A World Where No One Gets Hurt (2)
The labyrinth is a place where you gain power simply by returning alive. No one knows what kind of power or how much you'll receive. However, the general tendencies of growth have been revealed. …Or so the setting goes.
First, the part a person needs most has the highest chance of growing. If someone is physically weak or does a lot of heavy labor, their strength increases. Occasionally, senses sharpen out of nowhere, a mage gains aura, or lifespan extends. Such unusual cases exist, but they're extremely rare exceptions, so we can set them aside.
Next comes the question of how much one grows. That's simple too. It depends on the amount of activity inside the labyrinth and the scale of one's accomplishments. For example, someone who slaughters monsters will grow far more than someone who merely breathes quietly. Even if no monsters are defeated, leaving a meaningful change on that floor also counts toward growth. In short, think of it as login bonuses, combat experience, and achievement experience. That was the image I had in mind when I set it up.
Up to this point, the labyrinth's power directly seeps into the body. To put it more grandly, fragments of myth sleeping within the labyrinth elevate an adventurer's rank. This is the most common method of growth.
But the labyrinth also offers a chance for a complete reversal of fortune beyond steady growth: the divine power and authorities remaining in the corpses of gods, along with artifacts from the God-Slaying War. Divine power and the authorities fueled by it are both gifts from the gods, yet that doesn't mean they're power gained for free. Priests must pay the ambiguous price called faith to wield their strength. But what if that god is already dead? Then there's no longer any need to pay the price. In other words, the authorities of dead gods obtained in the labyrinth are fragments of miracles that can be used without any cost—pleasures without responsibility. Of course, since it's the power of a dead god, there's no room for further growth.
Next are the items from the God-Slaying War… Well, what more needs to be said? To humanity, which has already been destroyed once and rebuilt, ancient technology is both lost technology and over-technology. It's only natural that the performance of weapons from that era is absurdly high. Ordinary furniture sells for high prices to nobles, books to historians… and if research materials are discovered, the nation itself often steps in. Even the most heinous criminals can receive amnesty as long as they're not traitors, and commoners are offered hereditary titles while nobles receive promotions along with various benefits. …Honestly, I hadn't thought that far in detail. I only set it up so that traces of ancient civilizations occasionally found would be traded at high value. But the people here filled in the rest quite plausibly on their own.
Anyway, the labyrinth is essentially a land of opportunity. So what did I obtain from this expedition?
“My luck has definitely improved!”
There was no basis for it. After all, how much growth could there be from just killing a few goblins on the first floor? Still, I wanted to believe it. Because from now on, I was going to roll the gacha…!
Grinning, I pulled out my wallet and magic stones. The money I'd earned selling goblin byproducts to the guild was a little over 60 copper. They were first-floor monsters, and the weakest ones at that, so the low price was understandable. If anything, I should be grateful they bought them at all. Adding what I'd had before and subtracting the rent I'd paid Elly, I still had a full 72 copper on hand! Goblin magic stones were bought at 3 copper each, so selling all 11 would have netted me 1 silver and 4 copper, but I brought these stones without selling them. No special reason—I just wanted to test whether the gacha system would accept magic stones at an equivalent value.
“Gacha gacha.”
Muttering whatever came to mind, I called up the system, and a bell-like chime rang in my ears.
Normal Gacha
Consume cash or equivalent magic stones to randomly obtain items or skills between 1-star and 5-star.
[Single Pull] [10+1 Pull]
With a pounding heart, I gripped seven 10-copper large coins and ten magic stones, focusing on the single pull option. Soon, a question appeared.
—Would you like to proceed with [Single Pull]?
“Oh…”
At least it confirmed that mixing magic stones still lets you roll. Next was figuring out the exchange rate. I knew the guild bought goblin stones for 3 copper each, but I needed to check if the system valued them the same. If it accepted them at a higher rate than the guild… then it would be better to use everything except regular loot for gacha.
I tried removing one magic stone first.
—Insufficient funds.
“Tsk. So it doesn't work.”
I added one 1-copper small coin on top.
—Insufficient funds.
“Even this…!”
Finally, I held one more small coin and looked at the system, but—
—Insufficient funds.
“This damn thing.”
It still didn't work. It seemed the “equivalent value” mentioned in the gacha system was based on the guild's purchase price. Of course, that purchase price wasn't absolute—market rates for magic stones fluctuated depending on circumstances. Well, the prices of lowest-grade stones like goblin stones, which existed in huge quantities, didn't swing much, so I'd have to check later. I'd already tested everything possible without magic stones: the gacha had change-making functionality, and even if you held more than the required amount, only the necessary cost was consumed.
