Chapter 228 Scroll
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
……Tester Life: Day 98, Night. 14th Stratum, Fortress City. Inside the Gacha Temple. Sanada Yakumo……
”The first-ever Gacha Tournament is officially… OPEN!”
”Yay! I wanna pull! I wanna pull now!”
”Ahn! Ahn!”
”Yip-yip!”
The moment we stepped into the Gacha Temple, Karen and Lucy struck poses with their right arms thrust into the air. Beside them, Leticia was jumping for joy, while Feli sat up on her hind legs, begging and hopping along.
”You two are way too hyped,” I muttered.
”Hehe, they’ve been itching for this since our break,” Sayaka added with a wry smile, watching the high-energy duo and our wolf-girl-acting-like-a-dog.
”It’s not like you’re actually going to win anything,” Sanae chimed in, once again proving she was the ultimate buzzkill. “Let’s just get this over with so we can go home.”
”Ugh, Sanae, you’re seriously the worst. You don’t know that until you actually pull!” Karen groaned.
”Gacha is made of dreams,” Leticia added. “Sanae doesn’t get that because she’s just full of crap.”
”Wh-?! I am not constipated!”
Ah, I see. She was making a pun on ‘luck’ and ‘crap.’ She’s basically saying Sanae’s luck is backed up.
”Leticia-chan, that’s a little vulgar, don’t you think?” Sayaka warned. “Sanae, the Master is listening, you know?”
”Ugh… right. My bad… Yakumo, please forget I said that.”
”Got it,” Leticia chirped. “I’ll only save the dirty jokes for Yakumo from now on.”
”Oh, so I’m the target now?”
Whatever.
”Master,” Sheena said, “everyone wants a turn, so who’s going first? Oh, and I’ll go last. It wouldn’t be very fun if I just won the grand prize right away.”
”Seriously, where does that ego even come from?” I asked. It felt like she was just begging the universe to trigger a ‘failure’ flag.
”Me! Me! I wanna go!”
”Me too!”
”Alright, Karen and Leticia first. We’ll save the four extra coins for tomorrow.”
I handed ten copper G-Coins to each of them.
”Ehehe, here I go!” Karen stood before the machine, the coins jingling in her hand.
A holographic display flickered to life beside the Gacha machine. The contents looked the same as before, but… wait. A 76% drop rate for the ‘dud’ white capsules? That’s brutal.
As I was frowning at the payout table, Karen started slotting coins into the intake. When the display changed to 1/10, I quickly grabbed her arm.
”Wait, Karen. It looks like you can actually do a 10-pull.”
I pointed toward the display.
”Huh? Oh! You mean if I put in ten at once, ten come out together?!”
”Looks like it. Probably to stop things from getting crowded.” Though, since we were the only ones here, we had the whole place to ourselves.
”Whoa! It’s just like a mobile game!”
”Right? The hype is real! Okay, let me put the rest in… oh, wait!”
Karen finished loading the coins but then paused, pulling out her smartphone and tapping the screen. (What now? Is she going to record a ‘Gacha Pull’ video?)
”Um… there it is! Okay, here we go! Music… start! ‘Get Lucky’!”
The moment she tapped the screen, a funky blend of disco, techno, and rock filled the air.
We’re up all night for good fun, we’re up all night to get lucky…
We’re up all night to get lucky
We’re up all night to get lucky
We’re up all night to get lucky
We’re up all night to get lucky
”Haha, talk about a throwback.”
I couldn’t help but grin. My squad used to blast this in the barracks ten years ago; it was a huge hit with the unit for a while. Though, to be fair, we didn’t like it because of the ‘fortune’ meaning. We liked it for the slang-meaning you were ‘lucky’ enough to get laid.
”My dad used to play this all the time when I was a kid, so I ended up loving it too!”
”Right, your dad was military. Makes sense.” A combat-hardened officer? Yeah, he’d definitely dig this track. For more reasons than one.
”Alright! Time to get lucky!”
Karen swayed her hips to the beat as she cranked the Gacha knob. The capsules inside the transparent dome at the top began to swirl violently, emitting a pale brown glow.
”Whoa!”
”Ooh!”
”It even has gacha animations?!”
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clunk!
I was about to make a snide comment about the over-the-top effects, but then a literal stream of capsules tumbled into the tray.
”Haha! Look at ’em all! That feels so good!”
”Hmm, mostly whites… oh, wait, I got two coppers!”
Two copper capsules and eight whites. A 20% hit rate-pretty much exactly what the odds predicted.
”So these are the capsules, huh?” I picked up one of the white ones to check it out. They were about the size of a tennis ball. The top half was colored, and the bottom half was transparent. You could see right through them. I peered inside and saw a bottle of Grade 5 Mana Recovery Potion.
