It was just a normal day. He was about to go out for a date when all of a sudden, someone mugged him from behind, and here he was.
He wasn't sure how long time had gone by. As far as he knew it, he's been here in this dark space for eternity. However, he didn't feel sad nor lonely, instead, it felt peaceful.
Then, all of a sudden, a sharp light burst from the corner of his vision. His mind went blank. A constant ring in his ears.
Then, the ringing died like receding waves, replaced by distant murmurs of the crowd.
"Ugh…"
He groaned in pain as a sharp headache pounding his head.
He opened his eyes. Messy table filled with empty alcohol bottles. Unknown white powder lined up just before him and syringes scattered on the floor.
Just before he could think about his current predicament, memories that didn't belong to him flooded into his mind.
Pain carved in his expression as he endured the turbulent wave of agony. It lasted for a few moments.
Sweat beads flowed across his cheek as it fell to the table.
His hasty breathing calmed slowly as he put his thoughts together.
"Ha… ha.."
The body he possessed belonged to Claire Halvor, a twenty year old college student that lived alone.
As for his current predicament, seemingly died of drug overuse, evident from the white crystal on the table and syringes on the floor, it was unknown how Claire Halvor ended up like this
The last thing Claire Halvor remembers is that he's in a deep predicament, akin to a blade just before his throat, and he must do whatever necessary to survive.
Regardless of what conflict that puts Claire Halvor on edge, it leaves the current owner of the body worried.
'What happened in the last two weeks?' He pinched his chin, trying to remember.
However, no matter how hard he tried, it was to no avail.
He sighed. Did Claire Halvor get involved in something dangerous in the last two weeks?
'No matter.' he assured himself, trying to take it easy.
He died and suddenly reincarnated to someone else, after all. There were so many things he worried about.
Will he be able to live in this world? After all, according to the memories, this world has extraterrestrial life that disguises itself as humans and devours humanity.
As a normal human, can he protect himself? According to the knowledge of this body, when an ordinary human encounters them, just pray they are full and leave you alone.
Just the thought gives him goosebumps. He needs strength to survive in this world, and if he remembered it correctly, there's an organisation that takes care of these extraterrestrials.
'I should try to join them.'
With that in mind, he felt a little bit assured. After all, knowing what to do next when everything is unknown is better than just expecting everything to be fine.
Now that settles and he lets his guard down a bit, he feels hungry.
According to the memories, there was a restaurant nearby that the previous Halvor used to frequent.
Before that, however, he needs to clean his desk, no, his room. It is bloody messy with all the garbage filling the space. It is no different than a junk yard.
'This will take a while.' He sighed, feeling dejected he couldn't eat sooner.
As he cleaned the room, he found personal belongings of Claire Halvor, such as a photo frame of him with two girls.
He glanced briefly before putting the fame on the desk and continued cleaning.
Two hours had passed, and he only managed to clean the living room.
The bathroom, kitchen and bedroom is a mess no sane human is capable of making, yet Claire Halvor achieved it.
'Is he in depression?'
According to Halvor's memories, he gets along with people well and has many friends. However, he didn't want to burden his friend with his struggles, he never shared his problems and ended up with depression.
'Pathetic, even I lived the same as you, but depression will never get the better of me. Once you acknowledge you have it, you will start using it as an excuse to fall deeper.'
He scoffed as he kept cleaning, and all of a sudden, his body throbbed and his vision went blank.
'Crap, I should've gone to that restaurant first. This body hasn't eaten anything in two days.'
He then collapsed and closed his eyes.
When he opened it, he was in a white room stretching as far as the eye can see.
'Where am I? What is this place?'
He remembered he collapsed because of hunger. This must be some kind of lucid dream, how should he get out?
As he pinched his chin, a holographic panel appeared just before his eyes.
On the top, it said, [The Most Powerful, Magnificent, Amazing, and Fair Gacha.]
He frowned slightly as he observed the panel.
'Gacha…'
He knew what that was. He played gacha games before. You press a button to get a limited character you like, or just the most normal, five stars character.
From the panel, it imitated the gacha tab of a famous gacha game, G****** I******ct, with a bit of difference here and there. Talk about copy and paste.
Regardless, he still didn't know why this appeared, and why he's here. He then shrugged his shoulders.
