His mana was full.
[10/10].
Dante stood, his body stiff, his new-skinned arm itching with an unnatural tightness. He had a choice.
He could summon Shivvy.
[Cost: 5 Mana].
He would have 5 Mana left. His regen (6/hour) would cover her upkeep (1/hour). He would be net-positive +5. He would have his inventory. He would have his [Minor Health Potion].
It was the safe, smart, and logical choice. It was the "survive" build.
But his EXP bar was [6/100].
Surviving gave him 5 EXP per hour. He still needed... hours. Days, maybe. And he was starving. His stomach was a hollow, aching void.
He needed kills. He needed to level.
The Goblins were still out there. They were his resource nodes.
Shivvy couldn't help him kill.
He scrolled past her name. His will, the "mouse" of his mind, hovered over the other option. The gamble.
[Rin-Rin] (3-Star Rarity / Level 20)
[Summon Cost: 10 Mana]
[Upkeep: 3 Mana/Hour]
He did the math again, a frantic desperate calculation.
Summoning Cost: 10.
It would drain him. He would be at zero. Utterly, completely vulnerable.
Upkeep: 3 MP/Hour.
Regen: 6 MP/Hour.
He would be net-positive +3. Even from a dead start at zero, his regeneration would outpace her cost. He wouldn't just be stable; he would be gaining.
This was the only build on his low-level roster that let him field an active, (allegedly) combat-capable unit and still accumulate mana.
It was a high-risk, all-in, and gacha-based investment. He was betting his life.
He was a part-time worker who dumped his paycheck into mobile games. This was, terrifyingly, the most "him" move he could make.
He took a deep breath, the pine-and-rot smell of the forest filling his lungs.
He closed his eyes.
Summon: Rin-Rin.
His mana bar instantly flatlined.
[Creator Mana: 0/10].
A cold knot of "oh-god-what-have-I-done" tightened in his stomach.
The air didn't tear.
It popped. Like a bubblegum bubble.
A single, high-pitched, digital chime echoed through the forest — the unmistakable three-star-pull sound effect from Idol Stage Gacha Pop.
It was followed by a sound. A synthesized, upbeat, four-beat J-Pop intro riff that blasted through the clearing at full volume.
A shower of pink, holographic glitter erupted from thin air. It wasn't the glitched, leaky light of Shivvy's summoning; this was a produced event. The glitter was obnoxious, catching the sunlight, swirling in a miniature vortex.
Dante flinched, shielding his eyes. The entire display was a violent, auditory and visual violation of the forest's natural, gritty reality.
The glitter faded, revealing her.
Dante's jaw went slack.
The dress was an explosion of neon pink. Ruffles, sequins, and lace, so bright it physically hurt to look at. She wore white knee-high platform boots that were completely impractical for any terrain, let alone a forest. Her hair was a shade of bubblegum pink that did not exist in nature, tied in two impossible, gravity-defying twin-tails. She was holding a plastic, star-tipped microphone prop.
She was a living breathing anime convention, dropped into the middle of a survival horror game.
She blinked, her eyes impossibly large and a brilliant blue. She scanned the towering trees, the damp earth, and the moss-covered rocks.
"Ehhhh?" Her voice was high, cheerful, and loud. "This set-dressing is sooo realistic! The budget for this new MV is amazing!"
Her eyes landed on Dante.
On his bloody, torn pajamas. His bare feet. His mud-caked face.
Her own face didn't register fear, or confusion.
It lit up.
"Producer-sama!" she squealed, and bounced. "You came to my guerilla live show! I promise, Rin-Rin will be the cutest center-stage idol ever for you!"
Dante just stared.
'Producer-sama?'
Shivvy, from Aethelgard Online, had called him "Creator."
Rin-Rin... she was from a different game. A different context. She didn't see him as a god. She saw him as her manager.
Before he could even begin to process the new title, a familiar guttural snarl cut through the air.
The Goblins.
It must been drawn by the glitter. By the synth-pop.
Dante's blood ran cold.
His mana was zero. He couldn't summon. He couldn't dismiss. He couldn't run. He had just spent his entire life savings on a party trick, and the bill was coming due.
He was a spectator.
The two Goblins—the same two, he was sure of it, their rusty weapons held at the ready—burst into the clearing. They stopped, and their beady eyes wide. They looked at Dante. Then they looked at the impossible, pink sequined thing standing next to him.
