After A Billion-Year Torture, I Returned As A Transcendent Player

Chapter 62: Slot-Machine Rewards & Mystery Boxes

After Aidan returned to his Epic-rank Terrorized Dimension, the first thing he did was to use the tickets.

Aidan punched seriously.

This punching mechanism was only available to him to vent his dangerous anger, designed by the program’s system.

He ought to make full use of that.

So Aidan slipped into the depths of his mind, recalling something that gave him a burst of anger.

BOOOM!

He punched.

[0.32% anger vented.]

The slot machine spun like crazy, and every ten spins, it used a ticket and gave him a reward.

Eight rewards lined up soon.

[Congratulations, you have acquired the following items from the Omni-Slot Machine.]

— 1 x Talent Stone.

— Windfury Potion (SS)

— 2 x Talent Stones.

— Blazing Point Rifle (Legendary)

— 10 x Attack Lolipop (Legendary)

— Spirit Art: Steller Heart Blaze (Legendary)

— 5 x Talent stones.

— Talent Rune: Infernal Shadow Ranger (SSS)

Aidan didn’t dilly-dally, and opened the normal Mystery Box and Legendary Mystery Box as well.

[Congratulations, you have acquired 3 talent Stones.]

[Congratulations, you have acquired a Spirit Art: Neonoir Lethal Flow (Legendary)]

’Oh, another spirit art!’ Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’I can use one, and give the other one to Solenne.’

Aidan knew what to do.

Since he had Wind aspect, it was better that he used Neonoir Lethal Flow since only one Spirit Art could be learned and used at a time.

As for the Steller Heart Blaze spirit art, and Infernal Shadow Ranger, he could give those two to Solenne to give her some real boost in her power arsenal.

At her current rank and combat power, she wasn’t of any use to him.

[Triggering Power Bond on Blazing Point Rifle...]

Next, he fed his talent into the rifle directly, and it dissolved into a stream of banked orange light, gathering and folding in on itself until it settled into something new entirely.

[Power Bond created.]

[Power Bond: Blazing Point Rifle]

-Power: 34,180

-Bond Level: F

-Attributes:

—> +100% Penetration.

—> +80% Attack.

-Aspects:

—> Flame (100%)

—> Pierce (100%)

’Flame.’ Aidan turned the word over, testing the new heat curling at his fingertips, a standalone thing rather than a graft onto something older. ’Didn’t have that one at all before.’

[Jovan: Now you can properly cook your own food. Efficient.]

’Nah, even If I could cook, I wouldn’t make it as tasty as professionals, unless I really got into cooking.’

[Jovan: That’s true. But Arthur would eat it regardless.]

[Arthur: Oi...I also have taste, okay?]

Aidan set the leftover loot out in front of him and took stock.

Two Talent Stones from one pull, one from another, then five more on top. Eight total, added to whatever he already had stashed away.

’Getting there.’ He grinned. ’Thirty of these and my Power Bond talent itself jumps to SSS-rank. Not the bonds. The talent.’

The Windfury Potion he pocketed without a second thought, good for later, and the ten Attack Lollipops made Arthur’s ears perk up the instant they appeared.

[Arthur: Lollipops?!]

’They’re not candy, buddy.’

[Arthur: They’re SHAPED like candy.]

’Fine, if you behave.’ Aidan smiled.

These candies could permanently increase attack stat of anyone at Legendary-rank and below. He decided to give three to Arthur, which pushed his Attack stat to Legendary-10, the rank’s peak.

That left the two Spirit Arts and the Talent Rune, and those needed more thought than the rest combined.

He opened his palm and looked at Neonoir Lethal Flow first, the knowledge bleeding faintly off the stone. A Legendary-rank spirit art.

[Spirit Art: Neonoir Lethal Flow]

—> Upon cultivating and mastering this Spirit Art, the user can attain the Spirit Form of this Spirit Art. Upon activating the Spirit Form, the user is granted 150% boost in Speed and 100% boost in Attack, as well as adding Neonoir Fatality Enchant into every wind-based attacks.

—> Neonoir Fatality Enchant: Inflict +5% Attack as Spirit Damage per hit. Reduce the target’s Omni-Speed and their resistance to Spirit-based attacks per stack of Neonoir Fatality.

’Interesting. So this is the power of Spirit Arts.’

[Yes. Activating a Spirit Art consumes Spirit Energy, which requires more energy from your reserve than using Mana, and also put a strain in your energy recovery. With Mana, you are just taking apart Spirit Energy and merely using its Magical Energy part, which is the Mana. But Spirit Energy is your true energy reserve, which can translate into Mana, Stamina, and all other kind of energy. If you use the Spirit Art carelessly and without efficiency, you might run out of energy at critical moment and put yourself in danger.]

’Thanks for the warning.’

"Solenne!" Aidan then called out, and reached through the dimension toward the ping of her presence a few valleys over. "Get over here! I’ve got presents!"

She showed up a couple minutes later, breathless, a fresh Epic-rank monster core still cooling in one hand and dirt streaked across her cheek from whatever she’d just finished killing.

Aidan held out the Talent Rune first. "Infernal Shadow Ranger talent. SSS-rank. Fire and shadow, both, which happens to be exactly nothing like what you’ve got now." He tilted his head. "Interested?"

Solenne stared at the rune like it might bite her. "SSS-rank talent runes don’t just fall out of the sky."

"They do when the sky is a slot machine." He shrugged. "You in or not?"

She took it before he’d even finished the sentence.

The moment her fingers closed around it, the rune dissolved into a wash of dark orange light that sank straight into her chest. She gasped, doubling over as it took root, her SSS-rank frame stretching to hold a second talent alongside Hollow Step.

When she straightened, faint threads of shadow curled off her shoulders, and somewhere underneath them, a low simmer of heat that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

"I feel like I swallowed a bonfire," she said, wheezing.

"Get used to it. There’s more." Aidan pressed the second stone into her palm. "Steller Heart Blaze. Legendary spirit art. Fire-based, obviously, so it should pair straight into that new talent instead of fighting it."

Solenne looked between the stone and him, something a little overwhelmed creeping into her expression.

"Why do you keep doing this?" she said quietly. "Giving me things like this costs nothing to you and everything to me."

"Because you’re mine to look after, and I like watching things I look after get scary." Aidan grinned. "Also, because a training dummy is a poor sparring partner, I’d like a real one eventually."

Solenne clenched her fist, nodding her head with determination. "I won’t waste the chance you gave me and the effort you spent on me, master."

"Yeah, stop with that master thingy."

"Then, Young Master?"

"Urgh..."

Solenne blinked. "So...Aidan?"

"Yeah, that’s better." Aidan grinned. "When it becomes necessary for you to appear in front of others, I’ll introduce you as the second disciple of the hidden Divine-rank Master. Perfect, right?"

...

While Solenne went off to test the new fire threading through her limbs on whatever unlucky Epic-rank beast wandered too close, Aidan sat back and pulled his thoughts toward the last thing on his plate.

The Eidos. The little engine keeping this whole world from rotting out from under him.

’Right.’ He cracked his knuckles, the new flame aspect curling lazily between his fingers.

’System, you promised to walk me through this once I hit Epic-rank. Now I am close to peak Epic-rank.’

[Confirmed. Beginning Eidos Preservation Protocol.]

[Player consciousness must project into Eidos space. Preparing transfer.]

Aidan settled cross-legged onto the ground, closed his eyes, and let the world go dark around him.

’Alright.’ He exhaled slowly. ’Let’s go meet the little heart keeping my new house running.’