The Scourge Of Gacha Begins

(Nathan POV)

Seeing the screen begin to flash in a bright blue light, I see ten cards fly out from the screen and present themselves before me, all of which glowed in a bright white color before they chipped away and showed me the following.

1. Spicy Mapo Tofu (FGO)

2. 5 Black Keys (FGO)

3. Book Of Poems (DMC 5)

4. Taskmaster (Marvel Comics: Earth 616)

5. Chinese Kenpo: Four Thousand-Year-Old Martial Arts Book Version (Baki)

6. $50,000 (U.S Currency)

7. Urfael (Shadow Of War)

8. Acharn (Shadow Of War)

9. Loid Forger (Spy X Family)

10. Power Boost Cards (3X)

Eyeing the gacha, waiting for something else to happen, my patience is rewarded as all the cards go into an inventory meant for them, but soon enough, my curiosity gets the better of me, and I pull out the mapo tofu after seeing it, I take the spoon that was in the plate and take a sip of it and find it to be quite good. What I didn't know later was that if I fed this to someone else, they would start belching fire and wish to die due to the pure smell of this tofu.

Thankfully, my inviolate essence kept me from feeling the heat and spices and made it a lot more moderate. And even though I have not felt the need to eat or sleep since I arrived, this is nice. It feels like whoever made this was a master at their craft or trying to kill someone at the same time. But from my first ten, this was good.

Based on my memories, I should assimilate Taskmaster as his ability to learn martial arts on the fly based purely on seeing them once will be a boon, and due to my essence of the blank, I should be able to eventually upgrade his ability to the point where I won't lose knowledge on my martial arts, in addition to the fact that my short and long term memory will not suffer from his mimicry ability. Loid Forger was from a type of action/comedy anime, and while I did not watch that show, I have seen enough clips to know his deal.

So, on the one hand, I gained a person who will allow me to learn every martial art on the planet, and on the other hand, I have also gained someone who is a renowned spy. A good haul indeed, but I will not be blowing up planets yet, so I assimilate the two cards and feel a change, at least physically, as my senses become more in tune with my surroundings and my way of breathing starts to change to become more efficient.

On the other hand, I also feel more malleable in terms of my social aptitude, which I attribute to Loid's ability to lie and insert himself into various scenarios. And after placing the now-finished mapo tofu plate into the inventory of the system, I then decided to take out the book of poems, and to see the small book, I opened it and found a variety of poems from William Blake. The majority of them are from the Book of Urizen, but there were a few more, such as one called "A Little Boy Lost."

"The weeping child could not be heard,

The weeping parents wept in vain:

They stripped him to his little shirt,

And bound him in an iron chain,

And burned him in a holy place

Where many had been burned before;

The weeping parents wept in vain.

Are such things done on Albion's shore?"

After closing the book, the poem remained with me as it spoke of events long passed, but instead of a child burning for being sick or different, it was the child that burned his parents for succumbing to Death's embrace. A cold reminder of everything I had lost in this life. My home, my family, and my name for this uncertainty in my new life seemed to be my only comfort. Placing the book back into the inventory for later readings, I checked the assimilation progress.

According to the screen, Loid was at 10%, and Taskmaster at 5%, which made sense as for Loid, I literally stepped into someone else's shoes just as he usually did, and for Taskmaster, my solitude and untrusting nature seemed reminiscent of his own. In addition to the fact that I loathed random chaos just like Taskmaster did, it was his other weakness as he could not copy fighting styles that were simply too random. It's why he feared Deadpool after meeting him once.

Checking the other items, I saw five small daggers that emanated a sort of holy power, and in the item's description was a sort of incantation that I surmised was meant for less-than-kind beings. Then, moving to the two other weapons I acquired, the blade Urfael and the dagger Acharn, I saw two weapons of a make I did not recognize. I assume, based on the fact that they came from the game based on the Lord of the Rings, that either Man or Elves made them. Taking Acharn from the inventory, I began to hold it, feeling the weight of a weapon meant to take a person's life.

Then, following my instincts, I began to swing it around and felt the weight and sharpness of the blade my expression remained completely blank, and my dark eyes seemed to stare through me as I practiced in front of a cracked mirror. Without knowing it, I practiced for nearly an hour, simply refining my skills with the small blade. While Taskmaster did use many types of bladed weaponry, Loid was very much adept with smaller weapons, as is fitting with a spy.

Before I knew it, the Moon had reached its peak in the sky, and realizing that I should stop for now, I placed the blade into my gacha inventory and sat back down with a more balanced way about me. To be honest, my more adept way of moving may cause me problems as those trained in martial arts will be able to notice the difference between a normal person walking and a trained person walking. Luckily, again, both men were trained spies, and I could regulate my gait accordingly.

Checking the assimilation progress again, I saw that both had increased by a small amount, with Loid being 15% and Taskmaster 10%, an increase of 5% for both. But what bothered me most was the joy I felt and the improvement. As each strike became more precise, I became more joyful that I could see my improvement. Taking a breath, I walked over to the window and looked at the Moon. Its radiance shone down onto the city, and as I made an attempt to reach for it, I stopped myself.

Such a small celestial object within Earth's orbit was so close yet so far. Knowing that I did not need to breathe anymore brought me a small amount of joy as I would be able to eventually reach the Moon. It is only a matter of time. Time is such an important factor in all of this. Closing the window and the various blinds around the apartment, well, at least the windows that had blinds, I opened the screen again.

