What had popped into my view, almost scaring me into shitting my pants, was a normal-looking window interface. There was no earth-shattering confetti or annoying firework sound blaring in my ears like one would expect in this kind of situation.
Gacha. Of course I knew about them. Those soul-sucking microtransactions not only took away my money, but also robbed my happiness by giving me a character I didn't want.
Who the hell invented the pity system? Let me have a talk with them. I just want to tell them that they didn't have to listen to Satan every time. They could always listen to me and give me the character I wanted in just a single pull.
I would accept no compromises, and Firefly would be mine.
Well, coping aside, no additional interface showed up to explain what kind of thing this Chaos Gacha was to me, no matter how long I waited.
"Hello, mister? Or maybe it's Miss System? I think you forgot the explanation part."
I tried poking at the interface like tapping on the glass of an aquarium, but my finger simply passed through it as if it were a holographic projection.
I was thinking I could ask it if it knew anything about my current predicament, but since it didn't respond to my inquiry, I might as well have been talking to an invisible wall.
If asking didn't work, and neither did touching... what else was I supposed to do here?
I decided to take another look at the interface and read the text again, just to be sure I wasn't missing anything. Maybe there was hidden text written in a smaller font that required closer inspection. I did exactly that.
Unfortunately, there were no secrets hidden inside the interface, save for making me look even more stupid for even considering it.
Instead, I stared at the second interface, the one that specifically stated I had some kind of tickets.
"So I have three of these tickets? Random Gold Gacha?"
I muttered while outlining the text by hovering my finger just beneath it. The problem wasn't knowing I had them, but figuring out where to even use them.
It was like being thrown into a new game and expecting the player to magically know the mechanics and rules of the world without a tutorial, much less a menu.
Instead of thinking logically, I decided to go with my writer's instincts and explore from there.
Since everything else failed, what other means was I missing? I closed my eyes and recalled everything I had experienced the moment I woke up in this endless void.
When the first interface appeared, announcing itself to me, I hadn't heard the sound traveling through my ears.
Instead, it had spoken directly to me inside my head. Did this mean it wasn't the void showing me the interface through some magical holographic shenanigans, but something inside me that had revealed itself in a way only I could see and hear?
If that was the case, then the key here was my mind.
Looking at the same interface again, I thought about using one of the three tickets in my mind. And then, something finally happened.
[Rolling the Random Gold Gacha.]
[Adept Spycraft]
|Elite Skill|
You are a real spy, the kind that would infiltrate other countries and make James Bond proud. You are skilled at gathering information, infiltrating places, acting, masking your real emotions, effectively using disguises, reading people, and if need be, you can handle yourself well in combat using knives, guns, and hand-to-hand combat. While not a match for fellow adepts in any one of those individual skills, they combine to make you an extremely effective spy.
Two more interfaces popped up in my vision. My eyes widened a little as I read the skill description I had suddenly gained out of nowhere. If what the text said was true, had I basically become the male version of Yor from that Spy x Family anime?
I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, considering I didn't have anything to reference it with. But it was supposedly an elite skill, so surely it was something rare?
"Spy... Well, I've been able to read people's expressions since I was a kid, so I guess this is an expected development?"
The reason I'd decided to become a writer was related to it too.
I used to be a minimum-wage worker in an office job. I had managed to quickly level up from an entry-level position to manager in just a few years.
How? I was very good at reading people, so I knew exactly what to say to make others form a better impression of me.
Even if my higher-up used to be some stuck-up old man who knew nothing except complaining, by the time I worked my magic on him, he would treat me better than his own biological son.
If I really wanted to, I could have climbed the corporate ladder and retired at a respectable age.
But that was exactly how I got myself into trouble that almost took my life, if I hadn't accepted the hand that told me to give up my corporate career.
"Alright, that's enough character-dumping exposition. Let's give another ticket a go and see if I'm still lucky."
[Rolling the Random Gold Gacha.]
[Tinker - Macro]
|Elite Ability|
Allows you to build, construct, and design contraptions or machines that are scaled-up versions of existing technologies. You can create gigantic warplanes hundreds of meters long, cannons that shoot out human-sized shells, or a giant microwave death chamber.
"Another elite roll? And an ability this time?"
