The familiar machine appeared before Ren Kuroda, just as it always did. By spending the corresponding amount of reputation, he could exchange it for coins of matching value.
Once he dropped a coin stamped with its reputation value into the slot machine, the panels on the machine would light up, displaying prizes of equivalent worth.
"I've got a budget of thirteen hundred reputation points… Let's test the waters with three one-hundred-point pulls first."
As his reputation total dropped sharply, three iron coins appeared in Ren's hand.
When he fed the iron coin engraved with "100" into the machine, the carousel of lights instantly flared to life, spinning at high speed.
Ren's eyes followed the flashing lights back and forth, his heart rising and falling in sync with their rhythm.
The lights gradually slowed under his anxious gaze, until finally, they stopped on a single panel.
The image on it was a spider, spitting strands of silk.
The moment Ren saw the symbol, his heart leapt—he almost thought he'd pulled another skill.
But then—
"Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained Jorōgumo Silk.Item Name: Jorōgumo SilkItem Rank: DItem Description: Silk produced by the high-level yokai Jorōgumo. Extremely tough and resistant to ordinary blades. An excellent material for crafting armor.P.S.: Have you considered weaving yourself a pair of silk briefs? Warm in winter, cool in summer—and even charging into battle, you won't have to worry about them tearing."
The excitement in Ren's chest was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.
Staring at the item, his brain went numb.
One hundred reputation points… for this piece of junk?
What the hell was he supposed to do with Jorōgumo silk? Actually weave himself a pair of underwear? And besides—he had as much of this stuff as he wanted!
Let's not forget: Ren had a Jorōgumo maid at his side. And not just any Jorōgumo—a mutated one.If he wanted spider silk, he could practically drown in it.
Spending a hundred reputation points on this was a straight-up loss.
Even pulling an "Yokai Energy Talisman" or a "Low-Grade Yokai Power Crystal" would've been better than this!
"Forget it. With one-hundred-point pulls, expectations shouldn't be too high anyway. I'll just treat this as padding before the real jackpot."
Dropping in the second one-hundred-point coin, Ren adjusted his mindset. Even if he pulled something completely useless again, he was ready to stay calm.
After all, the harder you fall now, the bigger the comeback later.
The carousel spun like a runaway train before slowly settling onto another panel.
This time, the image showed a creature with a human upper body and a fish's tail. If Ren wasn't mistaken, it was another type of yokai—straightforwardly named a mermaid.
Thanks to his earlier experience, Ren already knew better than to judge by the icon alone.
The real value depended on the system's description.
He wasn't hoping for anything amazing from a one-hundred-point pull—he just prayed it wouldn't be completely useless.
"Ding! Congratulations, you have obtained Mermaid Scale.Item Name: Mermaid ScaleItem Rank: CItem Description: The most important scale on the tail of a mid-level female mermaid. A mermaid only possesses one in her entire lifetime, granting it a trace of mysterious power.Effect: Increases water affinity and grants the ability to breathe underwater for a short time.P.S.: So the question is—where exactly is this 'most important scale' located? (▽｀)"
Seeing a name similar to Jorōgumo Silk, Ren had assumed this pull was another disaster.
But after reading the description, a flicker of delight crossed his face.
Although Mermaid Scale still wasn't hugely useful to him, it was leagues better than the spider silk.
Honestly, pulling something like this for just one hundred reputation points counted as absurdly lucky.
Didn't the system itself say it? A mermaid only produced one such scale in her entire life!
Still, Ren couldn't help but wonder—why specifically a female mermaid? And where exactly was this "most important" scale located?
…It wasn't there, was it?
Alright, fine—he admitted it. His thoughts had gone crooked for a second.
All in all, though, this was a definite win. If the system sold this item directly, Ren was sure it would cost far more than a hundred reputation points.
Finally, he tossed in the third iron coin.
The lights flared once more, and this time they stopped on a purple crystal.
The moment he saw the icon, Ren knew it without a doubt—this was another item. And one he was extremely familiar with.
A yokai power crystal.
Three pulls, three items. Ren wasn't surprised in the slightest.
He'd had the system for a while now and had done plenty of draws. Over time, he'd noticed certain patterns.
