Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 46: Bulk Roll

The fortress city of Winter’s Keep did not so much welcome its king home as it gingerly accepted back a strange, new, and fragrantly complicated reality.

The ashen pall of Mount Saede still clung to cloaks and boots, but the air inside the great citadel now swirled with a far more potent and confusing aroma: garlic, roasting meat, rosemary, and the soul-deep scent of a king’s claim.

The promise had been made to three hungry pups in a hellscape. Cecilia Araceli, a woman of her word, was now fulfilling it in the fortress’s cavernous, fire-lit kitchens. Giant haunches of beef and mutton seared in pans the size of shields. Root vegetables caramelized in honey and herbs.

Word, of course, had spread. It spread faster than the scent. The Alpha’s new Luna is cooking. By sunset, the vast feasting hall, a space usually reserved for roaring debates and the messy consumption of entire boars, was packed.

Warriors, healers, survivors from the valley, and every curious soul with a functioning nose found a place at the long trestle tables.

They watched Arkai Dawnoro, their undefeated Black Wolf King, with new eyes. He stood near the hearth, not on his dais, his usual authority softened by something that looked suspiciously like dazed contentment. And he kept looking toward the kitchen doors.

Then she emerged with a giant steaming platter that made several grown wolves whimper. Cecilia, in a simple dress now dusted with flour, placed the dish on the head table with a thump. "It’s done. Don’t just stand there, Lord Arkai, help me bring out the potatoes."

A ripple went through the hall. She’d just ordered the king about. And he was going.

"Yes, Ma’am," he rumbled, a hint of a tail-wag in his voice, and strode after her.

This was the first layer of the evening’s bewildering entertainment.

The second layer arrived moments later. Oathran Alicei entered. He had foregone any obvious draconic splendor, but he couldn’t forego the sheer presence that made the torches flicker and the air itself seem to bow.

He moved to stand at Cecilia’s other side, as she returned with a boat of gravy.

...everyone wanted to ask... but everyone was scared...

Lady Cece was clearly the Lord’s Luna now. Her scent was woven through his. So... who, or what, was the dragon?

Her... dad...?

No.

The musk didn’t lie. She carried the dragon’s scent too, a scent they’d grown accustomed to over the past few days. It was blended with her own. It wasn’t paternal. It was... proprietary.

So, these three...?

Wait, no. It was impossible to bond with two different beasts. The soul, the magic, the very laws of nature couldn’t sustain it. Even a beast couldn’t bond with more than one human at the same time.

...Right?

Cecilia, meanwhile, was currently operating on a different wavelength. Catering. Narrowing her eyes at the seemingly endless tide of hungry faces, she brought out the original, legendary elk meat out of her inventory.

The one she had cooked over a riverside bonfire days ago, the very scent that had once lured three foolish wolves.

Everyone’s jaws unhinged, fell to the ground at the golden light, and soon the awed whoahs and oohs echoed the hall.

Later, after the initial frenzy had been somewhat sated, Arkai and Oathran found her back in the kitchens, cornering an oven against a wall.

"AAAaaaaaaaaAAAAaAAaaaaaaAAAAAhhhhHhH, it’s not gonna be enoUGH!" she groaned, leaning her forehead against the warm stone of the oven’s side. She was begging the inanimate object as if it could be swayed to cook the meat faster.

"Saintess, I think you should... rest," Oathran offered kindly.

"Don’t worry, I told Borak to grill enough meat outside to feed a migrating herd. It’ll be enough," Arkai reassured.

Cecilia whipped her head around, fixing them with a sharp glare. "Are you sure we have enough?"

The two men, faced with this ferociously domestic version of her, exchanged a glance and let out soft, simultaneous cackles. It was a rare and strangely precious sight.

The Saintess was just agonizing over mutton yields and guest satisfaction today. She was, for a glorious moment, simply a household madam on the brink of a festive meltdown.

It was great there were no time travel theories or future predictions in her brain at this very moment...

"Yes, we have enough, my Lady/Ma’am."

