novelraw Chapter 5 : The God of Dice
Chapter 5 : The God of Dice
Chapter 5: The God of Dice
As expected, my hypothesis had been correct.
If they were a servant of the World Tree, possessing strong vitality, they would have been able to withstand the rampage, and with time, they would adapt to it.
In truth, such detailed rules weren’t even written in the rulebook, so it all depended on the tendencies of the Game Master running the campaign.
And if the Game Master was the type to create an actual world based on AaA…
They would try to follow the most logical cause-and-effect possible, just like now.
I was starting to get a clearer picture of the Game Master.
“Today’s morning lecture ends here. Let’s meet again in the afternoon after lunch. Ah, Dicendel, I have something to tell you, so please spare me a moment.”
Leaving the lecture hall, I ignored the hostile stares from Galanuel’s group and stood face-to-face with Medes on the podium.
“Dicendel, I suspected as much… You really did trigger a Mana Rampage, didn’t you?”
As befitting the head instructor for botany, Medes seemed to have realized it the moment he saw my
“…Yes. In fact, the previous incident also happened because of a Mana Rampage.”
Medes’ expression at my words was not what I had expected—it was filled with madness and delight.
“Mother World Tree! Until now, there has never been a recorded case of a servant of the Mother World Tree experiencing a Mana Rampage. At least, not in any report within the academic community. And for good reason—Mana Rampages themselves are incredibly rare cases. As a result, research has only ever been done through thought experiments…”
I barely managed to keep my expression steady as Medes’ excitement twisted his face.
“…So, what do you say we conduct some in-depth research together? You would be my co–first author on the paper. And if there’s any support you need, just tell me and I’ll—”
“Yes, of course I will. It would be an honor to conduct research with you, Instructor.”
I cut him off before he could go into another frenzy.
Of course, a large part of it was because I really liked the proposal.
Doing research would likely give me inspiration and improve my mastery in using my abilities.
“Haha, I know it’s a demanding proposal, but thank you for agreeing. Let’s start this Sunday. The time will be the same as lecture hours, and the place will be Greenhouse No. 12. For now, let’s have lunch together.”
The afternoon session of botany class covered basic theoretical knowledge about plants and plant-type creatures.
It was content not found in the rulebook, and far too detailed to have been hastily improvised by the Game Master, with no contradictions in the setting at all.
Because of that, contrary to my expectation of it being boring, I found myself listening with genuine interest—unlike in the past, when I would simply sleep through class.
§§…
EXP: 15 / 100
…§§
When I checked my character sheet after finishing the day’s schedule, both Dicendel and Daisu had gained 10 more EXP compared to yesterday.
‘This is way more than I expected for just a theory lecture. So instead of splitting EXP between them, the two characters share it? Even then, it’s still a lot.’
In AaA, there are various ways to gain EXP.
Naturally, the usual methods—combat or completing quests—come to mind, but even training or studying, in other words, any meaningful ‘experience,’ would grant EXP.
Of course, the amount gained from the latter is much smaller than from the former.
But the EXP I earned today was twice—maybe even four times—what I had expected, if Dicendel and Daisu were splitting it.
‘That damned Game Master, what’s their intention?’
I had one suspicion.
The alert I’d heard during the Mana Rampage, warning that “a disaster will come.”
They were probably giving out extra EXP so I could prepare for that.
So they could enjoy watching this little game even more.
Inside a building in Alvheim.
In a lavishly decorated room filled with famous paintings and fine furniture, the executives of the Investment Club had gathered.
“Why are you letting that freshman brat be?”
“I really can’t understand why you didn’t cover up the fact that you were attacked, but instead deliberately spread the rumor.”
“Yeah, because of that, our reputation is in shambles right now!”
They were there to complain to their president, Galanuel.
“I came up with a brilliant plan to use him to get rid of the other succession candidates. You could call it a kind of stock manipulation. Besides, I did give him some punishment, didn’t I?”
After reviewing the ledger, Galanuel finally spoke.
In truth, the freshman hadn’t attacked her, nor had she punished him before he passed out.
But Galanuel didn’t bother revealing the truth.
It was more advantageous for her if people believed it that way.
“All we want is stable profit! If you keep creating variables on your own like that…”
‘Worthless noise. Annoying.’
Whip—Smack!
Wuuung— Wuuung— Wuuuuung—
The executive’s protest never reached the end.
