Chapter 557: The First Valkyrie

After listening to the introduction of the new system, Zu An felt a moment of disorientation. He felt as if he had returned to his time playing games before his transmigration. Wasn't this so-called "Valkyrie System" just like the gacha pools from those unscrupulous game developers?

Those companies relied on this to trick a vast number of players into spending money. Countless people would pour insane amounts of money into the games just to get an SSR card.

But merely spending money wasn't enough; luck also played a significant role. To draw their desired SSR cards, players would go to extreme lengths, even beyond praying to gods and worshipping Buddha. He had even seen one player chanting a string of strange incantations from the Cthulhu mythos before drawing, looking utterly deranged.

Recalling all these memories from before his transmigration, Zu An felt a warmth in his heart. Looking at this "Valkyrie System" again, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

However, what was frustrating was that in his previous life, people could draw cards by spending money. What did this system require him to spend? Rage points?

And what was with that "friendly reminder" at the end? It reeked of malice, clearly indicating an extremely low probability of drawing a Valkyrie.

He was, after all, the type who had never won the lottery, big or small, his entire life.

Still, there was no point in overthinking it. Ultimately, he had to try out this new system.

He took out a tiger tally and examined it in his hand. It looked similar to the tiger tallies seen in period dramas, but it was far more intricate. As for the material, it was neither gold nor jade, yet resembled both. Crucially, it was covered in numerous intricate and mysterious runic carvings, which he presumed were used to communicate with the spatial turbulence.

"These runic carvings might be more significant than the tiger tally itself," Zu An mused. He wasn't in a hurry to use the tiger tally; instead, his attention was drawn elsewhere.

Unfortunately, he knew nothing about runes, so he couldn't make sense of them. He decided to make rubbings of these runes first and then find an expert in runes to study them in the future.

He retrieved a brush and ink from the Glazed Pearl space. However, the tiger tally's material wouldn't hold ink, making rubbings impossible. He stubbornly tried to copy them by hand, but no matter how clearly he saw a detail of the rune pattern one moment, his mind would instantly turn into mush the moment he tried to draw it on paper, forgetting everything.

After several attempts, Zu An finally gave up. Clearly, the runic array contained some kind of secret key designed to prevent it from being deciphered.

"Stingy!" Zu An muttered. Left with no choice, he began holding the tiger tally and sincerely praying as instructed.

A miraculous power emanated from the tiger tally in his hand. Zu An had the illusion of ascending.

He seemed to feel his soul leaving his body, rising all the way into the vast starry sky. Then, a cosmic storm suddenly swept in from not far away.

He realized with understanding that this must be the so-called spatial turbulence.

He gathered his thoughts and cautiously ventured in. The spatial turbulence was filled with destructive power. Fortunately, peculiar runes rotated around his body, protecting him; otherwise, he might have been instantly obliterated, his soul scattered.

These were the runes from the tiger tally.

Zu An was thoughtful, but he soon noticed tiny specks of light twinkling within the spatial turbulence.

"Are those the so-called Valkyries?"

Zu An's heart filled with joy, and he tried to establish a connection with them using his soul. However, all his requests were like stones sinking into the sea, receiving no response.

Only one bright spot responded, then swiftly flew towards him.

Zu An was overjoyed and couldn't help but laugh wildly, looking up at the sky. "Hahaha, I truly am the protagonist! To have established a connection with a Valkyrie on my very first try – what incredible luck is this?"

He wondered if this Valkyrie would be beautiful... *cough cough*, he was certainly not one to judge by appearance, but on the basis of being capable, a little beauty would be more pleasing to the eye.

"Please, anything but someone like Lei Sanren..."

Zu An thought of Lei Sanren's tower-like physique and mused that if he were to draw a Valkyrie like that, he'd genuinely rather die.

As his thoughts swirled, the shimmering light spot appeared before him, and he instinctively caught it with his hand.

"Huh, why is it so light?"

However, his expression instantly changed the next moment, because what was in his hand was not a Valkyrie, but a hat—and a brightly glowing green one at that.

Zu An: "???"

What was going on? He didn't know why drawing for a Valkyrie had yielded a hat, but he figured that since it came from a gacha system, it shouldn't be too bad. Didn't that 'Hat of Forgiveness' he drew earlier have miraculous functions?

He quickly examined the green hat in his hand, but after reading the item description that appeared before him, he fell silent:

"Although it's just an ordinary green hat, if you don't mind wearing it out, it guarantees you'll be the flashiest person on the street."

