Ch.10[Chapter 10] Gacha Land 2-2

The next morning.

Sir Dominic was walking through the streets.

To be precise, he had been taking a walk all night trying to calm his troubled mind.

“Purpose. A purpose…”

That single word that had thrown his mind into confusion.

Sir Dominic’s steps wandered aimlessly, just like his search for purpose.

The streets were still bustling with activity.

People of all kinds, wearing various clothes and equipment, were buying and selling goods, while laborers moved in and out through entrances between tall skyscrapers to earn their living.

Those people must all have their own purposes too.

Sir Dominic envied them.

They must be happy.

He truly envied them.

After wandering without destination for quite some time, Sir Dominic’s feet finally came to a halt.

More precisely, they stopped when he arrived at one of the few places he knew.

Story Mode.

The maintenance must have already ended, as the path to Story Mode was crowded with people.

Sir Dominic suddenly remembered that he had only cleared 2-1 so far.

“Right. Fighting should help clear my thoughts.”

Sir Dominic decided to organize his thoughts in the way he knew best.

With the 100 energy from his beginner package and the small amount recharged over time, he felt he could clear all of region 2 today.

“Hey! Knight over there! Come get your compensation!”

As Sir Dominic moved toward the Story Mode entrance, he heard someone calling out to him.

Since there was no one else around who looked like a knight, they must have been calling him.

“Who, me?”

Sir Dominic blurted out in confusion, reflecting his troubled state of mind.

“Yes. You.”

A fat man standing at the entrance replied curtly.

“It’s compensation after the maintenance. Take it.”

The fat man was wearing silk clothes and kept trying to straighten his curled mustache.

“Compensation.”

Sir Dominic approached the man.

The man then took out a pouch labeled “maintenance compensation” from his pocket and placed it before Sir Dominic.

“It was a 6-hour maintenance, so 210 Gacha Stones.”

“Gacha Stones?”

This was yet another new currency.

Sir Dominic was confused since he had only seen items sold for Credits until now. What kind of currency were these Gacha Stones?

“Oh, I see you’re a Newbie now that I look at you?”

The man said with an arrogant smile.

“Gacha Stones have various uses. You can buy anything that exists in Gachaland with them. Clothes, houses, even tier evaluations and limit breakthroughs require them. You can exchange Credits for them, but not the other way around, so keep that in mind. Items purchased with Gacha Stones are generally non-exchangeable. If that’s not a problem.”

The fat man smiled slyly.

His belly jiggled when he laughed, but Sir Dominic paid no attention to it.

“I see. Gacha Stones…”

“Now, take it and go. Look behind you. I still have many people to give rewards to.”

The man suddenly spoke in a serious tone.

Confused by how the man’s personality seemed to change after happily chattering away himself, Sir Dominic instinctively accepted the reward and stepped aside.

“210 Gacha Stones… I wonder how valuable they are.”

Sir Dominic opened the pouch.

Inside were iridescent five-colored gems that glowed softly.

In truth, Sir Dominic had never seen such expensive items before, especially luxury goods not necessary for survival.

When he was a serf, most transactions were barter, and after becoming a soldier, supplies were all he had.

Even after becoming a knight and receiving wages, since he had no horse, all he got was half a pig or two sacks of wheat.

That was because Feralant was such a harsh place that food prices were expensive.

“I’ll think about this later. Story Mode comes first now.”

Sir Dominic opened his inventory and placed the pouch inside. Then he saw a gem icon with the number 210 next to it appear below.

“Inventory. How fascinating.”

The inventory had been unlocked when he opened his beginner package.

According to his implanted knowledge, everyone in Gachaland had an inventory, which could be expanded later with special resources.

Sir Dominic gathered his thoughts and pressed 2-2.

Just as before, the environment around him began to change.

[Welcome to 2-2.]

[2-2 is about manifesting special abilities.]

[A special ability is a power that enables you to do what you couldn’t do before.]

[Passive and Active. Have you heard of them?]

[Passive abilities are always active. These abilities remain active even during status effects like silence and stun, making them useful, though their effects may be modest.]

[Active abilities are powers that exceed your limits. They have restrictions like being momentary and consuming cost, but they are powerful in proportion.]

[Show us your actions! Then the system will analyze and provide you with the optimal special ability.]