'Whatever, I'm sure I'm dreaming this because I've been addicted to gacha games before I died. Now, how does this thing work? You should need a currency to get a gacha running, what will this need?'
He pinched his chin and looked around, wondering if the dream got some clues. Then, he spotted beads which looked like a moon with a ring.
There were exactly ten beads.
He picked it up with both of his hands and observed it, 'Is this the currency? How convenient it appears next to my feet. Well, it is a dream, after all. Anything I want will appear in a blink of an eye. Now, how should I use it?'
As soon as he asked that, the beads turned into particles and entered the gacha panel.
Immediately afterward, the currency went to 1600 from zero.
'Hum, I see. One bead equals 160 points. This is the norm in most gacha games. I truly am dreaming,' he said as he shifted his eyes to the gacha.
'What will I draw anyway? The banner doesn't really say if it's a character or weapon banner. Right, since this is a dream, I should be able to freely decide what banner it should be, right?
'What if I… heh, it worked.'
He just imagined the banner to be a skill banner, a banner that can get one any skill!
Why, you might ask.
Before he died, he wanted to make a gacha game that doesn't focus on characters, but skills.
Gamers might say the game is going to be P2W, but he made sure every skill isn't overpowered and power creeped the previous skills.
Too bad he died early, but now, he achieved it! In his dreams!
As pathetic or sad that may seem, he's happy.
'Now then.'
He pressed the [X10] button, and a gacha animation which is in the form of the beads he gathered fell to the ground with colourful trails, heading towards him at a terrifying speed.
Afraid that these beads might ram into him and turn him into cheese, he jumped to the side. However, his heart fell when he realized he couldn't move his body!
'F*ck!'
He cursed and closed his eyes, preparing for impact. However, the long awaited pain didn't occur.
Opening his eyes, he saw the ten beads lined up perfectly in front of him.
At this moment too, he realized he could finally move.
As he stared at the lined up beads, it reminded him of a game mechanic where you interact with something and something happens.
With a touch, the bead entered his body.
[You've received >Shock< skill.]
'I received a skill? It would be nice if I could use it in real life.' he chuckled bitterly and continued with the other bead.
[You've received the skill >Faker<]
[You've received the skill >Explosion<]
[You've received the skill >Recovery<]
[You've received the skill >Teleportation<]
[You've received the skill >Enhanced Body<]
[You've received the skill >Fly<]
[You've received the skill >Superhuman Agility<]
[You've received a passive skill >Mind of the Monarch<]
[You've received a passive skill >End Of The World is on Hiatus<]
When the bead entered his body, it would glow in grey slightly, but when the passive skill, Mind of the Monarch, the bead glowed purple, and in every gacha game, it just meant a four star rarity.
And for the passing skill, End Of the World is on Hiatus. The bead exudes a golden light, a five star skill!
He felt lucky he got both four and five stars skills!
Pinching his chin slightly, he wondered how to use these passive skills.
Just then, a panel appeared before his eyes.
[Passive Skill]
Mind of the Monarch.
Description: Calming the mind and increasing your mental process speed by tenfold.
'By ten fold?!' He exclaimed, slightly surprised, 'How should I use it? Should I just do this?'
[Passive skill, Mind of the Monarch has been activated.]
'Sweet. It only needs a thought.' A sneer escaped from his lips.
With the skill, his mind entered a state of tranquility. His mind was as clear as a blank slate, and he could think efficiently without feeling anxious. It was akin to that feeling when you were motivated and everything seemed possible, and you had complete faith in yourself.
With this skill, you were able to find the best path in a desperate situation, or when you couldn't stay calm. Furthermore, with how this world is, filled with terrifying extraterrestrials that devour humans, a calm mind is a must to survive.
It was like how you heard that bombs could kill people. Just knowing the information won't leave you scared until you experience it firsthand.
No need to fake his bravado, he would be scared shitless if he encountered these extraterrestrials.
But he could only pity himself. Too bad this skill couldn't be brought to real life.
'I should leave.'
He deactivated the passive skill and didn't bother to check the other one. He couldn't do anything with it anyway.
He then wondered how he should leave when a panel appeared.
[Please select two skills to bring with you to the real world.]
After that, it was a list of skills he just got with a checkbox on the left.
He became stupified.
'Eh?'