"...Though I say that, what now? Do I sign anything?"
The Dealer shook their head.
"No need. Verbal confirmation was enough, any confirmation really. First of all, you are welcome to use any and all amenities in this space. It is technically your home now. Now then, we should probably move to what you are actually here for."
I squinted and tried to look at the dealer as they pulled out 3 blockbuster-like tickets out of their pocket, except instead they were made of some gold-like material, yet still moved like paper. It held out the papers for me to take.
"Here is your starting gift. I hope you didn't expect us to be so cruel as to send you on your way without at least a chance to defend yourself."
My gaze landed on the tickets. Were these really the things that would be giving me my powers via the "Chaos Gacha"? And for some reason, I felt really apprehensive about approaching the demon in front of me. Did that make me Demophobic?
So I deflected my discomfort with a question.
"So... what do they do?"
The Dealer adjusted their tie with a proud smirk.
"What do they not? Simply tear one of these tickets and you will receive a result from any of the Gachas, granting you items, abilities, traits, skills and even familiars across all of reality and beyond. Well, these are only Gold in rarity, so what they can grant is somewhat limited, but for someone like you, it is wondrous nonetheless, no? Simply tear the ticket to start. When you are done tearing all of them, we will move to the next stage."
They tilted their head at my hesitation. I knew the Dealer meant no harm, but the homosapien brain refused to get close to the amorphous shadow entity. Noticing my conflict, they spoke up.
"Ahhh... my apologies, I was not aware of how this form would affect your mind. It seems I have made a poor host of myself. Would you rather I change into a more palatable form?"
I slowly nodded my head, feeling quite ashamed that I needed them to change form to cater to me. But looking at them fucking hurts my head, like an incredibly bright strobe light.
"Please."
"It is of no issue. Let me just..."
Snap!
The dealer snapped their fingers with a crisp noise, and their form was overtaken by a black and red unnatural flame that morphed until it revealed a more humanoid form.
"Do you find this form more pleasing? Judging by your silence, I assume so."
Instead of the 2-meter-tall giant shadow demon creature, now in front of me was a somewhat differently dressed person. Or woman. She was definitely the prettiest woman I had ever seen, to the point where it almost felt wrong, like an unnatural appearance. She wore a burgundy blouse with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest and pants as well as red gloves and a tie. The perfect bartender look.
"Why do you look like that...?"
The woman wearing the clothes was still a solid few fingers taller than me, with obsidian black hair and piercing red eyes that seemed to see through my soul, and one thing that didn't change was that large, unnerving, toothy smirk she had. And her body was... certainly voluptuous. The only way you could tell she was not human was her sharp teeth, demon eyes and the big ass horns around her head.
She leaned on the counter and cradled her chin with her hand, making her breasts appear much more prominent, forcing me to avert my eyes. My experience with the female gender mostly consisted of being yelled at by middle-aged, overweight women at my job as a cashier. So this was a bit too stimulating.
"Why shouldn't I? Since I am going to be serving you for the foreseeable future, I thought I might as well find a form you would personally find very agreeable. My form hardly matters, gender is rather meaningless to me, and I am too old to really care. And before you ask how I knew you would like this form, I know a lot about you. Even your browsing history."
I froze in place, slowly lifting my head to look her in the eyes. That always unnerving smile seemed to pierce my soul.
"Are you really that shocked? I pulled you across realities, of course, something like that is trivial. Don't worry about me being disgusted or judging you harshly, as I said, I exist to serve you. No human in your history has committed any action bad enough for me to raise an eyebrow. Now then, why don't you use your first ticket? I understand my body may look enticing, but I'd say the premise of the tickets is much more so."
That snapped me out of my fugue as I averted my eyes from her perfect body. I was just getting mentally slapped left and right, wasn't I?
But she was right, she may be hotter than sin, but those tickets could give me actual superpowers. And I felt like stalling any longer was not a good idea.
"Yeah, let's do that."
