Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Hey, have you guys heard? There's a Grade 3 vestige giveaway?"

"Huh? What!?"

"You have to be joking."

"I swear, I'm not. Its a raffle draw and the tickets don't even cost a federal coin. It's only 50 pences."

(100 Federal pences = 1 Federal coin).

"Shit, that's damn cheap. I'm gonna buy three hundred tickets."

Three hundred tickets were equivalent to 15,000 pences or 150 federal coin. Although this wasn't a small amount, compared to the value of Veromos, it was chump change. After all, the starting price for a Grade 3 vestige began at 10,000 federal coins while fourth level vestiges began at 50,000.

Veromos was similar to a low-end Grade 4 vestige which brought its value at the entry point

Usually, unless one was from a wealthy background, only sixth level stellar practitioners could afford a Grade 4 vestige. This meant that all the way up to the fifth level, freelancers and stellar practitioners could only hope to wield a Grade 3 vestige, and most times, this was only if they worked really hard to afford it.

Now, a Grade 3 vestige on par with a Grade 4 vestige was up for grabs. Even if it was only comparable to a low-end Grade 4 vestige, this didn't reduce its value but actually increased it.

Cost was one thing, but another reason Grade 4 vestiges were usually seen only in the hands of sixth level stellar practitioners was because one needed to be at that level to be able to utilise it's true potential.

For instance, a fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner using a Grade 4 vestige could be described as wasteful. A good example being Lucas, who could at most draw out power in par with a fifth level stellar practitioner while armed with a Grade 4 vestige, even if he was using Melissa's strength.

But Grade 3 vestiges were different. Even a third level stellar practitioner could comfortably use it.

Although Veromos might be a bit more burdening for them, it was still more compatible than an actual Grade 4 vestige. Due to this, its value was even higher than a low-end Grade 4 vestige.

A mere 50 pences ticket price wasn't enough to make people hesitate.

The odds were low? Then buy more tickets!

Even if one bought ten thousand tickets, as long as they won, it wasn't a loss —heck, it will be a massive profit. Anything under one hundred thousand tickets was a profit as long as they won the grand prize.

"Go go, go!"

The announcement on the Seven Stars Spring Dealership's website stated that the raffle draw tickets would go on sale in two days. But even before that date, the news had been publicised all over. After all, the grand prize for a premium tier Grade 3 vestige.

Having expected the high interest from the public, Altimo's suggestions came into play.

The first was that there would be a limited number of tickets —about five hundred thousand. Any more and not only would they have to answer to the city's anti-crimes and lottery regulation commission, but they would also have to cover a lot of expenses for the other prizes. Even so, the revenue from five hundred thousand ticket sales would be two hundred and fifty thousand federal coins, which was a significant amount.

To ensure that as many people as possible could participate, registered accounts could only buy a maximum of ten tickets. In other words, considering the most ideal situation, fifty thousand people would be able to participate in this raffle draw.

Although this number was a drop in the ocean for the Baylands city-state population, the raffle draw wasn't meant for everyone. If one couldn't get a ticket, much less win the grand prize, they could only blame their luck.

The first day went by quickly, and thanks to the information dissemination of the current era, almost everyone in the entire city-state was aware of the news. Many decided to try their luck while some individuals who really wanted to win it registered multiple accounts on the SSS dealership website with different devices. This was so they could buy as many tickets as possible once it came on sale.

23:50, Wednesday.

There was only ten minutes left for the day to come to an end and a new day to begin. Even so, around 30% of the population of Baylands city-state was awake. While the number might look small, one should know that the population of the city alone was in the tens of millions. On the other hand, the city-state was already above a quarter of a billion (250m). Thirty percent of that number was by no means small.

This incredible mass of people were all logged in to the Seven Stars Spring Dealership's website. A significant portion of them constantly refreshed the website's home page even though they knew it wasn't yet time for the tickets to be on sale. They did so in hopes that they would be able to react first to the change when it eventually happens.

With so much traffic and actions occuring at the same time, the website would have crashed. However, Altimo had taken this into account with the server hosting the site being a top tier grade. Even if the number of people was tripled, the website would still be functional.

Naturally, the costs for this wasn't small, but it was considered as expenses in the dealership's books and somewhat covered by the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company. Part of the investment of the DSAC into the SSS dealership were resources in the form of cash. It was thanks to this funding that the dealership could handle such expenditures.

