Explaining the Gacha Style Summoning System
Arthur Pendragon. Legendary king of Britain who fought off an army using a magic sword he pulled from the ground. With his charisma and stretch, he defeated his enemies and brought great prosperity to his nation and his people. The point I'm trying to make here is that the guy was awesome and he'd be a great summon for anyone with major strength stats. Emphasis on major strength stats. My strength stat was laughable, well below average and my stamina and endurance might've been better, but they were still a joke. Intelligence is where I was at, and I expected to summon someone who matched that.
Let me put it like this; say there was a "Norse Gods" gacha that pulled characters based on which stat you levelled highest. Now imagine the God of Thunder- Thor, had a banner running right next to the God of Mischief- Loki. With that's that focused on intelligence and endurance, of the two, I'd expect my pull to be Loki or someone else related to intelligence.
Not the 'King of Knights'. Matter of fact, that isn't even the king of knights, you know why? Because he isn't a he! He's a she!
I mean, she's a drop dead gorgeous she, but she's a she nonetheless! A strength build, she!
Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna puke.
I sprung out of my uncle's room, leaving Artoria sitting on her feet like she was thinking about everything that she'd done wrong in life, and ran straight to the bathroom where I emptied out my already barren stomach. I kept wasting into the bowl for a few minutes before my nausea finally subsided.
I didn't even dare to look at my own waste, glowing as it was, I just flushed the stuff right down the toilet. I felt lighter for it but head was still spinning from all the events that took place in the last ten minutes. After washing my face I headed back to my uncle's room to find Artoria still sitting there with all the dignity in the world.
I was honestly impressed with how calm she was given the situation. Or maybe things are different for a Beyonder?
"Feeling better?" she asked robotically as I set back on the bed.
"A little bit. Thanks for worrying."
"It's my duty as a knight."
"Right….so uh…. You're a girl." I let the words slip out of my mouth.
I'd failed to keep my mouth shut and let my intrusive thoughts win. The shame would have to wait, I braced myself to be barraged by her scornful words.
"…." Artoria remained silent.
Ok, no words. A glare then? I pried my eyes open only to find Artoria holding a poker face. I couldn't tell if she was holding herself back or if she was just waiting for the right moment to murder me.
"Apologies," she said finally. "You seem surprised by my physical appearance. Is it not to your liking?"
Oh, it is very to my liking. No! Bad Tim. Focus on the moment.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat. "It's not that. I was just surprised that you're…..well…let's just say history described you differently."
That was the dumbest yet least offensive sentence I could've formed at the spur of that exact moment. I felt my cheeks burn with each passing second. It hurt.
"Does it? How does it describe me?"
Oh, now she's just asking for it. Literally!
"Well uh…." I struggled to find my words. "It describes you as less…. You know…. Female."
"….." she blinked twice.
Now you've done it!
Artoria placed her hand against her chin like she was thinking about something. No doubt she was contemplating what to do with me. Whatever it was I hoped she'd make it quick.
"Could you tell me more?" Artoria cut my nightmare in half. Metaphorically of course.
I stopped swimming in my own thoughts for a second, finally understanding what was happening.
"Wait, you want me to tell you about your history? Didn't you live through it?"
"I…" Artoria's mouth moved to speak but no words came out. "I don't recall."
"You don't recall?" I echoed. "You don't remember anything about your past life?"
"None at all."
"But you introduced yourself with your full name- well, mostly. How did you keep your name but forget the rest?"
"It was you who assigned it to me, master."
"I did? I reflexively pointed my finger at me. "Wh- how did that happen? What's the earliest thing you remember?"
"Hmm .." Artoria thought to herself. "I remember being called from the Abyss by a mysterious voice. It told me that from then on, I'd serve you until the day I cease to exist."
Cease to exist? Just say the day you die. No, I'm getting hung up on the wrong details here.
Artoria's explanation completely flipped my understanding on it's head. I'd always thought that Beyonders were called from the Above to help in the fight against the Descenders. Like, when a Myth Tamer was used to summon them, it sent an invitation to them, giving them the option to except or decline if they didn't want to.
I didn't think it forced them down here. What made the whole thing even weirder was how Artoria phrased it. She was woken up by a voice, which I assumed was the system's voice, to come serve me till the day she died.
It was even stranger that she was woken up in the Abyss, no less. What 'Abyss'? Did she mean the Underside? She must've if she was calling it the Abyss. All I was getting was questions and no real answers. And the only person who could answer was more or less an amnesiac.
That is, if she has any memories to begin with. Whose to say she was anything before the Abyss.
"You know what? I haven't slept in twenty hours. It's time I knock out."
And just like that, I heaved my uncle's blanket over me and let the stress wash away, letting the exhaustion take root. It took me a few minutes and a lot of tossing around, but I was finally able to lose my consciousness and fall asleep.
***
[Override Fail]
"Override, what?" I snapped at the robotic voice.
[Class Identification Unknown]
"What does that mean!?"