She smirked, holding out the golden tickets towards me.
"Go ahead, I'm also interested in what you may get. Since you are here already, I may as well offer some advice on what you get."
I took the ticket from her hands, making a note not to stare at her bountiful assets before taking a deep breath and tearing the ticket. Despite feeling sturdy in my hands, when I moved with the intention of tearing them, they tore almost too easily. And a golden slot machine with a single slot spinning appeared in front of me, scrolling through dozens of things too fast for me to make them out until it slowed down enough to land on one result.
Rolling Gold Random Gacha...
A Rare Trait!
[Lese Majeste]
|Rare Trait|
Your chutzpah and boldness are perceived as more charming rather than irreverent or disrespectful by people in positions of power, in addition, people in power like nobles, bosses, royalty, etc. find themselves more attracted to you.
Without me even having noticed it, Dealer appeared behind me and peered over my shoulder and rubbed her chin.
"Lese Majeste, huh? Quite a good trait for most worlds, it's always good to have more favour with big-wigs since they are almost always a source of problems. You probably could have used some protection more, but getting what you want is rare. You have to turn what you get into what you can use."
I nodded. If this trait really did what it said it did, it would make my job easier in most places. Kind of hard to believe such a minor thing altered reality, but the proof was already in front of me in the form of the dealer, so I instead pulled out the second ticket and tore it.
Rolling Gold Random Gacha...
A Rare Ability!
[Dress Break]
|Rare Ability|
DxD - By touching a target, you can destroy their clothing or armour, and you can also delay this effect for up to an hour.
I blinked, my gaze moving to the Dealer who seemed to be suppressing a laugh from bubbling over as she tapped my shoulder.
"Oh dear, what an auspicious starting roll. I wouldn't say it is useless, some stronger armours are annoying to deal with, and useful against less trained foes that find it hard to fight while exposed."
I looked at the notification in front of me like a deflated balloon. While she was right, I doubted I was going to get any use out of it without any combat abilities or enhancements.
There was a single ticket left while I held it in my hands, I felt the Dealer tap me on the shoulder.
"Chin up, lady luck may bless you on this one. Just show her your best face."
That I hope.
Rrrip.
Rolling Gold Random Gahca...
An Elite Ability!
[Precognition]
|Elite Ability|
Allows you to receive precognitive visions of impending danger, and by focusing you can also actively look a few moments into the future.
Oh damn. That's... actually pretty good.
"Pretty good, although you are still lacking in active combat, you can probably survive in a lower-rung world. That was all of your tickets. It's now time for you to transmigrate."
Before that I had to ask an important question first.
"Is that all? Can I get any more somehow? This seems a bit... lackluster."
"Of course, tickets are acquired by accomplishing feats. Notable actions, the more notable what you did is. The better a ticket you will get. You can start accomplishing feats in the world you go to. Until then, this is all."
Ok, so do cool stuff, get powers. I can get behind that.
Pulling me out of my musings, she clapped her hands in a rather excited manner. And in response to her clapping a wheel rose out of the ground, though rather than coming out of a trapdoor, it literally phased through as if someone used the drag tool on it. There were dozens of sections to the wheel, each reading as something indecipherable.
"Well then, let's get onto choosing what world you go to shall we? Behold, the Wheel of Worlds."
I let out a nervous laugh at the sight.
"Random chance eh? What are the chances I end up in a Hive City because of that?"
She shook her head.
"None, as you are now, the wheel is limited to worlds where you have a real chance of survival, it ranges from Boku no Pico to Berserk. Oh, and you do not have to worry about any sort of Divine Interference before you ask. Now then, would you like to spin the wheel or shall I have the honors?"
I bit my lip, the thought of potentially ending up in Berserk was not something I liked to think of. But I already accepted the deal, so I'll take whatever I get on the chin.
"Go ahead, seems like you want it anyway."
The Dealer smirked and gripped the wheel.
"I appreciate it. Now then, let's see what it nets you..."
