Super Rare! Heart-Pounding Gacha Time!

The results from my ten-pull were as follows.

Aside from the newly acquired Mana Conversion, they were all normal items. The Gacha System probabilities are straight-up garbage!

Still, it was fine. After all, a super rare had come home.

Time to check it out.

Oh. For someone like me with basically zero mana, this trait looked incredibly useful. Time to test it.

I converted about eighty percent of my stamina into mana using Mana Conversion, then activated hardening on my right arm.

Crack, crack, craaack—

“Whoa… whoa…!!”

The Steel Body covered my entire right arm. It even climbed all the way up to my shoulder.

I thought my tear ducts had dried up from crying so much, but the overwhelming emotion brought fresh tears to my eyes.

That leaves me with about twenty percent stamina…

I could definitely feel the heaviness and exhaustion in my body.

But it feels a bit awkward.

The range had widened, and using it on smaller areas would let me activate it more often, so it was definitely an improvement. The problem was that my stamina wasn’t infinite. If I made the hardening too big and ran out of stamina, I wouldn’t be able to move, which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meant I couldn’t attack.

I need to train my stamina even harder from now on.

Besides the training I was already doing, I felt like I should add more. Swimming or other cardio exercises would probably help.

Of course, improving stamina would clearly take a very long time and the gains would be small. If I couldn’t solve the fundamental problem of my mana pool, everything would be completely fucked in terms of both efficiency and functionality.

But I couldn’t just sit around being pessimistic. Even if it was just grasping at straws, I had to keep trying anything I could. If there was one thing I was good at, it was acting like a stubborn weed that refused to die.

Alright. Let’s check the other items too. Not expecting much, though.

I skipped over the ones I’d gotten before, like Handsome Appearance and the Type-C cable.

Why the hell does something like this even drop? Well, at least it has my neighborhood’s logo on it, so I can actually use it here. I tucked it away in a drawer.

Raw egg, huh. I do like those.

I immediately grabbed some chopsticks, poked holes in the top and bottom, and sucked it down.

Yeah. Fucking fresh. Not a hint of fishy smell. But when was the laying date?

I checked.

1011.

What the…?

It’s June right now. So this egg was laid in October? That means… it’s from last year?

Fresh my ass! You crazy bastard, lying about food like this? Blech!

Fuck. Next! Next!!

Hell yeah. The Gacha System really knows my tastes! Ice cream is obviously mint chocolate! I’ll never understand people who call it toothpaste flavored.

I tore it open immediately and devoured it with glee.

The sleep socks are nothing special…

I wouldn’t be wearing them in this weather anyway.

But what the hell is a Vigor Cake?

Exactly what I needed now that I had Mana Conversion! It looked like a plain rice cake. A cylindrical one. I tore it open and chewed it down.

The taste is… average, I guess…

I sort of felt like my stamina improved a little, but maybe not. Either way, it definitely made things down there stand tall. Calming it down took some effort.

Anyway, next.

It looked like a banana, so I naturally assumed that’s what it was, but up close it was clearly a manana.

It raises mana…?

The single most necessary item for my current situation! I quickly peeled and ate it.

Hm. I don’t really feel anything. Maybe I’m supposed to eat the peel too?

Ugh.

“Ptoo, ptoo.”

Yeah, the peel definitely wasn’t meant to be eaten.

Finally, the crunch chocolate. The same one Ha-eun had given me two of. I’d eaten it happily after we left the gate.

The moment I read the description, my mood became… how should I put it?

It felt strange. Really strange.

Anyway! After pulling one SR and nine normals in a ten-pull, do you know what that means? It means I’ve stacked the odds! With my remaining points, doing three single pulls would give me a very high chance of getting a rare, and if I was lucky, I could even aim for another super rare!

Shall we spin some singles with the leftover points?

I spun it immediately. But then—

What the hell is this? It’s not like I can’t do a few singles if I’m short on points! Just let me do it!

Then a new message appeared.

No way… I flinched for a second, but I’m not gay! I’m really not… right?

Still, I couldn’t back down here. I desperately needed better skills and traits right now!! My mana pool especially was an urgent problem!

I confidently selected YES again. And then—

“……”

And then it just disappeared.

To be precise, the single pull function vanished completely. As if it had never existed in the first place.

“What the hell? What is this?”

If that’s how it was going to be, why add the single pull function at all? Did that crazy outer god create this system just to mess with me?

They say other outer gods at least give advice on growth direction. This one is completely incomprehensible from start to finish.

Well, at least the ten-pull still works…

The rank battles start next week anyway. I’d just have to work harder to harvest souls by entering gates this weekend.

Sigh.

And so, I spent Saturday sleeping and Sunday watching anime.

Let me be clear here. Watching anime doesn’t make me an otaku.

I told you before, right? Mental imagery is incredibly important for awakened individuals.

Mental imagery is ultimately imagination. The ability to picture various techniques in your head and actually manifest them is what determines skill. In my case, I do get some freebies thanks to the Gacha System, but eventually I’ll need to develop my mental imagery to create something new.

That’s why I watch anime. It’s not purely for enjoyment. Of course, my favorite is the twenty-year-running girls’ band project BanG Dream!, but that’s beside the point.

After spending a fulfilling Sunday watching live performances from my beloved BanG Dream!, Monday arrived and I headed to the academy.

The moment I passed through the school gates, I heard the whispering. Openly hostile glares. Occasional curses mixed in.

Yep. Same old shitty academy as always.

Well. I was used to this by now.

Just wait a little longer. Once I solve my mana problem, I’ll show everyone what I can do during the rank battles.

By the way, my main skill, Steel Body (Hardening), is actually quite decent.

My position is guard. A hybrid class that handles both tanking and dealing damage. That’s why hardening, which can be used for both offense and defense, is an incredibly useful skill.

Of course, that’s only when I have enough mana…

That issue would be resolved soon enough. I’d started to feel a baseless conviction that something to solve it would appear in the next gacha.

While imagining the daily routine of losers everywhere—beating up the school bullies—I arrived in front of the classroom.

Without meaning to, I lifted my gaze and saw it.

Han Min-young standing with the other cadets. The scene of her laughing brightly while talking with them.

That incredibly beautiful smiling face. The lovely smile that used to make me happy just by looking at it.

The moment I saw her, it hit me like a bucket of cold water.

Ah. So that’s how it is. That’s what happened.

You knew everything.

That the rumor about me trying to rape her had spread. That she was being treated as a pitiful victim.

Han Min-young must have known all of it. When I thought about it, of course she did. After all, the only day she had been absent from the academy was that one Friday last week.

But it didn’t look like Han Min-young had any intention of correcting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the story. That’s why she could laugh and chatter so happily like that.

You lost your memories? You definitely remember the moment you fell into erosion, don’t you? Then how on earth did you get out of there? Does it make logical sense that I pulled you out because I was trying to rape you?

Is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠memory loss that conveniently selective? If so, please erase all these painful memories of mine too. I’m begging you.

I stopped in my tracks. And in that instant, my eyes met Han Min-young’s.

What expression was she making now that she’d seen me?

Was she mocking me with that beautiful smile? Or was it the same look of disgust she’d given when she touched my desk before, like she’d seen something filthy?

I didn’t know. Because my eyes had suddenly filled with tears and I couldn’t see anything anymore.

All I could do was turn my body and quickly walk ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠away.

And then a famous line I’d seen somewhere before came to mind.

Love and hate are separated by a single sheet of paper.

For some reason, I felt like I could relate to that phrase from now on.

The one who had given me the deepest wound so far wasn’t anyone else.

It was that very bitch.