The Greedy Frog
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Marvel: Pay to Win Gambling 1
🕑 Added 2025-01-05 17:08:11 +0000 UTCChapter 1: The Gambler
“Well, fuck.”
Wet clothes, multiple abrasions on my hands, a rapidly thumping heart, and an aching head.
Genuinely, what the fuck did I wake up to?
“Ugh!”
Trying to stand up was clearly a mistake; there was a gnarly looking bullet wound on my left thigh.
Oh god, who shot me?
No—how did I get shot?
It was clear I wasn’t in my room. My room wasn’t some damned dumpster alley.
“Gah!”
Whatever I did, it hurt.
No, I had to think about this situation. The pain was my second priority at the moment—though it hurt like a bitch. The fact that I was shot meant there was someone out there after me. And to make things worse, I had no idea where I was.
It was dark. My vision was cloudy, partly because I’d just woken up and partly because of the dirt stuck to my eyelashes. My hands were in a condition that could barely hold anything; the cuts and rash over them burned horrendously.
Despite it, I had to push my body. Whoever was out there to hurt me most probably still was. Staying hidden in a place like this would only buy me a few moments before I was eventually caught.
Trying to stand on my feet sent a sharp pain through my entire body that nearly reached my head. But still, I had to walk, and I did walk. Lips pressed to the point of scarring, and fingers clinging onto the concrete of the buildings like a climber on a mountain—all to put as little pressure as I could on the ground.
God dammit!
It still hurts!
Even the slightest pressure made the blood ooze out of the wound and trickle down my feet. I was definitely losing a lot of blood, and if I didn’t get it treated soon, I would definitely lose consciousness.
And if I wasn’t already losing my mind from the pain, I definitely lost it when I started hearing random voices in my head.
[Checking Soul Synchronization Progress.]
[Synchronization rate: 100%]
[Soul fully synced with body.]
It was a mechanical voice, like the ones you’d hear on random pirated ebook sites because they couldn’t afford voice actors.
[Moolah Gambling System ready to be synchronized with host.]
What the fuck is this voice?
Moolah, like money? It’s using slang now?
Fuck it, I need to get out of here.
[Host identified: Daniel Christopher Hayes]
Who is that no—nevermind.
It’s me, isn’t it?
The hands, the burly body, and the voice. They weren’t mine; they were nothing like me.
[Synchronizing Moolah Gambling System with host ‘Daniel Christopher Hayes’]
No matter how long I walked, the damned alley just didn’t seem to end. Five feet, ten feet, fifty feet.
Even after dragging my body for so long, I couldn’t see any exit. There were deviations—many—but none showed me any signs of an escape.
It’s what you call a concrete maze, a metropolitan hell.
[Congratulations! Moolah Gambling System has been successfully synced with you!]
You?
It’s now directly referring to me?
[Showing you the profile stats.]
What is this? Some game?
[Profile: Daniel Christopher Hayes]
[Title: The Gambler]
[Race: Meta Human]
[Class: Beta Class Mutant]
[Age: 26 Years]
[Skills: {Mythical: }, {Legendary: }, {Epic: }, {Rare: }, {Common: }]
[Items: {Mythical: }, {Legendary: }, {Epic: }, {Rare: }, {Common: }]
[Moolah: $10]
Huh?
I had to take a pause for this, standing entirely by putting my body weight on my right foot and pressing my body against the wall of a random building.
But what is this now?
When it said stats, I expected to see—yes, see; I was also seeing things now—something like a game screen with stats like attack, defense, or charisma-type things. That’s what one would understand by stats.
But this isn’t anything like that.
Skills?
Items?
Clearly, they were empty, but it meant I could get them.
As for the screen… Well…
The translucent orangish background with light lavender text boxes, and inside them, even smaller boxes.
Yeah, I could almost see through it.
The outer orange was more like a frame, with the lavender boxes dividing the frame into three parts—one stating the profile, which was larger than the other two boxes. The other two were of equal size, dividing the right side of the frame into skills and items.
If the name of the system didn’t make it sound annoying, me being labeled The Gambler certainly did.
I have never even bet a dime on anything, and now I’m somehow a Gambler?
Fuck that.
I’m The Gambler.
And the race being Meta Human and class being Beta Class Mutant didn’t tickle me in a good way.
I had a growing suspicion that I knew exactly what this meant, and maybe even where I was.
I’ve heard the term Beta Class Mutant in only one place, and it wasn’t a good place to be.
And just when I thought of worrying about this madness later and moving toward a safer place, I heard the same mechanical sound inside my head.
And of course, a new screen popped up to the right of the already existing one.
[Congratulations on awakening the Moolah Gambling System!]
[You have been granted a free rare roll!]
The moment it said that, the screen to my right started glowing.
It had an entirely lavender frame, with the left side stating Skills and the right side stating Items, and below each were the exact same things: Mythical, Legendary, Epic, Rare, and Common.
Five categories on each side, making ten total boxes, each having a circular option with the word ‘ROLL’ written on it.
Below it all was a singular white-framed, purple-worded box that said Moolah and showed $10.
And yes, I had checked when I saw it before as well. I had exactly a $10 bill in my pocket.
Sure enough, as it said I had a free rare roll, the roll option under the Rare box started glowing brighter.
