"Let's not rush off yet. I'll do a lottery draw first!"
Having gone through two World Quests, Russell had summarized quite a bit of experience. For example, the twenty-four-hour stay wasn't fixed; he could leave at any time during that period.
Five minutes, ten minutes, an hour...
Anything worked.
Russell considered those twenty-four hours a perk of traveling between worlds. Twenty-four hours was neither long nor short, depending on the world. It offered a great deal of freedom, and in an interesting world, there was plenty of room to work with.
And when it came to working with it, the most important thing was obviously the lottery draw!
In the previous two mission worlds, Russell hadn't lingered after completing the missions and had chosen to leave immediately. The reason was simple: the Subway Police from Delta Force and the Temple Guards who ate people alive were standing right beside him. Being around them put Russell under a lot of pressure.
From the lottery draws rewarded by those two World Quests, Russell had obtained 'Character Card: Bolt,' 'Skill Card: English Mastery,' and 'Skill Card: Jet Flame' in the Subway Surfers world. In the Temple Run world, he had obtained 'Skill Card: Marathon Runner,' 'Item Card: Blood Sucking Bandage,' and 'Item Card: Healing Ointment.'
All those cards had been drawn after leaving the mission worlds!
Now that he had experienced a third world, Russell had accumulated more and more lottery draws, and his experience had grown richer as well. After reviewing the results, he boldly made several guesses.
First, triggering a certain person or object allowed him to draw a related card—Character Cards, Skill Cards, and Item Cards were randomly selected.
Of course, there might be other types of cards. He just hadn't obtained any yet, so he didn't know.
Second, if he didn't draw immediately and instead waited until after leaving the mission world, the draw would no longer be tied to a specific person or object, though it might still be related to the mission world.
For example, 'Skill Card: Jet Flame' might have been related to the jetpack, while Healing Ointment and Blood Sucking Bandage were related to Temple Run's adventure theme. Whether that was truly the case remained to be seen.
This method of drawing was more random. No one knew what they might get—either god-tier or utter trash. God-tier meant two permanent skills, English Mastery and Marathon Runner. Utter trash, on the other hand... Blood Sucking Bandage.
Even now, Russell couldn't figure out the proper use of Blood Sucking Bandage. He couldn't exactly catch an enemy and tie it over their wound, could he? That would be utterly brain-damaged!
Those were Russell's conclusions from the lottery results, the guesses that best fit the facts. So far, they seemed very close to the truth and highly likely to be correct.
Before drawing, Russell first allocated his 3 Free Attribute Points. If this were an online game, attribute points would naturally be allocated with a focus. Mages would madly add Strength and Vitality, warriors would pile on intelligence and Spirit, and assassins would add physical defense and magic resistance. That was what the guides all said, and it often achieved surprising results that confused the enemy.
As for the silly bird teammates who got confused too, they could be ignored. They simply didn't know how to play games!
Games and reality were different. Russell didn't focus on any particular stat, instead distributing the three attribute points evenly to maintain the most basic balance.
Moderation might be wrong, but it would never lead to a major mistake!
Strength: 11 (7+4) Constitution: 9 (6+3) Intelligence: 11 (9+2) Level: 3 Experience: 150/1000 Wealth: 700
There were no heart-wrenching screams. The process of adding points was peaceful, neither painful nor itchy. Other than his body feeling slightly different and requiring some time to adjust, Russell noticed nothing wrong. It felt warm, and rather comfortable.
His level had risen to LV3, but Russell didn't feel much joy from leveling up. He had no idea who had created this trash system. Other than earning experience and Wealth Points by completing main missions, there were no rewards under any other circumstances.
There were no side quests, no rewards for killing enemies, and absolutely no incentive system that rewarded greater effort. The result was that Hosts would become unmotivated couch potatoes.
Russell had gone through three worlds and was only LV3. Reaching LV4 required more experience than the first three levels combined. Beyond that, leveling up would only require even more experience.
Generally speaking, beginners leveled quickly, especially from levels one to ten. It should have been like riding a rocket, yet this system was absurdly slow.
It was completely unreasonable!
Russell suppressed his doubts and began the lottery draw. He had already completed three World Quests. Once the world process ended, he would become a true host, and he could leave any questions for the system to answer.
Based on his conclusions, Russell used the lottery draw chances contributed by Sloan and the Loom of Fate. He planned to wait until after leaving this world to draw the ones from Butcher and Repairman.
The reason was simple: those two probably wouldn't yield anything good. Drawing now would be a waste.
Russell didn't know much about Repairman. Other than knowing he was good at beating people up, Russell knew nothing else. The same went for Butcher. Rather than draw some skill like 'Butcher Knife Technique,' he might as well save it and try his luck later.
The drawing process was casual. There was no giant roulette wheel, nine-grid board, or tarot cards. Once Russell confirmed the draw, a card automatically appeared on the interface. It was simple, without even a cheap fifty-cent special effect!
Character Card: Sloan (Back in my day, I was pretty strong too.)
Item Card: Ring of the Goddess of Fortune (A holy relic that increases luck when worn. But if your luck is E-rank, don't even try it. You're beyond saving. Just wait to die.)
As always, the results corresponded to the person and object that had triggered the Lottery Draw. One of them was also Russell's favorite type of card, a Character Card. The only flaw was that its duration was a little too short. It would be perfect if it could become permanent.
"Russell, how are things over there? Did you take out Sloan?" Cross's voice came through the miniature radio.
Russell dug out the earpiece and tossed it onto the floor. Sloan had said that when he left the textile factory, Cross would snipe him. That had clearly been an attempt to sow discord, but people's hearts were hidden beneath their skin. Russell didn't think his charisma could win Cross over. It was perfectly normal for Cross to kill him in order to protect his son's secret.
There were still twenty-four hours left, but Russell had no intention of staying. He silently said, "System, end the world process and get me out of here."
There was no notification sound. The system carried out Russell's command cleanly. His vision went black, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in his apartment room.
The messages in the Assassin Group had already reached 99+, but the computer hadn't gone into sleep mode. This showed that the flow of time in the mission world was not equal to that of the main world.
Russell remembered the sleep timer on the computer in front of him: ten minutes. He had set it himself.
"Not even ten minutes..." As he spoke, Russell felt something digging into his lower back. His brow rose, and he smiled soundlessly.
Just then, Russell's vision went black again. Having completed three World Quests, his internship was over, and he was about to become an official host.
It was a massive hall. Torches formed a circle around it, and by their firelight, he could see thick stone pillars. Farther away lay endless darkness.
The computer desk and chair had been replaced by a stone table and stone chair. They were cold, and the uncomfortable pressure against his lower back disappeared. Russell stopped thinking about it and focused on the long stone table before him.
It resembled an elongated conference table or a Western dining table—very long and narrow. The tabletop was carved with totem-like patterns and symbols he couldn't understand. There were no seats on either side, while directly across from Russell, ripples in the shape of a light screen began to tremble faintly.
A face-like outline emerged. It was very blurry; he could only make out the general shape of its eyes, nose, and mouth. Trying to judge the other party's thoughts from that face was basically impossible.
"Lucky one, you have successfully completed three World Quests and earned the qualifications to sign a contract with me, becoming a true host!"
The mouth on the blurry outline opened and closed. The voice was not a cold electronic one, but a weathered voice with a natural rise and fall.
"Sure!"
Failure Diary
A flop never worried about losing readers due to missed updates, because it had no readers to begin with.
Before you continue