Gacha System

by Java Springs

  The Gacha System within his head only gave a buzzing reply as another screen appeared in front of Jin Feng, entirely overlapping the one with the "Gacha Shop" in it. The screen that appeared emitted a mysterious glow that made it look different from the ones before. It looked special from the rest.

  "Well, of course, it would be special." Jin Feng smiled as he keenly stared at the glowing screen. Within the screen was his bright and bubbly face. "When was this picture taken? I look oddly flawless here." Jin Feng pondered. True enough, his face within the screen was relieved of blemishes, which he should have. He was sure that he never finished his puberty stage—In fact, he was still 16.

  Besides his image being shown on the screen, more information regarding himself appeared. "This should be the Gacha System's version of a status page." Jin Feng concluded.

  System User: Jin Feng— Bronze Ranker. (Acquire powerful Summons to increase rank)

  Gacha Gems: 250, Tokens: 100,000

  Gacha Level: Newly Awakened (With the awakening of the godly Gacha System, User Jin Feng has a 0.5% chance of spawning a Summon that is Tier 5 and above. 0/20 Advanced Summoning and 0/100 Basic Summoning needed to increase Gacha Level.)

  Special Summon: None (Spawn more Summons using Summoning Scrolls for more chances of acquiring a Special Summon!)

  Special Equipment: None (Slay more creatures within the world of Nhervyne to acquire Equipment Sets and Shards for both you and your Summons to equip!)

  Special Summons Skill: None (No Special Summon detected)

  Special Equipment Skill: None (No Special Equipment detected)

  Current Strongest Summon: Moon Bicorn (Tier 3) (Level 0)

  Jin Feng earnestly read through everything within his status page. It contained enough information that he did not feel like it was long. With what the status page provided, Jin Feng concluded that he basically has no powers of his own besides being able to command creatures that he could summon.

  "I guess that's fine. Besides, it's better than having nothing." Jin Feng muttered as he smiled and glanced at the three Summons beside him. The Gnome Warrior was standing guard beside him while the Hell Imp sluggishly followed, the Moon Bicorn stood still beside Jin Feng as it occasionally glanced towards the dark surroundings of the An Forest.

  Jin Feng's eyes glimmered with a sudden thought, "They don't feel like generic spawns... are they really just creatures from the System?" For him, it did not feel like it. He was about to ask the Gacha System about the origin of the Summons when it's mechanical voice suddenly resounded, stopping Jin Feng from inquiring any further, "User Jin Feng, please proceed to finish the fourth part of the tutorial."

  The tone of the system abruptly mandated Jin Feng to not mind the questions within his head and just proceed with completing the tutorial instead. "This system though... why would it be bothered about such question." With how the system replied, Jin Feng could only assume that the Summons are actually sentient beings and not some simulation by the System.

  "Then that would mean... The goblin back then was actually alive?" Jin Feng sighed. Heading towards the ground where the Forest Goblin fell and died after getting impaled by the raging Moon Bicorn back then, Jin Feng offered a small prayer for its departed soul. With his hands clasped together, he inwardly spoked his resolve, "I should not recklessly command them from now on."

  ...

  Scattered lights that were dazzling above the dark heavens shone down the entire Nhervyne. The four moons of the planet were equally illuminating each and every corner of the supercontinent to where their light could encompass.

  Insect Continent, one of the nine major continents within Nhervyne.

  The Silkius Village became livelier as the night went on. Zhi Long, who woke up early in the evening to fetch his family a fresh and tasty meal for their entire weeks' consumption, went out of his way to hire people within the town's mercenary guild.

  The village wasn't devoid of what the other races would call, civilization. In fact, the Arachnoids has always been a proud community of organized thinkers that would do things in an orderly manner. A society formed through rational thoughts and not barbaric thinking.

  Within the Insect Continent alone, most of the subspecies and races that reside in it were more civilized than the current human societies within the entire supercontinent, and as such, it wasn't surprising to see demihuman creatures hiring fellow demihumans to aid them for their cause.

  "Four assistants should be enough for this trip, I'd assume?" Zhi Long pondered while caressing his visibly hairless chin. Although one could not see them with the naked eye, male Arachnoids do have beards, but the light would only pass through them due to their hollow and transparent shape that they would never be visible to anyone but the people within their race.

  Glancing towards the group of young mercenaries once more, Zhi Long satisfyingly nodded.

  It was rather a cheap bargain. He paid merely 20 Tokens to be able to hire these four. A measly 5 Tokens for an individual. "I guess times are indeed tough, even these youngsters are willing to work for cheap." Zhi Long thought. "But I hope they could actually be of use other than just baiting Gaiwus."

  CHAPTER 7

  SEED

  The eeriness of the An Forest's atmosphere could easily send anyone a spine-chilling feeling. For a place that wasn't really cold to the touch, it would seem that the breeze would feel especially colder when one is alone within this woodlands.

  Deep inside the feared forest, four figures fearlessly trod the dark path of An. "If I were to buy at least 80 Soul Fruits to max out the Moon Bicorn, I'd still have 20,000 Tokens left. But that won't be enough to purchase a single another item to complete the tutorial..." Jin Feng tried to do the math while walking under the darkened shed of the ungroomed thicket.

