Finally thought I pulled a 5-star, but I got the power of Luck instead.
“…It might look weird for now, but there’s bound to be some use for it in real battle.”
Turning my gaze towards the rest of the results piled on the bed, my mind worked hard to feel optimistic.
I got two 3-stars too. Time to check those out.
“Let’s see….”
First, I popped one Mana Herb that’s rolling around on top into my mouth and started rummaging through the rest.
Not long after, I discovered something glowing softly amidst the junk.
“Is this it?”
I cleared the surroundings and picked up the source of the light.
A crystal about the size of my fingertip, imbued with a bluish glow.
The crystal itself is common, but the light inside makes it reminiscent of a gem. This must be the moonlight-infused crystal that was on the list.
“Material item, huh.”
A 3-star material like the Unicorn Horn I previously pulled. I don’t know what I can make with this, but considering the power of the Unicorn Dagger, it should definitely be something substantial.
However, there’s something on my mind…
“…Am I really supposed to go back to Eve?”
After all that, I have to go back to Eve? My head felt dizzy for a moment.
I have to waltz back to someone who went into debt just to get a taste of something naughty with me.
This time, I cannot just let this slide.
Well, while I don’t mind the naughtiness itself, I’ve made promises to Ellie and Lydia.
The way they treat me is not only because they are good people; there’s also a significant stake in it since they’re hoping for something more.
I’m aware of that, and I’ve taken advantage of it to get little perks here and there.
But now that I’ve received everything I can, I can’t just say I’ll do it with someone else. Wasn’t that an unexpected turn of events?
That’s a bit guilty for my conscience.
“Alright. I’ll go to Benny.”
Though he might not have the experience of Eve, Benny is also a high mage. He’s a practical type who’s familiar with special materials much more than others.
He can at least tell me what to craft it into, and while he may not connect me with the finest artisans, he can inform me of its uses.
Then I’ll just go to Elina and Lydia to ask for decent recommendations.
Ellie retired a while ago, but she was once the most famous adventurer at Pangrave.
And Lydia is practically a gear-worshipping maniac. The sheer number of purchases she made guarantees she knows her stuff.
…If I were a novelist in my past life, I would’ve needed a good keyboard, right? Something like how I bought enough expensive keyboards to use a different one every day of the week and still had one left over.
Why on earth did I buy eight keyboards back then?
With a deep sigh, I stuffed the crystal into my pocket. I still have one more 3-star left to check, so let’s look at that next.
“It should definitely be called the Fragment of Belief.”
An abstract name. At first glance, it sounds like a material or equipment…
No matter how hard I look, there’s nothing that screams 3-star. Instead, I managed to enhance the Wrist Crossbow I had pulled during this frenzy.
During the previous enhancement, its power increased significantly, but this time it gained a firing function.
Sure, it can only shoot three bolts, but that’s a heaven and earth difference compared to when I had to reload after every shot.
Of course, the crossbow has gotten a bit bigger and heavier…
But it’s not so bulky that it hinders my movements, and with my body strengthened after taking down Morgana in the labyrinth, I should be able to use it without a hitch.
I’ve neglected the crossbow since obtaining the stealth skill, but… it might be fine to give it a more serious try now.
“By the way, where could it be…?”
Surely it can’t be that it hasn’t appeared after I summoned it? More likely, it might just be in a form I didn’t expect and I couldn’t find it.
In the end, I started clearing away the pile of herbs one by one. How much time passed while I searched.
Suddenly, I caught sight of a small wooden box giving off an unusual vibe.
“What’s this?”
Judging by its size, it seems perfect to hold a ring. Is it an accessory-type artifact?
The artifact I farmed from Morgana was undoubtedly magical in nature—essentially a mana-hungry device.
While its performance was helpful, I had such a low mana pool compared to Morgana that activating it a few times would leave me completely drained.
Benny suggested I just sell it, saying it didn’t match my combat style.
In the end, the magical device I salvaged from Morgana was just this Subspace Robe. I’m adequately satisfied with that alone, though.
“One side is already wearing a Subspace Ring, so it might be better to wear it on the other side.”
I was even considering selling the Subspace Ring since I have the robe now…
The robe would ultimately require me to pull out items from my pockets anyway.
The Subspace Ring is designed for quickly retrieving or exchanging weapons in urgent situations.
Its capacity isn’t large, and it doesn’t have any lightweight features, so I can’t fit overly heavy weapons in it—but its practicality is assured. They both serve different purposes.
Anyway, given the current situation, I started feeling immense anticipation for the box in front of me.
What a sneaky move to send me a second layer of packaging! Isn’t this the definition of pulling a gacha and getting a gacha box?
With a gulp, I opened the small box in one breath.
“Whoa!”
Click.
At that moment, a refreshing fragrance wafted out. The inside of the box was filled with dry moss, and in the center lay a pure white elixir.
