"Well..." Lukas thought about it, "my original plan was to try getting into a party first, and if nobody was willing to take me, then I was going to try hunting solo outside the city walls."
"But now that you're here, I guess I'll have to change those plans. I guess the real question is... where should we start from? The dungeons or the hunting grounds outside the city?"
"What's the difference between the two?" Melody asked.
"With the dungeons, you get structure. You go in, clear it, then collect the loot, which you can sell for money. But the trade-off is that dungeons are restricted based on rank."
"That means that as B-rank, you cannot follow me into an E-rank dungeon, the same way I cannot follow you into a B-rank dungeon. The rules are ironclad. Nobody has ever broken it, and I doubt that we have anything capable of breaking it."
Melody nodded slowly, listening.
"So, dungeons are mainly for loot, which leads to a steady income and a stable progression in leveling up. But the hunting grounds outside the city are different."
He rested his elbows on the table.
"While higher ranked monsters are regularly cleared from the city's immediate surroundings, not all beasts are killed."
"The monsters that remain make the area outside the walls useful for a different reason. And by controlling the monsters in each cleared zone, the city is able to create the perfect hunting grounds for rapid leveling."
"Those with money usually hire higher ranked Awakeners to accompany them to the hunting grounds. As you know, every kill is counted towards experience and calculated based on the contribution in killing said monster."
"That means if a C-rank beast is being put down, and I land ten percent of the total damage, I get ten percent of the total experience for that kill. And ten percent of a C-rank skill is a significant amount of experience for someone at my level."
He grinned at her. "And this is where having a B-rank partner starts becoming very useful."
"I see." Melody nodded. "So dungeons are mainly for earning money and loot, while the hunting grounds are purely for leveling."
"Exactly." He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "And right now, we need both."
"So, what's the actual plan?" She asked.
Before he could answer, a familiar chine rang in his head.
Ding!
[Quest: Solo Leveler]
[Clear the E-rank dungeon, Goblin Tomb, on your own.]
[Reward: +50 Gacha points]
[Penalty: -500 mana for 24 hours]
Lukas blinked in surprise. So, that was how it worked. The system wasn't going to be handing out Gacha Points to him just for existing.
He had to complete its quests to earn points.
He glanced at the quest once again. If he failed, he'd lose 500 mana points for twenty four hours.
If he hadn't copied Melody's stats, it would've been a catastrophic loss equivalent to more than seventy times his mana capacity at the time, but now, it was a negligible loss. He'd still have over one thousand five hundred mana.
"Interesting..." he murmured.
"What's interesting?" Melody asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"I just received a quest. I have to clear an E-rank dungeon on my own."
"Really?" She blinked in surprise, before leaning back in her chair, considering it. "Well, you could totally do it. Your mana pool alone makes you extremely dangerous at E-rank."
"But it'll still take some planning." She turned to him. "Do you know how to wield a sword?"
"Yes," he nodded. "They taught us all basic sword skills at the academy. Nothing too fancy."
And those who were more privileged usually hired private tutors, wiping the floor with the ordinary kids during duels.
"Good." She clapped. "Let's get you a sword of your own for you to bind, so that you can use [Cursed Blade]. Then we'll head out to the hunting grounds outside the city."
"I'll watch you fight, which should be enough for me to judge your skill level and find any gaps in your technique before you walk into any dungeon alone."
"Since [Hexblade] is a pure melee Class, your fighting style would be focused on getting close enough to use your sword and let the curse do most of the heavy lifting."
"You have insane stats for your level, so I'm sure it'll be a cakewalk for you, but that mindset can kill you just as easily as an Adept. So, we'll be taking every precaution we have."
"Don't forget that high stats make people lazy, and lazy people get killed by things they should have been able to dodge."
"Aye, aye, Captain!" Lukas grinned. "We have a plan. First, we're going to the market."
"The market?"
"Yeah. I need a sword and you need clothes."
She looked down at herself, then back up at him. "What's wrong with the clothes I'm wearing?"
"Nothing." He chuckled. "But I doubt that you want to spend the rest of your life in only one set of clothes."
"Yayyy! Shopping!" Melody cheered, before pausing, her eyes sweeping around the house. "Wait... can we afford it?"
Lukas stood, grinning as if he had expected the question. He moved to a corner of the kitchen, and pried open one of the floorboards.
He knelt, and retrieved a small chest. He placed the chest on the table, and opened it. Sitting comfortably inside was a small pile of gold coins.
"You keep your savings under the floor." Melody said with an expression that said she didn't know how to feel about that.
"It's the safest place in a house with no lock worth mentioning."
"That's actually sensible."
"I have my moments."
She turned back to the chest. "So, what are we looking at?"
"700 gold coins." Lukas smiled. "It's not much, but it should be enough for a sword and some clothes for you. Don't worry about spending it all. We'll get more when we begin clearing dungeons."
"Alright!" Melody rose up to her feet. "To the market!"
Lukas stood, matching her smile.
"But first," she paused, "let me use the bathroom."
"Of course."
Melody left the kitchen, and Lukas sat back down, using the free time to check his system interface.
The blue box appeared before him.
[Gacha Harem System]
[Gacha Points: 100]
[Banners:]
[Wife (cost: 2000 Gacha Points)]
[Skills (cost: 500 Gacha Points)]
[Item (cost: 500 Gacha Points)]
[Mystery box (cost: 1000 Gacha Points)]
Lukas' eyes widened.
He had assumed that the system was built around one thing. Pulling wives, copying their stats and skills, and building power that way. And that was already enough to change his life.
But the system was much more than a wife summoning machine.
He had a dedicated banner for summoning both skills and [Items].
Which meant that he could roll for a draw and receive a skill that didn't even belong to a class he possessed!
[Items] were a different story. They were usually granted as dungeon rewards and were objects with properties baked into them, whether offensive, defensive, or as support.
While others would need to grind or spend lots of gold for an [Item] or advance for new skills, all he needed was one Gacha draw!
He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of him at the realization.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
All he needed to do was complete quests and as long as he played his cards right, he'd be the strongest being in this plane of existence.
His eyes moved downwards to the last gacha banner. The mystery box.
If he spent 1000 Gacha Points on this option, the result could be a skill or an [Item] if he was unlucky, and a new wife if he was lucky.
Well, it would have to be a gamble. But he was pretty confident with his luck.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Melody entered the kitchen, smiling at the sight. "What's so funny?"
Lukas rose to his feet, shaking his head, the grin still pasted on his face. "Don't worry about it. Let's go get my sword."
"Alright!" Melody pointed. "Onward, [Hexblade]!"