Michael needed cash to buy skills. All the investment books showed strategies that required capital and long-term investing. He turned to the system hoping for a solution "System do you have any way for me to earn some quick cash?"
[ Host should check out the business section of the skill store. All the skills there are meant to help host earn income.]
Michael opened the skill store and went to the business section. He saw many skills: Accounting, Stock market analysis, Legal Expertise, Money Laundering, Sales etc… However, he was stunned by the prices. Each skill costs 100,000 credits just to buy the basic tier. "Why are these skills so much more expensive than combat skills?"
[ Combat skills at basic tier are supposed to be 100,000 credits too. However, considering the host's pitiful financial situation, the system subsidized those skills and gave a 90% discount. However, this only applies to combat skills as they help you protect your life. All other skills from Business, Social, and Tech category are considered supplementary; therefore they are at full price.]
"Well, at least the system wanted me to stay alive" Michael consoled himself; however, he was let down by the prices."But I cannot even afford any of the business skills so I how do I make money?"
[That is not true. Host should check the bottom of the list in the business section.]
Michael scrolled to the end of the list and saw a skill that only costs 100 credits. He read the description for the skill.
Gambling: One of the best ways to make a quick buck and lose ten in the process. However, that only applies to people without Overpowered systems. This skill increases the host's innate gambling expertise.
Basic tier (100 credits): Host will have increased chances in all bets and will be able to learn new games much faster.
Intermediate tier (900 credits): Host will have an innate gambling sense and will be able to predict outcomes with 30% accuracy.
Advanced tier (2000 credits): Host will be able to predict outcomes with 60% accuracy, and is able to rapidly learn new games. Host will be able to detect traps and tampered machines and instantly recall the odds for any bet.
Supreme Tier (1,000,000,000 credits): Host will never lose in gambling as long as there is a chance of winning. Host can instantly learn any games and can completely detect any tampering.
Michael was happy with the prices for the first three tiers; however, he was astonished at the cost of upgrading to supreme tier. "One billion credits! That is equivalent to one billion dollars. Why is it so expensive?"
[System has subsidized the first three tiers for completing the training missions without complaining even once. Gambling is not a good long-term income source. If host tries to play with supreme tier and wins every game then the dealer will ban you and maybe even kill you. With current stats, host will be safe with the advanced tier; Host should wait until buying and upgrading life-saving combat skills before considering supreme tier gambling.]
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Michael was happy that the system was so thoughtful and concerned about his well-being. He purchased gambling.
Gambling skill purchased; 100 credits deducted.
"Upgrade all the way to advanced tier," Michael requested. He decided to go for the highest tier he could afford.
Gambling skill upgraded to Intermediate tier; 900 points deducted.
Gambling skill upgraded to Advanced tier; 2000 points deducted
After purchasing and upgrading the gambling skill, Michael was broke. Until he started earning money from gambling; he could not purchase any more skills. Fortunatly, there were tons of gambling tutorials online so he could start learning immediatly. And after a couple of hours, he memorized all the popular casino games. Initially, he was planning on going to Las Vegas because there were 40 casinos in Las Vegas. He knew that with the skill from the system he could cheat in many ways. Just with his intelligence stat, he could count cards in blackjack. Michael was planning on alternating casinos so that he does not cause massive losses for a single casino and incur their wrath.So the more casinos he could visit, the less risk he would have to take. However, he decided to go to Oklahoma.
There are actually over 100 casinos in Oklahoma including the famous Winstar casino. He also read that the Casinos owned by Native Americans have a much better reputation and are less aggressive to "winners".
Unfortunatly, Michael stumbled on a roadblock; How was he going to get to Oklahoma? He could not exactly ride his bicycle the whole way. He wanted to rent a car but he was not 21 yet. He would turn 20 on January 20th and it was only September. There weren't many trains in Texas so he had to take multiple buses in order to get to Thackerville, Oklahoma.
He bought the bus pass online and went to bed looking forward to the adventure. The next day he woke up and went to work hoping to get some days off.
Clark Benedict was the manager of Quick-gas. His father owned the gas station and he has been managing it ever since his father retired. He did not necessarily love his job but he liked the feeling of being the boss; Even if he is just the boss of a tiny gas station. He felt like he was in control of others, like he owned them. He noticed Michael riding into the parking lot. Clark did not like Michael because he thought that Michael was not grateful enough. When Michael first came in to apply for a job he was only 16 years old; which meant that he was barely legally qualified to work. At that time Michael was scrawny; Clark honestly just gave him the job out of pity. Over time though Michael's gratitude dried up as he started asking for raises and holidays. However, recently Michael changed a lot. He grew much taller and gained a lot of muscles. Michael went straight from wimp to pro-athlete within less than three months.
"Michael you are supposed to come 30 minutes early. You are late again" Clark was looking forward to going home early and enjoying some cold beers.
Honestly, Michael was tired of Clark; He always made Michael come in early and would not pay him for it. He also only paid minimum wage and never gave Michael a raise. However, after this weekend everything will hopefully change. Michael did not want to quit yet; because he wanted to make sure he can earn money from gambling before resigning. Michael took over and started his shift, while thinking about the future.
Time flew by and his shift was finally over. Michael headed straight home and packed up his backpack. The backpack was just a decoy as he could store everything in his inventory. He also went to an army surplus store and bought some basic survival tools. With everything stuffed in his inventory, he finally headed to the bus stop.
As the bus arrived, Michael looked back at Briarcliff; He was going to come back to this town however, he was probably not going to come back in the same way. Etching the scene into his memory Michael finally started his journey to Oklahoma, the place that will change his fate.