Well, at least ‘dud’ doesn’t mean ’empty.’ I thought there’d be nothing inside, but it looks like the floor for these is about the same as a wooden treasure chest. It’s a lose, sure, but better than nothing.
”Looks like we can see the contents. This is… a scroll?”
”Mine has a scroll too.”
”I got a small potato in this one.”
”Is this… meat? It looks raw…”
Karen and Leticia were squinting at their copper capsules, while Sanae and Sayaka were tilting their heads at their whites. (Wait, the white ones have groceries too? Even so, a single potato or a scrap of meat in a tiny capsule like this seems…)
”Wait, how do you even open these?”
There was no seam. No matter how much I twisted or pulled, the thing wouldn’t budge.
”This won’t open at all!”
”Mmmgh…”
”Should I try cutting it?”
”You’ll slice the potato, too! Maybe we just smash it on the floor?”
”I don’t want my meat and potatoes touching the floor…”
Everyone was stumped. Were we really supposed to hack them open or smash them like Sheena and Sanae suggested? No, that would break the potion bottles. It’d just be a mess.
Wait. Isn’t it weird that actual meat and potatoes are inside such a tiny capsule? If the items were really that small, they’d be useless. Oh… I get it. I channeled a bit of Mana Capacity into the capsule. The capsule flashed. Pop! A full-sized potion appeared right in my palm.
”Whoa! How’d you do that?!”
”It works just like a Resurrection Crystal or a Magic Sealing Crystal.”
That makes sense. If they use sealing tech, they can cram even massive items into these things.
”Oh! That makes so much sense! Whoa! It worked!”
”Ooh, a big item from a tiny ball.”
”Whoa-whoa-whoa! Careful! Almost dropped the potatoes!”
”I think I’ll leave mine sealed for now,” Sayaka said.
Following my lead, everyone manifested their items. Sanae was suddenly clutching about ten potatoes in her arms, struggling not to drop them. Sayaka, realizing that manifesting raw meat would be a nightmare for storage, decided to keep hers in the capsule.
”That’s some seriously high-tech packaging for a gacha game.”
(Doesn’t it cost the Dungeon a fortune to make these? Well, not my problem.)
”However, Master,” Sheena noted, “if these use the same logic as Resurrection Crystals, the food inside might never spoil.”
”Hmm… good point. That’s a real possibility.”
Sheena had been in suspended animation inside a crystal for decades and came out looking exactly the same. Time probably stands still inside the capsules.
”If that’s true, these are amazing for long-term storage.”
”Definitely a big help. There’s a limit on how much food we can buy per day, after all.”
We bought and froze food daily, but with Moe and Kyoko joining us, our numbers were growing. I was worried it’d get harder to host barbecues for the whole guild, but if we can pull meat and veggies from the Gacha, we’re set.
”So, what kind of manuals are those scrolls?” I asked, looking at the parchment in Karen and Leticia’s hands. They looked like the martial arts manuals we’d seen before.
”Hmm, I’m not sure. There’s a yellow drawing of a person on it. Looks like they’re standing in a breeze?”
”Mine has a person in yellow looking up with their arms spread. Is it… a gymnastics guide?”
”Those are scrolls for ‘Drying’ and ‘Clean’-Utility Magic,” Sheena explained.
”Ah, the magic you said even Beastmen can use?”
Sheena had mentioned this before-that there was a way for Beastmen to use magic, and she’d brought up these scrolls. Apparently, the humans and dwarves of the other world spent centuries researching the magic they found in the Dungeons to create their own unique magic circles. They used ground-up Magic Stone powder and a special solution to ink those circles onto parchment using dwarven racial magic.
They also used that tech to shrink the circles and carve them into gear to make magic swords and spears, though she’d said those were insanely expensive. Magic gear actually found in the Dungeon usually performed better, anyway. Still, being able to mass-produce magic weapons without risking lives was huge. Even Sheena had to respect the human tech.
”Yes, exactly. Anything written in yellow is Utility Magic. The scrolls are one-use only, but they can be triggered with a tiny amount of Mana Capacity. For us Beastmen, who can’t learn from Magic Tomes, these were essential.”
”Whoa~ so if I just flow some Mana in and open it, the Drying magic goes off?”
”And this one cleans off dirt?”
”Yes. Ordinary soldiers used them all the time when they got caught in the rain or covered in sweat. Utility scrolls are quite cheap.”
Makes sense. That sounds incredibly useful for life in the field. ‘Utility Magic’ is a perfect name for it.
”Ugh… I feel like I pulled a total ‘trash’ item,” Karen pouted.
”I don’t know, it might be super useful after s*x with Yakumo,” Leticia chirped.
”Oh! Totally! I usually pass out while I’m still all sticky and covered in his c**m! This could clean me right up!”
”Yeah, we’re gonna need a lot of these.”
