Crackle. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

A flash of lightning burst through the sky, jolting Lucien awake. He blinked a few times, trying to orient himself before remembering he had blacked out.

Right, the awakening.

He pushed himself up in haste, which nearly made him lose his balance.

"Wha...?" His whole body felt off, and the world felt subtly tighter. And only then did he notice his clothes — now too small— clung tightly to his lean frame.

He realized he had changed.

Standing in front of the mirror, he finally saw his current self.

Taller than he should be.

More handsome than someone could be.

And... his hair.

His fingers brushed through his new and lustrous silver-white hair which was far longer than it used to be.

Clenching his fists, he felt far stronger and more formidable than he had before, and he had the distinct feeling that if he were to punch his past self, he could easily shatter a few bones.

Status Screen.

[DING!]

[HOST HAS AWAKENED!]

[Combat Power increased!]

[Talent awakened!]

---

--× Infinite Gacha System ×--

[Name: Lucien Hayes]

[Race: Human]

[Talent: B-grade Talent(Telekinesis)]

[Combat Power: D]

[Gacha Tickets: 3]

---

Everything had changed — except his name and race of course.

Now he had a B-grade Talent that let him manipulate non-living objects and move them at will.

A new Combat Power of rank D that he could feel thrumming through his blood and bones, and... three gacha tickets.

That last detail made his eyes widen and he hastily glanced at the date.

It was still the same day — except for the heavy rain and lightning outside.

That’s when he recalled the system information which caused his pulse to quicken.

Tickets for the roulette can be obtained through daily logins or by leveling up...

"I was wondering what it means by leveling up when I couldn’t find a section that displayed my level. But now I get it."

It was actually about leveling up his Combat Power.

But even then, I should’ve only received two gacha tickets considering I jumped from E+ to D directly after skipping the D- rank in between.

After a few minutes, he concluded.

The number of tickets that he can receive per advancement in E-rank is one but for D rank it will be two and would only increase as he grew stronger.

"That’s absurd." With a grin, he spun the roulette back to back, and as if blessed by lady luck, he managed to land another rare pull in the second spin.

---

[Congratulations! You have obtained common-tier rewards—

●Metal Rod x1

●Clothing set and Detergent x100.]

-

[Congratulations! You have obtained a rare-tier reward—

●Overclock Serum x3.]

-

[Congratulations! You have obtained a common-tier reward—

●Lubricant Vial x10.]

---

The items were transferred to his inventory without any command.

"Overclock Serum?" Lucien examined the vial of shimmering blue liquid in his hands with visible interest.

And finding no instructions, he could only turn back to the system for an explanation.

[The Overclock Serum allows the host to push his physical abilities to their genetic limit for one minute.]

"So a perfectly efficient battle machine..."

It sounded impossible. Almost.

Imagine a human who could use every muscle of his body and maneuver himself with near-perfect control.

It seemed hard to imagine.

"And not to forget I will be using this when I have already shed my human limitations after awakening."

How powerful would he be? The thought alone was terrifying.

But he couldn’t be sure if he would reach D grade in Combat Power after consuming it because technically, it just allowed you to work in an overclock state where every action was done to the most precise degree.

Storing it, he switched his attention to the other rewards. And one of them did make him pause, but not due to excitement.

"Lubricant?" His lips twitched and he ignored it outright.

Now it was time to see what his B-grade Talent could do.

Extending his hands for a more dramatic effect, he tried to lift an empty bottle of water the same way he willed his system to appear.

For a couple of seconds, nothing happened but instead of letting go, he still persisted while focusing even harder.

One second.

Two seconds.

And before the third second could pass, the bottle trembled and slowly but steadily, lifted into the air.

It stopped at his eye level.

Before he could say something, his thoughts stirred as a needle-like pain lanced through his temple.

And the second his focus dropped due to the pain, he lost control of the bottle and it dropped down.

It’s much harder than I expected.

Furrowing his brows, he decided to start practicing daily to increase his proficiency because lifting a single bottle was nowhere near his limit, and the grade of his talent only reinforced that belief.

Standing up, he was about to have his meal when he heard a sound.

Ding.

But this one was different from the usual one in the system.

It was his phone’s notification.

Unlocking it, he opened the chat group and opened his DMs, and found a new message.

"She replied."

---

[Sunshine]: Alright. Which floor do you live on?

---

"That was fast." Muttering dryly, he told her his floor and flat number and switched his attention back to his new training.

—

"He lives on the upper floors?" She didn’t expect him to live more than five floors away from her.

And stepping outside was dangerous enough, but she wasn’t naive enough to think she could also ask him to come get her.

That could be too risky as he might even drop the idea of taking her in.

"Everyone’s cautious." But there was still one thing that relieved her, the flat number itself.

She knew who lived there, and the ID also matched the person.

To her, he was a hard-working guy who despite never achieving much in his life, refused to give up and kept working anyway.

"And even a person like him turned into this." Was the apocalypse showing everyone’s darkest nature when one was unrestrained by rules and regulations?

With a sigh, she gripped her bag which was filled with anything useful she managed to find, and stepped out.