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"Damn, that was so exhausting," Ethan muttered as he stepped out of the hospital.He looked back at the building and grumbled, "I hope I never have to come back here…"
He shuddered at the memory of those overly enthusiastic agents who, in their attempt to impress Fury, checked him from head to toe—again and again—leaving him no time to even breathe, much less think.
But finally… he was out of there.
Ethan stretched his arms, feeling the sun on his face as he finally stepped away from the hospital grounds. His mind buzzed with possibilities, but first… he needed to go home.
According to the memories he inherited, he still had a place—a small apartment his mother left behind. Nothing fancy, nothing special… but his.
The bus ride was short, and the walk even shorter. When he reached the old apartment building, he paused for a moment, staring up at it.
"Yup… looks exactly like in the memories," he muttered.
The stairwell creaked under his feet as he climbed to the third floor. The key slid into the lock with a familiar click, and the door opened to reveal a simple, modest home.
A small living room with worn-out furniture. A tiny kitchen with a few mismatched utensils. A bedroom barely big enough for a bed and a desk. Everything was neat but plainly ordinary.
'Yeah… definitely the Original Ethan's style,' he sighed as he stepped inside.
He placed his bag down and looked around—this was the home of a completely average kid in the Marvel Universe. No special inheritance. No secret vault. No magical grandmother leaving behind artifacts. Just a life unfinished by a boy who never expected anything extraordinary.
And now he had to make something out of it.
Ethan took a deep breath.
'Well… good thing I'm not average anymore,' he thought with a small smirk as he closed the door behind him.
Ethan powered up the laptop.
"I hope this actually works…" he muttered, waiting for the old machine to boot up.
It whirred, coughed, flickered twice—and finally loaded.
"Thank god," Ethan sighed.
He immediately opened the browser and started checking the internet. News articles, celebrity gossip, world events… anything that could help him understand exactly which Marvel world he had landed in.
After half an hour of digging, he leaned back in his chair.
"First off… it seems this is Marvel with no mutants. At least none publicly," he nodded.
He scrolled further, checking movie release dates, tech timelines, and any mention of superheroes. Eventually, he found something that confirmed it.
"It's year 2006," he whispered. "Iron Man hasn't happened yet."
He paused, then chuckled.
"Meaning Tony Stark is probably still a weapons merchant and drinking himself to sleep every night."
A few more searches later, he found another detail.
"And it's going more or less according to the movies… huh."
He nodded, satisfied with his initial assessment.
With a sigh, he closed the laptop.
"Perfect. That means I still have time to prepare."
He stretched, cracking his neck lightly.
"Anyway… leaving that aside, I can finally check my gacha."
For anyone watching, it would have looked like he was just talking to himself.
But Ethan wasn't worried—he was absolutely sure there were no cameras here.
Why?
Because the first thing he did when he came home… was take his laptop into the bathroom and scan every nook and cranny of the place like a paranoid spy.
A very panicked paranoid spy.
"Which bastard even came up with the idea of hidden cameras?" Ethan grumbled. "I saw those spy pens on Google—some psycho definitely invented those for shady reasons."
He shuddered.
"I will burn every hidden camera manufacturer alive if they ever try that with me…"
But then he froze.
A horrible realization hitting him like a truck.
"…Wait."
He stared blankly at the wall.
"They saw me take my laptop… into my bathroom."
He covered his face with both hands.
"Oh my god. That looks so suspicious. Why would a normal teenager take a laptop into the toilet? They must think I was watching…"
He stopped.
"Okay no, I don't even want to finish that sentence."
He groaned loudly.
"Damn it, did I just lose all my dignity in front of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
A beat passed.
"…Well, better that than losing my life," he muttered, pushing the embarrassment away.
He refocused, mentally opening his system menu.
"Alright. Gacha time."
A soft chime echoed in his head.
[ Monthly Cycle Completed ]
[ Host has gained 1 Random Tech Gacha ]
[ Total Available: 1 ]
He mentally tapped the confirmation.
The system screen flickered to life, neon-blue light swirling like a digital vortex.
[ Initiating Tech Gacha… ]
[ Rolling… ]
Ethan held his breath.
Come on… come on…
The lights stopped, and a single item materialized on the holographic display.
[ Reward Obtained: SKIPPY — Smart AI Handgun (Cyberpunk 2077) ]
Ethan froze.
Then blinked.
"…Oh. You've GOT to be kidding me."
A slow grin stretched across his face.
"Last month I got the Rayfield Caliburn… and now THIS? Skippy?"
He looked like a man who just hit two jackpots back-to-back.
The system continued:
[ Skippy: Autonomous Smart-AI handgun. Features: Tracking bullets, auto-lock targeting, ricochet-curve shots, recoil auto-adjustment, Smart Link construct. AI personality construct. ]
[ Extra Reward: Skippy — Original AI Module ]
Ethan's eyelid twitched at the "Original AI" part.
"…Honestly, there was no need for an extra reward," he muttered.
Still, he pressed the acquisition button.
The moment he did, streams of data surged into his mind—schematics, algorithms, targeting protocols, smart-link interfaces, AI architecture…
All of it downloaded directly into his brain.
And within seconds, he had mastered everything.
Ethan exhaled slowly, letting the final strands of downloaded knowledge settle in his mind.
"Alright…" he murmured, rubbing his temples. "That was… a lot."
But then a smirk crept onto his face.
"Now, I just need to set up my company and also build a personal car with this smart-weapon system."
With the mastery of Skippy's tech, he wasn't just limited to handguns anymore.He could replicate the tracking-round systems, auto-lock modules, AI targeting cores—and integrate them into rifles, snipers, shotguns, prototype weapons, even Missiles if he wanted.