Episode 184

2.

The second floor of the Tower of Trials had ended in a laughably anticlimactic fashion, but the rewards were anything but.

[You have obtained VIP Tokens (40).]

[Your Level has increased by 2.]

[You have obtained 'Random Pet Summon Ticket (Unique)'.]

VIP Tokens for later, two levels, and a pet summon ticket. At a glance, the haul seemed a bit bare-bones.

The VIP Tokens weren't a currency he could spend right away, and the Random Pet Summon Ticket, despite being Unique grade, was the kind of thing that popped up now and then in "Daily Gifts Galore!" events.

Rewards that could elicit a genuine "Wow!" no longer came so easily.

Adaptation.

Human satisfaction has a way of recalibrating the moment you get used to something.

Buja was no different.

In fact, he was worse.

Sometimes his baseline for satisfaction rose so high it could only be called greed, but that relentless dissatisfaction—that constant hunger—was the shortcut to growth.

Even so, this time he was grinning so wide his smile practically reached his ears.

"I can't believe I broke through level 20 this easily."

If he had only gotten the floor rewards, he might not have been disappointed, but he probably would have just calmly turned his attention to the next floor or the next Gold Mission.

But that wasn't all that happened.

For someone like him, currently at level 19, the second floor of the Tower of Trials wasn't just a way to gain two levels.

[You have reached Level 21.]

[You have achieved 'Achievement: Newbie! (U)'.]

[You have obtained 30,000 Gold.]

[You have obtained Special Stat Points (5).]

[You have obtained Stat Points (10).]

['Gold Mission – Chapter 3' is now active.]...

A flood of holograms followed.

The second floor had been a stepping stone to get over a wall—not an insurmountable one, but a wall nonetheless. This floor was supposed to be the fastest and easiest bridge across.

Then the variable named Hwangdo had stepped in, and they had simply flown over the bridge altogether.

"Finally..."

Moments like this, when it felt like he'd achieved massive growth, only made him realize how far he still had to go.

The frontrunners were already decked out in incredible rewards like these—rewards a Legendary class could obtain simply by leveling up, far more valuable than stats inflated with a mishmash of items. They were quietly solidifying their foundations.

He calmed his excitement and slowly sorted through the notifications.

Nothing major had changed. No brand-new content had unlocked, and while a few existing systems had leveled up, the impact wasn't huge. As for the Gold Missions, even though Chapter 3 was now open, he hadn't finished Chapter 2 yet, so he couldn't check it anyway.

On the other hand, the gold he had blown on raising Hwangdo had been partially recouped.

He'd earned 30,000 gold from hitting level 21 and another 120,000 gold from his record-breaking clear of the second floor. Adding in the miscellaneous bits and pieces, he had gained about 170,000 gold in total. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about money for a while.

'Though I'll probably burn through it soon enough.'

As he mulled over how to spend it, his gaze naturally drifted to Hwangdo.

He shook his head and opened the last reward.

"Let's see what kind of trash comes out this time."

A Unique-grade Random Pet Summon Ticket.

He didn't even feel excited.

If it had been Legendary grade, he might have opened it with the faint hope of beating the low odds—something like 1.5%—and pulling a Legendary pet. But this wasn't that.

This was an item that could produce anything from Normal to Unique.

Of course, just because the ticket was capped at Unique didn't mean it couldn't produce something of Special grade or higher. After nearly a year of opening countless boxes that appeared every night at midnight, he knew it was possible to get something above the listed grade.

It was just very, very rare.

The odds were absolutely brutal.

They were so bad that out of all the Normal-grade tickets he'd opened—which made up the vast majority—he had only ever gotten a single Rare pet.

It was easier on his sanity to just assume nothing better would ever come out.

And this one was a Unique-grade ticket. If the cap had been Special, he might have thought, 'Maybe?' But the odds of getting a Legendary from a Unique ticket? He'd have to beat the brutal odds to get a Special first, and then beat them again to get a Legendary.

"I'd rather buy a lottery ticket."

If someone told him to choose between winning the lottery and getting a Legendary pet, he would obviously pick the pet, but it wasn't like he could control the outcome.

As he wasted time on these pointless thoughts, the torn summon ticket flared with a brilliant golden light, ramping up the suspense. It looked like something incredible was about to appear.

"The presentation is always flashy, that's all."

He muttered without much interest as the result popped up.

[You have obtained a 'Legendary' pet.]

[You have achieved 'Achievement: One in a Billion'.]

[Your 'Legendary' pet is being filtered as a class-exclusive pet.]

[You have obtained 'Gold Mimic'.]

[This pet cannot be 'unsummoned'.]

[You do not have enough pet slots. Would you like to increase your pet tier?]

Another wave of holograms crashed over him.

"Huh?"

His brain froze for a moment.

'What the hell is happening?'

He quickly raised his pet tier.

[You have spent 500 Gold.]

[Your 'Pet' Tier has increased. 1 → 2]

[Your maximum number of summonable pets has increased. 1 → 2]

▷ Upon reaching 'VIP 4', you can spend 2,000 Gold to increase your tier.

Gold Mimic.

The name alone didn't give him a particularly good feeling.

The first image that came to mind was a chest that spat out gold. If he let his imagination run wild, maybe it was a chest stuffed full of gold. But there was no guarantee reality would be so kind.