0:00

'Now!"

As soon as the clocks hand struck and the numbers on the digital displays changed, the millions of people awake hurriedly refreshed the website. In the original location of the announcement, there was now a "Purchase raffle draw tickets" tab.

The nocturnal crowd immediately tapped the button. Some rushed to purchase tickets while some were stunned at what laid in front of them.

"Damn it."

A young man in his mid 30s cursed.

On the new page they had been routed to, there was a section that required one to input certain personal details related to their identification. While this didn't seem like an issue, it ruined the plans of those who wanted to use multiple devices to get around the 'ten tickets per account' rule.

The man's hesitation lasted only for two seconds before he hurriedly filled in the short form with his identification and payment details. Probably to increase the difficulty of the raffle draw, the SSS dealership didn't implement this requirement when making an account.

Once done, the man selected the maximum number of tickets and paid for it.

[We apologise, but the tickets have been sold out]

"Already?!" The man was speechless.

From exactly when the digital clock displayed 00:00 until the time he finished inputting his details and clicked 'Confirm', only fifty six seconds had gone by (56); after all, it took quite sometime for one to fill in the form. Despite that, the first 300,000 thousand tickets to be on sale were already sold out. Considering the limit in place, that meant that 30,000 people completed the transaction under 56 seconds, faster than the man.

"Fuck this!"

The man in his 30s wasn't the only one who was stunned speechless. Many other people who were either slower or just a second faster than the man were all cursing out loud in their rooms. They simply just couldn't believe that the tickets were sold out in under a minute.

It was only three hours later that the company behind the raffle draw, Seven Stars Spring Dealership, announced that the three hundred thousand tickets were actually sold out in 47 seconds. Everyone who was awake at that time was shocked by this.

When the news was broadcasted in the morning news, various social media platforms achieved a new high in their traffic in the last seven days. Various discussions either analysing or commenting on the topic arose in different pages and channels.

"Did you guys here?"

"47 seconds. Fuck me!"

"That's an insane speed even for a hyuman."

"Upstairs [1], you're quite slow. For an average hyuman, sure. But not for a freelancer at the third level and above."

"Huh? The freelancers joined in the fun?"

"Of course they did. Although I can't say for certain how many, at least fifty percent of those who gor those tickets should be veteran stellar practitioners."

"Hey, using powers for a draw should be cheating!"

"But how can you prove that they did so? Recall that advancing in level increases your physical abilities including reflexes. You can't say they're cheating just because they're faster."

"...ugh. Fine."

While all this took place, the Seven Stars Spring Dealership finally announced the time for the second round of ticket sales. It would take place by 8pm only the same day and would feature the rest of the tickets.

A total of five hundred thousand raffle draw tickets were supposed to be sold, but only three hundred thousand were sold out in the first batch. The three hundred thousand effectively eliminated a significant portion of people from contending for the following tickets, but it also ramped up the atmosphere for the next batch.

This time around, everyone was now aware of the process, making them prepared. However, it also indirectly increased the difficulty. What's more, people became desperate.

Some individuals who managed to get tickets from the first batch saw this opportunity and began reselling their tickets at a higher price.

There was only one grand prize and while the other supporting prizes were quite interesting, they weren't as valuable and were also limited. This meant that many tickets, at least three hundred thousand of them, would be duds. In that case, it would be better to make a profit reselling the tickets than depending on luck.

As such, in the black market and some reseller hosting platforms, the SSSD raffle draw tickets appeared. Some sellers sold theirs for three federal coins, a 600% increase, while others were more greedy and sold for five federal coins.

Although these prices were much more than the original price of the ticket, the value was subject to the customer. Some felt confident in their luck and as long as they won the supporting prizes, they would still make a profit. If they were lucky enough to win the grand prize, Demon Slayer Veromos, that would be making a killing.

In comparison, paying three or even five federal coins wasn't a big deal.

And so, most of the tickets that appeared on the reselling platforms were all sold out less than ten minutes after they were posted.

Seeing this, some other ticket holders became greedy and decided to take advantage of the fever. They posted their tickets for sale but at an even more ridiculous price —ten federal coins, a 2000% increase in the original price.

This time around, the tickets weren't sold out as quickly, because people hesitated on whether it was worth it. However, there were still buyers who didn't blink an eye and bought as much as they could.

Like that, the second round approached.