The Weapon Gacha and Summon Gacha Are Absolutely Insane (1)

I started by speaking first.

"Hyun-seo, your clothes."

"Clothes… Hyaahhh!?"

Hyun-seo gasped in shock and clutched her chest. Her face flushed bright red, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Now I feel bad.

I probably should have given her more training with Baekri-hyang back in the safe zone. As the seller, my conscience was stinging a bit.

Can't be helped. I'll have to spend a little more time on this.

I snatched up a sticky note and a ballpoint pen. Hwang Hee-chan would be here soon, so I needed to switch back to written communication mode.

Scribble scribble. Slap.

I slapped the sticky note onto the back of her hand, asking why she had suddenly brought up the fifth floor. The answer came only after Hwang Hee-chan came rushing over like a madman.

"What's going on…"

"Mister, can I borrow your outer jacket?!"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Hwang Hee-chan handed over his suit jacket without understanding a thing. Only after Hyun-seo put it on did she finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew… Sorry about that, mister. Baekri-hyang said she felt stuffy and suddenly took off her underwear…"

"Ahem, ahem. I see."

"Anyway, mister. What do you think about challenging the fifth floor?"

Hyun-seo quickly changed the subject. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It seemed like a random topic, but the two of them must have already discussed it. Hee-chan accepted it naturally.

"It'll be difficult for a while. We've run out of potions."

"If Cheol-gang-min were to attempt it…"

"……."

I listened quietly. From the context, this conversation was clearly meant for my ears, so I planned to soak up the information obediently.

And after the discussion ended, I let out a silent gasp of admiration.

So that's what the Administration Bureau was doing…

From what I heard, the country provides support to Awakeners who climb the hard tower. That was why the Bureau kept saying not to challenge the hard tower, and to consult with them first if you wanted to try. If they saw potential, they would pour on the support to increase the number of high-ranking Awakeners.

"When I reached the fourth floor, I used up all my potions…"

"……."

I also learned why I couldn't find any potions at the auction no matter how hard I looked. Potions were essentially extra lives in the hard tower, so they were purchased with top priority. They were treated as strategic assets or something like that.

…No wonder I could never find any potions when trying to make mid-grade ones. I had just assumed there were no listings.

"It would be great if Cheol-gang-min could contact us as well. When you challenge the fifth floor."

"Even just the young lady is an Awakener responsible for the nation's safety. If you're aiming even higher, the Republic of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Korea should step in and help."

The conversation ended while I was nodding along alone. To summarize, it was basically 'When you go to the fifth floor, make sure to get fully loaded with item support.'

My reaction to that?

I don't need it though?

I was obviously going to climb the easy tower. At least up to the 49th floor, there was zero chance of getting hurt. I'd only tackle the 49th floor and the boss floor on hard mode for the first clear rewards and to strengthen Dohwa. With my current specs, I wouldn't get hurt unless something went seriously wrong.

I should just say no thanks…

I could already get everything for free without any of that. They should save the support for other diligent Awakeners. I wrote that on the sticky note.

I was about to hand it to Hwang Hee-chan when—

—Wait a second?

Right as I reached out, something suddenly occurred to me. The Administration Bureau that had run out of potions smelled suspiciously like honey.

They might be out of potions… but what about weapons and armor?

Potions were exclusive hard tower rewards, so supply was naturally limited. But weapons and armor? They dropped in the easy tower too. Most would be normal-grade, but to me, each one was worth 0.1 rare. I could just fuse them together.

Maybe I can get some freebies…?

After thinking for a moment, I crumpled the sticky note in my hand, stuffed it in my pocket, and wrote a new one before handing it over. Both Hwang Hee-chan and Hyun-seo's eyes widened.

"Normal-grade weapons… Now that you mention it, we have piles of them at Cheonghwa, don't we?"

"The Administration Bureau should have a considerable stock as well. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They probably want to stockpile materials."

The two of them continued chatting as if for my benefit. In short, normal-grade items were overflowing. While there were Awakeners in the Bureau who could fuse items to evolve them into higher grades, that required weapons of the same type, so they just kept collecting them for now.

Glance.

"Of course, even if you fuse them, the limit is probably only up to rare-grade…"

The way Hyun-seo trailed off made it clear she thought it was no big deal, but…

This is amazing?

She had no idea. Right now I was practically drooling. I was as excited as if I'd seen kimchi jjim in the tower.

Because I have no conditions for fusion.

Other Awakeners had terrible fusion efficiency and failure rates, but my trait was mythic-grade. Zero failure chance. If I gathered ten pieces of equipment of the same grade, I could unconditionally evolve them to the next grade. Sometimes I even got a great success.

To me, normal-grade? Bring it on. Bring every single one you have!

Scribble scribble.

The response that came back was one of pure shock.

"Normal-grade… You can't mean…"

"No way…!! Just how many traits does he…"

Hwang Hee-chan's expression hardened. Hyun-seo covered her mouth. They must have guessed it immediately. I had a fusion-related trait. I was going to use it to fuse items.

I should throw them off for now.

