And, as usual, I have no clue if this thing's undercooked or burnt to a crisp straight from the author's kitchen
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(Kael Rukmono - September 20, 2011)
Another bright morning dawned, but this time, I didn't wake up in my one-bedroom apartment. I woke up in a room typically reserved for the wealthy, a master suite bathed in sunlight.
The memory of the transition from a week ago was still vivid. One moment, I was a guy in a flat; the next, I was the legal owner of an absurd mansion where every amenity was catered to by an invisible staff. The most shocking part? The residents of Boston remained completely unaware of the anomaly. To them, this mansion had always been here. It didn't matter that the plot was empty seven days ago
reality had simply folded itself to accommodate the Gacha's whims.
And to think, this all started because my YouTube channel was on track to earn a Silver Play Button... two years before it was even invented.
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(1 week ago, September 13 2011)
My routine had been steady:
wake up at 6:00 AM, light exercise until 7:00 AM, have breakfast, and then dive into the deep end of the [Unknown Dictator] and the [Tome of Raya Lucaria]. Between conceptual engineering and the intricacies of Glintstone Sorcery, my brain usually felt like it was being overclocked by noon.
but this time I got my email notification
And that means one thing:
Starbearer is now giving me gacha tickets again.
I was curious about my new feat.
Lately, I hadn't done anything particularly groundbreaking, unless one counted the simple act of my YouTube channel becoming increasingly popular.
Beyond uploading impossible long-play videos of games years in the future, I had started uploading gameplay of currently trending titles, like the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, complete with its wild multiplayer.
I wouldn't have to wait any longer. I clicked to open the email.
[SPOILER="Starbearer Email"]
Starbearer ✦
Subject: Achievements and Rewards Tickets
The following Feats have been logged:
[ Feat #1 Even More Subscribe to Me Now!!!]
More Canon's characters are now subscribed to your YouTube account.
[Reward: 1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket]
[ Feat #1 Where is my Silver Button?]
reach 100,000 subscribers on your YouTube account
[Reward: 1x Silver Trait Gacha Ticket]
[Total Rewards Granted]
1x Silver Random Gacha Ticket
1x Silver Trait Gacha Ticket]
This message was generated automatically because "Starbearer" is currently busy.
Good luck again in the future.
Wait for more Canon characters to subscribe to my YouTube channel!!?
I had my suspicions. It was likely Ritsuka or Romani, but there was a non-zero chance that Merlin under his 'Magi Mari' persona had stumbled across my channel while browsing the early days of livestreaming.
"Looks like your benefactor bought you another ticket to see what kind of chaos you're going to bring here," said GLaDOS, appearing on my laptop with her own avatar.
She had opted for a chibi version of her "Caroline" persona.
brown hair, a sleek jacket, and mechanical accessories on her hood that mirrored GLaDOS's optical sensors.
"Oh well, let's see what this is and what we can get..."
and this time I took the Silver Trait ticket to see what I would get this time
and so I pressed the Roll button and saw what I got
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Rolling Silver Trait Ticket
[Library Mind]
|Uncommon Trait|
Your mind is like a library, organized and efficient. Your memory, mental clarity and speed are slightly faster.
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My focus immediately sharpened. I didn't feel a sudden, violent influx of data like with [Magician] or [Queen of All Trades], but rather a subtle, profound systemic upgrade. My thoughts accelerated, the recent Glintstone spell formulas and the complex diagrams from the Homunculus guide sorting themselves instantly in my mind.
"Huh. That's... useful," I murmured, stretching my neck. The usual mental fatigue that came after hours of conceptual engineering with the Unknown Dictator seemed to have vanished.
"Analysis complete!" TB chirped from the laptop, her cheerful avatar giving a thumbs-up. "The [Library Mind] trait is highly compatible with the [Magician] trait and the [Queen of All Trades] skill! This will drastically increase your overall mental processing efficiency, Shikikan! We can now run three high-level engineering projects simultaneously!"
"A passive performance booster," GLaDOS commented, her chibi avatar tapping a long, digital finger on the laptop screen. "Marginally useful for organizing your chaotic backlog of future-tech blueprints and magical textbooks. Now perhaps you can stop confusing Glintstone Pebble with Glintstone Shard."
"Hey! Those two are distinct spells with different power outputs and energy signatures, thank you very much," I retorted, though I had to admit the new Trait was already sorting out the Glintstone Sorcery spell list with startling clarity.
TB's avatar, standing beside the now-annoyed GLaDOS, offered a more cheerful assessment. "That's wonderful, Shikikan! Your efficiency rating for both research and gaming will increase by 7.4%! We can now process the entire Guide to make Einzbern Homunculi into searchable, cross-referenced data points in half the time! No more forgetting where you put your keys!"
"See, Caroline? TB appreciates the utility," I said, giving GLaDOS a playful digital jab.
"Utility is not a spectacle," GLaDOS sniffed. "It's the digital equivalent of receiving a comfortable pair of orthopedic shoes. Now, focus on the second ticket before you bore me into a reboot."
and with that, only the Random Silver Gacha remains
I didn't expect much so I just hit the Roll button and saw the results.
