"Test subject number 24. The subject lasted for two minutes and forty-five seconds after the administration of G Formula Variant 38. Time of death: 4:22 AM." Lucas heard a voice. Female or maybe male, hard to say; the sound was echoing in his mind.
"W-what's going on?... Who is talking?... W-why am I here?... Time of death? Am I dead? Formula? What do you mean? I got hit by a speeding... truck? Dead... dead... I am already dead?... Then how am I alive?..."
Lucas opened his eyes, only to be blinded by light. White ceiling, unfamiliar white ceiling, too clean to simply belong to a living space. The walls that surrounded him were also white and reminiscent of cold, hard metal. They felt like something straight out of science fiction. The room resembled an intensive care unit or his dentist's office... It was hard to remember, and Lucas lay atop a cold metal table, bare-chested and wired to all sorts of machines. His back was freezing.
"A... alive..." A broken, raspy whisper escaped Lucas's lips; he wasn't sure why he said that. Perhaps it was a desperate need to let it be known that he was still alive, or just some primal, instinctual action—hard to say.
"Holy shit! He is alive!" Lucas saw the man standing nearest to him jump back in fear; he and the rest of the group wore white coats like those worn by doctors. They surrounded Lucas, their eyes wide with confusion and... excitement.
'Why are you looking at me like that? Hey... is a 27-year-old unemployed guy so strange?... Well, to my defense, I had a job three weeks ago; I got kinda caught in a mass layoff.'
"Quickly! Let Dr. Connors know! The test subject has come back to life!"
"Call the guards! Prepare to restrain him! We don't know what effects G Formula Variant 38 had on him."
As the researchers or doctors, whichever the case, started a commotion, Lucas tried to move, get up, or even just cover his eyes from the glaring light. But nothing moved. His limbs felt like lead, completely unresponsive; no matter how hard he tried to move them, all he managed was to let his fingers twitch.
There was a headache; his head felt strange, as if something at the back of his head was trying to break free. He didn't know what it was, but he really couldn't care at the moment, so Lucas just shoved away the feeling.
'Shit, shit, shit... come on... move...'
With great effort and willpower, he managed to drag his hand toward his chest, ripping the wires off him with a grunt. But he didn't get a chance to celebrate as the door to the room burst open with hurried footsteps. Lucas was greeted by a dozen or so guards suited in black and armed with electric batons, rushing upon him.
"W-wai-agghh!" Lucas didn't get a chance to protest; suddenly, a guard swung his electric baton at Lucas. Pain bloomed in his abdomen, which was followed by the ensuing current that caused his whole body to spasm in agony. It felt like his bones were about to split, and his entire body turned numb.
"Keep electrocuting him; make sure he can't move before restraining him. If Variant 38 enhanced his physique like Variant 1 did with Mr. Osborn, you are dealing with a cape, not a normal human; treat him as such." One of the researchers yelled as a few guards joined in beating Lucas.
'O-Osborn? Like Norman Osborn in Marvel Comics?' Lucas thought, mid-spasm, and only then did he notice the guards' suits bore a stylized logo on their chests: Oscorp.
'D-did I... transmigrate into Marvel?'
His eyes widened with shock, confusion, and fear. Confusion about what was going on—well, his pop-culture-mixed mind could kind of accept being transmigrated; all those light novels, anime, and fanfics made it a bit easier to process, but even so, it was still rather hard to believe.
"Hey, you guys, don't overdo it. If he dies because of you guys, I'll have no choice but to kill you as an apology to Mr. Osborn."
All the guards stopped upon hearing the voice; they took a step back, making way for someone. With blurry vision from the pain, Lucas barely managed to turn his head to look at the visitor.
He was a fairly tall man with light brown hair and a squarish face; even under his lab coat, you could tell he was fairly muscular—not bodybuilder level, but a practical kind. But what caught Lucas's attention most were his eyes, those golden, slit-pupilled eyes looking down upon him. Even though the man wore a pleasant smile, the effect was ruined by his reptilian eyes.
"Dr. Connors." Guards and researchers said in unison while bowing.
Connors simply nodded his head before coming beside Lucas and bending down to check his pulse. "Hello there, test subject 24. First things first, I want to congratulate you on surviving the process."
'Dr. Connors... Curtis Connors... Lizard...'
Lucas weakly opened his mouth. "L...Luc...Lucas..." he muttered. "My name is... Lucas... not... test subject 24..."
Connors let out a chuckle with a delighted expression, though it was distorted into the uncanny valley by his reptilian eyes. "I see, I see, Lucas. That is a good name; did you think of it yourself?" Connors clasped his hands with a toothy smile. "Curious indeed. It seems like the serum has made you break through the brainwashing." Connors leaned even closer to Lucas with a bright smile. "It seems like bits of your original memories are coming back."
"Doctor, should we redo the brainwashing?" One of the researchers suggested.
Connors shook his head with a smile. "No need; the formula restoring his original mind is actually a good sign. Don't forget, the purpose of young Harry Osborn supporting our research is to make a stable G Formula that will help him bring back his father's original mind from his split personality." Connors patted Lucas's cheek lightly. "Lucas here might become our turning point."
"Well, send him off to his room; let him rest and recover."
Guards nodded at Connors's order and yanked Lucas up from the table; they lifted his limp body and carried him away. He was already losing consciousness due to the pain by the time they reached his room.
When Lucas woke up again, a kind of relief washed over him. He was in a dimly lit room; there was a bed, a sink, and a toilet. The room was the size of a studio apartment—kinda nostalgic, actually; he remembered living in a studio apartment in his original world, too.
