A Card In Hand

Chapter 61: The Correct Way to Open the Chest of Fate!

The Chest of Fate.

It was originally the brainchild of the God of Fate.

Fifty thousand years ago, when the lower realms had closer ties with the celestial realms, the gods of the celestial realm often interfered in the lower realms over matters of faith, causing bloodshed among the various races every day, with continuous warfare that devastated all living beings.

This eventually led to the eruption of a divine war, where gods from different factions personally took to the battlefield, shattering the passages between the lower realms and the celestial realm. Although the gods tried several times to repair it, they could never restore it to its former state.

To strengthen the faith of the lower realm’s beings in themselves, the gods continuously bestowed divine blessings upon their followers to enhance their combat abilities.

As a result, Tianfeng Continent, which was almost destroyed in the main battleground of the divine war, benefited from this.

Humanity quickly rose to prominence.

However.

The ancient God of Fate disagreed with the other gods giving their followers divine blessings, bestowing various powerful items upon the beings of the lower realms to help them improve.

The God of Fate believed that the lives of the lower realms were mortal, destined to live and die in haste, and should not be treated like the immortal, extraordinary beings.

He believed that the fate of mortals must be unpredictable, as this was one of the laws of life.

Only through continuous searching in confusion.

Would mortals truly progress.

Only by slowly growing through suffering and torment, would they learn to cherish what they have and feel happiness.

Ease of acquisition brings no joy; life must have contrasts to be joyful!

The lives of mortals must have joy and sadness, luck and misfortune, laughter and tears intertwining, for them to live happily.

If the divine will of the gods were to directly influence a mortal, then that person’s life would be governed by divine will, clearly devoid of any confusion.

Such a life would lose the most basic pursuits and also lose the most fundamental joys.

The gods were persuaded by the God of Fate.

Fifty thousand years ago.

The celestial realm established the Pantheon of Myriad Realms for the lower realms, and entrusted all the divine blessings intended for their followers to the God of Fate, letting him create countless possible Chests of Fate.

The God of Fate’s attitude towards the lives of the lower realms was completely neutral.

He treated all races equally.

When he controlled fate, the goddesses of Enlightenment and Confusion strictly adhered to the law of ‘Fate is Unpredictable’, without interfering with any race.

About thirty thousand years ago, two new goddesses were born in the Fate God system, they were the Goddess of Luck and the Goddess of Disaster.

The Goddess of Luck originated from the White Elf race, and she had a certain favoritism towards her own race after becoming a goddess.

Therefore, other races started to call the lucky ones White Elves.

The Goddess of Disaster was the twin sister of the Goddess of Luck.

She was vengeful by nature.

She gave the most malicious curse to the Black Marsh Frogmen who had offended her before her ascension.

The god of the Black Marsh Frogmen was originally a middle-tier god among the gods, but due to the curse of the Goddess of Disaster, he fell a tier and became a lower-tier god.

Even worse, the Black Marsh Frogmen have had to bear the divine curse inscribed in their ancestral bloodline since birth, suffering constant disasters, never having a positive moment of luck.

Given the tragic state of the Black Marsh Frogmen, it naturally became customary among the various races to use them as a byword for misfortune.

Ten thousand years ago, the God of Fate fell into a slumber.

Without their constraints, the Goddess of Fortune and the Goddess of Calamity nearly played the Destiny Chest into oblivion, causing even the gods to feel their hearts race.

Fortunately, the Goddesses of Revelation and Confusion upheld the neutral law of “fate is fickle,” ensuring that the Destiny Chest was not entirely a trap but included some parts that offered unpredictable and indelible choices of fate. Because of this, the various races of the Lower Realms were not completely played to destruction by the two goddesses.

“Everyone, please choose one! The Newcomer’s Destiny Chests are all the same. May the Goddess of Fortune bless you!”

Supervisor Dou Guang urged the newcomers to step forward and take a Destiny Chest.

“When you pray, don’t forget to ask for the mercy of the Goddess of Calamity!”

Supervisor Chang Chi still had a psychological shadow.

Li Ao picked up a Newcomer’s Destiny Chest.

He knew.

This thing was hardly a work of the goddesses.

What a joke, what the goddesses created were divine artifacts; how could they possibly give them to mortals?

The Newcomer’s Destiny Chests were actually made by the lowest servants, even slaves, of the Fate Deity.

According to statistics over tens of thousands of years—excluding the White Elves and the Black Marsh Frogmen—the human race had a one percent chance of obtaining a gold-level item from the Newcomer’s Destiny Chest.

Their luck was not as pale as the ten percent chance of the White Elves, nor as dark as the one in a million chance of the Black Marsh Frogmen, belonging to a moderately lucky race of the Lower Realms.

The prayer ceremony began.

Every newcomer had their unique secrets and poses.

Some knelt silently on the ground, some wore lucky bracelets, and others kissed the Ring of Luck passed down from their ancestors.

Some murmured to themselves, some chanted words, and some laid their heads on the ground with their feet stretched up to the sky, holding the position for ten minutes.

Many, like Fuxi, wore lucky underwear over their heads… It seemed that this three-gold valued lucky secret was the ultimate secret for many newcomers, not exclusive to the lucky prince Fuxi!

