The roulette wheel spun rapidly, the colors blurring together until it began to tick... tick... tick to a slow halt. When Caelus saw where the needle finally stopped, his expression lit up with absolute excitement.

It actually landed on the grand prize: Benefit Creation!

Ding!

[You can now create one Faction Benefit for free (100% Cost Discount).]

"Nice. Now I can finally add in the benefit I’ve been planning."

He immediately opened the creation interface and began writing his master plan.

[Draft: Every time someone in the Faction levels up 5 times, there is a 100% certainty to obtain Domain Updates.]

He wanted to passively farm system updates through his massive faction population.

However, just as quickly, a red notification popped up.

Ding!

[Authorization Denied.]

[Reason: The requested outcome far exceeds the equivalent exchange threshold. The demand is too high.]

Caelus clicked his tongue in disappointment. He gritted his teeth and adjusted the wording, trying again.

[Draft: Every time someone levels up 5 times, there is a small chance to obtain Domain-related updates.]

Ding!

[Authorization Approved. This can be executed.]

However, before hitting confirm, a new thought appeared in his head. While a "small chance" was decent, it felt like he was wasting the sheer potential of a free benefit.

He deleted the draft and came up with something infinitely better.

[Draft: Every time a Faction member advances 5 levels, they gain access to a Faction Gacha Roulette. The prize pool includes: Flat Combat Score, Random Weapon Sets, Custom Titles, Free Gacha Pulls, and Domain Updates. Each item can be sorted by rarity.]

Ding!

[Authorization Approved. This can be executed.]

"Good," Caelus nodded in satisfaction. "Implement it."

He specifically added the Gacha element because he loved the thrill of rolling the wheel, and he knew his faction members would become hopelessly addicted to the grind just for a chance to spin it.

Ding! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[Benefit 3: Whenever a Faction member advances 5 levels, they will gain a ticket to the Faction Gacha Roulette. Prize pool includes: Combat Score, Random Weapon Sets, Custom Titles, and Domain Updates.]

[Calculating Total Cost...]

[-100 Platform Fee]

[-50 Benefit Creation Usage Charge]

[-10 Authorization Fee]

[-10,000 Benefit Implementation Fee]

[Final Cost: 0 Reputation Points (100% Discount Coupon Applied)]

Caelus’s eyeballs almost dropped out of their sockets when he saw the receipt.

"What the fuck?" he cursed aloud.

Ten thousand?! His Reputation Points had never once gone above 1,000, let alone 10,000!

"My luck is completely insane today. Thank god I pulled that coupon," Caelus said, heaving a massive sigh of relief. Without that grand prize, creating this specific benefit would have remained an impossible pipe dream for months.

With that successfully implemented, Caelus felt the familiar itch to gamble even more. Most of the tiles on the roulette were just minor discount coupons, but among them were incredible free prizes. like enhancers for the Quest Giver Kit, Reward Giver Kits, and Custom Title Creators. If he wanted to add titles to the new Faction Gacha, he needed to actually own a pool of titles first.

He began rolling.

[-10 Reputation Points]

[Reputation Points: 625 -> 615]

The roulette began rolling once again. It slowly ticked to a stop on a basic 10% Coupon for Benefit Creation. Caelus clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He rolled again.

[-10 Reputation Points]

[Reputation Points: 615 -> 605]

Another minor discount coupon. However, Caelus didn’t plan on stopping. He was going to keep doing single pulls until he hit exactly 505 Reputation Points.

One by one, the discounted coupons amassed in his inventory. Just as he was about to stop, a blinding golden light shone from the roulette wheel.

Ding!

[You have obtained: Restricted Benefit Creator.]

[Condition: The total system cost of the created benefit cannot exceed 1,000 Reputation Points, or this ticket will become void.]

"Oh?" Caelus leaned forward, his eyes gleaming.

Another Benefit Creator! But since the total cost was hard-capped at 1,000, he had to use it extremely wisely.

After thinking deeply for a few minutes, he drafted a highly synergistic perk. It cost precisely 1,000 Reputation Points after all the platform fees and authorization bullshit were tallied up.

Ding!

[Benefit 4 (Tied to Level 20): Unlocks the ’Chaos Erosion’ power, allowing members to apply a stacking debuff to their enemies. Additionally, upon reaching Level 20, members’ Aura rank will artificially reach Tier 15, and the skill ’Aura Perception’ will become available for everyone to use.]

He deliberately tied this to Level 20 because that was the exact milestone where members unlocked the title Chaos Soldier, which granted a flat 10% increased damage against non-faction targets. The Chaos Erosion debuff would pair perfectly with that passive damage boost.

He didn’t mind giving away a powerful debuff ability like Chaos Erosion. Now that he personally possessed the Temporal Reset trait, he was completely immune to any debuffs turning against him anyway.

For now, Caelus stopped there. He might be addicted to rolling the gacha wheel, but he still had to be somewhat financially responsible, especially when he was running an entire Region Domain. He was left with exactly 505 Reputation Points.

He closed the interface and turned to Sylvia.

"There are 3 hours before Origin Domain closes. Do you want to go in now to do some Void Trials, or should we focus on advancing to Silver?"

"Let’s go into the Domain and officially advance to Silver before doing the Void Trials," Sylvia suggested. "Now that we have the Region Domain completely under our control, it won’t be long before the system merges us with other high-tier Region Domains."

"Agreed," Caelus nodded.

He was also partially concerned about the Royal Family launching a retaliation, and he desperately wanted to test out the Town Building Update he received from the Land of Snow quest.

With their plan set, they both initiated the crossover sequence.

However, just as the spatial energy began to wrap around them, a harsh red notification flashed across their vision, making Caelus frown deeply.

Ding!

[Crossover Denied.]

[You cannot enter the Origin Domain at this time. You are currently inside an active Worldly Challenge.]

"What?" Caelus muttered, completely baffled.

Just then, a secondary notification popped up. It was an emergency override from his Faction Quest Giver.

Ding!

[Emergency Faction Quest: Eliminate the Hollow Faction Members.]

[Reward: Calculated based on the total amount eliminated.]

The exact second the system prompt rang out in his mind, a deafening, apocalyptic siren blared across the entirety of Fortis City.

"ATTENTION CITIZENS OF FORTIS CITY. THIS IS A LEVEL-RED EMERGENCY."

The automated city defense broadcast echoed from every speaker tower.

"CITY LORD LEON HAS GONE MISSING. THE PERIMETER TOWER DEFENSES HAVE COMPLETELY CRUMBLED. NULL PLAYERS HAVE BREACHED THE CITY LIMITS. ALL PLAYERS ARE TO ENGAGE. ALL CIVILIANS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

Sylvia and Caelus looked at each other, the playful atmosphere instantly vanishing. They nodded, their expressions turning deadly serious.

The following moment, they blurred, bursting out the front doors of the mansion.

Standing on their high-altitude balcony, they looked out over Fortis City. Thick columns of black smoke were already rising from the commercial and residential districts. The sky was violently flashing with the chaotic lights of Awakened combat.

Just as quickly, Caelus’s expression stiffened. His newly acquired Aura Perception flared wildly as he felt an overwhelmingly powerful, dark aura rapidly approaching their exact location.