[Class Categorization; Disaster
Class Deconstruction; Fail
Class Override; Fail
System Override Fail. Beginning Class Assignment]
"You're gonna tell me what's going on here!?"
[Common Class F. Pending….. Fail
Rare Class E. Pending…. Fail
Legend Class D. Pending…. Fail
Folk Class C. Pending…. Fail
Fantasy Class B. Pending….. Fail
Sacred Class A. Pending…. Fail
Celestial Class S. Pending….. Fail
Apocalypse Class X. Pending…. Fail
Purgatory Class Z. Pending…. Fail
New Class Assigned.
Rapture Class T. Pending... Success.
New Class Assigned.
Welcome User. Rapture Class Entity; Timothy Reach]
"Um…. Thanks , I guess?"
Completely dumbfounded, I decided to accept the robotic voice's welcome. Thought I had no idea what it was welcoming me to exactly.
Dang it
I remembered that this was in fact my dream. And I let it fall to ruin thanks to an alien robot voice.
"Ugh….I seriously gotta think about changing my last name. What, did that robot just call me 'Reacher'?"
****
I woke up from my self induced comma, and my nose was tickled by long strands of golden ropes that invaded all of my personal space. That is to say, Artoria's hair was all over my face.
"Eek…" I reflexively pulled back.
Unfortunately, I'd pulled back too much and fell to the floor with meteoric impact.
"Argh….ow.." I cradled my head in my hands. "Looks like that wasn't a dream."
After mumbling to myself for a bit longer I finally drew myself out of bed, carefully enough to not wake Artoria. Yesterday's events were still weighing heavily on my mind but I'd have to deal with them at a later time. For the moment, I focused on the more immediate issue. My empty stomach.
I rummaged through my uncle's fridge to find a full cabbage head, some tomatoes here and there and about a dozen or so eggs. Oh, and liquor. There was liquor too.
I picked up a single bottle and glared at it, like really gave it the stink eye.
"You ruined my life." I said to the bottle. The bottle itself didn't respond, and honestly I'd be worried if it did, but it still felt good to release some frustration on it. I felt better about myself.
I put the bottle back in the fridge before pulling out the eggs I planned to use for breakfast. After cracking a few of them and leaving them to sizzle, I made my way to the tomatoes and began cutting them into tiny slices. Tiny enough to fit into the eggs of course.
The kitchen essentially roared with the constant sizzling of frying eggs and a pan being clattered against my uncle's stove. I initially, I was careful not to wake Artoria, but given how I wanted her to wake up to eat too, I ended causing a ruckus.
Or maybe I was just spiteful that she snuck into bed with me while I was asleep. Though that was probably my fault, given how I didn't exactly tell her where she could sleep, and the other options involved being outside, or the floor.
"Guess I can't really fault her if you put it like that."
I served my makeshift omelettes on a platter with a side of soon to be expired. I say soon to be expired because the date said it expired yesterday but it still tasted edible and I didn't wanna starve to death so that's what we were gonna be eating. Potentially expired bread.
Artoria was already awake when I got back to the room. She covered herself using my uncle's blanket, her face visibly flushed all the while.
You've got to be kidding me.
Given the armor lying on the floor and the Damselette Knight looking about ready to teleport to next Tuesday, I pretty much surmised her "naked under the blanket" situation on my own.
Prepared to scold her, I opened my mouth to lash out when the sound of knuckles knocking against wood escaped my lips. Correction, it didn't escape my lips. It came from the front door. Frantic, I set my breakfast aside then shoved Artoria under the blanket.
"M-master!?" she protested, but I ignored her obviously.
I cut through the halls like lightning to meet whoever was brave enough to knock on my doors so early in the morning.
"Lewis?" a familiar voice called on the other side.
Ok, so I guess it wasn't my door they were knocking on, it was my uncle's doors. Regardless they were interrupting the serenity of a calm, beautiful morning. I flung the door open to meet the intruder-
"Who dares disturb- well, hello Miss Jean? You look absolutely lovely this morning." only to turn tail halfway and retreat into a scared fragile little boy.
This is humiliating.
Hey, I may be stupidly stressed. But I'm not that stupidly stressed. Yelling at my landlord was one way of getting kicked out, and I for one, didn't feel like getting kicked out. The streets were cold and unforgiving. Jean was…well Jean, but at least she's capable of forgiving.
"Timothy?" she gasped, almost sounding worried. "What are you- where's Lewis?"
"About that. My uncle kinda sorta got himself...arrested."
"What!? Why!?" she roared.
"It's sort of a long story and the police have been grilling me all week about it so-."
"The police!?" she cut me off.
Really selling this 'concerned landlord' thing, aren't you Jean?
"Yes, the police. So, I'd really like to tell you about this later cause I really need to get some sleep."
"Of course but, wait! I actually got a letter for you."
"For me? From who?"
"School." She pulled an envelope from her sacred valley. Her chest, she pulled the envelope from her chest.
"School, of course, I don't know why I was worried- the freaking NMR!?"
What do they want with me!?