Gacha System in a Game-Like World

"Should we still use him for the ritual?" the voice of the second figure, unrecognized by Tony yet, spoke.

"No," Aaron replied.

Aaron and the other second figure sat on their thrones at opposite ends.

The second figure happened to be feminine. She was tall, and slender, with skin too pale and hair that fell like black silk past her waist. A veil of faint smoke drifted around her shoulders, and where her eyes should have been, there were only two voids rimmed in violet light.

Or at least, that is the feature one could get clear with on sighting her.

She wore a gown that didn’t touch the ground, and her bare feet remained hanging as if she was too short to have it touch the ground. Then, a crown of thin bone rested on her head.

She was communicating with Aaron using their thoughts, unbeknownst to the Three Generals in the room, debating whether they should use Tony to perform the aforesaid ritual.

As a mechanism for safety, Aaron rarely talked.

That was why he always appeared so calm. Because of his class, he had skills that could be disastrous to people even if he didn’t want to harm them if he spoke.

However, while their discussion was going on, they were watching what was happening inside the barrier. White energy intertwined and blended with brown energy as each monster seemed to easily fall to carcasses.

Watching the scene as the duo easily defeated their foes, something shifted inside Aaron.

This was the same young man who had awakened on the same day with him.

This was the same young man who had not been recognized by their Pulpit of Grace to possess any class abilities and, for some reason, ended up awakening one at the end. But was it not rumored that he had no skills?

Even while he wanted to enter these tutorial grounds for his special mission, he had heard that Tony easily defeated an A-rank player, although from another guild. But the A-rank player in question was even someone with achievements and immense power to be wary of.

How has he become this powerful in just a few days?

Reclining in his throne seat, he looked forward and communicated to the female figure with his thought.

"Let’s keep fattening him for master. I’m sure a better use will be found of him when the time comes."

Once he said this, the second mysterious figure understood his intention and turned to the three Generals.

"Gennies, it seems like our time spent here has come to an end. We will leave the boy and his lackey for you to play with as much as you wish. Kill him a hundred times if you have to," she said, sounding a bit sarcastic, although not too noticeably.

Sweeping one more gaze at where Aaron sat, the both of them vanished into smoke that curled out of the temple hall through the void spatial portal above their heads.

***

Meanwhile, Tony was currently seated on the giant carcass of an arachnid, with one knee slightly raised and his sword almost serving as support plunged into the monster’s carapace.

On the other end, Kratos was also standing. Just then, he sheathed his two katana blades practically swiftly into their scabbards strapped behind him and stood with his hands on his waist.

Both of them looked battered to a fault, but the actual truth was that they looked like that because of the number of black bloods that had stained their very being. They weren’t battered in the actual sense.

Atop the carcass, Tony’s thoughts couldn’t help but keep churning.

’Was that Aaron he had seen earlier? Was that really Aaron?’

If it was, then what connection does he have with these monsters? Who was that second female figure he didn’t recognize?

He reminded himself that ever since the letter his girlfriend, Sandra, had written to him, he had seen the current happenings as a situation he needed to be careful of. And the more he seemed to get involved, the more awful and strange things played out.

Is there a detail he was not getting right yet? Was there something he didn’t happen to know?

He tried to ask the Fate Gacha System to see if it had any idea.

’System,’ he called.

[Yes, Host.]

’Do you have any foresight explanation on the situation?’

[ ... ]

Several seconds passed, and the system remained quiet.

With a sigh, Tony’s mind churned once again with more thoughts.

If Aaron was really with these monsters, then how was he even going to defeat him? If he remembered correctly, the said Player had awakened a [Cursed Speech] class and must possess terrifying skills to back it up.

What chance does he have? It wasn’t like he had any idea to counter any speech made by the being at the moment. Especially since he didn’t know what kind of skills Aaron’s Cursed Speech class gave him.

Everything was so tiring.

Thanks to the immense boost in stats he received from leveling up, dealing with these monsters had been so easy for him.

He jumped off the carcass he stood atop and landed softly, calm on the ground, in the middle of the glowing circle formation.

"Say, little brother, did you notice the corpses aren’t disintegrating?" Kratos asked, regrouping with Tony.

As if to answer the question on behalf of Tony, the barrier exploded and vanished. And the corpses of the monsters they had slain began seeping out energy that was engulfed by the three Generals before them, each corpse of their kind respecting the call.

Once the absorbing was done, the three Generals finally released their pressure, hoping to get satisfaction from the effects on the duo.

As evilly dark as it was, it came down like a mountain of grief. The air turned thick and cold, and every breath felt like inhaling drowned air. It pressed on the chest, dragged at the limbs, and whispered that nothing you did mattered. It made the heart feel heavy, the mind foggy, and the will to fight rot from the inside out.

To a normal person, it would have been enough to make them collapse, weeping, begging for it to stop. It would have depressed them so immensely.

But it did nothing to faze Tony in the very least.

"I guess I’m wrong after all," Kratos repeated, seeing as the carcasses vanished.

By the time they were all gone, the ritual circle stopped glowing, and with a snap of the rabbit’s finger, everything was out of place.

The three Generals now remained in their throne seats, their eyes burning with evil defiance as they looked upon their prey.

"I must say, I now get it. I now get why you were able to get here," the goblin spoke first.

"Unfortunately, it seems the masters no longer need beings like you. Threats, more to say," the arachnid added.

"It will be fun. Let’s play brown-haired boy and short boy," the rabbit added.

Amidst their conversation, Tony was, however, not listening. His eyes were set at the positions that had been occupied by the Aaron-like figure, and he was nowhere to be found.

He turned to the other side and didn’t find the mysterious girl figure either.

What games are they playing like this?

Catching sight of Tony’s inattentiveness, the rabbit seemed a bit infuriated and repeated, furious.

"Hey, brown boy, how long do you wish to last? I will give you the honor you deserve and play with you until then."

The words had barely come out when, to Tony’s surprise, Kratos lunged at the rabbit with a devastating speed Tony had never seen.