What the F?
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Chapter-1
"What the fuck?"
I looked at my own self in the mirror. What I saw was not the usual 18-year-old having an existential crisis after graduating.
But in the mirror was me, just a bit younger, possibly by a year or two.
"How am I young again?" I asked while touching my own face. I had some pimples and a few strands of beard which looked like they just started to grow.
"I can still feel things….. So is this a dream?" I asked myself while touching my body. They were a bit muscular, similar to what I had when I used to work out.
"No, before that, where am I?" I looked around the room I was in.
"What kind of inception shit is this?"
It was dimly lit, but I easily recognised that it was indeed my room. But lots of things were different, like the different colour lamp and the absence of my precious S24 Ultra that I bought just a few days ago.
"What is happening? Was my whole life just a dream?" I got off my bed and left my room to search for my parents.
*Clink* A sound of a glass clinking game from my pocket.
I put my hand inside my pocket to take out whatever made the sound, and to my surprise, it was a small vial of some liquid inside.
The moment I put my eyes on the vial, I felt something was wrong.
I can feel it.
Something far beyond my understanding was going on and I had no idea what it was.
I inspected the vial and found a note attached to the side of it. I pulled it out and read what was written on it.
'Drink it to know'
"What does this even mean?" I was confused, what the hell did it mean by that.
"Is it even safe to drink?" I mulled over that thought.
While it really felt like a bad idea to drink it, at the same time I felt like some invisible force was guiding my hands to gulp down the vial. Or I was just going crazy.
Honestly it could have been either of these.
"Should I just sleep and hope that this was all a dream?" I asked myself.
But the vial in my hand was… seductive.
"Umm…" I took a gulp and slowly opened the lid of the vial.
I took it closer to my nose and sniffed the lid but weirdly enough, there was no smell to it and after liking it, I found that it had no taste either.
"So, no other way than to drink it huh?"
I looked at the colourless liquid inside the vial. It looked no different from water but the mystery behind its appearance in this weird dream makes me more and more reluctant to drink it.
"What would Batman do?"
If Batman was even in a situation like this he'd probably keep the liquid with him and not drink it…
I was about to put the lid back on the liquid but I stopped.
The temptation was too much for my will to overcome, like having 1600 primogems and I ain't no batman.
And what if I wake up? I'd never known the taste of this liquid forever
I put the vial on my lips and took a gulp of the liquid, unlike what I expected, the liquid tastes like nothing. Even after I drank it my mouth was still a bit dry.
Almost making me believe this was just a dream.
The keyword being almost because like the note said, I finally understood what the 'know' meant.
It was an essence, essence of Gacha to be specific.
As the essence went down my stomach, spreading through my being as it went down, the rules and possibilities of the essence entered my head.
The moment the essence merged with my whole being, I came to know everything about it.
It was now my own power, mine only to command and control.
I can feel the change in my body… no, specifically the change in me.
Something changed forever.
I was flabbergasted, no words formed on my mind which was filled with awe and shock of the sheer wonder that just happened.
I closed my eyes and tried to reach for the 'change', the essence which was new inside me. I already knew how to use it using the info it gave me. Apparently I can choose how the gacha will appear.
The roulette kind or a lucky wheel…
But my mind instantly went to the wishing system of Genshin the moment I thought of Gacha and naturally I chose it.
A screen appeared inside my mind, I wasn't able to see it with my eyes, but I was still able to 'see' it inside my mind and command it mentally. Almost like I was imagining it.
The essence of Gacha… which is a mouthful so I'll call it Gacha from now on, is a cosmic entity. A parasite of sorts, its origin is unclear to me but I can feel its existence in me.
It's not alive but It's definitely not a thing…. The only thing I can compare it to is a star or similar celestial bodies.
There are a lot of rules to this gacha concerning its rewards and cost.
The rules can be simplified like this:
The rewards gained are fully random and unaffected by any and all concepts like probability and order.
The rewards gained, be it people, items, powers all are under the control of me. In the case of people, I have the full capability of controlling the mind of them as long as my will is stronger than theirs. They will follow my order as long as it's within their character. In an item's case, I can make it unusable whenever I want. Though in the case of powers, I have a limited level of such control.
There are some special kinds of items present in the rewards which include things like, power amplifiers and modifiers, appearance modifiers, personality modifiers. They can be used only once, hence I decided to call them consumables.
People type edward can be used as a summon or I can assimilate with them if I want to.
Each roll or pull can be performed by consuming 1 gacha point.
