Chapter 17 : Pay-to-Win Only Happens Zero Times or Countless Times
Chapter 17: Pay-to-Win Only Happens Zero Times or Countless Times
Originally, he thought that after the first recharge, that gift pack would disappear. But the icon was still there—only its contents seemed to have changed.
Pulling away once again, Jiang Chen tapped the icon.
【Limited-Time Special Skill Gift Pack Remaining Time: 5 hours 51 minutes.】
【Special Skill: Montage Technique (Quality: Gold)】
【Limited-Time Discount Price: 328】
Seeing the prompt, Jiang Chen almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Seriously, is this Pay-to-Win thing endless?”
“And the beta official site didn’t even say that top-ups during testing would be refunded after the official launch.”
As he spoke, Jiang Chen felt a headache coming on.
Before, 6 didn’t matter much to him, but now it was 328.
“Damn it, are they planning a 648 next? Earn in the game, spend in the game—don’t even want me to take a single cent home.”
Suppressing the frustration in his heart—
“Fine, screw it. Recharge!”
In the end, Jiang Chen still made his decision.
There was no need to explain how rare a Gold skill was.
Moreover, this game had Leaderboard rewards. Even if he didn’t buy the pack, others would.
Once others bought it, the gap in combat power would widen. His race was already at a disadvantage—if others widened the gap further through gift packs, then the Leaderboard would basically be out of his reach.
Thus...
“Damn it, I’m paying!”
【Ding.... Payment successful!】
Along with the familiar sound, Vivian felt a warm current sweep through her entire body. At the same time, she felt that she had gained another skill.
【God-Granted Skill: Montage Technique LV1】
【Once per day, enter Bullet Time state, duration 30 seconds. Skill penalty: During the skill duration, the user’s speed decreases by 10%.】
Seeing the skill description, Vivian was somewhat dumbfounded.
A God-Granted Skill?
Vivian had heard of this before. It seemed that only devout believers who were acknowledged by a god had a chance to receive such a blessing.
Every God-Granted Skill possessed extremely powerful effects.
Some could change the weather, and some could even destroy the heavens and the earth.
This was a manifestation of divine authority.
But why?
Vivian felt puzzled.
This required a devout believer—and recognition from a god.
What virtue or ability did she have? She didn’t deserve this!
Vivian felt like she was going crazy.
The one controlling her body was an Evil God, and she didn’t even know who this Evil God was.
Let alone being some devout believer—Vivian felt she couldn’t be devout in the slightest.
So Lord God, what exactly did you recognize in me? I’ll change it, okay?
God-Granted Skills were manifestations of divine authority. As long as one used such a skill, it would be immediately obvious which god they believed in.
And this was exactly what Vivian feared the most.
Although the testing crystal previously showed that she believed in a neutral-alignment god, judging from this god’s behavior—did this look neutral at all?
Moreover, for a god, altering the test results was not difficult.
Vivian felt that she was truly doomed this time. Under normal circumstances, if she didn’t use this skill, there would be no need to worry about exposure—but the control of her body wasn’t in her hands!
Whether to use the skill wasn’t up to her at all.
As if to confirm Vivian’s thoughts, in the next moment, a special wave of magical power spread outward from her as the center.
Then, a scene that Vivian would never forget for the rest of her life appeared.
Everything around her seemed to freeze. The entire scene was locked in place at that instant.
The blood-colored vines wrapping toward her seemed as if someone had pressed pause, and the incoming magic spheres moved at the speed of a snail.
As for her own speed, although slightly slower than before, it hadn’t decreased by much.
Just like that, under the Evil God’s control, her body easily avoided the dense barrage of attacks and effortlessly approached Ross’s projection.
Then, raising the scythe, it began a frenzied assault.
The good news was that this God-Granted Skill didn’t carry the evil aura she had imagined, which allowed Vivian to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, compared to whether it had an evil aura or not, Vivian’s attention was drawn to Ross’s projection in front of her.
Faced with her attacks, the projection’s movements were as slow as a snail. Just turning its head to look at her, the Evil God had already controlled her body to slash it more than a dozen times.
And when Ross began gathering a skill—another several dozen strikes followed.
So… so strong…
At this moment, Vivian’s face was filled with shock.
This was way too ridiculous!
In this state, she was practically invincible.
Dodging fatal attacks felt like child’s play.
At this moment, Vivian truly understood the value of a God-Granted Skill.
If it was like this… then believing in an Evil God didn’t seem so bad after all…
That thought crossed Vivian’s mind.
But soon after, she shook her head vigorously.
No! Vivian, what are you thinking? How could you fall so quickly?
In the past, whenever Vivian heard of people being bewitched by Cultists, she would scoff at them, thinking they simply lacked mental fortitude.
However, now that she had encountered a similar situation herself, Vivian finally realized—she had been too naive before.
……
Compared to Vivian, outside in the real world—
Seeing Vivian suddenly pull away, many of the students were confused.
Just as they were still wondering what she was planning to do, in the next moment, Vivian suddenly disappeared from their sight.
Then, they witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Countless streaks of blood-colored light appeared on Ross’s projection, and a vague figure could be seen constantly darting around it.
The speed was terrifying beyond belief.
“How is this possible?! How could she have this kind of speed?!”
“What exactly just happened?”
Among the students, some had initially been rather indifferent while watching Vivian’s battle, not paying much attention.
Since the projection had started midway, they hadn’t seen the earlier part of the fight.
Compared to the other students, these people were elites among elites. Vivian’s performance might have been stunning in the eyes of ordinary students, but to them, it was just average.
Among freshmen, she could be considered outstanding—but among senior students, she would only rank around mid-to-upper tier.
To surpass them, based on what Vivian had shown so far, it would still be quite difficult.
However, when they saw Vivian use that skill, everyone’s expressions changed.
“A God-Granted Skill!”
Many of them stared intently at Vivian within the projection.
The moment she used that skill, everything became different.
The magic academy did not lack geniuses.
As one of the Empire’s top academies, outstanding students from across the entire Empire gathered here.
So-called geniuses were not rare.
In fact, many of these “geniuses” might fade into mediocrity after just a year or two—but there was one type of person who would not.
Those who had obtained God-Granted Skills.
Even across the entire academy, with tens of thousands of students, fewer than ten had acquired such skills.
From a certain perspective, this meant that the god held that believer in very high regard.
Some individuals who obtained God-Granted Skills even had the opportunity to receive personal guidance from a god.