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The moment Gabriel dropped that last message, the group chat went dead silent for a solid minute or two.
It was obvious what had happened.
Not just Gabriel—everyone else had gotten tempted after Rosen's crazy luck in the gacha and snuck off to pull a few ten-rolls of their own.
And of course, the results were… predictable.
Rosen had already guessed as much, but he wasn't about to rub salt in their wounds.
Naturally, no one wanted to linger on the topic. Better to bury their heartbreak and move on.
[Busujima]: "Anyway, what about Miss Frieren?"
[Old Mage]: "She's lurking, while also working on some new spells."
[Busujima]: "Oh? From the gacha? But I thought anything drawn from the group gets instantly mastered?"
[Old Mage]: "Yeah, I did learn it instantly. But learning's one thing—testing its limits is another. I won't know how strong this barrier spell really is until I dissect it. By the way, the laundry spell I pulled is amazing. Finally, no more scrubbing clothes by hand."
[Blizzard of Hell]: "If I didn't know what you looked like, I'd say that sounded exactly like some crusty old scholar."
[Old Mage]: "I'm just passionate about magic. Don't they say 'interest is the best teacher'?"
[Old Mage]: "Besides, I'm not actually that old. I do take the car out for a spin now and then to unwind."
[Shut-in Angel]: "Wait—car? You actually brought it back with you?"
[Old Mage]: "Of course. Way better than a horse-drawn wagon—faster, smoother, weatherproof. Only problem is fuel. No gasoline production here. Sure would be nice if I could invent a spell that conjures gasoline."
[Blizzard of Hell]: "Does a spell like that even exist?"
[Old Mage]: "Nope."
Frieren let out a small sigh.
Sure, there were plenty of bizarre spells in the world. But when the concept of "gasoline" didn't even exist here, a spell to conjure it was obviously impossible.
[Shepherd]: "How long would it take to research from scratch?"
[Old Mage]: "Good question. Without any prerequisite spells as a base… at least fifty years."
And that was just for something basic.
Truth was, every spell humans and elves used today could be traced back to magic first wielded by demons and monsters. Only after centuries of research had mages managed to reverse-engineer usable versions for themselves.
Even now, countless spells remained only partially understood—or not at all.
Creating new ones always required some kind of foundation.
From zero to one… even with Frieren's talent, that was nearly impossible.
Still, magic at its core was nothing more than shaping imagination into reality.
So maybe—just maybe—if she devoted herself fully, Frieren could one day create a spell that produced gasoline.
Rosen, meanwhile, was mulling something over.
Wasn't magic just another form of his own "fantasy materialization"?
If he could imagine objects into existence, couldn't he also transform one thing into another?
After all, Frieren had spells like "make hot tea appear," "cause flowers to bloom," even "turn sweet grapes sour." Useless on the surface, but undeniably altering reality.
Magic wasn't just manipulation—it was imagination made tangible.
If that was the case, then Rosen's own power still had a ton of untapped potential.
Take money, for instance.
Could he just materialize a mountain of gold? Or conjure up stacks of cash?
What about a whole villa to live in?
Hell, could he just bump up the numbers in his bank account?
He gave it a try—turns out he could create gold and cash. But changing digital bank balances was a no-go.
The catch: anything he conjured eventually vanished.
So sure, he could pop up a mansion to crash in… but if it disappeared one night while he was sleeping inside? Yeah, not ideal.
Either way, he wasn't hurting for money right now. No need to waste effort on something that flashy.
He went back to idly chatting with the others—until a sudden notification cut through the banter.
[System]:New member "I Don't Want to Eat Monsters" has joined the chat! Come on out and say hi, newbie~~~
A new member?
Everyone perked up. After a brief pause, the welcome flood began.
[Shut-in Angel]: "Oh wow, a new member this late at night?"
[Shut-in Angel]: "Welcome, welcome~~~"
[Busujima]: "Another newbie, huh? Welcome!"
[Blizzard of Hell]: "That username though—'I Don't Want to Eat Monsters'? Sounds kinda weird. Monsters are basically just another type of creature, right? Like weirdos?"
[Old Mage]: "Huh, sounds non-human. Careful, newbie. Randomly barging in here, you might get hunted down by us."
[Busujima]: "Don't scare them off already…"
[Old Mage]: "Haha, sorry. Just kidding. Don't take it seriously."
[Bad Woman]: "That was a pretty lame joke, honestly."
[Shut-in Angel]: "Relax, newbie. Nobody here's a bad person. If you really wanna fit in though—drop a selfie!"
[Shepherd]: "Yeah, show us your face. Just use the chat's selfie function. Think about it, and it'll pop up automatically."
As soon as the new member appeared, Rosen switched into analysis mode.
But with a vague username like that, guessing their identity was no easy task.
Gabriel, as usual, had no filter and instantly demanded a photo.
And then—
The chat actually did get a photo.
"..."
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