  After deciding to seek shelter for the night, The Gnome Warrior seemingly felt Jin Feng's plea as it guided the group to a place where they could temporarily stay. They have been walking for quite some time now, about 30 minutes, and so, Jin Feng decided to just continue doing the fourth part of the tutorial while they take their time.

  "The requirement should be purchasing at least three different items within the "Gacha Shop", but I only have the option of choosing four from the eight items."

  The other two items that were available for purchase: Basic and Advance Summoning Scrolls, were not cheap at the slightest. The Basic Summoning Scrolls costs 30,000 Tokens, while the Advance Summoning Scroll costs 150 Gacha Gems.

  Although Jin Feng wasn't entirely sure how hard it is to earn these things —Tokens and Gacha Gems— the fact that the amount given as a reward was very limited and was barely able to purchase the items would mean that either would be tedious to acquire.

  Opting to finish the fourth part of the tutorial, Jin Feng finalized his purchase.

  His feeble hand swept over the Soul Fruit's icon within the shelf. A tab appeared asking Jin Feng the amount he wants to purchase. "I guess 50 of these should be enough for now," Jin Feng muttered, while keenly glaring at the amount that it would cost. 50,000 Tokens would be left after the purchase, enough for him to purchase one Breakthrough Talisman or one Basic Summoning Scroll.

  Hand cupping his chin, Jin Feng pondered for a moment which one of the two he would be purchasing, "If I were to purchase the Breakthrough Talisman, I would have no more Tokens left," for something that he does not really know the value of, Jin Feng felt like it would be quite reckless to expend everything at one go.

  On the other hand, he felt like leaving 20,000 Tokens unused would be pretty wasteful. "If I purchase a Basic Summoning Scroll instead, it would be rather pointless, as I have 10 of it from the rewards back then."

  After weighing both the cons and pros, Jin Feng decided to just go with the Breakthrough Talisman. Even though it was risky spending every last one of the Tokens, the item in itself should be worth the risk. Swiping over the item, Jin Feng successfully purchased both the 50 Soul Fruits and the Breakthrough Talisman.

 
; Draining the entire pool of Tokens within his status page, Jin Feng was left with only a single item left available for purchase. Without thinking much, he spent 150 Gacha Gems to acquire an additional Advance Summoning Scroll, leaving him with a hundred gems and three advance scrolls.

  "Congratulations, user Jin Feng, for successfully completing the fourth part out of the five-part tutorial. Please receive your beginners' reward!"

  [Rewards: Embodiment of the Gacha System Seed.]

  Expectedly, as soon as Jin Feng finished purchasing, the voice of the Gacha System immediately rang within his consciousness. It was then followed by notification screens appearing informing him of the reward for the parts completion.

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  A sharp series of sound suddenly rang. Due to its suddenness, Jin Feng was startled and somehow lost his footing. "What was that?!" Jin Feng rebuked, his face utterly confused. He could feel that the ringing did not come from within his consciousness, but it felt too loud that it seemed like it came from somewhere close by.

  Jin Feng stood up from falling after his feet wobbled from shock. Within the next instant, the location from where the sound came from slowly became apparent, as a rippling wave within the void suddenly appeared in front of Jin Feng, who was still dusting of the dirt in his clothes.

  Within the ripples, a tear grew bigger and bigger by the second as it abruptly spat out a spherical object the size of a fist.

  Thud!

  The ball-like object fell on the ground with a loud thump, causing dust and dirt to splatter as a small crater formed underneath it. The ripple and the ringing sound immediately disappeared as soon as it landed. Out of curiosity, Jin Feng nonchalantly picked up the sphere.

  Even though it appeared mysteriously, he was pretty certain that it was part of the way the Gacha System rewards things, similar to the previous cases. He was proven correct the moment a notification screen appeared,

  [Embodiment of the Gacha System Seed]- "Physical representation of the almighty and heavenly Gacha System! Congratulations on reaching the final stage of the tutorial, User Jin Feng!"

  Jin Feng read through the description of the spherical item when the mechanical voice of the Gacha System coincidentally rang. "Congratulations, user Jin Feng for reaching the final stage of the tutorial. For this part, please choose a preferable location to plant the physical representation of the system. Choose wisely, as it would be your home in this world!"

  ...

  Zhi Long calmly led the group of young mercenaries towards the feared An Forest. A smug expression was apparent in his face. Besides his wife who could easily make him look like a pushover, no male Arachnoid would dare offend someone like Zhi Long. Although he is often teased by his colleagues about being under his wife's skirt, the fact that he was actually married to the strongest female specimen within their village is something they could not deny.

  Zhi Long was strong on his own, that was why he apathetically decided to head towards the An Forest just for the sake of hunting good food for his wife. With his pride high up and his confidence even higher, his arachnid face gleamed with boast when he spotted four figures heading towards their direction.

  "Do not worry wifey, I'll bring home some good food for us to feast" Zhi Long smiled as he rubbed his hands, four of them, as his anticipation grew stronger by the second.