1 gacha point can be exchanged for 100$ which is calculated using my current worth. The ratio is proportional to 1/10000th of my current personal wealth. As my grandpa put a $1 Million dollar plot of land on my name in his will, the cost is insanely high. I never not wanted that much wealth as much as I do now. Though I'm well off, my parents won't just give me a $100 bill just because I asked for no reason and I don't like to lie to them. This wealth refreshes every month so I have to commit fraud activities and keep my wealth under some other name to avoid inflation of cost.
10 GP, short for Gacha Points can be spent to perform a 11 pull which gives an extra reward. The extra card will be guaranteed to be useful in accordance with my subconscious.
2GP can be spent to pull for an item from a specific category, the same way 20 GP can be spent for 10 pulls of a specific category.
Each day one can generate 1GP.
It won't give me stuff that is useless like sand or cloth. How does it work? Even I search for that answer.
The reward will be stored in inventory, but taken out of inventory it can be stored back in the Gacha inventory.
A reward can be exchanged back for a minimum value of 1GP. And according to the worth of the card to me, it can be exchanged for even more.
Time, space, life, death, none of these affect the Gacha. Even if I die and am resurrected, the Gp will stay the same as when I die. The same goes for time. If I jump 10 days to the future, the Gp will be the same. The only thing that matters is my age. If I aged a day, I'll get a GP.
That's basically it.
Oh and there's a status screen present too for some reason. Maybe it's a must for all broken powers?
"Status" I called out and a screen appeared on my mind, similar to Gacha screen this screen also acted the same.
[ Name: Victor Bane
Age:17
GP: 0
Species: Human
Powers:
-None
Summoned Characters:
-None
Character Assimilation
-Assimilated Character: None
-In Progress: [Empty]
Inventory: [Empty]
]
Woah… I kinda expected stats like strength or luck. Well to be expected of a Gacha stats I guess? Better than nothing.
So by my calculations, I can have approximately 30GP per month. Giving me 33 pulls each month if I pull only the 10 pulls. And honestly that's the smart option.
And from the looks of this, I don't seem to be in a dream or something either. Did I really regress? I thought it was an old Manhwa trope which is re-used more than toothpaste. Not that I hate it, I'm all for it, after all I just look at the pictures most of the time.
Still this is my life from now huh?
Kinda sad when I think about it… all the friends, relationships and experience I gained all gone to dust.
The essence didn't just provide me with the knowledge of how the Gacha works, but also the knowledge about this world… more specifically, the marvel world.
This is not my original world, though my family here is the same… they're not the same. All the memories I now have of this world are similar to mine, but there are a lot of different things, from different schools to different people and friends.
At least my parents and family are the same, in a way. I can only take it and move on, like what can I even do? I'm literally in a world which is nothing but a fantasy. All of this could be a fantasy of someone too… or even my fantasy and I just got into a coma or something.
The memories all are now colliding into each other and to be frank… I can tell the difference between my parents in this world and my previous one. They are so goddamn similar.
I can only hope that this is my original world and I just happen to get the memories of my other self or I'm a copy of the original me who's still sleeping in that world.
Or is already dead… after all time passed in that world could be more than I can even comprehend.
To be honest I'm not even surprised by the fact I'm in a fictional universe, after all that has happened I won't be surprised to even see god now.
"What's going to be my life now?" I stared at the ceiling and asked myself.
I honestly have no idea how to carry on with life, I thought the lost feeling after graduation was bad, but this feeling now is much worse.
"And I still haven't graduated in this world too…" I groaned and put a pillow over my face.
I feel… bad. I'm not even crying… is that bad?
Did I not love my previous world? My parents?
But they're still here, just a few metres away in the next room specifically.
Some of my friends are no more in this world, but I never really had a good relationship with them so I don't feel so sad.
That goes both ways too, I have no real friends in this verse either… well except a girl or a guy who talks to me in discord sometimes in this world.
Once again I'm truly alone huh? Not a great feeling… but a familiar one. The last time I felt like this was when a relationship had ended.
"No! Cheer up Victor! This is a new beginning, don't be sad!" I slapped my face and started to cheer myself up while looking at the mirror. That's when I noticed a red envelope from the corner of my eye.
It was the money the aunt next door gave me for New Year!
I picked up the envelope and tore it open without hesitation to get the money from inside. It was as if fate was by my side, as inside it was a $100 bill.
"Maybe I am lucky?" I chucked and mentally thanked aunt Cass. She was not in my old world and if she was, then I wouldn't have dated any girl in my school.
Though I call her aunt, I have a huge crush on her. She gives off more of an older sister vibe and runs a cafe nearby.