"What the--!" Zu An exclaimed in exasperation, immediately throwing the hat away.

Bad luck!

To draw such a thing on his first try! Besides, if anyone was going to wear a green hat, it should be him putting it on others, not the other way around.

With a gloomy expression, he then took out the second tiger tally and began his second prayer summon.

This time, he dared not be as careless as before. Instead, he focused intently, opening his mind to seek a light spot that truly resonated with his soul.

After a moment, there was another response. Feeling the eagerness within the light spot, his own soul also began to leap with excitement.

Zu An couldn't help but smile. It was said that masters of alchemy and weapon forging often experienced such soul resonance when creating their most prized works, and he hadn't expected to have a similar experience.

Soon, the shimmering light spot came into his hand. As the light dissipated, he gazed intently.

"A book?"

Could it be some peerless secret manual?

But he already had three top-tier unique skills, and he couldn't possibly practice them all.

Of course, if it were a secret tome from one of the other unknown lands, then he'd be rich.

He looked on with anticipation; the first character that caught his eye was "少" (shao, meaning 'young' or 'few').

"Shao what? The Seventy-Two Arts of Shaolin?"

His gaze dropped, and his eyelids suddenly twitched, because the second character was "妇" (fu, meaning 'woman' or 'wife').

Zu An told himself to calm down; even emperors studied the "Plain Girl Scripture", so this "young wife" thing might be a similar cultivation method.

However, when the third character came into view, he immediately had a very bad premonition, because the third character was "白" (bai, meaning 'white').

He dared not delay; he quickly looked down, and indeed, the last character was the one he had feared, causing his face to contort into a very strange expression.

He was even unwilling to give up, deliberately flipping through the contents to see if it was just a cover with something else inside.

But he was soon disappointed, because the contents were indeed that familiar book—the one he had specifically transcribed for Ji Dengtu back in Brightmoon City, making him more than familiar with it.

Zu An's face was ashen. He directly took out the third tiger tally and began a new draw.

As the light dissipated, a sachet appeared in his hand, with three characters written on it: "蒙汗药" (knockout drops).

Zu An: "..."

He stubbornly tried it out. Having been with Ji Xiaoxi for so long, he understood a little about medicinal properties, and this was just the most ordinary knockout drops, with no special functions whatsoever.

He could buy this stuff by the pound in Brightmoon City, yet it had cost him such a precious tiger tally.

What were these things he had drawn three times in a row? Hadn't it said they were items from the spatial turbulence that resonated with his soul?

Could he really be such a despicable, vulgar, and shameless existence?

Thinking of this, Zu An instantly burst into tears, feeling deeply wronged.

It took him a great effort to calm himself down before he proceeded to use the remaining tiger tallies.

He had made up his mind: if all ten of these prayer draws only yielded trash, he would absolutely never use this "Valkyrie System" again in the future.

Wouldn't it be better to spend Rage points elsewhere, where they could reliably enhance his own abilities?

Besides, if he wanted to live off women's money, there were plenty of women in the real world he could rely on; why bother with these ethereal Valkyries?

He didn't know if his thoughts had been heard, but the subsequent prayers weren't as outrageous. At least they were all weapons, such as a broad-bladed sword, a spiked club, an iron shovel, a meteor hammer.

They looked like weapons for ordinary passersby. Zu An checked them; although some were somewhat sharp, their grade was merely common, at best excellent among common weapons.

Of course, there was also one that looked more like a musical instrument, resembling a jade pipa. It appeared very valuable and its aesthetic was quite appealing.

Zu An wondered if he could find an opportunity to give it to one of his close female confidantes, but it seemed none of them played the pipa.

As his thoughts wandered, he began his tenth tiger tally prayer. A beam of light rapidly approached. Just as he was about to see what oddity would appear this time, he suddenly froze, because what appeared before him was no longer an inanimate object, but a woman—an extremely beautiful woman.

He considered himself accustomed to seeing various stunning beauties, but the moment he saw her face, his mind still went blank with a 'boom,' and he stood there dumbfounded.

What shocked him even more was the piece of information that appeared in his mind: "Daughter of feudal lords, bathed in imperial favor, adorned in robes embroidered with jade, silk, and gold threads. As charming as a celestial maiden from the Ninth Heaven, yet truly the fox that brought down the Yin-Shang Dynasty."

"Da... Daji?"