Prologue: Successor of the Gacha King
A/N: Gacha World belongs to Lumine. Everything else is my creation.
There was only silence in the void of the afterlife, as there lied a person on the ground, as they were completely unconscious, and their entire body was faint and nearly transparent.
The void was pitch black all over, except for the white platforms that formed a reasonably large ground to stand on, as they glowed as if they were made out of light, and they were bright enough to illuminate the area above them clearly enough for anyone to see far enough away from themselves.
When the figure came to, they slowly got up, as the light reflected onto their figure, revealing the person to be a young man in his young adult years, as his entire body was bare of any clothing or accessories, and his entire figure was bereft of anything but the basic body shape, as if his body was a sold and refined structure of something.
The strange youngster merely let out a long groan, as he clutched the side of his head, like he was trying to ward off a headache.
"Unh..." He said, as he looked around. "Where the hell am I?"
He then blinked a few times to clear his foggy vision, considering that he had just recently awoken in this world, as he looked around at the endless darkness surrounding him.
"The... The hell is this!?" The man swore, as he was flustered by what he was seeing. "I... I can't see anything much beyond these platforms! It's as if... this is some sort of pocket dimension hidden in the void."
After examining his surroundings, he then examined his own body, as he found his figure drastically changed, as he was surprised that a certain 'naughty' part of his body was gone, and his body was almost as light and transparent as that of a spirit's.
"Hah..." The man sighed at his own condition. "Either I'm having a real close near-death experience here, or I've already passed on, and this is one of the afterlife locations..."
He then remained silent, as he tried to recall the events before he woke up in this limbo, as pictures and voices ran through his mind.
This is the police! Pull over your vehicle, NOW! We will be forced to use more drastic measures to stop you!
YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME, YOU DAMN COPPERS!
Hey... You should be more careful with how you say those words, Lily. My friends would take offence if you said that in front of them.
It's their fault that they suggested such a stupid thing! Besides, how's your gaming career?
I'm getting close to earning a contract, as my K/D ratio in several FPS games is approaching the standard that is required to be worth considering. I'm sure that I will make it.
I'm sure you will-
LOOK OUT! LILY! MOVE!
CRASH!
What the hell!? Where did these brats come from! I can't control my car! AAAAHHHH!
WHUMP!
Oh god... This is Car 535 to Station! We have a civilian casualty! The suspect has rammed into a young male citizen! Requesting medical help!
Ba-dump!
Greg? GREG!?
Ba-dump! Ba-dump
Talk to me, Greg! You can't die!
WEEEE-OOOOO! WEEEE-OOOO!
Click!
We're losing him! He's not going to make it!
Ba-dump.
Greg?
Ba-dump...
GREEEEGGG! NOOOOO!
...Ba-dump...
Eeeeeeeeeeee...
After Greg recalled his last moments, and slipped into black darkness, he immediately sighed as he shook his head in shame.
"Damn... To be killed right on the pedestrian road..." Greg muttered under his breath. "I guess I'm stuck here, now that I'm most likely to be dead by now..."
Greg then looked up, as he seemed to be a little sad about his untimely death.
"If there would be a chance that I could live another life, I would take it, no matter what." He declared to the dark skies above him. "What's the point of life, if you never got your chance to meet your dream, or find something equivalent to reach?"
"Well then, kiddo, hope no more!" Another voice boomed, as it sounded quite energetic and friendly. "Because dear ol' me is going to help you out with that!"
Greg was surprised that there was another resident in the void that he was in, as he immediately turned to the direction of the voice, as something walked out into the light.
When Greg could see the entire figure of the newcomer, he was a little surprised by the exotic choice of clothing that the person wore. They were clad in a pristine white coat that stretched down to their legs, with flaps on either side of their legs, long silver jeans, and on their back was a cape that shone with the colours of the rainbow, with white furred pauldrons on the shoulders. Their arms were covered by gold ridged gauntlets that only covered their fore-arms. On their back were slender butterfly wings, as they were of the same colour as the cape, and their feet were covered by silver armoured boots. In their hands was a golden long-sword, that had a rainbow gem embedded in the centre of the hilt, as the aura around the sword cycled between the colours of red, green, blue, purple and yellow.
