DEG - Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Gacha
Jiang Xun: ...
Jiang Xun wasn't sure if she had triggered a special quest or not.
But she could feel her body relax. Although the poison wasn't completely purged, it had greatly eased her current burden.
After all, she had just perished together with the Insect Mother, and she didn't have much Mental Power left.
Considering they had helped her, that she was truly penniless, and that a gang was eyeing her covetously from the shadows.
Jiang Xun had to invent a special quest for them, even if she had to make it up.
She raised the corners of her lips. With the poison under control, her complexion looked better. The sharpness about her was even more pronounced, but because of her smile, it wasn't threatening.
"Thank you very much, Descenders. I feel much better now."
"But it's really strange," Jiang Xun said, as if talking to herself.
"Even with a healing-type ability user, my cold is only half-cured."
I Heal Your Whole Family's nerves instantly tensed up.
Was her healing not strong enough?
No!
It's because you were poisoned! It's a special mechanic!
She couldn't be bothered to threaten the other two into sharing the quest anymore.
She quickly explained, "Because you don't have a cold, you've been poisoned!"
"Someone wants to kill you."
Berry Milkshake came closer. "You should still be in school, right? Do you have enemies at your age?"
Jiang Xun's expression changed slightly when she heard the word "enemies."
"You must be joking. How could I possibly have enemies..." Her smile was a bit stiff.
"...How could they become my enemies."
"It's just a matter of biding time, they shouldn't kill me..." The last part was a mumble, so quiet that you couldn't hear it unless you were listening intently.
But these few people had their ears pricked for the special quest.
Their desire for the quest was stronger than anything else. Without even probing into Jiang Xun's background, they said directly, "People's hearts are hard to read. What if?"
"It's probably them who wants to kill you. Do you need us to get revenge for you?"
Jiang Xun's expression changed at the suggestion.
She sized up the three of them for a while, as if assessing their combat strength.
"You're really joking. I probably just came into contact with this poison by accident." As Jiang Xun spoke, she hurriedly raised her wrist to check the time.
"My match is about to start. I have to go."
Ignoring their attempts to stop her, Jiang Xun went backstage to Ring Number Eight.
Berry Milkshake looked at her quest panel. The quest had updated: 【Investigate Jiang Xun's abnormality.】
The few of them looked at each other, unable to hide their excitement.
Almost in unison, they exclaimed, "We finally got a major quest!!"
Having updated their quest, Jiang Xun sat backstage at Ring Number Eight.
To be honest, her current condition wasn't great. The high fever had temporarily subsided, but her muscles still felt sore and swollen.
Her remaining Mental Power was also very low.
Using her own Ability was completely out of the question; activating it consumed a massive amount of Mental Power.
To win the match, her best bet was to use the original owner's Gacha Ability.
Although Abilities were tied to the soul, just as her own Ability had followed her to this body.
For some reason, the original owner's Ability hadn't disappeared.
The Gacha Ability used Mental Power to draw cards and to maintain the cards' manifestation.
Any special skills the cards used actually consumed her Mental Power.
Logically, as long as she kept drawing cards, she could have countless card characters to help her fight.
Unfortunately, aside from the first time a character was drawn, when they would help for free, every subsequent instance of help depended on the card's affection level for her.
If the affection level was too low, the card character would simply escape, leaving behind an empty card.
And the best way to maintain affection, of course, was to give gifts.
Especially since most of the cards Jiang Xun drew were Star Beasts, the best way to raise their affection was to feed them Star Beast meat.
Unfortunately, Star Beast meat was very expensive.
The original owner was very poor.
So when Jiang Xun summoned the original owner's cards, she saw a hand full of empty ones.
Mm.
Well, there was one left.
"Tangling Grass"
A common, extremely easy-to-raise exotic plant.
It could live with just a bit of sunlight.
Its affection level would rise just by sunbathing.
Jiang Xun was silent for a long time before retracting the card.
She'd been given a new life, what more could she ask for?
At worst, she would just have to gamble on her luck on stage.
If her luck was really bad, she'd resort to her fists. She had to earn enough money for food one way or another.
But since she was new here and had gone straight backstage to prepare, she didn't know what was being discussed outside.
The trio of Berry Milkshake and the others had followed her to Ring Number Eight.
The ring's level was too low, so there weren't many spectators.
In the eyes of players, participating in underground matches had always been a legitimate way to farm Star Coins.
In fact, because so many players participated in underground matches, its leaderboards had nearly become the players' combat power rankings.
But back to the topic at hand.
This wasn't Berry Milkshake's first day in the game, so they knew this world was incredibly realistic. Sometimes, you didn't have to wait for the quest NPC to give you information; you could get more details by asking passersby, just like in the real world.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xun really wasn't famous.
She was also afraid that the gang would discover her secret money-making activities, so she had always kept a low profile.
They asked a few people and only found out about Jiang Xun's Ability and her battle record, which was heavily dependent on her Gacha luck.
They also managed to find out who her opponent was.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind, Kill! Kill! Kill!
They sucked in a cold breath. This was a very famous expert in the player community. Her Ability had already reached level 60, placing her in the top tier of players.
