“Crack crack”

A loud crack resonated through the room as a skeleton expressionlessly snap a bone from his rib cage. He quickly tossed the bone on the desk before being beheaded by Alice.

“Bang”

The harpy effortless killed the poor skeleton and the next second, Alice pulled out another bone from the remains of the skeletons before they vanished in thin air.

“Indeed, that confirms our theory! But do the bones grow back and ifs so, how long does it take?” said Dreidus.

6 skeletons had been sacrificed in total, but they now had some understanding of how the drops worked. Skeletons would normally drop 2 bones upon death. With their experiments, Five discovered that once 2 bones were pulled out from the skeletons, they would instantly disintegrate, leaving just the two bones behind.

When just one bone was taken out, it did not seem to affect the skeleton much. The latter retained its fighting power and did not express any discomfort to Dreidus.

Still, the tests were repeated a few times to ensure that the results were consistent. In the end, they drew out the following conclusions: it was possible to make the monster take out their own drops without them suffering any backlash. However, they could only take out less than the normal amount dropped upon death. In other words, the skeletons could only take out one bone as the other would cause its immediate death. Taking out the bone would not affect him, but it was unclear if there were delayed side effects. As for whether the bone would grow back in the future, it was still unknown.

Five was very satisfied with the results. It meant that it was possible for him to control the drops of his monsters to some extent. When he thought about it, in games, the monsters would rarely have a fixed drop. A lot of time, it would rely on RNG but there, it seemed that he was the one who could influence them, and he would make full use of this function.

But before that, he still needed to see if there were any long-term effects and if the bones would grow back. If they did, then it meant yet another source of revenue! The drops could simply be sold at the dungeon shop and although it would not generate much DP, it was still better than nothing.

“There is no need to worry about that. Let’s observe these skeletons for a while and see if anything happens.”

“Do not worry, master. If taking out our drops is really harmless, I would not hesitate to do so!” sincerely declared Dreidus.

“That’s good. It’s getting late… Compared to you guys, I still need to sleep. But before that, there is one last thing we need to do,” said Five. He smiled and took out an item from his inventory.

It was the Monster Lottery Ticket he received as a reward for surviving the trial!

Immediately, Alice’s eyes lit up. “Sure! Give me a moment, I’ll bring it there!” She excitedly flew out of the meeting room and rushed to her room.

Five expectantly waited for the harpy to come back but the moment she did, his expression changed drastically. Alice happily hopped into the room as she opened a container and displayed it to Five. Immediately, a strong pungent smell assaulted Five as tears appeared in the corner of his eyes.

“What… What is that?” asked Five as he retreated a few steps to move away from the container.

“What are you talking about? It’s the elixir you asked me to brew…” exclaimed Alice as she tried to shove the container in Five’s hands.

The latter could only take it and quickly placed the cover back to stop the smell from coming out. He looked at the others who instinctively moved away from him as they pinched their nose. Even Dreidus who was not supposed to be able to smell, taken a step back.

“Quick, drink it! If you take too long, the effect will weaken, and you won’t be as lucky as you should be!” said Alice as she herself retreated away from the container.

“Less luck? How is that thing supposed to bring me luck?” internally exclaimed Five. Just by looking at the container, he had already obtained the information about the mixture:

[Unknown Mixture]

Effect 1: Deal 20 damage to consumer

Effect 2: 20% chance of causing hallucinations

…

A few nights earlier, right after the feast.

“I hope you liked the food! Let’s leave, Angela needs some space to rest,” declared Five as he noticed that all the plates were empty.

“Alright but master, what are you going to do about the Monster Lottery Ticket?” asked Dreidus.

As he recalled that he had just received one, Five answered, “That’s a good point, we might as well use it now.”

“Emm what is a Monster Lottery Ticket?” asked Ariel with a curious look.

“It’s an item that allows master to unlock and obtain 1 random monster. However, it is entirely dependent on one’s own luck. He can obtain a powerful monster like you or a useless one,” calmly explained Dreidus.

“Oh, are you just going to use it like that? It is such a waste,” declared Alice.

“What are you talking about?”

“Tsssk tsssk, if you are just using the Monster Lottery Ticket like that, then it would be completely up to fate but what if there was a way to increase one’s luck?” said Alice with a mischievous smile.

Five looked at Alice, trying to determine whether she was lying. What she had just said had caught his interest. “To increase luck? Is that even possible?”

“Of course, the harpies have a special recipe for a potion that temporarily increases our luck! We always drink whenever we have special things to do that requires some luck. If you want, I can make one for you, it should take about 2 days to be ready,” explained Alice.

“Is that true?” asked Five as he looked toward Ariel and Angela.

The latter quietly nodded while Ariel answered, “I do think we have something like that in our customs, but I don’t know the recipe.”

“Mmm, then we can just wait two days to see,” answered Five.

