The Game!

This game of picking a treasure out of thousands of junk depended solely on one's luck.

Yet, Eugene, who had the Fortune Seeing Eyes, didn't need heaven-defying luck to pick the best price.

His eyes were enough.

"Thank you, God, for giving me this opportunity."

Eugen bowed to the God of Death before focusing his gaze on the cards.

[You've met the hidden conditions to activate the Fortune Seeing Eyes.]

[For a certain amount of time, you'll be able to see the fortune of every being in your sight and yourself.]

The thousands of cards floating before him no longer looked the same to Eugene.

He could see rays of light behind each of them.

All the rays were golden, but some cards only had one while others had ten or more.

But out of the thousands of cards, there were only three with more than a thousand golden rays of fortune behind them.

Yet, out of those three, only one had a mini-sun behind it.

"I would like to take this one."

Naturally, Eugene pointed at the card with the sun behind it and asked the God of Death to grant it to him.

"Alright."

The God gazed at the card at which Eugene was pointing his finger, and it flew into his hand.

He glided his hand over it, and the seal that was stopping it from revealing its true form disappeared.

The card changed into a skill orb, which the God of Death tossed to Eugene.

[Unsealed Skill Orb: You can learn the skill which a high-level being has imbued in it by consuming it.]

[Skill Type: Growth-type skill!]

"How do I eat it? It's not like I can swallow a marble-like ball the size of a fist, right?"

"Just put it in your mouth, and you'll know."

The God of Death didn't have a reason to make fun of him, so Eugene did as he said.

The moment he out the blue orb that was similar to marble, it melted into words that went down his throat.

Eugene's temperature rose as he felt that there was a fireball in his stomach.

Terrible pain attacked him, but thanks to his passive skill, he didn't utter a moan and remained standing.

The searing pain spread from his navel and reached the top of his head and the tip of his toes.

He felt like he was drowning in a sea of lava, getting licked by the tongue of flames and eaten by oceans of fire.

Soon, however, he became numb to it.

And before he knew it, he obtained a skill called Speed Reduction.

[You've successfully learned the Magic Spell, Speed Reduction.]

He felt the skin of his wrists burning.

A tattoo with two wings separated by a spear with an ancient and incomprehensible character appeared on the center of Eugene's wrist.

He scrutinized it.

Rebellion explained its effects to him in a monotone voice.

[Speed Reduction: You can slow down the time of anyone or anything in your line of sight. Your stamina, control over mental energy, and wisdom determine the effectiveness of this skill.]

[Skill Type: Active, Growth-Type Skill]

[Level: 1]

[Proficiency: 1/100]

The God of Death called him.

"My gaze will linger upon you, child."

Eugene blinked his eyes at him.

"Will you be sponsoring me?"

According to what he knew, some powerful being of the tower would occasionally sponsor the ones climbing it.

They would become their Patreon whether they become their champion in return or not.

People with Patreon have an easy time becoming strong and obtaining rare stuff.

"If you pique my interest, I might reward you. But as for becoming your Patreon, that's out of the question."

"Look forward to my performance in the tower. I will make sure to sweep away your boredom."

Ding! Ring! Ring!

Suddenly, the sound of bells chiming sounded throughout their surrounding.

"What's this sound?"

"You can't stay here any longer, or else you'll be trapped in this place forever."

The God of Death hurriedly moved his hand in a swirling motion.

The clouds parted away from each other to create a 50-meter hole.

Looking down the hole, Eugene saw a lake so clear that its surface reflected the sky.

"The lake down below acts as a portal connecting this place to where you ought to be. Jumping into it will teleport your soul into the empty husk of Eugene V. Samuel. Now, please be on your way, child."

The God of Death's eyes glimmered in sadness.

Sadly, as Eugene was looking away, he didn't see the God of Death feeling sad about parting with him.

"I'll try my best to climb up to this place again to meet you."

By the time Eugene looked over his shoulder to give him one last look, the God of Death was smiling ever so peacefully.

"I will look forward to your arrival."

The God of Death waved him goodbye.

Eugene jumped down the hole and fell into the river.

[Ding! The pool of time is a place extremely harmful to your soul. It will take only a minute to erode all your memories.]

[The Rebellion will take necessary actions to protect the host's memories.]

[The Rebellion has used its energy to seal the host's memories in the depth of his soul.]

[After meeting certain conditions, the host will remember everything.]

After seeing those prompts, his vision blurred, and then he immediately lost consciousness.

A great time wave attacked his defenseless soul.

[A great wave of time has tried to submerge the Host's soul.]

[The Rebellion has exhausted itself to protect the host's soul from great harm and will now enter a temporary slumber.]

His soul, though, escaped the wave's encampment by turning into specks of light that entered a ray of blue, which was moving at the speed of light.

While carrying Eugene's soul, It vanished from the boundary between the afterlife and the cycle of reincarnation and charged into the body of V. Samuel.

The empty husk was passing through an alley, but it collapsed to the ground as soon as Eugene's soul entered it.