And she's crazy hot and is the reason my balls dropped. Maybe I have a chance in a year?
Putting aside my unholy thoughts, I mentally commanded and activated my power of Gacha, and like any true Gacha, my money disappeared without leaving behind a single trace.
"There goes 100$ from the US economy" I chuckled at my own joke and turned up the gacha screen.
Now I have 1 GP. Which is not much but I can now test if this thing works right?
"Hopefully with this my genshin addiction could go away" I said while thinking of whether to wait for an extra day and roll for a specific category like power or weapon.
I used the only GP I have and pulled like usual. The asteroid fell from the sky and revealed what I got in the form of a card.
[Malenia, Blade of Miquella]
"PFFFFTTTT!" I was utterly shocked at what I got.
I looked again just to see if I saw right.
"So I wasn't twerking…"
I saw nothing wrong, it was indeed Malenia that I got. A literal god…Did I jinx myself back then? Fuck If I knew better I'd said something as Goku or Saitama.
"Still this is not bad… but I sure as hell don't have a stronger will than her to control her mind and assimilating with her doesn't seem like the brightest of ideas…"
She lived much longer than I ever did, so all those years of memory could make me go nuts. Not only that, she's a god too… and I don't wanna get into the scope of gods here. That is assuming that I'm not already on the scope, but I don't wanna push my luck.
"Can't summon her, and definitely can't assimilate with her. Anything that could put my balls at risk is worthless to me." I consoled myself to think this was the reason. "Should I exchange her for more GP?"
I looked at how much GP she would go for and saw 60GP.
I was kinda bummed out, a literal goddess just for $6000?
"Was this made by some cosmic EA or something?" I muttered with annoyance but exchanged her anyway. After all, I had no use for her in my current state.
Though a part of me wanted to see what could happen if I released her in the city… on further thinking, I realised how stupid it was.
"With 60GP I can go for 6 10 pulls or 3 specific 10 pulls…" I said my thoughts while thinking of what to do.
After a good time spent on thinking, I came to a conclusion to check how the specific pulls. Since I was in a pretty… no strike that, I'm in an extremely fucked up world. I picked the most powerful category that exists.
Isekai.
Who can top that?
But all my hopes was ruined because Isekai wasn't a fucking category.
So I went to the next best, SuperHero verses.
So picking that, I used 20GP to pull this time and I got,
1)Dick Greyson (NightWing)
2) Pink Kryptonite
3) Web Fluid
4) Power Stone(Earth-616)
5)Black Superman suit(Size Customisable)
6)Dash Parr
7)Lightsaber x3
8)Elemental Sight
9)Power Upgrade Card
10)Power Upgrade Card
11) Power Upgrade Card
"..." I stared blankly at the wall.
"Well… at least I won't die to folks with guns now" Is what I said to myself. Compared to Malenia's level of power none of these guys even compare. Well Power Stone could prove useful.
But I ain't even gonna take it out of my inventory. If that shit is really taken from Earth-616 then those guys are probably dead or are currently dying and searching for the culprit or a new power stone.
I'm too scared to take it out. And even if it somehow worked, what am I going to do with it?
Dick Greyson and Dash Parr, both are not bad at all… but why did I get both a middle child? In Dash's case I'd have much preferred that toddler with many powers and instead of Dick Greyson, I'd kill to have Mark or Nolan Greyson.
Elemental sight will be useful I guess… I have no idea what it is though.
Why did the lightsaber come in trio while the power upgrade thing didn't? What a scam.
As for the stuff like web fluid, pink kryptonite and lightsabers, those aren't coming out of my inventory yet. After finishing all my pulls, I decide whether to recycle them or keep them.
But the combo of Dick, Dash and elemental sight is great. Dick has the knowledge and experience, Dash has super speed and elemental sight gives me…. Well I hope it'd give me the ability to control elements.
I didn't hesitate and started to assimilate with Dick and Dash while claiming the power of elemental sight.
Which seemed to be a bad idea as all I could remember was an intense pain and my mind going through 2 different movies longer than a decade coupled with my vision getting wider to the point I saw my own self.
My brain couldn't handle it and I blacked out.
.
.
.
.
"Urgh…" I woke up with immense relief. I don't know how long I've been asleep for but I felt great after waking up.
"Where am I?" I looked around the room I was in, it wasn't my regular room. I seem to be in a hospital bed.
How long did I black out for? Maybe assimilating with all those characters at the same time was a bad idea… Dash was fine. His memories were just normal.