Current Status: Nathan Lars Rockwood

Race: Human(Malnourished But Healing)

Assimilated Cards:

-None

In Progress Assimilations:

Loid Forger (Spy X Family): 15%

Taskmaster (Marvel Comics: Earth 616): 10%

Summons:

-Maidenless

Powers:

Unlimited Potential: This does not increase learning speed but breaks all limits. (Essence Of Blank)

Immunities Of The Inviolate Self (Curse, Fate, Destiny, Paradox, Cloning, Soul, Mind and Entrapment.)

Biological Immortality (Agelessness Not Regen Based)

Boredom Immunity

Items:

Book Of Four Thousand-Year-Old Chinese Martial Arts (Baki)

3 Power Boost Cards

Empty Mapo Tofu Plate (FGO)

Urfael (Shadow Of War)

Acharn (Shadow Of War)

5 Black Keys (FGO)

(I won't do this all the time, I promise...Maybe)

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," I say to myself as I read off the start of the Chinese martial arts book I received from the gacha, and as the diagrams and various writings continue on, I feel my new aptitude for martial arts learning this as I read off the pages. Looking at who wrote it, I see the name Retsu Kaioh, and for some reason, that name feels familiar. But such thoughts are for later as I looked at the gacha again and as I took out one hundred dollars from the 50,000 I received.

Holding the bill in my hand, I then placed it on the screen, and I saw my points increase to one hundred and one, so I decided to use it again as I feel a small part of me feel lighter every time I use it. So, yet again, I watch as ten new cards form in front of me as the light from the animation plays, showing rings of light converging into said ten cards.

1. Taskmaster Suit/Shield (Earth 616) (Grow With User To Fit Perfectly)

2. Taskmaster's Bow And Quiver (Earth 616) (Contains Multiple Basic Trick Arrows)

3. Camera Scrambler Ability (Invisible To Cameras) (Toggleable)

4. Senju Muso "Thousand Image Defense" (Baki) (Predicts enemy movements through simulating their moves in real-time.) (Good For Image Training)

5. DNA Lock (Toggleable)

6. Ultra Instinct (Lookism) (Not DBZ Version) (Battle Oriented State Of Mind Meant To Aid In Focusing During Battle)

7. E-11 Blaster Rifle (Star Wars) (Comes With Ammunition)

8. Sheev Palpatine (Star Wars Legends)

9. Robot ( Rudolph Conners Post Mind Cloning) (Invincible)

10. SUROS Regime (Destiny 2) (Unlimited Ammo)

Well, this is definitely something, especially the fact that I got Palpatine and Robot, while both are immensely intelligent and savvy in terms of political maneuvering. The former is a lord of the dark side, and the latter is a super genius.

Sending a small prayer to the gacha lords for reasons even I cannot identify, I placed all the items into the inventory. Luckily, all of the items I have come from the gacha, as only items received from the system can be placed in the inventory until I can get another form of it or learn how to create a pocket space of my own.

Taking out the Taskmaster suit, it is definitely reminiscent of his comic appearance rather than the one shown in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which I actually find to be better as it is much more colorful as well as stylish. Although I am tempted to get rid of the cape, as those things are death traps waiting to happen. I mean, think about it: you're fighting an enemy, and he then grabs you by your cape and starts choking you or sending you flying into a building.

I should definitely look into making a detachable as well as upgrading the suit to have a more stealth-based look, which I should be able to do once I assimilate Robot. While I am tempted to summon the guy, I am in desperate need of an increased intellect as, in comparison to most people in this universe, it is like an ant trying to understand quantum physics. What would be worse is that the ant would probably be more intelligent than me since this is a comic universe, after all.

Thankfully, I got the human version of him, so I won't turn into an actual robot as I am no techno enthusiast. I then proceeded to assimilate the other abilities into my already existing form, and to say that my eyes were opened is an understatement. While physically, I can't activate Ultra Instinct just yet, simply having it as a part of my repertoire has already improved my already decent combat ability.

 In terms of the other ability, the thousand image defense will definitely come into play when I find that I am in need of sparring partners as well as during battle as along with the image defense with my mimicry, I will be practically untouchable unless I'm simply outpaced by my opponent.

So, deciding to take a break from the gacha, I close the system screen and wonder if anyone else would be able to see it. Regardless, I am definitely going to have to become more focused in the field as if anyone notices that I am reading something that no one else can see, they will think I am either insane or seeing ghosts, which in this universe might actually be likely. Also the possibility that other system fanfiction may exist in this universe and they may pick up on the signs that I'm reading from a system.

But because my DNA is now basically unscannable, along with my powers being unable to be copied, I am perfectly safe from all the very intrusive scientists in this universe. Speaking of which, I should definitely get started on determining where I am in the timeline and what timeline I am dealing with, as I may be missing pertinent information. I need to know more, as knowing is half the battle, after all.

Currently, it is 1:00 in the morning, so I have some time before the sun rises, and I need to level these assimilations fast as I want to be able to access the force and Robot's super intellect, so I guess it is time for a real-life training montage. I should look into finding a gym or at least somewhere that sells martial arts equipment and finding myself a new place of residence. Because if I am honest with myself I am by no means as stubborn as Batman when it comes to eliminating my enemies.

Honestly, it is a surprise that the majority of Batman's Rogues Gallery hasn't already been put to death at this point, which I assume has to be a result of corruption and various other possible factors, with some being quite disturbing. 

So I reached for the old Wayne Tech phone I had and began to do some much-needed research as I needed to find my targets and know who to deal with and who to ally with. The more juvenile part of me wants to rehabilitate various supervillains, but such actions can never come at the cost of the mission.

I just need to figure out what my mission is exactly.

(Hero, Villain, Anti-Hero? The Choice Must Be made)