The previous night…
I spent 100 Points to upgrade the Item Shop to Level 2. With this upgrade, I could finally increase the level of all three sub-shops: the Furniture Shop, the Food Shop, and the Daily Equipment Shop.
I opened the Daily Equipment Shop first, since it was the one I cared about the most right now.
(Alright, let's see all the new equipment!)
I had been hoping for some decent higher-tier weapons or armor, maybe even a few proper iron pieces. But the moment the new menu appeared before me, I was left utterly speechless.
[Daily Equipment Shop - Level 2]
Wooden Shield (F)
Wooden Katana (F)
Wooden Shield (F)
Bone Sword (F)
Bone Dagger (F)
Wooden Staff (F)
Sure, there was one more item in the selection now.
But… where the heck were the higher-tier weapons?! I couldn't believe it. All I got was more F-tier trash!
That was when I remembered exactly how this shop actually functioned. The selection of items was entirely based on rates!
Current Rates:
F Tier: 90%
E Tier: 10%
D Tier: 0%
C Tier: 0%
B Tier: 0%
A Tier: 0%
Each new selection now only had a 10% chance of rolling an E-tier item…
(Oh god…)
(I'm really unlucky, haha.)
Fortunately, I still had one free refresh for the day, so I used it.
The item menu refreshed.
[Daily Equipment Shop - Level 2]
Wooden Hammer (F)
Bone Sword (F)
Wooden Club (F)
Bone Sword (F)
Bone Staff (F)
Wooden Shield (F)
Once again, it was all F-tier.
(NOOOOO!!!)
Unlucky again!
(But wait, what is the probability of one shop having at least 1 E-tier item?)
I did some quick mental math. Since I had no paper, I got creative and used the interface of the [Quest Creation] skill as a makeshift notepad to write down the formulas.
It had been a long time since I left school, but at least I still remembered how to handle basic probability problems.
And within 5 minutes, I got my answer. The probability of getting at least one E-tier item in a single refresh was approximately 47% — a little less than a coin flip.
So, losing that coin flip twice in a row still seemed reasonable.
I sighed, accepted my fate, and clicked the shop refresh again.
But then…
Two more refreshes… one costing 5 Points, the other costing 25 Points…
And still no E-tier!
(Fuck! The rate is a lie!!!)
I couldn't believe it. The chance of at least one E-tier appearing across four refreshes was around 92%. Meaning… I had somehow hit the unlucky 8%!
That made me grow deeply suspicious of the System.
(Hmmmmmm….)
(Could it be… this was the system's doing, messing with my refreshes?)
(But why?)
(Is it… enjoying messing with me? Does it take joy in seeing me suffer?)
For some reason, that thought reminded me of those popular gacha pulling videos on OurTube I used to watch. The most viewed ones were always the ones where the streamer lost consecutive 50/50s and hit pity every single time on a banner, ended up spending a godly amount of money.
Yeah, people just love watching other suffer.
The System must be reveling in my defeat right now, laughing its ass off.
(Sigh… Let's try again tomorrow then.)
The next shop refresh would cost 100 Points. There was no way I would pay that much just for a chance at one E-tier item. I was not that stupid.
I almost instinctively closed the Daily Equipment Shop when I suddenly remembered something new that had come with the upgrade.
Item Combining.
From the name alone, it sounded like some kind of crafting system.
But the moment I checked the feature, my soul lit up with joy once again.
(Hell yes! This is exactly what I needed!)
[Item Combining]
You can combine multiple unwanted lower-tier equipment to create a random higher-tier equipment. From F-tier to A-tier, every 10 lower-tier items can be combined into one higher-tier item. The maximum tier you can obtain is determined by the current Item Shop level, and the System will charge a fee for each combining attempt.
For Item Shop level 2:
10 F-tier → 1 E-tier
Cost: 50 Points
Maximum Tier: E-tier
And that, through the [Item Combining] feature, was how I obtained the [Big Iron Axe].
I combined it using the F-tier items that I had hoarded.
***
In the end, I managed to get a useful item on the very first try — a powerful axe! But it didn't come with the [Big Slash Lv. 1] skill right away.
No.
The skill it came with was… [Taunt]! Something that makes you draw aggro from enemies!
It was a nice skill, sure, but not what I needed right now. So I decided to reroll both the skill and the bullshit +HP stat that came with it.
After just two rolls, I got exactly what I wanted:
[Big Slash Lv. 1] and [+5 ATK]
(Super nice!)
I literally couldn't wait for Gopuro or Gopuran to try swinging that axe!
****
Now…
Gopuro stood before a towering oak tree. It was a rather big, with a thick trunk roughly sixty centimeters in diameter and standing nearly twenty meters tall. By my estimation, this single tree would yield around 150 to 200 units of Wood.
In his hands, the new iron axe gleamed beneath the bright morning sunlight. The handle was a solid one and a half meters long, crafted from dark, sturdy wood, while the heavy crescent-shaped blade was forged from pure iron and roughly the length of a grown man's forearm, looking brutal and beautiful.
The muscular goblin dude inhaled, planted his feet firmly, and shifted into a powerful swinging stance. His eyes closed for a brief moment as he focused.
One second.
He channeled his mana into the blade. A soft, dangerous glow enveloped the iron edge.
And then, with a thunderous roar, he swung!
The blade cleaved, slashing through the trunk completely in one single motion!