The Gacha Shop (2)

“….”

Namgung Jin snatched the bread that had dropped out of thin air and gulped down a handful of it. It melted softly across his tongue, so delicately sweet that he could hardly believe the price. A clean, nutty flavor he would never taste anywhere in the Central Plains.

Next, he popped the 'Clear Water' that had fallen beside the bread into his mouth—sealed in a transparent wrapper.

Pop.

The wrapper burst with a faint resistance, and crystal-clear water slid down his throat, gulp after gulp. The wrapper itself dissolved like water, sliding down without the slightest trouble.

“Hah….”

And with that, today's meal was done.

Namgung Jin twisted his body this way and that to retrieve the Golden Wound Salve and apply it to the gash across his chest. The cramped burrow made it awkward work, but the task had long since become second nature, and he managed it without much difficulty.

Several months had passed since the Demon Cult's underlings began hunting him. They would have cast the Heaven and Earth Net over the whole region, searching for him—for the last living descendant of the Namgung Clan, whom they needed to take alive.

“I have no face to show my ancestors….”

The reputation of Namgung Cheoncheon, who had once walked the path of the sword in proud solitude, had crashed all the way to rock bottom.

The thunderous glory of the Namgung Clan—Sword Emperor of the age, Cheoncheon Namgung, head of the Five Great Clans, pillar of the Orthodox Sects—had long ago been trampled beneath the Demon Cult's schemes.

“Kkhhck!”

Blackish blood rose in his throat. He had hidden his body in this narrow burrow for so long, unable even to tend his wounds properly—no wonder the injuries had worsened. The Golden Wound Salve could only do so much for external wounds; it had its limits.

Still, his situation was far better than it had been only a short while ago.

Back then, he couldn't even secure food, and he had writhed half-starved in the dark.

Sneaking out to gather wild fruit had bought him a little time, but as the encirclement tightened day by day, even that grew impossible. A mere First-Rate realm was hardly enough to punch through their lines—or to endure the gnawing hunger.

If only I'd had a little more time…!

Had he reached the Peak realm, he would never have been driven so pitifully low.

Namgung Jin had achieved a polished First-Rate realm before even turning twenty, and within the Namgung Clan his talent for the sword had been acknowledged. Not that the [Interdimensional Integrated Community] hadn't played its part in that, either.

But none of it mattered now.

What good was innate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talent? A martial artist needed time above all else—and right now he was nothing more than a green boy whose body had not yet finished growing. That might change in some distant future, but the present held no such promise.

The Demon Cult's invasion of the Central Plains had begun before he could rise to the Peak realm, and the cult, having whetted its blade for years, collapsed the Namgung Clan and the Mount Hua Sect in an instant and marched on with lightning speed.

“Wretched Demon Cult scum…!”

Sorrow and fury swirled in his eyes. This invasion was starkly different from all the ones before. Where the cult had once surged forward on raw, overwhelming force, it was now systematically dismantling the Central Plains with insidious schemes and sown discord.

“I see no way out….”

The Demon Cult was currently obsessed with finding the Namgung Clan's secret vault. To seize him—the only one who knew the vault's location and the whereabouts of its key—they had dispatched a hunting force that included dozens of Peak-realm martial artists.

And yet, in the midst of it all, the Dimensional Store had provided him with food and water. It was only natural that gratitude toward the Administrator stirred in his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heart.

Thud. Thud.

But it seemed even that was coming to an end.

The tremors drew closer with every passing day.

They must have devised some new means of tracking him.

He had planned to lie low and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hold out on his remaining points until they gave up and withdrew.

He, who had deliberately rationed his points, eating nothing but bread and water.

“Haah….”

Nothing else in the store's catalog offered any clear way out of this situation. He didn't have nearly enough points to raise his VIP tier, either.

Would it be better to simply enjoy one last feast before they found him?

The thought had actually crossed his mind.

Then, in the middle of it all, something unfurled before his eyes.

“?”

After a brief wait, the [Interdimensional Integrated Community] came back online.

“The Dimensional Store….”

He hunted through the Store tab within the community and found that things had changed.

Before, all he'd had to do was pick an item from the list catalogued in the [Dimensional Store] inside the community, and it would be delivered to him.

But now—

Access?