”I was actually wanting one too,” Sheena added. “Sometimes he comes on my face while I’m unconscious, and I can’t even open my eyes when I wake up.”
”Me too,” Sanae grumbled. “Sometimes it gets stuck in my nose and I wake up because I can’t breathe.”
”I-I wonder what’s in the rest of the capsules?!”
I felt a sudden, desperate urge to be literally anywhere else. I practically lunged toward the pile of white capsules Lucy and Feli had gathered. I could hear them all giggling behind my back, but I ignored it. (Fine. Next time, I’m wiping the inside of Sanae’s nose myself.)
”Oh? There are carrots in this one, Shee-whoa, you’re fast!”
I’d spotted about five carrots in one of the white capsules and tried to show Sheena, but she snatched the capsule from my hand with the speed of a gale.
”S-Splendid! Sayaka-sama, I shall take full responsibility for the custody of these!”
”Nice try, Sheena-san. That’s dinner for everyone,” Sayaka said firmly.
”Nooooo…”
Sheena’s ears and tail slumped instantly as Sayaka shut down her attempt to hoard the prize.
”Come on, Sayaka. If we pull a bunch, we can let Sheena have some, right? It’s not like we can use an infinite amount of carrots.”
I tried to throw Sheena a bone before her morale completely tanked.
”I suppose so,” Sayaka sighed, giving in to Sheena’s pathetic display. “They aren’t as vital as meat or fish. If we get too many, I’ll have Sheena-san ‘dispose’ of them.”
”?! Leave it to me, Sayaka-sama! I shall ensure we pull every carrot in this machine!”
”Actually, the goal is the gold capsules…”
My words fell on deaf ears. Sheena was already humming as she checked the rest of the whites. (Seriously, how much do you love carrots? When carrots aren’t involved, Sheena is the definition of a cool, mature woman. Put a vegetable in front of her, and she turns into a toddler. Is it just instinct?)
Unfortunately for Sheena, that was the only carrot capsule. The rest of the whites were mostly Grade 5 Potions or basic groceries like fish and greens.
The fact that only one out of eight capsules had meat was probably the Dungeon’s way of keeping things balanced. If low-stratum Testers could pull massive amounts of meat, they’d just distribute it, and the food price hike would be pointless. At a 1-in-8 rate, a party would just eat it themselves and be done with it.
Sheena looked gutted that there were no more carrots, but she seemed to be pinning her hopes on Leticia’s next Gacha.
”Okay, my turn!”
Leticia stepped up for the final pull of the day. She loaded her ten coins just like Karen, and the dome began to swirl. This time, it glowed with a pure white light as the capsules tumbled out.
”Wha… only one copper?”
”The odds are 20%, so you just had a bit of bad luck.”
The result: nine whites, one copper. I patted Leticia’s head to comfort her.
”Oh, look! Another scroll!” Karen said, peering into the copper capsule.
”Muu… I hope it’s at least different magic.”
Leticia took the capsule and manifested it. When the scroll appeared, we saw a vibrant red pattern-like a ball of flame-on the parchment.
”That is a ‘Fireball’ Magic Tome,” Sheena said. “A definite win.”
”Yay! It’s attack magic!”
”Way to go, Leti! We can actually use that in a fight!”
Leticia rejoiced that she had won an attack magic scroll instead of lifestyle magic.
”Fufu, yes. I used to use those quite often,” Sheena smiled.
”Then I’m giving this to Sheena! Is that okay, Yakumo?”
”Yeah. If Sheena has long-range options, it opens up our tactics big time.”
It’s fine while we’re on the outskirts, but deeper in, our Mana consumption is going to get heavy. Having another ranged attacker is a huge plus. And since it takes almost zero Mana to trigger, anyone can use it in a pinch if they’re tapped out. We should definitely stock up on these for emergencies.
”Thank you, Leticia.” Sheena took the scroll and gently patted Leticia’s head with a smile.
We checked the rest of the whites: two more potions, various veggies, rice, and fish. There was even a pack of carrots, which put the smug grin back on Sheena’s face.
Rice looked to be about a kilogram and the meat maybe 500 grams. In terms of raw DP, everything except the potions was worth way less than a wooden chest drop. Five kilos of rice is only 1,000 DP at the shop, while a single potion is 2,000. But since groceries are rationed, the meat, rice, and fish were actually more precious than the potions.
”Alright, we’re done with the Gacha. Let’s head home.”
I waited for Sayaka to pack everything into the Magic Pouch before calling out to the group.
”Heck yeah! Next time, I’m getting that gold capsule for sure!”
”And I’m going to pull a ‘High Heal’ tome!”
Karen and Leticia were already fired up for their ‘revenge’ pulls. I guess failing one 10-pull isn’t enough to break a gacha gamer’s spirit.
