Episode 15 – Gacha

17 minutes

I turned around in a hurry when I heard Misuzu’s urgent voice. My body remembered that Misuzu used such a tone only when she was having a tough fight. I rushed to peel off the goblin that I thought might be clinging to Misuzu, shouting out,

“Huh?” -Rokujou

However, there was no sign of Misuzu being attacked. Only an adult goblin lay bleeding on the grassland.

“You’ve defeated it, haven’t you? Why did you scream? Are you hurt?” -Rokujou

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt. There’s no way I would struggle against something like a goblin.” -Kiriyama

“You’ve struggled about five times though.” -Rokujou

In the initial stages, women’s statuses are considerably lower than men’s.

Because of this, Misuzu had been clung to by goblins several times, nearly had her lips taken, and had her body licked through her body armor. Each time, it was my role to save her.

“I’ve forgotten all that!” -Kiriyama

“I’d be happy if Misuzu could be a little more careful.” -Rokujou

“Ahaha, I leave that kind of thing to Yuuta. More importantly, look at this!” -Kiriyama

Misuzu was pointing near the hand of the adult goblin. I looked over and,

“!” -Rokujou

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. There was a coin next to it.

“Is this! Could it be! A gacha coin!?” -Rokujou

“That’s right. It’s a gacha coin!” -Kiriyama

Every 10 floors of the dungeon, there is a gacha. To spin the gacha located at the entrance, you need a coin. And these coins are possessed by monsters at a certain probability. It was said that goblins rarely have it, with about a 1 in 300 chance.

“It’s my first time seeing one in real life.” -Rokujou

“Me too, I heard they were made of stone?” -Kiriyama

The coin was a smooth grey color.

On one side, there was a deformed goblin depicted. This gacha coin is what’s called the main source of income for explorers. In games and novels, there are rewards for subduing monsters, material rewards, but currently, there is nothing like that.

In the past, materials from monsters were also valuable, but as the number of monsters defeated increased, their market value decreased, and now only materials from particularly strong monsters have any value. However, explorers still make a good income, and many are wealthy.

The gacha coin is what sustains this source of income. The deeper you go, the higher the rarity of the coin you can find, and with one coin you can draw ten times.

“I wonder if Agni will come out.” -Kiriyama

“There’s no way something like that will come out of a Stone Gacha. They say Stone isn’t worth much unless you get a Gold one.” -Rokujou

Explorers can start making a living by being able to pull from the Bronze Gacha, and for that, you need to pull from the gacha in the Gacha Zone on the 11th floor.

The only gacha available in the 1st-floor Gacha Zone is the Stone Gacha.

“It’s a job full of dreams, but to make a living out of it, you need to get through at least 10 levels.” -Rokujou

However, it was said that only one in a hundred who are serious about becoming explorers ever make it past that point and reach the Bronze Gacha.

“Yuuta, let’s go draw from the Gacha now!” -Kiriyama

“Now?” -Rokujou

“Of course! Gacha, gacha! That’s where an explorer’s dreams are packed!” -Kiriyama

“But aren’t we just about to level up? Shouldn’t we do that first?” -Rokujou

“That can wait until tomorrow! I want to do the gacha now!” -Kiriyama

“But if we level up, we can start searching for the staircase to the second layer tomorrow.” -Rokujou

“Gacha!” -Kiriyama

“But still—” -Rokujou

“I’ll work hard on leveling up after the gacha!” -Kiriyama

“So, you mean we go level up again after that?” -Rokujou

It seemed like a lot of extra effort. Besides, the area around the dungeon entrance had been cleared of goblins. It would inevitably take time to reach a place where goblins were still around. Naturally, that would mean getting back late.

“Is that okay?”  -Kiriyama

“Yes!” -Rokujou

I wanted to spend as much time as possible with Misuzu.

So I didn’t mind that it would take longer.

But I wondered if it was okay to be out so late when I had left without telling my parents. Moreover, with overnight stays expected, would they allow me to do such a thing with a girl?

“Alright. Let’s go now.” -Rokujou

“Can I draw it? I found it, so I should be allowed to, right?”  -Kiriyama

I wanted to draw from the gacha too. Or rather, Kiriyama’s gacha luck is 1, right? It’s obvious that I, with a luck of 5, should be the one to draw.

“Sure. But let me have a go just once.” -Rokujou

But love is a weakness. It was also our first time, so I conceded a lot.

“No. I want to draw all of them.” -Kiriyama

Hey, that’s enough to make me angry. My brows twitched.

