Ten pulls.
Nothing.
Twenty pulls.
Nothing.
Thirty pulls.
Nothing.
Forty pulls.
Nothing.
Linto's eye twitched slightly, a wave of anger rising up.
What kind of crap system is this, with no safety net at all.
Shouldn't a ten pull guarantee a four-star Stand, and an eighty pull guarantee a five-star Stand?!
Even a repeating one would be fine!
After forty pulls, he only got some Stand experience books, all of which he put into Star Platinum, only raising it from level 2, 7%, to level 2, 13%.
A drop in the bucket.
Linto put in another 100 soul shards.
"Fifty pulls!"
Ten more stars fell from the sky.
A crisp chime finally rang out!
Linto calculated.
One, two, three, four… Four stars?
He comforted himself, four stars are okay.
Four-star Stands usually have average fighting power, with one or two outstanding abilities. They mainly have support abilities, and their role in battle is like a support character, sub-tank, or sub-damage dealer in a game.
Five-star Stands have relatively excellent fighting power, with more comprehensive abilities. They have multiple combined abilities, and possess great advantages in at least one aspect of fighting, defense, or support.
If it's a four-star Stand with ranged attacks or quick surprise attack abilities, it can solve Linto's immediate problem.
While he was thinking, the starlight faded.
A book floated in front of Linto.
"… 'Ripple Breathing Technique'?"
Linto had been on the run and hadn't had time to read the JOJO series of comics.
Luckily, the Ripple Breathing Technique was mentioned in the first part of JOJO, "Phantom Blood."
He carefully looked at the parts that mentioned the Ripple, and Linto roughly understood what "Ripple" was:
The Ripple, originally from Tibetan monks, is a breathing training method created for cultivation and the pursuit of long life.
Just like ripples appear when a stone is thrown into water, using special breathing techniques to create ripples inside the body produces many wonderful effects—
Strength, heat, body enhancement, resisting aging, and so on.
Linto looked left and right, and it all seemed to him that the Ripple was like a beginner's cultivation technique.
The Ripple Breathing Technique was indeed useful to Linto, even more useful than another five-star Stand.
No matter how many Stands he has, the weakness of the user will always be a major flaw.
With many Stands by his side, Linto can defend against attacks from any angle.
But he can't withstand poisonous wine handed to him with a smile, or the fatigue of continuous battles.
The strength of his body, and the thickness of his health bar, can give Linto more room for error.
A negative example is Uchiha Itachi.
No matter how many Ninjutsu he knows, or how developed his Sharingan is, what good is it?
He's still a glass cannon.
But, why did the system give him Ripple energy?
This isn't a Stand, it's a type of skill book, right?
Linto looked through the system description:
"The normal card draw pool can produce 4-5 star Stands, Stand upgrade materials, special items, etc."
Skill books are a type of special item.
In addition to the "Ripple Breathing Technique," other special items include the Stone Mask, the Arrow, firearms, and the Aja Stone.
Fifty pulls for a "Ripple Technique" isn't a loss.
Even though it's only four stars, it's used on Linto himself and is a real life-saving method.
From this point of view, it's more valuable than a six-star Stand.
With fifteen pulls left, Linto didn't plan to continue.
His intuition told him that today's luck had been used up after drawing the "Ripple Breathing Technique," and continuing to draw would only be a waste of soul shards.
He closed the system interface and enjoyed a short rest.
…
Linto and Sasuke traveled, stopping and going. When they were thirsty, they drank river water. When they were hungry, they ate wild game and vegetables. When they were tired, they found a clean place, using the ground as a bed and the sky as a blanket, falling asleep at will.
Half a month passed in a flash, and they had almost left Konoha's jurisdiction.
The two found a small town and sold the animal furs they had hunted along the way. They used the money to find a nice inn, took a comfortable bath, and ate a big meal, finally relaxing.
After that, they boarded a caravan's wagon, slowly heading towards the Land of Water.
They couldn't stay in the Land of Fire.
The Land of Thunder was too strictly managed, and outsiders like them would likely be discovered as soon as they entered.
The Land of Earth was too far away.
The Land of Wind was mainly desert, with harsh living conditions.
The Land of Water's management was loose, to put it nicely, and chaotic, to put it bluntly.
Linto had a clear goal for the road ahead:
Constantly hunt down fugitives, accumulate pulls, draw Stands to fill any gaps, and then upgrade the Stands.
