Ch.3[Episode 3] Gacha Land 2-1

[You have completed Area 1. Area 2 is now open.]

“Finally.”

Through sheer evil and grit.

Sir Dominic had passed through Area 1, which could be considered the tutorial, after a week’s time.

The difficulty wasn’t particularly challenging, but most services within GachaLand were structured to open only after passing Area 1.

[From Area 2, the random system, which can be considered the foundation of GachaLand, will be introduced.]

[2-1 Personality Manifestation I ☆☆☆]

☆Defeat all enemies

☆Clear within 15 minutes

☆Satisfy Character Level 1 [NEW!]

A status window appeared before his eyes.

Sir Dominic thought it wouldn’t be much different from what he had done so far, but his gaze soon stopped at a phrase written on the last line.

Satisfy Character Level 1.

What on earth could this mean? He stared at the phrase for a long time, pondering.

Despite contemplating for a long time, he couldn’t find an answer, but fortunately, the system’s explanation continued.

[In GachaLand, performance is important, but what’s even more important is individuality.]

[From now on, you will face various situations.]

[Your status will be determined by how you handle these situations.]

Sir Dominic somewhat understood, but felt it was difficult to comprehend completely.

Then what should he do?

Right. First, face it and see.

Sir Dominic naturally raised his hand to enter 2-1.

As it had been until now, the background began to change.

Into a chaotically mixed world.

Drip. The sound of a water droplet falling could be heard.

Sir Dominic was startled by his suddenly darkened vision, but soon his eyes seemed to adapt to the darkness, and he began to faintly see his surroundings.

“Is this… a cave?”

A cave, huh.

Sir Dominic frowned.

It was the space he disliked the most.

With only one eye, Sir Dominic disliked the confusing sense of distance in darkness.

If it were completely dark or completely bright, he wouldn’t mind, but caves were always awkwardly dark.

Especially in caves like this, there were always demons or undead hiding, and if not both, then goblins or orcs were hiding.

Bears and wolves were considered easy in comparison.

“By the way… if I need to complete this within 15 minutes, what exactly am I supposed to do?”

Sir Dominic thought carefully as he raised his shield and sword.

This was instinctual; based on his past experiences, if he didn’t prepare in advance, something terrible would happen.

Sure enough, an impact was transmitted to his shield. Something blunt like a stone fell to Sir Dominic’s feet with a clang.

“Ah.”

As expected, Sir Dominic thought.

It seems that overcoming this situation is the condition for this mission.

He turned his head in the direction from which the impact came.

His vision, which had just adapted to the darkness, darkened again, but this was better than being half-adjusted.

As his vision was blocked due to not adapting to the darkness, his other senses began to awaken instead.

“Twenty paces. Small humanoid.”

He muttered quietly as he usually did.

Although he was alone now, it was a habit from warning knights who used to do this kind of work with him in the past.

Then he slowly raised his shield to his head and moved forward.

He wasn’t sure how accustomed that creature was to darkness, but he believed it would be less familiar than Sir Dominic’s experience.

As he took steps, he thought about how to deal with various situations.

Judging by the lack of sound and minimal air movement, he had to consider that whatever was on the other side of the shield was probably not a goblin.

In situations like this, small humanoid entities that typically appeared were golems, spirits, or possibly trap statues carved in human form.

If it were a golem, it would crumple from head to toe, so he would need to dodge to the side immediately; if it were a spirit, there would be no way to attack it, so he would just have to run away.

“Then I hope it’s a trap.”

Sir Dominic sincerely thought so.

A trap would be better.

And he believed that something absurd wouldn’t appear from the first mission of Area 2.

This wasn’t intuition but content included in the knowledge injected by the Man in Black.

Thud. He felt something touch his shield.

Thunk. He felt something blunt colliding.

It’s a trap. A classic arrow-type trap at that.

Sir Dominic breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn’t know how to disarm traps, but he knew the most effective method in the current situation.

Sir Dominic set up his shield in front of the trap and placed his scabbard at an angle to use as a support to prevent the shield from falling over.

The shield was still making thunking sounds as something collided with it, but at least it no longer posed a threat to Sir Dominic.

After neutralizing one trap, Sir Dominic looked around.

His eyes, now completely adapted to the darkness, were faintly showing the contours of the cave interior, but no other unusual points were visible.

Good. It seems that when this trap is completely neutralized, I’ll clear this.

Sir Dominic moved his sword to his left hand and twirled it around once.

With the weight of the shield gone, his left hand felt empty.

The regular thunk, thunk sounds soon stopped.

Sir Dominic waited for a moment just in case, then judged that it was completely neutralized and retrieved his scabbard and shield.

[Congratulations! You identified the trap with amazing wit but overcame the situation with improvisation due to lack of skill.]

[Since you cleared it using a shield, the trait [Tanker] has been added!]

[[Tanker]: Look over there! It’s a tanker! An endangered species. You have a high probability of being invited to parties even if you just stand still!]

[You’ve gained your first trait. However, it’s too monotonous to pursue your individuality. Clear Area 2 to increase your individuality!]

System windows popped up dizzily.

“I see. I think I vaguely understand.”

Sir Dominic thought he understood why the true beginning was after clearing Area 2, considering GachaLand’s characteristics.

Let’s assume that everyone in GachaLand has traits.

Then people would prefer traits that help each other, creating synergy.

Therefore, Area 2, which establishes individuality as a character, can be seen as an essential course.

Sir Dominic nodded.

At first, he didn’t know what the word “tanker” meant, but after searching through his knowledge and recalling that it mainly involved blocking damage at the frontline or protecting allies, he thought it was quite good.

