"She is going to be beautiful," Dud said stary-eyed at the nearly finished 40ft long, 18ft beam sailboat that sat in the drydock.
"Glad you like it," said Hank the shipwright with a chuckle.
"It is going to cost you roughly 200,000 berries, including modifying it a bit to fit you comfortably," said Hank as he ran his eyes over Dud.
"How long till she is ready?" asked Dud eagerly.
"About a week to finish the shell and a few days to finish furnishing it, so two weeks maybe less."
"Got it. How much to reserve her?"
"50,000 berries"
"Here," said Dud, reaching into his coat and taking out most of his remaining funds.
"You really like it huh," said Hank with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I can't wait," said Dud dreamily. "I will be back with the rest in a few days. Mind if I hang out here in my free time? Also, I would like to learn a bit about maintaining the ship in the meantime," asked Dud.
"Sure, as long as you don't get in the way. Buy me a drink, and I will teach you personally," said Hank.
"Thanks see you in a few days then?" said Dud as he raised his hand for a handshake.
"See you soon," said Hank as they shook hands.
Dud left to find the local marine branch to check out the bounties and see if there were any he could hunt within a week.
"You are still here?" Dud asked in surprise, spotting Reese waiting for him near the entrance to the shipyard.
"I promised I would show you around for the day, and thanks for protecting me," she said while looking away from him.
"It's okay," said Dud with a smile thinking that Reese was a good kid. "Can you show me to the marine branch? or wherever they process bounties?" asked Dud.
"Are you going to go after Loren?" she asked, perking up.
"Depends, but marine base first," reminded Dud.
"Its a few streets down there," she said before walking towards the marine base.
Inside the base Dud found the sign that directed him to the bounty station where he encountered the marine lady who was leaning back on her chair with a book covering her face.
"Hello" said Dud.
She stirred with a groan and annoyed face that morphed into an appreciative one as she eyed Dud.
"Hi, How can I help you?" she asked with a smile.
"I wanted to register as a bounty hunter, but I think that can wait. I am Dud. What's yours?" asked Dud with a charming smile and a little bow. She giggled causing Duds heart to flutter, She had brown eyes, fair skin and deep blue hair, and from what little Dud could see she was fairly muscular, built like a swimmer in contrast to Dud's hulking mass.
"I am Lapis, and you don't really register. You just bring the ass of whoever has that bounty and collect your payment," she said with a smile, keeping things professional.
"Huh, neat. Do you provide information on the targets of is that something I will have to find out on my own?"
"You are on your own in that department I am afraid," she said sadly shaking her head.
"Do you have a catalog of bounty posters for local targets that I can buy? Also, can I treat you to dinner?" asked Dud with hope. She giggled again and reached next to her to get a bundle of bounty posters.
"Here they are going to cost you 350 berries; as for dinner, hm..." she paused with a hand on her chin, a twinkle in her eye and mischief in her smile. "I will go out with you if you bring in a bounty greater than 500,000 berries."
"Deal, see you latter and dress comfortably." said Dud talking the poster bundle and leaving with a pep in his step. Lapis giggled again, looking at Dud.
3 hours latter,
Lapis was disturbed from her daydream by Dud walking in with a squirming sack on his shoulders.
"Hey~, hope you know a good place cause I am new to town and I have no idea about what you like."
Lapis giggled again. She has been doing that a lot today. "Who is that?" she asked, eying the squirming sack.
"Loren the Dealer, she has a mouth on her." said Dud as he dropped his cargo and untied the top revealing the face of his target.
"Oh my, you certainly pick your gifts well. Hello~ Loren~ miss me?" Lapis said leaning from her booth with a sweet smile on her face and a wicked gleam in her eyes. Loren paled and started squirming harder.
Lapis rang a bell which caused a private to enter, "Well then private please take her for processing." The private saluted her before dragging Loren deeper into the base.
"What did you say your name was again?" She asked Dud who was looking at her with interest.
"Dudda Shaughnessy. but you can call me Dud"
"Spell it for me?~" she requested all flirty like.
"D-u-d-d-a S-h-a-u-g-h-n-e-s-s-y. So when are we going for that dinner?" asked Dud with anticipation.
"Patience~" she said with a singsong voice as she filled out the required forms, not looking up at him.
Dud shrugged and stood by the counter watching her work.
"Here you go," she said, placing 6 and a half stacks of 1000-berrie notes on the counter. Dud took them with a thanks and waited for her to answer his earlier question.
"Meet me at the Rugged Tavern in two hours. Hope you can handle spice" she said with gleaming eyes.
I don't want to invest more of my energy into that so lets skip 12 hours.
Dud woke up with a bleeding back, a dreamy smile, absolutely reeking of sex with a very sour Jr and alone in his suite, his partner long gone. His daydream was interrupted by the notifications from the Gacha.
{Achievement: First fight.
1X Silver ticket}
{Achievement: Home at sea.
1X Platinum ticket}
{Achievement: First boat.
1X Platinum ticket}
{Achievement: Part-time bounty hunter.
1X Gold ticket}
{Achievement: First bounty.
1X Gold ticket}
{Achievement: First booty.
1X Silver ticket}
{Achievement: have your world rocked.
1X Silver ticket}
{Achievement: Enter and leave the web of the black widow.
1X Gold ticket}
{Achievement: Are you a masochist?
