dognovel Chapter 6 The Compass of Unexpected Wealth
Chapter 6 The Compass of Unexpected Wealth
The price for perceiving these characteristics is a five-year lifespan.
The cost of simply giving an ordinary apple the effect of "extending its lifespan by one year" is as high as five years!
Clearly, Su Fan's attempt to exploit the bug failed, resulting in a low-value investment and low return.
Su Fan's excitement, sense of luck, and even a hint of arrogance at the possibility of controlling his destiny were extinguished completely, as if doused with ice water.
Fantasy time is over! Reality delivered a devastating blow to Su Fan, who was trying to exploit a bug in his fantasy world.
Su Fan smiled wryly, put the apple back on the table, and rubbed his throbbing temples. The continuous mental exhaustion and the emotional ups and downs just now made the bone-deep fatigue even heavier.
I have to go to work tomorrow, so maybe I should take a break. This thought came to mind with a sense of absurd irony.
He was just trying to explore the extraordinary realm of "life extension," and now he's back in his cubicle facing his boss's wrath. A superpowered individual? It sounds cool, but the reality is, he still has to pay rent and utilities, and the numbers in his bank account won't automatically increase just because he has an extra pillow.
Su Fan felt like he was being a bit stupid. He was already a superpowered person, and his superpowers were incredibly powerful, so why did he still need to go to work? Maybe he could use his superpowers to solve problems.
"Am I stupid?" he muttered to himself, a hint of self-mockery in his voice. "Isn't this the epitome of begging with a golden bowl in hand?"
I'm so stupid, really.
I only knew that this ability could be used to exchange lifespan for extraordinary items, but I never thought that these "extraordinary items" themselves could become a fulcrum for changing reality. No, it's not that I didn't think about it, but that my thinking was limited—like a beggar who suddenly inherits a fortune, whose first reaction is to hold a golden bowl and beg for food, but never thinks that he can walk into any restaurant.
The reason for working is simply that the boss pays wages. In other words, the essence of working is that you put in labor and the boss gives you compensation, which is money.
So now we should be thinking about how to use our superpowers to make money. As long as we can get cash flow, then there's no need to work.
So what kind of strange object should I create to meet the requirements?
For example, a treasure bowl can be given the property of replication. You only need to throw in one gram of gold, and it can help replicate a lot of gold. After all, gold is a precious metal, so it fits the bill!
For example, you can give your wallet the ability to generate 10,000 yuan in cash every day, so you'll never run out of money.
For example, one could imbue a mobile phone with strong artificial intelligence characteristics that make it loyal to its owner, thus becoming the uncrowned king of the internet and getting everyone to transfer one dollar to them.
For example, you could give a magic wand the ability to transform common elements like stones into expensive precious metals.
For example, it can give the compass the characteristic of attraction, attracting "unclaimed wealth" or "forgotten wealth opportunities" within a range in an extremely slow and random manner.
The theory is sound; let's begin.
The result was not favorable, and the cost was too high. For example, the cost of giving the treasure bowl the ability to replicate was a lifespan of one hundred years.
The price of the Midas Touch, which grants the elemental transformation properties, is a lifespan of fifty years.
The wallet is given the feature of automatically generating 10,000 cash every day at midnight, with random and valid banknote serial numbers, at the cost of an 80-year lifespan.
Su Fan was stunned. It was too outrageous. If he had given these characteristics, he would probably be gone in the next second.
With a last glimmer of hope, I began to try. I picked up the compass I'd dug out from some hidden corner and began to concentrate my will.
Conceptual characteristics: It can attract and gather wealth that is temporarily "ownerless" within a one-kilometer radius centered on the compass, due to the original owner's carelessness, forgetfulness, abandonment, or extremely low probability of being missed.
Su Fan sensed that the price was three months of his lifespan.
Su Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his financial freedom was secure, and the price he paid was acceptable.
"Agreed!" Su Fan confirmed the payment in his mind without further hesitation.
That familiar sense of loss resurfaced, but this time it was exceptionally slight and brief, as if only a faint trace of life had been drawn away, and it ended in less than three seconds.
He immediately stared at the compass in his hand.
Three seconds later, the dark blue text appeared like smoke:
[Rare Item: The Compass for Unexpected Wealth]
Rank: Dust Level
Characteristic: Wealth Accumulation
Cost: Three months of lifespan
rule:
1. **[Gathering]** A spherical area with a radius of one kilometer centered on the compass. It absorbs wealth that the original owner had forgotten, abandoned, or long unclaimed, or that they had missed due to an extremely low probability.
2. The "Ownership" effect only works when the compass has an owner. It must be carried at all times and will only attract wealth within its current location when placed still.
3. [Strong Luck] Slightly improves luck.
cost:
1. Luck boost fueled by presence: Presence refers to the intensity and depth of others' recognition and memory of "you" in their social networks.
2. There is no active cooling, but the wealth value is positively correlated with the regional economic level, and the returns increase in affluent areas.
"Dust level..." Su Fan murmured the term. It sounded like the lowest, most basic level, as insignificant as dust. Was it because the "price" he had paid was only enough to reach this level? Or was it that his current abilities, understanding, or some other limitation only allowed him to touch the "dust" level?