She spun the wheel and spun, and kept spinning until it landed on a section. And the words on those section revealed themselves as yet another floating panel in front of my eyes.
[Cyberpunk - Night City]
A world ruined and squeezed dry of everything that makes a world by corporations, the ground is scorched dead and corporations rule whatever remains. And in Night City, that is the case even more so. In Night City, there are no good endings, only stories that end in tragedy. Wrong city, wrong people, they say. But such rules hold no bearing on an agent of chaos.
"Hmm, how about that?"
The Dealer spoke with an inscrutable tone as I read the prompt and closed my eyes.
"I can work with it."
Her eyes widened in a simulacrum of joy and intrigue.
"Oh? That certainly sounds confident. Where does that confidence come from, I wonder. You are not bulletproof, it is a world filled with constant strife and gunfights. It is not safe by any means."
I nodded.
"It really isn't, I would have much preferred a world like High School of the Dead but beggers are not choosers. And since you asked, my confidence, or rather my hope comes from a few reasons."
I held up one finger.
"Precognition is basically cheating in firefights. I can see when they peek out of cover and where they are going to dodge to, to nail them in the head with a bullet."
I held up a second finger.
"Lese Majeste is likely one of the best traits I could have gotten for this occasion. Corpos and Fixers rule Night City, and this trait gives me an inn with both parties. I'm not nearly moral enough to refuse help from such parties either."
Third finger.
"Night City has advanced guns and technology, powerful guns, powerful implants, cool cars, and a whole lot more. It is rich in loot. Even if the Gacha chooses to not favor me all too much, I can still get stronger as long as I have the money."
Fourth.
"Night City is the perfect breeding ground for strife and conflict as you said. An it is a world I know very well, I know I can get some good 'feats' there. Its difficulty comes with opportunities. And yeah, that's about it."
I didn't dare say I was good at reading her expression, but I'd say she looked suitably impressed with my reasoning.
"Well then, you certainly are no coward Mr. Gambler, that is good, fortune favors the bold after all. Speaking of fortune, our Patron has offered you a deal knowing the pains of a world like this one."
"I'm listening."
She pulled out yet another gold ticket from her pocket.
"For ending up in such a high risk world, you would normally get a free golden ticket upon transfer, but you have the choice to downgrade that down to a silver ticket to get a more welcoming start. A couple thousand Eurodollars, your own apartment, and a basic Agent. How about it? Or would you prefer ending up as a Vagrant?"
Yeah no, my ass was not surviving out in the Night City streets without anything. This was almost a necessity.
"I'll take the deal. I like gambling, but not with my own life."
She nodded with her everpresent grin before crumpling the golden ticket, then straightening it out to reveal a silver ticket.
"If you say so. A good gambler knows when to fold and all. Now then, I'm afraid our time is up for now. You will transfer to your new world in a few short moments. Before you go, would you humor my question?"
"What is it?"
"I'd like to hear your name, you never did introduce yourself after all."
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
"Don't you already know my name and everything about me? I got that impression at least."
"Indeed I do, but I feel that introductions are an important thing. There is a difference between what you know about someone and how they introduce themselves to you after all."
Her words made sense, and I was not about to argue logic with an eldrich demon. Instead, I stood tall and answered her.
"In that case, I am Felix Karl Grimm, the holder of the Chaos Gacha."
The Dealer clapped her hands in glee.
"In that case Felix, may fortune favor you."
And with that, my grip on reality faded.
A/N: Felix rolls... something allright. What a polarizing set of abilities, Dress Break especially doesn't really work on low tier worlds funnily enough, but Precognition and Lese Majeste are very fun traits for sure in just about any world. Especially in the world of Cyberpunk.
It will certainly a be rough start for poor Felix, Night City is a city where everyone carries some form of gun and those guns are made for killing people chromed to the gills. He will have to get creative and resourceful if he wants to survive, and even more so if he wants to thrive. What did you guys think about the first world chosen?