Cherreads

Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: A Restless Gambler

~Kotaro Hakari~

3 Gold Random Gacha Tickets remain.

Alright, this was it, these 3 tickets would decide my new life. And I could only hope for mercy from RNGesus, the one and only.

I steadied my breathing and focused my gaze.

Alright, let's do this.

Roll it.

Rolling Gold Random Gacha...

An Elite Ability!

[Seek Guidance]

|Rarity: Elite| |Class: Thinker|

When this ability is active, you are able to view commentary of those who were, could have been or would have been. The commentary can be helpful or even deceitful. You might find text written on the ground in front of a treasure informing you it's trapped, or text showing you the location of a hidden wall, or a text telling you to stand in front of a trap. Basically the message system from Eldensoulsborne Games.

Uh...

That's... good?

I would have preferred a more straight-up combat ability, but this sounds like it would help me avoid randomly walking into an alleyway full of Genestealers if I ended up in a hive city.

Alright, next up. Hit me again.

Rolling Gold Random Gacha...

A Rare Item!

[Hypnos' Mask]

|Rarity: Rare|

A sleeping mask blessed by Hypnos, the god of sleep, when wearing this mask, your nights are perfectly restful and all of your energy recovers after at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

That certainly sounds like a great novelty item, but it still doesn't sound like anything that helps me survive in a Hive City or, RNGesus forbid, Yharnam.

Shit, last ticket, this better be good or I might be fucked in the ass.

Rolling Gold Random Gacha...

A Rare Trait

[What's Monogamy?]

|Rarity: Rare|

Women are very accepting of any delusions of harem or a woman loving you you might have. They tend not to question the logistics or logic of having multiple women as lovers.

Ah.

Great.

That will surely help me when I am fucked raw in the ass by a random mutant as I wander the slums of a hive city.

Great. Just... great.

All Tickets spent. Would you like to continue?

...You know what? I don't think I do. Is there anything else I could do to prevent my mostly inevitable demise of landing in Lordran with actually straight-up nothin'?

Would you like to take {Penalties} in exchange for more rolls?

The severity of penalties depends on the user's luck, ranging from losing your sense of taste to having bad eyesight to being enemies with a powerful being upon arrival. The more severe the curse the more advantage you get.

This function is rendered unavailable upon world transfer.

...Shit? Do I have a choice? No, not really. I would much rather have some more challenges in my new life than almost assured death. I would like at least some combat power for where I am dropping.

Alright, give me one.

And then a d20 appeared in my hands. Oh shit, I had to manually roll it, that is much more terrifying. But I had to do it regardless, I shook the dice in my hands and threw it, it somehow seemed to land on a surface that didn't exist and started rolling around until it hit an...

11.

Not horrible.

11 = Intermediate Curse: Yandere.

[Curse - Yandere]

|Severity: Intermediate|

There is a yandere after you. And meeting her will not be so pleasant.

Eh.

I have already dealt with that before. Nothing new, but depending on the world I'm going to, it could be... let's say absolutely catastrophic. What the hell would happen if I dropped in Darksouls and Nashandra was a yandere for me? Or even dropping on 40k and having a yandere... anything really after me.

At least it was only intermediate, so I shouldn't get fucked as much.

Alright, now what do I get from that?

Rolling Gold Random Gacha with advantage...

[Trait - Hero's Reward]

|Rarity: Rare Trait|

Every Hero deserves a reward, whenever you save or help someone, they will feel compelled to repay you and feel gratitude towards you.

or

[Item - Dragon Slayer]

|Rarity: Uncommon|

"It was too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron." A massive dull unwieldy sword larger than a man, this sword is supernaturally durable and, having bathed in the blood of countless spirits and astral beings is capable of harming and killing the immaterial.

...Great, I get a weapon, and it's one that is way too unwieldy for me to even think about grabbing and lifting it. While I subscribe to the male fantasy of slashing with a giant sword. Unfortunately, I had to live in reality, at least Hero's Reward would help me if the world I was going to go to was one with a lot of problems I would be forced to fix.

But having a perk that makes me more likely to get rewarded from saving people doesn't matter when I can't even save myself let alone others. So, I would need another try.

I summoned another d20 and rolled it with a heavy heart.

A 17.

Thank you.

17 = A mild Curse: Orphan

[Curse - Orphan]

|Severity: Mild|

Your parents died before you transferred to this world. And unfortunately, you aren't the Batman kind of Orphan but the regular fatherless kind.

Oh wow, does that make an Orphan² now? I already lost my original parents; losing a pair I never got to know won't hurt nearly as much.

Now, what does this net me?

Rolling Gold Random Gacha...

An Uncommon Skill

[Intermediate Biology]

|Rarity: Uncommon|

You are learned enough in the field of Biology to be a professor, and you have good knowledge of how most organs and organisms function, you know how most things interact with biology and how to affect biology yourself.

Great.

No combat ability... again.

At least I know I can get a job as a Biology Professor if I land in a peaceful world but I am pretty sure I won't land on one.

Fuck, give me another, please.

I summoned yet another die and rolled it.

'...It's not horrible.'

10.

