Chapter 4

Episode 4. First Gacha

Before doing the gacha, I thought it was necessary to spread the situation first.

I spilled the details of the quest that just popped up to Jessica, who was in front of me.

“According to what you said, pirates will attack us soon.”

“Huh?! Oh, no, already? When?”

“Hmm… 72 hours later?”

“Ugh?!”

It seemed like her words had come true, as Jessica looked extremely flustered.

But when I described the mark of the pirate group I saw to her…

“…If it’s those guys, they’re the vanguard of the ones who have been attacking bases and fleets, including us, that have been put on standby recently.”

Jessica’s expression gave off a vibe of “Even gentle me is angry now.”

And fueled by that anger, Jessica continued what she had just said.

“Commander, let’s quickly build patrol ships to strengthen our defense power!”

“And?”

“If we fight together with this base’s defense turrets, we can easily defeat those small-time pirates!”

Jessica proposed a very standard response plan to fight with more patrol ships and the base’s defense turrets than the pirates.

But I shook my head at Jessica’s words.

“No, we’re not building additional patrol ships right now.”

“Huh? Then how do you plan to respond to the pirates?”

Seeing Jessica’s eyes widen in surprise at my words, I shrugged and pointed to the ‘Return-Only Gacha’ notice shining in front of me, exuding a zx\supreme/xz-like presence.

“First, we should try this, right?”

“Ah… yes.”

“Besides, no matter how fast we produce patrol ships, it takes 3 days to build them.”

“Ah.”

==========

To save time, Jessica and I immediately got up and headed to the base’s gacha system.

To be precise, it’s called the ‘Multi-Dimensional Fixed Causality Generator,’ a very novel and complex name.

But externally, no one calls it that, and it’s a pitiful system sitting at the core of the base.

‘Then, shall we try it right away?’

Whether it’s a superhuman or a ship, facing the gacha system that ranges from the lowest D-grade to the maximum SSS-grade.

As always, people wish for an ultra-special SSS-grade on the first try.

I was thinking if it would be good to pour water and perform a ritual, but…

“Commander? There’s one thing I need to inform you about the dimensional causality fixation for returnees like you…”

“Hmm? Is there some other restriction?”

At Jessica’s words from the side, I tilted my head and gave a puzzled look.

Of course, I already knew about minor things like a one-time limit.

Wondering if there’s something special.

And at Jessica’s following words, I immediately felt like doing a somersault.

“For the return-only dimensional causality fixation, the lowest grade starts from B-grade.”

“…Oh.”

Effectively excluding the practically worthless D-grade or the almost as bad C-grade from the gacha.

‘It’s totally lucky!’

Of course, in life, good things don’t always happen.

“However, to increase the fixed probability value, the appearance rate of SSS-grade has also disappeared.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and there’s one more important point.”

“What is it?”

“Due to the burden of the causality fixation system, only superhumans, not ship-class, can appear.”

“…Hmm.”

In summary, it’s really a returnee support.

In fact, it’s no different from a ‘beginner support starter.’

‘The user was fooled, fooled again…’

At least, unlike the real beginner support (D~SSS), the fact that the lowest grade starts from B-grade gave a hint of relief.

Of course, if it were another user, they might have gone crazy at the adjutant just for not giving an SSS-grade.

“I’m sorry, Commander…”

“It’s not your fault, don’t worry.”

“Co, Commander…!”

Frankly, this is a system issue, not an adjutant issue.

Moreover, unlike others, I was really in a state of acceptance.

Because when I started this game, despite doing ‘rerolls’ 150 times to start with a good character on my account.

In those 150 times, I never once saw an SSS-grade in the beginner’s free gacha.

‘Haha, it’s better to have nothing that won’t drop anyway.’

Rather than having a pie-in-the-sky SSS-grade, it’s better to have nothing that won’t drop.

It was better that D and C grades disappeared.

Moreover, in the current situation from the start…

So, except for one patrol ship and a few defense turrets at the base, there’s practically no defense power.

If it’s B grade or higher, it didn’t matter who came out, so I took a deep breath and…

“Calm your mind… with a heart of gratitude… Hap!”

I immediately pressed the console button, activated some multi-dimensional fixation thingy, and started rolling the gacha.

As the gacha system started running, Jessica, who was next to me, acted as if she was the one rolling it.

“Look at that, Commander! It seems like new members will soon join the fleet!”

“Hmm.”

Beside me, she spoke with a lively voice, wagging her big bunny ears around.

But unlike Jessica’s excitement…

The light emanating from the spinning gacha made my expression turn sour in real-time.

‘Ah, at best, it’s going to be an A or B.’

Something that wasn’t ‘flashy’ was the hallmark of low grades.

I inferred the grade from that subtle light color and was about to instruct Jessica to build more patrol ships.

But just as I was about to speak to Jessica…

-Goooooo… Weeeeeeeng!!

“Wow, wow!”

“?!”

Suddenly, the form of the light flowing from the gacha machine changed, and soon, a very flashy and bright light showered down.

It was a light that clearly expressed ‘I’m high grade’ to anyone who saw it, and Jessica next to me was jumping up and down in excitement.

“Look at that! It’s definitely a good grade!”

“Oooooh.”

Feeling that excitement wasn’t much different for me either.

Jessica and I waited with pounding hearts for the gacha’s causality fixation to complete.

And how long did we wait?

It felt like about 10 seconds had passed when…

The fiercely shining light of the gacha gradually weakened.

And as the light cleared, someone finally revealed themselves.

With passionate red long hair that seemed to burn like flames.

Wearing a special combat suit that looked easy to move in, with energy blades on both hips, a woman appeared.

As the light surrounding her disappeared.

She approached me, saluted with a confident yet polite attitude, and said.

“Nice to meet you, Commander!”

“Hmm.”

“My name is Ignis, and I will do my best for you and the fleet!”

“Nice to meet you.”

After the girl who called herself ‘Ignis’ finished her introduction.

Jessica next to me also nodded her head with a very welcoming face and greeted Ignis.

“Nice to meet you, Ignis! I’m Jessica, the Commander’s adjutant!”

“Nice to meet you too, Jessica.”

The first gacha gave us a character with no rough edges, truly a smooth character.

I smiled broadly seeing Jessica and Ignis greeting each other.

But despite that outward appearance, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed inside.

Of course, it wasn’t that the performance of this ‘Ignis’ character was inferior for an SS grade.

In fact, her performance itself was beyond SS grade, and with the right setup, she could even surpass SSS grade.

She was a character famously known as ‘the rights of the non-paying player.’

But even so, there was a reason I felt this disappointment inside.

—————————————-

<Ignis>

<Level 1>

<Type: Close Combat>

<Feature: Two-Swords Style>

<Stats>

Health: A+

Attack Power: SS+

Physical Defense: A-

Magic Power: B

Magic Defense: B-

Mobility: S+

—————————————-

It was because Ignis was a character strictly for ‘one-on-one combat.’