Ch.141[Chapter 141] Restoration

“Why won’t it appear? Why won’t it appear?”

“Sir Dominic… has 16 strokes… and this is the 16th card pack… it’ll appear this time!”

“Sir Dominic’s card doesn’t die from one shot of a stone cannon.”

“I think all pioneers have some kind of mental illness.”

“Wow! You know Sir Dominica!”

“Why is a golden helmet crab appearing here…?”

“A man cultivates his sense of frustration!”

“Sob… That was delicious. Today’s gacha too…”

As always, the card pack exchange center was filled with joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.

A place where people’s negative emotions gather into a whirlpool, driving more people into madness.

“Ah, madness. My old friend.”

And from a spot overlooking the card pack exchange center’s lobby, Shenlong held a bottle of bamboo leaf liquor, looking down at the lambs who had fallen into madness.

“Fortunately I had some vacation days left, otherwise I might have been swept up in that too.”

Shenlong took a long swig of bamboo leaf liquor.

The bitter yet sweet liquid that seemed to burn his throat went down in large gulps.

Only after he was satisfied enough to breathe fire did Shenlong put down the bottle.

“Isn’t that right, Sir Dominic?”

Sir Dominic merely nodded at Shenlong’s words, who had turned from a regular dragon to a red dragon due to the alcohol.

In truth, Sir Dominic wasn’t properly listening to what Shenlong was saying.

Sir Dominic was now watching the madness and resentment of those trying to draw Sir Dominic’s card in the lobby.

He was so focused that he couldn’t notice anything happening around him.

“…I thought I had gained some fame—”

Shenlong turned his head to look at Sir Dominic’s words.

The bamboo leaf liquor in his hand was already an empty bottle.

“Indeed, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times for understanding.”

People cheering after drawing Sir Dominic’s card.

People frustrated from failing to draw Sir Dominic’s card.

People mocking those who failed to draw.

People expressing anger toward those who succeeded.

All of this was the aftermath created by Sir Dominic’s card.

Sir Dominic slumped down on the sofa.

Seeing this, Shenlong smiled softly.

In fact, all of this was planned by Shenlong to show Sir Dominic the reality.

From Shenlong’s perspective, Sir Dominic had too ordinary a mindset.

No, perhaps rather than ordinary, he could be described as timid.

If this were another dimension rather than Gachaland, Sir Dominic’s behavior would be perfectly normal and modest, but in Gachaland, it was too “boring” a personality.

Shenlong had seen many people and had subconsciously realized that those who boldly display their character traits succeed in Gachaland.

In his view, Sir Dominic seemed to be settling for reality despite having potential for more.

Of course, his achievements were undeniably impressive.

However, performance and character were different matters.

If he were just a little, just a little more distinctive in personality…

If he could build a character that really resonated with people…

That would be the day Sir Dominic rises to tier 1 in Gachaland. That’s what Shenlong was convinced of.

But people don’t change drastically all at once.

So Shenlong decided to give a gentle push for that one step, that first step.

The step of “self-esteem.”

In Shenlong’s view, what Sir Dominic lacked was confidence in himself.

Despite having a bold and enterprising personality, for some reason Sir Dominic had an extremely low self-evaluation.

Shenlong decided to correct Sir Dominic’s assessment, specifically the assessment Sir Dominic had made of himself.

Looking down at those struggling for Sir Dominic’s card.

This would be the key to raising Sir Dominic’s self-esteem one level.

“…Why are you showing me this sight?”

Sir Dominic asked Shenlong.

Sir Dominic was currently in a state of confusion.

He was feeling a sense of dissonance between his self-assessment and the public’s assessment.

“For your growth.”

Hiccup. The dragon breathed a small fire.

Due to the high alcohol content of the bamboo leaf liquor, Shenlong seemed a little… no, quite drunk.

Regardless, Shenlong continued speaking.

“If you live in Gachaland long enough, people fall into several categories. Some seek power like Mountain Bridge Marsh, some wander looking for content like pioneers… or some raise juniors like me.”

He said he was raising juniors, but it was a kind of “newdle-bak,” newdle-bak, Shenlong uttered words that Sir Dominic didn’t know.

“There are various reasons for raising juniors. Some just show goodwill, or ask for help later, or build grounds to invite them to their clan…”

Shenlong’s words paused momentarily.

The alcohol seemed to be affecting his thinking.

