I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years chapter 73

73 – The Great Gacha Era (4)

Honestly, Adria was not able to fully comprehend the situation.

After all, she had never heard anything about the former companion of the guardian.

But she had only recently found out that one of her guardians was a hero of Lartania, so she thought that she would recognize the other heroes of Lartania vaguely.

“You’re as sly as a serpent!”

“I think you’re no different…!?”

“You’re even more sly! How could you do such a thing through ritual sharing!”

“Well, I’m quite adept at handling poison-“

She never expected to meet such heroes in such a situation. Furthermore, she had never imagined that all these heroes would look at the lord with such sly eyes, so she listened to their conversation with a dismayed expression, unable to say anything.

“Do you realize the danger you’re in right now!?”

“I haven’t done anything like that…!”

“You haven’t! You’re using that woman’s body to do such things, what if the owner finds out…? Yeah…?”

Suddenly getting angry and then speaking to himself, the wolf became melancholic.

“I-I’m controlling it, so it’s okay…!”

“But it’s not really your body. If something were to happen in that manner…”

The dragon tried to refute the wolf’s words, but at the following words from Lin, the red dragon seemed to realize something very important, and with a shocked expression, looked at Adria in the mirror with an expression filled with disbelief and betrayal.

“No, no, no, no, wait. I never intended to become the lord of Lartania in the first place!?”

Merrilda and Lin frowned at Adria’s immediate excuse, as if incredulous, and spoke.

“…Are you going to refuse what the owner wants?”

“Hmm, that sounds a bit presumptuous when I hear it.”

In the sudden appearance of the two heroes, Adria, seemingly without realizing it, lost her composure and shouted in bewilderment, “I really don’t know how to handle this situation!!”

And thus, abruptly barging in, they engaged in a heated argument among themselves, leaving their heads spinning with confusion.

It was around the time Adriah earnestly began contemplating whether all the heroes present here, including herself, might have serious mental flaws, possibly including anxiety disorders.

“…Fine, you’ve always been sneakily peeping like that. I never really bothered to say anything about it before. Instead-“

Continuing Merilda’s entrance that had already led to a disastrous verbal clash.

“-Can’t we, somehow… share consciousness?”

…

Adriah could only wear a bewildered expression.

####

Alan, the leader of a small mercenary group of about eight, had been enjoying a pleasant routine lately.

And why wouldn’t he? Life in the enigmatic city of Lartania, recently dubbed the Labyrinth City among mercenaries, provided him with satisfaction on multiple fronts.

No, to begin with, there were no mercenaries among them who didn’t find contentment within the Lartania territory.

For mercenaries, who always faced perilous tasks, being able to settle in one place and steadily earn money brought tremendous stability.

Moreover, the reason mercenaries found immense satisfaction within the Lartania territory was precisely due to the substantial rewards that came in proportion to their efforts.

Of course, mercenaries were not left without compensation for their work.

Immediately, through the Mercenary Guild, they would receive various requests, and upon successfully completing these tasks, they would be compensated according to the guild’s procedures after a certain period.

However, hunting in the labyrinth expedited this process significantly.

Unlike the typical cycle of receiving a request through the guild, completing it, and waiting for compensation, earning money within the labyrinth was remarkably straightforward.

Descend inside, hunt monsters, exchange magic stones for cash.

With this simple process to earn money, mercenaries flocked to the Lartania territory, adapting quite well to the situation. Thus, as Allen spent his days sipping beer in the tavern, he found today to be no different from the usual.

“…Magnifying glass?”

Recently, I heard some interesting news from a mercenary I’ve become close with.

“What’s up? Haven’t you heard the news yet? Well… maybe you haven’t. It came out this morning, after all.”

“What’s so special about this magnifying glass?”

“Of course, it’s not just an ordinary magnifying glass.”

“Then?”

“It’s an explorer’s magnifying glass.”

“An explorer’s magnifying glass… I feel like I’ve heard of it before.”

Allen rummaged through his mind and exclaimed, “Ah, that’s it! It’s the artifact that was quite popular ten years ago, used in dungeons to randomly find various items.”

“That’s the one. You’re quite smart, aren’t you?”

“I’m just street-smart from living in this world.”

Despite saying that, Allen, feeling pleased with the praise, took a sip of beer and continued.

“So, why has the explorer’s magnifying glass suddenly become a hot topic?”

“Why do you think? It’s because they started selling explorer’s magnifying glasses in the Lartania territory.”

“…Explorer’s magnifying glasses? I heard that they became extremely rare around 5 or 6 years ago.”

“I thought so too, but they started selling them in the Lartania territory today. And for just one gold coin.”

“What? Just one gold coin??”

“Yeah. Isn’t it incredibly cheap?”

“Hmm… Incredibly cheap? Well, if we consider the rarity of the magnifying glass, it might seem cheap, but…”

Alan’s expression turned peculiar.

It was an amount that could only be obtained by bringing about 10 low-grade mana stones, which are available at the lowest level of the first gold screen.

“To be honest, it doesn’t feel very cheap, does it? As far as I know, even though the magnifying glass allows us to find items in the labyrinth, the probability of finding good items is extremely low.”

“Hmm, if you put it that way, it does make sense.”

In response to the mercenary’s answer, Alan chuckled and continued, “Well, aiming for a life-changing opportunity might be decent, but that’s not really my style to begin with. I think it’s better to just work hard and earn money like I do now.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I mean, why spend money when you can just hunt steadily under the labyrinth and make a living? Working diligently is better than anything else.”

“I guess you’re not wrong.”

