Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 681 - 294. The Golden Rule

Chapter 681: 294. The Golden Rule

[Item Name]: Soul Casino

[Category]: Art & Entertainment/Equipped Tool

[Quality]: "Social Institution"

("Social Institution" is formed from materials stripped and dismantled from dead societies. Since "society" itself is an aggregation of an entire civilization, "social institution" can be anything, including factories, industrial chains, cultural memes, armies, nations, minerals, research centers, churches, individual strongmen, etc.)

[Attributes]:

This equipment was limited to use within the atmosphere, and it must be employed in an open space to be effective.

This institution contained a consciousness that required a ’society’ corruption degree of 70% to awaken.

[Soul Resonance]:

While possessing the institution, your soul vision ability was greatly enhanced. For spiritual bodies below lv.300, you could observe and interact with them.

When playing the guitar, your music would perform a [Melodic Corruption] check on nearby targets every five seconds, forcibly checking once. If it succeeded, the social corruption degree would increase by 2.5%.

If the target’s [Intelligence] attribute exceeded 100 points, the corruption degree increased by 1%.

If the target possessed worldviews such as [Worldview: Syndicalism], [Worldview: Democracy], [Worldview: Egalitarianism], [Worldview: Collectivism], corruption degree increased by 12%.

The lower the target’s interpersonal relationships/economic status/social status, the shorter the corruption check interval.

[Fate Weigh]:

You could split a part of your soul and, at the cost of an increase of 10% in social corruption, gain an opportunity to reset your ’wealth luck,’ increasing the probability of gaining wealth for 10 years.

A normal person could split their soul 6 times in their life, with reset multipliers ranging between 1 and 15 times.

The wealth luck multipliers that had already appeared would not appear again.

When all fate weighs were exhausted, you would be forever dragged into the Nether Abyss.

[Introduction]:

"This guitar was modified from the cone cells of the [Melodic Society]. The silver chrome-plated guitar surface looked very cool, painted vividly with a roaring giant dragon, venting its fury at an unjust world."

"It was hypothesized that this was taken from a dead [society], extracting its nerve cells specifically from its religious and belief production area. This could further support the conclusion that [society] was a living civilization, completely different from the Zerg Mother Nest’s true social creatures."

"The predecessor of [society] was civilization. Through some method, it fused everything general (such as territory, farmland, factory facilities, research institutions, armies, and population) and abstract (such as technology, belief, culture, history) it possessed, becoming a huge and terrifying monster. It could self-repair and enhance itself by devouring civilization."

"This power had not received the blessing of Starry Abyss, so you needed to be extra cautious."

Length: 41 inches

Net Weight: 3.3 kg

Materials: Cone cells of the Melodic Society

[Placed Status]: You could place this institution in certain venues as a museum exhibit.

Musician Bonus: 10 (1 in 100,000 people would engage in the music industry)

Happiness Output: 2000/day (every 2000 visitors would enhance the happiness index of the area for four months)

This was a peculiar institution, possessing the power to mesmerize minds. On the other hand, it attracted people to the thirst for art, fulfilling the entertainment needs of the populace.

Perhaps rock music itself was not wrong; the key was in the person who wielded it.

————————————

"This is it."

Li Aozi nodded.

The Soul Casino was an excellent "social institution," not only capable of being taken out to mesmerize minds but also placed in museums or entertainment venues to increase happiness.

For power operators:

Increased happiness = Increase in loyalist faction = Significant rise in recruitment rate = Deploy and enjoy coloring the map game.

Of course, Li Aozi did not really care about that effect. The Baizhu Star had little entertainment to speak of; the most crucial function was still the ’casino’ of the Soul Casino.

Resetting wealth luck offered six chances, and the results wouldn’t repeat.

For instance, if you rolled a 10 times multiplier the first time, the next possible multipliers could be more or less than 10, but 10 would not appear again.

The best outcome would be hitting 15 times once, enjoying a prosperous 10-year period.

