I Became a 6★ Gacha Character

There's a saying in the world:

When the body suffers, the mind must work harder--

"Got it! I've caught it!"

"Is... is this really the right way to do this...?"

-Like hell it is lololololololol

-If Roland's getting tired of protecting this deadweight, I'm all for it

-Finding the source of damage and destroying it - that's the fundamental way of tanking!

-No don't destroy it, it's Katie's quest item lololololol

-Just do as you're told you tool, who told you to think for yourself

It was a wolf statue with a mana core and a body made of mana stones. Putting its neck in a headlock like Hercules strangling the Nemean lion wouldn't suffocate it, but I could at least keep its mouth pointed away from Han Se-ah to prevent damage and stop its annoying repeated biting attempts. I wanted to crush or shatter it, but that might destroy House Wesley's artifact too, so I had to hold back.

Still, a wolf statue this size made of mana stones - wasn't this treasure worth enough to buy not just a mansion but a proper castle? Considering how even large harpy mana stones sold for fortunes across the Kingdom and Empire, this thing's value...

As I briefly considered capturing and selling it to use the money to enhance Katie instead, Han Se-ah clung tightly to the mana stone wolf's rear. Being a golem made of mana stones, it didn't even think to kick at her with its hind legs.

"Ah, I can feel something glowing inside... but how do we get it out? Is there magic like Earth Control or Water Control or Ice Control for this?"

The wolf tried moving its mouth for its pattern but was firmly caught, only managing to wiggle its behind while Han Se-ah frantically waved her fingers in the air near its wiggling rear, trying to do something.

Glimpsing through the camera, the scene looked so absurdly ridiculous I almost lost my grip from laughing. Well, she did look like a lunatic doing mime next to a large dog throwing a tantrum about getting shots.

Fortunately, Han Se-ah was so focused on her mana control that she'd fixed the camera on the wolf, showing only my forearms as I held its neck. Thanks to that, at least my twitching smile wouldn't be caught.

"Hey Roland? This might take a while - you're not cold, right?"

"Take as long as you need, just try to melt it carefully. This seems to be a House Wesley treasure, we can't just wreck it."

"Got it. I'll give it a try."

And so began Han Se-ah's mana control attempt.

The viewers watching through the camera just laughed at Han Se-ah making faces and waving her fingers in the air like a mime artist. But to me, able to sense the mana movements up close, it felt different.

Actually, when I told her to try something, I meant for her as a player to figure out some trick - I hadn't really expected her to accomplish anything with magic.

After all, this was (supposedly) magic that had endured for centuries, becoming a northern fairy tale. Though we'd forced our way into the dungeon before even finding the rainbow clue, a mana stone wolf shooting freeze beams and moving in sword patterns was plenty mysterious, right?

[Last Stitch of 87-year-old Park Ok-chun donated 10,000 won!]

-Oh dear my eyes are too dim to thread the needle

[Ahegao Lover donated 5,000 won!]

-If it's not too forward, could you roll your eyes up just a bit to show the whites, thank you

"Hmmmm, ah shit, this feels like a puzzle game. Sometimes it feels like it's working, sometimes like I'm just messing around... Hey, stop talking to me! Turning donations off for a bit!"

She concentrated like threading a needle. Though all sorts of voice and video donations flew in trying to distract her obvious focus, she immediately blocked them all.

Han Se-ah, usually teased as money-obsessed, cutting off potential income - what was this? But the mana flow that followed showed she was more serious than expected. Maybe she was even more passionate about gaming than money.

Mana condensed like dewdrops forming on leaves at dawn. At the same time, the mana stone wolf's pattern changed and its rear wiggling intensified - something was definitely happening.

"It's, it's working? I think it's working! The tail is shrinking!"