…

Now that he was facing the “luck” potion, Five did not know whether to laugh or cry. Had he known this would happen, he would have immediately used the Monster Lottery Ticket.

Clearly the potion would only do him harm. He knew that weird customs existed all over the world but this one was unheard of. Was their goal to harm themselves to obtain better reward as a result of karma?

“Is that really the potion?” asked Five.

“For the fifth time, yes!” Ariel and Angela nodded. A faint smile appeared on their face as they waited for Five to drink the potion.

“Quick master, drink it. Don’t forget to reward me later when you get a powerful monster!” said Alice as she mischievous laughed.

‘That girl… Another one of her pranks… You want a reward? Good’

“Sure, I have thought of a good reward for you. What about giving you the opportunity to use the Monster Lottery Ticket yourself. Not just that, I will gift you the monster you obtain from it!” righteously said Five.

“What?” Alice’s expression drastically changed. “I mean, it is not appropriate right? You are the dungeon master and you should be the one summoning the monsters. How can I do so? I will be content with just a few DP…”

“No no, I’ll let you do it. It is the same regardless of who uses the Monster Lottery Ticket. The monster will still be unlocked and be available for purchase. With the effect of the potion, we are guaranteed a powerful monster! Don’t you want a monster to serve you? Aside from that, we don’t know if the potion works on humans, what if only the harpies could beneficiate from it? It is better to not take any risk, right?” said Five as he gave the container back to Alice.

“No… I don’t want to drink that… Angela, do you want to get a powerful monster to protect you?” Facing Five’s argument, Alice could only turn to her sisters for help. She was not lying when she said that the potion could increase their luck. It was indeed one of the harpies’ customs, but it was evident that the potion was a disgusting one.

It was only used in extreme cases like when someone would be undergoing a tribulation or some special rituals. There was no way the harpies would consume that think just to temporarily increase their luck. When Alice heard that Five would have to rely on luck, the potion naturally came to her mind and with her usual mischievous mind, she wanted to see Five’s reaction as he drank it.

To her, it was just a harmless little joke as she truly believed that the potion would increase his luck. However, she did not expect the situation to backfire like that.

“No. Assume your own actions. Don’t try to take advantage of Angela!” said Ariel as she pulled Angela behind her to protect her from Alice.

“Argg…” As she was cornered, the red-haired harpy had to take out her final weapon. “Master… I…” Without hesitation, she immediately turned on her “Cute puppy” mode as she pitifully called out Five.

However, the latter was already prepared and turned around to avoid her gaze. “Hurry up, you said it yourself that the effects will weaken if you don’t drink it now.”

On the side, Dreidus and Lyra quietly smiled as they enjoyed the drama. Alice had been unruly for quite a while and now, it was finally time for her punishment.

“Fine! I’ll do it but don’t complain later when I will have a powerful monster just for myself!” declared Alice.

‘A powerful monster?’ Five internally laughed. He did not really want to harm Alice but making her drink that potion would be a good lesson for her. Since her luck was not really increased, it was safe to say that she would probably get a weak monster ranging from level 1 to 10. There was no harm in giving her one.

With a last pitiful look, Alice closed her eyes and pinched her nose before downing the potion in one go. As the lid of the container was removed, the pungent smell once again spread through the room and as Five detected it, he could not help but feel bad for Alice. Was he too harsh on her? ‘Ah, well it’s her who came forward with that idea, it’s good to teach her some discipline.’

“Cough cough.” As soon as the container was empty, Alice immediately coughed as her eyes became watery. “What are you looking at? Hurry and give me the Monster Lottery Ticket!”

“Of course,” said Five as he smiled at the harpy’s misfortune. He immediately noticed that Alice’s HP went down slightly but it did not seem that she was under the effect of hallucinations. He quickly handed her the dungeon core which was required to activate the Monster Lottery Ticket.

“Now watch!” Alice quickly used the ticket and in front of her, the page of the dungeon shop dedicated to the monsters, suddenly appeared. The same yellow box that Five previously saw started to slide across the different icons.

Everyone looked intently at the yellow box, hoping for it to stop on a good monster. It was especially true for Alice; she was not really mad at Five for having to drink the awful potion but now, since Five promised that the monster would be hers, she was hoping to make him pay for it.

A few seconds went by and the yellow box showed no signs of stopping. Clearly, it was going on for much longer than the previous time. Five stared at the box, “Did the potion really have some unknown effects?”

After a whole minute of suspense, the yellow box eventually started to slow down. Alice looked in anticipation as she saw that the box was still within the section of the weak monsters. Judging by the speed, the box had a high chance to end up near the middle-level monsters!

The next second, the yellow box completely stopped onto the icon of a thin young man and immediately, Five received the notification:

[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five, you have unlocked the monster: Nosferatu, this monster can now be purchased at the dungeon shop. One Nosferatu is ready for summoning]