Ren Suo's heart leaped with joy, but he first suppressed his excitement to check the exclusive reward "Mage Under the World Tree" had granted him:

"Pure White Mini Holy Grail"

"Quality Rank: Three-Star Item, Prerequisite: None."

"Effect: After the Player equips this item, all non-damaging skills' effects are enhanced by +30% to +100% (the stronger the skill, the lower the increase), and the Energy consumption of all skills is reduced by -10% to -50% (the weaker the skill, the greater the reduction). There is an extremely low probability (<1%) of granting a kind wish the Player has already prayed for (spoken aloud)."

"Note: 'The one thing you must never give up on is Prayer.' It is with this sliver of Hope that generations of Holy Grail Magicians have been able to suppress the frenzied thoughts of all living beings within them. Although this small glimmer of Hope ultimately could not prevent the world's downfall, the Hope passed down from generation to generation has become hidden as the Mini Holy Grail within the great Holy Grail, offering a bit of assistance to Magicians willing to take on the responsibilities of the Holy Grail."

Non-damaging skills...? Ren Suo pondered. His non-damaging skills, such as "Magic: Garment," "Spell Healing," "Touch of Healing," and "Strong Heart Technique," should just about count.

The reduction in Energy consumption for all skills by -10% to -50% was quite good, especially useful to Ren Suo when acting as a Healing Cultivator.

The most interesting part was the "extremely low probability of granting a kind wish the Player has already prayed for." This indicated that the conditions were "must be spoken out loud" and "the wish must be kind," with the hidden condition being "random"—it was not an active skill.

Meaning, after equipping it, even my kind wish to "transform into a Pretty Soldier" could potentially come true. However, given the extremely low probability, it's mostly just an unexpected bonus unless I later find ability items that could increase the odds, so this effect doesn't need to be considered normally.

However, the "Pure White Mini Holy Grail" was one of the top items in terms of practical value in Ren Suo's haul, ranked just below the multi-purpose cloning ability "Struggle Warrior (Incomplete)."

Next...

Ren Suo took a deep breath and slowly opened the system message.

"Congratulations on advancing to a Level 4 Player!"

"+1 to the backup slots in the Equipment Interface, +1 to ability slots, +1 to inventory slots."

"As a reward for advancing to Level 4, you may conduct one 'Fantasy Lottery' free of charge!"

In an instant, the screen transformed into a starry sky. The camera moved, and Ren Suo gradually realized that this starry sky was actually an organized... spinning wheel!

The wheel was clearly divided into areas, delineated by stars. Starlight from the Milky Way wove text in these areas, allowing Ren Suo to see the rewards listed on the wheel.

Not to mention, this is indeed high-class!

"Fantasy Lottery: Players can spend Merit Points to spin the wheel to obtain surprise grand prizes. This lottery is only available when a Player's Level breaks through to new heights. Remaining lottery chances: 1."

"Phew..."

Ren Suo let out a soft breath. Although he knew advancing to a Level 4 Player would certainly be extraordinary, this lottery really took him by surprise.

Look at these rewards!

"Random Wish Fulfillment," "Heart's Voice Listening," "Photographic Memory," "Gluttony Enhancement"...

These rewards were incredibly pragmatic and could make his real life considerably better; just getting any one of them would make him a winner in life!

"Privilege Super Optimization," "Ability Slot Doubling," "Inventory Slot Doubling," "Backup Slot Doubling"...

The areas for these rewards were clearly larger, suggesting that the lottery favored 'gameplay-related' prizes, hoping Players would draw rewards that enhanced their gaming strength.

Furthermore, there were rewards that took up a tiny space but made Ren Suo absolutely green with envy!

"The Offering System of 'Mage Under the World Tree'," "The Superpower System of 'Assassin'," "The Fate System of 'Sacrifice'..."

There were all sorts of them, a few dozen game systems in total!

Although most of them occupied minimal space, and Ren Suo hadn't played them and thus didn't know their details, he was familiar with "The Offering System of 'Mage Under the World Tree'": powerful Magic could be unleashed with special Offerings!

In Ren Suo's eyes, Offerings were no different from the Spiritual Objects in "Devouring the Spirit of the World": both were items with special significance.