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Rolling Silver Random Ticket
[Deed to Mansion]
|Rare Item|
A deed to a mansion, just rip this deed in half and you will have always owned a lavish mansion manned by a Schrodinger crew that keeps it clean and maintained, they always do the work but can never be seen or interacted with.
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and suddenly a deed appeared on my desk
I stared at the parchment that had materialized on my desk. It looked like something pulled straight out of a Victorian real estate office, radiating an aura of absolute legal authority.
"A mansion?" I whispered.
"This is perfect, Shikikan! We finally have somewhere bigger to live than... well, this," TB said, gesturing to my Apartment
I hesitated for a moment, the weight of the parchment feeling heavy with the potential of a reality-warping shift. My one-bedroom apartment was cozy, but between a Combat Maid, a growing arsenal of railguns, and a gaming chair inhabited by two bickering high-level AIs, the walls were starting to feel like they were closing in.
"Just do it, Shikikan!" TB's voice was practically vibrating with excitement.
"Indeed," GLaDOS added, her optical sensors on the screen glowing a steady, calculating orange. "The efficiency increase alone is worth the structural displacement of the local neighborhood."
I took a deep breath, gripped the edges of the golden-embossed deed, and ripped it.
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(Present day)
And so here I am, a man with no official job, living in a mansion that would make a rich kids with old money feel jealous
The place is cavernous. Five bedrooms with their own private bathrooms, an industrial-grade kitchen,even accompanied by a spacious basement and a garden large enough.
Shizu has her own room now, though she initially insisted on staying in mine out of "security concerns."
As for the location itself, it is in the suburbs, so I'm not too worried about curious neighbors.
Overall, it's something you would expect from a wealthy person's home.
I had TB double-check the digital trail, prepared to forge a mountain of paperwork to explain my sudden wealth. But when I checked the municipal records, the mansion was already registered in my name, backdated years into the past.
so I don't have to worry about paying property tax or anything like that, Since gacha seems to have covered that
I don't know how
Gacha or whoever "Starbearer" is works in their own way
I have the space, the tech, the magic, and the money. The "NEET" life was getting complicated, but I couldn't complain about the upgrades.
A soft, rhythmic knock sounded at my door.
"Master, are you awake?" Shizu Delta's voice called from the hallway.
I sat up, stretching my newly efficient mind. "Yeah, Shizu. I'm up."
Oh well, as the old saying goes, "A new place is a time for new action."
After an hour of light exercise, a quick shower, and breakfast which Shizu had prepared for me with perfectly poached eggs and toast, a testament to her growing culinary sub-routines I headed straight for the basement.
I had been working on a project for three days now: building the first cultivation vessel for my Homunculus. It was time to see if the [Idiot's Guide to Einzbern Homunculi] I had assimilated was as valid as it claimed.
I knew it sounded hypocritical of me, a man who claimed to dislike playing God with life, yet here I was doing exactly that.
But logic dictated that if I wanted to survive the coming storm, I needed a workforce I could trust implicitly
For the vessel itself, the process was remarkably straightforward. This was especially true when you possessed a Sacred Gear that could manipulate metal like [Unknown Dictator] and the [Intermediate Blacksmithing] skill bundled within the [Queen of All Trades] package. As for the raw materials, as usual, I purchased them from my regular scrap yard. I was fairly certain the owner now considered me his only consistent customer, likely assuming I was building some sort of eccentric, oversized art installation.
Before me stood a sleek, cylindrical tank made of a reinforced silver-mercury alloy, etched with intricate, glowing blue runes that pulsed in time with my own heartbeat.
"TB, status report."
"Vessel integrity at 100%," TB reported from my Omni Phone. "By utilizing Glintstone Magic principles, we've reduced soul-attrition by 15%."
"I've suggested calibrations to the nervous system," GLaDOS added. "If we're making a servant, let's ensure it doesn't have the emotional stability of a damp rag."
"This is just a prototype," I reminded her. I held up a glass container containing a specialized nutrient solution and a faint, glowing embryo, the result after hundreds of times of reading the manual written personally by Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern herself over the past few weeks
I still feel strange about the ingredients needed to make this, especially "sperm from its creator," which of course I used my own sperm.
"Is it technically makes homunculus my child? Oh well, if you look at Frankenstein's monster in some writings, the monster refers to its creator as its own 'father.' I'll think about that another time"
I carefully initiated the transfer. The liquid in the tank bubbled as the embryo settled into the center of the silver-mercury cylinder.
"Commencing growth cycle," I whispered.
The blue runes flared to a brilliant, blinding white. The basement hummed with a low, thrumming power that felt less like technology and more like a heartbeat. Inside the tank, the form began to shift, guided by the perfected blueprints of Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.
with some "Upgrades" from the 2 Super Ai that I have
"Time until maturation?" I asked.
"In this accelerated environment? 30 days" GLaDOS replied.
"Though I should warn you, Shikikan... creating a perfect artificial human in the middle of a city tends to attract the kind of 'Mystery' that doesn't like being solved." add TB to GLaDOS's response
I looked at the glowing tank, the reflection of the blue light dancing in my eyes. "Let them come. Between the railguns and the Glintstone, I'm tired of hiding."
and so I think I have to be prepared for whatever comes next and not play around anymore