— — — — —
Veyron activated a magic circle and entered her pocket dimension.
"Why is it that you just got back and you're already fighting with the princess?"
Before he could even say hello, Eirin, busy at her workbench, asked without even looking up.
"...This time it's not my fault. She's the one who picked the fight."
Veyron glanced around curiously. "Can you see what's happening outside from in here?"
"Of course. It'd be dumb if entering this place meant we were totally blind. What if the enemy sets up a trap right outside and we don't even notice?"
She poured two strange liquids—one red and one purple—from smaller tubes into a larger one. The moment they mixed, the color vanished, turning completely clear.
After storing the finished potion in a cabinet, Eirin finally turned toward Veyron. "The usual?"
"Same as always. I'll need you to run a checkup on my body again."
Veyron nodded and took off his shirt. "Just like we expected—now that my base stats have gone up, all I need is the right moment to fully focus my mind, and unlocking the second-tier gene lock should happen naturally."
"Not bad," Eirin said after placing her hand against his back for a moment. "Your current state is actually better than the first time I examined you. Probably thanks to the combined effect of photosynthesis and spiritual awakening—it's helped ease the pressure that gene lock activation puts on your body at the genetic level."
"Yeah, that matches how I've been feeling."
Putting his clothes back on, Veyron then pulled out four spiral-shaped glass vials—two blue and two green—and briefly explained where they came from and how he accidentally triggered a world-ending event in another world to obtain them.
The idea behind bringing back the Dead Virus was to see if Eirin could create something similar to the ultimate serum from Resident Evil: The Final Chapter—the one that spreads through the air and purifies the entire world with a single dose.
As for the T-Virus, one reason was to use them as a reference for studying the Dead Virus serum. The other was simple curiosity—Veyron wanted to know if the T-Virus still retained its body-enhancing effects.
"Enhancement, huh?"
"Yeah. As far as I know, people who can perfectly adapt to the T-Virus don't get infected even if they're directly exposed. Instead, they gain physical abilities several times stronger than normal, plus moderate-strength telekinetic powers."
"Even regular people can temporarily boost themselves by injecting the virus and then neutralizing it with the serum before full mutation sets in."
Veyron shared what he knew about the T-Virus, which he suspected came from the movie version of Resident Evil.
Same name, and there was Alice, the original character from the film series, who appeared in the world according to the survivors.
"Got it. I'll run some tests."
Taking the four spiral vials from him, Eirin peered at the vivid blue and green liquids inside—worlds apart from anything native to this reality. For a brief moment, her usually calm eyes lit up with curiosity.
…
The next day.
After his morning workout, Veyron checked the group chat as usual—and saw it was way more active than normal.
『Ordinary Person: What's going on in here?』
『Earth's Cancer: Talking about gacha pulls.』
『Ordinary Person』: Gacha? Who was that brave this time?
『Ghost Spider: …』
『Catwoman: …』
『Hellish Blizzard: …』
『Ordinary Person: Oh damn, not just one, huh… was it a single pull or a ten-pull?』
『Ghost Spider: Damn it—do we look like people who got wrecked by single pulls?』
『Ghost Spider: (selfie with a deadpan face.jpg)』
『Ordinary Person: Didn't Chika already prove with her bloody luck that gacha without a pity is a trap? How are you guys still charging in headfirst?』
『Catwoman: THAT'S the problem!』
『Catwoman: [screenshot.jpg] [screenshot.jpg] [screenshot.jpg]』『Catwoman: [screenshot.jpg] [screenshot.jpg] [screenshot.jpg]』
Veyron tapped through the images Selena sent.
Six screenshots, all from the group's gacha results. Eleven results in each—typical ten-pull with a bonus.
The last three screenshots belonged to Gwen, Selena, and Fubuki. And the results? Not even worth calling "trash-tier." If there were rarity levels, these were full of plain white commons and busted gray junk.
The first three, though, were slightly more interesting.
Fujiwara Chika, Boa Hancock, and Merlin—all eleven pulls. Most of their results were also in the gray-white garbage tier, but each had onestandout hit:
Chika got a pair of Byakugan eyes.
Hancock got a gravity chamber.
And Merlin pulled something called a "Physics Holy Sword."
Physics Holy Sword?
『Ordinary Person: @Lady Avalon, that "Physics Holy Sword" you pulled… is it actually a holy sword?』
『Lady Avalon: To call it a holy sword is an insult to all swords.』
『Lady Avalon: (crowbar.jpg)』
『Lady Avalon: It's basically just a regular old crowbar. But it might've been blessed by some high-level being.』
『Lady Avalon: Anyway, didn't you score pretty well during that last mini-pity? Want to roll a ten-pull this time? Statistically, you've got the best luck out of all of us~』
『Ordinary Person: Luck's fickle… but sure, I'll give it a shot.』
---
[Gacha Notice: Member "Ordinary Person" performed 1 draw and received "SCP-500 – panacea" ×1]
[...] ×7
[Gacha Notice: Member "Ordinary Person" performed 1 draw and received "Destined Death" ×1]
[...] ×2
A full ten-pull with a bonus.
1,000 points deducted. Results appeared one by one on the screen.
Veyron's eyes zeroed in on the first and ninth pulls.
.
.
.