The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 177: Bride Swordswoman

The day before, when Ashe had infiltrated Syrin's residence, he already had enough crystals for the gacha. But the situation had been far too dangerous. On top of that, he still needed to prepare an adventurer's set, scout the exact location of Observation Point Fifty-Three, and stay ready to break and run during the massive, life-rebooting missions. There had simply been no time to focus on the gacha.

Now, out of the kingdom, Ashe no longer had to worry about his safety. It was the perfect moment to pull.

He first signed in to claim the daily check-in rewards of Source Crystals, then opened the Material Purchase menu. Ashe had 232 points, enough to buy a single Bag of Source Crystals for 198 points.

[Purchase successful.]

[Received forty Source Crystals.]

Triggering the first-time recharge bonus added another forty Source Crystals. Combined with the fifteen he had accumulated earlier, Ashe now had ninety-five Source Crystals, enough for thirty-one pulls.

When he opened Operator Recruitment, however, the interface had changed.

[Dance of Swords and Dragons Limited Recruitment (Launch promptly if projected monthly revenue targets are not met after three weeks online)]

[Limited operators: Black-White Witch and Heart-Bewitching Girl rate ↑↑]

[Limited costumes: Bride · Swordswoman, Return from the Blood Sea · Swordswoman, Doomsday Afternoon · Watcher, Swimsuit · Watcher rate ↑↑]

[Ends May 15, 00:00]

There were so many points to criticize that Ashe froze for a moment. I know the company's shady, but I never thought they'd stoop so low as to launch a limited gacha just because monthly revenue might fall short. That's downright shameless! And the sentence in parentheses was clearly meant for the company executives. How could they even forget to delete it?

Limited recruitment meant the operators and costumes were available only during this event. Once it ended, they would disappear from the standard gacha unless the event was rerun later. Any player with even a hint of a collection habit would try to spend as much as possible to grab the most valuable rewards. If the limited operators were strong, even free-to-play players might reluctantly open their wallets. Completionist collectors would keep spending endlessly until they had everything in the pool.

Typically, limited events appeared during anniversaries or holidays, when players had extra cash, felt festive, and were easier to tempt. Most of the time, they were really just a way to squeeze money from players. But to launch one less than a month after the server opened? Calling it shameless barely did it justice. Still...

Ashe tapped on Bride · Swordswoman in the event interface and found nothing. The interface had an event description, but no thumbnails, no new operator data, and not even the new costume illustrations. It was just a wall of text designed to lure players into spending.

Clearly, the game system was functioning, but not fully, perfectly illustrating that monetization came first and everything else was secondary.

Muttering to himself, Ashe wasted no time. He resolved to spend all his Source Crystals in this limited gacha. It wasn't about Bride · Swordswoman. He simply wanted the new operators.

Wait... there is still a ritual to perform before pulling.

Ashe washed his hands, then climbed in front of Iger. "Let's play rock-paper-scissors."

Caught mid-thought, Iger opened his mouth in surprise. His face moved from confusion to disgust to resigned helplessness, showing a masterclass in expression management.

In the end, he slumped, threw out his hand, and let Ashe win two out of three rounds. Grumbling, he shooed Ashe away.

Ashe crawled back to his spot, lay down, and prepared to draw.

[Confirm consuming 93 Source Crystals for 31 recruitments?]

"Confirm!"

Eighteen white flashes appeared first. All were the usual pool fillers—Energy Potions, EXP Potions, Basic Combat EXP Cards. He would refine the potions later with the Alchemist's Refining Flask.

Next came nine purple flashes. They yielded three bottles of Spirit Joy Potion, three Pure Radiance Tonics, one Intermediate Trial Card, an Aurora Self-Driving Car (Light Luxury Edition), and a new piece of equipment, the Training Gloves.

Finally, four golden flashes lit up the interface.

[Black-White Witch!]

[Swimsuit · Watcher!]

[Doomsday Afternoon · Watcher!]

[The Prince of Delight's Twenty-Sided Die!]

Thump!

A sudden sound rang out. Harvey and Iger looked over to see Ashe repeatedly smashing the back of his head against the padded wall.

Harvey nodded thoughtfully and began knocking his own head against the padding as well. Surprisingly, it felt effective. He did feel more alert.

Iger, meanwhile, considered that staying with these two men, whose intelligence barely surpassed that of adult beast-tribe dancers, might be even more harmful to his mental and physical health than the drowsy exhaustion of wanting to sleep but being unable to.

After venting his frustration on the back of his head, Ashe refocused on the game interface. People were strange. Even when nothing was their fault, they instinctively punished themselves, as if trying to resist fate's cruelty with a purer form of pain.

But when he saw Swimsuit · Watcher, his frustration returned in full force.

Is this some kind of joke? Not a single Swordswoman outfit, but every Watcher outfit?! If I wanted Watcher's clothes, I could've bought them myself. Forget the outfits... I can even get women's clothing if I want to. I even get to watch my own bath CG for free every day. But why would I want to see that?!

This is straight-up paywall coercion. They must've secretly tweaked the drop rates just to prevent anyone from pulling Bride · Swordswoman. As expected of Aurora. Their greed is uglier than I've imagined. No wonder the salaries are so high. So this is where the money comes from. Despicable!

Now that Ashe had technically transitioned from employee to actual player, he felt an urge to write a long essay condemning his company's "seven deadly sins." But of course, it would change nothing. After grumbling for a while, he turned his attention to the newly obtained items.

[Training Gloves: When equipped, experience gained from fist and claw training +15%.]

[Intermediate Trial Card: Grants the operator a trial. Operator gains moderate EXP and a small bond increase. Limited to 1 use per operator per week.]

[Aurora Self-Driving Car (Light Luxury Edition)]: Land transport vehicle usable within the Virtual World. Can mount various functional attachments. Current attachments: none.]

[Pure Radiance Tonic: When a sentient soul dissipates, a trace of pure radiance escapes. Drinking it greatly accelerates soul recovery and increases mana absorption speed in the Virtual World by 5% for seven days. Who'd have access to something like this, and where could they find it?]

Not much needed to be said about the Training Gloves. Meanwhile, the Intermediate Trial Card was a pleasant surprise. He hadn't expected to draw one this time. The Pure Radiance Tonic delighted him even more. According to the Swordswoman's estimate, their soul injuries might take two weeks to heal fully. With this tonic, recovery could be shortened to just two to three days.

Still, the final line of the tonic's description felt unsettling. It made the tonic seem as though it had been obtained through unsavory means. Since it didn't say so outright, Ashe chose to ignore it. Fastidiousness[1] was a luxury he couldn't afford right now.

As for the vehicle, it was clearly meant for the Continent of Time. After all, the small boat could only traverse the Sea of Knowledge. Ashe had worried that once they sneaked onto the Continent of Time, they would be forced to rely on their legs. Now, with a proper vehicle, they could continue outrunning pursuers just as they had on the sea.

The so-called Light Luxury Edition provided only basic mobility and no functional attachments. It essentially meant a bare-bones version of the car. Unlike the small boat, a car was a large steel machine capable of destruction. Ashe guessed that in the future, he might draw weapon attachments for it, like heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, bulletproof glass, mounted chainsaws, or maybe even skill cards for the car itself. He figured he might even be able to pull off a car version of Shoryuken[2].

And then there was the new operator, Black-White Witch.

1. It means Ashe can't worry about minor details or being overly careful. He has bigger priorities, so he's letting go of his usual attention to detail. ☜

2. This is a reference to the Street Fighter series. Shoryuken is primarily an upward rising punch that involves slightly twisting the body, adding rotational force. ☜