[John's POV]
I was hunched over on the edge of my bed, elbows digging into my knees as my interlocked fingers pressed against my face.
A classic thinker pose.
I was thinking about last night.
Why the hell was I so worked up about Cecil blindsiding me? I technically don't have much stake in this world. No family, pets, friends. Was there a reason to be worked up?
The soft slide of a wooden door pulled me from the spiral.
Nakime stepped into the room. My body tensed instinctively, conditioned by weeks of Sebas's brutal morning training to expect his heavy footsteps behind her. The absence hit like a sucker punch to the gut.
'Fuck. He's really gone.'
"Master..." Nakime trailed off. She saw the way I was sitting and maybe thought the withdrawals had come back.
Iron will helps fight, but the itch wasn't something physical I could muscle through. I could gamble in my mind, if it wasn't for Iron Will, actually, I would never escape the gravity of my addiction.
A stray thought was all it took to start the spiral. One idle fantasy about what I could pull from a Legendary ticket, and I'd be gone.
It's terrifying, isn't it? When I finally wanted to change my habits around, thats when I realized my every moment was being watched. They would find a way to make me gamble no matter what I tried.
And that meant everyone was implicated in my bullshit.
The ticket for Sebas's death. When I first saw it, I immediately imagined what I could get if Nakime died as well.
My stomach turned violently. I lurched forward, bile rising in my throat as I dry-heaved over the edge of the bed.
An intrusive thought that proves you're broken at the core. But what failsafe did I have if that temptation hit in the future? The ROBs might even take away Iron Will if it made their little 'show' too boring.
Fuck
Fuck
Fuck
I have to risk everything to continue risking everything.
Nakime walked over and sat beside me. She didn't say anything at first, just reached out, her cool fingers covering mine as she looked at me with a soft, determined expression.
"John," she whispered, using my name with grace. "I know the tickets are a burden, they represent a high that steals your peace. Master, if you must use them to protect us, then use them. But let me be the one you return to. Let the reward for your strength be here, with me, not in the chaotic gacha."
She leaned in, her forehead resting against mine.
Her skin was cool and breath soft.
The offer was clear: she wanted to shift my pleasure centers, to anchor my dopamine to her affection rather than the gacha high.
I wanted to tell her it was a terrible idea. That using a person as a replacement addiction was textbook co-dependency. That she deserved better than being my methadone.
But I finally felt the tension in my shoulders snap like overstretched wire.
"Okay," I murmured. "Let's get this over with."
I permanently toggled off the 'Gambler' trait.
Toggling it off meant I could see the rewards clearly without the soul-rotting dopamine rush hijacking my brain.
It was the closest thing to control I could grasp.
I started by tearing the silver tickets first, testing how much dopamine my brain could handle without breaking.
[Adept Hand-to-Hand Combat]
|Rare Skill|
You are very talented in unarmed combat, on the level of a veteran martial artist. You know how to move your body to unleash powerful blows; at this level, your arms and legs are lethal weapons.
Pain lanced through my skull like a railroad spike. It felt like basic movements and complex defensive postures were being forcefully engraved into my nervous system. My hands moved on their own, snapping into a guard position before I even realized what was happening as my muscles twitched, aligning themselves with a decade of phantom 'unearned' experience.
I wasn't given time to process the new skill as another notification chimed with a mocking ding.
[Feat Achieved! Gain your first ever skill after rolling 55 fucking tickets!]
[Reward: +1x Silver Skill Gacha Ticket (PS: RNGesus is rooting for you!)]
"That feels more like a bribe than a reward," I muttered.
I was dissatisfied with the look of the lonely skill after fifty-five tickets, so I immediately rolled the new ticket.
[Jack of All Trades]
|Rare Skill|
You have novice-level expertise in all basic trades (Novice Blacksmithing, Medicine, Mechanics, Cooking, Interfacing) with the competence of an apprentice. You are fairly talented in these fields. Does not extend to combat skills.
The pain was worse. So much worse.
It felt like someone was pouring molten knowledge directly into my gray matter, carving grooves for information I hadn't studied. The basics of forging steel, repairing engines, sautéing vegetables, and even the delicate art of pickpocketing ground themselves into my brain inch by agonizing inch.
