Dungeon Gacha Life Chapter 1
Here is a new story and I am going to change the format of how I post translations from now on.
You can find the table of contents and synopsis here
For this, I have stocked up some chapters so will be releasing daily/batches depending on how
Chapter 1: "Get Out Here, Devs"
"Another rejection, huh..."
The notification on my phone was as heartless as ever — another company I'd interviewed with was done with me. I, Suzukaze Touya, sighed. I'd lost count of how many times that made.
It was May of my fourth year of university.
Everyone around me had already landed job offers. I still had zero.
Well, I didn't have any skills worth bragging about, or any experience worth mentioning either. Maybe it was greedy of someone who'd lived such an ordinary life to want a stable job at a big company.
"Still..."
At this point, any company willing to hire me was bound to have its own problems. Like a so-called "black company." Do I really want to be grounded down at a place like that?
"No thanks."
Maybe it was unavoidable if I wanted to keep living, but who'd actually want to sink that low by choice? If there was a future where I could avoid it, I wanted to avoid it.
I sighed again. My eyes drifted to an ad in a magazine I'd bought last week.
Become an Explorer
Under the headline, a young man and woman struck a pose, their faces gleaming with excitement. Each of them gripped an oversized sword.
"An Explorer, huh..."
Twenty years had passed since dungeons first appeared in this world. By now, being an Explorer had become a completely ordinary career.
They were the miners of this new age, and the guardians standing against the threat known as a Stampede.
Status — a way of making one's abilities visible. By hunting monsters, they raised their physical abilities and gained Skills beyond human comprehension.
They were, without question, the heroes of the Dungeon Age.
Young people who admired Explorers were never in short supply. And from a national defense standpoint, the government welcomed the growing numbers too.
Even a quick search told me it was a career you could make a full-time living from.
But the job was killing things for a living. High risk went without saying. It was manual labor taken to its absolute extreme.
It was a path I'd rather have avoided, if I could. But even so—
"It beats a black company."
And that was how I decided to become an Explorer.
* * *
Not far from Hachioji Station stood the Hachioji Dungeon Guild.
This unusually large building had been put up twenty years ago, right around when the dungeon first appeared, was built to enclose the Gate entirely. Apparently it also doubled as the frontline meant to hold back a flood of monsters — what people called a Stampede.
Inside, the Guild handled everything related to Explorers — managing entry and exit from the dungeon, issuing licenses, buying up drop items and even arranging parties.
Hachioji was a large-scale dungeon rated B-Rank. It had everything from the Upper Levels where beginners trained to the Lower Levels where veterans staked their lives.
A lot of Explorers used it as their base, and from what I'd found online, its reputation wasn't bad. Best of all, it was close to my apartment, so I picked it as my base of operations.
I passed through the Guild's automatic doors into a lobby with a high ceiling and headed for the counter to take care of the paperwork.
The receptionist who helped me was a beautiful woman with a cool, composed air. I wonder if receptionists are hired based on their looks?
I showed her my license and told her I intended to enter the dungeon. Her hand paused as she checked my card, and her sharp, almond-shaped eyes fixed on me.
"Is today your first dungeon attack?"
"Yes. I had my license mailed to me after finishing the registration."
I'd already taken the orientation course and finished registering as an Explorer.
Apparently most people got their license the same day and headed straight into the dungeon. No need to rush into things that fast. Either way, it took more than half a day from application to issue. Rather than dive in at some awkward hour, I'd asked for it to be mailed.
"Now then, let me go over a few precautions..."
She ran through a few pieces of advice for beginners.
First, defeat the slimes on Floor 1 to raise my level. Second, never push myself and turn back the moment I felt fatigue. Lastly absolutely do not attempt Floor 2 or beyond on the first day.
It was mostly just common sense, but I guessed plenty of people ignored it anyway. People who'd chosen to become Explorers out of genuine desire probably charged ahead recklessly.
"Don't worry. I'm the type who blew his job hunt and settled for being an Explorer instead. I won't push myself."
When I looked into it, there turned out to be quite a few people in the same boat as me. Nice.
"...Not overexerting yourself is a good thing."
Something about what I said must have convinced her, because her expression softened just a little. She'd probably been worried about me. She didn't seem like a bad person.
"Well then, I'm off."
"Yes, please be careful."
If she was still here when I got back, I'd have her handle my check-in again. I tend to rely on people who seem kind.
* * *
Beyond the Gate was a cave where the walls glowing faintly.
The passage and ceiling were maybe three meters across. It felt more spacious than I'd expected.
The walls were flat bare rock and the ground was dry packed earth. It looked exactly like the cave dungeons I'd seen countless times in games.
(So this is a dungeon...)
Seeing it in person hit differently than watching it on a screen. Actually stepping inside, I found myself staring at it, unable to look away.
Also, why exactly were these walls glowing? It is a mystery.
Anyway, first things first — I'd head in a bit and find somewhere with no one around.
Near the entrance were a handful of Explorers who looked like beginners, same as me. I had no particular reason to get friendly with them, and no reason to be hostile either. I gave a small nod to anyone whose eyes met mine and pressed further into the dungeon.
I pulled out my phone and opened the map of "Hachioji Dungeon Floor 1" that I'd downloaded ahead of time. Having information like this on hand in advance was a real blessing.
Since a dungeon's internal layout basically never changed, the Guild apparently bought maps made by volunteers and released them to the public for free. I figured the idea was to draw more Explorers to their own guild by making things more convenient.
Hachioji Dungeon had sixty floors in total. The fact that every one of them had already been mapped was part of why this place was popular.
Eventually, I stopped somewhere I couldn't sense anyone else around. The entrance would've worked fine too, but if I had the choice, I wanted to check this somewhere with no one watching.
That's right — my Status.
(Alright, this is finally it...)
I'd tried to keep calm all the way here, but I couldn't hide how giddy I felt. I mean, of course I was hoping for a strong Status or some powerful Skill. And at the same time, praying it wasn't some garbage Status.
(I'm not asking for much. Just let me be average, at least...)
In my head, I chanted, "Status Open."
I didn't say it out loud. That would've been embarrassing.
――――――――――――――――――
[Name] Suzukaze Touya
――――――――――――――――――
[Lv] 1
[HP] 26/26
[MP] 23/23
[STR] 10
[VIT] 8
[AGI] 10
[DEX] 8
[INT] 11
[MND] 12
――――――――――――――――――
[SP] 0
[Skills Possessed]
[Unique Skill]
・Gacha
――――――――――――――――――
...Hm?
Something's written there. "Gacha."
Huh? Gacha, like... the mobile game thing?
You don't need a Skill just to pull a gacha. What is going on. Get out here, devs.
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