  CHAPTER 8

  TIER THREE

  The distance between the An Forest and the Silkius Village was quite short. It barely took an hour for Zhi Long's group to arrive at the outskirts of the woodlands. Aside from it being near, the jagged path and the cold atmosphere of the forest that would most likely hinder and/or halt travelers did not affect the pace of the Arachnoids.

  From all the races within the Insect Continent, the Arachnoid race was one of the most adept in terms of survival, only second to that of the Roach Race. If only they were more in numbers, they could easily overthrow other kingdoms and cities within the continent with their adaptability alone.

  "Should we not venture deeper? I've heard from our fellow mercenaries from the guild that there are quite a few strong Gaiwus within the secluded bowels of the An Forest. There are even rumors of Tier 3 Gaiwus to show up every now and then!" One of the young mercenaries voiced out his suggestion. A plan to delve deeper into the forest.

  "Is that true?" Zhi Long, who was currently leading the group, turned his attention towards the young Arachnoid behind him as he inquired. The other mercenaries followed suit as they threw an expectant gaze towards their comrade as if saying, "To be expected of our amazing leader!"

  The young leader of the mercenaries cooly nodded in reply. The respect of the other three grew higher just from that single action alone, "See, how cool is our leader? Young and free-spirited, just like how a leader should always be!"

  Zhi Long, who was a much older Arachnoid than the rest of the group, did not conform to the suggestion of the four. "If that is true, then why would we venture deeper? Do you want to get yourself killed?" Zhi Long retorted. Although his tone was just as usual and did not carry any anger with it, he was serious about what he just asked.

  Even if he was the type to nonchalantly barge in the An Forest, he was the also the type that would think rationally when it comes to doing reckless decisions, and heading deeper into the forest was a bad decision who wouldn't dare do so.

  The four young mercenaries, who have always viewed Zhi Long as a strong person who was a tad bit smug, has changed their view of him completely. "What a killjoy, this old man doesn't know how to have fun while doing stressful things, no wonder his wife kept bullying him." They thought. Letting out a loud sigh to show their disappointment, the four could not do anything but just follow.

  Zhi Long could obviously see that the youngsters were a bit balked by his decision, and so he tried to cheer the mood up, "I mean, why do we need to go deeper and tire our feet when we could easily encounter and hunt Tier 2, or even higher tiered Gaiwus in the outskirts alone? See? I know a thing or two. My wife told me that she met a few strong creatures at this very place! A pack of Blood Wolves and Hell Imps roams this lands quite abundantly!"

  Even though they were paid to accompany him, the most apparent reason as to why this group of inexperienced mercenaries accepted the request in the first place was to venture into the forest. It was a rare bargain after all as they are to accompany someone who they knew was stronger than them. It was a win-win situation overall.

  After boosting the groups moral, or ego rather, Zhi Long immediately instructed the youngsters to keenly observe the surroundings and look for the prized strong Gaiwus that they were hunting for. With their senses perked up, the group scoured the darkness of the An Forest to look for their unexpecting prey.

  ...

  "An actual Bicorn!" Zhi Long clicked his sharp tongue after seeing that there was actually a Tier 3 Gaiwu roaming around the outskirts of the An Forest. "What is a Bicorn doing here in the outer regions of the forest? Is it lost or something?" Zhi Long could not help but get worried now.

  Even though he was "strong", he was only strong within the standards of a male Arachnoid. But facing against a Tier 3 horse-like Gaiwu that towers over them, he doesn't have even the slightest bit of confidence in winning, even more so coming out unscathed and alive.

  "No... calm yourself down, we have the numbers, if the other three aren't as strong as the Bicorn, then we could stand a chance." Zhi Long muttered to himself as he tried to regain his composure.

  If his guess wasn't wrong, the other three within the mysterious group shouldn't be any stronger than the Bicorn. At the least, they could easily put up a fight and slay the enemy before they could even react if the five of them would work together.

  "But if they are somehow stronger than the Bicorn, then..." Zhi Long could only hope that they weren't. But if in the case that they were indeed stronger, they have to do nothing but remain hidden and escape, hoping that the Tier 3 Gaiwus would not be able to detect their presence and chase after t
hem.

  The four mercenaries behind Zhi Long were also lurking in a behaved manner, as they could clearly see that the Moon Bicorn in the distance isn't something that they could easily fight and slay. They might be proud of their strength, and at some point even foolish, but they could only dare challenge beasts that are Base stage up to Tier 1; rarely Tier 2 when they are together, but never any higher.

  ...

  The denseness of the forest became evidently thinner the farther Jin Feng and his group trods. The four crescent moons above them were now visible as they brightly illuminated the group's previously dim path. The cold air also became warmer by the minute, as the chilling feeling one would get within the depths of the forest has been slowly dispersing.

  The expression on the face of the Gnome Warrior was evidently lively, it was a face of euphoria when someone that has been far away from home would return to their loved ones. Jin Feng smiled as he thought, "We are definitely heading to a Gnome village or the like, just based on this tiny man's expression."