I clutched my head, gasping for air as sweat poured down my face. My hands cramped from how hard I was gripping my own skull. When it was finally over, I found myself clutching my head, my breath coming in ragged gasps.
Nakime rubbed my back, her expression tight with worry, her cool fingers pressing against my spine.
I forced a grin that probably looked more like a grimace. "I got the most balanced skill there is, but I think RNGesus is definitely trying to lure me back into the shop with these 'consolation prizes.'"
I pulled up the remaining silver rolls, bracing for more agony.
[Embrace]
|Rare Trait|
Your embrace is as soft as a mother's love. Your embrace feels calming, comforting, and even therapeutic. Even an evil man might break down crying if you capture them with your loving arms.
I blinked at the description.
First, I had the Greater Headpat trait, and now this. The System was really doubling down on the 'emotional support husband' build.
It's not like I was complaining, though.
I opened my arms slowly toward Nakime. She looked surprised for a heartbeat before she actively melted into my chest.
A long, relieved sigh escaped her lips as she seemed to turn into putty in my arms.
"Is the embrace really that good?" I asked, feeling the trait's effect radiating from my skin.
"I do not know, Master," she whispered, her voice muffled by my chest. "Last night was... charged. It was hot and cold and intense. But this? This is warm. It feels as if someone has placed a heavy blanket over me on a harsh winter night. I feel safe."
"Good enough then."
The final silver roll came to a halt.
[Mr. Sir CEO]
|Uncommon Familiar|
An extremely skilled and driven man with expertise in politics, management, negotiations, and corporatism. If you let him loose in the world, he will start climbing the corporate ladder with ease and build you your own business.
'Another familiar?'
A magic circle appeared on the floor, glowing with a dull blue light.
Finally, out stepped a man who looked like he'd been copy-pasted from every LinkedIn hustle-culture post I'd ever seen. He was roughly five-eight, in his mid-thirties, with dark skin, black hair with slightly graying temples at the sides, and a pristine charcoal suit paired with a striped red tie.
He looked up, adjusted his silk tie, and flashed a blindingly white smile.
"Namaste! It is great to meet you, Boss! I can already feel the synergy in this room!" he exclaimed with a crisp Indian accent. His voice was the quintessential startup-bro stereotype: high energy, overly confident, and dripping with buzzwords.
"Nakime, looks like we have a new member in our ragtag group," I said, feeling a headache coming on.
"Well, let me first introduce myself! I am Neelesh Kumar, but please, call me Neel!" He spread his arms wide like he was presenting a keynote. "I have been professionally headhunted by RNGesus to take your brand to the top of the food chain and beyond. We will disrupt markets, leverage core competencies, and—"
"Yeah, yeah, corporate buzzword bingo," I interrupted, pinching the bridge of my nose. "You are officially the CEO of Chaos Inc. Your goal is simple: make me rich. And I don't mean numbers on a screen that some hedge fund manager can freeze. I want hard physical assets. Gold, land, rare minerals, real estate deeds, bearer bonds. Whatever it takes to scale our operations and keep my healing ability funded."
"Very well, sir! We will pivot our strategy toward aggressive wealth acquisition immediately!" Neel pointed at Nakime, who was still sitting very close to me. "And if I may be so bold, who might this stunning lady be??"
"Think of her as the COO of Chaos Inc. since she technically owns our base of operations, so you report to both of us," I replied.
Neel immediately went for a handshake, bowing slightly. "I am incredibly sorry! I did not recognize such a high-level stakeholder!"
Nakime simply shook her head, muttering "Please, everything I own belongs to the master."
I told Neel to head down to the Mauler lab and see if the Twins could provide some 'disruptive tech' to help him make a foothold in the market.
Nakime struck her biwa, opening a gate directly in front of the Maulers' hall.
TWANG
Neel gave us a thumbs up and a "Let's crush this quarter!" before disappearing through the door.
"Neel-san seems... energetic," Nakime noted.
I snorted. "That's one way to put it. I give him two weeks before the Maulers duct-tape his mouth shut."
[A/N]: Guys, where them stones at? We're not even in the top 10 :(
Also, the Rolls are fucking back!
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