[However, note that you can only have one special ability, so choose carefully. If you wish, you can come back here anytime to change your special ability.]

The explanation for this stage was very long.

The surrounding environment looked like a training ground filled with scarecrows.

“I came here to fight.”

Sir Dominic grumbled.

“What’s the use of hitting scarecrows?”

Real combat is the best practice.

That’s what the knight who taught him used to say.

Despite his complaints, Sir Dominic looked around.

Special abilities were meant to exceed one’s limits.

So it seemed best to choose something he couldn’t normally do.

He looked around, taking in everything one by one.

A scarecrow dyed red as if showing a weak point.

A scarecrow with a target attached for shooting practice.

A scarecrow holding a flag.

Wait.

Sir Dominic was about to pass by the scarecrow with the flag when his eyes suddenly caught it.

“A flag.”

Before becoming a knight, Sir Dominic had served as a squire under a knight master for intensive training.

The knight master had given Sir Dominic a flag, saying it was one of a squire’s duties.

Although only those in high positions in the knighthood could carry real flags, as an exception, the squire of a knight leading common soldiers would carry the squad’s flag.

Remembering those words from what was now the distant past, Sir Dominic picked up the flag.

There was a time when Sir Dominic treated the flag as if it were his own life.

Until his knight master died and he himself became a knight.

“Memories.”

Sir Dominic held the flag and planted it firmly in the ground.

Typically, flags were two or three times taller than a person.

To fight while holding such a flag, one either had to plant it in the ground or use the flag’s length as a weapon.

Even then, since losing the flag would cause confusion in command, directly using the flag as a weapon was only possible in emergencies.

That’s why the technique of planting it was important.

It needed to be planted in one go to save time for preparing for battle.

Fortunately, his body seemed to remember.

The flag was planted in the ground in one motion and began to flutter.

Then something strange began to happen.

The blank flag suddenly became emblazoned with Feralant’s emblem, and its color changed to brown and white, the colors symbolizing Feralant.

[You’ve manifested a special ability! You’ve manifested the passive [Flag Bearer].]

[[Flag Bearer]: Those with this ability give buffs to nearby allies but increase deployment cost by 1. The buff’s attributes follow your characteristics!]

[[Tanker][Flag Bearer] Synergy: Reduces damage taken by nearby allies by 2+(★)%. This is affected by your tier.]

There were so many incomprehensible things today. What was this deployment cost?

Searching through his implanted knowledge, he found that this cost concept was necessary when belonging to a Circle.

Apparently, Circle leaders summon characters belonging to their Circle by consuming cost.

Though difficult to understand, Sir Dominic thought he didn’t need to know yet and simply acknowledged its existence.

[Now that you’ve manifested your characteristic, let’s move on to practical application. There’s no better place to experiment than in real combat!]

As if reading Sir Dominic’s mind, the system moved to the next stage.

The surroundings changed again.

This time, he was at the base of a palisade.

The palisade was barely as tall as a person, with a moat below it that was hardly worth calling one.

On top of the palisade were dozens of scarecrows holding bows, and around Sir Dominic were also scarecrows with bows, though fewer in number.

[Now we’ll begin the practical application. 3, 2, 1, start.]

With the system’s countdown, arrows began flying from atop the palisade.

The scarecrows on our side were also shooting, but their accuracy seemed lower, perhaps due to the height difference.

Suddenly, Sir Dominic felt new knowledge entering his mind.

“So this is how it teaches.”

Sir Dominic looked at the text labeled “deployment cost” at the top of his vision.

[Deployment Cost]

[◆◆◆◆◈◇◇◇◇◇(4/10)]

[★ Sir Dominic(◆◆◆)]

It seemed the symbols next to his name indicated the cost.

They were identical to the symbols in the deployment cost.

Sir Dominic clicked on his name.

His vision momentarily lowered, and he felt his legs touch the ground.

Ah, was I floating in the air for a moment?

While thinking this, with a thud, a flag flew and planted itself in the ground.

[Sir Dominic enters the battlefield. All allies around Sir Dominic take 3% less damage.]

[First rank entry! Sir Dominic’s effect is doubled for 3 turns!]

The system window called out his name.

Though still filled with incomprehensible terms, one thing was certain.

This too was quite a happy experience.