Something was different. But what did he have to lose? His points were nearly spent, but he could at least window-shop.

The Administrator did seem to be in the habit of pulling off miracles, after all.

Whoosh—

The moment he accepted, his mind clouded over. A sensation of being sucked away somewhere swept over him, and he lost consciousness.

“Hmpf!”

Startled awake, Namgung Jin spun around to survey his surroundings.

“….”

He hastily patted down his waist. But he couldn't feel his sword anywhere.

Calm yourself.

Only then did the figures around him begin to register properly.

Shadows?

People shaped like pitch-black shadows were glancing about here and there.

Namgung Jin realized the truth: to everyone else, he too would appear as a black shadow, just like the rest of them.

Where am I?

It felt as though he had wandered into another world entirely. A truly wondrous space.

An empty, ink-black void stretched out endlessly in every direction, laced through with precise blue lines etched in endless grids across the ground and sky, while numbers and letters flickered in the air, shifting in complex blue-glowing patterns.

When he turned his head, he saw the promotional video that had been all the buzz just days ago playing on a screen as large as a gate—alongside another video beyond it, one featuring a woman in rather strange clothing.

Is that armor? What in the world is that?

But he had no time to watch the video.

“Hm?”

He noticed that everyone around him was staring at one particular direction, and curiosity drew him toward them. Pushing his way through the huddled mass of black shadows was no easy feat either.

Drawn as if by some spell, he arrived—and had no choice but to open his eyes wide in astonishment.

S-She's peerless…!

A beauty of truly unmatched splendor was smiling radiantly.

Ah….

Only then did Namgung Jin understand why this place was packed with people. He couldn't read the shadows' expressions clearly, but every one of them had let their guard collapse entirely, mouths hanging open.

Ah… did Dangi, the world-ending beauty who toppled dynasties, look like this?

“They say she's an idol.”

“What's an idol?”

“Beats me.”

“Anyway, who are you?”

“Huh?”

“Hey. Don't talk to him. It costs points.”

“Whoa—?!”

Namgung Jin let the chatter around him flow past one ear while he checked his points. Merely lingering in this space was draining them; conversing or doing anything at all would presumably burn through them even faster.

“Mmm.”

The community was in an uproar over that woman—an idol of the Galactic Empire, they said.

It was, without question, staggering beauty—beyond anything words could capture. At first he had assumed he'd fallen under some bewitching art. It was obvious she belonged to some species other than human, but that made no difference at all.

He could spend every last one of his remaining points just drinking in that face, and he would die without a single regret.

When their eyes met, his knees nearly buckled. Before he knew it, he was pressing [Draw], exactly as she recommended.

Beside the spot where she stood, a round mechanism whirred to life on the floor, spewing out brilliant light as currents of electricity began to crackle.

Bzzt-crackle—

Her sunny smile seemed to light up the space around her.

Oh no! Maybe I should have saved the points and spent more time just watching her instead?

A single draw cost a staggering 10,000P.

Still, he supposed it was worth it just to have met her eyes.

“Hah, remarkable.”

It was enough to make ghosts weep. He could sense absolutely nothing artificial about it—not the slightest trace of a charm spell.

Even in the middle of it, she offered him words of comfort.

Ding—

But then.

Golden flames flared up from the glowing floor, and a long, slender something thrust itself up into view.

At the same instant, golden lettering shimmered and streamed across every corner of the strange space.

“SSR—that's a big deal, isn't it?”

“I've watched this whole time, and not a single one. A first, this is.”

“You've only been here five minutes.”

Namgung Jin's head was spinning. Amid the woman's congratulations, the crowd fired question after question at him from every direction.

“What's it like?”

“A Super Vibration… Blade?”

“Is it different from the R-grade Super Vibration Blade?”

“Do tell us what makes it different, friend.”

“Of course it's different—the grades are different. Honestly, sir.”

“Hey, you there—!”

Just as he came to his senses and reached to grasp the long, slender object—

Ding—

“!!”

He was back in reality.

Wait… then that thing from before—?

He scrambled around, groping at his surroundings, until something landed in his hand.

Phew. Thank heaven…

“Found him! Fire the signal flare!”

“You rat of a man!”

“Report to the Great Lord at once!”

The world around him had not been waiting for him at all.