“Great Goddess of Fortune, I am your faithful follower, grant me the greatest luck! The child of destiny must be me, known to the world as the lucky prince, Fuxi!” Fuxi was very devout, kneeling with his hands together in prayer. The dark green lucky underwear on his head emitted the natural essence of the great plains under the bright sunlight.

“Ha ha!”

Li Ao couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Was this really the correct way to open a Destiny Chest?

Are you sure?

No one had the time to mind Li Ao now; each newcomer was more devout than the last.

Like Fuxi, who wore the lucky underwear on his head exuding the scent of the vast plains, there were more than a dozen others.

Fortunately, the Goddess of Fortune from the Pantheon of the Gods automatically blocked the foolish prayers of the mortals from the Lower Realms.

Otherwise, she would laugh so hard she might fall off her divine throne. With so many lucky princes, even if the goddess was willing to bestow her grace, she simply couldn’t grant it to all…

“Li Ao, want a White Elf bracelet?”

Lie Feng approached, indicating he had an extra one.

“Don’t believe him, the Koi is the beloved pet of the Goddess of Fortune! I have Koi accessories and a large Koi painting!” Zhao Kong hoped Li Ao would believe him.

“Only the bright red Koi is authentic, and I have one right here!”

Hei Wan, also a supporter of the Koi, argued that the red Koi was the luckiest.

“Koi are indeed nice, but no thanks, I already have one,” Li Ao pointed to Shuanghan and Cang Yue next to him: “Give it to them!”

“Get lost!”

Shuanghan did not believe in such things at all.

“Do you think I’m a fool? Is this useful?”

Cang Yue was extremely speechless.

“Whether it’s useful or not, having it will at least bring peace of mind, won’t it? It’s somewhat useful as long as you are devout enough!”

Qiuye still persuaded Cang Yue not to rebel at this crucial moment.

Huo Mei, Ling Long, Yue Sha, Tang Guo, Long Ying, and Wu Ying, along with other female classmates, gathered together, whispering about something.

They had their ways of praying.

Li Ao knew.

These girls, each belonging to the White Elves, didn’t care much about the casual nature of their talks.

Particularly, one of the girls, Yue Sha, who was exceptionally timid, belonged to the princesses among the White Elves and was a living lucky red koi fish, capable of out-lucking the entire world.

While others prayed for favorable divine gifts, she worried about receiving too many good items that she couldn’t bear to discard due to lack of space to store them… Her prayers were more about expressing gratitude to the Goddess of Luck, not about wishing for more items. Because she already had everything, too many good things to handle!

Such a girl, naturally lucky from birth, would make even the White Elves kneel in awe.

If only the newcomer’s Chest of Fate could be opened by someone else.

Li Ao would have let her do it for him.

“It’s open!”

Ling Long gently tapped, and her Chest of Fate shone with a wonderful white light before vanishing, leaving behind only a Silver-grade orange card floating quietly in front of her.

Inside the orange card.

There was a delicate Silver Dragon Whistle.

The Silver Dragon Whistle, a summoning item, could summon white dragons ten times from the divine realm of the Platinum Dragon God, a fairly valuable treasure.

Meanwhile, Huo Mei also opened her newcomer’s Chest of Fate.

The light flickered.

An orange card appeared.

She received a Silver-grade Ring of Vitality, but Miss Huo Mei never wore rings below the Gold-grade, as she already had a Gold-grade Ring of Flames on her finger, which she casually tossed to Little Red Dragon Feier.

The male classmates who had finished praying were left speechless at Huo Mei’s lavish disregard, incredibly frustrated that she didn’t even consider selling it to them!

But then again, thinking of Huo Mei’s wealth, they felt even more desperate.

Everyone collapsed…

Tang Guo opened a rankless white card.

Upon closer inspection, it was the recipe for Fantasy Snow, a type of ice cream. Useless to ordinary people, but perfect for her.

Seeing that it was exactly what she wanted, Tang Guo was so delighted that she jumped around, even happier than if she had received a Silver-grade item.

Long Ying opened a purple card.

Barbarian Bull Shield.

A Bronze-grade shield with strong defense.

Wu Ying opened a Bronze-grade war beast, the Dark Spirit Guardian, a type of dark soul war beast well-suited for her.

Besides them, other female newcomers also opened impressive items, including treasures, war beasts, and special items. Although not everyone was as fortunate as the White Elves, none faced the dire luck of the Black Marsh Frogmen.

Seeing how lucky the girls were,

The male classmates were excited, wondering if their cohort was collectively blessed with luck.

Could it be that because they suffered so much under the tyranny of the great devil Li Ao, the Goddess of Luck decided to bless them?

“Who’s first?”

Lie Feng solemnly put on the White Elf’s bracelet on his right wrist, excitedly looking around to see who would step up to set a successful start.

“You!” everyone said in unison, pushing him forward, seeing his eagerness to seize this lucky opportunity.

“Here I go, I am the most famous White Elf Prince in Shangjing, watch as fate chooses me!”

Lie Feng boosted his own morale.

“Cut it out!” everyone responded, immediately giving him a unanimous gesture of disdain.

Lie Feng reached for his Chest of Fate.

Involuntarily holding his breath.

His heart raced.

Thumping loudly.

Like a drum.

After a long moment, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and pressed hard on the Chest of Fate, a barely noticeable glimmer of light emitting…