10 = Intermediate Curse: Remix

[Remix]

|Severity: Intermediate|

The world is not exactly as you remember. The cogs of fate have shifted; while the general outline of the future remains the same, some details may change.

...I don't know what to think about that, on the one hand, if I go to a world I don't know shit about, it won't do anything. On the other hand, if it's a world I know, it still won't be too bad to live with since it did say the general flow is the same.

Let's just hope this was worth it.

Rolling Gold Random Gacha with advantage...

[Ability - Spectral Claw]

|Rarity: Rare| |Class: Enhancer, Emitter|

Unordinary - Allows you to manifest a large demon-like clawed arm over your own, this arm possesses superhuman strength and grip, enough to crush iron and lift large objects, it can also extend and grow in size slightly. The damage this arm takes is reflected in your real arm.

or

[Ability - Cement Manipulation]

|Rarity: Rare| |Class: Kinesis|

Allows you to manipulate cement, allowing you to shape it into constructs, walls, weapons, and even turn it back into a less solid form.

I chose Spectral Claw.

While Cement Manipulation sounded fine, there was a problem. If I ended up somewhere like Lordran where there are no widely available sources of cement, same with most fantasy worlds where I would have to go into caves or forests with no cement.

Spectral Claw sounded useful regardless of the situation. Having flexible metal-crushing demon arms sounded very useful, just have to hope it is not a world with demons that I am going to.

Would you like to take on any more penalties?

Nope, nope. Cutting it off here, I don't think taking on any more penalties will help my situation. I am already an orphan with a yandere after him in a world he doesn't know. And that was with me rolling high; at some point, you have to fold. Any more and it's a fool's bet.

Alright, so I have some kind of clairvoyance cum divination via Darksouls' messages, demon arms, a very good sleeping mask, a biology major, the right to a harem and increased gratitude from people.

...This is a fucking mess.

Whatever, I'm ready. I can live with this.

Roll a d20 to decide your fate.

Great, more dice. I'm starting to get a sore arm from rolling all of these. Hopefully, I get something good with this because this seems really important.

I shook the dice and rolled it. I briefly entertained the thought of intentionally rolling it gently to get a 20 but quickly dismissed the thought. I was dumb, but not to the level where I would try to deceive something that could understand my thoughts, reincarnate me and give me superpowers.

The dice rolled around as I held my breath before landing on-

Starting Roll: 1(Yes, he really did roll a fucking nat 1)

Motherfucke-

Initiating World Transfer...

Good Luck.

Before I could let out a mighty string of slurs that would bring even a seasoned sailor to tears, my vision blacked out.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~Kotaro Hakari~

I woke up to... pain. A LOT of pain actually, but I managed to bite my cheek and not groan as I came to be. I was used to dealing with and dealing pain, it was a part of the job.

Despite my eyes opening, my vision was still dark, and I felt cold too. As my eyes adjusted, I managed to notice some details about the situation I was in.

First. I was naked, well, mostly naked. I had my boxers on.

Second. I was bound, pretty tightly at that. I could barely move any of my limbs. As someone who was used to tying up people, I could tell these guys knew what they were doing.

Third. I was half-dead, focusing on the pain I could feel several jagged wounds and what felt like broken ribs. I was both cut and had broken ribs. One of my eyes was covered in blood and bruises were all over my body.

And by how cramped this space was, and the occasional rattling and bumping, I could tell.

I was in the back of a fucking car.

...Great, just arrived in another world, and I am already getting human trafficked.

Didn't I have an ability that gave me advice? How do I use that?

As I was racking my brain and frankly being a bit slow, I heard some dialogue that was rather muted because I was in the trunk.

"Hey boss, was it really necessary to go that hard on him? I mean, he was just a kid." A wiry and unconfident voice asked with palpable hesitation before a gruff voice replied to him.

"Doesn't matter, the Boss told us to grab him and he was putting up too much of a fight. You are new so don't ask stupid questions like that around the boss or the boss might turn you to paste then put you back together. Keep your questions to yourself, the boss does everything for a reason."

...Fuck, I was abducted by the Yakuza.

At least I found out how to use my ability. Whenever I thought about using my ability, a panel of the Chaos Gacha popped up in front of me.

___/Abilities\_____________

-Active(0/1)-

None.

-Storage-

[ Rare - Spectral Claw ]

[ Elite - Seek Guidance ]

And a single ability I can use at a time, just amazing. I slotted in Spectral Claw and held my breath.

I saw in the trunk of a Yakuza Car, half dead and a single ability available to me.

What a great start.

Give me a fucking break.

A/N: The Gacha is as fickle as ever, Hakari managed to get 1 Elite and 5 Rares, a great start by all metrics. ...And then he goes and rolls a nat 1 on this start roll. He must have forgot his fever back home. Whelp, you know what this means. Struggle is back on the menu!

Hakari got a fun set of rolls. I am definitely going to have a lot of fun with the Seek Guidance ability, I can tell you that much. And [What's Monogamy?] because why wouldn't Hakari roll it? Also, I found it really ironic that Hakari died from the Yakuza, and woke up in his new life to... the Yakuza kidnapping him. It is like a canon event.

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