From he really cracked the lottery, it became, 'Did he really crack the lottery?' Daren was finding it hard to believe.

Afterall, for him, despite how many times he already saw Leon perform miracles with his abilities and knowledge as a Mechanist, he still found it hard to believe the concept of cracking a lottery.

First of all, that was not even the domain of a Mechanist, that was supposed to be the domain of a carefree frolicking playboy like him.

And yet, despite all the gambling and lottery games that Daren had played since he was 14, he'd lost over 90% of them.

And yet, he never stopped playing till now when he was 24.

So how? Just how did Leon crack the lottery?

Staring at Leon who was seated just beside him, he shuddered. 'Is he even real?' Maybe he cracked the lottery for just 1 of the tickets. Yes, that's reasonable'.

'It's unreasonable for all 3 tickets to be jackpots, right?'

Thinking that, he finally relaxed, feeling better with himself that he didn't waste the past 10 years of his betting and lottery-playing career.

Then, he became excited. 'Thank God he's my friend!' He grinned. 'I can just beg him to help me crack a lottery too!'

His slightly golden brown eyes gleamed. 'I need to make a lot of money as capital to make this happen!'

'F*ck! Why didn't I fight more since I came to Leviathan Quay?'

He instantly began thinking of multiple ways to make as much money as possible in a short time to seek Leon's help to crack his own lottery and hit a jackpot.

While he had these thoughts, the rough and slightly hoarse voice of the manager of Grand Mac Casino finally broke him out of his reverie.

"Mr. Thomas Riley, it's an honor to host you in our casino".

When Leon hit the jackpot, it didn't just attract the attention of the crowd of other players around, it also attracted the attention of the casino thugs.

And once they learned his true identity, realizing that he was Thomas Riley, the news quickly got to the manager of the casino and within a short time, he came to the 2nd floor where he hosted the trio of Ascended.

They were inside a corner of this casino with sofa chairs, a glass table in the middle, and purple curtains blocking the entrance. At the entrance were 2 armed thugs who stood guard.

At this moment, there was an expensive bottle of wine on the table with its contents already occupying 3 cups for Leon, Daren, Tyla, and Mr. Hannibal, the manager of Grand Mac Casino.

The manager of the casino is an ugly Geneform with Turtle DNA, there was just no way to sugar-coat his looks.

His pristine black suit covered the curve of the turtle shell surrounding his body, but the shape of his neck, his face, and his eyes betrayed his DNA. His face was filled with wrinkles and acne.

He was clearly middle-aged but he looked older than his age.

He smiled. "Mr. Thomas, I never saw you as the type to play lottery games".

Leon coolly looked at him. "Like all men, I love money".

Mr. Hannibal nodded in agreement. "My son is a big fan of yours, please can I have your autograph for him?"

Leon didn't answer immediately, instead he looked at the time.

[06:35pm]

Seeing the time, he raised his head and looked at the manager in a nonchalant manner. "Mr. Hannibal, as you can see I have 2 more tickets," he raised his left hand showing the golden-colored tickets.

"And I feel that the Goddess of Luck is smiling on me again". He said solemnly. "After playing my second game, I'll spend enough time with you and I'll also give you an autograph for your son".

"For now, I want to exercise my luck".

"Oh, why not?" Mr. Hannibal calmly gestured with his hand, showing that he didn't have the power to keep the famous Thomas Riley waiting.

Leon nodded calmly, then he stood up and walked out. Sergeant Tyla and Daren followed behind him.

As they left, Sergeant Tyla leaned towards Leon and whispered. "Don't you want to rethink your decision?" She suggested. "You already won once, that's massive. If you resell the 2 tickets back to the casino, you'd have won big with no losses".

Leon didn't budge, he simply said. "Watch".

She hesitated, then with a look of exasperation she followed him, thinking that Thomas Riley was being unnecessarily stubborn and greedy.

The moment they left the corner where Mr. Hannibal hosted them, the manager gestured at the two thugs in the entrance.

"Boss". They entered.

He gestured for them to lean in and once they did, he whispered to them. "Go watch him, keep the cameras on him. Make sure he doesn't do any mischief".

"Yes boss".

They left.

Mr. Hannibal calmly crossed his leg and brought a small metal case from his suit pocket from where he retrieved a pipe.

With a lighter, he ignited it and smoked leisurely, calmly waiting for Thomas Riley to storm off his casino in rage after losing money.

…

"He's back".

"He really wants to play again".

Whispers erupted the moment Leon returned to the Slotomania lottery machine. And just like Leon expected, after they recognized his identity, the players willingly vacated their position in the queue to let him play first.

He looked at the time again, confirming that it was just a few seconds to 6:37pm and then he took ticket no. 108 on his right hand.

Leon took a deep breath and rubbed his palms together like he was praying for luck.

The crowd waited with bated breaths, watching him attentively, including the thugs that were assigned to watch him by Mr. Hannibal.

At 7:37pm on the dot, Leon tore ticket No. 108 and pulled the lever down. Immediately, the Slotomania machine began rolling.

After a few seconds, it stopped.

Click!

[3/3/3]

[Congratulations! You have hit a Jackpot!]

[You have won 25,500 Neo Credits!]

"…"

"…"

"….."

For a few seconds, absolute silence reigned as time seemed to stop, even the Slotomania machine seemed to have failed to react.

And then, BOOM! It exploded.

Loud congratulatory music blared from the hidden speakers of the Slotomania machine even as holographic celebratory ribbons and fireworks were shot into the air.

The crowd went manic as they screamed and cheered excitedly.

To lottery players whose whole lives and the idea of success revolved around making it big from a gamble, witnessing a player like themselves hit 2 consecutive jackpots felt like their wet dreams coming alive.