The worst, however, would be a steadily declining result, eventually reaching 1, thus getting nowhere and losing your soul for nothing.

This was gambling.

Li Aozi stroked the guitar strings and activated the [Fate Weigh] according to the instructions. The guitar immediately transformed, disassembling and reconstructing into a small silver tower.

The more you wanted to earn from gambling, the more you fell into its abyss, ultimately betting away only your life.

Before then, each gamble was corrupte by the society, so much so that even your personality could not be preserved.

However——

Except for Li Aozi, no one knew there was a way to exploit this thing.

Li Aozi spread out his palm, pouring out several soul crystals from his autonomous space-time pouch.

These were his stock extracted using [Severing Life] earlier. Players also had some, but the quantity was minimal since these items could only be sourced through a few channels mastering soul arts.

As a forbidden material, unlike Human Amber, you wouldn’t find walking raw material everywhere on the streets.

A single crystal against the small silver tower, the previously clear and bright crystal immediately became turbid.

[You Have Threw the Weigh]

[Fate is Turning...]

[Reset Complete]

[Current Wealth Luck Multiplier: 1]

"Seems my luck isn’t too good."

Li Aozi counted the soul crystals he had, finding three remaining.

The quality of the soul crystals he had was too low.

Including his 5 remaining opportunities, even if his luck was extremely bad, he could still reach an 8 times wealth luck multiplier.

"Luckily, I have a good reserve. Later, let the players use [Severing Life] more, buy some from them."

The production capacity for soul crystals was low because dealing with this item violated humanitarianism and was illegal in interstellar markets, strictly prohibiting open sales.

Buying from the black market would mean getting fleeced.

Li Aozi thought collecting them himself through players was more cost-effective.

"Let’s try again."

Li Aozi rubbed his hands together and threw another soul crystal:

[Fate is Turning...]

[Reset Complete]

[Current Wealth Luck Multiplier: 2]

"Is my luck really this bad?" Li Aozi tugged at his lips: "Could it be a guaranteed minimum?"

He threw another one, the system rotated again, numbers flashed before his eyes, finally stopping at ’6’.

"Hmm, not bad, but still not enough. I needed that kind of sudden wealth, increasing assets by thousands or tens of thousands of times... so it couldn’t just be a single digit, at least, it has to be a 10."

Just as Li Aozi was about to place the last soul crystal on the tower, he suddenly pulled back.

"Hmm, I don’t feel pious enough."

He washed his face in the bathroom, added new incense to the censer, and sat solemnly before the Soul Casino. With a serious face, fist clenched, raised above his head, he said powerfully:

"I, Li Aozi, willing to trade Leo’s thousand-year lifespan, for my wealth to flow continuously!"

After the ritual, Li Aozi solemnly placed the last soul crystal on the tower.

[Fate is Turning...]

[Reset Complete]

[Current Wealth Luck Multiplier: 11]

"Good, good, good, enough! Enough!"

Li Aozi was profoundly moved:

"Luckily, Leo was already dead, yet upon reflection, someone who valued efficiency like him wouldn’t mind losing a thousand years of life."

No matter how you saw it, an 11 times wealth luck multiplier sustained over 10 years without losing your soul.

It was very profitable.

Li Aozi put away the Soul Casino, restoring it to guitar mode. Because this institution lacked the ’indestructible’ trait, Li Aozi had to store it carefully.

A considerable amount of time, beyond these ten years, would require its assistance.

"From now on, I wouldn’t worry about money."

Li Aozi felt immensely calm.

He looked at his attribute panel, where a new status appeared: [Fortune Prosperity ·10 times]

[Fortune Prosperity ·10 times]:

Your fate raced towards happiness and glory. Ten times wealth luck would let you enjoy life without effort. Those who once looked down on making a living by betting on fate, considering reading as the path to success, would be taught by [society]. In this era, did they still believe mere study could skyrocket them? Give up labor, lie down, and enjoy the finite splendor of life.

"This status description was really uncomfortable to read... but the effect was indeed excellent."