Gacha Addict in a Matriarchal World

After defeating the Prime Doppelganger, I returned to the bottom of the moat.

I had prepared thoroughly and steeled myself, but since it ended too easily, I decided to venture deeper.

So, I roamed the bottom of the moat, smashing monsters, gradually getting used to greatsword techniques…

I still couldn’t understand Benny’s magic at all, but it came in handy when multiple monsters appeared.

After hunting with ease for a while, a subtle greed crept up.

Maybe I could handle going inside the castle now?

After that, well, it wasn’t much different from usual.

Although non-corroded and intact cogwheel soldiers began to appear, they were either lured one by one and taken down, or if surrounded, immediate help was requested of Lydia, or if a higher entity like a cogwheel knight was spotted, we would flee without delay.

Roughly a thin paper book. After experiencing a tumultuous infiltration battle equivalent to about 20 episodes of a NovelBin, we were finally able to locate the prosthetic arm.

Created with technology that even mortals can barely replicate, ensuring smooth operation even in the absence of the God of Machinery himself.

Thus, though its performance is subtle for a divine object, a divine object is still a divine object, isn’t it?

With just this radiant chrome-colored prosthetic arm, Ellie’s arm could be restored…

Crunch!

“What the hell! How could you eat that!”@@novelbin@@

The gray orb picked up after defeating the Prime Doppelganger. I didn’t know what it was, but since it was a drop left by a Catastrophe, I thought it would be something good. Who knew it would betray me like this.

“Spit it out! Spit it out, you bastard!”

Whack! Whack!

I pounded the gray orb with my fists. I knew it had some kind of will, like when I first picked it up, and now it had swallowed my prosthetic arm.

I twisted it as if wringing a rag, hoping it would spit it out if it felt pain…but the gray orb just squirmed as if trying to escape from me, and the vanished prosthetic arm did not re-emerge. 𝔯𝘈ℕo͍BĘ𝙨

“Ah…what do I do. I miss Ellie….”

After finally accepting the fact that the prosthetic arm wouldn’t return, I let out a long sigh and slumped down.

Of course, even at this moment, poking the gray orb with my fingernail was a bonus.

Did I look so dejected? Lydia crouched beside me and patted my shoulder.

“It’s okay, Jonah. There will be other ways to restore Ellie’s arm. The Labyrinth is vast, and the unexplored areas are even more so.”

“Well, there probably is.”

On the 4th Floor, there’s a divine object that allows one to come back to life once. The body is perfectly regenerated at this time, so using it could restore Ellie’s arm.

Instead, as a side effect, you experience the pain of your entire body rotting and emit a terrible stench of decay.

The actual body remains intact, but only pain and stench linger.

There’s a similar item on the 7th Floor, where eternal war repeats. However, instead of a real arm, it attaches a long sword that can be freely wielded as a magical tool.

Even worse, this side effect is a bizarre one where you can’t stop fighting until death.

Additionally, there are many methods left in the Labyrinth for regenerating or replacing a completely destroyed body.

The problem is that each one of them has insane side effects.

The slightly better option is the mechanical arm of the God of Machinery, which prevents the use of powers like magic or aura.

Since Ellie doesn’t have any abilities to begin with, it’s essentially a penalty-free situation.

It truly feels like equipment tailor-made for Ellie, and in fact, it was designed with that in mind.

…But it’s gone now.

“Sigh. Life really is…”

“What’s a kid who hasn’t even lived long enough talking about life for?”

Benny casually stands by my side. It seems like she’s trying to show a reliable side, but honestly, all I can think about is how thin her thighs are.

With a sense of emptiness, I began to roll around on the floor, becoming one with it.

It’s incredibly risky to show such vulnerability in a Labyrinth…but here, it’s fine.

Looking around, all I see are large and small parts and incomplete prosthetics.

This is where all sorts of machinery are made to modify the bodies of the monsters on the 3rd Floor.

Developing something new is mostly the job of the God of Machinery, so the artisans here just churn out whatever’s given in the recipe.

Blacksmiths, alchemists, mages—everyone holed up here, frantically creating devices.

As a result, the outside is heavily guarded, and the workshop is well-hidden, but once inside, it’s safe.

Combat personnel have no reason to enter the production area, and those without combat ability don’t need to be brought into the Labyrinth even if they become monsters consumed by madness.