“No need to hesitate. I just need to complete the next mission as soon as energy accumulates.”

He exited Story Mode.

Although the energy cap increased with each mission cleared, he was still in the early stages, so he could only complete one mission per day or every two days.

Just under an hour.

Even considering a day as 24 hours, it’s not a very long time.

For Sir Dominic, learning about this world was a happy experience, but it was too short-lived.

“I need to find another way. What should I do with the remaining time?”

Sir Dominic pondered.

If he searched through his jumbled knowledge, he might find a solution.

“Excuse me.”

But his contemplation didn’t last long.

A tired voice emerged from behind Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic was startled and jumped up from his spot.

“Uh… I don’t think it was something to be that surprised about…”

When Sir Dominic drew his sword and turned around, there was a young man wearing jeans and a worn vest.

In his left hand was a toolbox, and at his waist was something that looked like a walkie-talkie.

His hair was long but disheveled, looking like a red haystack, and his eyes were large and kind, but the deep dark circles beneath them ruined that kind impression.

“Who are you?”

Sir Dominic noticed from his appearance that he had no intention of attacking him.

So instead of swinging his sword, he spoke to him.

“Um, I’m [GM Grammar]. I came for regular maintenance. There was a system notice about maintenance from 2 PM to 6 PM, didn’t you see it?”

The man who identified himself as GM Grammar straightened his hunched back and turtle-like neck slightly and pushed aside the flat side of the sword pointed at him.

He looked extremely tired.

He looked so tired that Sir Dominic became embarrassed, sheathed his sword, and apologized.

“I’m sorry. As an apology, please take this.”

Sir Dominic handed over an energy drink he had acquired as a clear reward from 1-3.

This small bottle, which could restore 5 energy, was something he had saved to use when his energy recovered awkwardly the next day.

The GM stared at the drink for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, you should drink that. I’ve been living on these due to night shifts, so I’m sick of them.”

Then he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out several similar bottles and handed them over instead.

“You seem to be a newbie, and newbies shouldn’t be giving things to others. Newbies should be on the receiving end.”

When Sir Dominic blankly stared at those bottles, the GM forcibly stuffed the energy drinks into his pocket.

“GachaLand thrives because of newbies like you. Remember that.”

Then the GM put down his toolbox. At some point, a space full of wires had appeared where Sir Dominic had just been resting. Was this what he meant by regular maintenance?

Sir Dominic took out the energy drinks he had forcibly received from his pocket.

It was a potion that restored 10 energy.

And not just one, but a package of 10.

Considering that a potion that restores 5 energy cost 3000 Credits at the store, the value of this potion… he still wasn’t sure.

But it must be quite expensive.

Ah. Sir Dominic suddenly remembered that he was thinking about ways to pass time.

Was this an opportunity? The person before him seemed to know a lot about this world.

If so, wouldn’t he answer if asked about ways to pass time?

Considering his actions just now, this seemed like a very good idea.

“Excuse me…”

“What! What is it! Oh, I’m sorry. The code got a bit tangled, so my guts got a bit tangled too. What can I help you with?”

For a moment, the GM burst out in anger and then became gentle. It was such a stark contrast, reminiscent of the undead legion commander with two personalities, the patched plague doctor.

Sir Dominic… well, he was momentarily intimidated.

But the knight’s oath included having courage that would never turn back in any moment.

Sir Dominic gathered his courage and asked what he was curious about.

“Um… how do others utilize their spare time?”

At that, the GM’s brow furrowed slightly.

It wasn’t an unpleasant furrowing. He just seemed to be thinking about something, rolling his eyes as if looking at a distant past.

“Well… having a job helps. But you need to choose your job carefully. If you’re not careful, you might end up like me, unable to sleep and constantly on the move.”

The GM continued his explanation, counting on his fingers.

“Avoid modern jobs like digital or server management. Decent jobs include… SF is okay. If you don’t mind other genres, hero-related or magical girl-related jobs like rebuilding collapsed buildings are also good, but avoid fantasy. The pay is quite good, but the toilets are… And if you’re okay with something a bit intense, check out System Industries. They’re always short-staffed.”

The GM listed recommended jobs at a rapid-fire pace.

However, Sir Dominic still lacked organized knowledge, so most of the words just went in one ear and out the other, and the only thing he properly heard was to check out System Industries.

“System Industries… thank you.”

“Yes. And once you feel you can live somewhat stably, it’s also good to just quit your job. Later on, you’ll get busy with events and raids and such.”

Sir Dominic admired the one called GM.

In his view, the GM was a sage very knowledgeable about this world, and to him, who still didn’t know what to do, he appeared as a guidepost.

“If you want to know more, find other GMs. I’m a bit tight on schedule to meet the maintenance deadline. So, I’ll be going now.”

With those words, the GM went back to handling the wiring.

Occasionally, he muttered things like ‘Why is it so perfect? It’s unsettling.’ or ‘Ah, should I extend this…’, but to Sir Dominic, those words sounded like magic.

No, no.

Sir Dominic came to his senses.

He fingered the energy drinks in his pocket.

He wanted to drink this potion right away and clear Area 2, but due to the maintenance, Story Mode was grayed out and deactivated.

Then this is actually fortunate.

To live in this world from now on, having a job to pass time would be essential.

Since the GM had just talked about jobs, Sir Dominic planned to head to System Industries as he mentioned.

Sir Dominic carefully bowed his head behind the GM’s back to show respect.

Whether he saw it or not, he wasn’t sure.