But before he was able to take a breath of relief, the distant pain at the back of his mind that he had shoved away finally broke free. Just like that, a jumble of memories belonging to this body hit him like a hammer. But due to death and the original brainwashing induced by the scientists to enforce cooperation with their experiments, the body he currently possessed had experienced a memory wipe. All that remained were fragmented memories of captivity and experimentation, not even general knowledge of his current world.
'Fuck... I have no idea what universe I am in...' Lucas's head throbbed; the jumbled memories only brought a useless headache. 'I hope it is the MCU...'
There was a simple reason he desired the MCU: everything was watered down there due to budget issues with creating live-action films. 'I will even accept one of the cartoons, Earth's Mightiest Heroes or The Spectacular Spider-Man... please just don't be the comics...'
Well, the Dr. Connors he saw wasn't bringing him any hope, to be honest. He didn't remember a supposedly one-armed, kindly doctor being like that in any comic continuity he remembered... was it one of the later ones?
'Wait! Is this the Ultimate Universe?!' Lucas never really got any chance to read the newer Marvel Ultimate runs, but... well, gods be good, he was not ready for that kind of BS yet.
Suddenly, a glowing line of blue text appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! The system has activated! It seems like you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?]
"What the?!" Lucas yelped as he fell back on his backside. 'I-is that a system?'
[Ding! Correct! [The Destiny Essence System] at your service. If you want to get more detailed info, please just ask. We have a shop for those who desire certainty, and a gamble for those who want to take a risk.]
Lucas blinked; the system was rather familiar and well-used through fictional stories, but to actually meet one in real life...
'T-thank goodness... I actually have a cheat! Yes!' Lucas couldn't help but sigh in relief. 'Can you go into more detail?'
[Ding! Most certainly! I am called [The Destiny Essence System]. Destiny is one of the possibilities; it illuminates possible futures, but it still focuses on the present. Sapience, aka Ego, is the essence of destiny; those who possess an Ego of their own can possess destiny, and the essence of Ego is emotion. Meaning the essence of destiny is one: emotion.]
[My primary function is to use you as an anchor to absorb energy from the emotional turmoil you cause to sapient beings; powerful beings possess a more powerful Ego, so the more powerful the being, the more energy their emotions will generate. Absorbed energy will be converted to Essence Points, aka EP. Using them, you can shop around and buy powerful [Items], [Abilities], [Summons], etc., from the [System Store]. Of course, for those who want to gamble, there is a function called [Treasure Chest]; in simpler terms, it is gacha.]
'Fuck! RNGesus has got his hands on my system.' Lucas inhaled sharply, shivering. Gacha... the mighty evil thing that had arrived in his life for the first time in the form of Fate/Grand Order. To be honest, the amount of good memories he had of it was... minimal. He would admit it was addictive, but gambling was still gambling. 'C-can you go into a little more detail?'
[Ding! [The System Shop] is, as you can understand, a shop where everything has a set price; F Grade is 10k–99,999, E Grade is 100k–999,999, D Grade is 1 million to 9,999,999, and so on. But as you can see, it is expensive. While the [Treasure Chest] is always the cheapest option of each grade, containing three random store objects from the same grade, making it the only way to climb up—guaranteed profit, different from those greedy gachas in your memory.]
'Please... not all of them are bad; Limbus Company is actually pretty cool.'
[Ding! Nevertheless, as you can see, the [Treasure Chest] function promises profit, but it is also random, so the things you get from opening a chest might not suit your situation. While the Shop offers you the right thing at any given moment, it might be out of budget.]
Lucas slowly nodded his head; well, that kinda made sense. Regardless, he needed to ask the most important question now. 'Do I get a beginner pack or a discount? Because I really need to escape from here right now.'
[Ding! Of course, as a beginner benefit, you have been granted [(F) Wooden Grade Chest]. Do you want to open it?]
'Yes, please.' Lucas agreed without hesitation.
[Ding! Opening [Wooden Grade Chest]...]
[Ding! You got...]
[Summon: Town Guard
Origin: Skycraft / Epic NPC Man
Grade: F
Powers & Abilities: Game Character Physique, Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Immense Power.
Notable Equipment: Standard Town Guard Set.
Description: A mere town guard meant just to patrol and deal with misbehaving players. Just like any open-world town guard, they are disgustingly overleveled. But due to being designed as a generic NPC with no unique quality, his vocabulary suffers greatly due to budget-saving measures. Players often bait them by hitting them in order to deal with high-level bosses.
Note: "For the peace of the Kingdom!"]
[Ability: Transform: Black Locust Kaijin
Origin: Kamen Rider Black Sun
Grade: F
Description: Using this power, you can transform into a Kaijin—not just any Kaijin, but a Black Locust Kaijin, the same type of Kaijin as Kamen Rider Black Sun. When in Kaijin form, your physical attributes are enhanced to a superhuman level; additionally, you will get biological exoskeleton armor and a minor healing factor. You will also gain the advantages of a grasshopper, such as an increased field of view, etc.
Note: Sadly, the Century King Sun Driver belt must be obtained separately.]
[Summon: Orochi
Origin: Jujutsu Kaisen
Grade: F
Powers & Abilities: Shadow Shikigami Physique, Poisonous Fang.
Description: A great serpent big enough to bite off half of an average human, several dozen meters long. It has white scales with a black pattern. Originally one of the Ten Shadows, it can now be summoned separately and can dissolve itself into the shadows to hide.
Note: It is decently strong; good for a surprise attack, but wouldn't put too much hope on it.]