Unlike all the previous cards, this card didn't simply vanish into nothingness. Instead, the card burst into countless silver particles that sparkled like stardust. The particles flew gracefully through the air, illuminating the darkness within my room with ethereal silver light, before they began to slowly condense in front of me to form the silhouette of a little girl. The silhouette shimmered and pulsed with silver radiance as it kept condensing and solidifying until it finally took the complete form of a small silver-haired girl.
She had impossibly long silver hair, like an endless sheet of pristine snow in the depths of winter, falling all the way down to her ankles in perfectly straight, silky strands. Her skin was milky white and seemed to have an almost porcelain-like quality to it. Two delicate bangs framed her small, round face while a single strand fell gently between her brows, reaching down to the tip of her small, button nose.
A pair of stunning violet eyes slowly opened and looked directly at me with an expression that was both curious and calm, like the surface of a still pond reflecting the moonlight.
She was petite, maybe somewhere between 4'4" and 4'6", or around 137cm in height. Due to her small stature, she looked incredibly huggable and approachable. Matched with her perfectly round face, slight baby fat that gave her cheeks a soft appearance, and those curious yet innocent eyes, she looked absolutely irresistible—the kind of person you'd want to hug and gently play with her cheeks without even thinking about it.
On her small body, she wore a single-piece white dress whose flowing skirt reached down to her knees, displaying her slender legs that were covered in form-fitting black stockings that went up to her thighs.
Unable to bear the overwhelming cuteness any longer, my hands instinctively moved forward and circled around her tiny body before pulling her into a warm embrace, my face naturally rubbing against her slightly chubby, incredibly soft cheeks.
She was just so unbelievably cute that it should be illegal!
"Are you my new master?" Despite being suddenly hugged by me as I rubbed my face against hers like an overly affectionate older brother, the expression on her face didn't change even slightly. With the same calm, introspective expression, she stared at me with those mesmerizing violet eyes and asked in a soft, melodic voice.
"Hm, before I answer that, can you answer a question for me?" Controlling the almost overwhelming urge to kiss her on those adorably chubby cheeks, I stopped rubbing my face against hers. I carefully adjusted her position so she was sitting comfortably in my lap, her small buttocks positioned between my legs on the bed, as I placed my hands gently over her head and began softly rubbing her silky hair, waiting patiently for her response.
She tilted her head slightly to the side in a gesture that was impossibly cute, before returning a small nod and giving an almost inaudible agreement that barely escaped her lips.
"Um."
"What exactly was the process of you being summoned here? Or were you simply summoned without any prior warning and then notified about it afterward?"
It was genuinely important for me to understand these mechanics. If characters from the gacha system were being forcibly summoned directly from their original worlds without any will to resist or choice in the matter, I might have to seriously reconsider before summoning more people in the future.
After all, while the Gacha system might provide summoned beings with absolute loyalty when it came to my wellbeing and safety, that still didn't necessarily stop the characters from potentially disliking me on a personal level.
In simple terms, it was essentially the relationship between an employee and their employer. As long as it was related to their job responsibilities and the wellbeing of the company, the employee would try their absolute best not to sabotage anything. But that fundamental professional obligation didn't stop the employee from privately thinking their boss was an absolute piece of shit.
The Gacha system seemed to operate in a remarkably similar fashion. It made sure that summoned people always had my wellbeing and safety as a priority in their minds, but they still retained complete autonomy over their personal emotions and feelings. And there was absolutely nothing preventing them from developing genuine hatred toward me if I gave them sufficient reason.
It was definitely best to clarify these potentially problematic things now rather than discovering unpleasant surprises later.
"I don't know." But the straightforward answer Est gave me without any change whatsoever in her neutral expression left me feeling slightly speechless and more confused than before. "I was in the cave, like always. It was so lonely… And I was sleeping peacefully. I heard something talking to me, but I was feeling too lazy to properly respond, so I just accepted whatever it was asking. And then suddenly I was here with you."
"..."
Well… That explanation answers absolutely nothing useful! I stared at her with genuine bafflement written across my face. How could someone agree to something so clearly supernatural that randomly appeared near them out of thin air just because they were feeling too lazy to properly engage with it? What was this supposed to be? The final boss of procrastinators? The ultimate embodiment of "I don't give a shit what you do as long as I can continue lazing around undisturbed"?
Ugh…
I rubbed my forehead in mild frustration. I guess I can only summon more people in the future and see how things develop from there.
"So?" The little silver-haired girl, whose eyes seemed to narrow into a pleased crescent shape as I continued rubbing her head in a soothing motion, slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me. Even though I was only thirteen years old, my height was still around 5'8" or approximately 172 cm. If she were standing beside me, the top of her head would only reach to about my chest level. And now, sitting comfortably between my legs, her head naturally rested against my chest. So when she raised her head to look at me, and her small pink lips parted slightly—giving me a glimpse of her pearly white teeth and the tip of her little tongue—she had a perfect view of my entire face. She asked with genuine curiosity, "Are you my master?"
"I guess I am." I smiled warmly at her, unable to resist playfully pinching her incredibly soft cheeks, making them turn a light shade of red. "Well, should we form the contract then?"
At the mention of forming a contract, her entire body suddenly stiffened noticeably. Her face, which had held a gentle hue of redness from my playful pinching, and her expression, which had looked relaxed and almost pleasured from the head pats, suddenly changed dramatically. Instead, an expression of deep contemplation mixed with clear rejection appeared across her features.
