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Sylvester looked at him with a smiling squint and said, "Mr. Aventurine, you really enjoy gambling, don't you?"
What a pointless question!
You've known me for more than a day.
Aventurine complained inwardly, but reason told him he still needed to keep up appearances.
With confusion written all over his eyes, he nonetheless replied with polite flattery, "Indeed! Shopkeeper Sylvester truly sees through all things, perceiving even the finest details!"
The words were spoken warmly, though not without a hint of teasing at Sylvester's deliberate feigned ignorance.
Yet Sylvester was completely unmoved, accepting Aventurine's half-hearted business praise without hesitation.
He waved his hand in what was "extremely bashful" fashion. "Eh~ just a trifle, just a trifle."
Then his expression turned serious. "Since you like gambling, then from now on, you'll be able to gamble to your heart's content—every single day."
Raising the third finger of his right hand, he continued, "Because this final effect is closely tied to the critical rate I mentioned earlier. It's called critical damage. As the name implies, this attribute determines the damage multiplier applied after a critical hit."
"And as for the [Soul of the Universe]…"
Glancing at the small, dazzling multicolored light orb, Sylvester held up four fingers to Aventurine and said in a low, steady voice, "It grants you a full 400% increase to critical damage!"
"Mr. Aventurine, do you know what that means?!"
A flash of inspiration struck Aventurine, and he immediately grasped the implication.
He cried out, "It means that in an ideal scenario, if used together with the [Spacium REDOUBLIZER], I can unleash an eightfold-powered [Spirit Bomb]!"
After a brief pause, even his pupils trembled. "And that's eight times, with the IPC as the base pool of spirit energy!"
He laid the [Guide to How to Cast a Spirit Bomb, From Beginner to Mastery], the [Spacium REDOUBLIZER] tablet device, and the [Soul of the Universe] flat on the counter.
Aventurine sucked in a sharp breath.
There was no doubt about it—so long as his luck held, he might truly surpass the Imaginary Pulse with his own flesh and blood!
With a single strike, even Diamond would have no chance of tanking it head-on!
Granted, the [Spirit Bomb] came with many restrictions, and in a one-on-one situation it was nearly impossible to use; granted, the probability of landing fourfold critical damage was far from guaranteed—but with his luck, who dared say that a 25% chance was really just 25%?
From this moment on, the most fundamental difference between himself and a humanoid Imaginary Pulse was simply this: he was a being with thoughts, emotions, and rules he would never willingly cross.
"Hoo—hoo!"
Happiness had arrived far too suddenly. Aventurine shut his eyes tightly, using heavy breaths to vent the surge of ecstasy, lest he completely lose composure. Even so, the smile on his face was utterly impossible to suppress.
After a long while, seeing that Aventurine had somewhat calmed down, Sylvester smiled and asked, "So, Mr. Aventurine, do you like this kind of gambling life—one that will accompany you for your entire lifetime?"
"Of course!"
Aventurine answered without a moment's hesitation.
He said matter-of-factly, "This kind of gamble that only brings gains and never losses are something you couldn't beg for in the past."
If there had been even a chance that his techniques could weaken instead, he would have weighed the risks carefully, lest overestimating himself lead to a fatal misstep.
But if there was only improvement, then there was no need to hesitate at all.
He just needed to fight with a steady mindset as usual, leave the rest to luck, and win big without even realizing it—why wouldn't he?
Who knew—maybe with the combined effects of these Curios, he might even be able to defeat that Emanator of Nihility who appeared in Penacony!
Well, assuming he could play it like a game and brute-force his way through until every strike crits…
But even so, this leap in strength could only be described as earth-shaking!
"What an absolute night-and-day difference!"
Aventurine exclaimed repeatedly, his gaze toward Sylvester growing ever more complicated.
And such a drastic transformation had cost only a few million Credits and a handful of minutes.
As the one who had caused all of this, Sylvester merely sat there smiling at him.
As if all of it were no different from stacking coins one by one for amusement—the value of what he toyed with was indeed immense, yet it never escaped the bounds of a game.
Aventurine couldn't help but say, "Shopkeeper Sylvester… sometimes, I truly can't understand what you do all this for."
Sylvester lounged back in his chair, hands propped behind his head, smiling. "Of course it's for a space comedy. I told you that long ago."
Without delving further into the topic, he pointed at the remaining cans on the shelf and said with feigned mercantile greed, "So? Want to take the whole lot? I'll give you a full-price discount."
It had to be said—watching a figure of unfathomable power sit before him, acting like a run-of-the-mill shopkeeper, was a strangely marvelous feeling.
At the very least, Aventurine couldn't imagine Diamond ever striking such an exaggerated pose.
"Of course," Aventurine replied with a smile of his own. "Having received so many benefits, even if these clearly contain green or even black Curios, for the sake of Shopkeeper Sylvester's business, I must buy them."
With that, he turned and walked to the shelf, pulling the final three trash cans over to the counter.
In the lounge area, Qingque saw the two of them clearly wrapping things up and hurriedly scooped together the scattered documents on the coffee table, then folded the corners of the papers recording the Curio details.
Mm, these are for reporting to the Master Diviner. Losing them later would be a pain.
She had arrived at work dragging her feet, but now that it was almost time to clock out, Qingque's hands moved with remarkable speed. By the time Aventurine's fingers touched the trash can lid, she had already packed everything up and stretched comfortably.
Aventurine casually pulled open the trash can lid.
Flush with success, he genuinely didn't care what kind of Curio was inside anymore.
As he had just said, even if it was three blacks in a row, as long as it could be unlocked, he wouldn't mind.
But this casual opening completely exceeded his expectations.
Seeing how decisive Aventurine was, Qingque hummed a little tune contentedly and stood up, ready to bolt the moment Sylvester finished explaining.
But at that very instant, a strand of dazzling golden light pierced straight into her eyes.
"Huh?"
Qingque's small face instantly fell—not from jealousy or anything like that, but simply because…
"No way?! This counts as overtime too?!"
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