Skills were far rarer than items, and much harder to pull.
The machine had forty slots in total. In a one-hundred-point draw, only four of those slots contained skills.
The odds of pulling a skill were already minuscule.
Even with a five-hundred-point draw, the number of skill slots only doubled to eight.Out of forty slots, that still meant just a 20% chance.
By that logic, the fact that Ren had repeatedly pulled skills in the past could only be described as chosen-one-level luck.
The lights stopped on the purple crystal icon. Just as expected, it was a yokai power crystal—something he could exchange for in the shop.
But when the system's description appeared, Ren froze slightly.
It was a yokai power crystal—but not the one he was used to.
"Congratulations, you have obtained a Lesser Yokai Power Crystal.Item Name: Lesser Yokai Power CrystalItem Rank: CItem Description: A crystal formed from condensed yokai energy. Can restore yokai energy and cause partial yokai transformation in ordinary humans.P.S.: A must-have for home, travel, and indiscriminate slaughter of humans and yokai alike!"
The purple crystal in his hand was indeed a yokai power crystal—but not the Low-Grade Yokai Power Crystal.It was a Lesser Yokai Power Crystal.
Just one word difference, yet the rank jumped from D to C.
Holding the crystalline chunk, Ren could clearly feel that the energy within this Lesser Yokai Power Crystal far surpassed that of the low-grade version. Even its color was purer and more translucent.
And it wasn't just because he'd pulled a single crystal that Ren was so thrilled.
Opening the system shop out of habit, he saw that—besides the familiar Yokai Energy Talisman and Low-Grade Yokai Power Crystal—a new product had appeared.
That product was none other than the Lesser Yokai Power Crystal in his hand.
As for the price?
One hundred reputation points per crystal.
A full ten times more expensive than the low-grade version.
On the surface, his final one-hundred-point pull had merely returned something worth exactly one hundred reputation points.
But Ren felt like he'd struck gold.
Because what he'd gained wasn't just the crystal—it was the purchase permission for Lesser Yokai Power Crystals.
As Ren's yokai energy continued to grow, Low-Grade Yokai Power Crystals had already become useless for strengthening him.
Even for recovery, he had to swallow handfuls at a time.
Against evenly matched opponents, that might still work.But against someone stronger, there was no way the enemy would give him the leisure to shovel down crystal after crystal.
The perfect example was his battle with Inugami Gyōbu-danuki—every attempt to recover using low-grade crystals had been ruthlessly interrupted.
Without hesitation, Ren tossed the Lesser Yokai Power Crystal straight into his mouth.
Chicken flavor. Crunchy.
Without activating Half-Oni Transformation, Ren's yokai energy sat at B+ rank.After consuming the crystal, he could clearly feel its effect.
It wasn't dramatic—but compared to the completely useless low-grade crystals, this was a massive improvement.
One of the conditions in the chained quest to become the Lord of Yokai in the Tokyo District required him to reach A-rank yokai energy in his normal state.
The Lesser Yokai Power Crystal might not be miraculous—but it at least showed him a path forward.
Still…
One hundred reputation points per crystal was painfully expensive.
If he converted all his remaining reputation into these crystals, he could probably push his energy to A- rank.
But he didn't do it.
Because even at A-, he'd still fall short of true A-rank.
Rather than burn through that much reputation for marginal gains, why not try a few more draws?
The last three pulls had only strengthened Ren's belief that he was a bona fide child of destiny.
So now, he was ready to go big.
Originally, he planned to spend his remaining one thousand reputation points on two five-hundred-point draws.
But today's luck was off the charts.
Ren decided to ride the wave and go all in—a single one-thousand-point draw.
Aside from determining the quality of prizes, the type of reputation spent also influenced what kind of rewards could appear.
The three one-hundred-point draws earlier had consumed yokai reputation, which was why all the items were yokai-related.
In contrast, abilities like Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain and Yokai Energy Talismans had been obtained using human reputation.
Of course, items available in the exchange shop weren't restricted by type—so long as it was reputation, it could be used.
And now, with destiny smiling upon him, Ren Kuroda was about to see just how far his luck could truly go.