Better Than Five Stars

"Alright. Let's do this!"

I steeled myself and activated the Smile of the Goddess of Fortune.

The gem set into the pendant in my hand shattered into glittering fragments, a system message rising in its place. I immediately smashed the 10+1 summon button on Celestial Summoning.

The luck amplification granted by the Smile of the Goddess of Fortune lasted a mere five seconds. Far too short — just enough time to tap the summon button once. In other words, I had to stake everything I had on this single eleven-pull.

"Please! I'm not even asking for a 6-star — just one 5-star!!"

Truth be told, even with an S-grade artifact's effect behind me, I wasn't hoping for a 6-star. You only had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to look at True Ancestor's case to know — the odds on this skill were so abysmal you'd be lucky to scrape a single 4-star out of a hundred pulls. If even one 5-star showed up, I'd be on my knees in gratitude.

With that desperate prayer clenched in my chest, I watched the eleven-pull animation unfold.

"Gold!!"

It was that brilliant, radiant gold that announced a 5-star summon. Then, as part of the skill effect, a vision of light pillars erupted through the clouds. Relief washed over me. I was just about to go limp when something strange caught my eye.

Another golden pillar had suddenly surged up beside the first.

"T-twins!!"

Two 5-stars. In a single eleven-pull. And judging by a few of the other pillars glowing purple, there were 4-stars in the mix as well. My prayer had actually reached the Goddess of Fortune.

"THIS is it! This is what I'm fucking talking about!!"

Dopamine flooded all the way to the top of my skull. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. I frantically opened my status window, and there they were — two dazzling golden 5-star weapons. I checked their specs immediately.

"Holy hell."

The weapons I'd just inspected were, without exaggeration, endgame-tier. It was my first time pulling a 5-star that wasn't a summon, and they didn't fall short of the summons in the slightest. On top of that — whether it was the amplified luck or not — both halves of a set-effect pair had come in together.

"All hail the Goddess of Fortune!!"

Given that I desperately needed a way to shore up my own combat power right now, this was about as perfect a result as I could have asked for. Unable to keep my pounding heart in check, I grabbed Ganjiang and Moye then and there.

"Whoa. These have some weight to them."

A pair of divine blades that felt surprisingly hefty for daggers. I gave them an experimental swing through empty air, and the sound of the atmosphere splitting rang in my ears. At the same time, a violent wind whipped up around me — along with the distinct sensation of cutting through something.

"Huh?"

That was how the hotel wall got sliced in half. Cleanly. Perfectly. Right down the middle.

"Wait, what..."

This isn't even my place... I'm so screwed.

"Damn it. I just threw money down the drain."

In the end, I got kicked out of the hotel. The money I'd made in the Tower was enough that covering the damages wasn't an issue — they just told me to get out anyway.

"The money still hurts, though. Seriously."

Maybe it was because I still couldn't shake the memories of my days as a debtor, but even though it wasn't a huge amount by my current standards, it made my stomach twist. Times like this called for a mood booster and nothing else. I pulled up my status window and logged into the community.

This is actually pretty fun once in a while.

I'd never been the type to hang around forums. Back in school I hadn't had the slightest interest, so I'd never even logged in. But now that I had some breathing room mentally, it had somehow settled into a genuine hobby. Once I got into it, it was a lot of fun — especially this kind of thing.

"Ahh, that hits the spot."

They say humans are creatures that feed on a sense of superiority, don't they? I apparently wasn't much of an exception, because reading those comments left me feeling wonderfully refreshed. As for the affinity stacks I'd just piled up — a few hamburgers would take care of those, so that wasn't a problem either.

I was about to close the status window after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that successful mood reset when a comment dropped that felt... pointed.

On the surface, it didn't look all that different from the other buy-up ads. The unusual part was that this person was posting under a handle instead of anonymously — something you almost never saw on this community.

"Who even is this person that's getting everyone so worked up?"

The comments were losing their minds, so I searched the handle IBecameAlone, curious. News articles and write-ups poured down the screen in a flood. Apparently she was a much bigger deal of an Awakened than I'd expected.

"Wow. An S-Class candidate?"

Looking at the search results, she was a hunter whose face I actually recognized. After awakening two years ago, she'd climbed the Tower so fast she'd become a legend among rookie hunters. Just recently, she'd even made the S-Class hunter candidate list — one of the strongest people in the country.

"Still. Some things just aren't for sale."

No matter how famous the other party was, there was no universe in which I was selling these daggers. I wouldn't hand over a 5-star set-effect item even if the President of the United States personally asked for it. I made my refusal short and unambiguous. The comment section exploded. I couldn't have cared less.

"Hmm... is something going on?"

For a top-tier hunter to come in this humble... something felt off. Maybe her Tower climb had hit a snag. That was possible.

To make matters worse, a whisper arrived that looked genuinely desperate.

"Augh, come on. You're really gonna pull at my heartstrings like that?"

I'm really just going to meet her. That's it.

"If you really don't give me this, my whole life's overrr..."

"Look, I'm telling you — this is a soulbound item."

"Ah— aaaaah. I'm gonna die. I can't even climb the Tower without a single item. I should just die......"

The next day, at a cafe in Gangnam.

The woman who greeted me was nothing like the photos in those articles — she was covered in tattoos and piercings.

I should've just stayed home....