Rin-Rin saw them.
She didn't flinch. She didn't cower. And she didn't even seem to recognize them as a threat.
She pouted.
"Ehhhh? Rowdy fans?" she chirped, tapping her microphone prop against her palm. "Producer-sama, they're ruining the vibe! They don't even have light-sticks!"
The Goblins, recovering from their confusion, recognized Dante. They recognized weakness. They snarled, splitting up. The one with the sword charged Dante. The one with the club charged Rin-Rin.
"No!" Dante yelled, stumbling back. He had nothing. He was zeroed.
"Hmph! Such a tough crowd!" Rin-Rin announced, planting her platform boots in the dirt. She struck a pose, microphone raised high. "Okay, then! This first song is a special just for you, Producer-sama! 'Dancing Queen'!"
She began to sing.
It was... bad.
It was a high-pitched, slightly off-key, relentlessly cheerful J-Pop tune.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happyyyy~ (Hey!)"
Dante didn't see a buff icon.
He felt it.
It was a buzzing, electric energy, like a triple-shot of espresso injected straight into his spine. The world didn't slow down. He sped up. His thoughts, previously fogged by terror and hunger, became razor-sharp. His limbs felt light, charged.
[System: Party is affected by 'Dancing Queen' (Haste: Small)].
The Goblin's sword lunge, which had been so terrifyingly fast before, now seemed... manageable. Almost slow.
He didn't dodge. He just stepped aside.
The rusty blade cut empty air, and the Goblin's momentum carried it stumbling past him.
It worked. The buff worked.
The other Goblin was on Rin-Rin. It raised its club.
"Rude!" she snapped, spinning to face it. "You interrupted my chorus! Okay, then! Time for my new single! Hit it!"
She spun, planting her feet, and pointed her microphone at the charging monster.
"This one's called... 'Toxic'!"
She inhaled.
And she shrieked.
It was a sound that defied physics. A grating, nasal, off-key wail, set to a frantic techno beat that only she could hear.
"Oh-oh-oh, you're toxic, my baby, so toxic, it's driving me crazyyyy~ (Ugh!)"
It wasn't just bad. It was aural agony. It was a weaponized migraine.
Dante clapped his hands over his ears, but it didn't help. The "song" seemed to bypass his ears and drill directly into his skull.
The Goblins didn't have that option.
They stopped.
They didn't just flinch. They seized.
They dropped their weapons. Both of them. Their hands flew to their pointed ears, clawing, trying to make it stop.
And it didn't.
Their mottled green skin instantly took on a sickly deep-purple hue.
The one that had charged Rin-Rin fell to its knees. It gagged, its whole body convulsing, and blackish-purple bile spewed from its mouth.
The other one, the one Dante had dodged, just stood, trembled violently, and then collapsed sideways. Its limbs kicked once, twice, then went still.
The song hit its final, ear-splittingly high note.
"T-O-X-I-C! Toxic!"
Rin-Rin struck a final, triumphant "V" (for 'victory') pose.
Silence.
A profound, ringing silence, broken only by Dante's own ragged breathing.
The two Goblins were still. Very still.
Dead.
Dante stared.
His mind was completely, utterly blank. He had just watched a J-Pop idol kill two monsters.
With a bad song.
A [Poison] debuff. A potent one.
A small, clean, digital chime sounded in his head.
[System: Goblin (Level 3) Defeated. 25 EXP Gained.]
[System: Goblin (Level 3) Defeated. 25 EXP Gained.]
His EXP bar flashed.
[EXP: 56/100].
He was halfway to Level 2.
The gamble. The stupidest, most insane gamble of his life.
It had paid off.
Rin-Rin turned to him, brushing a non-existent speck of dust from her ruffled pink skirt. She blew a kiss at the corpses, then winked at Dante.
"How was that, Producer-sama? Five-star review? Rin-Rin always delivers!"
Dante couldn't speak. He just stared at the dead monsters.
Another chime.
He looked at his UI.
[Creator Mana: 1/10].
His regen was working. It was already climbing. The system was stable.
He was safe.
And he was gaining EXP.
And he had, as his first permanent party member, a cheerfully lethal gacha pull.
He finally let out the breath he'd been holding. It came out as a strangled hysterical laugh.