Standing in front of his bed, Luke felt an overwhelming urge to throw his arms into the air and shout:
"The days of barely surviving on free loot boxes are finally over!"
Over the past year, he had been hoarding the free loot boxes the system gave him every week.
It took him a painful two and a half months just to scrape together enough for a single ten-pull.
Thinking about it now… it was honestly tragic.
So, after a very serious one-second consideration—
Luke made a decision.
"I'll just spend fifteen thousand dollars… a little top-up."
"VIP status, here I come!"
At $50 per box, $15,000 meant exactly 300 loot boxes.
Which translated into—
30 ten-pulls.
That was insane.
Luke could barely keep his hands from shaking.
Then suddenly—
BOOM—!
Luke's eyes widened.
Three hundred loot boxes materialized out of thin air all at once, instantly filling the entire room. Then, like a collapsing avalanche, they toppled over—
And buried him underneath.
Covered in dust, Luke lay flat on the floor—
Just as hurried footsteps sounded from downstairs.
Rotas popped out from the pile of boxes and shouted:
"Someone's outside listening! It's that woman! Kill her! Kill her!!"
From the door came Karen's anxious voice:
"What happened? Honey?!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine!"
Luke scrambled up and shouted back:
"I'm okay, Karen! Just… working out! Yeah! Ha! Ha!"
…Awkward.
In front of him, the loot boxes were stacked over two meters high, reaching almost to the ceiling.
An absolutely ridiculous sight.
"Be careful not to hurt yourself," Karen warned from outside.
"Got it," Luke replied.
After hearing her footsteps retreat downstairs, Luke sat down, suppressing his excitement.
Then—
He began his first ten-pull.
[Data Chip ×1][Skill Book: Diving Straight Punch ×1][Colorless Crystal ×20][Revival Coin ×1][Seria's Handmade Cake ×1][Magic Stone ×1][Magic Stone ×1][Colorless Crystal ×18][Skill Book: Back Throw ×1][Data Chip ×1]
"Double gold?! Two skill books?! Nice! Great start!"
Getting two skill books in one pull was something he had never experienced before.
Luke couldn't hide his excitement.
Diving Straight Punch—a skill from the Blue Fist Crusader class in DNF.
It allowed him to dash forward and deliver a lightning-fast punch to the enemy's abdomen.
Not only could it stagger opponents for an extended period—
It also had a chance to leave them disoriented.
From his previous fights, Luke had already realized a weakness:
His inch punch wasn't great for frontal engagements.
It excelled in close-range, explosive bursts—but lacked mid-range initiation.
This skill filled that gap perfectly.
Slap.
He absorbed the skill.
A warm current flowed into his body.
Instant mastery.
Like his other abilities, it became pure instinct.
"Back Throw… that's from grapplers, right?"
He picked up the second skill book.
Grapplers specialized in throws, holds, and close-quarters control.
"…This kind of skill…"
Using it on women?
Risky.
Using it on men?
Luke shuddered.
Still—
Slap.
He learned it anyway.
"Could be useful… in certain situations."
Second ten-pull.
[Seria's Special Drink ×1][Magic Stone ×2][Revival Coin ×1][Skill Book: Twirling Spear ×1]...
At this point, Luke simply went all-in.
He opened everything in one go.
System notifications flooded his vision.
Skill books kept appearing—
And Luke practically started drooling.
In the end—
He pulled 19 skill books.
Along with a mountain of miscellaneous items piled across his bed.
Including valuable items like:
Bonina Burger Recipe
Seria's Luck Potion
But what mattered most—
Were the skills.
As Luke reviewed the rewards, his eyes lit up brighter and brighter.
Finally—
He couldn't hold it in anymore.
He leapt from one end of the bed to the other and struck a dramatic pose.
In a deep voice, he declared:
"Yes… this is the choice of Steins Gate…!"
"Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!"
Jackpot.
These skills would raise his overall power to an entirely new level.
Before—
He was roughly on the level of street-tier heroes like Daredevil or Iron Fist.
Now?
With these 19 skill books—
He could leap beyond that tier.
At minimum, he would reach the level of mid-tier heroes like:
Black Widow or Hawkeye.
And among those skills—
There was one particularly special one.
"If I can master that…"
"I could reach second-tier levels."
"At least… I wouldn't lose to Tony Stark in the Mark V suit."
Luke's heart burned with excitement.
Power was within reach.
He took a deep breath.
"Slow down… one step at a time…"
Out of the 19 skill books—
9 were combat-type abilities.
These included:
Diving Straight Punch
Back Throw
Low Kick
Iron Body
Nen Clone
Dragon Tooth
Twirling Spear
Brick Toss
Low Kick—a fundamental striking technique.
Slap.
He learned it instantly.
Now, just with this move alone, he surpassed most black belts.
He kicked into the air—
A sharp whoosh cut through the air.
"Nice. Still lacking raw power, but it fills my lower-body attack gap."
"Inch punch, diving punch, low kick…"
"I'm basically becoming a full-on fighter."
Next—
Iron Body.
A defensive technique.
Similar to "Iron Shirt" or hard qigong.
Luke tested it immediately.
The result—
Slight disappointment.
It didn't make him bulletproof.
It couldn't stop blades either.
But—
It nullified pain from physical strikes.
And his opponents?
They'd feel like they were punching steel.
"Looks like I'll have to learn durability elsewhere… maybe Spider-Man, Hulk…"
"DNF doesn't seem to have many defensive skills…"
And that—
Was exactly what Luke wanted most.
Why?
Because he was afraid of dying.
Very afraid.
At his core—
He was still just a shut-in.
Killing someone and gaining powers didn't change that.
He still valued survival above all else.
Next—
Nen Clone.
And this one—
Surprised him.
In DNF, clones stood still.
But here?
His clones could move.
And they looked exactly like him.
Aside from being silent and a bit stiff—
They were almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
"…This is insane."
The possibilities—
Were endless.
Luke immediately thought of several… "creative" strategies.
But no distractions.
He loved these tactical abilities.
They didn't deal direct damage—
But they were essential for survival.
Because—
Survival was everything.
"Staying alive is a strategy."
"Staying alive is philosophy."
"Staying alive is the path to victory."
If you couldn't survive—
You couldn't win.
Last night proved that.
With clones and the Nen Shield—
Luke was confident he could survive even worse scenarios.