Vishanti, Ancient Arcana, and Universal Knowledge of Magic again, firmly memorizing every word in them!

The Book of the Vishanti contained the laws of nature and the operating principles of matter.

Ancient Arcana mainly depicted scenes from the Prehistoric Mythological Era and mentioned some unknown secrets.

Universal Knowledge of Magic was a genuine encyclopedia of magic!

Every Secret Art Magic that had appeared in the show was recorded in this Book of Arcane Arts!

And within Universal Knowledge of Magic, he found a reliable magic incantation!

"Ring of Ragadol!"

Chen Ji secretly rejoiced.

But at that moment.

A deep wave of sleepiness washed over him, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

No matter how desperately he struggled or how hard he pinched his thigh, he could not ease the drowsiness!

Then, his eyelids shut, and when he opened them again!

Chen Ji found that he had appeared in a gloomy, eerie Weird World!

Darkness.

Gloom.

The vast backdrop was pitch-black.

Only bleak starlight fell from the ink-black night sky.

Dense fog shrouded the distant horizon, obscuring the true forms of everything within it.

And he stood amid a cluster of ruined walls.

Collapsed buildings, shattered wreckage, glass fragments scattered across the ground, and even dark brown bloodstains...

It was as though this city had once been thriving, only to become a complete graveyard for some unknown reason.

Though Chen Ji had been transported to this Nightmare World more than ten times, he still felt genuine fear, his heart trembling constantly.

His lively, sharp eyes were filled with vigilance as they scanned his surroundings.

If the Nightmare World were compared to a rules-based horror game.

Then the place where he stood was the game's "Safe Zone."

As long as he made no noise, he generally would not attract aberrations.

But once he made a sound or stepped outside this area, he would immediately draw an aberration's attack.

And all of this was thanks to the Black Talent [Nightmare Bound].

[Nightmare Bound] (Black): Every midnight, you will appear in a strange space where all aberrant things will attack you, and you will never escape this nightmare!

"Never escape..."

"Then I'll defeat every aberration!"

Chen Ji swore to himself.

He had never left his fate to heaven.

He would seize his fate firmly in his own hands.

Next, he picked up a baseball bat from the ground and walked out of the "Safe Zone," keeping his eyes and ears open the whole way.

The moment he stepped out of the Safe Zone, an eerie, ear-piercing shriek rang out ahead!

"Damn!"

"This thing hasn't left yet?"

"It was actually still here, lying in wait for me?"

Chen Ji gripped the baseball bat, nearly cursing aloud.

Every time he left the Nightmare World, an aberrant creature's hostility toward him would reset.

However.

The aberration he had provoked last time had not lost its hostility!

It was still lurking here!

Within the shadowy ruins, an aberrant creature resembling a Barbie doll slowly crawled out from a corner.

Her body was already battered beyond recognition, and he had no idea where one of her legs had gone, yet she remained stubbornly alive. A bloody red gleam shone in her eyes as she tightly gripped a scalpel!

Step by step, she twisted and crawled toward Chen Ji.

"Big brother~"

"Hug me~"

"Play with me~"

An ethereal, icy child's voice slowly drifted through the air.

It made Chen Ji's scalp tingle!

"Play my ass!"

Chen Ji swore on the spot.

Did she think he was blind?

That scalpel was so obvious. She clearly wanted to harvest his kidney!

This Barbie doll had definitely come from some Mabei contractor too!

Could Chen Ji be in Mabei Country within the Nightmare World right now?

Mabei Country or not, Chen Ji was completely screwed anyway!

Because this thing...

Couldn't be killed!

[Weird Doll]

[Level]: Intermediate Aberration

[Traits]: Relentless Pursuit (White), Childlike Heart (White), Undying Body (Blue).

[Relentless Pursuit] (White): Never loses its attack target.

[Childlike Heart] (White): Her mental age is only three years old.

[Undying Body] (Blue): She seems impossible to kill. Have you thought of a solution?

This was the Weird Doll's talent panel!

The moment Chen Ji saw the Blue Talent [Undying Body], his heart went cold.

And there was also the White Talent [Relentless Pursuit]...

It was enough to give him a massive headache!

He was completely screwed!

"Wait!"

"Her mental age is only three...?"

"She wants me to play with her?"

"It doesn't seem like I've sensed any killing intent from her..."

Chen Ji froze slightly.

A bold guess could not help surfacing in his mind.

Could this Weird Doll really just want to play with him?

Chen Ji was startled.

When had he become so perceptive?

[Total Recall] (Green): While Clever and Keen, your mind is also extraordinarily developed. You will never forget anything you have seen.

An extraordinarily developed mind!

Could that be the reason?

Chen Ji felt somewhat reassured.

His eyes rolled as he cautiously said.

"If you want to play with me, fine, but can you throw away the scalpel first?"

The Weird Doll froze.

A bright smile immediately appeared on her bloodstained little face.

"I'll listen to you."

"Big brother."

As she spoke, she tossed the scalpel aside, but it nearly stabbed Chen Ji in the foot.

Damn!

That had been intentional, hadn't it?

Chen Ji hurriedly stepped back and easily dodged it.

A look of understanding immediately flashed through his eyes!

"What do you want to play?"

"Uh..."

"What should I call you?"

Chen Ji scratched his head.

"Doll doesn't have a name..."

The Weird Doll's expression darkened.

"Then I'll give you one!"

"How about Sugar?"

An idea suddenly struck Chen Ji.

Because this Weird Doll really did resemble Sugar from Wang Luffy.

"So happy~"

"I have a name now too!"

Weird Doll was bursting with excitement.

Whoosh!

A dazzling white flash streaked past.

Weird Doll's missing legs actually grew back, and her whole body was renewed.

She became an exquisite Barbie doll once more.

[Name]: Weird Doll - Sugar

[Identity]: Chen Ji's playmate

[Traits]: Relentless Pursuit (White), Childlike Heart (White), Undying Body (Blue).

"Huh?"

"How did she change?!"

"She even gained an identity—my playmate?!"

"She became my playmate?"

"Just giving her a name caused such a huge change?"

Chen Ji was dumbfounded!