1X Bronze ticket}
Reading the notifications, Dud frowned and then paled as he replayed the events of last night and how he had ignored the giant red flags that had popped up during dinner and the events that followed and was not helped by the fact his back was burning from the various scratches he had received. He got up and stumbled as his legs remembered where blood was supposed to go.
The person that greeted him the mirror looked like he was attacked by a bunch of street cats, his face had scratch marks, his shoulder, neck and arm had bite marks like someone tried to eat him but found his muscles too hard, his chest had scratches that stretched from his pectorals to his stomach that were a very angry red not even his thigs were spared as they also spotted scratches.
Dud shuddered at his reflection and sagged in relief as he realized it was over and took a bath, wincing in pain as water and soap made contact with the various scratches. Dud looked much better after his bath the various scratches almost invisible and painless other than the ones on his back but there were no longer bleeding and stung a lot less.
Dud took out one of the various dishes he had packed away in his inventory for breakfast and took an inventory of his tickets; he had 1 bronze, 3 silver, 3 gold, and 2 platinum. He engaged them, triggering another series of notifications.
Bronze:
[Demon Blood Blade]
|Uncommon Item|
{Adventure Time} - A tough and sharp blade created out of the blood of a demon, created by said demon, Kee-Oth. The blade is unholy in nature, dealing increased damage against angelic and holy beings and being able to damage spiritual creatures. If one is a hemokinetic, they may be able to utilize the blade further.
A simple but wicked blade appeared in his inventory and Dud grinned at the site of a cool weapon even tho he wasn't sure he would use a blade as his main.
Silver:
[Escape Ticket]
|Common Item|
A ticket that, when torn, teleports the user into a bunker in another dimension for 8 hours. The bunker is stocked with clean drinking water and MRE's with a space of 4x4x4m inside resembling a prison cell. Those with spatial abilities may be able to track the user. Once 8 hours are up, the user will be released; otherwise exit is not possible without spatial manipulation.
A simple white ticket with the word ESCAPE written on it appeared in his inventory and Dud Shrugged reading the description.
[Hustle]
|Common Ability|
Yomi Hustle - "It may be your only move" allows you to "Hustle" your opponents by performing a gesture, whether it's snapping your fingers and giving a taunting smile or lying down on a lawn chair mid-fight, your hustle must at least last half a second. When you successfully complete a Hustle, you regain some energy and stamina. The longer your hustle goes on, the more you will recover energy. Effectiveness depends on how stylish and aggravating you were. Can only be used in active combat against an enemy who means you genuine harm.
Dud winced as the instincts of how to taunt some one with just his gestures slammed into his head and subsequently disappear.
[Blood Manipulation]
|Common Ability|
Allows you to telekinetically control your own blood, but you can't generate more blood without regeneration, so be wise about spending it.
Dud suddenly gained awareness of the vast amount of blood he had flowing underneath his skin and wondered how he wasn't leaking like a fountain and suddenly realized that not using the blood sword was a waste of his abilities and synergies but it wasn't like he could use more than one ability at a time and not having the wheel on at all times did not feel safe. As soon as Dud thought this, something clicked deep in his psyche, and he felt like he could use two abilities; any further thoughts were interrupted by a notification.
Gold:
[Water Manipulation]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to control and shape any water you are in physical contact with, you cannot control water you aren't touching. As long as you maintain contact you can freely morph the water and move it as you like, the more energy you expend, the larger quantities of water you can control and the more power you can exert.
Dud stood up with such force that the bed thudded against the wall, "Hell yeah!" he yelled, he now had an instant win condition against most things the sea threw at him but he needed to test it, further speculation and celebration was interrupted by another notification.
[Holy Antidote]
|Uncommon Item|
A vial containing a powerful holy antidote that can cure all diseases and ailments below the Legendary rank. Restock Timer: 7 Days
Dud grinned, "I am slowly becoming unkillable" he said to himself, a simple glass vile with faint golden liquid appeared in his inventory.
[Shade Cloak]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to temporarily shift your body into a shadow state and phase through attacks and magic, does not have weaknesses other than light and holy magic but you can only turn into a shadow for 1 second at a time before a 3-second cooldown.
"Huh, not as overpowered as the others but still awesome," Dud said as the ability rested in the back of his mind.
Platinum:
[Droid Factory]
|Elite Item|
Star Wars - An autonomous factory that produces Star Wars droids under your command as long as you can provide it with appropriate materials.
An page opened in his inventory that read Factory, it showed a list of droids as well as the material required to build each one of them, Dud could operate it from his Inventory very slowly or disengage it from the inventory and place it on an island and make it work at its full capacity, before Dud could comment on it he was interrupted by another notification.
[Adept Leadership]
|Elite Skill|
You are a skilled leader, whether that is about small teams or even companies. You know how to get people's loyalty, give them morale, and manage and lead them. You would be known as a great commander if you led a military into war.
"Maybe next time it will just list everything at once and not interrupt my thoughts," Dud complained as he read the description of his second skill, wincing as something changed within himself. "Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked his power.
Dud obviously did not receive an answer; I doubt I could talk with him without manipulating the achievements, and even then I can't change what they mean too much, like the {Achievement: Are you a masochist?} which originally read {Achievement: Intrigue a yandere.}
Dud took out a small notebook and a carpenter's pencil and started writing everything he received from the Gacha, trying to figure out synergies and limits, and quickly realized he needed to test things properly to make sure he knew his limits.
He placed the note book in his cloak and left to find an adequate place to test his abilities.