Regarding the physical appearance of the person before him, Greg could easily tell that the person before him was a male like him. His head was bare of any equipment or accessories, and his face was that of a half-Asian person, with slightly slanted eyes. His eyes were silver, a colour that was nor normal of any human, and his short black hair formed countless clumps, as his hair was styled like that of a mane, around his ears and the top of his head, and several of the hair clumps were silver or rainbow in colour, making his hair seem quite chaotic. His figure was quite large, as his figure was slightly slim and tall.
"Well now. I guess you're the first to come upon my reincarnation biz, eh?" The nobly-dressed newcomer asked. "After that damn Luni suggested that I stop sitting on my ass, and get to giving the right dead people another go at the game of life, I thought that there's no damn way that I'll have someone to help sate my boredom."
"Wait... Who are you?" Greg asked.
"Me?" The man pointed at himself, before he chuckled. "Oh right! Not every world was involved in that crisis. Very well, clean your ethereal ears out, my little spirit, because you're going to be the first to be graced by the Gacha King himself, moi!"
"Gacha King?" Greg asked, before his eyes widened, as he was filled with massive shock. "Wait... You mean, you're actually the Gacha King!? The one guy who ended up in Gacha World, and used the Gacha Sword to save the entire reality from Corruption, and defeated the very personification of the RNG System itself, the Gacha Fairy Ellie!? That Gacha King!?"
The Gacha King was quite surprised to hear his accomplishments being listed out before him, raising his eyebrows in intrigue, before he then calmed down.
"Yep! C'est la moi! Yours truly, the great and benevolent saviour of the worlds!" Gacha King replied back with a smirk, as he pointed his thumb back at himself in a prideful gesture. "Although I'm interested to see how exactly you got that kind of idea from. Let me see what your life was like. Don't worry, this won't hurt a single bit!"
The powerful being raised his hand, as Greg couldn't feel a single thing, but he could see that the Gacha King was standing still, as he seemed to watching something.
"Mhmm... I see... I see..." Gacha King muttered to himself with a neutral expression, before he smiled a little. "Oh, that's interesting... Heh heh... That's not too bad at all... Then we go to this... Doing well... Aaaannnddd... BAM. That's all folks!"
The Gacha King then lowered his hand, as he walked closer to Greg, and placed his hand on Greg's shoulder, being able to touch it through the use of some skill, as his expression was sympathetic.
"Man... Kid, I'm actually sad that you had such great talent and potential to reach the top ranks of gamers, and lady Fate dealt you a shitty hand in jealousy." Gacha King spoke in a comforting tone. "To be honest, I'm kinda jealous myself, to see you grow in skill that quickly. If you're the future king of FPS gaming then I would have been the future king of luck-draw games."
"Wait... But weren't you cursed with shitty luck, like when you were in the intro of that game you were from?" Greg asked, a little confused by what the Gacha King said.
"LIES!" The Gacha King roared loudly in anger, before he then coughed in his hand to calm himself down from the generated outrage. "Sorry, kid. As I was saying, that was utter bull, whatever that game said. It was actually the other way around. Sure, I often got sucky draws from time to time, but damn, was I a lucky bastard. In most games, after enough time, I would have enough copies or whatever is needed, to get max ranks and levels for every possible character. I was INVITED to the Gacha World, because I wanted to see what kind of gacha game Japan would have made. Who would have thought that it was a world-transport plot?"
The Gacha King then shook his head. "Either way, that's not the point." Gacha King continued. "As much as I want to strangle the fucker who wasted your life and your awesome talents, until he chokes on his own blood and saliva, I can't do that without causing quite the commotion. So I'll opt for the other option, giving you another life, one where you'll get the glory you deserve. Tell me, are you familiar with the term 'Isekai'?"
"Of course. You must have saw my life. I'm quite interested in the fandoms, but not truly to the degree that I'm a pure otaku. After all, I do play for the college's soccer team, as one of their midfielders." Greg replied back. "You're going to be sending me to a different world, I get that. But what are you going to do as well?"
"Since you're a fan of RPG gaming in your younger years, before you refocused to FPS gaming..." Gacha King answered back. "I'm going to implement something like that, with the newfound power that allows me to bless souls with my own kind of gifts. But since you're the first guy to come up, and you're a potential gaming legend taken away by cruel fate, I've made this gift a special one."
He then lifted his hand again, as it glowed in a rainbow aura, as the aura snaked towards Greg, entering through where his heart would be, worming its way in, as Greg felt nothing but a feeling of power as the aura entered his body. After a while, the aura disappeared, as the Gacha King crossed his arms.
