CH 2: Gacha
It had been about three months since Lex arrived in this world and started living a life he once could barely even imagine. A luxurious suite in one of the best hotels in New York, food from restaurants so expensive he once thought only celebrities ate there, parties filled with wealthy businessmen, models, politicians and people with enough influence to make problems disappear with a phone call.
When you had infinite money, getting invited into the circles of powerful people turned out to be surprisingly easy.
After some time, he did begin feeling the need to get a proper identity though. Mostly because he wanted to travel around eventually, maybe even buy a house somewhere instead of permanently living in a hotel suite. The credit card worked perfectly everywhere, nobody ever questioned it, but Lex still felt slightly uncomfortable existing without any actual records.
The second major thing that changed his worldview happened just a day after his arrival, when he started learning more about this world.
Especially the superhero part.
Now, Lex didn't recognise any of the names from fiction back in his own world, but that didn't mean he didn't understand how absurd superhero settings could become. So after finding out that a billionaire named Tony Stark had built a flying metal suit and openly called himself Iron Man, or that there existed a giant green monster named Hulk who could apparently throw tanks around, he finally realized something important.
This world was insane.
And more importantly, if he ever used his own abilities, he probably wouldn't stand out nearly as much as he originally feared.
There were already gods, aliens, monsters and superhumans running around publicly. He wouldn't become some uniquely hunted anomaly, just another freak among many others.
Then there were mutants.
For some reason, people here absolutely despised them.
Which honestly confused Lex quite a bit. The public worshipped Iron Man, tolerated the Hulk despite everything he apparently destroyed and practically treated Thor like some mythical celebrity, yet mutants were hated simply for being born different.
It made no sense to him.
Still, all of that was far less important than the situation he currently found himself in.
Tonight, he had gone to a nightclub mostly to relax, drink something expensive and maybe continue the streak of increasingly reckless one night stands he had been having over the past few months.
Instead, he saw someone familiar.
Her name was Drew. A girl around his age, energetic, impulsive and far too comfortable doing dangerous things for fun. What started as a one night stand around a month ago somehow turned into repeatedly running into each other across the city until eventually she just started casually appearing in his hotel room every now and then.
She was fun to be around.
Which was exactly why the way she looked tonight immediately bothered him.
She was following behind a man in a purple suit along with two other women. At first glance nothing looked especially wrong, but the longer Lex watched them, the more unsettling things became.
Drew’s fingers trembled occasionally.
Her eyes looked panicked.
Not outwardly panicked, not enough for normal people to notice, but there was something deeply wrong in the way she moved. The same thing applied to the other women too. Their expressions looked restrained, almost forcibly controlled beneath the surface.
Lex narrowed his eyes slightly.
What was this?
Drugs? Blackmail? Fear?
Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't normal.
As the man began leaving the club with the women following behind him, Lex quietly moved after them. He was still physically superior to any normal human even without using anything flashy, and while he wasn't exactly eager to get into a fight, he also wasn't comfortable pretending he hadn't seen this.
Then again, this was a world with superheroes and aliens.
For all he knew, the guy in the purple suit could shoot lasers from his eyes.
Still, Lex followed.
One of the women, a black-haired girl with a slightly muscular build, noticed him almost immediately and said something quietly to the man. At least Lex assumed she did since the man glanced back briefly before continuing forward.
Eventually they entered a far quieter street with barely anyone around.
The man suddenly stopped and turned.
“You,” he said sharply. “Why are you following me?”
Ignoring him completely, Lex looked directly at Drew instead.
“Drew, are you okay? Is he threatening you or something?”
The man’s expression darkened.
“I asked you a question.”
Lex kept his attention on Drew.
“You know people around here, right? If something's wrong, you can tell me. I can probably help.”
Drew said nothing.
But her eyes widened slightly.
That alone confirmed enough for him.
There was definitely something happening here.
The man suddenly snapped, irritation visibly breaking through whatever calm facade he had before.
“Why are you not following my orders?” he shouted before glaring toward the black-haired woman. “Jessica. Show him why people shouldn't interfere with me.”
The woman moved instantly.
Fast.
Far faster than any normal human should have been capable of moving.
Before Lex could properly react, a kick slammed directly into his chest hard enough to launch him backwards. His body hit the pavement violently, momentum nearly flipping him over as his neck bent at a horrifying angle. He heard ribs crack from the impact.
Then, almost immediately, everything fixed itself.
Bones reconnected.
Pain vanished.
Muscles restored themselves within moments.
Even the dust and dirt coating his clothes disappeared as his body unconsciously restored itself back to perfection.
Lex stared upward for half a second.
Okay.