The Labyrinth is a place where those who can’t handle it and gods are buried together. Those who became frenzied but had weak combat power were simply killed.

“…Still, if we search around here, don’t you think we might find something valuable?”

“Hmm. Assuming something remains, wouldn’t something quite expensive come out? The most valuable loot on the 3rd Floor is knowledge, and this is a workshop where such knowledge converges. Even undiscovered.”

Nowadays, much of the 3rd Floor’s technology has been revealed, and some can even be reproduced with Pangrave’s power…

Yet overall, the technological prowess is still lacking compared to the 3rd Floor.

If we can gather undisclosed recipes or items, the Guild will certainly buy them at a high price.

…Suddenly, I felt energized.

“Up-cha!”

Crushing the gray orb with a strong grip, I stood up. Fragments of the gray orb squeezed between my fingers tremble slightly.

Barely tearing my gaze away from that pitiful sight which kept weakening my resolve, I began to search the workshop.

And it wasn’t long before I found the workshop owner’s notebook.

“What? How much did you say?”

“Three hundred and twenty-one gold, adventurer.”

Across the Guild’s procurement desk. The receptionist, who had been examining the workshop owner’s notebook we brought for quite some time, said so.

“Three hundred and twenty-one gold?”

“I’m sorry. Although this notebook is a valuable resource, most of its recipes are information uncovered over centuries of exploration on the 3rd Floor, so the appraised value wasn’t very high.”

“No, I am surprised because it is higher than I expected.”

Combined with the price of other loot we sold, it amounted to a whopping 323 gold.

Of course, I can’t just pocket this money all by myself.

In battles against monsters, it’s true that I did most of the work, but it was Lydia and Benny who saved me in dangerous moments and defeated the high-ranking monster, the Cogwheel Knight, guarding the workshop entrance.

As for Karen’s share, when I asked for it, she readily agreed to give me what she was supposed to receive….

But I can’t do that to Lydia and Benny.

Calculating their contributions, out of the 320 gold from sales, I’d take roughly 150 gold.

I explained my calculation process to Lydia and Benny and asked.

“Let’s distribute it like this. Is that okay?”

“Huh? Do as you like.”

“Seems about right.… By the way, if it’s useless, can I study that gray orb?”

Lydia nodded indifferently, and Benny seemed more interested in research than money.

Thanks to that, we finished the settlement without any noise and were on our way back to Fairy and Silver Coin.

Using today’s events as an excuse to drink… I couldn’t drink, but I thought maybe I would get careless and get drunk on the atmosphere.

Unknowingly, the strength in my hand, which was crushing the gray orb, slightly loosened. And then.

Squish.

With an unpleasant sensation, the gray orb melted, soon taking the shape of the prosthetic prototype it had devoured.

“…Huh?”

As I stopped and stood there bewildered, my companions, who were curious about my reaction, also looked back in surprise.

“Jonah. Just now, is that really…?”

“No need to check, Ellie. That’s definitely the prosthetic.”

“…I’m ashamed to have momentarily thought the Goddess was too mean.”

The gray orb receiving the gazes of us four… No, the prosthetic arm began to quiver and then melted again, starting to transform into various forms.

The Unicorn Dagger I used to poke things with, the unfinished parts scattered around the workshop…and even my arm, which was in contact with it at this very moment.

At a glance, it seems that the gray orb can only transform into objects similar in size to the prosthetic arm it swallowed, or smaller.

Realizing this, something suddenly came to mind.

The first form the Prime Doppelganger took. Before mimicking the gods, it consumed the materials of the gods.

Perhaps the gray orb left behind by the dying Prime Doppelganger was imbued with such power.

It has the ability to transform into something of a lower grade than the prosthetic arm it used as a material, without exceeding that size, and into something it once made contact with.

“This is it!”

Normally, it would become a prosthetic arm and be part of Ellie, and if necessary, it might be possible to transform into other forms?

I don’t know why, but the gray orb fears me while also blindly following me.

If that’s the case…

I tightly grasped the shape of my dangling arm and ran forward.

And as soon as I arrived at Fairy and Silver Coin, I thrust it at Ellie.

“Ellie! It’s a gift!”

“……”

Ellie gave me a look as if she had found a cat bringing in a cockroach.

That’s too harsh.