I was pleasantly surprised; I hadn't expected to get another good roll the second time. The last time I was this lucky, I got kidnapped and threatened with a gun to my head.
"So, if there's tech out there that allows someone to become Iron Man, I could use it and make my own Gundam? Cool."
It was more than just cool, awesome even. If I could get my hands on a taser, I could scale it up into a deadly lightning chamber. And it didn't stop there.
Maybe if there was an exoskeleton to help a cripple walk again, I could transform it into a powerful bodysuit that allowed me to possess superhuman capabilities.
Heck, with this kind of ability, even if I were stuck in an apocalyptic survival scenario, I could become my own boss and turn a living hell into a suitable paradise.
"Now I'm afraid of using the last ticket. It's definitely going to be trash."
Despite that thought, I still decided to use it. Who knew? Maybe fate had a different idea in mind.
[Rolling the Random Gold Gacha.]
[Heatwave]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to unleash waves of pure heat from your body that you can either control as directed waves or release as omnidirectional heat.
"I'm an air fryer now?"
It was a rare ability, yes. But if I had to compare it with the Tinker one, this was a bit of a disappointment.
Even so, I couldn't call it trash either. If I could train the output of the heat to a higher level, it could become deadly very quickly.
Maybe I could at best dry a wet cloth at first, but gradually, I might subject people to a heatwave similar to that one scorching day in the middle of summer.
And if the output increased even more? I could become a deadly, two-legged furnace. That basically made me a living, breathing sun.
I shook my head as my delusions started to spiral out of control.
"So that's it? No more gacha?"
I thought that was finally the end of it, but another interface I didn't even know existed surfaced, almost giving me a fright with how blood-red it was.
"What is this? The Curse Roulette?"
The description explained how the roulette worked. Finally, I could glimpse into a feature belonging to this Chaos Gacha. But the further I read, the smile on my face gradually turned into a frown and, ultimately, sheer fear.
I couldn't look at the blood-red roulette the same way with the knowledge I now possessed.
This thing... it was basically saying I could nerf myself to gain an additional ticket, like making me lose part of my vision so I could get a platinum ticket.
"So platinum is the highest?"
The more major the curse, the better the ticket I could get. But the severe ones scared the crap out of my soul.
What did it mean by an important character suddenly gaining a hate-boner for me and going out of their way to murder me if they found me on the street?
If I was in the Invincible universe, that character would probably be Omni-Man!
"No, no! This thing is jinxed! Bad civilization!"
I immediately swiped the stinky interface as far away from me as possible, treating it like some heavy responsibility only a masochist like Spider-Man would take on.
However...
"...the chance of me getting a severe curse is very small, practically impossible odds even."
I knew this was the call of the void, Satan's whispering, or my gacha addiction acting up again. But the urge slowly crept back into my body as greed subdued logic.
"Just one, yes. I'll stop right there."
In the end, I succumbed to my fate (read: gambling).
[Rolling the Curse Roulette.]
[Stone Faced]
|Severity 4|
You are stoic to a fault; your face and voice rarely ever betray your emotions, making it quite difficult for others to understand how you are feeling. On the upside, you have one hell of a poker face.
|Resolve: Acquire an Adept-rarity or higher communication skill, or Intermediate and above Charisma.|
[You gained x1 Random Gold Ticket!]
"Yes! It's a minor one! Thank you, RNGesus!"
It was just a poker face, nothing too crazy as I had feared. At least I wouldn't have problems talking to people; at worst, they might mistake me for a cold robot or something. I definitely dodged a bullet there.
With the Adept Spycraft skill I'd rolled earlier, I figured I could even fake normal expressions if the situation called for it.
"Alright, this will be my last ticket. I don't expect anything good, just please don't be trash."
[Rolling the Random Gold Gacha.]
[Mist Flames]
|Epic Ability|
Katekyo Hitman Reborn — Dying Will Flames that represent Construction. The mist-like flames produced by this attribute have the special property of being able to alter their looks, texture, smell, etc. They can fool the five senses and can even be condensed enough to pass off as real objects, but they possess comparatively weak firepower.
[All tickets have been spent.]
[Proceeding with the transmigration process.]
[Good luck.]
"Wait, what? I think I just saw something crazy just now—"
Before I could familiarize myself with my new roll, another interface overlapped it until my vision darkened once again.