-Poor doggo, they grab it and immediately dock its tail *sob*

-Quick call animal protection, this is too cruel *sniff*

-No wonder Koreans get accused of eating dogs lololololol

-Don't worry, animal rights already wrote articles after the wyvern massacre scene days ago, now Han Se-ah's officially an ugly Korean who eats both dogs and birds lol

-Wait why is this actually true wtf

It took ages, long enough for my arms to go numb, but Han Se-ah finally accomplished something. When she slapped the wolf's rear with her mana-soaked hand, something popped out from its belly as it melted from tail-tip inward.

※

Streamer Han Se-ah, or rather mage and hero Hanna and Holy Sword owner Roland, Day 2 of being stranded.

"Hmm, there's nothing to do but want me to explain the situation? Not that there's much to explain... Basically we glitched into the dungeon, got the reward but now can't get out so we're waiting. Probably opens up this evening?"

The exit to House Wesley's dungeon hadn't opened yet.

A simple long cave with no obstacles whatsoever and an open space at the end. The space had a roughly 1m high pedestal and a mana stone wolf, which we melted to find what looked like a pauldron popping out of its belly.

The translucent blue armor piece, looking more like ice than metal, was clearly a precious treasure, so it went straight into Han Se-ah's inventory.

But as Han Se-ah said, the problem was that the cave's open space was just that - open space. The long passage leading to it was a straight line with no cover from freeze beams, and the space where the mana stone wolf had moved in House Wesley's sword patterns was just an empty area.

Naturally, there were no visible side passages or dimensional doors for exit. Han Se-ah looked curiously at how I stayed calm in this situation... but I was watching your stream too.

'Was this normal in fantasy stories, not just martial arts novels?'

With nothing to do for a day, Han Se-ah retreated to a corner of the space to "meditate and organize magical insights" while chatting with viewers.

The first topic was obviously the abnormal monster waves. Even if they were called "waves," having 1-3 attacks per day proved we hadn't progressed normally.

Even for 5★ ranks who could not just handle but manifest mana, how could killing thousands of monsters daily make sense? That kind of numbers needed military forces, not just a party.

"So that's why we couldn't see the rainbow. Instead of the proper route, we forced our way through on a speedrun route, and after reaching the dungeon entrance... Katie probably needed to enter with this crest. I had the family crest that was the clue with me. Why did I have it? Why? Because you all asked to see it during the stream so I kept it to examine and forgot to return it!"

"And about there being no exit... it's probably like a character cooldown. You know, like when you send companions on missions and they come back after two days? We forced our way in but there's no way out so we're waiting. Looking at the quest window, seems like a door should appear over there."

The brute force route chosen instead of the proper path, resulting lack of quest window updates and sharply increased wave difficulty, but a natural 6★ character's ability to endure it and a gamer's "do or die" mentality.

Plus having the old House Wesley crest that was both quest item and dungeon key, not giving it to Katie but keeping it and pouring in mana to activate the dungeon.

Looking back calmly now, this approach was so crude and forceful it seemed questionable for a world #1 streamer, and we'd broken into the dungeon for rather stupid reasons.

"Anyway, that's why stream ends here. What am I going to do? If I keep this on, I'll end up repeating the same explanation ten or hundred times to latecomers, so I'm turning it off. Just gonna pretend to meditate while catching up on dramas. You know that one about the Goryeo royal family's youngest son that's supposed to be so good... What's with these reactions?"

Sitting at a distance pretending to maintain my shield and armor while actually watching her stream, I saw her planning to slack off.

Well, if the exit appeared as she said, we'd be stuck in this cave all day - she'd be bombarded with the same questions throughout the stream. Why are you in a cave, why just you two, where's everyone else...

The viewers seemed to understand how annoying that would be, expressing disappointment but acceptance. They wanted entertainment, not Han Se-ah doing a 20-hour solo crying talk show staring at cave walls.

Though some might want that, they were a tiny minority.

"Ah, Roland."

"Hm?"

But why was she coming towards me right after ending the stream?

And close enough for her breath to touch my neck?