And so, with our first day on the 14th Stratum in the books, we headed back to ‘My Room,’ where Moe and Kyoko were waiting for us.
——–
By the way, the song Karen played was ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk.
—
Summary:
Yakumo and his group enter the Gacha Temple on the 14th Stratum to spend their G-Coins. Karen and Leticia perform 10-pulls, resulting in a mix of potions, groceries, and magic scrolls. The group discovers the utility of ‘Lifestyle Magic’ scrolls and the preservative nature of the capsules.
—
Trivia:
- The Gacha machine has a 76% ‘dud’ rate for white capsules.
- White capsules contain groceries like raw meat and potatoes, which are valuable due to rationing.
- Utility Magic scrolls (yellow) can be used by Beastmen who cannot learn from Magic Tomes.
- Capsules use the same sealing technology as Resurrection Crystals, likely stopping time for contents.
- Karen’s father was a military officer, explaining her musical taste and background
—
Character Insight:
Sheena’s stoic demeanor completely shatters at the sight of carrots, highlighting a comedic racial trait. Yakumo shows a soft spot for Earth nostalgia through music.
—
Behind the Scenes:
The inclusion of ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk serves as a bridge between the protagonist’s past life and the current fantasy setting, emphasizing the ‘Modern to Fantasy’ transition.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Yakumo – A 25-year-old scarred veteran—Guard Captain, Nightmare Guildmaster, and dungeon harem owner—who was a former child soldier turned pragmatic, cynical leader with a battle‑torn face from wars past, strong and intimidating, managing testers, slaves, and DP with calculating possessiveness, and also the protagonist and Master of the group, a former military man with knowledge of Earth pop culture who manages the party’s resources and Gacha pulls.
• Sana – Black ponytail, hooded/sharp eyes, kyudo practitioner, average height.
• Leticia – She is a 13‑year‑old French exchange student with a petite, doll‑like frame and fairy‑like features, her hair a striking silver‑blonde that matches her doll‑like appearance. A gifted, cheerful animation prodigy who skipped grades, she partners with Yakumo using a white wooden magic rod tipped with crystal to cast Light Shield, Light Arrow, and Heal. She loves drawing flashy magic in a white sundress on her tablet, and as a training‑facility student gifted early by Sanada, she now pulls combat magic with playful vigor, makes vulgar jokes, and, despite her age, has become sexually proactive, exhibiting the “Thousand Earthworms” Meiki trait and engaging in active encounters.
• Karen – An American exchange student and voice‑acting major, she is a lively, busty, and playful girl who often rushes to school with bread in her mouth, uses her charms to her advantage, and enjoys FPS games and zombie stories; she is also an energetic daughter of a soldier who loves Gacha and Earth music such as Daft Punk, and is frequently seen relaxing at sea with Lucy.
• Feli – A female green wolf, tamed by Leticia and appearing large and dog‑like with green fur, is a wolf‑girl who behaves like a dog, jumping and hopping for attention.
• Lucy – She is a female kobold familiar that resembles an American Eskimo Dog, evolving through stages: as a Kobold Thief she stands 140 cm tall with sturdier, leaner limbs, a cute face, and a tail that wags when happy; later she transforms into a Kobold Rogue Queen, 170 cm tall, slender yet muscular, of D‑Rank. She is also a member of the group participating in the Gacha Tournament excitement.
• Sayaka – She is the academy’s premier beauty, a member of the swimming club, currently classified as a Rank 1 Slave, seventeen years old, a virgin, E-cup, with blue short boyish hair, best friend Sanae, and also a mature member of the group who manages the Magic Pouch and acts as a grounding force for the more energetic members.
• Sanae – She struggles with sexual training and often shows frustration, serving as vice‑captain of the Archery Club. Described as tall with a model‑like build and sharp features, she has approximately C‑cup breasts, is a 1st Rank Slave, and is Sayaka’s best friend. She sports a black ponytail, hooded sharp eyes, and is a kyudo practitioner of average height. Pessimistic about Gacha luck, she is frequently teased by others about her “luck” and her physical reactions during sex.
• Sheena – A stunning rabbit‑eared Beastman Soul‑less Doll, standing 165 cm tall with an F/G‑cup chest, narrow waist, wide hips and an extra‑fluffy tail, is a Nightmare Guild member who is sharp‑tongued, devoted to Yakumo, cold to the weak, carrot‑obsessed, and has twitching ears when happy — her ego now restored. As a Beastman warrior she presents as a cool, mature woman until carrots appear, and she provides technical lore about magic scrolls.
• Kyoko – A 1st Rank student, silver medalist athlete, and model. Standing nearly 180cm (six feet) tall with a slender yet curvaceous athletic build. She has long legs and rocket-shaped, upturned breasts with large pale-brown areolas. Her Lust Level is S.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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