Chapter 13: Fortune Wheel Lottery

With his forces assembled and the territory’s foundation laid, it was finally time for Cassian to focus on himself.

​A Lord’s strength was deeply tied to the troops under their command. The stronger his forces became, the greater the power he could draw upon.

​His gaze drifted toward Nyxara.

​The undead elf stood silently nearby, her scythe planted into the dead earth as shadows pooled around her feet.

With an A grade First-Order Champion at his side, Cassian would be operating at peak efficiency for the foreseeable future.

​All that remained was equipment.

​The robe, boots, and armor he currently wore belonged to the standard Common Two-Star equipment set granted to newly awakened Lords.

There had also been a spear included in the set, but Cassian had never been proficient with spears.

​Besides, far better options were available.

​The Trade Market existed for a reason.

​Reaching into his Vault, Cassian retrieved the holographic redemption slip the banker had given him earlier.

He opened the Trade tab within his Ledger, and his vision was immediately filled with countless listings.

​At the very top sat his current balance:

​∆0

​Below it were numerous sub-tabs:

​[Equipment]

​[Resources]

​[Materials]

​[Services]

​[Auctions]

​[Merchant]

​Cassian selected the final option.

​Every interplanetary civilization connected to the Lord’s Domain maintained a designated Merchant within the Trade Market.

Through these merchants, Lords could convert their native currencies into Lord Coins and vice versa.

​Naturally, such a privilege wasn’t free; central banks were required to pay a substantial monthly maintenance fee to preserve their merchant status within the Domain’s economy.

​Cassian entered the long string of redemption characters.

​For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then, a system notification materialized before his eyes.

​[Conversion Successful.]

​[10,000,000 Astral Coins > 1,000 Lord Coins]

​[Current Balance: ∆1,000]

​Looking at the four-digit balance, Cassian allowed himself a faint smile.

​One thousand Lord Coins wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things. To an established Lord, it was barely enough to purchase a few decent Tier I items.

​But for what he had planned... It was just enough.

Most newly awakened Lords would immediately spend their funds on basic equipment, extra resources, or additional troop cards.

​Cassian, however, possessed something far more valuable.

​Knowledge.

​His fingers moved across the Trade interface until he navigated to the [Services] section. Scrolling past the standard offerings, he located an obscure, lesser-known entry:

​[Fortune Wheel Lottery]

​It was a modest lottery service operated by an independent alliance of Lords. Unlike the major lottery platforms backed by galactic mega-factions, Fortune Wheel had always remained relatively obscure.

​The entry fee was steep:

​One Ticket: ∆1,000

​That price tag was precisely why almost nobody bothered with it. Spending a thousand Lord Coins on a single random ticket was far too risky for a newly awakened Lord.

​Yet, as Cassian stared at the interface, a sharp grin spread across his face.

​He knew a secret, a scandal that had only become public two years into his previous life as a Lord.

​In that past timeline, a disgruntled Lord had posted a detailed expose on the World Chat after the creators of Fortune Wheel had already patched the flaw.

The post had gone viral for a short period, not because of the prizes won, but because of the absurd systemic loophole hidden within its code.

​Fortune Wheel’s developers had attempted to streamline the ticket buying process by allowing users to reserve tickets moments before payment confirmation.

Under normal conditions, the system would temporarily lock the required funds before finalizing the transaction.

​The fatal flaw lay in the execution: the reservation process and the payment confirmation process operated on separate code threads.

​By rapidly opening multiple reservation windows and confirming them simultaneously, a user could generate dozens—or even hundreds—of pending ticket purchases before the system updated their main balance.

As long as the confirmations were executed at nearly the exact same millisecond, every ticket would be accepted.

​In theory, a Lord with only ∆1,000 could purchase a single ticket.

​In practice... the exploit allowed them to purchase dozens.

​The bug was eventually discovered and patched, but by then, the damage had been done. Countless high-tier prizes had been looted through the loophole. Compensation costs piled up, lawsuits followed, and within months, the platform went bankrupt and vanished from the Trade Market entirely.

