( 5 hours into the event )
At about 5 hours into the event, Leo managed to extend his +75 levels gain to +95 but he felt like he had capped out.
He tried to play the dart game (stage 3) with 5 levels, but only managed to barely score 120 points there, which only safely returned his investment without any profit.
He managed to play and win ( stage 2 ) of strategy warfare but only got a 2x multiplier this time since it was a very close fight.
This left him with only monster battle to play and he did have many fun battles there, losing some and winning some, eventually bringing his overall winnings to +95 levels, however, as the night's end drew closer, every ranker seemed to get more and more greedy to score more levels with the monster battle challenges coming in at a ridiculous 50 levels or 75 levels at once, which Leo was unwilling to play.
This meant that in his last hour, Leo finally had nothing more to do as he decided to finally accept that drink from the Loli bartender.
"Hey kid…." Leo said, causing the bartender to uninterestedly turn and face him.
"Yes….?" She asked, not even hoping to offer a drink, when Leo unexpectedly said.
"Make me your best drink–"
Somehow, the loli got so emotional over these words that she began to weep tears of joy.
"Yes sir…. I'll make you the best drink possible sir…" she said with enthusiasm as she brewed for Leo her best creation.
Somehow, because Leo had played hard to get throughout the night, when he did eventually give in and order that drink, it was that much more impactful for the loli, who felt like she had achieved something huge.
"Here is a Vodka Martini sir…. Hand Shaken not stirred, with a slice of orange–" The bartender offered as Leo took a sip of the drink with great intrigue.
"Mmm…. This tastes delicious. Probably the best drink I've ever had–" Leo said in elation, as it was indeed the best drink he had ever had in his entire life.
Back on Earth, he and Luke were not well off and hence could never afford really quality liquor.
This was hence his first taste of really luxurious liquor and he felt amazed by how smooth liquor could taste down one's throat when it was distilled properly.
"Is it? Is it really? Well thank you so much kind sir….. you have just made my day" the bartender said with a smile on her face as she reached into her pocket and gave Leo a 'Free Pass' token.
"Huh?" Leo muttered in confusion upon receiving the token, as he never really knew that one could get more than the three free tokens offered initially by talking politely to the bartender.
"For you, kind sir…. May you have good fortune while gambling–" the loli said with the most sweet smile on her face which actually made Leo feel moved.
"Haha, thank you sweet kid–" Leo said, taking the token, as he decided to play one last game with this skill token and hopefully reach his goal of hitting +100 levels from this event.
**********
The final game that Leo chose to play was called 'Dragon Tower'.
The game was purely a gambling game in which there was treasure in two boxes and elimination in the third.
In total there were 10 rows of three boxes each, with the rewards multiplying every time one opened the right box.
Theoretically, if Leo opened all 10 boxes correctly, he was poised to get a 100x reward on his initial gamble, however, choosing all 10 boxes in the correct order was next to impossible probabilistically, because if one went bust even once, all the previous gains were gone.
"I know Cervantez asked me to stay away from gambling, which is why I swear to open not more than 3 boxes in total and get a reward of 3.3x.
Even if I open the three boxes correctly, I will not attempt to open a fourth.
And if I lose, I will just quit and be happy with my +95 level gains so far" Leo muttered to himself as he placed the free token and started the game.
On a screen before him, the first row of treasure boxes lit up and Leo chose the leftmost box to win.
*Clink*
*Cha-Ching*
The game machine made sudden coin noises as a chest full of gold coins opened up before him.
*Pant* *Pant*
Panting, Leo wiped a sweat bead that had formed on his forehead, as unlike the normal skill based games that he enjoyed, Leo felt unusually serious and tense when he played a purely gambling game based off luck.
After choosing the first line of treasures correctly, the second line of treasures lit up before Leo, presenting him with a hard choice.
Following his gut, Leo chose the leftmost box for the second time in a row and for the second time, his decision proved to be the correct one as the game lit up with sounds of treasure.
*Clink*
*Cha-Ching*
With this victory, Leo was set to receive +11 levels if he quit this moment, fulfilling his dream of crossing a hundred levels, however, Leo chose to risk it all for one final time, as he chose the middle box in the third row.
*Clink*
*Cha-Ching*
Miraculously, even the third row of boxes that he chose turned out to be a treasure, as Leo immediately pressed 'Cashout' at that moment, walking away from the Dragon Tower game with a whopping +17 levels in rewards.
"That's it…. I'm done gambling for the night, I feel content with my total achievement of 112 levels" Leo muttered to himself, as he returned to the lobby and clutched his heart that was beating strongly in his chest.
At this moment, Leo could hear the devil whispering to him that he was 12 levels above his initially set goal, that he should gamble on dragon tower with those 12 levels and try and multiply them to 500 levels, however, Leo resisted that temptation.
Staying firm, he decided to spend the remaining final minutes of his time in the event chatting with the Loli and trying different drinks, as he showed immense self restraint and did not gamble with his winnings.