So, he erased his expectations. After all, he'd only gotten a Legendary pet in the first place because he'd opened the ticket with zero expectations.

[Summoning 'Gold Mimic'.]

Pop!

The air in front of him warped, and a small chest bounced out.

It was a strange yet familiar sight. The chest was about the size of his fist, and as he caught it in his palm, its cute, compact appearance immediately reminded him of Hwangdo when they first met.

"Are all Gold Maker class pets like this?"

"Scree!"

Perhaps Hwangdo had instinctively recognized this new arrival as a comrade—or rather, a new slave. He chirped a cheerful greeting from the side.

'What kind of ability does it have?'

Carefully, he lifted the lid of the chest.

A thin, frail whimper drifted out.

"What the...?"

He glanced around, but there was nothing nearby that could have made such a weak, delicate sound.

Naturally, his gaze returned to the Gold Mimic.

Inside the half-open lid, small, underdeveloped-looking teeth were sparsely lined up on the top and bottom. A thick tongue flicked in the center, moving like a living thing.

"It really is a mimic, huh?"

It whimpered again.

It looked almost exactly as he had imagined. Aside from its size, his first meeting with the Gold Mimic went pretty much as expected.

* * *

It was a Legendary pet, but honestly, he wasn't feeling it.

▷ Legendary Collection Effect (2) is active.

1. All Stats +20

2. Attack +16

3. Defense +16

4. Gold Power +5

The only clear upside was the expanded Legendary Collection effect and the corresponding stat boost. Other than that, nothing about the pet felt particularly appealing.

And for good reason.

"I can barely afford to feed Hwangdo. How am I supposed to raise this thing too?"

If Hwangdo had already finished his final growth stage and no longer needed gold, he might have hesitated for a moment. Even then, he would have ultimately prioritized his own growth and pushed the pet to the back burner. He wouldn't have been that interested regardless.

But Hwangdo hadn't finished his final growth stage yet.

He was already worried that the 170,000 gold he'd just earned would all get sucked up by Hwangdo. And now he was supposed to raise a brand-new Legendary pet on top of that?

"No wonder people don't have kids."

Even if it wasn't a child, or even a pet, raising anything—supporting it, investing in it—wasn't easy. Just one had doubled his workload; adding another would probably cost him sleep.

He decided to cut his losses.

The reason he could be so decisive was simple.

'I've got a dragon. Why would I bother raising some mimic?'

Aside from being a bit smaller, both Hwangdo and the Gold Mimic looked pretty much as he'd imagined when they first appeared. Hwangdo's growth had followed that pattern; if he kept growing like this, he would definitely become a magnificent dragon and fill Buja with pride.

But the mimic?

Just looking at it, it didn't seem capable of doing anything.

It had no arms or legs, so it couldn't move on its own. When it opened its mouth, all you saw were creepy teeth and a single wriggling tongue.

What was he supposed to do with something like this?

Sure, there had to be a reason it was Legendary grade, a reason it was called a "Gold" Mimic, and a reason it was designated as a Gold Maker-exclusive pet. But he had no desire to find out.

'Just because it's a class-exclusive pet doesn't mean it's automatically good.'

And even if it turned out to be good, he could always deal with it later, once he had some breathing room, just like he was doing with Hwangdo.

With that conclusion in mind, he opened the status window to at least give it a name.

[Gold Mimic]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Name: Unnamed (You may change this once for free.)

▶ Level: 1

▶ Stats: Gold Power (20)

▶ Skills

1. Treasure Exchange Lv1

[Treasure Exchange]

▶ Level: 1

▷ When you feed it gold, it spits out a treasure.

And then he saw it.

A pet with a concept completely different from Hwangdo's.

"What the hell is this?"

His heart skipped a beat.

There was nothing particularly special about it. Given that his class had been gacha-themed from the very beginning, it wasn't surprising that he would get a gacha pet. But a pet whose only stat was Gold Power?

"What the..."

A tiny spark of curiosity stirred in Buja, who had been planning to just toss it in a corner at home.

Of course, he knew it was only level 1, and whatever came out now wouldn't be anything special.

But if its level went up by feeding it gold, just like Hwangdo's… what kind of treasures would it produce?

That was the only thing he wanted to know.

What if these "treasures" were things that didn't exist in the Gold Shop—truly rare items...?

He reached into the air, pulled out a 100-gold coin, and held it out.

The lid of the chest, which had been shut again, slid open just a crack. A thick pink tongue peeked out, snatched the coin, and swallowed it.

The sight was gross yet oddly cute, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

The little chest wriggled as if it were rolling the gold around in its mouth, like a person savoring a meal. After about thirty seconds, the lid cracked open again and spat something out.

Something about the same size as the Gold Mimic dropped into his hand, covered in sticky drool.

"What is this?"

He shook his hand, and the slimy saliva slid off easily, falling to the floor.

With that, the true form of the "treasure" was revealed: a transparent gemstone, cut into a beautiful diamond shape and glowing with a red light.

"A red diamond?"

He said the name out loud but couldn't be sure. He didn't know the first thing about gemstones.

What he did know was that even to his untrained eye, the stone in his palm looked expensive enough to deserve the name "treasure."

Buja headed straight out of the house.

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