NOVEL FROG Chapter 8: Summoning the First Batch of Players Part II
Victor arrived back at the academy by evening, hauling a wooden cart laden with various items in sacks.
“Goodness, this is exhausting…”
Truth be told, he would have enlisted the villagers’ help in carrying these goods if it wasn’t for the need to be discreet about the academy’s existence. However, to uphold his mysterious image, he cleverly instructed them to leave the items and cart at a distance, telling them that his magical mount would handle the task from there. That’s right! A magical mount — that’s exactly what I need to bolster my aura of power and enigma!
Sure, there might be some spells out there that could have circumvented the issue, but he currently had none in his arsenal suited for the task. Or perhaps the interspatial ring promised as a reward by the System would have solved the issue altogether. Right. Victor deemed that finishing the mission was of utmost importance.
“Whew. Luckily I know the spell {Zephyr Dash}, or else this would have taken more than a day… And my poor back!” Victor rubbed his back and parked the cart right next to the Headmaster’s Building’s entrance.
And it was then that he received a notification.
[Mission Accomplished!]
[Congratulations on passing the mission. The villagers hold you in favorable regard.]
[The reward (50 academy points) has been issued.]
“Hmm… more academy points. Guess I might as well exchange some of them.” The total number of academy points — or AP for short — has accumulated to a total of 150.
These points could be exchanged on the “Headmaster Budget” tab of the System. Victor carefully scrolled through the entire list, examining the items available for purchase. While the market offered an assortment of resources, he noticed a conspicuous absence of ready-made magic tools or even run-of-the-mill tools and equipment. This was why Victor had gone to great lengths to acquire some back in the village, as using precious points for such ordinary items felt like a waste, even if they were being sold here.
Other than that, there were many other miscellaneous options, including basic meditation techniques, an assortment of potions and elixirs, grimoires and spell books, magic scrolls, and, of course, the good ol’ mana crystals. Despite being a Magus Academy System, it seemed that knowledge wasn’t free, after all. As for the gacha feature… these arcane lootboxes were priced rather steeply:
[Commoner Lootbox (1 AP)], [Initiate Attunement Lootbox (10 AP)], [Elemental Adept Lootbox (100 AP)], and so on…
“Welcome back, Master!” A mischievous grin played on Lizbeth’s face as the fairy suddenly appeared behind Victor, cheerfully greeting him.
“Took you long enough to welcome me… You must have been slacking off. Haven’t you, Lizbeth?” Victor teased, knowing full well Lizbeth’s personality.
“Whaaa? Slacking off?” Lizbeth’s wings fluttered nervously as she averted her gaze, dusting off her clothes to clean any evidence. “O-Of course not!”
Victor knew there was nothing to do now because the players had yet to log in. But still… did she have nothing else to do? What about the years she spent waiting for the new headmaster? She must have been very lonely.
“Ahem, anyway. I’m interested in using some of the academy points on the gacha—”
“Leave it to me!” Lizbeth’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she placed her hands on her hips, eager to offer her assistance.
And thus, the fairy led Victor to the Nexus Beacon situated beneath the Headmaster’s Office since any purchase through the System could only be done there. Once they arrived, Victor opened the “Headmaster Budget” tab. Before anything else, he noted that the lowest tier of mana crystal — novice-grade mana crystal — was priced at one AP, which seemed a good value as they were usually worth ten platinum coins. The entire fortune of a third-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte would never surpass one hundred crystals, illustrating just how valuable they were.
“Crap. Now that it comes to mind, I left most of my mana crystals back at the academy. I hope no one steals them…” Victor pinched the bridge of his nose but decided to make do with his situation. Luckily, he did still have about twenty-three mana crystals of the lowest grade with him, concealed in his other pouch.
Currently, Victor’s sole aim lay in trying out the gacha system. The excitement had been building inside him ever since he first heard about it yesterday, and his hands were practically itching to give it a try. He could hardly hold himself back, resisting the temptation to use all the AP at once.
“Why are you shaking? Did you perchance catch a cold?” Lizbeth voiced her concern upon seeing his pent-up emotion.
“Nah.” Victor dismissed the notion with a light chuckle. As a third-stage Initiate Attunement acolyte, catching common sickness was out of the question and indeed quite laughable. “Let’s see… How do ten commoner lootboxes and four Initiate Attunement lootboxes sound?”
“Do as you see fit,” she replied with a glint in her eyes. Even she could clearly see the excitement bubbling up inside him.
“Okay then.” With a mix of anticipation and excitement, Victor’s fingers hovered over the holographic interface of the System, ready to draw the ten common lootboxes first. The idea of getting a jackpot among these ten made his heart race. He took a deep breath to steady himself and pressed the glowing button labeled “Draw 10 Lootboxes.” It was appalling how similar it was to a typical gacha system.
The light blue screen flickered, and the Nexus Beacon responded with a mesmerizing display of colors and swirling magical symbols, each representing the potential treasures concealed within the lootboxes. One by one, the lootboxes materialized, floating in front of him, each adorned with ornate designs and runes, as if the very essence of magic was woven into the boxes themselves.
Excited beyond help, Victor extended his hand and selected the first lootbox, causing it to glow even brighter. The anticipation surged as he opened it with a simple wave of his hand. From within the first lootbox emerged… a frying pan.
