New Level, Old Habit

I've been doing Gacha rolls for a while now, but today's the first day I'm completely indecisive about it. I mean, I always have doubts about which path to take, and if we are talking about power alone, then I know for a fact I'm not going at the most straightforward one nor the quicker one, but the one I rationalize to be safer and allows me to build a good foundation while improving bit by bit. So, even though I know there are merits to all banners, I still believed that the [Skills Banner] was capable of maintaining a good balance between safety and productivity, which allowed me to choose it without worrying too much aside from the casual consideration.

But last time, to say I was let down would be the understatement of the year. I was in such disbelief that for a moment I might've begun to think that my Gift would only amount to a slight speed boost and then a bunch of situation-dependent skills, at least when it came to fighting. Of course, I was wrong, and I even knew it at the time, seriously, my Gift already had given me many useful skills, but I just couldn't shake the feeling the quality of said skills was dropping really fast.

That was what gave me the motivation to change, I threw my caution out of the window in a moment of weakness, that is something I should note, to remind myself not to let emotions overtake my rationality.

Thankfully, the roll on the [Companions Banner] has proven to be extremely good, even now I feel like I got lucky that Licia was the one to be summoned. This definitely opens the window for future [Companions Banner] rolls in my mind, even more so now that I can somewhat trust Licia to guard my back. Even if another person comes from it, and they try to attack me, as long as they come out at level 1, I should probably be able to deal with them somehow.

But that's what worries me, when I first summoned Licia, I was being honest about my shock and lack of understanding of the situation, which helped her to believe me. The fact I wasn't that much stronger than her also must have helped in a way, If we fought, it would be close so she probably knew she could escape me and so she at least listened to what I had to say before taking action. I cannot take this for granted as everyone reacts differently, and so I must be careful, both for my sake and for the one who's summoned as well. Ultimately the [Companions Banner] is a good option, although it comes with its fair share of trouble.

The [Weapons Banner] seems like a sweeter option the more time passes, I believe I'll go for it soon, probably after defeating the boss on the first floor. Since the higher the floor the fewer people you'll find, the risks are lessened to some extent. Having Licia with me is also reassuring, If she's always accompanying me, that means I'm always a harder target. I'll give it a bit more time, but when I'm able to completely trust her having two people with strong-looking weapons would be intimidating, even more so considering Licia can make the most of it considering her experience. We would only be lacking in actual power ourselves though... but the sight would either scare people or motivate them to try something against us. So for now it's still a pass, but I swear I'm gonna spend so many tickets on this banner when I have a chance...

The [Kingdom] menu also opened some options for me in terms of the variety of banners. Thanks to it I have Licia´s [Mana Control] and I could get her [Ice Magic], so rolling on the [Spellbooks Banner] would provide me benefit now, as long as I get a spellbook of the Ice element... Thinking about it, I have the [Reading Speed Up] which can be actually useful for something like this.

At last, there's still the old, not always reliable, [Skills Banner]. It's been letting me down lately, but since there's a myriad of skills, I'm bound to get something useful if I keep at it...

I try to think about what to do, and what benefits could I get with every option. It seems like the [Skills Banner] lost a bit of its appeal to me, but maybe it's because I've been getting stronger and so I want to go for other banners that would absolutely make me stronger one way or another. The surprise of the [Companions Banner] is also skewing my view on this, even then, I know I shouldn't hope for the same situation as what happened to Licia.

...

I won't get anywhere if I don't decide, so let's just do what's proven to work, I'm not in a bad spot right now, so I can take my time with the small benefits provided by the [Skills Banner].

And so, I focus on the [Skills Banner], spending all three of my tickets on it. The same old sensation assaults my mind once again. It feels like an out-of-body experience, but it lasts for only a moment, and since I'm already used to it, somehow it feels like this time was quicker. Even then. Licia looks at me worriedly.

Licia: "Are you alright? For a second it seemed like you were knocked out cold."

Miwen: "I'm fine, it happens all the time I use my Gift."

Licia: "I do remember that you seemed out of it when we first met, but I was also quite dumbfounded at the moment so I thought it to be a normal reaction given the situation..."

Well, that was due to a variety of reasons, and remembering that scene still makes me lose focus, I mean, who wouldn't, right? After all, such a beautiful girl was completely nude in front of-

Wait what Am I thinking about?

That's hard, why did she need to bring that up? There's no way I can take it off my mind now. Please don't notice it, please don't notice it.

I'll just distract myself with the new skills for now, otherwise, I might end up doing something I'll regret later. As such, let's see what's new in the [Current Skills]:

[Faster Tree Climbing]

As the user already has this skill, its level has been increased to 2, allowing even faster tree climbing. Please note that this is a passive skill, and therefore it's always active unless the user decides to deactivate it, which can be done at any time.

[Unending Determination]

The user's determination is increased, thus allowing for an extremely low chance to resist fatal attacks. When training, the user has a low chance to enter a [Determined] state, allowing for increased benefits and less tiredness, as long as the training can be affected by the user's determination. Please note that this is a passive skill, and it's always active, however, the user may deactivate it at any time he so desires.

[Sight Enhancement]

Allows the user to better perceive faster-moving objects, see things further away, and also see more details when close to an object. Any sight-related illness is alleviated and may be cured when acquiring or improving this skill, depending on severity. Please note that this is a passive skill, as such, it's always active, but the user may choose to deactivate it at any time.

Both [Unending Determination] and [Sight Enhancement] sound pretty good, although in very different ways. I hope that the 'resist fatal attacks' of the [Unending Determination] never needs to be triggered, but it's good to have it nonetheless. Of course, in no way I'll allow myself to get reckless thanks to it. As for [Sight Enhancement], this might be the combat skill I've been craving for. One of its cited effects harmonizes perfectly with my [Movement Speed Up] making them a very strong passive skill combo.

As for the first one...

I'm going to pretend not to have read it.

Overall, I guess my faith in the [Skills Banner] is somewhat restored. I'll keep giving it tickets in the future, but since next level I'll definitely be increasing my intelligence so that my mana pool increases and I'm able to use spells, I might throw some tickets at the [Spellbooks Banner] when the time comes...

To end the day, I thought about doing a roll in the [Mana Banners], if it worked out, my recently acquired [Mana Control] skill could allow me to not suffer from the effects of mana depletion. Sadly my hopes were shattered in that regard, as when I focused on this menu to look the cost for a single roll, it still said it would take a single mana point for the minimum roll, [Mana Control] or not, I'd be having mana depletion either way if I went for it. So, with nothing else to be done, it's time to turn off the lights and let the day end.