Lock in, guys. The Rolls are here!!
Comment your rolls so I can laugh at your luck or cry at mine.
Remember to drop them Stones and Reviews!!!
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"Thanks, Nakime," I said quietly. "I needed to hear that."
She bowed her head slightly, accepting my gratitude without making a big deal out of it.
I pulled up the gacha interface again and stared at the twenty-one tickets waiting to be rolled. Eight Bronze, seven Silver, four Gold, and two Platinum.
Each and every one of them was a bloody receipt earned from pain, sweat, and nearly getting my ass completely killed by a Viltrumite while fighting off a goddamn alien invasion.
The itch was back, that familiar craving that came with every new ticket.
I could save these. Roll them later when I wasn't half-dead and covered in dried alien blood.
But the thought of waiting, of not knowing what I'd get, of having these tickets just sitting there unrolled...
Fuck that.
'Time to gamble it all away,' I thought, as a manic grin spread across my face even as my broken rib screamed in protest.
Let's begin with an appetizer.
I mentally tore the first Bronze ticket, feeling that familiar rush as the gacha spun. But before I could even see the wheel, a virtual twenty-sided rainbow die materialized right in front of me, tumbling through the air.
… What the actual fuck!?
I just stared at it, my brain momentarily flatlining. "Oh man, is this the Gambler trait? This is so exhilarating."
The die finally clattered to a stop on an 11 as the gacha started rolling. Confused, I actually had to stop and reread the Gambler Trait description.
{20} = Ticket Rank Up
{19 - 17} = Advantage Ticket
{16 - 13} = Change Ticket Type
{12 - 8} = Nothing happens
{7 - 2} = Ticket rank down
{1} = Ticket is destroyed
So basically, a thirty-five percent chance of losing something, a twenty-five percent chance of a neutral play, and a forty percent chance of actually gaining something.
These were way better odds than the Russian roulette I'd played.
But the real kicker was that five percent chance of the ticket ranking up and getting destroyed, each. That right there? That was where the true fun was hiding.
As I ran the math in my head, the first bronze ticket finished rolling.
D20 Roll: 11 (Nothing happens)
[Lesser Hydrokinesis]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to create and control water around yourself telekinetically, it is not particularly powerful but it is still very versatile and precise.
I read the text twice. Water? Really?
Then, I felt a sudden and strange feeling wash over my brain, like someone poured ice cold water over it. I suddenly became hyper-aware of the moisture around me. As I pulled on that new awareness, water droplets actually began to condense on my palm right out of the thin air.
"What the hell?" I managed to ask myself.
Isn't this another ability? That made eleven abilities total, which meant I only needed four more to unlock the Platinum pool for temporary summons.
Even though the ability was offensively useless right now, its utility couldn't just be ignored, especially for survival scenarios where clean water was a luxury.
My hands moved before I could stop them as I tore all the remaining Bronze tickets simultaneously.
Watching as seven multicolored dice rolled concurrently across my vision.
I was just awestruck by the sheer, chaotic beauty of chance taking over my future seven different ways at once.
'Better than a threesome, I tell you.'
D20 Roll: 12 (Nothing happens)
[Drunk Driver]
|Trash Trait|
"It's the drunk crashers that give drunk drivers a bad name." The more inebriated you are, the more skilled you are at driving and operating vehicles.
Again, nothing happens?
'Honestly, the trait wasn't half bad, considering I…'
but I cut myself off from that embarrassing memory.
D20 Roll: 9 (Nothing happens)
[Heavy Rock]
|Trash Item|
An otherwise ordinary and unremarkable head-sized rock that is always ever so slightly heavier than the maximum weight of whoever tries to lift it can lift.
Who even makes this shit? Again, nothing happens. Maybe I was sweating for nothing since the Gambler Trait was treating me pretty well.
Although the rock was trash, I figured I could use it to kite enemies just like I did with my beautiful tank I'd dropped on the Flaxans.
D20 Roll: 5 (Ticket rank down: Bronze → None).
The fuck? Now it hits me with this shit? Was I feeling a little too good and the universe decided it needed to balance the scales by robbing me? It even deleted my ticket probably because this one was already bottom tier.
"Don't worry, my luck will turn," I muttered, trying to keep my heart rate steady as I looked over the next roll.
D20 Roll: 1 (Ticket is destroyed).
"Motherfucker!" I shouted, my voice cracking violently.
Nakime immediately looked up, her eye wide with worry as she leaned forward. "Master, are your injuries turning bad? Should I open a gate to a hospital?"
"No, no, nothing like that," I groaned, pressing my forearm hard against my broken rib and wincing at the sharp, blinding spike of pain. "Well, maybe later for this rib, but it's just my dogshit luck acting up again."
She started playing her biwa in a smooth, steady rhythm, her way of trying to soothe my frayed nerves.
