The next day, Kurogane Ren got up unusually early.
Because today marked one full year of uninterrupted sign-ins.
The system had once told him that if he managed to sign in for a full year, he would receive an annual grand prize.
And until now, he had never seen what an annual grand prize looked like.
So even though it was only a little past six in the morning, Ren had already been wide awake for ages. Ever since last night, he had barely been able to suppress his excitement.
After finishing the breakfast T-X had made for him, he sat quietly in the courtyard and waited.
At last, the clock struck eight.
"Sign in!"
The moment the sign-in was complete, the system let out a cheerful ding.
"Host has completed today's sign-in. Detected: Host has signed in continuously for one full year. Congratulations, Host, on completing the one-year uninterrupted sign-in mission. You have now received one Annual Grand Prize Pack!"
Looking at the dazzling golden gift pack in front of him, Ren's eyes shone.
"System, open the Annual Grand Prize."
The gift pack opened, and what appeared before him was a spinning wheel.
The wheel was divided into four equally sized sections, each in a different color.
White. Black. Red. Gold.
And each section had words written on it.
The white section read: Thank You for Participating
The black section read: Worst-Luck Halo (Duration: One Year)
The red section read: Random Transcendent Item x1
The gold section read: Mystery Prize
The red and gold sections were easy enough to understand.
But the other two left Ren a little confused.
True to his usual habit of asking when he didn't understand something, he immediately turned to the system.
"System, why does an annual grand prize even include something like 'Thank You for Participating'? Shouldn't a grand prize only include rare rewards?"
The system replied calmly, "Host, who told you 'Thank You for Participating' isn't a rare reward? Think about it. In all the time you've been drawing, have you ever once gotten it before? Things are valuable because they're rare. If it almost never appears, then naturally it's a rare item."
Ren blinked.
Then, after thinking about it carefully, he realized the system actually had a point.
He had been drawing for over a year, and this really was the first time he had ever seen Thank You for Participating.
Even his worst draws before had at least given him something, even if it was only a pack of tissues.
Looking at it that way...
This thing really was rarer than a transcendent item.
Ren quickly asked another question.
"Then what about that Worst-Luck Halo?"
"Oh, that?" the system said. "That's one of the best transcendent items."
Ren froze.
"One of the best?"
"Of course. Halo-type items," the system said proudly. "They grant special effects that influence the host in subtle, invisible ways. Take something like a Protagonist Halo, for example. If the host had one of those, then even if you were complete trash in combat, you still wouldn't die even after provoking the strongest people in the world."
Ren's eyes widened.
"That powerful?"
"Naturally. Halo-type rewards are second only to Myth-tier items."
Ren swallowed, then pointed nervously at the black section.
"So... what exactly does the Worst-Luck Halo do?"
"The meaning is obvious," the system replied. "It gives the host luck on the level of the unluckiest of the unlucky. For example, every single draw could turn into tissues. A ten-draw would never produce anything good."
Ren's face twitched violently.
"That's just a bad luck halo!"
"No," the system corrected him. "You are mistaken, Host. A bad luck halo would mean things like having no toilet paper when you need it, choking while drinking water, missing a step on the stairs, losing your money while buying groceries, or having your gun jam when you're trying to shoot someone. In short, a real bad luck halo would put your life in danger."
"The Worst-Luck Halo only makes your lottery results worse."
The corner of Ren's mouth twitched again.
This was the first time he had learned that the system carried this kind of nonsense.
"Please begin spinning the wheel."
"Please begin spinning the wheel."
"Please begin spinning the wheel."
The system kept urging him.
Honestly, Ren didn't want to do it at all.
The other two rewards were tempting, sure, but the black reward was terrifying in its own way.
Still, fortune and disaster both came without warning. If it really landed on black, then at worst he would just spend the next year staying on this island and refusing to go out and gamble with fate.
"Start."
The wheel spun rapidly, and Ren stared at it without blinking.
As the wheel gradually slowed, every time the pointer passed over the black section, his heart leaped into his throat.