“Please, Misuzu.” -Rokujou

But I humbled myself. I can’t help it because I like her.

“Yuuta, you’re hopeless. Okay, just one time then.” -Kiriyama

“Thank you.” -Rokujou

I’m not sure why I’m thanking her.

Normally, we’d each take five turns. But if it makes Misuzu happy, then that’s fine. Misuzu, visibly excited about drawing from the gacha, and I, cautiously aware of our surroundings, made our way back to the entrance.

The two of us entered the cylindrical building of the Gacha Zone.

There were no windows, and no one else was there. We were the only explorers using the first layer at this time. It would be different in D-rank territory, but we had no intention of going there.

“It’s the Gacha Zone, Misuzu! It’s my first time entering!” -Rokujou

“That’s amazing, Yuuta! You really feel like an explorer!” -Kiriyama

The Gacha Zone is a safety zone that can’t be entered without a coin for the gacha. The floor is tiled and the walls are white. In the center, there is a stone gacha machine, a size larger than the ones you’d find in an arcade.

It’s commonly referred to as the Stone Gacha.

Every 10 floors, there is a Gacha Zone, and the lower the floor, the better the gacha machines get. The gacha on the 11th floor is made of bronze, and the one on the 21st floor is said to be made of silver.

“Then I’ll go ahead and use it.” -Kiriyama

Misuzu inserted a stone gacha coin into the stone gacha machine. A digital display showed 10 remaining turns. Misuzu turned the gacha with a clunk. The outcome was predictable, with her gacha luck being 1. The result was,

“Tokyo Banana[1]!” -Kiriyama

A white capsule, typical of gacha prizes, came out of the gacha machine’s prize slot. White capsules are the duds. The mood dropped a bit. Opening the white capsule, a mini-sized boxed Tokyo Banana came out.

As Misuzu took it out, it mysteriously grew to the size of a regular Tokyo Banana.

“Wow, that’s kind of amazing.” -Rokujou

It was our first time, so even seeing the mini-sized food grow was impressive. However, even considering that the Tokyo Banana, which costs about 500 yen for four, came from the most common Stone Gacha, it was still a bit disappointing.

“Are you okay, Misuzu? By the way, my gacha luck is 5.” -Rokujou

The highest gacha luck currently reported is about 13.

That person is over level 1000. So my gacha luck of 5 is incredibly high for my current level. Honestly, I should definitely be the one to pull.

“Leave it to me, my gacha luck is legendary! Surely, the gacha luck of 1 just means that the ‘1’ in one in a million is showing up in my stats!” -Kiriyama

Proclaiming so, she turned the gacha without any hesitation. What came out was,

“Maple melon bread!” -Kiriyama

“I like melon bread.” -Rokujou

Next was,

“Tonkotsu ramen!” -Kiriyama

It came out served in a bowl.

Even chopsticks were included.

It was steaming and looked delicious.

By the way, the capsules that come out of the Stone Gacha are divided into gold, silver, bronze, and white, with gold being the jackpot, silver being a hit, bronze being normal, and white being a miss. And right now, only white capsules are coming out. Apparently, food or daily necessities usually come out of the white capsules.

“Misuzu, can I eat this? Maybe we should have this for dinner tonight.” -Rokujou

“Sure, but leave half for me because I want some too!” -Kiriyama

Even as she said this, she kept turning the gacha.

“Ah, no, maybe we should switch. After all, someone with higher gacha luck should be the one pulling.” -Rokujou

“It’s fine! I have mythic luck! Look, even if it’s white, there’s a seafood bowl! A seafood bowl!?” -Kiriyama

“That looks like it’ll spoil quickly. Misuzu, when it’s food, it’s better not to open the capsule from the outside. We learned this in school; the capsule doesn’t let time pass until it’s opened, so it can be our main meal in the dungeon. So, I think I’ll go with this one for tonight.” -Rokujou

“I want to eat both, so let’s split them half and half!” -Kiriyama

But that would mean an indirect kiss, wouldn’t it? Feeling embarrassed, Misuzu kept turning the gacha relentlessly.

What’s with this indomitable attitude towards gacha? It’s almost refreshing. But for explorers, the main source of income is the gacha. And at this rate,

“Um, Misuzu. If this keeps up, we won’t be able to recover the initial investment. Even the cashier lady would probably get mad if we keep shopping without enough money.” -Rokujou

Misuzu flinched for a moment at those words. But she turned the gacha again. What came out was,

“Yay, it’s bronze this time! What could it be, what could it be—open it up! Wow, it’s J-Japanese Black Wagyu beef!” -Kiriyama

A lump of meat, about 1 kg, high-quality Wagyu beef in a wooden box, came out.