"Now... Repeat after me. 'Status'." Gacha King instructed the soul before him.
"'Status'." Greg repeated after him, as a half-opaque status screen appeared in his vision, almost frightening him, and forcing him to take a step back.
Name: Greg Ishitori
Level: 0
Title: Gacha King's Successor
HP: N/A (Regen: 0/min)
MP: N/A (Regen: 0/min)
STR: N/A
MAG: N/A
AGI: N/A
DEF: N/A
INT: N/A
WIS: N/A
LUK: N/A
SUM: N/A
Attribute Points: 0
Money(In Gold): Currency Unknown/0 (0)
Gems: 0
Skill Points: 0
Greg was a little happy to find that he has the typical RPG character sheet and status screen, although he did notice a few unique elements here and there, including Gold and Gems, and that all of his basic attributes were N/A as of now, and he already has a title.
Speaking of which...
"Uh, Gacha King? What's with the title?" Greg asked. "Successor of the Gacha King? Am I really going to have such a nice title?"
The Gacha King smiled, as he rested his hands on the transformed Gacha Sword, as the tip of the blade was standing on the platform he was on.
"It's one part of the compensation that I wanted to give you." Gacha King cheerfully answered back. "And, I bet that you noticed that there were several things that aren't explained yet. So I'll do so now. Note why there are things like Gold and Gems, and the familiar stat of SUM or Summon is there? And why your title is exactly as it reads? Because being the kind and fair deity I am, I am willing to make you my honoured successor to my powers of Gacha Summoning."
"What!? Really?" Greg asked, a little excited about the prospect of summoning powerful beings with the use of Gacha Summoning.
"I kid you not. Gold is self-explanatory. It's currency for stuff for purchasing upgrades and giving your dear summons a nice good Awakening to break their old limits and form new ones. Since I don't know jack about the currency in the world you might land up in, I'm putting two separate currency types, which you can exchange between." Gacha King explained, before he raised a hand out, as a shining diamond that radiated rainbow colours appeared in his hand, almost the size of his palm. "Gems however... They fall in the group of loot drops, except they are far rarer than gear at times. You use these gems to upgrade as well, and bring about Awakenings, but you know its main use is to Gacha until your Gem reserves are bone dry, huh?"
The Gacha King then desummoned the Gem in his hand, as he continued his little lecture about what new mechanics that Greg will have access to.
"And since you're going to be likely to have the same set of Summons like I do, it wouldn't be fair to just let them have elemental attacks and a skill." Gacha King replied. "No... To allow you to utilise their full potential, I have tweaked the system a little, so that there is something called Affection. Consider it kind of like the relationship gauges that you find in several games, mostly dating sims. As you fill your Summons with Affection, by doing several things, like using their abilities and having a nice little chat with them, you'll gain passive bonuses, perks, and skills fitting for the theme of the character. And if you're close enough with your summons, you can actually summon them to be like your party members, except they will never die, no matter what would happen to them. Even gods will find it impossible to banish whatever Summon you bring to your side."
"Continuing on, we have the stats. Don't be fooled by what you see in your status, because those basic stats cannot be tweaked with the use of attribute points. No, we're following the same principles of having five ways to expand your parameters. First, we have the self-explanatory HP path, which will greatly increase your HP points with each point added into it. Next up is the PWR path, short for Power, which will equally boost MAG and STR stats, since you're going to be stronger in both magical and physical combat, with extra power flowing through you. The third path is the DEF path, which will increase your Defence Stats. Just because there's no DEF stat before in Gacha World, doesn't mean you'll have to suffer the same thing. Second-last is the SUM path, which despite its name, actually increases three stats at a time, INT, WIS, and obviously, SUM. And last up is the LUK path. You increase that stuff, and you'll get more lucky, which benefits in Gacha Summoning and real-life events."
"So I guess that's all I can say." The Gacha King finished off his 'tutorial'. "Like I said, I'm not exactly used to this new system, which is a hybrid between the one I am used to, and the typical RPG system, so experiment with it, and do your best, I guess. Just remember, I only became Gacha King from Gacha Summoner, because I actually toiled and strived to reach the heavens themselves with my strength. Don't rely too much on your power or your luck, because you'll need both to rise to the top of the world."
"I understand, Gacha King." Greg nodded, as he went down on a knee in respect. "I won't make you regret for making me your possible successor."