That woman definitely had super strength.
And the man was screaming about people not following his orders.
Mind control.
The realization came together almost instantly inside his enhanced mind.
Unfortunately, the black-haired woman, Jessica apparently, didn't give him much time to think further before she charged him again.
Lex immediately spat toward her face.
If his bodily fluids truly worked the way the Essence described, even a small amount should interfere with whatever was controlling her.
Unfortunately, Jessica tilted her head slightly and the saliva missed completely.
A moment later her boot smashed directly into Lex’s jaw hard enough to dislocate it.
Then she kept going.
Punches.
Kicks.
Brutal, efficient strikes delivered with enough force to cave in concrete.
Jessica seemed to realize quickly that he was abnormally durable and adjusted immediately, attacking with even less restraint than before.
“Is he one of those mutant freaks?” the man snapped, taking a small step backwards. “Jessica, we're leaving. He might have others nearby.”
Lex finally forced his jaw back into place just in time to see Jessica sling the man over her shoulder before sprinting away with impossible speed, using walls, railings and fire escapes almost like some kind of superhuman parkour route.
Within seconds, they disappeared into the night.
Drew and the other woman were left standing there motionlessly.
Lex slowly stood back up.
His clothes were spotless again.
Not a single injury remained.
He exhaled quietly before walking toward Drew.
If that man really had mind control powers, then maybe the Essence wasn't exaggerating about his bodily fluids being capable of purging corruption and supernatural influence.
Lex placed a finger into his mouth before lightly pressing it against Drew’s lips.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then her entire body trembled.
Tears immediately filled her eyes as if something inside her suddenly shattered apart.
The second woman reacted similarly after he repeated the process.
Both of them broke down almost instantly.
Drew grabbed onto him tightly, crying into his shoulder while repeatedly whispering thank you between uneven breaths.
Lex remained silent for a while, simply letting her calm down.
Because for the first time since arriving in this world, he finally understood something important.
Superpowers here weren't just flashy fights between heroes and villains.
Some of them were horrifying.
After dropping the girls home, Lex took a taxi back to the hotel. At this point, he was genuinely starting to get annoyed over not having a proper ID. Living in luxury was one thing, but eventually he wanted things like a car, maybe even a house somewhere, and not having an identity was becoming increasingly inconvenient.
Still, his thoughts kept drifting back toward what Drew had told him.
That man had simply approached them, talked for a bit and then suddenly they stopped being able to control themselves. They could still think, still feel everything, but their bodies no longer belonged to them. Every command he gave became absolute.
The way Drew described it unsettled him more than he expected.
It wasn't pain.
It wasn't even fear.
It was helplessness.
Being trapped inside your own body while someone else wore it like a puppet.
Both girls had completely avoided bringing up Lex’s own abilities afterward. Not because they feared him, but because they clearly thought associating him with mutants would only make his life harder. To them, pretending his powers didn't exist was probably the safest option.
Lex himself barely even thought about that part.
His mind was elsewhere.
He had received three Essences.
One granted him effectively infinite wealth.
Another transformed his body into something absurdly overpowered, giving him immortality, regeneration, immunity to practically everything imaginable and apparently turning him into some kind of supernatural sex god for reasons he still didn't fully understand.
Then there was the third Essence.
The one he had intentionally avoided using for months.
The Essence of Gacha.
At the moment, it contained 487 points. If he used the cheaper three point rolls, he could roll over a hundred and sixty times immediately.
So why hadn't he touched it even once?
Because unlike the other Essences, the Gacha introduced variables.
Real ones.
The other Essences simply enhanced him. The Gacha on the other hand could give him actual powers, artifacts, technology or things far beyond his understanding.
And people.
That part especially bothered him.
Sure, the Essence guaranteed loyalty and prevented them from harming him, but no matter how he tried looking at it, forcefully summoning real people away from their own worlds felt questionable at best.
Actually, the more he thought about it, the more it sounded like some sort of interdimensional offshore employment scam.
Lex rubbed his forehead.
Still, morality alone wasn't enough anymore.
Before tonight, superheroes and aliens had mostly felt distant despite existing in the same world as him. Something you read about online or watched on the news while drinking expensive wine in a penthouse suite.
Now?
Now he had personally watched a man strip away people's free will like it was nothing.
The world had suddenly become far more dangerous.
Sure, he himself was practically immortal, but the people around him weren't. He had only known Drew and the others for a few months, yet the thought of something like tonight happening to them again genuinely bothered him.
Not just them either.
The general public too.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Lex seriously considered the possibility that maybe having power came with responsibility whether he wanted it or not.
A memory surfaced in his mind.