The moment Galanuel swung her whip, the room filled with dozens of dimensional gates.
From them emerged countless monsters whose gazes screamed an unspoken order to get out.
“I—I get it! We have urgent business, so we’ll be going…”
“Good. Don’t forget to leave a gold coin each for consultation and refreshments on your way out.”
For Galanuel, money was everything.
She was looking forward to seeing just how much that freshman would earn for her.
‘Dicendel. I wonder just how much you’re worth.’
After the Investment Club executives had left.
Instead of returning through the dimensional gates, Galanuel’s underlings leapt out the windows and doors, moving across the campus.
They were going into hiding in the shadows to monitor Dicendel’s every move.
De-eeng— De-eeng—!
A new day began again.
Today was the day for my second elective class— I had missed the first one because I was hospitalized— and out of the dozen-plus available subjects, the one I chose was Spiritology.
The reason was simple.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, everyone. I am Jemula Paladeltion, the instructor for First-Year, First-Semester, Class 1 of Spiritology. I look forward to working with you.”
The one teaching this course was none other than the school principal.
Jemula was an elderly elf woman with snow-white golden hair and golden eyes much like Galanuel’s.
A master of spirit summoning, she carried herself with a posture and presence so imposing that her age felt meaningless.
“Most of you here probably cannot summon a spirit yet. Even if you could, I would not recommend skipping ahead in the curriculum. The basics are more important than anything else.”
It was the kind of narrow-minded statement that reminded me of Medes’ description of Jemula’s beliefs.
That was probably why, despite being the principal, she personally taught first-year students and forbade succession candidates from skipping grades.
“Your first objective is to ‘form a contract with a spirit.’ Starting now, each of you will receive a pristine
‘Nice!’
A spirit stone was a magical tool that allowed one to summon a spirit without going through the process of contracting or searching for one.
Of course, its performance and efficiency were far lower compared to summoning directly, but because of its versatility, it was always in high demand and fetched a high price.
For example, even the lowest-grade spirit stone— one with the descriptors “transparent” and “lowest-grade”— was worth as much as a well-trained warhorse, and even then, supply was scarce.
The reason such an expensive item was provided to every student in class was because spirit stones were the best possible teaching aid.
Simply using a spirit stone to command a spirit could build proficiency and affinity with it.
Once those stats were high enough, it would be possible to contract the spirit without spending bonus points.
In other words, it was like getting a skill for free without spending bonus points.
“You simply hold the spirit stone in your hand and infuse it with mana. Remember, once you summon a spirit, you cannot try again. There are no replacements for such a precious item. For transparent stones, it is highly likely that the spirit summoned will match your disposition.”
Once the distribution of spirit stones was complete, Jemula guided the students through the summoning process.
As for me—
‘Please, fire! Or at least ice or lightning!’
I began praying to the God of Dice.
In AaA, there are a total of 15 attributes assigned to magic and creatures.
But the relationship between these attributes was extremely unbalanced and unfair.
For example, the ‘fire’ attribute had the advantage over no less than five attributes, while having only two weaknesses.
On top of that, fire-element skills had both high power and excellent efficiency, making it a broken attribute.
The fire attribute was also known for its large faction of fire spirits— the largest among the six types of spirits— and that was exactly the kind I wanted.
‘Please, fire! Or at least ice or lightning!’
In the game, when summoning a random spirit like this, you would choose your preference order and then roll dice.
From experience, I knew the roll would be automatic in this summoning too.
That was why I prayed to the God of Dice before starting the summoning.
[Player’s dice roll: 90, 6]
[Notice. The spirit most suitable to the player’s disposition will be summoned.]
It seemed like a reward for all the hardship so far— the highest possible number appeared.
This proved that the God of Dice truly existed.
‘Yes, this is it!’
The once-transparent spirit stone turned blue, and a droplet the size of an elf’s fist rose from it.
Bubble, bubble—
The droplet sprouted large, round eyes and a stubby tail.
It floated in the air, looking like an adorable cartoon tadpole character.
It was the ‘Lowest Water Spirit.’
“Huh? What are you doing here?”
This confirmed the Game Master’s meddling.
Otherwise, how could something like this happen?
‘Damn it! Of all things, a water spirit…’
The ‘water’ attribute was considered the worst of the 15 attributes.
Unlike fire, which had five favorable matchups and only two weaknesses, water had only two advantages and a whopping five disadvantages.
