How Could a Great Game Not Have a Gacha System?

The aftermath of the Meltabomb explosion looked like a scene from hell.

At the center of Zone C-3, the metal walkways and surrounding pipes had been completely melted away, transformed into an orange-red pool of molten metal still billowing with searing heat. The dozen or so Players at the heart of the blast repeatedly bounced between death and resurrection. The moment they revived on the spot, the horrific heat and molten metal flowing beneath their feet killed them again. A few seconds later, they would revive in that exact same spot...

After dying and reviving more than a dozen times, the temperature of the molten pool finally dropped a little. Black smoke rose from their bodies as they slowly crawled out of that devastated center. Among them was [Ruthless Assassin], who had once again successfully taken down the BOSS with a self-destruct attack.

Fortunately, no matter how intense the pain in this game was, it was only about as bad as smashing your finger with a hammer. Otherwise, the torture of being melted over and over again would have driven the Players completely insane.

One Player who had just crawled out of the center gave the equally bedraggled Assassin a thumbs-up. "Man, you're seriously awesome. You blew up the second BOSS too."

Another Player immediately chimed in, "I feel like blowing up BOSSES is going to become a super popular style in the future. And it'll have to be named after you—the [Assassin style]!"

A third Player lay on the ground, catching his breath as he complained, "Assassin style? You mean strapping yourself full of bombs, sneaking silently behind the enemy, shouting 'For the Emperor,' and then taking them down with you? That really is Assassin-like."

Once the heat at the perimeter had settled somewhat, the Players outside cautiously approached as well. The Player whose ID was [JK] wiped away his sweat and asked with lingering fear, "How many times did that BOSS kill each of us?"

"It killed me five times," said a Player who had just crawled out and was now lying flat on the ground, baring his teeth in pain. "Can someone finish me off? I need to reset my status. I think my legs got a damage debuff from that molten metal."

"When we fight the Genestealer cult in the future, I'll definitely avenge this!" one Player said angrily. "I'm going to strap myself full of explosives too and blow them up!"

"We'll save Meltabombs for you then. Blow all those pure-blood Genestealers straight into the sky."

"Good idea."

"Haha."

"That'd be awesome."

"Count me in."

Amid those NPC-like choruses of agreement, Assassin spoke up to interrupt them. "Self-destruct builds are fun, sure, but they take skill too. BOSSES are hard to blow up, while blowing up regular mobs doesn't pay for itself. After all, the more powerful the explosives, the more merit they cost."

The Players around him nodded one after another. Quite a few of them had wanted to imitate Assassin and self-destruct against the pure-blood Genestealer this time, but they had completely failed to grasp the timing of its movements. They had only wasted precious merit for nothing. Just the two Meltabombs Assassin had used this time were already worth five hundred merit.

"How about making a post later, big shot?" one Player suggested. "Teach us how to play a self-destruct build. Share some tips."

Assassin considered it and decided it was not some technique that needed to be kept secret, so he readily agreed. "Sure. No problem."

As the Players chatted among themselves and shared the joy of successfully killing another BOSS, a crisp system notification sounded beside everyone's ears.

[Hidden enemy killed: Ghost Claw · Liam Bright]

[Reward: One random draw chance (merit will be settled collectively after this main quest is completed)]

All the Players froze. A draw?

They hurriedly opened the system interface and discovered that the UI had indeed gained an entirely new gacha page. It displayed every possible item they could obtain—a dazzling assortment of exactly one hundred items.

This gacha event had been Bit's spur-of-the-moment idea.

He had long been dissatisfied with merely creating weapons and equipment according to the Players' needs. Within the Warp, while studying the limits of his own authority, he had made a huge pile of imaginative and rather bizarre gadgets. They were filled with Bit's peculiar sense of mischief and creativity, but most had little practical combat value.

What Bit enjoyed was the process of "making" them. Once they were finished, they lost their meaning. So he figured he might as well package them up and let the Players draw them as rewards for killing special enemies. The Players had just taken down a powerful pure-blood Genestealer, after all, so giving them this sort of special reward was perfectly reasonable.

This left the Players in the material universe utterly thrilled.

"Comrades, watch me! I'll be the first to give it a try!" one Player immediately shouted.

Without hesitation, he tapped the draw button. The icons on the interface began flashing past at high speed, the dazzling lights making everyone's eyes swim before they gradually slowed to a stop. In the end, a thick book came to rest in the very center.

The Players who had gathered around out of curiosity immediately began firing off questions:

"A book? What kind of book?"

"Could it be a powerful spellbook personally written by Magnus the Red, containing a vast number of Warp psychic spells?"

"Maybe it's the Adeptus Astartes Codex!"

"Or perhaps the Imperial Truth."

"Ugh, get those things out of here already. Bad luck!"

The Player who had drawn it immediately retrieved the book from the gacha UI. Its weight settled heavily into his hands, and the instant he saw its detailed information, he was completely dumbfounded.

[Name: Complete Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook Set 3.5e]

[Type: Tool]

[Quality: Fine]

[Function: A rulebook is a rulebook. What, were you expecting to use it to hit someone?]

[Special Effect: Makes anyone who sees it unable to resist wanting to start a tense and exciting DND group.]

[Remarks: "If anyone wants to use it, I left this in the recreation room. I'll be running another group next Tuesday. Anyone who wants to play, bring your own character sheet." —Dr. DeVries]

"...What the hell is this?" The Player holding the rulebooks incredulously tried opening them, only to discover that they actually worked! The pages had an excellent texture, and every line of text was crystal clear. They contained the complete contents of the three core rulebooks: the Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, and Monster Manual.

The surrounding Players leaned over for a look, then all burst into amused laughter.

"You know, after getting hit by that special effect, I really do suddenly want to run a group."

"It's okay, brother. Look on the bright side," one Player said, patting the winner on the shoulder in consolation. "At least our company has a new way to entertain ourselves during downtime now."