I made up an excuse that it was because of a stigmata. I wanted to avoid them pinpointing my exact trait. Even as I wrote it, I wondered if they'd buy it, but—

"Ah, I see…! That makes sense. If you have a stigmata that consumes equipment, then yes."

They believed it right away. Well, most people only had one trait anyway. It was probably easier to believe than the idea that someone who had cleared the fourth floor of the hard ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tower had a non-combat trait. In reality I had thirteen mythic-grade traits, but whatever.

"Normal-grade equipment… We'll need to prepare as much as possible."

"I'll speak with the Administration Bureau."

The two of them nodded, completely unaware. This was just three days before I would be buried in normal-grade equipment.

* * *

Getting the equipment wasn't difficult. Cheonghwa secretly opened their warehouse. My inventory sucked it all up. I looked exactly like that pink jelly character from some game. Since national support required revealing my identity, I had to buy them from the Bureau at about ten million won each instead…

Still only a few billion won total.

It barely made a dent in the one trillion won I had on credit. Of course I would never spend this kind of money in cash, but since it could only be taken as goods, I boldly told them to deduct it from my tab. The reward was incredibly sweet.

A thousand weapons alone!!

Ten got me a rare, a hundred got me a unique. A thousand? That was a guaranteed legendary. And if I got a great success? I'd be duplicating legendary items. Artifacts and ultra-rare items that only a handful existed in the entire world would come pouring out.

Serin's discharge is tomorrow, so I should finish this before then.

Whoosh—! I drew the curtains. I even laid out cardboard boxes on the living room floor. All that remained was infinite grinding.

Serin's getting discharged tomorrow, so I'll finish before then!

"Trait Enhancement Swap, Fusion!"

Ding, ding. Ding.

Notifications poured in one after another. Occasionally a golden light would flash. It took about three hours for a thousand normal-grade weapons to turn into ninety rare-grade and ten unique-grade ones.

Slurp.

Better eat first…

I quickly downed a cup of ramen and got back to work. This time I fused the rare-grade weapons together. If I got a great success, I'd immediately get a legendary. Every time I made one, I prayed for a trait to trigger.

Unfortunately, no golden light appeared this time.

"Darn~."

Still, I wasn't too disappointed. I'd gotten ten great successes out of a hundred rare fusions, so the rate was roughly ten percent. Since I'd only done nine unique fusions, it was possible not to get one.

And more importantly,

I can just treat them as sacrifices.

Failed legendary duplication? Even better. Statistically, it was about time for one to pop. Not a legendary… but something even higher.

Gulp.

Second chance!

I set down the fused weapons. The ten uniques that had come from rare fusions. The nine uniques I had just fused. And finally—

Clatter.

Thanks for everything, Moonlight Sword.

The Moonlight Sword that had been so useful when I was low on mana on the fourth floor. It was a dear item, but… I could handle mana issues with traits now. Thanks for everything. Bye-bye.

"Dohwa, summon."

"Kiiing…?"

"I'm about to scratch some lottery tickets. Cheer me on from the side, okay?"

"Kang!!"

I summoned Dohwa as a totem too. She hopped up and spread her front paws in a Y shape. Like a squirrel thunder… or rather, Dohwa thunder. It was cute and nice.

Let's do this.

"Fusion."

I took a praying posture and placed my hand on the ten unique-grade swords.

Ding.

A clear sound rang out.

A wooden sword made from a branch of the World Tree Ygdrassil. It isn't well-suited for cutting things, but it carries the blessing of the Spirit King instead. It can imbue the blade with desired elemental attributes. (Currently available attributes: Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning)

"……."

That's incredibly useful.

So this was it. Swinging the sword would shoot out fire or lightning or whatever. That would definitely be useful. Traits that allowed elemental attacks were rare on their own, but this let me use all kinds of them.

It was good enough to bow and receive gratefully, but…

A little disappointing?

…I hadn't gotten a great success nine times in a row. It was time for one now. It needed to give me a mythic-grade.

"Sigh, my luck is seriously the worst."

"Kiiing…?"

As I sighed, Dohwa started watching me nervously. Hmm, maybe it was too much to blatantly show disappointment after asking her to cheer me on. I quickly reached out.

Grab.

"No, it's not your fault, Dohwa."

"Kaeung…"

"It's really fine. This is still an incredibly good item."

Well, just getting this was already a jackpot. I could already do elemental attacks, and with my Ten Thousand Cut Sword trait I could cut through anything. I could already picture the monsters getting sliced by this wooden sword and turning into lightning-roasted meat.

So let's not be greedy. Other people would curse me for being too full to eat.

I still have one more to do.

Swish— While holding Dohwa, I reached out again. I planned to fuse the remaining ten unique-grade swords, including the Moonlight Sword. It would probably give me another legendary anyway. Having two swords couldn't hurt.

Without much expectation, I muttered the activation.

—Freeze.

"……."

About ten seconds of silence. I pulled my trembling hand back. Then I grabbed Dohwa tightly.

"Dohwa… You really are the one."

"Kaeung?"

"You're my lucky charm!!!! Damn it, I love you so much, Dohwa!!!!"

As I rubbed my cheek against Dohwa's soft face, a brilliant golden light was pouring out beside us.