They answered in unison, then immediately turned to look at each other. A complicated conflict passing between them over the chosen form of address. One courtly and eternal, the other rugged and wolfish.

But when they turned back to Cecilia for a verdict, she was already buried in her task, plunging a skewer coated with mana into the heart of the oven’s contents to check the internal temperature of the mutton. Her lack of reaction left them hanging, unsure if they’d stumbled or succeeded.

"Done. Take these out there," she declared, finally stepping aside.

Without a second thought, Oathran reached a bare hand into the scorching maw of the oven. A pearlescent shimmer of dragon scale rippled over his skin, shielding him from the heat as he retrieved the steaming pans.

"Rest for now, Saintess," he said, his voice gentle but firm, before heading for the hall. He paused at the doorway, jerking his head pointedly at Arkai.

Arkai nodded, understanding the baton-pass. He turned to Cecilia. "I’m going to check the grill."

"Okay."

And then, she was alone. The heat of the ovens still warmed the air when she let her shoulders slump. She sank onto a nearby stool, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Cecilia had to spend 140 rolls to secure Arkai’s bond.

Yes, she had hit the hard pity twice on his banner. The first time she lost her 50/50 to a random five-star artifact, a sleek bracer with mana-sealing properties to prevent magical leakage. She hadn’t even built any pity on his banner. It would have been sixty-eight more rolls to potentially see his bond again.

Well, only if she win the 50/50.

But that was shelved for now.

"So... this banner won’t return in the future?" Cecilia asked, gazing at the visage of Oathran that served as the backdrop for his "Limited-Time Exclusive: Five Star Oathran Alicei" banner.

DING!

[Correct! Since this is an exclusive limited banner, you can’t roll on it anymore after it’s over. But you can always get more copies of Five Star Oathran Alicei by increasing his Love Points!]

Right. The drip-feed of devotion. She’d get another bond copy every time his cumulative Love Points hit a multiple of 7000. She hadn’t even breached the first threshold yet.

"How many... is Oathran’s total Love Points now?" she asked carefully, bracing herself. She’d been avoiding the tally, afraid the number would be terrifyingly large like the last time, and she had to feel guilty for it again.

DING!

[You have 3786 of Oathran Alicei’s Love Points in total!]

[But you have used a total of 1400 Love Points until now. So, only 2386 Love Points are usable!]

[You have 477 rolls left!]

That... should be enough. Enough to push him to Rank 7 today, surely. And with that many rolls, the elusive four-star Diluting Potion Recipe had to drop. It must, she told herself, ignoring every past experience with this capricious system.

"Alright, roll!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

DI-DI-DING!

The fanfare. The gold light. She got the next bond... after losing another 50/50. 120 rolls gone.

"That’s fine," she muttered. "I got myself a weapo—what the fu—"

The victorious shimmer resolved into the image of a viciously elegant spear, its blade a dull, oil-slick black that seemed to drink the light.

[Five Star Weapon: Serpent Spear]

[Forged from Venom Steel! A single nick from the blade or any part of it can induce rapid systemic paralysis and death!]

Cecilia stared. "Wouldn’t the user be in danger too, then...?"

It seemed a rather critical design flaw...

[This spear is perfect for individuals with a thousand-venom immunity!]

"WHO, THO?" Cecilia rubbed her forehead, a migraine brewing behind her eyes. Then, a memory surfaced. "Wait, I think I know who..."

Some Weresnake healers possessed legendary toxin resistance. The gentle nurse she’d met could probably handle it. But without knowing the specific venom profile of this "Venom Steel," it was less a weapon and more a portable ecological disaster. One accidental brush against a tent pole could wipe out a banquet.

"Hmmm... This weapon shouldn’t be unleashed upon this world," she groaned, mentally consigning it to the deepest metaphorical vault of her inventory.

[Resonating Bond Copy...]

[Rank 4: Summon, unlocked!]

The notification pushed the murder-spear from her mind. Summon? What was this?

DING!

[Rank 4: Summon]

[You can summon your Love Interest to wherever you are from wherever they are!]

"TELEPORTATION?!" Cecilia shrieked. "WHAT?!"