For instance, the Teleportation Magic often used by Magicians required "bird feathers" or similar Offerings; summoning swords and spears relied on "Fragment of Sword" or "Fragment of Spear"; and casting Forbidden Techniques naturally meant using one's own body directly.

Therefore, in this era of reviving Spiritual Energy, Offerings should not be hard to find. However, Earth had no Magicians. This meant that the resources for Offerings were almost infinite for Ren Suo. Furthermore, the variety of Offerings on Earth far surpassed those in Another World, perhaps yielding even more significant ones:

For example, using figurines as Offerings might allow me to summon corresponding Paper People or something...

Also, "The Superpower System of 'Assassin'" wouldn't be bad either. If I could learn 'Bullet Time,' then I could... well, die a little slower no matter what crisis I faced.

Imagining a beautiful life until drool nearly dripped down his chin, Ren Suo wiped the corner of his mouth and started the lottery excitedly!

"I must get something good! There's only one chance!"

Ren Suo closed his eyes in anticipation. When he opened them after a moment, he saw in the starry wheel, a radiance piercing through the universe, landing in a zone that took up less than 5%—

"Random Wish Fulfillment"!

"Great, I want ten more wishes!" Ren Suo immediately voiced his wish out loud, following the long-circulated proper method of making a wish on the internet.

However, the system had no intention of entertaining him: "Random wish selection is in progress..."

Huh? Wishes can be random too? Surely, it isn't going to pick from the New Year's resolutions I write every year on the first day, the ones that automatically vanish by the fourth, is it?

But ever since six years ago, my yearly wish has been to find a girlfriend and stop being single! Does that mean a girl will suddenly fall from the sky?

No, that's not right. If this wish works like the Holy Grail, it wouldn't be strange if a guy fell from the sky instead...

Ren Suo's confusion didn't last long as the system quickly selected his wish: "The wish for 'rapid advancement of game console hardware' has been fulfilled."

"...Why pick such a generic wish? You might as well have dropped a girlfriend on me..." Ren Suo grumbled.

He remembered he indeed had this wish, since using a controller or keyboard and mouse could be quite cumbersome in some cases. But he had no hand in the development of gaming hardware, so it had remained just a thought.

I didn't expect this wish to be recognized and fulfilled by the system directly!

Well, at least it's somewhat beneficial to me. Let it be then... With some effort, Ren Suo consoled himself, then looked up to discover that the wheel hadn't disappeared yet.

"Fantasy Lottery: Current remaining lottery chances: 0. Players can recharge chances by using Merit Points; Merit Points required for this recharge is: 200."

200 Merit Points for one draw? Ren Suo blinked, remembering the first time his Merit Points exceeded 200. The Naiser Gaming Company had sent a message advising him to save his money and stop buying games impulsively. So that's what it was for!

"Charge! Draw!"

This is a limited-time lottery! If I miss it this time, I have no idea when it'll appear again after a Player levels up. Merit Points can be saved slowly, but a limited lottery, once missed, is gone for good!

Second lottery result: 'Privilege Super Optimization', taking up 35% of the area!

A system prompt appeared: "Player currently has only one privilege, automatically proceeding with Super Optimization."

Then, Ren Suo watched as his 'Gentle Stream' privilege transformed, becoming a shimmering new privilege:

'Plucking Feathers from a Flying Goose: When making any Merit Point purchases within the Mini-World Game Console, there's a 50% chance to reduce the required Merit Points by 1,

a 30% chance to reduce by 10 points (the cost cannot go below zero),

a 19% chance for the purchase to not consume any Merit Points at all,

and a 1% chance to trigger the 'Swindler' effect: the next purchase is guaranteed to not consume any Merit Points (even if the price exceeds the available Merit Points).

This privilege will definitely trigger one of the effects (and only one), and cannot be upgraded further.'

These 200 Merit Points... were well spent, indeed.

At least, for all future in-game purchases, Ren Suo wouldn't have to worry as much about spending money.

If the 'Swindler' effect was triggered, Ren Suo could even get a game for free, no matter how many Merit Points the game cost—though there was only a 1% chance of triggering it, hitting it once would mean Green Dragon.

'Gentle Stream' had already saved Ren Suo nearly a hundred Merit Points, and this 'Plucking Feathers from a Flying Goose', true to its name, was incredibly potent with any of its effects triggered.