“The reason I took a liking to you is simple. Someday when someone asks me, I can boast that I raised Sir Dominic. That I can claim about 1% of Sir Dominic’s share.”

Everyone gets sentimental when they get old, he said as the dragon chuckled.

“So, I wanted to show you this sight for your growth. From my perspective, what’s blocking your growth… seems to be yourself.”

The dragon made this plausible statement and sat on the sofa.

“By the way, I’m curious about something too.”

“What is it?”

Shenlong, sitting on the sofa and opening a new bottle of bamboo leaf liquor, expressed his question to Sir Dominic.

“As far as I know, Sir Dominica’s card is from the parallel world event. Then it should be reprinted during the parallel world event.”

“But you were able to reprint 50,000 Sir Dominica cards along with 50,000 Sir Dominic cards. Yes. You did something that should be impossible in a parallel world.”

Shenlong’s words came out jumbled, as tangled as his tongue, but what he wanted to say was simple.

How was Sir Dominic able to “reprint” Sir Dominica’s card?

In fact, on the night Sir Dominic decided to reprint the cards, he contacted Sir Dominica.

…

“I want to reprint your card.”

[“Reprint? Oh. You mean print it again.”]

After the angel left, Sir Dominic called Sir Dominica from the parallel world through the S.P.Y app.

It seems Sir Dominica was also planning to call Sir Dominic to ask something.

[“Why?”]

“Actually, I was thinking while watching people. It just so happens that our cards were released during the parallel world event. I heard there are people who got both cards then. Or just your card.”

[“Ah. So, you want to reprint each other’s cards for those people?”]

Sir Dominica immediately understood what Sir Dominic was trying to say.

[“My goodness. I wanted to suggest that first.”]

Sir Dominica said over the receiver.

[“Actually, I decided to reprint my card too.”]

In reality, Sir Dominica had also just been visited by an angel and was thinking about reprinting her card.

“But there’s one problem.”

[“What problem?”]

“To reprint each other’s cards, don’t we need to have each other’s cards?”

[“Ah. Don’t worry about that.”]

Sir Dominic’s concern was legitimate.

In reality, they each had each other’s cards, and as long as they remained on parallel world lines, they couldn’t send items to each other.

However, Sir Dominica reassured Sir Dominic as if it were no big deal, then explained her plan.

[“Right now, there’s a good medium to transfer data between you and me.”]

“Medium…? You don’t mean the slime?”

[“That’s right.”]

The slime, realizing its name had been called, looked at the screen in surprise.

And looking alternately in the direction of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, it acted as if to say, ‘Me? Why me?’

[“If we exchange information through the slime, we can reprint each other’s characters in our respective worlds.”]

Sir Dominica’s plan sounded quite plausible.

After thinking about this for a moment, Sir Dominic decided to follow Sir Dominica’s suggestion.

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

This was the reason why Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s cards were released together.

…

After reprinting his own card, Sir Dominic copied Sir Dominica’s data through the slime residing in the S.P.Y app.

Perhaps this could be considered a bad act that deceived the central system.

However, the central system judged this to be a legitimate action.

Even so, was there any need to tell others about this secret?

Sir Dominica had once worried that if others found out, it could escalate into a big issue.

Sir Dominic decided to keep this fact hidden as Sir Dominica advised.

“It’s a secret.”

“A secret. Secret. Not bad. Secrets make people mysterious…”

Shenlong, who responded to Sir Dominic with a chuckle, collapsed onto the sofa.

Sir Dominic was startled and approached Shenlong to check his condition.

He was snoring and sleeping.

Fortunately, he was just drunk.

“…So, self-esteem, huh.”

Sir Dominic properly laid Shenlong down and sat on the sofa, looking down at the card pack exchange center lobby.

Shenlong’s words remained in Sir Dominic’s mind, continuously whispering to him.

‘I wanted to show you this sight for your growth.’

‘What’s blocking your growth… seems to be yourself.’

Whether Sir Dominic was agonizing or not, the lobby was still full of madness and chaos.

“Sir Dominic… Dominic starts with D… D means 500 in Roman numerals… and this is the 50th pack, meaning the 500th pull… It’ll appear on the 500th!”

“Why won’t it appear for just me? Why won’t it appear for just me?”

“Sir Dominic doesn’t die from one shot of a stone cannon.”

The lobby was still engulfed in madness.

Looking at such a lobby, Sir Dominic wore an indecipherable expression.