We dove into the event dungeon together. Just as Aoi-chan had predicted, it was smooth sailing at first, and we cleared the early floors in record time.
However, things took a turn for the difficult around the 20th floor. Aoi-chan had mentioned that for a Fourth Job character with decent gear, the 35th floor was usually the limit; naturally, for a Third Class character with average equipment, even reaching the 30th floor proved to be a struggle.
Still, since Aoi-chan was a high-level Fourth Job player with a solid setup, the run past the 20th floor felt like watching her go on an absolute rampage. Even though I was only a Third Class, my character possessed high durability. Our strategy—me pulling the mobs while Aoi-chan wiped them out with high-firepower area magic—worked like a charm.
But once we climbed past the 30th floor, enemies started appearing that could actually survive Aoi-chan's magic. Even for me, staying upright became a challenge.
"As I thought, things are getting a bit too intense. Let's head back once we clear this 35th floor."
"I agree. Any further than this and it'll just be a time sink. Besides, my character gained about twenty-five levels. The experience points were definitely worth the effort. Do we get the Limited Boxes at the end?"
"Yes. It looks like you receive them upon exiting, based on the number of floors cleared."
After answering me, Aoi-chan spoke to an NPC inside the Pair Dungeon and chose to conclude the run. A door appeared—not the one leading to the next floor, but a different one. Stepping through it, we arrived at a small Battle Result Confirmation Room. When we spoke to the NPC there, we received rewards corresponding to our progress: fifty Limited Boxes and several premium items.
"Fifty boxes each? That's quite a haul."
"Even if you finish every event daily quest, you only get about twenty, so the efficiency of this dungeon is truly overwhelming."
"Since we've got them, should we go ahead and open the Limited Boxes?"
"I suppose so. I was going to suggest selling them so you could upgrade your gear, Kaito-san, but since the items from your warehouse brought in a tidy sum, we might as well open these for the full event experience."
While selling the boxes would net a decent amount of currency, it wouldn't be enough to fully modernize our equipment. So, I decided to just open them. I selected the Limited Boxes in my inventory and hit 'Use.'
"Sh*** has obtained the Accessory of the Heavenly God from a Limited Box."
...Wait, what? A World Announcement, broadcast to the entire server, suddenly scrolled across the screen. The character name was censored except for the first letter, but the text on my game screen was unmistakable: "Obtained Accessory of the Heavenly God."
"Ka-Kaito-san?! That's one of the legendary accessories I mentioned!"
"Seriously? I mean, the moment that announcement popped up, I had a hunch, but... whaaa?!"
"I suppose your luck even extends to netgames, Kaito-san."
"Y-Yeah. Wait, could this be thanks to Shiro-san's Blessing?"
I had somehow managed the miraculous feat of pulling a super ultra-rare item on the very first try. Thinking about it, I assumed it must be the effect of Shiro-san's Blessing.
(No. Strictly speaking, that game space is a separate world, so I have adjusted my blessing so it has absolutely no influence.)
Eh? Oh, I see.
"I just got a message from Shiro-san. She says she specifically adjusted her blessing so the luck correction wouldn't affect the game."
"Then you pulled that with your natural luck? That's terrifying. There are several different types, and every one of them is absurdly powerful. What are the stats on the Heavenly God one?"
"Let's see... Whoa, this is broken. Plus twenty to all stats, HP increased by a hundred percent, thirty percent reduction to all physical and magical damage, and a five percent chance to nullify damage entirely when hit. All this from a single accessory slot... I see now why the top-tier players are so desperate to get one."
As expected of a rare item with a microscopic drop rate, the performance was monstrous. Each of those four effects would have been incredible on its own. For a Tank Class in particular, this was a gear piece one would do anything to acquire.
"Incredible. If you sold this, you could probably afford a full set of front-line class equipment."
"It's obviously strong. Since it has great synergy with my class, I might as well keep it and use it."
"I agree. You'll be significantly stronger once you equip it. Actually, with gear like that, it might be better to reallocate your stats and skills to a pure Tank build."
"That's true. I'll give it some thought later. For now, let's open the rest..."
Since changing to my Third Class, I had one free reset for my stats and skills. Just as Aoi-chan suggested, a dedicated Tank-type build was a viable option. Seeing us in the dungeon, Aoi-chan's firepower was clearly superior. A balanced party where I focused entirely on tanking while she handled the offense seemed ideal.
At any rate, I had stumbled into an amazing item through sheer luck. It wasn't exactly a rare mob drop, but getting high-rare equipment like this was always a thrill.
Recalling the excitement I felt back when I used to play games regularly, I opened the remaining Limited Boxes.
"Sh*** has obtained the Accessory of the Demon God from a Limited Box."
A second World Announcement scrolled across the screen. ...Wait, what?
~List of Luck Value Corrections Active for Kaito during Limited Box Opening~
Affection of the Creator God: Adjusted to have no influence. Affection of the God of Fate: Adjusted to have no influence. Love of the Great Evil God: Exerting a faint influence. Insane Love of the Machine God: Exerting immense influence (virtually the primary cause). Divine Protection of the Ultimate God: Exerting a slight influence. New - Blessing of the God of Flux: Influencing. New - Blessing of the Cyber God: Influencing significantly. New - Blessing of the Dual Gods: Influencing. New - Blessings from "A Massive Swarm" of Other Gods: Under the logic that a blessing is "safe" as long as they don't use their real names (an exploit Canalis used), a vast number of creator gods who are fans of Kaito have sent their blessings.
Serious-senpai: "...He's receiving massive corrections from the most bizarre sources again. Alice is going to be clutching her head when she sees this..."