Dungeon Gacha Life Chapter 32

 Chapter 32: Status, Half a Year Later

Hachioji Dungeon, Floor 36. This has been my current workplace for the past two months or so and I've practically been living here.

The monster that spawns here is the High Orc which is a stronger variant of the Orc that first appears on Floor 21.

Both are huge, standing at around three meters tall along with fearsome vitality but as the higher-tier variant, High Orcs are also considerably smarter. They hunt Explorers down through coordinated teamwork so most parties either take them on in numbers or blow them away in one go with heavy firepower.

Since they're needlessly tough without dropping anything worth the trouble, most Explorers skip this floor entirely, opting to push on to 37 or falling back to 35 instead. In other words, the classic unpopular monster.

But that's exactly why Floor 36 is nearly empty outside the area around the teleportation circle. Which means I get to hunt here uninterrupted, with next to no risk of anyone seeing how I actually fight.

Against the Status I've built up over the last six months, a High Orc isn't much different from a Goblin.

Their attacks are slow and telegraphed and even their monstrous toughness might as well be nothing against stats this far out of proportion. If anything, having the floor to myself is the real convenience.

Which is the whole reason I keep parking myself here on Floor 36.

"Whew... all right, that's the last one, I think."

The last High Orc's huge body sank to the ground and dissolved into pale blue motes, scattering into nothing. All that was left behind were a few medium magic stones, each a little smaller than my fist.

I left the collecting to Lapis, same as always, and used my Master of Scouting Skill to check the area. No monster or Explorer signs nearby. Good.

All right, break time.

I moved to the side of the passage and sat down with my back against the wall. Lapis, who'd been flitting around the battlefield stuffing magic stones into her storage bag, came fluttering over.

"Got all the magic stones! Break time?"

"Yeah. My Lv's about at a good spot for it too."

It was a little past two in the afternoon which by timing-wise, just about time for a Gacha pull.

"Then I'll take a break too. Excuse me, your shoulder."

With that, Lapis settled onto my shoulder. For something twenty centimeters tall, I could barely feel her weight at all.

Guess that's what flying does to you. Maybe she's built more like some kind of winged bug underneath.

"Did you just call me a winged bug?!"

Don't yell right next to my ear. ...Though I guess that's on me, since I said it out loud.

* * *

While I rested, I looked over my own Status.

Half a year since I took down the Minotaur on Floor 20. My current Status had come a long way since then.

――――――――――――――――――

【Lv】21

【HP】1940/1940

【MP】1338/1338

【STR】56+600

【VIT】42+600

【AGI】51+600

【DEX】40+600

【INT】61+600

【MND】77+600

―――――――――――

―――――――

A flat +600 bonus on every single stat. Just incredible.

Each Stat Orb only adds +3, which means I've poured two hundred of them into every stat across the board. That's the equivalent of 300 Lv in stat growth, right there.

Keeping track of it all got tedious enough that I started saving up a batch of Orbs before using them all at once.

For reference, Lv100 is supposedly the wall humanity runs into. Stats around there cap out somewhere past 200 — 300 if you're lucky.

Only a tiny handful of people worldwide ever break through that wall, the certified S-Ranks those are no longer counted as human by that point.

Which should give some idea of just how broken this Status is. All the fruit of more than 2,500 Gacha pulls.

Honestly, there's a part of me that wonders what I even need more for at this point. But take-what-you-can-get is my policy so I'm planning to keep pulling hard regardless.

It's not like I'm short on storage either, with an Item Box whose bottom I still haven't found. I can stockpile Stat Orbs forever if I want to.

Either way, one of my big goals which is to "acquire overwhelming personal combat strength" is coming along just fine.

"Whoa, you've gotten strong, haven't you."

Lapis, perched on my shoulder, peered at the Status and made an impressed little noise. She'd seen this dozens of times by now but I couldn't figure out what was so fun about it.

"But you look at it like this sometimes too, don't you, Touya-san?"

"...Ouch, fair point. I mean, come on, there's something satisfying about it, right?"

"I get it. It makes me proud too, as your partner."

The Gacha fairy nodded along, pleased with herself. Have you actually been any help in a fight these past six months, though?

"I provide drop retrieval and exploration-time healing services."

"That smug look on your face is annoying."

"Did you just call me annoying?!"

This time I'd seen the shout coming and already had my ears plugged with my fingers. Suzukaze Touya doesn't make the same mistake twice.

"Grrgh...!"

We spent a while like that, just chatting. A relaxed little moment on the job.

For the record, I got blindsided right after this and spent a while writhing in pain. Damn you, Gacha fairy.

* * *

Anyway, one thing led to another and it was Gacha time. I checked with my Skill once more to make sure no one was around.

As it looked clear so I tapped the Ten-Pull Gacha.

Ten orbs of light spilled out from the Status board in response. Only one shone gold and the rest were plain white.

"Yeah, yeah, only the guaranteed."

"...This can't be right. The odds have to be broken."

The sight had become so familiar it was starting to wear on my soul. And the real kicker was that even Lapis, a part of the system herself, was starting to suspect foul play.

I was fully convinced by now that the stated rates, 0.5% for SSR, 4.5% for SR, had to be a flat-out lie.

I mean, I'd pulled twenty-five hundred times and gotten exactly one SSR. Do the math and that's a 0.04% hit rate, a tenth of what they promised. What absolute bullshit.

SRs weren't much better, it was basically always just the one guaranteed, pretty much like clockwork. Felt like the real rate was under 3%, if I had to guess.

That one lonely SR turned out to be a Skill Orb I had no particular use for. Just more clutter for the Item Box. I'd sell it eventually.

The rest came out of the R tier which is a handful of Stat Orbs, starting with a STR Orb. The remainder was magic stones, potions, gear and other disposable items.

And, as always guaranteed at least once in the R slots, a Fairy Snack Set.

"Here, this one's yours."

"Yay! Thank you!"

I handed the boot-shaped snack set over to Lapis. She tucked it away carefully into her own storage bag, slung over her shoulder.

I'd been pulling more often these past few months so by now snacks were basically Lapis's staple diet. Made me wonder if fairies just don't get sick no matter how much junk food they eat.

Watching her, I tapped for another ten-pull.

Ever since moving up to the Middle Levels, the experience I got from kills had gone up. Starting from Lv1, I'd hit Lv11, enough for another ten-pull, almost immediately so these days I waited until I'd cleared Lv21 before cashing in a batch all at once.

I'd been thinking it might be time to push that threshold up to Lv31. Though that's probably a change saved for once I've moved my base further into the Lower Levels.

The ten-pull I did while thinking all that came back with the exact same result as before.

"Guess the pity cap's the only thing worth believing in."

"...Let's just be glad there's a pity cap at all."

The one shred of decency in this Gacha was the pity-cap reward, handed out every hundred pulls. Each time, I got to pick one SSR out of three random options.

I'd already claimed that reward twenty-five times over. Most of what I picked went toward Unique Skill Orbs which is something I'd like to go public with eventually.

Picked up a few trump cards along the way too though the fewer times I actually need to use them, the better.

Here's hoping that day never comes.