In a blink, the world around him shifted. The luxury hotel vanished, replaced by a dim, reeking prison cell. Silk sheets became cold metal, and the warmth of company turned into the stench of rot.
A sharp clang—metal on metal—rang out. Sam Moore flinched before he knew why. This body had learned to fear that sound.
Moments later, several large men stepped in from the bright hallway and slid cloudy, sticky gruel into each cell.
When they reached Sam's cell, one of them stopped and called out, "Boss, this one's still alive. Tough bastard."
Their bald leader, tattoos crawling over his scalp and neck, shot Sam a cold look. "Don't touch him. The deal's soon. If his organs aren't fresh, the payout tanks."
"Yeah, yeah, got it," the henchman muttered. He cut Sam a hostile glare, rubbed a half-healed bite mark on his palm, and sneered. "Lucky today, huh, kid?"
Organ trafficking.
As their footsteps faded, understanding snapped into place—and then pain hit. A spike behind Sam's eyes, followed by a rush of fractured memories.
The original owner of this body—also named Sam Moore—had been an ordinary college student. A month ago, he'd awakened a mutant power and walked out of a house fire without a burn. He survived, but life didn't get better. His parents found out, panicked, and threw him out. A shadowy group started hunting him. Then a crew out of Hell's Kitchen grabbed him and locked him in this underground hole.
He'd fought—hard enough to take a bite out of one thug's hand—and paid for it. The welts and open sores under his shirt told the rest of the story. He probably would've died here anyway.
And in a week, the gang would sell their "inventory." People would be carved up like cattle.
Worse, this was a world Sam recognized: mutants, Stark Industries—Marvel. Even if he slipped this noose, how do you dodge a universe-ending snap? Was this the movie timeline or the comics? If it was comics… he shuddered.
As for the original Sam's power—it was "energy absorption," same label as the Black King's, but after the initial awakening, it fell off a cliff. He could barely sap the force of a punch, let alone bullets or mutant powers.
What good was that here?
Despair rose—then a calm, mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
Congratulations. You have awakened the Myriad Worlds Character Template System.
Template acquired: Satoru Gojo.
Skill awakened: Six Eyes, Level 1.
Name: Sam Moore
Template: Satoru Gojo
Energy Absorption Lv.1 (78/100): Can absorb most energy; low efficiency and small storage capacity.
Six Eyes Lv.1 (1/100): Grants a 360-degree extended field of view and perception of energy flow, enabling precise energy manipulation.
Template Fusion: 1%
Unlock more skills by increasing fusion.
Energy Points: 0
At 100% fusion, a new character template will be granted.
Suddenly, everything sharpened. Sam could see in every direction at once—dust motes hanging in stale air, hairline cracks in the walls. Blue filaments threaded his vision, converging on the dim wall sconce behind him. Electricity—he was literally seeing energy flow. Six Eyes.
Relief flared. Gojo Satoru as a starter template. Even if Gojo's stock had dipped in fan debates, he was still top-tier in Jujutsu Kaisen. A fraction of that power could get him out of this cage.
Footsteps. The bitten thug—Sam remembered his name now: Jim—stopped at the bars, smirking.
"Didn't think you'd last," Jim said, voice low and ugly. "You get one more day. Tomorrow? I'll make sure you remember it."
He unzipped, emptied a stream of foul yellow liquid into a bowl, and kicked it toward the gruel. Sam's flat, cold stare made Jim's palm itch where the bite had healed. He swallowed whatever he wanted to do next, shot a parting threat, and walked off.
Sam waited until he was gone, then stepped back from the mess. Hunger gnawed at him, but he wasn't touching anything in that bowl.
He needed power.
He shifted to block the wall sconce with his body. A soft cough masked the tiny snap as he popped the glass cover and palmed a shard, tucking it up his sleeve. Then he pressed a fingertip to the lamp's metal base.
Six Eyes tightened his focus. He felt the current, the heat, the tiny hum in the wire—and pulled.
[Energy Point +1]
[Energy Point +1]
[Energy Point +1]
[Energy Absorption EXP +1]
[Energy Absorption EXP +1]
[Energy Absorption EXP +1]
Time crawled. Hidden by his own shadow, he drank in a trickle of power and funneled every point into the Gojo template.
Hours later, the HUD in his mind flickered.
Template Fusion: 5%
New skill unlocked: Limitless.
Energy Absorption leveled up!
Sam exhaled slowly. A start. And a way out.