Urged on by Kazama Yasuo, the System brought up a new interface.
It was refreshingly simpleÔÇöjust one large green button, marked CHECK-IN.
Yasuo murmured the command under his breath. "Check-in."
The green button flushed red.
Then the screen shifted, reshaping itself into a ten-by-ten grid.
**System: "First check-in detected. Bonus reward grantedÔÇölottery draws increased by one. Host identified as a beginner. Beginner's Gift Pack awarded. Bonus: one ten-pull draw granted to host."**
Yasuo stared at the screen, then let out a whoop of delight.
"Oh-ho!"
One draw from checking in, one bonus draw on top of that, and then a ten-pull on top of *that*ÔÇöwhich meant he had twelve draws waiting for him.
He rubbed his hands together, practically vibrating with anticipation.
"System, let's start drawing!"
The System responded with a brief explanation.
**"Host may draw randomly from a pool of one hundred possible rewards."**
With twelve draws in hand, Yasuo decided to warm up with a single pull first and save the ten-pull for later.
"System, one single draw!"
The moment he spoke, a bright dot began flashing rapidly across the ten-by-ten grid.
He closed his eyes as the blinking light gradually slowed, murmuring under his breath, "Buddha, Guanyin, Allah, Christ, the Three Pure OnesÔÇöwhoever's listening, please let this first pull be something incredible."
*Ding!*
A crisp chime rang out, and the flashing dot came to a stop.
The chosen square flipped over.
The System's voice rang out, bright with cheer. **"Congratulations, host! Your first draw has yielded one 500-gram bag of refined salt."**
Yasuo felt something materialize in his hand.
He looked down. Sure enoughÔÇöa bag of salt. The words "500g Refined Salt" stared back at him in bold print from the packaging.
He looked at the salt in his hand. Then he looked at the endless ocean stretching in every direction around him.
He hurled the bag to the ground and roared, "I'm stranded in the middle of the oceanÔÇösurrounded by nothing *but* salt waterÔÇöand you give me a bag of salt?!"
His fury was justified. He was marooned on a barren rock without so much as a blade of grass, ocean on every side, and the System had handed him something less useful than a toothpick.
"System! Get out here!"
**System: "Yes, host? Is something wrong?"**
Yasuo jabbed a finger at the salt on the ground. "Explain this."
**System: "Draws are entirely random. Host could receive anything."**
"Then why not a bottle of water?! At least pretend to comfort me a little!"
**System: "The lottery tests fortune and luck. This System bears no responsibility for outcomes."**
"You... you..."
For a moment, Yasuo had absolutely nothing to say.
He could only mutter reassurances to himself.
*First pull's always garbage. Just bad luck. Still got plenty of chances left...*
Once he'd calmed down somewhat, he decided to try another single draw.
"System, one more single pull."
The interface refreshed, and the draw began again.
This time, Yasuo kept his eyes open, watching the blinking dot the entire way through.
*Ding!*
The chime that signaled the draw's end rang out once more.
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained bait guaranteed to catch fishÔÇöone hundred percent success rate. One packet yields ten fish."**
A small pouch appeared in his handÔÇöhis latest prize.
The reward itself wasn't bad. In fact, it was genuinely useful... provided he actually owned a fishing rod.
Yasuo's eye twitched. The reason he'd been transported to this world in the first place was because he'd been helping someone fish. Now the mere sight of fishing gear made his blood pressure spike.
And beyond that, he owned nothing but the clothes on his back. Not even a chopstick. This forsaken island had nothing but rocks; he couldn't have fashioned a makeshift rod if he'd tried.
*Smack!*
He flung the bait to the ground. "What kind of joke is this?"
"System, activate the ten-pull!"
Two draws in a row, and both prizes had sent his blood pressure through the roof. He wasn't about to sit around hoping his luck would improve on its ownÔÇöhe committed to the ten-pull immediately.
The instant the words left his mouth, he regretted it. *Should've washed my hands first, given how my luck's been running,* he thought grimly.
But it was too late to take it back. The System had already begun the draw. All he could do now was hope for something decent to come out of it.
He waited in silence. After a dozen or so seconds, the System's voice returned.
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained one pack of tissues!"**
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained ten jin of flavorless crackers!"**
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained one five-liter bottle of mineral water!"**
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained a Transcendent-grade itemÔÇöone pair of never-wearing-out flip-flops!"**
**"Congratulations, host! You have obtained one pair of military-grade binoculars!"**
The list went on.
Yasuo looked over the ten items now scattered before him and let out a long sigh. The ten-pull had done better than the single draws, sure, but none of it counted as a true treasure.
Still, he began sorting through what was actually useful. The water and crackers were essentialsÔÇöa man had to eat and drink, after all.
The tissues and a handkerchief had their uses too.
The binoculars, though, were genuinely excellent. He'd already tested them and found they didn't just have impressive rangeÔÇöthey could adjust focus and seemed to include some kind of night-vision function as well.
With these, he could scan the ocean far more effectively, watching for any passing ships.
But the item that pleased him most was the tent.
With a tent, at least he wouldn't be roasted by the sun or soaked by rain.
Then a thought struck him. He'd been stranded on this island for a while now, and he realized he hadn't felt a single breath of wind the whole time.
He glanced around. The sea lay utterly still. Not a cloud marred the sky.
A chill ran through him. He wasn't a seafaring man by trade, but even he knew that windless days at sea were vanishingly rare. And yet here he was, out on the open ocean, without so much as a whisper of breeze.
There weren't many worlds that matched those conditions. The most famous one he could think of was the Calm Belt, from the world of One Piece.
"...There's no way I'm actually this unlucky," he muttered to himself.
But there was no proof yet, one way or another.
He decided to pitch the tent first and get some water into his system. Several hours had passed since he'd arrived, and between the heat and the stress, he badly needed to hydrate.
"System, keep the food, water, binoculars, and tent out. Put everything else away."
**"Host, this System has no built-in storage function."**
Yasuo blinked. "...Come again?"
"System, are you telling me you don't even have a storage space?"
**System: "What is my name, exactly?"**
"The Myriad Realms Check-In and Lottery System!"
**System: "There you have it. I'm not called the Warehouse Storage System, am I."**
Yasuo groaned. "A system with no storage space is basically useless!"
**System: "Host, I believe I just heard you insult this System."**
"No! Nope! Didn't say a thing, don't put words in my mouth!"
Days passed.
"Draw! System, let's draw already!"
A full week had gone by on the island. Every day, Yasuo scanned the horizon with his binoculars, hoping against hope to spot a passing ship.
But day after day, all he found was more ocean.
At night, he slept in his tent.
The one bright spot in each day was the moment he got to draw from the lottery.
Over those five days, he'd used five more single draws, and the results had been underwhelming, to put it kindly. One of them netted him a loaf of truly terrible bread.
Yasuo had come to a firm conclusion: whatever cosmic force decided what food the System produced had absolutely no taste buds. Even the "flavorless crackers" from before had, true to their name, tasted like literally nothing.
He'd honestly rather drink plain water than force down another one of those crackers.
As for the terrible breadÔÇöone bite had left him nauseous for two straight days.
He'd also pulled two more ten-liter bottles of mineral water. That one, at least, he appreciated. It meant he wouldn't die of thirst anytime soon.
The remaining two draws had given him an elementary school arithmetic workbook and a map of some unidentified world.
The workbook had already found a practical useÔÇöas toilet paper.
The map he'd set aside for now. He had no idea what world it depicted, but something told him to hold onto it, just in case.