They felt high, they felt motivated, they felt manic.

"F*CKING YEAH!!!" They screamed excitedly.

"He did it again!"

"GO THOMAS!" "GO THOMAS!" "GO THOMAS!"

They began singing excitedly, and once again Leon broke Thomas Riley's persona in public as he revealed a smile.

Then he rubbed his forehead in a slightly tired manner and yawned.

Seeing this, the crowd quickly calmed down as they felt like he was about to say something and Leon did.

He looked at them and said. "I'm not yet fully recovered from the fight with King Agama, I'm still feeling some fatigue".

"Besides, I already promised Mr. Hannibal to accompany him for some time. I'll rest for a few minutes before playing my final ticket. If you want to see it, you can wait for it".

"On a side note," he smiled again. "Today, drinks are on me".

"YES!!!" The crowd erupted in cheers.

…

In the corner where Mr. Hannibal just hosted Thomas Riley and his companions, and where he currently sat cross-legged while leisurely smoking his pipe, the middle-aged ugly Geneform was startled as his subordinates rushed inside without knocking.

He almost choked on the smoke from his pipe.

Once he regained his composure from his earlier shock, he glared at them. "You better have a good explanation for barging in like that. What?"

"B-boss," the thug who smoke stammered. "He won again".

"Who won again?"

"Mr. Thomas Riley".

"Oh, he? What did he win?"

"He hit another jackpot!"

"…"

…

Why reject when you're offered free food?

It was Leon's policy to never reject free food, and he wasn't sure this policy would ever change no matter how wealthy he got in the future.

Mr. Hannibal offered to host them, so why reject his hospitality? That's just breeding hostility where it's not.

To Leon, it didn't matter that he just won tens of thousands of Neo Credits from them. Afterall, it was just business.

They win money from players every single day.

Barely a minute after hitting his 2nd jackpot as Daren and Sergeant Tyla stared at him numbly like they were staring at a ghost, Leon led his companions and swaggered back inside the corner of the casino where the manager hosted them.

He smiled at the manager. "Mr. Hannibal, I'm back".

This ugly Geneform's face looked rigid as he forced a smile. "Haha," he laughed. "You actually won a 2nd straight jackpot, that has happened only once in the history of Grand Mac Casino, and it was with 1 pound tickets".

"Have your casino ever witnessed 3 straight jackpots before?"

"No".

Leon grinned. "Who knows? Maybe today will be the first".

Mr. Hannibal shuddered. 'Why do I feel like I'm being personally attacked? This man… he's scary'.

Mr. Hannibal ordered it and his chef made a sumptuous meal for the 4 of them as they ate while he asked curiously how Thomas Riley managed to hit back to back jackpots.

The famous fighter replied with the same bullshit he said the first time. "I think I'm blessed by the Goddess of Luck, and I sense when her blessings are bestowed".

"It's the reason why I accepted to fight against King Agama, because I felt that today my luck is high".

"That's why I also spent all my money on buying lottery tickets today".

"Mr. Hannibal, do you believe in luck?"

The ugly Geneform hesitated then he answered. "Actually, I do. I believe that luck is needed in any aspect of life".

"Hard work without luck may lead to subpar results or even zero results".

Leon nodded. "You're right!"

Before 7:00pm, they were done eating and Leon finally met the manager's request, signing an autograph for him on a pristine white Grand Prix Arena shirt.

After that, he stood up.

Seeing this, Mr. Hannibal felt his heart skip a beat. "You're going to play again?"

Leon smiled at him. "Of course my friend".

The ugly Geneform forced a smile, then he stood up. "I'll accompany you this time, let's see how this your Goddess really works".

Leon didn't resist as he calmly nodded. "Of course, you're free to watch. Maybe the Goddess will look upon you with favor too".

…

When Leon returned to the scene, he quickly noticed that the 2nd floor of the casino was now packed with players fervently playing Slotomania lottery games.

He hid a smile. 'Actually, this is promotion for your casino too, Turtle Man, so I'm actually doing you a favor too'.

When they saw him returning, the crowd erupted as they opened a path for him to follow.

"GO THOMAS!" "GO THOMAS!" "GO THOMAS!" They chanted.

Leon took his time as he walked among them, waving at them to acknowledge their support even as they took pictures of him with their smartphones while others made videos.

There are perks to being famous and notoriously strong.

If it was any other player, Leon had no doubt that Mr. Hannibal would have instructed his NetRunners to rig the lottery system to a 100% chance of failure.

But did Mr. Hannibal have the guts to do that against Thomas Riley?

Did he have the guts to do that after the back to back jackpots already caused such a spectacle and commotion?

Leon broke his Thomas Riley persona and decided to buy drinks for all the players for a reason, he intended to draw as much attention to his jackpots as possible and put pressure on Mr. Hannibal to stop him from attempting any mischief.

Only when Davis indicated that it was just 15 seconds to 7:03pm through his smartphone did he calmly walk in front of the Slotomania machine.

Standing just 2 meters away from him, Mr. Hannibal squinted his eyes as he could not help his heart accelerating and beating fast.

Leon raised the last ticket high with his right hand, then with his left hand, he finally pulled on the lever.

The Slotomania machine rolled, rapidly showing 3 different columns of numbers rolling vertically.

Everyone watched with bated breaths, then…

Click!

The machine stopped and hearts stopped beating, time froze as everyone peeked at the 3 numbers on the machine.

[8/8/8]

[Congratulations! You have hit a Jackpot!]

[You have won 53,808 Neo Credits!]

BOOM!

Grand Mac Casino erupted as the players once again went manic.

Standing just 2 meters away from the Slotomania machine, Mr. Hannibal's turtle eyes twitched.

"…" This poor middle-aged man almost fainted.

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