1. Hitting the Jackpot with a Pandora Gift

"I know this is a cruel thing to ask. But it's for my daughter's sake. Please."

The man who spoke with that pained expression was my master. Though, he’d only held that title for a few hours. I was a slave, and the middle-aged man standing before me was the one who had purchased me.

To be blunt, I was nearly worthless as a slave. I was still a child without much strength, and thanks to a string of misfortunes a while back, I was blind in one eye. My right leg didn’t work properly, either. As far as manual labor went, I was dead weight.

So why had he bought me? Apparently, he needed someone to open boxes. Not ordinary boxes, of course. They were dungeon-born items known as Pandora Gifts.

A Pandora Gift is essentially a high-stakes gamble. If luck is on your side, you can supposedly obtain precious items or rare skills. On the flip side, a streak of bad luck could land you with a horrific negative skill, a curse, or—in the worst-case scenario—instant death.

While traps on standard treasure chests can be disarmed using Thief Skills, the negative outcomes of a Pandora Gift are treated as item effects, meaning they can't be avoided.

That’s why people came up with the idea of making slaves open them. Under normal circumstances, you aren't allowed to force a slave to perform life-threatening tasks against their will. However, those rules don't apply to an illegal slave like me. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that since I’m not an official slave, if something happens to me, I’ll just be quietly buried in the dark, and no one will ever know.

Six Pandora Gifts were lined up in front of me. My job was to open every single one. With six of them, I was bound to hit a bad effect eventually. From what I’d heard, the odds were skewed toward the negative anyway.

It was a total dead-end situation. I suppose this is what happens when you reincarnate without being handed any cheat abilities.

Actually, I only regained my memories very recently. It was right after I was sold into slavery to reduce the number of mouths my family had to feed. If I’d remembered my past life a little sooner, maybe I could have avoided slavery altogether with some kind of "internal affairs" cheat or something. Once you start as a slave, your options are pretty much nonexistent.

To make matters worse, I was sold to an illegal slave trader. My first buyer was a thuggish-looking adventurer. On the surface, he made it look like he’d hired me as a porter for a dungeon crawl. In reality, I was meant to be an emergency decoy. I was injured almost immediately and ended up being returned to the trader.

Unusable illegal slaves are almost always sold off to miserable ends, but it seemed I had a tiny bit of luck left.

My master promised that if I opened all these Pandora Gifts and somehow survived, he would remove the Collar of Subjugation from my neck and set me free. He might have just been trying to soothe his own guilt, but as long as I benefited, I didn't care about his reasons. Regardless, I still had a glimmer of hope, however faint.

"I'm opening it..."

I gave my warning and opened the first Pandora Gift. The moment I did, the box dissolved into glittering particles of light and vanished. In its place, a scroll-like object appeared in mid-air and dropped to my feet.

"Looks like a Skill Scroll," Master said.

He picked up the scroll and examined it with something resembling a loupe. It was likely a magic item used for appraisal.

"Destiny God's Smile, huh? I’ve never heard of this skill. Based on the name, it probably boosts your luck. Here, you should use it."

I took the scroll from his hand.

It seemed his loupe couldn't reveal the specific details of the effect. Still, it was apparently a rare skill that even Master hadn't heard of. Ordinarily, the idea of giving a Skill Scroll to a slave would be unthinkable.

But Master was clearly betting everything on this gamble. If my luck improved, the chances of hitting the jackpot increased. Since it also increased my odds of survival, I wasn't about to complain.

I had a vague idea of how to use a Skill Scroll. If I remembered correctly, I just had to unfurl it and focus on the thought of "using" it.

When I tried, the scroll turned to ash in an instant. In its place, I felt a mysterious power take root inside me. I’d successfully acquired the skill, then. Unfortunately, I still had no idea what it actually did.

Regardless, I put my faith in my newfound luck and opened the next Pandora Gift. Just like before, the box vanished. This time, a small vial of liquid appeared. It looked like some kind of potion, but the glass was covered in exquisite, ornate engravings. It certainly didn't look like a common item.

Master picked up the vial without a word. For some reason, his hands were trembling.

His reaction was night and day compared to the scroll. This might be the item he was looking for. I watched him closely as he performed the appraisal.

Master peered at the vial through his loupe, froze for a moment—then threw his head back and shouted toward the ceiling.

"This is it! It’s the Elixir Soma! I did it! With this, I can save my daughter!"

It looked like he’d successfully pulled his target item. Well, technically I was the one who pulled it.

Wait, wasn't Elixir Soma a legendary-class item? My knowledge only came from my previous life, but anything with "Elixir" in the name had to be incredibly precious. I hadn't realized Pandora Gifts could produce things that rare. No wonder people never stopped ruining themselves trying to strike it rich with these things.

"Thank you! I owe this all to you! Thank you!"

Master grabbed my hands and pumped them up and down. His emotions were running high, and he was using way too much strength. I was still in a child’s body, and I really wished he’d give me a break.

"The collar..."

I tried to make my request before my arms were ripped off. My voice was raspy and failed me halfway through, but my intent got across clearly enough.

"Ah, right. Of course. My apologies."

Master muttered something like an incantation. It was likely the keyword to release the device. With a metallic click, the Collar of Subjugation fell away.

"There. You are free. Truly, thank you!"

With that, my former master departed, carrying nothing but the Elixir Soma. He left the remaining four Pandora Gifts sitting right there.

To be honest, surviving this world as a one-eyed boy with a bum leg was going to be an uphill battle. I really could use a cheat item or two.

Well then... those remaining Pandora Gifts. I don't really have any choice but to open them, do I?