"One more draw!" Ren Suo eagerly charged more Merit Points, only to find that the cost of the next recharge had soared to 400 Merit Points!

It doubled directly!

So there is such a restriction... Ren Suo had already been planning to close the game and play for a few more months to save up Merit Points, hoping to have enough funds for the lottery during this current opportunity.

A single draw only needing 200 Merit Points was still within my psychological limit; I could earn enough by playing a three-star game for about half a month. But if the cost of each recharge doubles, then I'm out of luck—I'm not capable of keeping up with that kind of linear growth, no matter how good I am at gaming. Even if the increase was 200 Merit Points each time, rather than doubling, it would be too much for me; the cost-effectiveness would be too low, not to mention this is a lottery. If I saved for months only to have bad luck, it would be better to just advance to Level 4 Player sooner and try out four-star games.

Ren Suo checked his Merit Point balance, which was down to 460 points. Luckily, I cleared 'Mage Under the World Tree' and earned 276 points; otherwise, I wouldn't even have enough to recharge.

"Another round!"

Watching the Merit Points drop from three digits to two, Ren Suo had no regrets. When else to gamble if not now!

But Ren Suo had already closed his eyes, trembling all over as he awaited fate's verdict. He looked like a miserable guy who had bet all he owned on a soccer match and was now watching the game from the Roof, his fate hanging in the balance.

After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the screen.

Not a game privilege... but I'd take something reality-based too!

Ren Suo's eyes suddenly widened—he saw the radiance piercing through the cosmos, landing in a sector of the wheel that was less than 1%!

* * *

「Britain, University of Cambridge, Main Library, 3 AM.」

This comprehensive research library, spanning three floors with a total of 8,000,000 volumes, was brightly lit but eerily empty. Except for one or two small libraries that remained open 24 hours, most large ones closed before midnight and didn't allow students to linger inside.

"Let's go, George!"

Old George, burping from alcohol, slowly stood up and staggered into the well-lit library with his companion, saying, "Nice not to bring a flashlight, can keep my hands free for the bottle. Thanks to the Undead, praise the Undead."

"You've had too much. Don't go blabbing when we're outside," his companion cautioned. "The 'Library Undead Murder Case' from three months ago is still discussed by many and has everyone quite spooked."

"I know, I know," grunted Old George, his beer belly prominent, as he waddled to the third floor for his patrol. The entire way was brightly lit.

Although it was a huge waste of electricity, since the 'Library Undead Murder Case' three months prior, almost all libraries were required to keep their lights on at night; otherwise, the security guards refused to patrol.

If a Supernatural event were to really occur, having the lights on certainly wouldn't help, but at the very least, it offered some comfort to the on-duty staff, far better than playing hide-and-seek in pitch darkness with a flashlight.

Old George, in his uniform and belching, sauntered among the bookshelves. He was a known drinker, and since the library wasn't a likely target for thieves (important original documents were kept elsewhere, and only copies were available for loan), his job mostly involved strolling leisurely with a drink, which suited him just fine.

"Hmm?"

Old George noticed a book lying on the floor, stumbled over to pick it up, and felt it—it was a brown-covered book.

The texture of the cover was odd, not like leather, nor like paperboard... Old George flipped through and noticed the text inside wasn't English, German, nor any other language he recognized.

There were no library markings on the spine either. Probably some student's book left behind.

Though it was a bit bothersome, Old George took the brown-covered book, planning to leave it at the front desk. He figured the student who had lost it would come and claim it.

However, as he turned to look out the window, he witnessed a bizarre scene: a lush, dense forest, the shimmering glow of a stream, and flowers in full bloom...

CLICK.

The wind brushed against the window, making a faint sound.

"I really drank too much..." Old George muttered in sudden realization, uncapping his bottle to take another swig. "A little more, and I'll sober up..."

He suddenly looked down at the book in his hands. "What's this?"

Old George shook his head, somewhat dazed, as he casually stuffed the book into a gap deep on a bookshelf—a spot where it would be almost impossible to see or reach unless all the books were removed—and then he continued his leisurely patrol.

After Old George had walked away, a strange sound came from within the depths of the bookshelf, stating a fact in a language not of Earth:

"It's 'Him' again."

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