Alex was walking down the road when his vision suddenly blurred.
His steps faltered.
He thought it was exhaustion catching up to him.
Then, without any warning, the road disappeared from beneath his feet.
When his vision cleared again, Alex was no longer outside.
He was standing inside a classroom.
His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths.
Heat clung to his skin.
His limbs felt weak, and his body was drained as though he had a heavy fever.
"A classroom? W-why am I here? I was on the road until a few seconds ago."
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to him.
At the front of the class stood a man in his mid-thirties, the teacher, who frowned slightly at Alex.
"Alex, is your fever acting up?" the teacher asked, concern creeping into his voice.
Alex didn't respond immediately.
His mind raced, trying to understand what had just happened.
His silence must have seemed like confirmation, because the teacher nodded slowly.
"You don't look well. You should go to the infirmary. Emma, please take him there."
A girl stood up from her seat.
She was the class representative, apparently named Emma.
She had long black hair that shimmered under the classroom lights and striking blue eyes.
Her figure would have been considered attractive by most standards, but Alex hardly noticed.
His head throbbed with pain too strong to care about appearances.
Emma walked over to him and gently placed a hand on his arm.
"Come on. You don't look good at all. Let's get you to the nurse."
Alex let her guide him, though his confusion only deepened.
He should be on a road. How did he appear in a classroom?
And something felt wrong with his body.
His perspective was lower, as if he had grown shorter.
He glanced at his own hand and froze.
The fingers were pale and thin, far thinner than they should have been.
His skin looked almost bloodless.
"What is happening to me? I was just on the road a second ago, and now…" he murmured.
"Did you say something?" Emma gave him a worried look.
He shook his head.
"Let's just get you to the infirmary, okay?" Emma said.
Alex nodded slightly and followed her out of the classroom.
As they walked down the hall, he looked around.
'This place looks like a high school.'
The tiled floors, the lockers lined against the walls, and the bulletin boards plastered with schedules and event posters all reinforced that impression.
They reached the infirmary.
Alex's eyes landed on a mirror inside the room.
'Who is this?'
The person staring back at him wasn't Alex.
The boy in the mirror looked sickly pale.
His cheeks were hollow, and his eyes were slightly sunken.
'Why do I look different?' Alex thought.
Emma glanced around the room, then sighed.
"Looks like the nurse isn't here right now. Sit down and rest. I'll go find her and bring her back."
Alex nodded.
His head was too heavy to form a proper response.
Emma hurried out, leaving him alone in the infirmary.
A glowing screen suddenly appeared before his eyes, hanging in the air like a digital projection.
[Supreme System binding]
[Supreme System bound]
[Host has received five 'Gacha tickets' as newbie reward.]
Alex blinked in disbelief.
He tried to touch the screen.
His hand passed through it, as if it was a hologram.
"This…"
"This is almost like…."
"I transmigrated."
He was an avid reader of web novels.
Stories of people transmigrating into new worlds, waking up in strange bodies, and receiving mysterious systems weren't new to him.
He had read countless novels like that, but he never thought it could happen to him.
His confusion turned into frustration when he glanced again at the weak, pale reflection in the mirror.
"Why did I transmigrate into a weak body like this?"
Before he could think further, a sharp pain ripped through his head.
His knees buckled, and he grabbed the edge of the counter to keep himself from collapsing.
His mind flooded with memories that weren't his own.
He saw fragments of a boy's life.
Alex Gunn.
A normal high school student.
He had average grades, average friends, and he lived an average life.
Until a few days ago, that is.
On his way home one night, he was bitten by a strange man.
Since then, his health declined rapidly.
The memories faded, leaving Alex trembling.
He sucked in a shaky breath and looked back at the screen still floating before him.
[Host, you have only ten minutes to live.]
[Please check your status.]
Alex stiffened when he heard the feminine voice. It was calm and oddly casual.
"You can talk?" he asked.
[Yes, host.]
[Now, please say 'Status.']
"Status," Alex said, testing the command he had seen in countless novels.
A screen unfolded before his eyes.
…
Name: Alex Gunn
Bloodline: Human, Vampire (Newborn) (Bloodlines unable to fuse)
Balance: $245
Money Spent: $0
…
Stats:
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 2
Constitution: 1
Perception: 1
Average stat is 10 for an adult male in all categories.
…
Alex stared at the numbers.
"My stats are terrible… This says average is ten in every category, but mine are barely one or two."
[Host, you should be able to guess the reason by looking at the status screen.]
His eyes narrowed on the bloodline section.
"…It says Bloodlines unable to fuse."
[Indeed, that is what it says.]
Alex's lips twitched.
The system's tone felt far too relaxed for the situation.
"Let me guess," Alex muttered. "My health started to decline when I was bitten by the man few days ago.
"Maybe he was a vampire, and the bite turned me into a vampire too.
"Now because the vampire bloodline can't properly fuse with me, my health is falling apart.
"That explains the low stats, and why I'm dying."
[Correct!]
[Host is so smart. He only took five minutes to figure out such a complex answer!]
[Time until you die: Ten minutes → Five minutes.]
Alex's jaw dropped.
He wanted to say something, but no words came out.
"…Why is this system so sassy?" he finally muttered under his breath.
[Time until you die: Four minutes and fifty seconds]
He sighed heavily, leaning back against the infirmary bed.
His head throbbed with every passing second.
"Maybe this is all a dream?"
He didn't know if this was a dream or reality, but the thought of dying made his chest tighten.
If this was real, then he had only minutes left to live.
He couldn't let himself just lie there and waste them.
"System, is there any way I can survive?"
