Ch.47Chapter 47 – The Aftermath of Implementing the Gacha System

Glesius Academy is an educational institution where people of various social statuses receive education.

The students, who are the main constituents of the academy, ranged from commoners as common as stones scattered on the street to those with bloodlines as precious as jewels—high nobles, royalty, and even imperial family members.

In short, it would not be an exaggeration to call Glesius Academy a “melting pot of social classes” where people of various statuses mingled.

However, the fact that people of various statuses mingled meant that there existed invisible, and sometimes quite visible, gaps between students.

This was because Glesius Academy was not an educational institution established for “equal rights to education.”

Fundamentally, Glesius Academy’s main goal was to teach “ability users” how to live alongside ordinary people.

In other words, the academy focused on managing “ability users.”

Of course, if they only accepted ability users, the number of incoming and enrolled students would fluctuate depending on the era.

So, to compensate for this, the academy accepted anyone who wished to enter Glesius Academy and receive education, from commoners to nobles, royalty, and imperial family members.

However, while anyone was free to challenge the entrance exam, those without sufficient skill could not be admitted.

Additionally, to prevent individuals from taking the entrance exam indefinitely, a limit was set allowing each person to take the exam only five times.

Moreover, admission was just the beginning; one had to overcome countless assignments and exams to graduate safely.

Those who failed to overcome these barriers would face failure and retention, and if this was repeated, they would be forcibly expelled.

Students expelled due to repeated failures and retentions were permanently banned from re-admission.

Therefore, no one approached Glesius Academy with mediocre skills or half-hearted determination.

Students admitted to Glesius Academy strived daily to prove their abilities by any means necessary.

Even commoners, upon graduating from the academy, were given opportunities to work as civil servants with guaranteed retirement benefits or as retainers for noble families.

Even children from noble families with poor reputations would receive marriage proposals from various families simply for graduating from the academy.

That’s how demanding Glesius Academy was, from admission to graduation, with each step requiring extremely stringent conditions.

To meet these conditions, students had to repeat daily training, duels, practical exercises, and theoretical classes.

Naturally, equipment often broke or got damaged during training and duels. To address this, the academy established an equipment inspection system.

This system, which invited renowned craftsmen to repair students’ equipment, was beloved by both wealthy and financially struggling students.

Who would refuse having their equipment checked and restored to optimal condition by the finest craftsmen for just about 80 gold coins?

However, there were people living at the bottom who couldn’t even afford this.

Students who scored well and had ample time used the academy’s equipment inspection system, while wealthy students could have their equipment checked through a newly emerged student named “Pathos.”

However, students lacking both time and money couldn’t use either the official or private equipment inspection services.

“Still crowded today?”

“Yes, it has decreased a bit, but it’s still twice as many as last year.”

Students belonging to this category self-deprecatingly referred to themselves as “rock bottom.”

“Rock bottom” refers to the deepest part of a mine, the area where the most difficult and dangerous work takes place.

They called themselves “rock bottom” because they felt their lives were just as difficult and dangerous as the most challenging place in a mine.

“Damn, because of that cursed Pathos or whatever his name is, the official equipment inspection is backed up.”

“That’s how it is with those rich lords.”

“Those gentlemen pour money into equipment inspection and then destroy the equipment of rock-bottomers like us who lack both money and time during duels or training. How can we possibly compete?”

Members of the rock bottom had weak voices and relatively small numbers within the academy.

After all, anyone who could enter Glesius Academy was likely able to afford not only the entrance fees but also various costs including living expenses.

But the students belonging to the rock bottom category were only those who dreamed of turning their lives around and had bet everything on graduating from Glesius Academy.

“At this rate, is failure confirmed?”

“I’ve earned some points in theoretical classes, so I think I’ll safely get through this semester…”

“Tch, what about students like me who are strong in practical skills…”

So, students at rock bottom would gather in secluded places that no one visited to lament their situations.

“By the way, why isn’t Ena visible? She always comes here, but she’s been scarce lately?”

Among them, the student who could be called the leader of the rock bottom was looking for someone.

He seemed worried, perhaps because someone who came every day wasn’t visible.

“Ena? Haven’t you heard? She won first place at that bastard Pathos’s stall.”

“What?”

The rock bottom leader showed an expression of disbelief at what the second-in-command said.

“Huh, really… I’m truly speechless. You knew this and just let it be?”

“What was I supposed to do? The tickets are treated to prevent damage and alteration, and they’re directly registered in the student management system, so we can’t do anything about it.”

“Ha, my life is truly like a goblin.”

The rock bottom leader compared his life to a goblin, the weakest monster.

It was a way of expressing how worthless his life seemed.

“That’s why fewer kids are coming to rock bottom these days.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I heard that even if you draw a blank, you can at least recover your investment. A blank exchange ticket is worth 10 gold coins, and apparently there are students buying them.”

“Huh.”

The rock bottom leader and second-in-command could only let out hollow laughs at what the student who served as the brain of the organization said.

They too were aware that the number of students not participating in rock bottom gatherings had been increasing lately.

“My life really is like a goblin.”

“A goblin would be fortunate. At least it’s better than a slime rolling around on a dungeon floor.”

“Heh, that’s true. At least we can get jobs in the guard if we drop out.”

While the rock bottom leader and second-in-command compared their lives to monsters, they weren’t actually trying to escape their situation.

“Wow! A 50% discount voucher!”

“Didn’t you say you already had equipment serviced?”

“S-sell it to me! I’ll buy it for two silver coins!”

“Sell it to me instead! I’ll buy it for three silver coins!”

And students who had belonged to rock bottom gradually began to escape their rock bottom lives as they started using Pathos’s gacha machine.

Some rock bottom students had already entrusted their equipment to the academy for inspection when they used the gacha machine, and they made quite a profit by selling their winning results for money.

“Fewer and fewer people are coming.”

The students who led the rock bottom had planned something to bring down Pathos and return the academy to how it was before.

But now, about two weeks later, the number of students belonging to rock bottom wasn’t particularly large.

“This is really shitty. This will hinder our plans.”

“Well, since that’s how it is, I won’t be coming here anymore either.”

“What?”

“I also used the gacha machine this time—they call it ‘rolling’ the gacha machine. Anyway, I used the gacha machine and made a pretty nice income this time.”

Additionally, the intelligent student who served as the brain of the organization had actively utilized the gacha machine to earn a considerable side income.

“Hey, hey! You disloyal bastard! You gold-digging goblin!”

“Yeah. So what? I want to escape this wretched rock bottom too! That being the case, I won’t be here anymore. Farewell.”

Despite being insulted to his face as a gold-digging goblin, the student who had served as the brain of rock bottom mocked the leader and second-in-command before leaving the gathering.

A month after the gacha system was introduced.

Students who had belonged to rock bottom and actively used the gacha machine were smiling after the final exams ended.

This was because they could earn quite a profit just by selling the usage vouchers obtained from the gacha.

Moreover, because so many students wanted to have their equipment inspected, Pathos announced that he would limit weekday appointments to about 20 people and accept the rest on weekends on a first-come, first-served basis.

As a result, the value of discount vouchers and exchange tickets rose considerably, with exchange tickets now going for up to 25 gold coins each.

“Student Elkas. Student Berundo. Both of you have been expelled due to poor academic performance for two consecutive semesters.”

And at the end of the semester, the rock bottom leader and second-in-command who had planned to do something about Pathos were expelled due to poor grades.

“…”

“…Sigh.”

Looking at each other, Elkas and Berundo shook their heads and had to take sad steps toward their hometowns.