Unable to walk further because of the pain, I ended up pressing the roll button.
I was already fucked. What else could go wrong?
And yes, I might have triggered Murphy's Law, but I don’t even care at this point.
[Rolling for a Rare Skill!]
The entire Rare box started to glow golden, staying that way for exactly three seconds before finally returning to its normal state.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the rare skill ‘Healing Sphere’!]
[Healing Sphere: Forms a sphere around the user’s body, negating every negative status effect, minor ailments, and bruises instantly. Major illnesses, larger open wounds, and bone damage require longer to heal. The radius of the sphere can be increased to encompass up to three people at once if desired.]
I’m unsure whether it was a first-time rolling bonus or just Lady Luck finally smiling on me, but I had just gotten the exact thing I needed for my situation.
Now, how do I use this thing?
[Thinking about the usage of the skill will activate it. Similarly, thinking about stopping it will deactivate it.]
[Status and Gambling screens can be brought forward and dispersed in the same manner.]
Without wasting a single breath, I immediately thought about activating the Healing Sphere around me. And guess what?
I wasn’t dreaming—if the pain wasn’t a clear indication enough. And I most certainly wasn’t going insane either.
Because as I wished for it, a golden, barely visible sphere engulfed me. It was perfectly sized to fit me inside it, and as promised, it started healing me.
The minor bruises and cuts vanished almost immediately, with the abrasions on my hands healing next. I didn’t feel energized, but I did feel better.
As I waited, I felt a warm sensation around the bullet hole on my thigh. By the first minute, it had started to regrow the bone shattered by the bullet. By the second minute, the bone was fully healed. By the third, it began regrowing the damaged vessels and tissues, rebuilding muscles and fat by the fourth. Finally, by the fifth minute, even my skin was back to normal.
Damn.
I tried applying pressure on my leg, and I couldn’t feel a single issue.
It was as if there had never been a hole in my leg in the first place.
Even jumping felt normal—although heavier than usual. Which made me curious.
Having dispersed the status screen, I looked around the alley for some source of a reflective surface. It was dark, sure, but I could still navigate through it.
After about a minute of searching, I finally found an area with broken shards of glass. They were definitely from the broken window right above—a clear sign the building wasn’t maintained, most likely abandoned.
But not worrying about that, I quickly picked up a shard. Being tinted, it allowed me to see my reflection.
Short blonde hair, well-maintained but with enough volume around the crown. Light blue eyes, a well-trained, muscular body. And judging by the direct shadow on the wall, I was clearly six feet tall, maybe an inch or two above it.
It was a good body—handsome even. Not the pretty-boy look, but the ruggedly handsome kind.
As I admired the look I was gifted, the system—I’m not going to call it The Moolah System—rang out once again.
[Adjusting the rates for each roll.]
I had been expecting this one way or another. There had been no conditions given for the rolls earlier.
And no, I couldn’t press it without the rates.
Yes, I tried.
No, the mythical roll didn’t register.
[New rates for each roll have been set.]
Now, there was a cost written against each pull.
The common one was listed at $10, rare at $100, epic at $10,000, legendary at a whopping 1 million, and mythical at a bloody billion dollars.
Yeah, never going to reach those.
[Note that once you make a roll, the prices will increase.]
Oh, how so?
[Common prices will increase by a multiple of 10, Rare by a hundred times the multiple of 100, Epic by a hundred times multiples of 10,000, Legendary and Mythical by twice the original value.]
Huh?
Wait, let me figure this out.
So, for Common, it will increase in the manner of 10, 20, 30, and onwards?
Then for Rare, it starts at 100 but will jump to 10,000, then 20,000, 30,000, and so on?
Epic is even more expensive, as it would increase from 10,000 directly to 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 dot, dot, dot.
Legendary might be possible when I grow old, but Mythical is only a dream. It will go from one million to two million, then four million for Legendary—and swap that million with billion, and you have Mythical.
Yeah, no. Not possible.
That being said, I do have a $10 bill.
So… let's roll for Common.
[Rolling for a Common skill!]
Once again, a bright glow appeared over the Common skill box, dying down after three seconds.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the Common skill ‘Spit Shooter’!]
[Spit Shooter: You are perfectly able to shoot and hit any target with your spit within a 50-meter radius.]
I really had way too high of an expectation from a Common roll, didn’t I?
[New roll cost for Common skill: $20.]
I might have rolled for it, but now I don’t even have a single penny because of it.
Yes, I checked.
Yes, the $10 bill vanished from my pocket.
No, I don’t know if it counts money in bank accounts or purely cash.
But maybe I should figure out the last one soon.
I should get out of here for now.
But wait.
Remember when I said nothing could go wrong beyond what already had?
Yeah?
Then guess what?
It can go worse, and Murphy is a goddamn philosopher!
“There you were hiding, rat!”
A hoarse voice, followed by the sound of a gun going off.
Yeah, I’m fucked.
_______________________________________________________________
[[A/N: I made the system design myself, so it looks pretty bad. Hope you can still understand the basic design.
Name: Daniel Christopher Hayes (“Danny”)
Title: The Gambler
Race: Meta Human
Class: Beta Class Mutant
Age: 26
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6’1” (186 cms)
Built: Well-Built
Previous Occupation: will be revealed soon
Current Occupation: Gambler
]]