“Ooh, a frying pan!” Victor marveled at the “treasure” he had acquired as if holding an “Excalibur” but his excitement soon faded into disappointment. “Gee… Guess the first one is a dud.”
With nine more lootboxes left, Victor repeated the process, opening each one with anticipation. However, what he got were nothing more than some random items and even household appliances: a set of kitchen knives, a decorative vase, a wall clock, a cozy throw blanket, a lantern, and miscellaneous foodstuffs including a kilogram of mango-like fruit, a jar of biscuits weighing half a kilogram, and a kilogram of salt.
And finally, a rubber duck.
“You’ve GOT to be joking!!” Victor threw the rubber duck that came out of the last commoner lootbox at the floor. It bounced off the ground, making a high-pitched squeaking sound that only added to his annoyance. Uhh, why the hell would a rubber duck even be included as a potential reward?!
“Welp, you get what you paid for.” Lizbeth snickered while shrugging her shoulders gleefully.
“No! I’m not done yet!” There were still four Initiate Attunement lootboxes remaining, so Victor wasn’t dismayed. Thus, like the gamer addicted to gambling he was, he proceeded with the same process of doing gacha as before, just with four pulls instead of ten.
The Nexus Beacon shone with another mesmerizing display of colors and swirling magical symbols. Then, four lootboxes materialized and soared toward him, each adorned with even more intricate ornate designs and runes.
From within the first lootbox emerged a purplish grimoire that shimmered mysteriously. On the cover of the top of the book, the words “Blink Step” were elegantly written in the Seraphian language. It was even accompanied by product descriptions on the System’s screen!
{Blink Step} grimoire
A grimoire that contains the spell “{Blink Step}.” It grants the caster the ability to instantaneously teleport to a nearby location within their line of sight. With a swift gesture and a focused mind, the caster can seamlessly move through space, appearing in the chosen destination in the blink of an eye.
Spell Tier: Aleph
Elemental Type: Cosmo
“FINALLY!!” Victor exclaimed, holding the grimoire high in the air with a triumphant smile spreading across his face. Now this was a real treasure!
Unlike typical spell books that required painstaking study by memorizing and constructing the spell model, a grimoire would instantly grant mastery of the spell to the user. Although it might be single-use, it was many times more valuable than its counterpart. Getting such a treasure on his first try made Victor feel that he’d score more “jackpots.”
With three more lootboxes left to open, Victor’s excitement surged once again. At least there were no “Thank you for your patronage” zonk lootboxes. After opening each with a wave of his hand he gleamed at his new prizes; a strange magic potion, a healing magic scroll, and a bluish-white egg. He took particular interest in the egg, noting that it seemed to be pulsating as if it were alive!
Mysterious egg
No one knows what’s inside the egg. Its origin and purpose remain shrouded in mystery, with tales of legendary creatures hatching from similar eggs circulating in ancient lore. Anyone can tell that the egg is alive.
“Lizzy, what kind of egg is this? It can’t be a duck egg, can it?” Victor inspected the egg as he carefully held it in his hand; it was definitely bigger than a duck egg and about the size of his fist.
“Hey, don’t give me a nickname like that! Just Liz is fine.” Lizbeth pouted and glanced curiously at the mysterious egg. “This egg… I’ve never seen anything like it before, but there’s no way something that comes from the System could be ordinary.”
“That was my thought. Say, can you brood it?” After all, Victor himself didn’t know shit about incubating an egg, and seeing that the self-proclaimed assistant had nothing to do, he delegated the task to her.
“What do you think I am, a hen?!” She huffed but took the egg from Victor’s hand, nonetheless. “I suppose I can give it a try if you insist.”
He had high hopes for whatever would come from the egg. “I’m not asking for much! If I can get a better and more obedient fairy, I will be more than satisfied. Of course, a badass mythological beast wouldn’t be too bad either!”
“Hey! You shall have no other fairy before this Lizbeth!”
***
As Alfred’s workday neared its end, he sat back in his comfortable leather chair. Working as a consultant in a multinational corporation had its challenges, but the financial rewards and flexibility made it all worthwhile. He checked his email one last time, ensuring all loose ends were tied up before he could fully embrace the evening.
With the clock striking five, Alfred shut down his computer and stretched his arms above his head. Normally, he wouldn’t turn off his computer and spend some time gaming with his online friends, but he had other plans today.
His eyes gleamed with excitement as he glanced at the state-of-the-art VR gaming capsule sitting in the corner of his home office. It was hard to believe that signing up to beta test a VR game on some peculiar website actually led to the chance to try something beyond his wildest dreams. He just hoped it lived up to the hype.
“It’s today, huh…” Alfred muttered to himself as he adjusted his glasses and glanced at the clock, counting down the minutes until six o'clock. In the meantime, he kept himself busy with various chores around the house. His girlfriend was on a business trip so he had the house to himself.
When the appointed time finally arrived, he donned the helmet and stepped into the capsule. Previously, while tweaking the console, he found out that the helmet could be disconnected and brought elsewhere without losing its power. Though considering it was his first time using it, Alfred decided to just play it safe.
As the capsule closed, the helmet turned on, and a radiant beam of light pierced through the darkness, illuminating his vision. In a flash, his consciousness was brought into another world… It felt like he had crossed into an entirely new dimension!