And unlike fire, which focused on offense, water abilities leaned heavily toward utility— which was a problem since my existing nature attribute was already utility-heavy.
Bubble?
It looked at me with a dumb expression, as if curious.
Normally, a summoned creature would be linked to its summoner’s soul.
But since this was a mediated summoning through a tool, no such spiritual link existed.
Until I either became overwhelmingly skilled or befriended it, I would not be able to use its abilities.
Regardless of whether or not one possessed spirit summoning.
‘Huh? Wait.’
An idea suddenly struck me, and I acted on it immediately.
‘
[Target’s dice roll: 10, 6]
[Notice. Target difficulty is 16.]
[Player’s dice roll: 20, 5]
[Notice. Adding the base modifier for the skill. +40]
[Notice. Adding modifier equal to player’s Willpower. +16]
[Notice. Relationship with target is slightly friendly. +10]
[Notice. Adding modifier equal to difference in Intelligence scores between player and target. +24]
[Notice. Adding modifier equal to difference in Charisma scores between player and target. -7]
[Notice. Adding modifier for target’s Resistance. -19]
[Notice. Dice roll result: 73, success.]
[Notice. Skill use successful.]
Bubble!
I felt the thoughts floating in my mind being transmitted to the water spirit.
At the same time, I sensed its positive thoughts in return.
The water spirit nodded, wagged its tail, and a large mass of water floated up before me.
It was the water-element lower magic,
“Whoa!”
“How did you make it use a skill?”
“Isn’t he just showing off with a contracted spirit?”
Gasps of shock spread from around me.
Apparently, they’d been watching what I was doing the whole time.
Only then did I look around at the others.
There was a dwarf whose beard had been singed by a fire spirit, a human convulsing after being shocked by an electric spirit, and an orc struggling because their spirit refused to come out of its spirit stone.
Even Jemula, reacting to the commotion, began to look at me with interest.
Today was the day for the last class of the week—Healing Studies.
By coincidence, the instructor who entered the lecture hall was Eleina Silond, the one who had treated me during the Mana Rampage incident.
“…I believe the most important thing is the emotions you feel on-site. Therefore, most Healing Studies classes will always be conducted as field practice. So let’s head out right now!”
It was the same thing written in the course guide.
This would be my first time leaving the school grounds—at most, I expected to find a small village near the forest.
Still, there might be a blacksmith, so I brought along my torn leather armor just in case.
The Alvheim Seminary, where I had been staying for the past few days, was a place of advanced civilization, with the entire campus paved in brick and tall stone buildings rising high.
Surrounded by thick greenery, I had firmly believed until now that it was in the middle of a forest.
But I had been mistaken.
‘No way… it’s on top of the World Tree? And there’s a huge city around it?’
It turned out that Alvheim was a seminary built on the trunk of a massive World Tree standing alone in the middle of a large medieval-level city.
What I mistook for a forest was actually the World Tree’s branches and leaves.
Due to its nature, it was nearly impossible for more than two World Trees to exist on the same planet.
As such, any place with a World Tree was often considered the most prime location in elven society.
So I had never even imagined that a mere seminary could be located atop a World Tree.
And the fact that this World Tree was in the middle of a city, rather than on a mountain or in a forest, was far from ordinary.
Of course, in the AaA world, many elven societies were highly civilized.
However, due to elves’ love of nature, even futuristic cities were usually buried in greenery.
“Some of you may already know, but I’ll explain anyway. The city below, ‘Alvheimton,’ naturally formed over time as patients gathered here to receive treatment from volunteers like us.”
Right on cue, Eleina began to explain.
“Thanks to the philosophy of our seminary’s founder, ‘Alvheim Holimdrasir,’ this place became a free city-state with no rulers like kings or lords.”
Since the World Tree was massive, the seminary’s location was also dizzyingly high up.
I had been worried about how I would descend to the city below with this frail body, but my concern turned out to be unfounded.
When we reached the edge of the World Tree’s trunk, I saw rows of
After switching lifts several times, we arrived at the northern entry checkpoint of Alvheim.
Naturally, not just anyone could enter the campus.
We filled out the exit register and stepped outside.
A little further on, a grand temple appeared alongside a large plaza.
‘A temple…’
And at the very moment I stepped into the temple, I heard a strange kind of notification.
[Notice. The ‘World Tree’ is watching the player.]