Episode 4: September 24th, Payday

Payday. I earned 160,000 yen working part-time at a izakaya. I live in the countryside, so 100,000 yen covers my living expenses. That means I can pour 60,000 yen into Gacha.

Decided to pull the Gacha at night, trying not to stand out. Huh... wait, am I actually making myself more noticeable?

Turned the Gacha vending machine in the vacant lot, lost in thought... what came out was...

Fire Magic (I) R

Thousand-Mile Eye (I) SR

Muscle Enhancement (I) R

Growth Acceleration (I) SR

Magic Aptitude (I) R

Career Board - Martial Artist R

It’s finally here—!!

Magic affinity. That’s why I couldn’t use magic before. Right away, I chow down and try it out—set an empty can in front of the ruined building, point at it, and shout, “Wind magic!”

It wasn’t much of a wind, but it lifted the soda can off the ground. A little thrill shot through me—first spell, and it actually worked.

All the status changes from eating candies... other than the ones on the职业 board...

Unemployed Lv1

HP 44/44

MP 24/31

Strength: 15.4 → 16.8

Defense 11

Magic Defense 19.2

Agility 11

Skillful 13

Intelligence 19.8

Luck 21

[Unique Skill]

Spatial and temporal manipulation

[Skill] [Magic]

鉴定 (I) 风魔法 (I)

Spatial Perception (II) Earth Magic (I)

Strength Enhancement (II) Fire Magic (II)

Thousand-Mile Eye (II)

Mana Amplification (I)

Heat and Cold Resistance (I)

Physical Resistance (I)

Magic Resistance (II)

Magic Aptitude (I)

Growth Acceleration (I)

Fire magic upgraded from (I) to (II). Tried firing both out—(II) felt noticeably stronger than (I).

"Growth Acceleration" — totally a hype skill name. Seems like levels go up fast... but wait, how the hell do you even level up in the first place? That part’s still a mystery.

Kill monsters? Maybe. But there aren’t any monsters around... and if I start questioning it, the doubts just keep piling up.

After the last gacha, I looked into skills some more. "Spatial Perception" lets you detect the location of moving things, living things — within a set range.

The range seems to expand with level up.

"Thousand-Mile Eye" — that’s a skill that lets you look down like an eagle from above. Right now, I can only see nearby spots, but with higher levels, I’ll be able to see farther, no doubt.

And I made a big decision. "Career Change." Not the kind where you pick a job from a board and become a warrior or mage!

I want to earn more, so I’m quitting the izakaya. Gonna find a different job.

With "Muscle Strengthening" boosting my strength, I’m thinking construction sites — heavy labor, big pay.

Since I don’t know when this weird gacha might vanish, I wanna stock up while I can.

Someone might say, “Just borrow money and buy it all?” But I’ve been through hell with debt before — I really don’t want to go down that road again.

Earn big, pour it all into gachas... wait, that sounds like a gamer’s mindset, doesn’t it?