Nine blue, one purple, a classic draw.
Cipher, accustomed to this, first rolled her eyes at the gacha system, then skipped past the blue items and looked at the sole purple item.
"This is... a coin? Why did I draw a Petty change?"
Cipher stared blankly at the one-eyed cat head coin in her inventory, identical to the one around her neck.
Then, she clicked on the item's description and realized that this coin seemed a little different from what she had imagined.
[Petty change (Purple Item)]
["You shall walk with greed and die over a petty change"
Effect: When successfully steals all or most of the assets from a place/person, you choose whether to drop the "Petty change."
The moment they pick it up, it will disappear and they will forget about it, instead they will know that Cifera is the one who stole everything]
After reading the description, Cipher dazedly took the "Petty change" out of her system inventory.
Looking at the coin, identical to the one around her neck, Cipher was lost in thought.
"One person spreads falsehoods, ten thousand make them real... rumors and legends turning into power..."
She murmured to herself, gently stroking the coin in her hand.
Before long, Cipher's lips gradually curved into a smile, and her eyes, originally bewildered, became resolute with a hint of cunning.
"System, you calculated this, didn't you? Giving me this item right after I finished stealing from a base."
"The greater my fame, the stronger I become, and I don't even have to worry about exposing my identity. With such a good opportunity, how could I, Cifera, the Demigod of Trickery, possibly miss it?"
With that, Cipher clenched her right hand into a fist, then flicked the coin into the air.
After tracing a graceful arc in the air, the coin landed precisely on the table in the center of the hall.
The black and gold one-eyed grinning cat head looked utterly out of place on the silver-white table.
However, because almost everyone had been drawn away by her, no one had noticed this anomaly on the table yet.
The Coin had been placed. Now, she only needed to wait for this seed named "Cifera" to take root and sprout, eventually growing into a large tree, allowing them to live forever in its shadow.
"Let's go. I think they're going to be busy."
After throwing a pile of useless Level 3 authorization cards onto the ground, Cipher walked through the corridor, then passed through the base's main gate, returning to the surface.
On the ground, Cipher lightly tapped her toes a few times and leaped onto a rooftop. Then, enveloped by the lingering glow of the sunset, Cipher gradually faded into the orange-red light.
Cipher is on the run...
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Claire, I'm back."
After knocking on Claire's door, Cipher called out inside.
Soon, with a "click," the door opened. It was Claire.
"Boss Cipher, you're back? How was the operation?"
In response to Claire's question, Cipher proudly lifted her head.
"Very smooth! I had those guys running around in circles!"
"That's amazing, Boss!"
Hearing Cipher's reply, Claire sincerely offered her congratulations.
Although she wasn't entirely sure what Cipher had been up to, or which group of people she had tricked.
But none of that mattered; the important thing was to just keep praising her.
Cipher walked into the living room, asking Claire as she went:
"Claire, are Enna and the others awake?"
Claire first shook her head, then nodded and said:
"Jassy is awake. She just woke up twenty minutes ago, but Enna isn't awake yet. They both suffered mental exhaustion due to over-releasing their abilities, so after I chatted with Jassy for a bit, she fell back asleep."
"What did she say? What happened on their end?"
Sitting down on the sofa in the living room, Cipher asked Claire curiously.
"They encountered an Arasaka Heavy Industries C-Class team."
"Arasaka Heavy Industries?"
Hearing these four words, Cipher instantly frowned.
She often heard and saw this name, as it was one of the four mega-corporations in this place.
"Why would people from a mega-corporation come to the Pit Bottom District? According to what you said before, mega-corporations shouldn't really care about the Pit Bottom District, right?"
"Indeed." Claire nodded, agreeing with Cipher's words. "I find that strange too. Logically, the Pit Bottom District doesn't have much profit, and it's easy to get entangled in bad luck. Why would people from the company come to the Pit Bottom District..."
"What about those Arasaka Heavy Industries people? Even if we don't know their purpose, they've hurt Big Bear like this and caused Lauren and Jasmine to faint. We can't just let that go, can we?"
Cipher was a little angry. What if they were a mega-corporation? She was still a demigod. If she was afraid of some so-called mega-corporation, she would be completely disgracing the demigod's reputation.
"No need." Claire shook her head, stopping Cipher's idea.
Just as Cipher wondered why Claire was holding her back, her next explanation revealed the reason.
"Because they're all dead. Killed by Lauren and the other."
"This... the company people aren't all that, are they...?"
Cipher's mouth twitched slightly. She hadn't expected Arasaka Heavy Industries, a company with such a big name, specializing in security and military, to be completely wiped out by a small team that struggled to maintain their livelihood and basic needs in the Pit Bottom District. Wasn't that a bit undeserving of their reputation?
"No, Arasaka Heavy Industries' teams are very strong. Even a C-Class team has about five C-Class ability users, and with their weapons and coordination, even a relatively weaker B-Class might not be able to defeat them. And Lauren and her two companions, on the surface, are only three C-Class ability users."
"Logically speaking, under the attack of such a team, let alone Lauren wiping them out, even escaping would have been extremely difficult..."