It wasn't long before I felt my breathing evening out slightly.
I looked at the next roll.
D20 Roll: 10 (Nothing happens)
[Scrap Iron Candy]
|Common Item|
Blacksouls -"Tastes like its name" When consumed, bolsters the user's defence for 30 minutes. Restock Timer: 8 Hours
Nothing happened, which was vastly preferred over getting my precious tickets dusted. Plus, I got a consumable that boosts my defense for when things inevitably go sideways again.
D20 Roll: 9 (Nothing happens)
[Havels Greatshield]
|Uncommon Item|
Dark Souls - A shield of magical stone wielded by Havel the Rock. Wielding this shield grants enhanced durability and the user can expend energy to cover their body in stone to further reinforce their body.
Finally, some defensive shit! Where the hell was this when I was getting tossed through the air by Omni-Man like a literal ragdoll? Not that it would have helped significantly against a pissed-off Viltrumite, but at least I could've felt a little less squishy.
D20 Roll: 14 (Change Ticket Type)
Finally, a positive result! Now what should I change it to?
I looked at my current build and it was scattered as hell.
My eyes widened looking at the poor Skills section that was still empty.
'How in the hell is my Curses section more filled than my Skills section?'
But I chose an Ability type ticket instead of Skill.
If I could just scrounge up four more abilities, I'd unlock the Platinum pool for my temporary summons, and that was way too good of a prize to pass up.
[Arc]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to channel electricity through your body and discharge, with training you can channel where your electricity goes to aim it more precisely.
I felt a sudden, sharp tingling jolt through the entirety of my body, involuntarily twitching from the raw sensation of electricity flooding straight into my veins.
'Feels exactly like that electric massage session I took at that sketchy spa.'
Now I stared at my seven Silver tickets, my hands practically vibrating as I tore them all at once.
I whispered, "Come on, baby, give it to me."
D20 Roll: 3 (Ticket rank down: Silver → Bronze)
[Flexible]
|Common Trait|
You are inordinately flexible, even more so than an expert contortionist.
Another ticket rank down. I was biting my thumb from a nervous tick when the joint suddenly bent all the way back without me even noticing.
Strange limberness settled deep into my muscles, spreading through my whole body.
'Definitely useful for dodging attacks, but it still physically hurts to watch my Silver ticket roll down to Bronze.'
I moved my eyes to the next roll.
D20 Roll: 17 (Advantage)
[Harem King]
|Rare Trait|
You are a harem king to be, your preffered partners are more attracted to you and society as a whole does not see a problem with you having a harem. In addition, your partners do not mind you dating others either, they might still have their own problems but the concept of a harem isn't one of them.
OR
[Pacifism]
|Uncommon Trait|
With pacifism, you are able to turn off your killing potential, even if you hit a medieval serf with a final flash, he will still be alive albeit barely.
I literally had to stop and stare at the glowing letters. Harem king? Are you kidding me? I knew that I was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but surely the system didn't expect me to be mentally reta… invalid, right?
The choice was almost insultingly easy, because of course I chose Pacifism. The ability to not accidentally kill someone from going too hard was too good to leave, especially in this universe where casualties were already too numerous to even count.
This could've saved some of those Flaxans. Not that I was losing sleep over it, but... having the option would be nice.
Not to mention Harem shit was for simp losers who'd never dealt with a woman in their life. Anyone with even a shred of fucking sense could tell you how much of a migraine it was just maintaining a relationship with one girl.
Juggling multiple of them? Now that was a special kind of hell.
'Nah, mama didn't raise no simp,' I declared, locking in Pacifism without a second of hesitation.
D20 Roll: 14 (Change Ticket Type).
'Okay, now my luck's finally turning around! Maybe Nakime's music really is bringing me luck?'
I obviously chose an Ability type ticket again, my mind fixated on getting so incredibly close to that fourth ability slot.
[Cat Form]
|Uncommon Ability|
You are able to turn into a cat or a cat hybrid at will. Gaining enhanced agility, senses, reflexes, claws, and sharp teeth as well as any other characteristics the average Cat would possess.
I felt a literal switch flip in my brain, as cat ears and a tail sprouted out of me instantly.
I tried to stay calm and assess them, but the damn tail was moving entirely on its own, repeatedly swatting me right in the face.
[Image Here]
I caught it with both my hands, forcing it to stop, only to hear a soft, muffled sound.
"Fu, Fu…"
When I turned, I saw Nakime covering the lower half of her face with her kimono sleeves, her shoulders shaking as she tried to suppress laughter.
"Et tu, Nakime?" I asked in pure indignation, quickly switching the ability off. I finally regained some normalcy, much to the dismay of Nakime as I saw her face drop back into a subtle frown.
'Weird, was she this expressive when we first met?'
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