But the concerning expression only lasted for a mere second before it returned to her default emotionless, neutral face.
Before she could speak or voice any concerns, I decided to address what I suspected was bothering her.
"Are you worried that I might die?"
Est looked genuinely surprised by my direct question. Her big, innocent eyes blinked several times with obvious confusion.
Still gently playing with her slightly chubby cheeks in an affectionate manner, I smiled reassuringly and explained my reasoning.
"I know about your ability to transfer curses from yourself to your master. You don't have to worry about that particular issue. First, this is a completely different world than the one you originally lived in. Even if there are curses here, they might not operate the same way as the ones from your world. Second, from what I know about this world, there aren't any traditional curses here. At least, not the type I've encountered or read about. And third, I might be relatively weak right now, but it won't remain like this for very long. In the future, even if we do face curses or resentments, they might not even be capable of affecting me."
Stopping my playful pinching of her cheeks, I gently rubbed them in a soothing circular motion, prompting her to close her eyes and release a gentle, contented sigh.
"So you really don't have to worry about such things."
Her ability to destroy curses was admittedly very vague and could potentially be interpreted quite broadly. Adding to that uncertainty was the fact that she didn't originally belong to this world. Without the Gacha system's intervention, she wouldn't even exist here. I seriously doubted that her curse-destruction ability was truly all-encompassing or unlimited. What if someone was cursed using the fundamental Laws of Death itself? Could her ability actually destroy a curse rooted in such a fundamental cosmic principle? I highly doubted it. In the end, the difference in cosmological power levels held true even after the Gacha system made items adjusted to my current world's settings. They were still completely usable, but the Gacha didn't just magically grant them a universal power equalizer that worked across all verses.
If I really had to make an educated guess, then the abilities she might have retained should be her capacity to control all forms of "Steel," the ability to cancel most "magic," and the capability to deal exceptionally high damage to beings with negative alignment. In simple terms, Est had most likely become a genuine Holy Sword.
"Really?" She opened her eyes and looked directly at me with an expression of hope. Even though she didn't show much obvious emotion on the surface, I could clearly see the unhidden expectation and desperate desire to finally be able to free herself from the endless loneliness and desolation that appeared within her unblinking violet eyes.
So I smiled warmly at her.
Leaning down carefully, I gently kissed her on the forehead, making her close her eyes in what seemed like contentment.
"Yes. I promise you. I might not be particularly strong right now, but it's all just a matter of one month after another. It won't be very long before I become the strongest person in this world."
"What's your name?"
"Shen Yujin, but you can call me just Yujin if you want. That sounds much better anyway than saying the whole formal name every time."
"Yujin." She nodded slowly and smiled. Her smile was incredibly soft and full of pure innocence, enough to melt the hearts of anyone fortunate enough to see it. "My name is Est, and my sword form is called Terminus Est."
As she finished her introduction, she turned around within my lap and her small hands circled around my neck in an embrace. She pushed her small body upward, and in my slightly stunned expression, gently placed her small, soft lips directly on mine.
A soft and incredibly gentle kiss.
Before I could say anything in response, a brilliant silver light appeared between us and I felt a slight stinging sensation on the back of my hand. My eyes moved downward and I saw that a pentagon-shaped tattoo had formed there. A contract mark. Undeniable proof that Est and I were now permanently connected by it.
"Yujin's lips taste nice." As she stepped back slightly, her fingers placed delicately over her pouty lips, Est whispered softly with the same innocent expression.
I pursed my lips as what I could only describe as dangerous fire began rising within my body. I forcefully suppressed those inappropriate feelings and took a deep breath to regain my composure. Dangerous, this was really dangerous territory. And her completely innocent expression as she said something like that really didn't help my situation either.
Turning my head away from her adorable face, I looked out at the sky outside my window. Unknown to me, the sky had already begun turning a light shade of blue. A clear sign that the sun had started to rise and it should be proper morning in about 2-3 hours.
Tomorrow was officially the start of the apprentice fighter class, and also the day when Nie Li would regress from the future with all his memories intact. I really didn't want to miss witnessing that crucial moment.
Thinking about the upcoming events, I looked down at Est before falling backward onto the bed and hugging her small form within my arms like she was a precious body pillow, pressing her soft little body gently against me. Seeing that she wasn't protesting the intimate contact but was actually snuggling even further into my embrace, placing her head comfortably on my chest and closing her eyes with a contented expression, I gently pecked her forehead one more time and gradually felt sleep overtaking me.
I just hoped I would wake up early enough in the morning to not miss anything important...
AN: Sorry for the previous chapter confusion, still learning here. Anyways, I wanted to clarify some things regarding the Gacha and how it works.
Gacha Pulls:
Single Pulls: 5-star (2%), 4-star (5%), 3-star (20%), 2-star (35%), 1-star (38%) Ten Pulls: 5-star (4%), 4-star (10%), 3-star (20%), 2-star (35%), 1-star (31%) I've just created a Python script that does the pulls for me. So it's not manual.
Next, how the items are selected. Half of them are random (randomly selecting them online or using ChaosGacha data I found on github) and half of them are deliberate.
In what direction this story is going? Honestly, I've not thought too far yet. For now, I'm going to go with the flow.
Thanks for reading!