“Single pull, give me a 5-star!!”
After one single pull, I'd only have 4 copper left, but if I saved up 10 silver for a 10-pull, I could do one extra roll! None of that mattered right now. I just wanted to roll the gacha immediately…!
…For some reason, the famous marshmallow experiment from my past life came to mind. I was probably the kind of kid who couldn't wait and ate the marshmallow right away. But later people said the experiment itself was full of flaws, so wanting to roll right now probably wasn't wrong either. It was only natural to want to spend the money earned from my first labyrinth expedition meaningfully. Yeah. It was all the labyrinth's fault. I wasn't at fault.
“Huu…”
I took a deep breath and steadied my mind. This was my one and only chance, so I had to try everything I could. Holding the magic stones and coins in my right hand, I began dancing a move I'd seen somewhere before.
“Dance to boost gacha luck…!”
My arms spread wide and wriggled like seaweed while my hips swayed rhythmically side to side in bizarre motions. I passionately performed the dance that looked like a wriggling earthworm from afar for about a minute. This should work.
With a pounding heart, I rolled the gacha.
Roll roll roll…
Along with the sound of dice from somewhere, the magic stones and coins vanished without a trace. At the same time, my heart began pounding like mad. My breathing quickened. My vision sparkled with colors. A floating sensation spread through my entire body, and laughter spilled out on its own. I was ready to cheer at any moment as I waited, but the spatial rift that should have appeared never came. Instead, a sudden headache began.
“Kuh…!”
It wasn't severely painful. At most, it was like the pain of standing up from sitting and hitting your head on a corner. But even if it hurt far more than this, I would have definitely been smiling. This pain was the same one I'd felt when I first pulled Pickpocketing… in other words, when I pulled a skill instead of junk.
While clutching my head and grinning, just as expected, a translucent notification window appeared instead of an item.
1-Star: Magic — Weak Flame
“Oh…!”
It really was a skill! The 1-star rating was a bit disappointing, but pulling a skill from a single roll was an absolute profit. Pickpocketing, which was classified as junk, had turned out surprisingly useful when I actually used it, and this one was magic. Even if the grade was low, its practicality would be higher!
With a pounding heart, I pulled out the knowledge that had just been engraved in my head. At the same time, a warm energy rose from my heart. I moved a tiny amount of mana to my fingertips and spoke the activation word.
“Weak Flame.”
Fwoosh.
A small flame ignited in the air slightly away from my index finger.
…And that was it. I examined the flame stuck to my hand from various angles and even shook it, but nothing changed. It was just a small, cute flame.
“A lighter, huh…”
It even went out quickly without lasting long. Because I lacked the mana to use as fuel. Getting mana without any real hardship was definitely a jackpot, but the problem was that the amount was only enough to cast Weak Flame once. Where the hell was I supposed to use this…?
A sense of futility welled up from deep inside my heart. On top of that, my chest began to ache slightly. It was about as sore as right after sprinting at full speed. Was this mana depletion? Even though it was a tiny amount of mana, apparently exhausting it all triggered depletion symptoms.
“Give me back my meteor… Now that I think about it, skills aren't unconditionally good. What matters is the grade. Only the number of stars can satisfy me, Kim Yona.”
Feeling gloomy, I stared blankly at the 4 copper left in my hand. What exactly had I spent 1 silver on? With 1 silver, I could have eaten a hearty meat-filled meal, bought a decent set of clothes, or purchased proper crossbow bolts instead of crudely broken and forced-in wooden arrows. But I'd blown it all on a lighter. And not even a normal one—a defective lighter that needed several hours to recharge after a single use.
Calling it a total bust felt like overkill since it was just one single pull, but that unique feeling of emptiness when things go wrong began to rise. The dopamine that had been boiling over seemed to have died, leaving only endless depression. But the moment I hit rock bottom, my thinking flipped.
“Huh?”
If it was lighter-level, couldn't I just use it as a lighter? Why had I been trying to use it in combat?
Creak.
I opened the desk drawer and took out a few well-dried mana herb stems, stuffing them into my mouth. They tasted bitter, sour, and musty, but not so bad I couldn't eat them. Why else would they be called mana herbs? Because they contained a tiny amount of mana. Eating them raw without refining was inefficient, but my mana capacity was tiny to begin with, so it didn't matter.
“Alright. Let's go.”
When you think of a lighter, you think of cigarettes. And when you think of cigarettes, you think of Elly. A good idea had come to mind.