"Good to see that my new student is so eager to get started. Maybe in time, you'll become the Gacha King when I decide to retire from this dimensional journey." Gacha King smiled. "Until then, do your best, and show the world you're going to be in, the overwhelming power that is Gacha. Now, one last thing I have to give you. Ellie, COME!"
Suddenly, there was a burst of rainbow light beside the Gacha King's head, as it faded to reveal a large fairy, who was quite mature in age, and had a golden crown on her head, that had a rainbow star gem on the front of it. She had lavender butterfly pixie wings, and her entire body was covered by a royal rainbow dress that had large frills. She had long flowing gradient hair, from platinum on top of her head, to yellow on the tips. She had several different coloured hairclips on the sides of her head, each in pairs, and her eyes were rainbow on the irises, and her pupils had white stars in the centre of them.
As the fairy, Ellie, noticed her summoning, she immediately turned around, as she pouted cutely, and immediately bashed her arms rapidly against the side of the Gacha King's head.
"You stupid King!" Ellie squawked in a high-pitched and melodious tone. "Why did you go and leave me back there!? I thought you were going to take me with me from the beginning, you big meanie!"
"Stop! Ahaha! You're tickling me, Ellie! Please! I give! I give!" Gacha King laughed heartily, as the tiny fists were truly tickling him. "You've beat me at last, oh great RNG goddess!"
Ellie then stopped, before she then smiled triumphantly.
"Good! That'll teach you to mess with me again!" Ellie puffed her chest out in pride.
"Lesson learned, Ellie. How could I make a cutie like you mad again? I'm a man of morals, you know!" Gacha King replied back, before he then turned Ellie around to see Greg. "Ellie, meet Greg Ishitori. You're going to be his companion during his trip in the world."
"Wha!?" Greg cried out in shock. "You can't possibly mean that... No, I must politely refuse. Ellie, you should be with the Gacha King."
"And I don't wanna leave you, Gacha King!" Ellie exclaimed as well, as she was torn by her master's words. "I want to stay with you, and explore the rest of the worlds with you."
"Don't be stubborn." Gacha King scolded Ellie, with a wagging finger, although he was smiling to assure her as well. "You know that there's a reason why I need you to be by my successor's side. And don't act like that. To see you this heartbroken about this, hurts me even more. I can't stand to leave my poor little Ellie in such a cruel world. So I have made this."
Gacha King then snapped his fingers, as a door small enough for Ellie to pass through appeared in front of the fairy.
"I'll give you the skill needed to allow you to make this doorway, so that you can switch between us in a flash, Ellie." Gacha King told his fairy. "This way, you won't be away from me for long, and when Greg will need you, you'll be there in a heartbeat. So please, help Greg out, as you have in the past."
Ellie remained silent, as she was conflicted as to whether she wanted to go, since she is happy to help Greg, but she's so unwilling to part away from her dear Gacha King, before she then made up her choice.
"Alright, I'll come with you. Greg." Ellie said, before she then raised her hand out. "I'm Ellie, the Elemental Fairy, and the Goddess of RNG. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Ellie." Greg responded back, as he placed a finger in Ellie's hand, as she shook it gently. "I'm counting on you to take care of me, just like you did with the Gacha Summoner."
"I... I won't disappoint you either!" Ellie shouted back with a grin. "But if I'm going to go, I rather not look like the queen of the world... Let me change into a more suitable form..."
Ellie then transformed herself in a flash of white light, as her form melded into a new one, as it was revealed that her long hair was turned into twin-pigtails, and her pixie wings have shrunked greatly, as well as her regal dress turning into a simple one, with a skirt and top, tied together by a large purple bow, and she had long white socks and small shoes on her legs and feet. She also looked much more childish, fitting that of a typical fairy.
"There we go!" Ellie replied, in her new form. "Now then, Greg, let's have a great adventure together, shall we?"
"Yes! We shall!" Greg yelled in enthusiasm.
"Very well." Gacha King said, as he immediately raised his sword, and carved the shape of a door in the air with it, as the carving in space turned into a large door. "Step through this door, Greg Ishitori, and live another life filled with adventure and fame! And remember, no matter how hard things may be, and no matter where you are, know that hope lasts forever, and you have me to take care of you in bleak times!"
Greg nodded, before he then opened it, and entered the bright white space inside of it, as he faded from the void, with Ellie behind him.
"Good luck, my successor..." Gacha King said to no-one in particular. "Welcome to your second life, a life that you will finally have dominion and control over, not damned fate..."