A young man he had randomly met in an elevator a few days ago.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
At the time Lex thought it sounded like the kind of cheesy inspirational line people put on posters.
The funny thing was the guy hadn't even started with that. They simply ended up talking after realizing they were both heading toward the same coffee place and somehow spent nearly an hour casually chatting afterward.
What was his name again?
Peter?
Lex frowned slightly before pulling himself back on track.
Right.
The Gacha.
After thinking for a few moments, he decided against the standard version and instead selected the six point world-specific roll. The reasoning was simple enough. Using items and abilities originating from this universe would probably attract less attention than pulling out something completely alien to the setting.
The moment he confirmed the roll, sixty points disappeared instantly.
Then ten cards materialized before him one after another, floating quietly in the air with their faces hidden.
Lex stared at them for a moment.
Then he flipped the first card over.
[Hobgoblin Formula
Rank: ★★★
Type: Consumable - Enhancement
Description: An unstable enhancement serum granting increased strength, reflexes, and aggression.]
[Image Inducer
Rank: ★★★
Type: Equipment
Description: A holographic disguise device used to alter appearance, voice, and perceived identity.]
[Terrigen Crystals (10 Kg)
Rank: ★★★
Type: Material
Description: Terrigen Crystals, an incredibly rare mineral initially created by the Kree in their pursuit of replicating Primagen, are a precious resource guarded by the Inhumans. These crystals form within the subterranean Terrigen Waters on Earth's Moon near the city of Attilan. When combined with water at the correct temperature, these crystals produce the potent Terrigen Mist vapor, which plays a pivotal role in the process of "Terrigenesis." This transformative process involves Earth Inhumans inhaling the Terrigen Mists, activating their dormant Inhuman genes and leading to their ascension as meta-humans. ]
[Sharon Rogers
Rank: ★★★
Type: Character
Description: Born to Steve Rogers and Peggy Carters, Sharon Rogers is the new Captain America of this time. Carrying over a legacy which gives her not only the backing of Captain America and his training but also the burden of being always compared to her father.]
[Amulet of Quiox
Rank: ★★★
Type: Equipment
Details: Allows the wearer to resist vampire bite. During the day can be used to store sunlight and use it on vampires at night to burn them. While wearing it, any vampire to touch you will feel like touching the sunlight.]
[Technafoil (1 Ton)
Rank: ★★★
Type: Material
Description: An extremely good conductor material developed by Roxxon.]
[Electro-Shock Pistol
Rank: ★★★
Type: Weapon
Description: This 12-shot, close-range, hand-held gun built by Doctor Doom shots damaging electricity bolts. It was designed particularly to disable the Human Torch, however it can work on anyone with its high electricity bolts.]
[Skybreaker
Rank: ★★★
Type: Weapon
Description: A legendary Vibranium blade forged in ancient Wakanda. Skybreaker acts as an energy conduit capable of amplifying small amounts of energy into vastly greater output. The blade is virtually indestructible, never dulls, and resists nearly all heat. Prolonged contact with living tissue may result in severe cellular damage.]
[Telekinesis - Omega Level - X-Gene
Rank: ★★★★
Type: Mutation
Description: Your extraordinary power lies in telekinesis, granting you the psionic capacity to move, manipulate, and control people and objects with the sheer force of your mind, all without the need for physical contact and even over considerable distances. This gift empowers you to execute incredible feats, such as hurling objects at high speeds, achieving flight, and even manipulating matter with precision, given your level of focus.
Yet, your telekinetic abilities are not without limitations. Individuals possessing sufficient physical strength can resist or break free from your control, surpassing the psychokinetic force you generate. Your power also demands unwavering concentration and focus on your intended target; any lapse in attention could lead to the failure or backfiring of your telekinesis. Complementing your telekinetic prowess, you possess a unique sensory ability tied to objects you have expert control over. This enables you to "sense" the features of these objects, including their shape, size, weight, texture, and temperature. Leveraging this sensory insight, you can gain valuable information about your surroundings, uncover hidden or invisible objects, and enhance your overall situational awareness.]
[Essex's Gene Modification Tech Tree
Rank: ★★★
Type: Knowledge
Description: Dr. Nathaniel Essex was a brilliant Victorian era scientist who caught the attention of Apocalypse, a powerful mutant. Now known as Mister Sinister, he became one of the greatest geneticists to have ever lived, skilled in cloning (such as his clone hivemind ensuring that no matter how many time he is killed, he will always return), creating new life, and even in the manipulation of mutant DNA for enhancing powers, incorporating mutant DNA to his own or even using his DNA to twist others into copies of himself. You possess his knowledge and innate understanding of DNA as Data Directory, but will need to build any tech you need from scratch after understanding the data.]
