Skill Gacha (3)

"Keruk. You wretch!"

The moment the imp appeared before me, it jabbed a finger in my direction.

"How dare you use the magic of a filthy god against me! I'll chew you up and swallow you whole! Subjugation Seal!"

Snikle spread his adorable little hand toward me.

Then a mass of mana shaped like a demon's face materialized, hovering between Snikle and me.

Gooooooh!

Demonic energy roared upward from the demon-faced mass of mana like a storm catching fire.

What the hell is this?

I frowned at the completely unscripted situation.

"Kwahahahaha! I shall make you my eternal slave for the rest of your miserable life. Consider it an honor!"

With Snikle's deranged cackling, the demonic energy coiled itself around both Snikle and me.

Sticky, sinister mana.

KWAAAAAAAH!

The demonic energy wrapped around our bodies surged violently toward the heavens as if gone berserk.

It was the phenomenon of the Subjugation Seal's mana reaching its climax.

And with it, a message appeared before my eyes.

A Spirit comparison?

Ah. Now that I thought about it, the description of the Lower Imp Summoning Ring had contained a line about that.

'If your Spirit is lower than the imp's, there is a risk of mental domination.'

So this is that process.

My prediction seemed to have been correct.

System messages kept popping up one after another before my eyes.

"Kheheheheh."

Once the measurement was complete, the creature's grin only deepened, arms crossed, wearing the smuggest expression imaginable.

Huh.

His Spirit was surprisingly high.

His level was 20.

Even accounting for that, it was higher than the average Spirit value a being of the same level would possess.

Apparently Spirit was the stat with the highest growth rate for him.

And on top of that, he has bonus equipment that raises his Spirit by 20.

Wouldn't most Ascenders on Floor 2 be utterly unable to surpass this imp's Spirit?

"KWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Seeing my furrowed brow, Snikle erupted into manic laughter.

It was a laugh steeped in the certainty that I could never possibly exceed his Spirit.

And truthfully, he was right.

My current Spirit is 36 (+17).

Even borrowing the power of my equipment, I only came to 53.

As things stood, defeat was guaranteed.

Just then, Ellaon shouted.

- Use Spirit Amplification!

That was exactly what I was about to do.

I immediately activated Spirit Amplification.

Its cooldown had just finished ticking over, as it happened.

Ahh!

Just as before, a refreshing clarity washed through my mind the moment I activated Spirit Amplification.

Snikle, who had been radiating such ferocious menace, now looked utterly diminutive.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

My Spirit had effectively risen by over 100 levels.

At that very moment, the demonic energy of the Subjugation Seal coiling around me blazed up violently, as if reaching its final crescendo.

"Kukukukukuk."

Snikle still watched me with that arrogant expression, arms folded.

The air of someone watching a result already written in stone.

"KWAHAHAHAHAHA! From this moment on, you shall serve as my eternal slave and—"

Convinced of his own victory, Snikle beamed and stretched a finger out toward me.

But the system messages weren't finished.

"Wh-what the—?!"

Frozen mid-gesture, finger still extended, Snikle turned to solid ice.

His face made it plain he couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

KWAAAAAAAH!

Demonic energy boiled up from Snikle's body, and the demon-faced sigil I had seen before carved itself into his forehead.

"Im-Impossible!! Me, of such noble blood, subordinate to a mere human... Ghh—ghaaaaahk!"

He was screaming and jabbing his finger at me one moment, and the next he was clutching his head and rolling on the ground.

- What a fool. To harbor insolent thoughts toward your master—he brings the agony of a burning soul upon himself.

From the look of it, Snikle could no longer so much as entertain a disloyal thought about me.

Oh.

My dark attribute attack power and resistance had both gone up by 10%.

But what caught my eye even more than that was the Subjugation Seal itself.

Nine-Star, you say?

I was startled by how incredibly high that rank was.

- Hoh. It appears that imp's potential is higher than I estimated.

Potential?

- Indeed. This ring summons that creature specifically, and so the rank of the Subjugation Seal was likewise assessed with his potential factored in. In other words, the creature is capable of growing to at least 9-Star. All that chatter at the start about being the heir of a Greater Demon... it seems it was no bluff after all.

A 9-Star (★★★★★★★★★) rank was the equal of a Greater Demon.

So he really was of a Greater Demon's bloodline.

Interesting.

I'd acquired a servant I never saw coming.

I strode straight over to him.

"Hey. You doing alright?"

"Ghhk—ghk! Sh-shut up... KYYAAAHK!"

He'd tried to curse me, and the pain had apparently gotten worse for it.

He went back to rolling around on the ground like a madman.

Seriously? THIS dimwitted-looking thing was really the heir of a Greater Demon?

Hmm. And he still hasn't submitted completely, I see.

The Subjugation Seal having been branded onto him was one thing; genuine, heartfelt submission was apparently another matter entirely.

Well, I've got time to spare. Let's see how long he can hold out.

I simply crossed my arms and watched him.

Since I could inflict Eternal Agony on him or end it at will, I figured that if I just kept this training up, he'd eventually learn to bow.

"When you've decided you'd like to submit to me completely, let me know."

