Gacha Addicts Are Always Right (5)
The familiar chime rang out.
Would you like to synthesize [2-Star: Wrist Crossbow]?
“Eh.”
Wait, this thing has a breakthrough system too?
It’s a pretty common feature in gacha games. Strengthening duplicate characters or weapons is one of the best ways to squeeze more cash out of players. Still, I never imagined my gacha system would have a breakthrough function.
That makes sense, though. My system is the ultimate example of unfriendliness—it doesn’t have pickup rates to boost the chance of specific items, doesn’t tell you what you might get, and doesn’t even show the probability for each rank. It’s basically the goddess of love’s gift, or so the theory goes. Since she already monopolizes the faith of the entire world and rakes in insane amounts of donations, she probably doesn’t need to bait me into spending more.
That’s why the system feels so… heartless. Or rather, lacking in kindness.
A normal person would know that a gacha with no pity and garbage rates is just throwing money away, so they’d stay far away. But someone like me—whose brain melted after pulling a 3-star fodder on the very first free roll—will happily dump cash into it.
If I’d invested all the money I’ve spent so far on myself… no, if I’d wanted a stable life in the first place, I never would’ve become an adventurer. I have my reasons for needing to get stronger. That’s why I keep rolling the gacha—the fastest path to power.
It’s definitely not because I’m a gambling addict whose brain has been pickled in dopamine, turning me into one of Pavlov’s dogs that sees money and immediately wants to roll.
Anyway, that’s the situation. I never expected a breakthrough system from something that clearly has zero interest in making money. On top of that, it doesn’t even separate items, skills, and authorities—they all come out of the same pool. A ridiculously wide gacha pool with no pity, no guaranteed rolls, and trash rates… and it still has a breakthrough system?
“This is such a dogshit game…”
Well, it’s not actually a game.
I let out a long sigh and looked down at the pile of magic herbs and healing herbs still scattered across the floor. There were so many it brought tears to my eyes just looking at them, yet there hadn’t been any notification back then.
“So it only works from 2-star and up?”
1-stars drop so often that maybe they can’t be synthesized. I can’t say for sure, though. This is the first time I’ve gotten a duplicate 2-star, after all. I’ll probably need to see a few more duplicates of 2-star or higher before I can be certain.
For now, I decided to deal with the notification that had been blinking in my vision this whole time. The moment I mentally gave my consent, the alert quietly vanished. At the same time, the crossbow in my hand began glowing with a pure white light.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, the crossbow dissolved into particles of light and started being absorbed into the original one. Then the original began to shine as well. Instead of scattering, though, its silhouette started to change while still glowing.
The proportion of metal increased. Pulleys appeared here and there. Finally, a geared handle formed on the upper part of the bowstring.
Once the light covering the crossbow faded, a new notification popped up.
Synthesis of [2-Star: Wrist Crossbow] complete.
It has become [2-Star: Wrist Crossbow +1].
“I see. So that’s how it feels.”
I nodded and examined the newly synthesized crossbow. At a glance, the overall design looked far more refined. It really gave off the impression of a mechanical bow. The limbs had turned entirely to metal, and thanks to the pulley system at the ends, the power must have increased dramatically.
That also meant the draw weight would be much higher, making it harder to load… but the geared handle attached to the string was probably there to help with that. When I turned it clockwise, the string drew back without needing much force at all.
“Huh? But almost none of the old traces are left.”
At most, there was the leather bracer used to strap it to the arm. Everything else had changed too much. It felt less like the original crossbow had been strengthened and more like it had been swapped out for an entirely different one.
I turned it over in my hands, then strapped it to my wrist to test the new handling. Surprisingly, the comfort level hadn’t changed much. It wasn’t just because the bracer was the same. My senses, sharpened to the extreme after obtaining Sound-Eating Steps, whispered the truth to me. The center of gravity was exactly the same as before.
The weight itself had increased quite a bit due to the higher metal content, but I had also grown steadily while clearing dungeons in the meantime, so it wasn’t too heavy to use. In other words, a weapon I was already familiar with had simply become stronger.
“This is nice.”
I’d have to test it properly in real combat to know the details, but so far I was satisfied in every way. Maybe my expectations had been lowered by the sheer madness of a system this unfriendly including a breakthrough feature, but… anyway, this was a much better result than some half-baked new 2-star or useless equipment like that steel shield.
In crude terms, the breakthrough efficiency was excellent.
“Then I guess I’ll clean up the rest.”
I grabbed a handful of the piled-up magic herbs and healing herbs and stuffed them into my mouth. They tasted like bitter mint.
“Yona. Where did you steal that one from?”
