Chapter 366: Wishes and Prices

Perry Yates had figured Seth Larkin would hesitate for a while after their conversation, but she never expected that good news would arrive from the Heavenly Ascension Ladder the moment she returned to the tavern.

Downstairs, countless people cheered as they watched the live stream. A fully equipped young man had finally reached the last step, standing at the very top of the Heavenly Ascension Ladder and waving happily at the camera.

Simultaneously, the event quickly started trending online, with countless people discussing what wish the first person to ascend the Heavenly Ascension Ladder would make.

At the same time, plenty of “smart people” and “experts” came out of the woodwork to weigh in, suggesting what wish he should make.

Some people even targeted Perry Yates directly, suggesting the wisher ask to become the new owner of The Card Tavern, or for the tavern to open branches accessible to ordinary people.

Others simply wanted to expose Perry Yates’s identity.

Some even bluntly stated that the owner of The Card Tavern was always hiding and refusing to show their face, so they must have some kind of shameful secret.

And quite a few people thought so. Before anyone knew it, a mountain of conspiracy theories had been built up in the comments, with some even suggesting that the owner of The Card Tavern was an alien.

But no matter how loudly these people clamored, they weren’t the ones actually making the wish.

Just then, at the peak of everyone’s anticipation, the live stream was suddenly cut.

Instantly, many people began to protest.

It was like watching a series, getting to the very last episode, and just as the finale was about to be revealed, the screen suddenly went black.

Online, many people were already raising a ruckus, but their complaints didn’t make much of a splash and were quickly quashed.

Though these people could no longer see the stream, Perry Yates could watch the events live directly through the Heavenly Ascension Ladder.

Meanwhile, atop the Heavenly Ascension Ladder, Thorin Shields looked at the list of wishes he had just received and scratched his head in frustration.

It turned out that while Perry Yates’s words had caused the Survival Game Administration to scrap more than half of their prepared wishes, they couldn’t reach a consensus on the remaining options.

But with Thorin Shields’s moment at the summit imminent, they had no choice but to leave the final decision to him.

All the wishes had been carefully vetted; fulfilling any one of them would be a win. They decided to treat it like opening a mystery box.

They were happy with that solution, but now it was Thorin Shields’s turn to agonize. ‘Which one should I choose?’

“Need a hand?”

The figure of a woman suddenly appeared behind him, startling him.

He turned to see a woman in a simple tracksuit and a mask walking out of a doorway.

Thorin Shields reacted quickly. ‘At a time like this, there’s likely only one person who could appear here.’

Perry Yates paid no mind to his reaction. She simply took the list of wishes from him, scanned it from top to bottom, and tossed it back.

“Quite an appetite. A hundred five-star cards? Do you people have any idea that the Heavenly Ascension Ladder itself is only equivalent to a five-star card? Are you making a wish to the Ladder, or to me?”

Thorin Shields knew it was an excessive request, but the experts had insisted they should try. What if it worked?

He rubbed his nose sheepishly. “How about just ten, then? Isn’t the Heavenly Ascension Ladder supposed to be able to grant any wish?”

“It can,” Perry Yates said. “Ten cards, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, even a hundred million—it’s all possible. The only condition is that you can afford the price.”

“The Heavenly Ascension Ladder is said to grant any wish. If the wish is within its own power, there’s no problem. But if it exceeds its abilities… like this one, for example.”

Perry Yates pointed to the first wish on the list. “To grant a wish like that, the Heavenly Ascension Ladder will stop at nothing.”

“If it can grant this wish, I’m willing to pay any price—even my life,” Thorin Shields declared with righteous conviction.

Perry Yates was unmoved by his impassioned words. Instead, she said scornfully, “Your life? What is your life worth? It’s not even a single mouthful for the Heavenly Ascension Ladder.”

Then, Perry Yates held up a single finger. “One five-star card requires the sacrifice of at least a hundred million people. A hundred cards means ten billion.”

Upon hearing the terrifying number, Thorin Shields’s eyes flew wide, his pupils constricting in shock.

At the same time, on the other end of Thorin Shields’s earpiece, the group of previously excited people felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over them.

‘A single five-star card required the sacrifice of a hundred million lives.’

The man who had originally advocated for the five-star card wish collapsed to the floor, large beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead as he muttered to himself, “Thank god, thank god.”

Forget a hundred cards; they couldn’t even afford the price for one.

Soon, Thorin Shields received an order: the wish for five-star cards was to be removed from the list.

Thorin Shields relayed this to Perry Yates. “Boss, what wish do you think I should make?”

Thorin Shields slyly passed the buck on this million-dollar question to Perry Yates.

“Are you sure you want to leave the wish to me? Because I don’t like any of these. I’d wish for a lifetime supply of vanilla ice cream.”

“On second thought, I’ll do it myself.”

The moment the words left Perry Yates’s mouth, Thorin Shields snatched the list back.

“That’s more like it. It’s your business, you handle it. I’m just here to tell you the price.”

As she spoke, a bowl of fragrant vanilla ice cream materialized out of thin air in front of her, and she began to eat it with relish.

After a long moment, Thorin Shields sidled over, holding the list, and asked in a low voice, “If I wanted to wish for Cerulea to enter the Interstellar Age, would there be a price for that?”

“Yes. For all of Cerulea? The lifespan of every human on the planet would likely be cut in half.”

“That one’s no good either.” Thorin Shields was getting discouraged. Nearly every wish on the list came with a price.

‘The Interstellar Age would cut everyone’s lifespan in half. The revival of Spiritual Energy was even worse—half of the human population would simply vanish.’

But the experts on the other end of the earpiece seized on a key point. “Thorin Shields,” one urged, “ask her what the price would be for just Drakonia!”

Thorin Shields asked, “What if it’s only for Drakonia?”

“If it’s only for Drakonia, then there is no price at all. Congratulations, you’ve finally made the right choice.”

Once the wish was confirmed, a golden light erupted from the Heavenly Ascension Ladder. The light gradually expanded, spreading until it enveloped all of Drakonia.

About fifteen minutes later, the golden light vanished, but in Drakonia… nothing seemed to have happened at all.