"Kki—kkiik! KKYAAAHK!"

But he was a stubborn one.

Even drooling all over himself, he showed not the slightest sign of yielding.

- What a beast of a creature!

A beast, indeed.

A good deal of time had passed, and still he showed no sign of bowing to me.

Tch. Maybe that's enough for today.

Just as I clicked my tongue and moved to send him back—

at last, the words I'd been waiting for spilled out of his mouth.

"K-kek, ghk... I-I was... wrong... Master."

There we go.

Like I said—no deal survives the whip.

I snapped my fingers.

"Huk—ghk—haaah... haaah..."

Snikle cried tears and snot in equal measure.

He looked pitiful beyond words.

"There's no having a proper conversation with you today, is there."

I'd have to talk with him again next time, when he was in his right mind.

For now, I sent him back.

POOF—!

Snikle dissolved into black smoke and vanished.

- If you make good use of that creature, he'll prove quite handy for accelerating your leveling.

I nodded at Ellaon's words.

Ideas for exactly how to use him had already been popping into my head, one after another.

Alright. I'll think this through in more depth later.

FLASH!

I drew a Gem Skill Card out of my inventory once more.

He really did eat up more of my time than I expected.

Still, I'd say acquiring a pet(?) with 9-Star potential was hardly a bad outcome.

"Then let's do some real card gacha."

The moment I'd been waiting for.

Heart pounding, I used the Gem Skill Cards one after another, and—

FLASHAAAAAH!!

A cascade of brilliant white starlight began pouring down over me.

Sage's Sight!

And the instant I activated Sage's Sight—

the starlight began to shimmer in a riot of colors.

"Hnngh."

Deep in a dark space, a certain existence was weeping.

"Hwaaaahng!"

The one bawling his eyes out was, of course, the lower imp Snikle.

"I, of such exalted blood... subordinate to a mere human..."

He was, by birth, of the bloodline of a great being who had once led a revolution in the Demon Realm.

That was the reason he had been able to recover so quickly even after his body was annihilated by Hajun's Mythic-grade Fireball—proof of just how exalted that bloodline truly was.

"Hnngh. If only it had been a magic power measurement instead of Spirit..."

Hajun had assumed that Spirit would be Snikle's highest stat, but reality had been different.

Snikle's highest stat was, in fact, Magic Power.

Thanks to his innate bloodline, he had been born with a magic pool as vast as the great ocean itself.

"HWAAAAHNG!"

After weeping for a good long while, Snikle gradually calmed down.

And then, with a level head, he thought back on his new master, Hajun.

'He was no ordinary human. He used magic steeped in the power of a god.'

The Fireball Hajun had used the first time they crossed paths.

Setting aside the fact that it was Mythic grade, the force that had amplified that Fireball's power carried attributes strikingly similar to the fragments of power his father had once described as belonging to the Great God.

That was why he had believed that dominating this creature would be enormously advantageous for accelerating his own growth, and—

'Hnngh...'

Thinking about it again just made his stomach churn.

'Right. What's done is done—might as well look on the bright side. If that human conquers the Tower someday, then I, too, will be able to complete the power of a Greater Demon.'

Someone who inherited a god's power could surely conquer the Sky Tower.

'The Heavenly Dragons will try to interfere, but with me helping at his side, he can push through any obstacle.'

And when the day came that Hajun conquered the Sky Tower, he would simply plead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for his release then.

Yes. Good.

Don't despair, Snikle!

Turn this into an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠opportunity instead!

Snikle dreamed of a future in which he climbed the Tower as Hajun's aide and collaborator.

But even now, he had no idea.

He could not yet imagine just how different the position of "collaborator" he was envisioning would be from the position of "collaborator" that actually awaited him.

"Unbelievable."

A curse slipped out of me the moment I finished the skill gacha.

How could it not?

"I figured even a single Legendary would be hitting the average."

In a truly unlucky, worst-case scenario, a Gem Skill Card might not produce a Legendary at all.

So my thinking was that securing even one Legendary-grade skill would count as par for the course.

"But the goddess of fortune refuses to leave me alone!!"

- Hah. I'm tempted to call it vulgar excess, but I confess I cannot deny you were born with genuinely outrageous luck.

Luck that even Ellaon had to acknowledge.

Curling the corners of my mouth upward, I checked over the three skills I'd just pulled from the gacha.

The first skill I'd acquired was Wind Cutter.

Given that the damage of an average 2-Star Legendary sat around 160, its 180 damage was exceptionally high.

It wasn't area-of-effect, but it had penetration, and its bleed damage made it a genuinely potent spell.

Next was Shadow Ball.

A dark-attribute spell.

Its base damage fell short of Wind Cutter's.

But with my dark attribute already massively boosted by the Shadow King's Ring and the Lower Imp Summoning Ring, this one looked capable of delivering tremendous destructive power as well.

What's more, Confusion was among the highest-tier of status ailments, so its utility was exceptional.

And the last one is...

The reason I'd been hailing the goddess of fortune.

The reason even Ellaon had called my luck outrageous.

The reason was none other than—

FLASHAAAAH!

That's right.

The last one was a Mythic-grade skill.