From Bullets To Billions

When Max pulled out his phone and went online, the first thing he found, after registering for one of those gambling websites, was pure disappointment.

"I can't believe it. There's a 250k spending limit?" Max exclaimed in disbelief.

"If you would like to gamble at places with a higher limit, we would have to go to more well-known resorts," Aron explained calmly. "Or some underground ones."

Although Aron had made a clear distinction between the two, Max already knew there wasn't much of a difference. Nearly every casino that appeared legitimate on the surface was actually being run by some Syndicate, using the operation to clean dirty money.

Usually, the underground gambling rings were for those desperate enough to be banned from regular establishments, or for those who wanted to bet on things unavailable, or outright illegal, for the general public.

"Well, I guess we can only do what we can do. We'll have to see if this will be enough to cause a big effect," Max thought aloud. "The quickest way to double or lose my money... roulette, red or black, baby!"

From the corner of the room, Aron couldn't help but show a look of disappointment as he imagined what Dennis would think if he knew the Sterns were trying to increase their wealth through something as volatile as gambling.

Thankfully, luck was in Max's favor. He managed to win on his very first try, doubling the amount he'd put in.

"I knew red was my lucky color! Hahaha!" Max burst out with a wide grin. The rush he felt seeing the number on his screen, seeing that money in his account, was exhilarating. It almost didn't feel real.

Right after that, Max did a series of physical tests, taking small breaks between each machine. When he got to the treadmill, rather than testing for stamina, he tested for speed, curious to see what his new max would be.

So far there have been improvements, Max noted mentally, but they're small. I don't even know if they can be considered measurable. Is it because what I have now is already so high?

In the grand scheme of things, the amount of money I have is already massive, so to see a large increase in strength, I'd probably need an even bigger boost to my wealth... Let's just keep going and see anyway.

Thankfully, Max's good fortune held. He landed on red again, gaining yet another increase. After a brief rest, he ran through all the tests again, this time noticing the results more clearly.

On the grip machine, my grip strength was 55kg. It's on the upper end of average, but still not considered abnormal or anywhere near superhuman. I imagine Hercules could break this thing with ease, Max thought. After increasing my wealth by 500k, my grip strength went up by a whole kilogram. There were slight improvements after the first increase, and it's the same across the other tests.

It was almost unbelievable for Max to witness such improvements so quickly, but he couldn't ignore one possibility, maybe it was a placebo effect? Maybe seeing the wins and thinking about it all was tricking him into performing better.

Maybe that's what Hercules was talking about... Well, just in case, I should keep going.

Unfortunately, that was where Max's luck ended. He lost twice in a row, and when he retested, his grip strength remained at 55kg, unchanged.

Then came a downward spiral. He continued to lose and continued to test, but with every loss, his performance stayed the same or dropped. Eventually, he was down to his last 250k out of his original ten-million pot. And then... he lost it all.

"How... how?" Max shouted. "How could it have landed on black so many times in a row? Is this thing rigged?!" he yelled, feeling the urge to throw his phone across the room.

Aron shook his head, muttering softly.

"The highs and lows of gambling."

Max sighed deeply but at least figured out one thing: it was very unlikely to be a placebo effect. His highest grip test result was now 50kg after losing ten million, and the other test results followed the same pattern of decline.

Still, Max recognized that he was in better shape than he had been before making the Vow. By his own estimation, before all of this, he probably would have maxed out at around 40kg on the grip test.

"So, it seems like an increase in my wealth results in an overall increase to my body, strength, speed, awareness, dexterity. But losing it causes an overall decrease too."

He tilted his head in thought.

"I wonder if there's any way I can use this to my advantage? If I make good connections with the right group, they could probably increase my limit, right? Maybe before a big fight, I could just bet ten million... If I'm lucky, it would be an instant surge in strength."

"Please do remember," Aron warned, "you could also lose another ten million just as easily as you did."

That was a valid point, and a terrifying one. Getting weaker right before a fight could be disastrous. Max wondered if there was another way to utilize his power more safely.

Hercules had explained that the Vow was a link between the mind and one's inner strength, like the release of hormones. In Max's case, he had linked it to money, but he hadn't truly explored the how behind that connection.

Could I change it somehow? Could I access the power within me in a different way? There are more tests to do, he thought. I won't figure it out completely yet. But for now, my power feels a bit... boring. There has to be more to it.

Max glanced down at his phone. At the current moment, he had quite a few ongoing expenses, the wages for the school members, the wages for the gym staff, maintenance fees for the gyms. Luckily, he owned the buildings outright, so rent wasn't an issue. Then there were payments to Wolf as well.

Thankfully, merchandise sales were doing incredibly well, and gym memberships were offsetting some of the costs. Still, most of this success was localized, with no wider effect just yet. Fortunately, Warma had also made smart investments, but those figures wouldn't update until the end of the month, and wouldn't reflect in Max's account until then.

Warma would take his percentage fee first before transferring the profits into the main account.

[974,008,234]

You know, Max thought as he stared at the screen, if I look at numbers like that, maybe before a big fight, I really could bet ten million for an instant boost. I'll keep it in mind for desperate situations, and ask Warma about it just in case. I wonder if I still have the number for that gambling group...

At the same time, a small voice nagged at him, all I've done so far is spend money. I've earned some, but overall, my wealth is still decreasing. And I'm not even back above that one billion mark yet.

Just then, Max's phone lit up. On the screen, the name "Pink Ranger" appeared.

[There's a situation with the other schools and the Bloodline. Will you be in tomorrow?]

A situation... right when his body was feeling strong. It was the perfect opportunity. But before diving in, Max wanted to conduct one last test. He made a call.

"Wolf, remember that offer you made? You said you'd give me one of your gradings whenever I wanted. Well... I'd like to take you up on that offer. I want one of those gradings."