“Wow, that’s great. So far we’ve had about 1000 yen worth, but this looks like it could be about 10,000 yen.” -Rokujou

But still, this is bad. Normally, you hear that bronze comes out fairly often in the Stone Gacha, but we finally got one. No doubt about it. This is mythic-level bad luck.

“Maybe we should switch after all?” -Rokujou

Misuzu, despite that, turned the gacha again. There was a sound of clunk.

“Go! Mythic luck!” -Kiriyama

Then she took out the item from the gacha. It was a white capsule with a camouflage-patterned hat inside.

“An army cap came out! This must be a premium item!” -Kiriyama

“No, it was about 500 yen in the dungeon shop.” -Rokujou

“What, isn’t something wrong!? Isn’t this gacha broken!?” -Kiriyama

“Should we switch now?” -Rokujou

“No, no, when I think about it, the army cap isn’t food! Right! Finally, something other than food came out! Time to reset and go mythic!” -Kiriyama

Misuzu was visibly losing confidence, her hands shaking as she turned the gacha. The sound of hyperventilation was heard.

Clunk.

“What’s this, some kind of hook came out! What is this!?” -Kiriyama

“It’s something to hook equipment onto your backpack.” -Rokujou

“We can still go! It’s just starting! Look!” -Kiriyama

Misuzu didn’t pause to think before she turned the gacha again. This time there was a much lighter clack, even for a mini-sized capsule.

“A ballpoint pen!?” -Kiriyama

“It’s said to be the worst gacha item. It’s worth about 100 yen. There was a joke going around that it’s what someone with gacha luck of 1 gets at a chance of 1 in 1,000,000.” -Rokujou

“No way, why did I get that!? Why did it come out!?” -Kiriyama

“Hey, we have two more tries. Maybe we should switch. This is going to be a loss at this rate.” -Rokujou

“I won’t give up! Because there’s a gacha right here! So there!!!” -Kiriyama

With enthusiasm, Misuzu spun the gacha. This time, the sound it made was even lighter than before.

“Furikake! And just a single small packet of egg flavor… Misuzu, I think you shouldn’t draw from the gacha.” -Rokujou

“…” -Kiriyama

Misuzu’s shoulders slumped in defeat at the tragic outcome.

Normally, even with Stone Gacha, I’d heard that you at least get something useful for the dungeon like a sword or bow, but everything that came out was spectacularly useless. Well, not entirely useless since we can eat them, but still.

“Alright, the last one!” “Stop! It’s my turn to draw,” “Just one more time! Just one more!” “If you draw once more, you can’t draw again. So, I’ll do it.” -Rokujou

I had to put a stop to it.

The gacha luck of 1 was no joke.

“Surely Misuzu is disliked by the gacha gods.” -Rokujou

“Ugh. I hate you, Yuuta. Just kidding.” -Kiriyama

“I’m glad it was a joke.” -Rokujou

I would have immediately backed off if it weren’t for the last part.

But I really wanted to have at least one try. I reached for the gacha and turned it slowly. There was a sound of a heavy thump from the prize slot of the machine.

“What could it be? What!? No way!? It’s gold on the first try!” -Rokujou

“Eh!? Really?” -Kiriyama

“Look! It’s amazing!” -Rokujou

“But, it looks like the contents are a drink. Pff, Yuuta, you didn’t get anything great ei—this is a potion!” -Kiriyama

“What!?” -Rokujou

Misuzu reacted like a comedian. The liquid was shining, so it was definitely a potion. In fact, it looked similar to the one I received from Nagumo-san. I took out the potion that Nagumo-san had given me from my backpack.

“We’re in this together.” -Rokujou

“Uh, Yuuta got the item I was supposed to draw.” -Kiriyama

That’s what would happen with a normal gacha.

However, the gacha in the dungeon is different.

Clearly, different people draw different things depending on their gacha luck, and sometimes equipment comes out that seems intended only for the person who drew it. So Misuzu’s complaint is unfounded.

“Ha ha, sorry about that. But it’s amazing that such a good item came out. The potion I got from Nagumo-san seems to be worth about 10 million yen on the market. This must be the same thing. I’m sure of it since I’ve recently checked online.” -Rokujou

“Wha, really?! A stone gacha can produce something that good? I thought the highest would be around 1 million yen?” -Kiriyama

A jackpot from the stone gacha could be worth around 1 million yen, from bronze it could be around 10 million yen, and from silver, it could be worth around 100 million yen.