She was a pro-gamer who was extremely strong in both combat and puzzle-solving.
However, she had never cared about these kinds of rankings before, so she had to start from the bottom in the matches.
This was probably her first match as well, which was why there were only a few people in the audience.
"It's over. The little sister is definitely going to lose this time," I Am Number One in the World said, crossing his arms and clicking his tongue.
I Heal Your Whole Family pushed up her glasses. As a semi-lore enthusiast, she had experienced the lives of NPCs immersively, so she easily analyzed Jiang Xun's current situation.
Not very old, probably still in school.
Dressed plainly, not well-off financially.
Training an Ability requires a lot of money, so is she earning money to pay for tuition?
The source of her enemies...
Saving money, cutting costs and increasing income.
She has a way to increase income, but what about cutting costs?
And this NPC also has an extremely eye-catching appearance.
I Heal Your Whole Family had already guessed something.
Besides, Jiang Xun had just been in a healing pod and probably didn't have much money. If she lost this match, she would likely be at a dead end and would have to offer them the quest.
Time passed quickly, and soon the announcer came on stage to announce the contestants for the next match.
The announcer, very professional and energetic, introduced the opponents.
"Our two contestants for this match are the highly renowned Descender, Breaking Waves Riding Wind, Kill! Kill! Kill!, and Miss Jiang Xun, whose duels depend entirely on luck."
"I wonder what kind of Star Beast Miss Jiang Xun will draw to fight with this time?"
Jiang Xun stood on the ring. Opposite her was a woman in a black combat suit with long hair draped over her shoulders. She had a slightly cold demeanor. Probably knowing that Jiang Xun was a newbie, her stance was casual.
But when Jiang Xun saw the muscle distribution on her opponent's body, she knew this Descender was completely different from the three she had just met.
This one was trained, and a skilled fighter at that.
Her luck in drawing opponents was average.
Hopefully, her luck with the Gacha would be better.
The two bowed to each other, and the match began.
Jiang Xun was the first to throw out the Tangling Grass card.
Answering Jiang Xun's summons, a sky full of vines twisted and spread across the path Breaking Waves Riding Wind had to take.
Some vines even managed to accurately wrap around her calves after Breaking Waves Riding Wind dodged.
Unfortunately, this Star Beast's level was just too low.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind just swung her dagger simply, and the vines were cut like tofu.
Although it effectively hindered Breaking Waves Riding Wind's movement speed, the effect wasn't significant.
Jiang Xun had known this would happen, so the moment she threw down the Tangling Grass, she used her remaining Mental Power to activate the original owner's Gacha Ability.
It was a strange feeling.
Her spiritual form seemed to elevate in that instant, seeing the entire universe. But the scenery before her eyes flew by rapidly. It was supposed to stop on a planet full of Star Beasts, from which she would draw a suitable one for battle.
But the scene continued to shift, finally stopping on the Capital Star, a place Jiang Xun knew all too well.
The perspective gradually widened, and that familiar location was precisely pinpointed.
In that instant, an extremely luxurious door appeared behind Jiang Xun.
Expensive jewels were piled upon it.
Priceless energy stones were relegated to serving as mere doorknobs.
It was an incredibly familiar door, one that had been present through almost all her years.
Jiang Xun, who had intended to wait for the drawn character to emerge on its own, slowly began to move her feet.
She walked toward that door.
The three people below the stage were faced with the chaotic scene, not knowing where to look, but the moment that door appeared...
Everyone's gaze fell upon it.
"Holy crap, such a huge energy stone! How much would that sell for at an auction?" Berry Milkshake was stunned.
"Such a huge energy stone... what a waste, a true waste..." I Am Number One in the World muttered, almost in a daze.
I Heal Your Whole Family immediately took a picture and went to the auction house to have an appraiser look at it. Seeing the appraiser's valuation, she sucked in a cold breath.
"Damn, she must have pulled an SSR."
Just as they were wondering about the outcome of this round.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind also charged forward. Jiang Xun moved her body just slightly and briefly evaded her opponent's grapple.
But Jiang Xun's focus was on that door.
She was knocking on the door.
In a situation where she could be eliminated and lose the match at any moment, she was knocking on the door.
Breaking Waves Riding Wind's dagger finally found an opportunity, resting on Jiang Xun's neck.
But even this didn't change the rhythm of Jiang Xun's knocking.
"You've lost," said Breaking Waves Riding Wind, Kill! Kill! Kill!.
She probably wanted to say something more to convince Jiang Xun to surrender directly.
Jiang Xun tilted her head. Though her eyes were sharp, she couldn't hide her excitement, making them sparkle as if dazzling stars had fallen into them. "As a summoner, don't you want to see the person I've summoned?"
"You should be able to tell that the person I've summoned this time is very powerful."
Breaking Waves Riding Wind was momentarily dazed. She hesitated for a moment. "I can tell... he is very rich."
Jiang Xun's lips curved. Her eyes were filled with a pure smile, the sharpness suppressed, replaced by a burgeoning gentleness.
"Of course. She is the richest."
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