“…Why do you always start with the assumption that I stole it?”
“……”
Rydia, who had come to The Elf and the Silver Coin so we could enter the labyrinth together, pressed her lips tightly shut. Behind her, Elly was snickering the whole time.
I lifted the shiny metal crossbow with a triumphant voice.
“I bought this with the money I’ve saved up until now! Stole it? What exactly do you take me for?!”
“A brazen little brat.”
“A pickpocket who steals not only goods but lives as well.”
“The brazen little brat whose room you tried to break into, Elly—shut it! And Lady Rydia! We agreed to call that an assassin, not a pickpocket!”
At the malicious editing of events, Elly briefly made an aggrieved face, but it wasn’t anything important. Rydia shook her head, then suddenly narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“Wait. Something’s off about you, Yona.”
“You’re saying the same thing as Elly this morning. Are you going to say I smell nice too and bury your nose in my scalp, Lady Rydia?”
When I slightly tilted my head forward, Rydia’s expression stiffened as she looked at Elly.
“…Senior Elly?”
“N-no. I mean, I’m a beastman. My nose is sensitive, so I just… unconsciously…”
“It’s not like you’ve only been a beastman for a day or two. What kind of excuse is that from a criminal who couldn’t control her urges?”
“I told you it’s not like that! Rydia, if you get closer you’ll definitely notice the difference too!”
“I can already tell from this distance. Yona’s at that age, and he earned quite a bit from the Iron Wolf hides this time, so he probably bought some perfume. But that’s no reason to shove your face into him.”
“Ugh…! I’m telling you it’s not perfume!”
Elly scratched the back of her head in frustration. I quietly raised a hand between the two bickering women.
“Stop! Don’t fight because of me…!”
“Ah, that’s not it.”
“Yeah. It’s not that.”
“……”
The moment I stepped in, they united in shaking their heads. It stung a little.
“Hmph! Yona’s the cheap one.”
“Enough with the jokes. So? What really happened? You were deliberately keeping quiet until Rydia got here, but you know you seem like a completely different person from yesterday, right?”
“Yeah. The crossbow is still useful, so I guess he splurged and reinforced it. As long as he didn’t steal it, it’s fine… But just like Senior Elly said, it’s not just the scent—you really are a different person.”
“…What exactly changed?”
“Your movements.”
“Your footsteps are different.”
Elly and Rydia answered as if they’d been waiting for the question. No way. Had they really noticed Sound-Eating Steps? I hadn’t even used it yet.
Of course, as the person in question, I could guess what had changed. Even without fully suppressing my presence and entering stealth mode, my basic senses had become sharper. Naturally, the way I perceived the world had to shift a little.
Sounds that never bothered me before now felt irritating. A slightly off-balance posture felt uncomfortable. Shoulders that carried unnecessary tension suddenly felt awkward. So I gradually adjusted my posture and movements to be more comfortable.
Well, “adjusted” might not be the right word. It was more like my body naturally moved in the less uncomfortable direction. That’s why certain fine details were different from yesterday… but I hadn’t expected them to notice right away.
“I knew Lady Rydia was sharp, but it seems the rumors that Elly was truly an amazing adventurer were true.”
“…If my arm were still intact, I’d be stronger than Rydia.”
“But you don’t have an arm. Elly-senpai, you suck.”
“What did you just say, you bitch?!”
The two naturally started bickering again. But the process felt strangely awkward this time, and it was blatantly obvious they kept glancing at me.
…Maybe my sharpened senses made it easier to notice. Right now, the two of them were leaving the choice to me. Whether I would explain the sudden change or just let it slide and continue as usual.
Either way, all I really had to do was hide the gacha. It wasn’t that big a secret, so I decided to just tell them.
“Ahem. It’s not like anything that amazing happened yesterday… The goddess of love simply bestowed her blessing upon me all of a sudden. That’s where the scent comes from.”
“?”
“?”
The two blinked blankly at the claim that I’d received a divine blessing in my sleep. Even though they were fully grown adults, the sight was so cute that mischief stirred inside me.
“And the reason my movements have changed and I walk so quietly is……”
I trailed off, then shyly averted my gaze from Elly and muttered in a small voice.
“Yesterday while I was jerking off, I accidentally made a loud noise and Elly came over. That’s when I had my realization.”
“What?”
I flashed a bright smile at the dumbfounded Elly.
“If I move this quietly, it won’t reach Elly’s ears, right?”
“W-wait, what are you…”
Elly’s ears perked up sharply.
“And if I smell this nice, I can probably hide the scent of night-blooming flowers too.”
“……!”
Elly wrinkled her nose slightly. She really was such an easy person to read.