"Do you wish to roll the dice?"
The question flickered on the screen. Vince, still reeling from the shock of the system's appearance, couldn't help but feel his curiosity surge. He had to know. "Yes!"
A number sequence began to spin rapidly.
[Roll][6..5..3..2..1..]
The spinning dice settled on a number.
[The number is 6]
[Congratulation player]
[Roll: 6]
[Reward: You have learned SSS rank skill: EVOLUTION]
STUNNED!
Vince, still on his bed, wore a bewildered expression. Is this all real?
Just moments ago, he had felt like the most unlucky person in the world, and now he was looking at a system that, on its very first roll, had given him something called an SSS-rank Evolution skill.
It didn't feel right. It was a hard-to-believe moment. His eyes fell on the skill's description.
[You can now evolve your undeads into their next possible form. There is no limitation to the numbers but to evolve them, you have to fulfill the threshold EXP of their evolution.]
"Evolving my undeads? But I can't, when I have only one..." A new idea flashed in his mind. "Wait... what if my next roll gives me another SSS-rank skill, and my limitation will be gone? What if it's possible?"
He muttered, possibilities racing through his head. "But... another limitation? Damn!" he cursed.
"Now I have to wait for the next day to roll it again." His initial happiness was soured by the 24-hour waiting period. For a minute, he forgot that he was once a legendary gamer who had waited years to develop his in-game characters.
Once he had that realization, Vince calmed himself down.
He took a deep breath and began a mental recap of everything that had happened to him before moving on.
"My contract was terminated for a stupid reason; it was a betrayal if I'm to quote it correctly. Then I somehow ended up in this world, with a most sought-after skill in the gaming world, but with a limitation that ruined everything."
"My family in this world wants me to leave their house as I'm not worthy of the Sterling name, where S-rank players are the norm. They don't want me to use their name anywhere. On top of all this, they wanted me to pay 100 million qin for the expenses I've used so far. How sad."
He continued, moving to the next part of the story.
"And just when I thought that God had given up on me, I awakened the Roll 'n Win system. With my first roll of a 6, it gave me the SSS-rank skill Evolution."
This was the recap of his whole story, which he wanted to remember for the last time before he actually moved on and began his new journey.
With his necromancer skills and a new Roll 'n Win system, Vince will show the world that a fallen gamer can rise to become the greatest player of all time.
…
The lost hope began to take shape once again. The fallen gamer somewhere inside him had finally awakened.
It was as if he had been waiting for a reason, a reason like the Roll 'n Win system, which made Vince realize he had a chance to make a comeback. Not in his previous world as a gamer, but here, as a player.
"Now let's see my one and only friend." He extended his hand, the words of the summon a faint whisper.
"Summon."
[You have summoned the familiar: Skeleton Soldier]
Level: 1
HP: 10 [10]
Attack: 3 [10]
Defense: 2 [10]
Next Evolution: 0 [10 EXP]
A cold, faint blue light shimmered in the air, swirling like dust motes gathering into a solid form. The light coalesced, and with a soft clack of bone, a single skeleton appeared before him.
It was a simple, unadorned thing, its bones were dull, yellowish-white. It stood still, its empty eye sockets seeming to stare forward with a silent, unwavering loyalty.
Just then, a faint flicker of purple fire ignited deep within its empty eye sockets. The ghostly flames pulsed softly, a silent sign of the power it held.
Vince looked at it. It was weak, and it would be useless in a real fight, but in this moment, it was more than just a pile of bone. It was the only thing he could call his own in this strange new world.
"Just you and me, huh?" he said to the silent figure.
The skeleton gave no response, but to Vince, its presence was all he needed. A feeling of quiet companionship settled in his chest, and with it, a newfound determination.
His eyes narrowed with the old fire of a professional gamer who had just found a new goal. "Alright, my friend. Let's start from scratch."
His gaze stopped at the stats. The skeleton was weaker than him—too weak, if he was being honest. But instead of feeling disappointed, he laughed.
"We are both new here. Let's climb together," he said to the silent figure. "Oh, before that, should I name you?"
He pondered a few cool names, but they didn't feel right. "Should I call you Skelly?... Nah, too childish."
"Colossus... No."
"Vlad?..." he asked, even though he knew there would be no response from the skeleton. Then, he suddenly remembered a familiar name.
"How about Specter? It was my cat's name."
"I guess you liked it, right?" he asked, but was met with the same silence. "Maybe you'll show a sign of emotion once you go through evolution. So, shall we go and see what this world of Heaven Paradise looks like?"
He opened his status screen and chose to finally enter the game. But before he did, he decided to unsummon the skeleton. He didn't know where he would end up, and what if someone decided to attack them upon seeing an undead? It was better to be safe.
"Unsummon."
[You have unsummoned the familiar: Skeleton Soldier]
Once the skeleton was gone, he felt his world changing. It was the same familiar feeling he had when he was first transmigrated into this world from his old one.