Not being familiar with this world made evaluating the cards significantly harder than Lex expected. Half the descriptions referenced people, organizations or concepts he had never even heard of before.
Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't make assumptions, but he also knew better than to immediately trust every assumption he made. Especially in a world where aliens had invaded New York and a random man in a purple suit could apparently enslave minds by talking.
The first card was the Hobgoblin Formula.
Lex stared at the description for a few seconds before immediately putting it aside.
Enhanced strength and reflexes sounded great.
“Unstable” and “increased aggression” absolutely did not.
He trusted the Essence enough to believe it wouldn't outright kill him, but voluntarily drinking something that might mess with his head sounded incredibly stupid after what he witnessed tonight.
Next came the Image Inducer.
That one was basically useless for him.
After discovering the full extent of his transformed body over the past few months, Lex had already experimented with changing his appearance before. It turned out the process was surprisingly smooth. Facial structure, hair, body shape, even apparent age could all be altered with alarming ease.
Honestly, it was slightly terrifying how casually his body ignored biology now.
The Terrigen Crystals however were a completely different matter.
Lex reread the description twice.
Kree.
Inhumans.
Terrigenesis.
None of those words meant anything to him.
Were Inhumans just another name for mutants? It honestly sounded like the sort of dramatic label people in superhero worlds would come up with for humans with powers. Probably some politically correct version of mutant or maybe a different branch of them altogether.
The fact that the description casually mentioned an entire hidden city on the moon somehow disturbed him more than the transformation part.
He decided immediately that those crystals would remain untouched until he understood exactly what they did.
Then came Sharon Rogers.
That card made Lex pause.
He knew who Captain America was. At this point it was almost impossible not to. An enhanced American soldier turned living national symbol who was supposedly frozen for decades before reappearing recently.
But the description clearly referred to Sharon as his daughter.
Which raised a much bigger question.
Did alternate universes actually exist here?
Because if they did, that had horrifying implications all on its own.
Summoning her would probably create problems too. Even if nobody recognized her, she was still apparently connected to Captain America somehow.
Still...
If she truly came from another world, then maybe adapting here wouldn't be impossible for her. Compared to being dragged across realities against your will, this universe probably wasn't that different from home.
And technically she'd end up with a younger father.
Well.
Younger looking at least.
Lex moved on before his thoughts became any stranger.
The Amulet of Quiox created a completely different problem.
Vampires.
Apparently those existed too.
Of course they did.
At this point Lex was starting to suspect every supernatural conspiracy theory imaginable probably existed somewhere in this world.
For a brief moment he even considered the possibility that the mind controlling man from earlier had been some kind of vampire. Mind control sounded like the sort of thing vampires should logically have.
Then again, aliens also existed here, so maybe literally anyone could have mind powers.
The Technafoil was immediately dismissed.
If he didn't already possess effectively infinite wealth, maybe he could have sold it to someone like Tony Stark or another tech company, but as things stood it would probably just sit in storage somewhere gathering metaphorical dust.
The Electro-Shock Pistol on the other hand actually seemed useful.
Being in a world full of superhumans made carrying some kind of weapon feel increasingly reasonable. Though the description casually mentioning names like Doctor Doom and Human Torch only reinforced the growing realization that there were entire sections of this world he still knew absolutely nothing about.
Skybreaker immediately became one of his favorite pulls.
A nearly indestructible Vibranium sword capable of amplifying energy sounded ridiculously useful even without fully understanding how it worked. The cellular damage effect also didn't concern him much considering his regeneration bordered on absurd.
Then came the final major pull.
The only four star card.
Telekinesis.
Lex leaned back slightly as he reread the description again.
Now this...
This was an actual superpower.
And an incredibly versatile one at that.
Flight, force manipulation, environmental control, long range combat, utility, defense. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous telekinesis became as an ability.
Especially because powers like this usually depended heavily on creativity and precision rather than brute force alone.
A small grin formed on his face.
This one was definitely worth it.
Finally, there was Essex’s Gene Modification Tech Tree.
Lex stared at it for several moments before placing it aside almost immediately.
Knowledge based rewards honestly felt disappointing compared to literal superpowers and ancient magical weapons. Worse, it wasn't even instant understanding. The card only provided the information itself, meaning he'd still have to spend who knew how long actually studying and understanding it.
Genetics, cloning, DNA manipulation...
It sounded complicated, tedious and dangerously close to real work.
Hard pass.
Taking the only four star card, Lex tore it apart and used it on himself.
The effect was immediate.