The mercenary nodded in agreement with Alan’s words, and then they continued their mundane conversation while drinking at the tavern until late at night.

The next day.

“Alright, let’s give it our all today too.”

“Let’s aim for 30 again today.”

“Agreed! It would be great if mana stones drop from every monster we kill this time too.”

Accompanied by the mercenary group he led, Alan and his party entered the labyrinth and hunted for a while.

“Screamiiiiiiing~!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Alan and his party, who involuntarily turned their gazes due to the thunderous noise, soon confirmed its source.

The one who screamed was a man, and he was looking at the sword in his hand with a joyful expression.

One of Alan’s companions, who was looking at the sword, gasped and said, “Insane, that’s Alanca’s sword, isn’t it!?”

“Ah, Alanca’s Sword??”

“Wait, isn’t Alanca’s Sword a rare weapon that can be obtained in the maze?”

“Yeah, that’s the one! You could easily get at least 200 gold coins for that!”

“200 gold coins!?”

The group of companions were all equally astonished.

Not only them, but all the mercenaries passing by were also gaping and watching the scene.

However, the mercenaries, seemingly indifferent to whatever expressions they were making, chuckled and casually tossed the magnifying glass they had been holding onto the ground.

“Oops.”

Only now did they realize that the mercenaries around them were looking at them, and they immediately started running somewhere, perhaps to snatch Alanca’s Sword.

Watching their actions, Alren lowered his gaze to the item the man had thrown away earlier.

“This is… a magnifying glass?”

“…It’s an explorer’s magnifying glass. I saw it being sold in front of the Lord’s Castle.”

Alren’s companion explained.

“Isn’t that a 1 gold coin item?”

“What??? Did you just pull out something worth over 200 gold coins with a 1 gold coin item?”

“…200 gold coins? At least 200 gold coins, and it could even go up to 250 gold coins at an auction!”

“…Unbelievable.”

As they talked, one by one the heroes who had been watching the scene started conversing.

“…Thinking about it, if it’s 1 gold coin each, getting one valuable item out of 10 would be a jackpot, wouldn’t it?”

“Right? Even if some strange item comes out, we could still sell it, so it wouldn’t be a loss.”

“…Huh?”

‘Perhaps more doable than I thought?’

With the emergence of such thoughts in everyone’s minds, the mercenaries present there began to move towards Yeongjuseong, as if it were a matter of course.

And approximately three hours later.

“…Wow.”

Elena, while assisting Kim Hyunwoo in making a magnifying glass, unintentionally opened her mouth, looking at the enormous crowd beneath the window of Yeongjuseong.

“As Lord Yeongju said, a real crowd has gathered, hasn’t it?”

“It’s a bit early, but what do you think? People have indeed gathered as I said, right?”

In response to Kim Hyunwoo’s self-assured words, Elena glanced at Rani, who had been making the magnifying glass with her until a moment ago, then spoke.

“…Indeed. Honestly, I didn’t expect so many people to gather like this.”

Honestly, when Kim Hyunwoo revealed the identity of this magnifying glass and asked for help yesterday, Elena looked at the magnifying glass with somewhat negative emotions.

Certainly, the magnifying glass he made is special, but she didn’t think anyone would be willing to buy a magnifying glass that costs as much as one gold coin.

“What criteria could cause people to suddenly flock like this?”

So Elena asked with doubt.

“Probably, one of the mercenaries who bought the magnifying glass broke through the extreme probability and drew a good item. And thanks to that, everyone began to see hope.”

“…Hope?”

“Yes. It’s the hope that even they, with just one gold coin, can make a fortune.”

Kim Hyunwoo grinned and continued.

“As Elena knows, one gold coin is practically a significant amount to use in the gambling called ‘magnifying glass.’ Everyone knows it, and the mercenaries are well aware of it too. Even if you buy a magnifying glass and use it, the probability of getting something good is higher than actually using it well.”

“However, when people see someone using a magnifying glass to get rich, they have hope. In essence, when a mercenary in a situation not much different from theirs uses a magnifying glass to make money, the psychological thought of ‘Maybe I can too?’ arises.”

“From that point on, when such thoughts occur, mercenaries start to calculate their gains and losses. For instance, when an item worth 100 gold coins appears before their eyes, they start to think that investing around 50 gold coins at that moment is reasonable. In addition, such thoughts arise.”

“They start to have hope that deceives everyone, like, ‘I drew it once, but I have 50 more chances, so won’t it come out at least once?’ As you know, the probability of getting a good item is extremely low.”

“However, most people deliberately ignore this fact. They develop groundless confidence that if others can do it, they can do it too. Besides, they have 50 chances. So, if they spend 50 gold coins and still don’t draw a rare item, is it over? No, it’s not.”

“At that point, most people start to regret spending the money. If they spent 50 gold coins and got nothing, it’s practically the same as throwing away the money. But that doesn’t mean they give up. The sunk cost of 50 gold coins continues to magnify. That’s why—”

As Kim Hyunwoo spoke, he suddenly felt like he had gone back in time.

It was the time when he was in high school, dealing with the despair of not obtaining ‘Kallani’s Gauntlet,’ a limited gacha item, even after managing to scrape together 837,200 won, despite being hit hard by the minimum wage.

That’s why, for a while, Kim Hyunwoo passionately explained the trash-like nature of gacha, or in other words, the Arteil BM.

“So, this magnifying glass is terrifying.”

From Noble mtl dot com

He spoke with a somewhat melancholic expression while gazing at the magnifying glass he was creating.

“…Ah, yes…”

Elena couldn’t help but look somewhat startled at his endlessly gloomy appearance.