The shop owner laid the long colorful strip of tickets on the counter. "These are all the tickets" he said. "How many do you want?"
Adam looked at the strip. He needed to see all the available options to find a winner. "Are these all you have? Or are there more?" he asked calmly.
The shop owner was a little surprised. He thought for a moment. Was this kid crazy? Was he planning to buy all the tickets? But then a greedy light appeared in his eyes. A big sale was a big sale. "Yes of course there are more. Hold on. I will bring them" he said with a wide smile.
The owner turned around quickly. He went into the back of his small shop. He returned a moment later carrying another big box.
It was also full of the seven dollar lottery tickets. He placed the new box on the counter next to the first strip.
"Alright kid" he said puffing his chest out proudly. "Now tell me. How many do you want?"
This was his chance. All the tickets were in front of him. Adam looked at the long strips and the full box. He focused his mind. He did not need to touch them. He just needed to see them. A single command echoed in his mind.
Copy.
A notification flashed in his vision for a second confirming the copy was successful. He ignored it. Now he had a copy of every single ticket in the man's shop stored in his system.
Adam looked up at the owner's eager face. "I will take just one ticket" he said.
The owner's smile froze. It quickly turned into a scowl of pure anger. "Just one?" he shouted. "Then why did you make me bring out all these extra tickets? Are you trying to make a fool of me?"
Adam remained calm. He did not let the man's anger affect him. "I just wanted to see my options" he said in a flat voice. "Now please give me one ticket."
The shop owner was very frustrated. He muttered under his breath. He tore one ticket from the end of the strip and slapped it down on the counter. Then he angrily started to put the other boxes and strips of tickets away. Adam paid him the seven dollars and left the shop without another word.
He walked back to the park bench where he had sat before. He placed the single ticket he had bought on the wooden seat. Then he opened his inventory. Inside he pasted all the tickets he had just copied from the shop.
Adam commanded the system to take them out. A huge pile of colorful lottery tickets appeared on the bench next to him. There were hundreds of them. He picked one from the top and began to scratch off the silver coating with a coin he found in his pocket.
He saw the matching symbols. The prize was ten dollars.
It was a small amount. But Adam's initial investment was already covered. He had his money back and a small profit. This was just the beginning.
Adam continued to scratch the tickets one by one. He sat on the bench surrounded by a growing pile of used paper. Most of the tickets were small wins. He kept getting ten dollar prizes over and over again.
He scratched through almost the entire pile. There were hundreds of them. Most were ten dollars. Some were two dollars or three dollars. After scratching nearly every ticket he found only two big winners. Each one was for a thousand dollars.
All the other prizes were very small. Adam looked at the two one-thousand-dollar winning tickets in his hand. A dangerous idea formed in his mind. He looked at the two special tickets. He focused on them.
Copy.
Then he repeated the other command ten times.
Paste. Paste. Paste...
Ten new tickets appeared in his hand. Each one was an exact copy of the thousand-dollar winning ticket. He smiled. "Now the fun begins" he thought. He put all the other losing tickets and small prize tickets into his inventory to dispose of later. He only kept the thousand-dollar winners.
Adam went back to the lottery shop.
The owner was waiting for him. The man knew the kid would come back. They always came back to claim their prize. The owner also knew that if someone won a small amount of money they usually spent it on more tickets.
This was very good for his business. It was a common pattern. People would win a little then lose it all trying to win more. It happened every day.
The owner saw Adam approaching the shop. He put on a friendly smile. He was happy to see the boy again. "Looks like you won a good amount" the owner said his voice cheerful.
"You are absolutely right" Adam replied.
His direct answer surprised the shop owner a little. He started to wonder. Could it be possible? Did this kid actually win the ten thousand dollar prize? But he quickly dismissed the thought. That was too rare.
Then Adam placed one of the tickets on the counter. The shop owner looked down at it. His eyes widened slightly. The ticket clearly showed a prize of one thousand dollars.
Adam pointed at the ticket. "This is my prize" he said. "Give me all the tickets I can buy with this amount."
The shop owner had thought the kid might have won a hundred dollars at most. He was a little shocked when he realized the prize was a full one thousand dollars. This was a much bigger win than he had expected.
Following Adam's request the shop owner brought out even more tickets. He was happy to make such a large sale. He laid out many long strips on the counter.
Adam took the tickets one by one. As soon as he picked up the first real ticket he immediately sent it to his system inventory without scratching it.