But the six extra lives, those I put to use right away, since — not sure exactly when it happened, but Axel had been fully assimilated.
Possibly right in the middle of the fight, since I’d performed noticeably better than I should have, which hinted at only one thing — a completed assimilation had added to my power.
Which raised the question of who to assimilate next.
After some deliberation, torn between Diluc from Genshin, Jun Lee from Aquarion, and Yuu Hasunuma from…
possibly even a hentai, I seriously stalled on the last two.
And yeah, I wasn’t even considering Kogarashi, for the reason already mentioned.
I’m definitely going to assimilate him, but not in a hospital — no point flashing that character’s regeneration around.
Diluc was an interesting option, but a long one, and likely one that would require me to get back into fights again…
I’d rather wait until I’ve recovered.
That’s where my thoughts stalled.
Seems like during the fight with Abomination I hadn’t been able to properly filter out Axel’s character traits, or wasn’t controlling that at all.
Or maybe Helltaker was rubbing off on me.
Either way, the gist remained the same — I no longer saw anything scary or dangerous about getting into a fight!
Meaning, really — I fully understood what assimilating Diluc (or Batman, for that matter) might demand of me, and accepted that easily, only noting that given my current physical condition, I’d rather not get into a fight right now, so it’d be foolish to burn my one assimilation slot on either of them right this second, whereas the far gentler, more peaceful Jun and Yuu suited me just fine for now, just to keep the slot from sitting empty while I can’t pick anyone tougher yet.
I’m changing.
And that’s a slightly frightening fact.
Back to the choice, I’ll have time to mull that over later.
What do I need more right now?
Assimilate a guy who gives me nothing physically (Jun’s solid, kept himself in shape, but I’ve already outgrown him), but a sharp-minded, skillful guy who can hack plenty of things himself instead of relying solely on Yorha, and repair things…
possibly even 2B herself.
Should really find out how she’s doing on that front.
And the guy’s got a good head on his shoulders, though he “floundered” in everyday life about as much as I do.
Still, a useful card overall.
Or take the completely useless-to-me kid who’d at least guarantee that whatever fresh horror shows up won’t be trying to kill me.
Given that I’m in Marvel, where there’s no shortage of weird crap, that’s some serious protection.
Sure, with caveats, sure, not against everyone, and sure, my pride might take a hit.
But that’s better than nothing.
On the other hand…
there’s always a chance of running into some self-aware tentacle monster that identifies as a girl…
and in that case, I’d honestly rather they just finished me off!
That last thought turned out to be too…
compelling, yeah, exactly compelling.
So, robotics guy, your turn!
[Jun Lee – 41%] And that was the highest starting percentage I’d ever seen.
Though it made sense, that forty percent clearly accounted for physical condition, which this time around I outclassed by a mile rather than the other way around.
And our personalities, after my latest little breakdown, aren’t all that different, and in everyday life he’s even more helpless than I am.
So no surprise the percentage came out this high.
What’s surprising is how much of that ratio was actually made up of his skills, knowledge, and everything else he’s supposed to bring me.
But still, not bad.
Especially since the process was moving fast, and all the help it required from me fit perfectly into the bland tedium of hospital downtime — reading relevant books, testing out new knowledge and skills, and zero physical activity required.
Works for me!
Plus, my hands were itching for it anyway, what guy hasn’t at some point imagined himself as some hotshot programmer?
Yeah, me too.
Meanwhile, let’s spin the gacha.
Realizing my own weakness doesn’t just push me toward using what I already have.
It also makes me want to see what else might drop.
And some alternatives from this world itself are worth picking up too.
I’ve already got some ideas, but pulling them off means fully assimilating Jun Lee first and getting back on my feet.
For now, though, let’s go!
1) Johnny Cage’s Shirt (MK10).
“Alright, I get it, saw this one coming.
Logical continuation of the full-set drop…
but seriously, what the hell?!” I couldn’t help myself by the end.
And now I’m curious — what’s next?
By my reckoning, I’ve already fully undressed this Johnny Cage, there shouldn’t be anything left to drop!
Though, I did get the vest twice.
Maybe it just loops back around?
2) Boost Card x6.
“Well, that’s a solid pile you’ve racked up,” I muttered thoughtfully.
Fifteen of these now, I could genuinely run some tests on a couple of them.
3) Kouta (Elfen Lied).
“Something a little less useless, maybe?” I sighed sadly.
No, seriously, this guy, both from my own memory and from Gennadiy’s, is an absolutely unnecessary character even in his own anime, where he’s technically the Main Character.
Though I get it, he fits the orphan criteria.
Never knew his mother, and his father and little sister were later murdered.
And that’s it!
A guy from an anime that has super-powers, and pretty good ones too!
I wouldn’t say no to those.
But this guy?
He’s got nothing!
The guy himself is a blank slate!
Even the brief character summary from the gacha in my head basically confirms it.
“A gentle and caring young man who rushes to help anyone he considers a friend or family.
At the same time, indecisive, and often unable to sort out his own feelings.” And that’s it!
Literally all of it!
He also likes and knows how to draw, mostly landscapes, and loves animals, dreaming of becoming a vet.
Though he’s got zero actual knowledge in that field.
So…
he’d give me indecisiveness and a knack for drawing, that’s about it?
