"My, my, of course I know that resources are scarce right now. But precisely because of that, the items here at Da Vinci-chan's shop will naturally be a little more expensive than usual."
"You unscrupulous merchant! This is war profiteering, you know that?! The kind that gets you strung up on a lamppost!"
Mo Wang looked at Da Vinci, a rope already in his hand, fully intending to deal with this merchant.
"Calm down, Senpai, calm down! There's no need for this!" Mash, quick on her feet, hurriedly grabbed Mo Wang. Otherwise, Da Vinci would have already been tied up and sent who-knows-where by now.
"Alright, alright, that's enough joking around. I'm sure you two know what the situation at Chaldea is like now, right?"
Mash nodded. "The Doctor said that since Chaldea is no longer on the correct timeline, we can't contact the outside world in any way..."
"Indeed. According to the current information, it's likely that what Lev said is true. Humanity outside has been completely destroyed. In this timeline, we are the last surviving humans."
Da Vinci said, looking at Mo Wang. "But the good news is that Chaldea's Heroic Spirit Summoning System, FATE, was the one thing that escaped destruction, which is the only uplifting news. Using Mash's Noble Phantasm as a catalyst, we can summon Heroic Spirits unrelated to the timeline. We can also find a ley line after arriving at a Singularity to create a summoning circle, though we'll mostly summon Servants related to that era and location. And the reason you're looking for me is probably because of this, right?"
Here it comes! The main event has finally arrived. The rumored event and story gacha banners.
The biggest money pit in the game. Just thinking about it, Mo Wang's mind was flooded with memories of the past.
Steel's Training, Verdant Sound of Destruction, A Moment of Tranquility, the Hell of Black Keys...
"This summoning thing... can it really pull a Heroic Spirit? It's not going to just spit out a bunch of weird, useless stuff, is it?"
Mo Wang was a little hesitant. Which server was he on right now?
If it was the CN server, he could at least rely on the pity system. If it was the JP server... oh, wait, the JP server had a pity system now too.
So they were all just pits of despair.
Only slightly better than opening pots in DNF.
"Come on, enough small talk. Let me take you to the summoning room."
Under Da Vinci's guidance, Mo Wang and Mash soon arrived at Chaldea's summoning room.
The summoning room's interface was very familiar, just like in the game.
A black background interspersed with countless points of light, like a starry sky. A circular arrangement of inscriptions formed a ring that combined magic and technology.
The large shield on the ground was rendered into a translucent blue base by the magical energy, and the magic circle extending from it pulsed with a bright light.
"Because summoning a Servant requires a large amount of magical energy, generally speaking, you need this thing called Saint Quartz."
"Even Chaldea doesn't have much of this stuff in stock. So if you want to continue summoning Servants, you'll have to go to the Singularities and find some valuable items to bring back."
Da Vinci said, handing Mo Wang a bag of stones.
"It needs magical energy? You should have said so earlier. Can I just directly transfer magical energy? I'll drain your entire summoning pool dry, believe it or not."
Mo Wang weighed the bag of stones in his hand. It felt alright, enough for about fifty summons.
At least it wasn't some kind of newbie ten-pull gift package. Otherwise, with his rotten luck, he'd lose the bet if he got even one Servant from a single pull.
"Senpai, you should hurry up and try." Mash urged from beside him.
Mo Wang, with a trembling right hand, placed the stones into the machine.
"Please give me a Servant! Anyone will do! Just no Black Keys, please!"
Although Mo Wang knew that a newbie ten-pull was guaranteed to have at least one four-star Servant, he was still praying to the distant Alaya.
The moment the magic circle was activated, a sound of electricity and points of light rose up, and then Mo Wang heard a clanging sound.
Then, he saw something incredibly familiar.
It was three sharp-looking blades, the kind that looked like they were at least at the level of a high-quality village sword.
But seeing this thing, Mo Wang's heart sank.
Damn it, weren't you already removed from the gacha pool? Why did you pop up again?! What? You're saying this is an early version? Oh, then never mind.
"Don't panic, don't rush, there's still more!" Mo Wang took a deep breath. He refused to believe that he would get all Black Keys.
As the magic circle continued to operate, what appeared next was... still Black Keys.
Yes, different versions of Black Keys.
Mo Wang: (°ー°〃)
Black Keys...
Mo Wang: (＃°Д°)
Black Keys x9...
Mo Wang: (xз」∠)
"Is this what you meant by 'not putting other weird things in there'?!"
Mo Wang grabbed the unscrupulous merchant by the neck, feeling like he was about to explode with anger. This was already the 'Nine Swords of Dugu'! He was about to reach 'Unlimited Blade Works' soon, okay?! And you call this 'not putting other things in'?!
"Th-this isn't right!"
Looking at the floor full of Black Keys, even the merchant herself was stunned.
Although she had tweaked the rates a little, getting all Black Keys was a bit much, wasn't it?
At this moment, the way Da Vinci looked at Mo Wang had changed.
Was this person sure he didn't have some kind of African bloodline? How could he be this unlucky? This wasn't scientific, and it certainly wasn't magical!
"Next time! Trust me, it'll definitely be a Servant!"
Da Vinci struggled, calling out to Mash for help.
Mash! Save me!
"Haha, Senpai, let's give Da Vinci one more chance. Just one." Mash laughed awkwardly, trying to smooth things over.
However, before Da Vinci could get too happy, Mash added, "If Senpai still pulls a bunch of useless stuff next time, I'll personally tie Da Vinci-chan up."
"M-Mash?!" Da Vinci looked in horror at Mash, whose face had already started to darken.
How could this be? Was the saying that all pink-haired characters were secretly black-bellied really true?
"Of course I know the next one will be a Servant! If you make me pull some black uncle, I'll get mad at you!"
Mo Wang said, watching the magic circle continue to operate.
Then, from the magic circle, he saw a white-haired, dark-skinned uncle walk out.
"Servant, Archer! Are you my Master?"
Mo Wang: (°ー°〃)
The moment Red A appeared, Mo Wang's eyes instantly went vacant.
A four-star Servant, and it was even the workhorse Red A. But why... why wasn't he happy at all right now?
Looking at the pile of Black Keys on the floor, Mo Wang just felt like someone was mocking him.