“Elixir?”
I tilted my head at the unexpected item. It’s got a name suitable for an elixir called Fragment of Belief…
“Ah!”
Could it be an elixir related to aura? People usually associate magic with wisdom and aura with belief, right?
If it’s Benny, he would bounce around saying magic is a miracle born from foolishness…but anyway, that’s how it is in the public perception.
“This is a bit troublesome.”
It’s a 3-star elixir. I don’t know exactly how effective it is, but it must be way above ordinary.
Based on my previous experience, this might be one of the highest-grade elixirs!
Of course, while it’s great for me if the elixir is effective… the problem is that I just learned the aura skill, Overflowing Potential, not too long ago.
It’s a type of awakening that triggers latent power purely from the aura. Although it isn’t purely aura-based technique, it is still a 4-star skill.
After activating it once, I already felt a significant heaviness in my lower abdomen due to the minimum aura needed to maintain it.
And now I have to consume another 3-star elixir on top of that…
“Ugh. But it shouldn’t harm me, at least.”
I often get a sense that the Goddess of Love is modifying me to her liking, but she hasn’t gone so far as to let me suffer. In fact, she’s tended to lend a helping hand far more than needed.
Above all, I have Gluttonous Stomach, a power that perfectly digests anything I eat.
“Alright. They wouldn’t give it to me to not eat it, so I guess I’ll have to.”
In one go, I shoveled the elixir from the box into my mouth. The moment it touched my tongue, it melted smoothly and went right down.
…Wasn’t it white? Thinking I drank something white made my instincts recoil, but thankfully, the elixir didn’t have the scent of night blooms or plum blossoms.
Just a moment ago, it had this refreshing mint scent… but for some reason, the moment I put it in my mouth, I felt no taste or smell.
I blinked in confusion for a moment. The elixir flowed down my throat and started moving to another space other than my stomach.
It must have poured into the unique space that Gluttonous Stomach possesses.
After waiting a few seconds, it felt like it might be storing it and digesting it at my convenience.
A wave of energy began flowing somewhere inside my belly. The liquid I had consumed disappeared, and only pure energy flooded into my body.
However, I’m at a point where I can only utilize aura at the most basic level. I was puzzled about what to do with this overwhelming energy.
“Whoa.”
The aura from the elixir started moving on its own and began to gather in my lower abdomen.
Since I haven’t properly learned mana breathing techniques, I couldn’t form a mana heart and had been accumulating mana near my heart.
Likewise, I hadn’t mastered any aura formation techniques, just mounding it into my lower abdomen to draw it out whenever needed.
Yet, strangely enough, the elixir’s energy acted almost like a gravitational center, drawing my aura toward it and starting to refine it neatly.
What was completed was a pure white orb, untainted by any speck of dust, just as I had seen before consuming it.
I instinctively understood that this was the proper formation of Danjeon.
“…Is that so?”
I realized that this was in an incredibly clean state, easily tarnishable.
The Fragment of Belief isn’t something to increase my aura but rather an elixir meant to aid in forming Danjeon.
Aura itself is a power stemming from the divine of the Knight God.
In the beginning, I suppose it wasn’t trained with its current system.
Sudden power is nice, but mastering it requires effort.
The Fragment of Belief must have been created for this purpose.
While it allowed me to gather aura and form Danjeon, this is merely the groundwork.
The strength of aura comes from belief. What kind of picture will I fill this white canvas, ready to be colored by anything… how to complete this simple fragment with a belief of mine—it’s up to me.
“…Isn’t this, in a way, the fundamental training method?”
Magic was originally a miracle. Therefore, it is a force granted by the divine, hoping and striving to reach the impossible.
Aren’t those the lessons I’ve been learning from Benny lately? In reality, mana and magic were obtained through gacha, courtesy of the Goddess of Love.
The same goes for aura. First, I receive aura, pile it similar to Danjeon, and then overlay my beliefs upon it.
The approach I’m currently taking—seeking the essence of aura formation methods right from the start and collecting aura according to predetermined methods to transform it into Danjeon says the exact opposite.
I don’t really know which method is better. The two are inherently distinctive with clear strengths and weaknesses. After all, the gods of magic and knight are long gone.
Yet, one thing is clear to me.
“The time for me to coast and ride on easy mode is slowly coming to an end.”
Even if I pull an insane 0-tier character, if I use it recklessly without understanding the skills, I won’t reach the end content.
That’s the reality of it.
*
The next morning. Lemon and Apple burst into Fairy and Silver Coin with horrified expressions.
“C-Crisis has struck, Jonah!”
“The boss has run away, Jonah!”
“Huh.”
Eve’s darkening storyline was supposed to begin with her suddenly disappearing one day.
…They say what goes around comes around.
This seems to be the perfect phrase for the situation right now.