Due to Kirigakure's "Blood Mist Policy," there were many internal conflicts.
This made it easier for Linto to hide.
On the other hand, it was full of escaped criminals and rogue ninja, providing Linto with a rich hunting ground to earn soul shards and bounties.
For Linto, there was no country more suitable than the Land of Water.
Along the way, Linto had been collecting information on various countries and ninja villages.
When he learned that Konoha Village was already considered well-governed, Linto understood how bad this world was.
He needed power.
To protect himself, and to protect the principles he stood by.
After another ten days of travel, they arrived in the Land of Waves with the caravan.
The Land of Waves was the caravan's destination, and Linto would have to travel on his own after this.
"Young man, past the Land of Waves, and a bit further is the Land of Water. We'll part ways here."
The caravan leader said, handing over a letter.
Recently, the Land of Water had closed its ports, only allowing a few ships to pass through. The caravan leader was familiar with the ways around this.
With this letter of recommendation, they could board an official Land of Waves ship to the Land of Water.
Linto didn't refuse, said thank you, and took the letter.
Sasuke watched the caravan leader leave, "He's such a good person."
"A good person…"
Linto thought about the stack of money he'd given the caravan leader the night before, smiled, and didn't explain.
With the letter of recommendation, Linto found a Land of Waves official at the port.
The official was a samurai, with a shaved head, wearing a kimono and baggy pants, straw sandals, revealing smelly toes, and two swords stuck in his side, a katana and a wakizashi.
The bald samurai looked Linto and Sasuke up and down and nodded towards a cargo ship bobbing on the water.
"Consider yourselves lucky, the ship leaves soon. If you miss it, you'll have to wait half a month."
They followed the bald samurai onto the ship.
Linto had a feeling that the crew members were looking at them strangely, there was welcoming, joy, and a hint of…
Desire.
Linto frowned slightly.
What was wrong with these crew members?
Did they transmigrate from Chengdu or something?
But Linto didn't have a beard, black-rimmed glasses, or white socks.
Swish—
The bald samurai opened the closed cargo hold, and a faint, rotten, moldy smell wafted out.
In the dim cargo hold, a dozen or so people were sitting, men and women. They seemed to have not seen the light for a while, and they were covering their eyes with their hands.
Seeing the people in the cargo hold, Linto realized:
"Smuggling?"
With the letter of introduction and being from the official Land of Waves, Linto thought they'd be sailing over fair and square.
A crew member pushed Linto and glanced sideways at him: "Are you going? If not, get out!"
Linto smiled.
"Of course we're going."
He pulled Sasuke, who wanted to draw his sword, into the cargo hold.
The cargo hold closed again, with a lamp shining dimly at the top, and a fan whirring, bringing in thin air to prevent the "passengers" from suffocating inside.
They found a corner to sit down.
Sasuke whispered, "Why didn't you let me beat him up? Shou, you could knock him down with one punch, right?"
"I'm not some demon, I can't just chop people up because they glare at me."
Linto leaned against a crate, took an orange from his backpack, and handed it to Sasuke.
"As long as he gets us safely to the Land of Water, that's enough."
Sasuke shook his little fist, "Then when do we beat people up?"
"Whenever you think you need to."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and took the orange from Linto, suddenly feeling a gaze.
It was from the little girl sitting across from them.
Her name was Momo, about the same age as Sasuke, with pink, shoulder-length hair in a bun. Her big eyes were staring straight at the orange in Sasuke's hand.
Momo's eyes were pure, with only a longing for the orange.
Sasuke looked at Momo, then at the orange in his hand, snorted, and turned his head away.
Smack!
Linto gently patted Sasuke's little head.
"Go socialize, don't always wear such a cold face."
If anyone else said that, Sasuke wouldn't even pay attention.
Only Linto could give him orders.
Sasuke reluctantly walked over.
"Here!"
Sasuke turned his head away and handed half of the orange over.
Momo's eyes suddenly lit up. She looked back at her mother, and her mother nodded.
"Thank you, big brother!"
She took the orange, leaned over, and gave Sasuke's face a shallow kiss.
Sasuke's face turned red.
"Ha—"
Someone started laughing, and laughter echoed in the dim, rotten, stuffy cargo hold.
Just then, the hull of the ship trembled slightly.
The ship was moving.