The higher you go, an extra zero gets added to the value. But dungeon items have a price that’s not really a price.

Even if it’s the same gold color, and even if it comes from a stone gacha, the value can go crazy due to supply and demand.

There are gold capsules from the stone gacha that exceed a billion yen, and conversely, there are items from silver gacha that don’t end up being worth much. It seems that their value changes completely depending on the number supplied to the market.

“Potions are different. Explorers usually don’t release potions to the market for when they’re needed, and the demand for potions is incredibly high, so the price tends to skyrocket. This one might be worth about 1 million yen in terms of rarity.” -Rokujou

“Wow. What should we do? It’s 10 million yen, 10 million. The dungeon shop buys them for 80% of the selling price, right?” -Kiriyama

“Yeah. It seems that the price can go even higher on online auctions.” -Rokujou

“So, should we auction it off?” -Kiriyama

“No, it seems there’s a lot of trouble with high-value items, especially since many people want potions. The reasons are dire, so people bid even if they don’t have the money. But apparently, the stat-boosting items from the gold capsules that explorers rarely release to the market can sell for even more.” -Rokujou

“I remember hearing something like that in class.” -Kiriyama

“There are even explorers who were approached directly, shown someone’s dying daughter, and begged for a potion with tears.” -Rokujou

“That’s sad, but I don’t want to get involved.” -Kiriyama

It’s sad, but we’re not in a position to help others yet.

“What will you do, Yuuta? Just in case, should you keep two? Or sell one and use the money to get better equipment? With 8 million, you can improve your equipment a lot. Or maybe you should sell both and get 16 million to spend on gear.”  -Kiriyama

The proposal was tempting. I felt reluctant to sell what Nagumo-san had given us, but the polycarbonate shield had gotten pretty beat up after just one day of use. The goblins had slashed at it repeatedly with murderous intent, and it had taken several arrows as well.

A polycarbonate shield, which was sold for about 20,000 to 30,000 yen, wouldn’t last long, and it would be quite dangerous to use it again tomorrow.

“16 million, huh? If I can buy another piece of equipment of the same class as the necklace, it might be worth it.” -Rokujou

Today, thanks to the necklace, Misuzu hadn’t gotten injured at all. The more she got used to fighting goblins, the less her necklace’s barrier was breached, and she remained unharmed.

As for me, without a necklace, I had been cut on the arm and had quite a few injuries, which I had treated twice with a potion costing 100,000 yen each. I was grateful for the potions that healed injuries instantly, but

“Let’s sell one for now. With 8 million as capital for equipment, the first floor shouldn’t be dangerous. And since it seems to take a while to find the stairs down to the second floor, why don’t we hunt goblins while collecting gacha coins?” -Rokujou

“Collect gacha coins while exploring, huh? We’re about to reach level 3, so it shouldn’t be impossible. I heard that once you’re level 3, the first floor is a breeze.” -Kiriyama

“Yeah, but just so you know, next time we’re taking turns with the gacha.” -Rokujou

“Eh, but I want to do them all.” -Kiriyama

She looks quite dissatisfied. But even though I have a soft spot for her, I can’t give in on this. If I let Misuzu do all the pulls, we’ll end up with nothing but food again.

“No way.” -Rokujou

“Hmph, understood. Then let’s split the seafood bowl and ramen in half, and go level up.” -Kiriyama

Misuzu didn’t throw as much of a fit as I thought she would after the clear demonstration of our differing gacha luck. Honestly, I would prefer to do all the pulls myself for efficiency, but gacha is one of the greatest joys for an explorer.

Moreover, the person who turns the gacha is the one who gets the specialized equipment, so if only those with good gacha luck are pulling, those without luck won’t be able to get any specialized equipment. So there’s something to be said for not just going by efficiency.

Even so, sharing the same dish with Misuzu…

“Re-really, I can eat the same thing?” -Rokujou

“Yeah, why? Is there a problem?” -Kiriyama

“Ki-Kiriyama-san’s leftovers…” -Rokujou

“It’s Misuzu, you know. Yuuta, I’ll take the rest of the seafood bowl.” -Kiriyama

“Th-that’s my leftovers!!” -Rokujou

“Eh? Was I not supposed to eat it?” -Kiriyama

“No, please go ahead, Kiriyama-sama.” -Rokujou

“It’s Misuzu, I tell you.” -Kiriyama

It was a very delicious dinner.

TL Note(s)

[1] Tokyo Banana – https://www.tokyobanana.jp/language/en/

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