A strange sensation spread through his body, not painful but deeply unnatural, as if something inside him had suddenly unfolded. He could feel a new kind of energy appearing within himself alongside subtle changes happening throughout his biology or genealogy.
Then came the new sense.
The moment he focused inward, the world around him seemed to shift slightly. Objects no longer felt entirely physical. It was almost like he could perceive shape, weight, density and position all at once without actually touching anything.
For a brief moment the sensation became overwhelming.
His mind suddenly tried processing far too much information at once and the room itself almost felt distorted around him.
Thankfully, the Essence of the Transcendent Self proved absurdly useful once again. His thoughts rapidly reorganized themselves, splitting and adjusting until eventually the new sense stopped feeling intrusive.
He still wasn't fully comfortable with it, but he could now dedicate part of his thought process toward handling the telekinetic perception separately from his normal senses.
Which honestly felt just as bizarre as it sounded.
Naturally, the next step was trying to move something.
A simple coin rested on the table nearby.
Lex focused on it carefully before attempting to pull it toward his hand.
The coin immediately shot across the room like a bullet.
“Fuck—”
The metal disk slammed directly through his palm and embedded itself halfway inside before he even realized what happened.
Lex stared blankly at his injured hand for a second.
Then the flesh rapidly regenerated around the coin.
“…Okay.”
That could have gone significantly worse.
If not for his regeneration, he was fairly certain he would've needed actual surgery just now.
The realization also made one thing painfully obvious.
Training telekinesis inside a luxury hotel room was a terrible idea.
Especially since explaining bloodstains and accidental property damage would probably become awkward very quickly.
Though just as that thought crossed his mind, another function of his Essence activated in his memory.
The blood splattered around the room quietly dissolved into nothingness moments later.
Right.
His biological material could simply disappear if he wanted it to.
Convenient.
For now, Lex decided not to use the remaining cards. Carrying around a giant Vibranium sword and a strange electric pistol inside a hotel seemed like the sort of thing that would eventually create unnecessary problems.
Leaving them in card form was safer.
After changing into more casual clothes and altering his appearance slightly, Lex took a taxi toward the outer areas of the city.
His original plan was simple.
Find somewhere abandoned and train properly.
Unfortunately, New York apparently never truly slept.
Every area he checked still had people wandering around somewhere nearby. Empty parking lots suddenly had homeless people sleeping nearby, abandoned alleys still had random drunks wandering through them and even rooftops occasionally had smokers or couples hanging around.
Only after finally leaving the city entirely did he manage finding a place isolated enough.
The taxi driver gave him increasingly suspicious looks throughout the trip, though Lex didn't particularly care considering he currently had an entirely different face anyway.
Eventually he found an abandoned building standing near an overgrown industrial area.
Lex stared at it for a few moments before entering cautiously.
Not because the building itself looked dangerous.
But because there was now a very real possibility that ghosts existed in this world too.
At this point vampires apparently existed, aliens invaded cities and mind controllers walked around nightclubs. Haunted buildings honestly wouldn't even surprise him anymore.
Still, he supposedly had immunity against possession and spiritual corruption, so hopefully getting murdered by angry ghosts wouldn't become a problem.
Hopefully.
Sitting down cross-legged near the center of the building, Lex slowly closed his eyes before extending his awareness outward using the strange telekinetic sense.
The broken remains of furniture scattered around the room suddenly became incredibly vivid in his perception.
A shattered chair.
Loose bricks.
Metal pipes.
Dust.
Even tiny shifts in weight and texture became noticeable once he focused hard enough.
Carefully this time, Lex applied the smallest amount of force he could manage toward a broken wooden chair nearby.
The chair trembled slightly before slowly lifting into the air.
A grin immediately formed on his face.
It looked ridiculous.
And amazing.
Hours passed surprisingly quickly after that.
At first he could barely control even a single object properly. Things moved too fast, too hard or in completely unintended directions whenever his concentration slipped. More than once he accidentally launched debris straight through walls because he underestimated how much force he was applying.
Thankfully the abandoned building was already falling apart.
After around three or four hours though, he finally started developing a proper feel for it.
Not mastery.
Not even close.
But understanding.
Telekinesis wasn't really about force alone. Precision mattered just as much, maybe even more.
Eventually Lex attempted levitating himself.
That... went less smoothly.
His first attempt launched him nearly three meters upward before panic immediately broke his concentration and sent him crashing back onto the floor.
The second attempt technically succeeded for around five seconds before he drifted sideways directly into a concrete pillar.
The third attempt ended with him smashing headfirst into the ceiling hard enough to crack part of it.
And the fourth?
Well.
The fourth proved he really needed to learn how momentum worked before trying to fly around like a superhero.