Melody was off the bed before he’d finished saying it. Akira followed a half second behind her, both of them walking across the room and crowding around him as he sat up properly and called up his system interface.

He toggled the display so they could all see it.

[Gacha Harem System]

[Gacha Points: 3200]

[Banners:]

[Wife (4000 Gacha Points)]

[Skills (1000 Gacha Points)]

[Items (1000 Gacha Points)]

[Mystery Box (2000 Gacha Points)]

Melody opened her mouth, probably to comment on the three thousand and two hundred points sitting in the account, but Lukas was already selecting the mystery box banner before she got the words out.

The interface shifted.

The translucent blue slot machine materialized in front of them, somehow glowing brighter than usual in the enclosed room, its five reels sitting still for just a moment before they began to spin.

The motion was smooth, each reel turning independently and the symbols blurring together as they built up speed.

All three of them watched in silence.

The first reel slowed, then stopped.

It was empty.

Lukas stared at it. The hope that had been sitting in his chest since he’d woken up deflated immediately, quietly, like air leaving through a small gap.

He’d come up empty on the very first reel.

"It’s only the first one," Akira said, trying to console him, but even she didn’t sound sure. "There are four more."

"You’ll get something on the next ones," Melody added.

He nodded, keeping his eyes on the machine.

The second reel slowed. It stopped.

It was also empty.

He exhaled through his nose, his shoulders dropping slightly. Two empty reels. He’d spent two thousand points, points he’d fought a C-rank Spiked Turtle for, on a machine that was currently showing him nothing on two out of five reels.

"Alright," he said quietly. "I’ll take this as a lesson. The wife banner exists for a reason. Next time, I’ll just stick with that."

Melody put a hand on his arm.

The third reel slowed, then stopped.

It was a golden star.

Melody’s hand tightened on his arm. "Look," she said, pointing at it. "Look, look, look."

Lukas was already looking. He’d been looking since the reel started slowing. The moment the star locked into place, something in his chest came back to life all at once, completely undoing the resignation he’d talked himself into a few seconds ago.

He was on his feet before he’d even realized that he wanted to stand.

The fourth reel slowed, and when it stopped, it was another golden star.

His knees gave out in relief and he dropped to the floor, staring up at the machine with two golden stars sitting side by side on the display.

Melody made a sound that wasn’t quite a word, while Akira had both hands pressed over her mouth.

Two stars. And he’d started from the third reel. He’d assumed, without ever testing the assumption, that the stars had to begin from the first reel and build consecutively. He’d never considered that the first two could be empty and the machine could still deliver.

The fifth reel slowed.

All three of them stared at it with bated breath.

It stopped.

It was empty.

The sound that came out of Lukas was somewhere between a groan and a laugh, the two feelings arriving at exactly the same moment and colliding somewhere in his throat. He dropped his head forward.

"When," he said, to no one in particular, "am I finally going to pull a four star?"

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have summoned a Two Star (Uncommon) Mystery Box!]

[Would you like to open it?]

[Yes / No]

He immediately pressed yes.

The blue box wiped off the image on it, growing bigger. The three of them leaned forward unconsciously.

On it was the image of a box sitting at the center of the display. Stars and ribbons burst upwards from the edges of the screen, filling the space around the box as it began to spin, rotating slowly at first then faster, the animation building until the box snapped open.

A stack of gold coins appeared on the screen, rendered in glowing detail, piled high.

[Congratulations, you have received 100,000,000 gold coins!]

"By the Allfather."

Akira said it quietly, almost to herself, her eyes wide and fixed on the number.

Melody took a step backward in shock, then another, unable to believe her eyes. She kept staring at the screen with her hand pressed against her chest.

Lukas didn’t move.

He blinked twice, making sure he wasn’t actually hallucinating. He glanced at his wives, seeing the shock on their faces. So they were also seeing the same thing that he was seeing? He turned back to the screen.

If a two star box gave a hundred million, what would a three star give? A billion gold coins?! What about one star? A million?

His head spun as he tried to imagine the money. But more importantly...

"The mystery box can give money?!" he said aloud. He hadn’t meant it as a question directed at anyone in particular, but the system answered anyway.

A small blue box appeared beneath the notification.

[Of course. The mystery box is not limited to wives, skills, or items. It can also give money, Fate Keys, Innate skills, and Puppets. The possibilities are endless.]

Lukas couldn’t believe his eyes.

Fate Keys, innate skills, puppets, and money at a scale that made everything he’d earned since arriving in this world look like pocket change.

He started laughing, the sound wild, unrestrained, and full of joy. The mystery box had delivered beyond his wildest expectations, even if the reward was money. With this money, he knew just how many [Items] he could buy with it.

"It’s in my spatial ring," he said, reaching in and confirming it. The system had sent the reward directly into the ring for him. "It’s actually in here."

That broke whatever had been holding Melody and Akira in place.

Melody and Akira moved at the same time, meeting in the middle and grabbing each other, then grabbed Lukas, the three of them pulling into a huddle that devolved into jumping and shouting in approximately two seconds.

"We’re rich!" Melody chanted.

"We’re rich!" Akira confirmed at the same volume.

Lukas laughed through the whole thing.

When the energy settled, Melody pulled back and looked at him with bright eyes. "We have enough now," she said. "Enough to actually start something. A real business."

Akira looked between them. "What are you talking about?"

Lukas gestured towards the table in the corner of the room. They pulled chairs around it and sat, the three of them leaning in close.

He looked at Akira.

"During my class change quest, Melody and I had a conversation in the desert," he said. "We talked about building something beyond just climbing the Tower." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He folded his hands on the table. "I want us to establish businesses. Multiple ones, built over time, generating money and influence while we climb." He paused. "I want us to have an empire of our own."

Akira stared at him for a few seconds, then at the spatial ring on his hand, then back at him.

"Alright," she said. "Let’s talk."