But Dick on the other hand… I finally know what it means to live in Gotham. If it wasn't for my elemental sight which constantly pulled me back to the real world due to the pain it caused, I'd have lived a whole life as Dick till the point where the Gacha pulled him up.
At least from their memories I now know what happens when I get them as characters. The Gacha literally pulls them from their world at a specific point of time. Maybe due to my subconscious thoughts, but it pulls them when they are at the lowest of their life. Be it physical danger or mental fight.
So I'll at least be able to spot some random bullshit to them when I inevitably summon one.
"Victor!" As I was thinking deeply, my mom burst out of the door with tears in her eyes and hugged me tightly.
For her it may have been just a second, but maybe due to the shock I felt when she opened the door suddenly, Dash's power activated and I started seeing the world in slow motion.
If this was any other situation I'd have been in joy, but the sight of my mom's relieved face made me stunned.
"You're fine!" She shouted while hugging me tightly, "Do you know how scared we were??"
She cried while hugging me tightly. It made me realise my mistake, I was thinking of this world as a dream… at least subconsciously, something that I should change quickly.
"I was so scared when you didn't wake up no matter how much I tried!" She said her experience after I probably fainted.
Fuck I should have guessed this could happen.
"I'm fine now mom… what did the doctor say?" I hugged her back and asked about the doctor's diagnosis. I have to know if they took some blood test or something.
If they did, then… well I'm fucked. Who knows what will happen to my body after assimilating with two other guys.
"He said you fainted after showing signs of stress… why didn't you tell us before?" She asked me while looking sad and disappointed in herself. Maybe due to Dick, but now I can read facial expressions better than ever.
"I spoke to your principal and teachers, they talked like you were in the wrong and that the other children were fine. Your dad got so angry that he almost slapped one of the teachers." She told me while slowly calming down. Her heart beat also got into a normal pace.
"Maybe the stress did get me…" I decided to go with this. I don't like to lie to her, but there's no way I'm going to reveal the existence of Gacha to anyone, even her.
"If you should have told us! It makes me feel like I did something wrong! Why did you not tell us? At least me? You say almost everything to me right? Did I do something wrong?" She started asking questions that made me feel more and more bad.
"No mom… I'm totally in fault here. I thought I could push through this but I overestimated myself." I chuckled to lighten the atmosphere and hugged her more tightly, now that I notice I seemed to have gotten a lot bigger. "You did nothing wrong, and I could never hate you."
"Please don't keep secrets like this again Victor," She said and wiped her tears, "I'll go tell the doctor and bring him here."
I watched as she went away, while questioning myself.
'Why did I lie?' I don't know why, but I feel like shit.
"Why's it raining here?" I wiped my tears and opened Gacha to check how long I've been asleep for from the GP I gained.
[ Name: Victor Bane
Age:17
GP: 50
Species: Human
Powers:
- Elemental SIght
- Super Speed
Summoned Characters:
-None
Character Assimilation
-Assimilated Character: Dick Greyson and Dash Parr.
-In Progress: [Empty]
Inventory: Pink Kryptonite, Web Fluid, Power Stone(Earth-616),Black Superman suit(Size Customisable), Lightsaber x3, Power Upgrade Card x3
]
So 10 whole days huh?
Honestly nothing compared to the torment I went through, living two separate lives at the same time. Props to elemental sight because without the pain it causes I would have lost myself in that dream.
From how only two powers are on the Powers section I can guess that only notable powers even appear there. Else all the martial arts and sheer dedication of Dick would come here.
Now that I notice, I've gotten a lot bigger and muscular too… perks of Dick I guess?
Not long after the doctor came in and asked me some questions, he said I was fine in the end and that I can be discharged tomorrow. He left and my mom went after him to ask some stuff.
From how he acted, he didn't seem to find anything different in me. Mom said that they didn't perform any kind of test except MRI. Which is good, after all knowing a drop of my blood is out there is a nightmare.
Mom came back in, her face a bit more relieved, "The doctor said you're fine Victor."
"He said the same here mom"
"I know, I just wanted to be sure…" She said as she sat on my bed and put her head on my shoulder, "I was so scared you know?"
"Yeah, you said it… more times than I can remember." I joked.
"Don't laugh, this is serious. Please tell us if you feel bad."
"Yeah I will."
"Oh, by the way I spoke with your teachers and you don't have to go to school for a while." She dropped the bomb.
This is the greatest news I've ever received in this world.
"Fu- I mean Yay! So how long is this holiday?"
"Haha, as long as you want it to be… though don't make it longer than a month for your own good. Your Dad told you to go to Sweden and spend time with my parents."
Fuck yeah a vacation in Sweden.
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