Ethan returned to his office shortly after doubling the number of men working on the new houses in Goldenveil.

He had even assigned the second-stage Awakened to the task. Over one hundred and fifty, each possessing superhuman strength, would drastically accelerate construction.

By the end of his reorganization, the workforce had swelled to an impressive six hundred men, four hundred of whom were Awakened.

All of them labored tirelessly from dawn to dusk, drawing from the vast reserves of refined timber gathered during the earlier expansion of Goldenveil’s walls.

With such manpower at his disposal, Ethan felt confident. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He settled into his leather armchair, the cushions creaking softly beneath him as he sank down.

A flick of his mind summoned his common gacha tickets, and over a hundred and twenty materialized before him.

"System, how does the luck system work?" he asked, resting his chin on the back of his hand.

[It’s quite simple.

For every hundred uses of premium gacha tickets, you can designate a main item, which will be guaranteed after a hundred spins.

You can also define two secondary items whose odds of being summoned will rise with each use of premium gacha tickets.

The desired main item can reach up to Rank SSS, but the secondary items cannot exceed Rank A.

Setting the item’s rank is impossible. Only the type of item can be determined.]

Ethan’s lips curved into a satisfied smile as he read through the explanation. Just then, a new system notification flickered into existence before his eyes.

A small selection screen opened up, offering a list of item types for him to choose from.

Without hesitation, he tapped the character card category.

[Set the type of character card you wish to receive. Ex; Race, class, type:]

A text prompt appeared, and Ethan wasted no time.

"High elf, and..." he typed, scratching his chin as a sly grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Huge tits."

He clicked to confirm right after.

The image had already taken root deep in his imagination: a stunning, porcelain-skinned elf milf with huge elven tits, her milk jugs blessed by the goddesses of life and beauty themselves!

Ethan chuckled quietly to himself, shifting in his chair.

[You have successfully set your desired item!

Spins remaining until guaranteed drop: 0/100]

[You may set two additional secondary desired items.]

Ethan didn’t dwell long on the other two. He assigned one slot to an aura skill book and the other to some sort of artifact or bonus card that might help Goldenveil’s agriculture down the line.

With everything configured, he tore through the one hundred and twenty common gacha tickets in a single motion, watching as the flood of new items poured into his system inventory.

In total, his storage now held over two hundred swords, another hundred miscellaneous weapons, fifty shields, two hundred supreme healing potions, and more than a thousand minor healing, vitality, and stamina potions.

There were also, of course, the coveted bonus XP potions and nearly ten tons of seeds, not to mention countless other items scattered throughout the inventory.

All of it had been earned by opening hundreds of common gacha tickets, and likely more than a thousand free ones.

Taken together, if sold off to Ron for example, they would fetch the equivalent of over fifty thousand gold coins, perhaps even more.

Ethan wouldn’t sell them, of course. The stockpile would serve as a crucial reserve for Goldenveil’s future.

What the items lacked in quality, their sheer quantity more than made up for.

Nearly all of those potions would go directly into the barracks after its expansion, along with the weapons, armor, and everything else he deemed necessary. Doran would lack for nothing.

Ethan mulled it over a moment longer before letting out a soft sigh. He pulled the forty premium gacha tickets from the system’s inventory.

It was time to get rich.

[You used 40x premium gacha tickets.]

[Spinning...]

[Congratulations! You received: 250x Corrupted Inferior Mana Beast Cores (Rank C)]

[Congratulations! You received: 1x Map of a Lost Treasure (Rank C)]

[Congratulations! You received: 10x Divine Healing Potion (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! You received: Supreme Quality Longsword (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! You received: 1,000 kg of High-Quality Corn Seeds (Rank C)]

[Congratulations! You have received: Advanced War Tactics Manual (Rank B)]

Six items of decent quality, but nothing truly impressive. Then the seventh finally shone in a deep gold, bathing the office in an intense flash of light.

An S-Rank item!

[Congratulations! You have received: 1x Contract for Taming a Superior Elemental! (Rank S)]

Although he couldn’t use the item just yet, Ethan grinned, his gaze locked on the next entries with renewed attention.

[Congratulations! You have received: 10x Temporary War Blessing Bonus Potion (Rank B)]

[Congratulations! You have received: Recipe for Supreme Healing Potion (Rank C)]

[Congratulations! You have received: 100x sets of good-quality steel armor (Rank C)]

[Congratulations! You have received: 1x Superior Regional Growth Acceleration Bonus Card (Rank A)]

[You have received one of your desired secondary items! The luck system will reset after using one hundred premium gacha tickets!

Spins remaining until the maximum prize: 11/100]

[Congratulations! You have received: 1x Supreme City Creation Core (Rank A)]

[Congratulations! You have received: 10x Divine Stamina Potion (Rank C)]

[Congratulations, you have received: 20x Decent-Quality Weapon and Armor Kits (Rank D)]

[Congratulations, you have received: 10x Subordinate Talent Enhancement Potion (Rank C)]

Dozens more generic, uninteresting items followed, as though his luck had run dry all at once. Not a single one dared climb above Rank C.

Apart from about two Rank C Pop Cards, each of which would yield 50 citizens, and another Rank B Card that would yield 100 citizens along with a guarantee of five Rank B young talents, nothing of interest turned up.

Weapons, armor, a few more seeds... always the same monotonous pattern.

Then, when the thirty-ninth item dropped, a longsword that would certainly suit Cain well, Ethan froze.

His eyes widened. A deep red swallowed the office as powerful mana engulfed everything around him, dense and suffocating, pressing against his skin in waves that made the very air tremble.

An SS-Rank item!

[Congratulations! You have received: Hell Soldier Training Portal (SS-Rank)]

[Name: Hell Soldier Training Portal

Description: An ancient portal linked to a secret realm, created by a great transcendent expert of the past to train his armies.

It allows up to a thousand soldiers to enter at a time, contains time-slowing formations, and possesses the ability to simulate real war situations without any risk to human life. Can be used to increase the chances of advancement.

Cost of use: varies depending on the number of soldiers being trained.

Rank: SS]

Ethan felt his own breath catch in his chest. His eyes gleamed intensely as his heart hammered against his ribs.

This was his first step toward forging the most feared army those lands had ever seen.