Even though the odds were only one in four, he still found himself holding his breath every time.
And every time the pointer moved past black, he quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Then, little by little, the wheel came to a stop.
It landed on red.
Looking at the red section, Ren finally breathed out.
As long as it wasn't black, he had already made a profit.
And on top of that, he would get a transcendent item.
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Strengthening Body Pill."
A pill the size of a chocolate malt ball appeared in Ren's hand.
He immediately looked down at the words on the package.
Strengthening Body Pill: Greatly enhances the user's physical abilities, allowing them to lift a tank with one hand and push an aircraft carrier with both hands.
Ren's eyes lit up on the spot.
His biggest weakness right now was his physical condition.
This was exactly what he needed.
It was like falling asleep and having someone hand him a pillow.
Overjoyed, Ren tore open the package and was just about to swallow the pill when he noticed a line of tiny text printed near the bottom.
He narrowed his eyes and squinted at it carefully.
Special Warning: Before consuming this pill, prepare a large amount of food. A very large amount. A very, very large amount.
Ren had no idea why food was necessary, but he still chose to follow the warning.
"Martha, we're closed today. We're going up the mountain. We're hunting."
...
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Within ten seconds, Martha used the 98k to drop three deer.
Ren gave her a thumbs-up.
He knew that for a Terminator, hitting targets hundreds of meters away with a rifle wasn't difficult.
The impressive part was that she had hit all three deer right through the eye.
Originally, Martha didn't need extra weapons at all.
But once before, Ren had sent her out hunting, and the result had been a disaster.
She had chopped prey into pieces with a chainsaw, blasted them apart with a plasma cannon, and charred them black with a flamethrower.
After seeing that, Ren had no choice but to hand her the 98k and order her to use that for hunting instead.
He walked over, skinned and cleaned the three deer with practiced hands, then lit a fire, took out his spices, and started roasting the meat.
Martha worked beside him as an assistant.
More than an hour later, the three deer had been turned into over two hundred pounds of roasted meat.
Once everything was ready, Ren took out the Strengthening Body Pill and swallowed it in one gulp.
At first, he only felt a warm current spreading through his stomach.
Then that warmth began flowing through his entire body.
At the same time, a faint pain started rising from every inch of him.
And then his stomach twisted with a terrifying hunger.
Ren grabbed a chunk of roasted meat and bit into it.
From that moment on, he turned into a starving ghost.
A pound of roasted meat disappeared into his mouth in just a few bites.
Within half an hour, half of the roasted meat was already gone.
But not only did he feel no fullness whatsoever, the hunger inside him only became more intense.
He ate while shouting at Martha,
"Martha! Go get more prey and roast more meat! Hurry!"
"Understood."
The moment she received the order, Martha dashed straight into the forest.
A little over ten minutes later, she came back dragging an enormous wild boar behind her.
Ren stared at its huge body.
That thing had to weigh at least seven or eight hundred pounds.
Martha skillfully butchered it and began roasting the meat.
Soon, the previous batch of roasted meat was completely gone.
And Ren was still like a starving demon.
He snatched up a bloody chunk of boar meat, not caring that it was still raw, and stuffed it straight into his mouth.
He had no idea how much time passed.
Eventually, Ren finally stopped eating.
By then, nearly two-thirds of the boar had vanished.
Only then did he let out a satisfied belch.
Looking at the mess all around him, Ren silently thanked himself for noticing that line of warning text.
If he had swallowed the pill without preparing food in advance, then in that state, he might really have gone out into the street and started eating people raw.
As soon as he stopped eating, the warm current flowing through his body gradually faded away.
Only then did Ren notice that his clothes and pants felt shorter than before.
He turned to Martha and asked, "Do I look any different compared to earlier?"
A red light flashed through Martha's eyes.
"Master's height has increased by twenty centimeters compared to two hours ago. Body weight has increased by thirty kilograms. Muscle tissue throughout the body has also increased significantly."