And judging by his personality, I’d out-dominate him even in his “base configuration”!
So I wouldn’t even get the indecisiveness, just the drawing skill.
And not even some especially great, impressive drawing skill either.
As a summon he’s total garbage too!
Absolutely!
He’d get flattened here without anyone even noticing.
Even Johnny Cage’s clothes are more useful!
At least those look cool.
Next…
4) Negromancy (bit Dungeon II DLC).
At first I didn’t even register it, read it as “necromancy” and almost flipped past, since it felt too generic, and I don’t really want to be a necromancer.
But my mind snagged on some inconsistency.
Read it again, and got it.
“Yup, at the current level it lets me summon from water or any kind of soil and control one Black guy.
What a wonderfully non-PC ability!
I love it!” escaped me.
And also, there’s literally a “1” next to it, meaning…
testing time!
First I apply an Boost Card to it, without making it part of my own powers yet.
Yep, worked as expected, and now I can summon and control two Black guys.
Hm…
additive or multiplicative?
Let’s find out.
A second Boost Card added two more, bringing the total number of Black guys to four.
Feeling like a slave trader at an auction here!
And also seems like the power boost really is multiplicative!
That’s what I figured, until I fed it a third Boost Card, which only added a single Black guy, bringing the total to five.
Okay, I’ve concluded I understand nothing.
Fine, now let’s try actually acquiring this power and test whether an already-absorbed card can still be upgraded.
Turns out — yes, if it’s an ability.
Haven’t tried it with items or characters yet.
Well, actually I did try it on already fully assimilated ones — didn’t work.
But with an ability, no hiccups at all, Negromancy threw in three more Black guys right away, bringing the total to eight.
So does that mean once an ability’s actually embodied in me, it becomes more efficient to upgrade?
The next upgrade, the fifth card, showed that no, that’s not it either — it only added two this time.
After a bit of thought, I set aside three more Boost Cards for this, don’t really want to dump the rest into such a middling ability.
And the last three cards surprised me.
First — after hitting ten Black guys, the upgrade pattern shifted a bit.
After that it consistently added five each time.
And also turns out you can use several cards in a single upgrade at once.
In one go.
So, after all my testing, which genuinely gave me some useful information, I can now summon and control twenty-five Black guys…
a whole crowd of migrant laborers!
And I can also conclude that upgrades are non-linear at first, but level out fairly evenly once you hit a certain threshold.
Ideally I’d run more tests, but I don’t want to waste any more Boost Cards on it.
So, let’s see what else dropped.
5) Men in Black Uniform (Men In Black).
“At least it’s not piece by piece this time,” I said, shrugging (one shoulder, the other’s packaged up pretty well).
6) Chocobo (Final Fantasy XV).
“A rideable chicken-ostrich hybrid…
be nice to know what to feed it,” — the gacha’s kind of disappointing me today.
7) Power of Dominance (Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow/Dawn of Sorrow).
Cool power, no question about that.
But somehow…
it just sounds off.
First, I’m not sure it’d work on anything besides monsters, and second, capturing, melting down, and using souls…
well, it’s not exactly the nicest ability, not one I’m eager to touch.
Sounds awesome on paper, though.
Kill a monster, capture its soul, melt it down into power, specifically into that monster’s ability, then absorb it and use it as you please.
But I don’t foresee having monsters handy anytime in the near future.
And it’s not even guaranteed this power works in Marvel…
or in human hands.
Plus, I don’t have any mana!
There’s no way I’m getting magic techniques to work without, well, magic!
On top of that, say it turns out the power really does work, and works fine on more than just monsters.
Who’s got unique powers around here?
Yeah, exactly, I’m not ready to go around killing mutants and doing something to their souls.
That’s crossing a line!
Because mutants…
they’re basically still people.
Sure, with unusual powers, but people!
And…
just no.
A big fat no on that.
8) Homer Simpson’s Couch (Simpsons).
“Okay, all things considered, this is the single worst gacha haul I’ve ever had!” I said, irritated.
9) Seth (Street Fighter IV).
“Ooh!
Now this is a candidate for assimilation.
Hope I don’t inherit the looks.
But powers-wise — this is a gem.
Yeah, nothing way beyond human level, but the ability to copy any fighting style just by watching an opponent use it, right down to unique moves, like Ryu’s Hadouken…
that’s awesome.
There’s a catch though, apparently you can only pick up the energy component of a move if you’ve already got something similar yourself.
Meaning, I could swipe techniques built on life energy, but say, magic, even if it’s tuned toward physical enhancement, I could only pick up if I’ve got mana of my own, and of the right type too,” I muttered, pleased.
Now that’s a solid card.
There’s a ton of stuff floating around Marvel that could be picked up this way, none of it truly unique.
Man, once I’ve assimilated this, I should try running into Iron Fist, he uses a power close to mine, I could swipe practically his entire fighting style, super-moves included.
10) Minion Number 17 (Despicable Me).
“So it’s a ‘gotta collect them all’ thing now with these too?” I rubbed the bridge of my nose wearily.
Guess I was expecting something different — looks like it really is time to start worrying about strengthening myself on my own.
Not like it matters anymore whether I “keep a low profile,” since I’ve already blown that.
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There are chapters ahead.
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