​When the details were finally leaked, most Lords could only sigh in regret over the missed opportunity.

​Cassian, however, had regressed to a time long before the patch.

​Which meant that at this exact moment... The loophole was alive and well.

​Staring at his balance of ∆1,000, Cassian’s grin widened into something predatory.

​"Looks like I’m about to become Fortune Wheel’s biggest problem."

Cassian wasn’t nearly as cautious as the Lord who had originally discovered the loophole.

​In his previous life, that man had carefully exploited the flaw over several weeks, purchasing only a handful of tickets each day to avoid drawing unwanted attention. His goal had been long-term sustainability.

​Cassian’s goal was entirely different. He only wanted one thing: the grand prize.

​Refined Grade ★★★ Battle Blade — Duskreaver.

​It was one of the strongest Tier II weapons available anywhere on the market, with a listing value exceeding ∆10,000. For a newly awakened Lord, it was the sort of weapon one could normally only dream of obtaining.

​Cassian had no intention of letting such an opportunity slip through his fingers.

​Without hesitation, he initiated his first reservation, then confirmed it. The balance in his account dropped to ∆0 as a [Claim Ticket] option appeared.

​Most people would have stopped there. Cassian did not.

​He immediately opened another reservation window. Then another. And another.

​His fingers flew across the interface in a rhythmic blur. Reservation after reservation piled up in rapid succession.

​Ten.

Twenty.

Fifty.

One hundred.

Two hundred.

Three hundred.

Four hundred.

Five hundred.

​[Maximum Reservation Limit Reached.]

​Only then did he pause. Looking at the massive wall of pending transactions standing before him, Cassian’s lips curved upward.

​"Let me see how generous fate is today."

​He pressed [Confirm All].

​The next instant, system notifications exploded across his vision in an overwhelming flood.

​[Prize Obtained!] Wood ×50

[Prize Obtained!] Stone ×30

[Prize Obtained!] Basic Iron ×20

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Material — Bone Fragment ×10

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Resource — Death Essence ×3

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Equipment — Bone Dagger

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Material — Necrotic Timber ×15

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★★ Material — Soulstone Shard

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Resource — Withered Grass ×25

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Equipment — Bone Shield

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★★★ Material — Deathsteel Ore

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Resource — Spirit Fragment ×2

[Prize Obtained!]Better luck next time.

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Material — Iron Ore ×40

[Prize Obtained!]Better luck next time.

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★★ Resource — Soul Crystal

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★ Equipment — Bone Spear

[Prize Obtained!]Better luck next time.

[Prize Obtained!] Common ★★★ Equipment — Gravekeeper’s Armor

​...

...

...

​The rapid stream of pop-ups continued for several continuous minutes.

​Most of the rewards were fairly ordinary: Common ★ materials, basic resources, the occasional low-tier piece of equipment, and a handful of Common ★★ or ★★★ drops. A significant portion of the tickets yielded nothing at all.

​Out of the five hundred tickets queued up, exactly one hundred and seven produced prizes.

​When the flood of notifications finally quieted down, Cassian quickly skimmed through the condensed reward summary. The combined value of the harvested materials, resources, and equipment easily exceeded ∆100,000.

​Yet despite the absurd return, his expression was far from thrilled. He frowned slightly, crossing his arms.

​"...It seems my luck isn’t that great today."

​Anyone else hearing those words would likely spit blood in frustration. He had just extracted over a hundred thousand Lord Coins’ worth of assets using a single thousand-coin entry fee.

​But Cassian wasn’t interested in the bulk market value. His gaze remained locked on a single line sitting near the bottom of the ledger list.

​[Grand Prize Not Obtained.]

[Refined Grade ★★★ Battle Blade — Duskreaver]

​Missing.

​He had claimed one hundred and seven prizes. Yet somehow, the single weapon he actually came for was not among them.