Chapter 148

Chapter 148. Kekeke, that guy is the weakest among our rankers. (4)

Of course, everyone already knows about that problem.

The heavens know, the earth knows, and even Jessica knows about it.

To put it bluntly, it was all because of my cursed luck, filled with nothing but bad rolls.

To be precise, the issue was that my gacha luck was so abysmal compared to others.

If I had even a fraction of the luck that others had…

I could’ve acquired the Overseer from some random newbie whose name I can’t even remember.

Instead of being pushed into a corner later on, I could’ve easily dominated with a full roster of heroes, leveraging fleet command buffs and support to literally “become a tyrant without even fighting.”

But reality was harsh. My luck was so bad that even the gacha failed me.

By the time I needed to pull off the “tyrant” move with the Overseer, my hero roster was in such a sorry state that I couldn’t even act recklessly.

The only saving grace was that, while upgrading my base, I somehow managed to pull Gryanarr, an all-around support unit…

But not long after that professor appeared, a new event started, and all that “tyrant” nonsense went out the window.

I was too busy to even think about it.

By the time the event ended, trying to pull off mindless tyrant moves with the Overseer and the Belial-Gryanarr combo was impossible because other users had grown too strong.

And since then, the only thing I’ve gotten from the gacha, to be brutally honest, was Partia, who, aside from her comedic value, was basically just Ignis mk-2.

Everything else exploded into nothingness, and none of the ships that were supposed to bolster my fleet alongside the Overseer ever showed up.

Even though I recently pulled the Kraken, a massive assault battle carrier with a 1 in 1,000,000 chance (0.0001%), the problem was…

The only ships I had to escort that Kraken and hold the backbone of my fleet were a single, overused Overseer-class heavy cruiser and a bunch of light cruisers and destroyers I bought from the “Favor Shop.”

But those ships from the event shop? Everyone else already had them, so they’re barely worth mentioning.

So, I’d have to buy ships from the trading post, but…

Ships there are expensive, and more importantly, I don’t have the gold to trade for them.

Well, it’s not like I have *zero* gold…

—————————————-

<Shop - Trading Post>

<Current Gold: 100G>

—————————————-

But since users can’t start from zero gold (otherwise, they’d be unable to do anything, including spending money), the devs gave us a small amount of starting gold.

Aside from that, the only way to get gold is to sell my gacha ships in the trading post auction house.

Or just wait around for other users to buy them, but…

The only gacha ship I have is the Overseer, and if I sell that, I can’t even participate in fleet battles, so that’s pointless.

With my gacha luck being a complete disaster, the auction house became meaningless too.

So, for me, with my fleet in shambles, the appearance of the Kraken was pretty much my last chance…

But then, out of all the piled-up problems, the final issue popped up:

“Okay, I pulled the Kraken, but who’s going to command it?”

In other words, I didn’t have a character who could provide the necessary buffs for my precious little assault battle carrier.

Of course, Jessica, who had been listening to my self-reflection, looked puzzled and asked me:

“Commander, why not just put Gryanarr on the Kraken?”

“Gryanarr, you say?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they’d be thrilled and immediately try to merge with it.”

Lately, Gryanarr has been running around with pet tentacles, yelling, “Wow! Tentacles!”

The more I thought about that purple-haired, frail professor who’s been modifying captured creatures and diving headfirst into bizarre fetishes, the more I thought… yeah, that sounds about right.

If I suggested that, they’d probably try to turn their research lab into the Kraken’s bridge or something.

Or maybe they’d try to fuse themselves with the Kraken, declaring themselves the ultimate lifeform.

But that’s not the point.

The real issue is…

As someone who didn’t even need to board this Kraken, I shook my head vigorously, disagreeing with Jessica’s words.

“I’m really curious about what kind of tentacle-themed content Gryanarr would film if they boarded the Kraken… but I have no intention of putting Gryanarr on the Kraken right now.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Of course, Jessica wasn’t the only one reacting to my words.

Belial, who was chatting with Marian in the command center for some reason, also seemed to glance over with interest.

I felt the need to explain this briefly.

“Well, it’s simple. The totem buffs Gryanarr spreads are shared across the entire fleet.”

“Really? But back on the Overseer, you had Gryanarr permanently stationed on that ship, didn’t you?”

Only then did I realize why Jessica was so confused.

‘Well, from an outsider’s perspective, it might look like Gryanarr has some special ship buff that justifies being permanently assigned.’

But that wasn’t the case at all.

“Back then, the Overseer had been so heavily modified that it became too unstable. I had no choice.”

“Unstable? There was such a system?”

There was.

To prevent situations where mindless players would slap on endless equipment and modifications, leading to scenarios where a patrol ship loaded with rotten oil could one-shot a newbie’s battleship.

The devs had set up a system where the more you modified a ship, the higher the chance of something going wrong.

The Overseer, already a firepower-focused ship with shaky everything else, had been modified to the point where it could output fleet-level firepower.

Even though Gryanarr had significantly boosted its durability with custom biological parts (30% pirate content) and other tweaks.

Our Overseer had reached a point where it couldn’t function without Gryanarr personally sticking to it during sorties.

“That’s why, as soon as I got the Kraken, I told them to dismantle the Overseer’s modifications and restore it to its original state.”

“Ah, I see…”

“Anyway, the point is, there’s no one suitable to board the Kraken.”

“What about Belial? If you want fleet command buffs, Belial could board it, right?”

And as soon as we said that, Belial, who had been chatting with Marian, seemed to straighten her uniform and adjust her posture.

But at this point, I realized I had never shown Jessica that Belial’s command buffs were ‘meaningless’ for the Kraken.

“Jessica, look at this.”

“What are you talking about… Oh.”

I spoke as if saying, “Look, it’s a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur!”

Jessica, though puzzled, checked the status window I had just opened.

—————————————-

<Belial>

<Command Buffs>

<Fleet, Ready, Fire!>

<Cannon Accuracy +15%, Cannon Fire Rate +5%, Mobility -1%>

—————————————-

Seeing the blatant “Accuracy” and “Fire Rate” stats.

“So that’s why you said no.”

Even Jessica, who had little interest or knowledge in combat or fleet battles, nodded in understanding.

“Right. If we were just going to use the Kraken as an artillery ship, that’d be one thing… but then most of the Kraken’s armaments would be pointless.”

Of course, in response to our reactions, Belial’s shoulders slumped slightly, and her expression seemed to darken.

But no matter what, some things just can’t be helped, so I shook my head inwardly, maintaining my resolve.