More importantly, there are the side effects. The "persistent mental fatigue" from the [Shared Dream Pillow], and the "depletion of presence" from the [Unexpected Wealth Compass]. These side effects seem to have some hidden connection to the characteristics of the artifacts themselves, perhaps even a kind of... "balance" or "compensation"?
The artifacts created by Su Fan are not divine artifacts in the traditional sense; rather, they have both advantages and disadvantages. The [Dream Pillow] allows one to become the master of dreams, but it leaves one mentally exhausted after use. The [Unexpected Wealth Compass] can bring unexpected wealth and good fortune, but it consumes one's presence.
It feels like giving a strange object special characteristics is like buying a house; lifespan is just the down payment, while the cost is the monthly mortgage payments.
Are even more powerful artifacts subject to even harsher prices?
Fortunately, the compass was only three centimeters in diameter, quite miniature. Su Fan simply made it into a pendant. He didn't choose to resign immediately; he planned to see if the [Unexpected Wealth Compass] could truly help him achieve financial freedom.
The next morning, Su Fan was woken by his alarm clock. The mental fatigue still lingered; the aftereffects of using the [Shared Dream Pillow] were still present. He touched the miniature compass pendant hanging on his chest; the cool metallic touch made him a little more awake.
"Well then, let's begin the test, 'Unexpected Fortune'," he muttered to himself, putting the pendant close to his body.
Unlike usual, before leaving home today, Su Fan made a point of checking his pockets, backpack, and the area around his shoe cabinet—places he frequently comes into contact with daily.
Squeezing onto the subway during rush hour, Su Fan headed to the company as usual. For the first few hours, everything seemed normal. While working, Su Fan kept an eye on her surroundings.
Around 10 a.m., he went to the break room to get some water. When he returned to his workstation, he found an old-looking fountain pen next to his keyboard, with a faded luxury brand logo on the cap. He clearly remembered that there was nothing there when he left. He asked his neighboring colleagues, but they all shook their heads, saying they hadn't seen anyone put it there, and no one had lost a pen.
The administrator was called in to identify it. He glanced at it and said, "This brand... seems to be a gift from a company partner a few years ago. It seems like a batch was disposed of during a warehouse cleanup. How did this one end up here? That's strange."
During lunch break, Su Fan went downstairs to eat with his colleagues. After finishing his meal, as he took out his phone, he pulled a rather heavy silver coin with a foreign portrait engraved on it from his coat pocket. He was certain he hadn't had it in his pocket that morning. His colleague glanced at it curiously: "Wow, foreign money? Where did you get it?" Su Fan vaguely replied, "I think I collected it before, but I forgot," trying to brush it off.
When Su Fan got home from get off work, he opened his usual drawer and found an inconspicuous little red cloth bag covered in dust.
He remembered that there were only some odds and ends in the drawer before he left in the morning. Opening the cloth bag, he found several gold longevity locks that were quite old but heavy. The cloth bag itself was worn and looked like something from many years ago.
Su Fan has come to understand the ability of the [Unexpected Wealth Compass]. It's like a large vacuum cleaner, absorbing high-value, unclaimed items and giving them to Su Fan.
On the third day after leaving the dream, Su Fan felt his mind clear again, thinking was no longer difficult, and the feeling of exhaustion from being drained of energy was greatly relieved.
I imagine others are probably experiencing the same changes. Sure enough, my phone screen lit up, and the chat group for Bai Ze started to get active, much earlier than it had been a few days ago.
Bai Ze's most loyal servant (Chen Yang): "@All brothers and sisters! I have some great news to report! I feel like I've come back to life! My mind is clear, and I feel energetic all over! Is it because our 'spiritual energy adaptation period' is over? Or is it because the Great God Bai Ze is secretly protecting us?"
Jiang Yuhe (Jiang He): "My mental fatigue has been significantly reduced today. Don't attribute it too much to mysterious factors. The existence of the law itself is a valuable object of observation."
Wang Ge (Wang Jianguo), a worker at the construction site: "Me too, I feel much more relaxed today. A few days ago, I felt so tired after work that my bones felt like they were being squeezed through my bones, but I feel much better today!"
Tranquility Leads to Far-Reaching Vision (Li Bowen): "That's right. When I woke up this morning, the lingering fatigue was greatly relieved, and my mind was much clearer. The nurses at the hospital all said that I looked better today."
Su Fan: "It seems everyone's in a similar situation. Me too, I feel much better today."
Bai Ze's most loyal servant (Chen Yang): "Thinking back, it was like we were dreaming of a fairyland. The world was adapting to our previous mental exhaustion, and now we have obtained the Invincible Body!"
Jiang Yuhe (Jiang He): "Our experiences, regardless of their nature, will only limit our perspective if we fit them into a mystical narrative framework. It might even lead us to ignore data that doesn't fit that framework. What we should do is record the phenomena themselves and summarize their objective laws, rather than rushing to stuff them into some ready-made, unverified 'box.'"