The translucent slot machine materialized in the air in front of Lukas, its five reels already spinning.
He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and watched the reels blur.
He'd spent 500 Gacha Points for this single draw, which meant he'd have to work with whatever came out of it. There were no second chances or do-overs.
The reels began to slow, and the first one clicked into place. A golden star.
Lukas didn't let himself get excited to see it. After all, one star meant nothing on its own. It was the minimum. Basically, the worst possible pull he could get.
He had learned that from Melody's draw. Two stars had given him a B-Rank [Hexblade] and stats that had reshaped his entire situation. One star was just confirmation that the machine was working.
The second reel slowed and stopped. Another golden star.
He pumped his fist once, before keeping his cool. Two stars. That was already matching Melody's pull. Whatever came out of this was going to be useful. He could feel it.
The third reel slowed… and stopped on a golden star.
"Three," he breathed.
Excitement flooded him. He would've squealed like a school girl if not for the fact that he was keeping his eyes on the fourth reel, praying for good luck.
This was uncharted territory for him, but he already knew that whatever he pulled, it was going to be fantastic.
The fourth reel slowed. The symbols blurred as they passed, each one carrying the possibility of a fourth star. The reel moved slower, slower, then… it stopped.
The reel was empty.
The fifth reel followed a few seconds later, empty as well.
Lukas felt disappointment for a moment, before his brain reminded him that he'd gotten three stars out of five!
Then the notification appeared.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have pulled a Three Star (Rare) Skill!]
[Blood Armor: You can absorb the spilled blood around you into a thick protective shell that absorbs incoming damage. The shell grows stronger the more enemies are bleeding nearby.]
He read it once. Then again. Then a third time to make sure he hadn't misread a word.
"FUCK YES!"
He drove both fists into the air, the sound coming out of him somewhere between a shout and a laugh. He paced in a small circle, still pumping his fists.
"What did you get?" Melody stepped forward, the eagerness all over her face. "What is it?"
"[Blood Armor]." He turned to her with a grin that he had no intentions of dialing down.
Her eyes went wide. Then she let out a sound that wasn't quite a scream and wasn't quite a cheer and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
Neither of them needed to explain to the other why this mattered.
[Blood Armor] was not a skill that appeared in the Awakener skill pool. It belonged to the [Bloodmage] class, but not the Awakener-rank version of it.
The skill only unlocked when a [Bloodmage] made it to the Second Floor of the Tower and crossed into Adept. It was, by any reasonable standard, an Adept-level ability.
Others had to cross to a new floor to awaken it, but Lukas had simply spent 500 Gacha Points and gotten lucky.
He stood there for a moment after Melody pulled back, turning the skill description over in his mind. A shell made of absorbed blood that helped him reduce damage.
And the shell would keep getting stronger based on how many enemies near him were actively bleeding.
In a fight against multiple opponents, every wound he opened would feed the armor, reinforcing his defense at the same time [Cursed Blade] sapped his enemy's health.
There was only one thing to do.
"Let's go find something to bleed on," he said.
Melody's grin matched his. "I was waiting for you to say that."
They moved deeper into the Scorched Forest, past the outer zones where the weaker beasts still roamed, until they found themselves in the territory where the C-rank creatures had established themselves.
The first beast found them before they found it.
A Zipper Bear burst from behind a burnt-out husk of a tree, its bulk moving with the kind of speed that still surprised Lukas every time he saw it.
The bear didn't slow as it closed the distance, confident in its superior speed as the apex predator around here.
It slammed into Melody's [Hex Shield] at full speed.
The shield didn't even crack. Instead, the bear bounced off it, stumbling back, its momentum reversed so suddenly that it shook its head in confusion.
Melody dropped the shield before it could recover its footing.
Lukas surged forward, his sword tearing through the air in a wide slash.
The bear tried to pull back but it had miscalculated how fast he was. His sword sheared clean through the bear's right arm at the shoulder, the limb tumbling to the ground.
Blood sprayed from the wound in a thick arc, painting the soot-covered ground dark red.
Lukas activated [Blood Armor].
The mana drain hit him immediately as the skill began guzzling the resource. Even scaled down to his E-Rank, the skill's cost reminded him that it was a weapon that shouldn't exist at his level.
It pulled from his reserves with the appetite of an Adept ability, because that was exactly what it was.
He didn't care.
He had more mana than he knew what to do with at this rank. He could afford to be wasteful.
The blood on the ground evaporated. The mist rose, curling towards him, and then solidified around him in a shell of deep, translucent red.
It covered him from head to toe, his vision now carrying a red tint as the shell sealed over his eyes too. He could still see through it clearly, showcasing that even if an opponent targeted his eyes, the shell would protect it.
Unlike his cuirass, the shell didn't impede his movements at all, and a grin appeared on his face at the realization.
Melody raised another [Hex Shield] as the bear lunged, redirecting it sideways, then dropped the shield as it stumbled past her.
Lukas stepped in from the other side, driving his sword through the bear's torso with a two-handed thrust, then pulling the blade upwards in a single clean motion.
The bear split apart in the middle.
[You have killed a C-rank Zipper Bear.]
The blood still on the ground evaporated and flowed upwards, adding to the shell.
He could feel it thicken, the shell growing stronger. The mana drain was still a bit steep, but the shell was stronger now than it had been thirty seconds ago.
He turned to Melody, but she was already looking past him, her head slightly tilted.
Another roar echoed through the tree line, closer than the first.
He didn't need to say anything. She was already moving, and he fell into step beside her.
There was experience to collect, and the day was still young.