[Use the Gacha tickets you have. There is a chance you might get a reward that can save you.]
"How high are the chances that I'll get something useful?"
[Have you played gacha games before?]
"Yes."
[Then you know how high the chances are to get a five-star character in one of those games.]
Alex froze.
The chances were painfully low, so low most players called it gambling instead of playing.
His chest tightened at the thought.
"…Is there any way to increase the chances of getting something that can save me?"
[You can try praying to the Goddess of Luck.]
He was surprised.
"Will that really work?"
[You will know in four minutes and twenty-two seconds.]
"…."
He sat there in silence for a moment, staring at the empty space in front of him.
The nurse still hadn't come, Emma was still gone, and he could feel the fever eating away at his body.
"It was a good run," he muttered quietly.
He thought about his old life again, the dull routine, the loneliness, and the constant work.
Maybe this was how it was supposed to end.
Still, a stubborn voice inside him said he should try.
He had nothing to lose.
"How do I use the Gacha tickets?"
[Just say 'Summon Gacha Wheel' in your mind.]
Alex prayed to the Goddess of Luck, then he said, 'Summon Gacha Wheel.'
A wheel appeared before his eyes.
It was colorful, and divided into seven sections: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Radiant.
The colors grew brighter as the rarity increased.
Iron was the worst rarity, while Radiant was the best.
He thought about using one Gacha ticket.
The wheel began to spin.
His heart pounded as the needle clicked past the sections.
Finally, it slowed and landed on Gold rarity.
[Congratulations, Host has obtained: Evolvnari Bloodline.]
"What's that?"
[It is a bloodline that can evolve endlessly.]
[It allows you to fuse other bloodlines into yourself and removes the backlash that usually comes from forced fusion.]
[You will not gain negative effects from the bloodlines you fuse.]
[The reason this is only Gold rarity bloodline is due to the fact you need to start from the scratch, and it doesn't give instant power-ups.]
[Depending on how you evolve the bloodline, there is a chance it can surpass all bloodlines.]
Alex's eyes widened.
"Does that mean…"
[Yes. Now you won't die. You can fuse the vampire bloodline into yourself perfectly.]
Relief flooded through him, but the system wasn't finished.
[Host, are you perhaps the secret lover of the Goddess of Luck?]
Alex ignored the jab and clenched his fist in excitement.
"How do I use this bloodline?"
[The reward is stored in the system. Just think of using it, and it will be assimilated with you.]
He didn't hesitate.
He willed the bloodline into himself.
At once, a warm current surged through his body, washing away the fever.
It felt like something was fusing deep inside him, rewriting his very being.
[The Evolvnari Bloodline is devouring Human Bloodline and Vampire Bloodline.]
[Bloodline evolved.]
[New Bloodline: Vampire Evolvnari Primus.]
His breathing steadied.
His chest no longer burned. His fever disappeared as if it was never there.
For the first time since arriving in this body, he felt… alive.
He pulled up his status screen at once.
…
Name: Alex Gunn
Bloodline: Vampire Evolvnari Primus
Balance: $245
Money Spent: $0
…
Stats:
Strength: 1 → 15
Dexterity: 2 → 16
Constitution: 1 → 16
Perception: 1 → 12
Your stats will continue to increase slowly over the next twenty-four hours to reach the standards of your bloodline.
…
Alex stared at the screen in surprise.
"My stats… they've already passed the average human stats. And they'll keep rising for a whole day?"
He turned toward the mirror in the infirmary.
The reflection nearly stunned him a second time.
He was taller now, easily around one meter and eighty centimeters (5'9'').
His sickly pale skin looked healthier, though a faint unnatural pale glow lingered.
His body wasn't thin anymore.
His shoulders had broadened, his frame looked firm, and there was strength in his limbs.
A thought struck him.
"Wait… if I'm part vampire, does this mean I can't go into sunlight?"
[Oh no. It looks like Host got a dementia from his recent bloodline fusion.]
Alex's eye twitched.
[I already said you won't gain negative effects from bloodlines fused through the Evolvnari Bloodline.]
[You have no sunlight weakness, no holy weakness, and no typical vampire drawbacks.]
"Good. That's a relief."
Alex nodded slowly, ignoring the earlier sarcasm.
His eyes turned back to the Gacha wheel.
"If this was only Gold rarity, how strong are the higher ones?"
[So strong they'll blow your mind.]
Alex's pulse quickened.
He used another ticket.
The wheel spun again. The colors flashed before his eyes.
The needle slowed at Iron rarity.
Fortunately, it kept moving forward.
It finally stopped at the best rarity.
'Radiant rarity.'
He got the highest rarity reward!
[Congratulations, Host has obtained: Void Horror Physique.]
"What is this?"
[….]
"System?"
[…Host, are you actually the secret lover of the Goddess of Luck?]
The system's tone was no longer sarcastic.
It sounded deadly serious.
Alex rolled his eyes.
"Just tell me what it is."
[The Void Horror Physique originates from ancient beings called Void Horrors.]
[They are monstrous entities that rarely seen even in the cosmos.]
[They can devour entire planets and even stars to grow stronger. Even galactic empires fear them.]
Alex's lips curled into a grin.
"That sounds ridiculously good."
[It is. This physique will make your body adaptable to everything. You will become resilient, and capable of growth far beyond normal limits.]
Excitement rushed through him.
He wasn't done yet.
He used the third Gacha ticket.
The wheel spun, then slowed again.
For a brief moment, his thoughts drifted back to his old life.
Alex had spent years doing a dull 9-5.
It drained every ounce of energy from him.
He had no time for himself, no hobbies left, and no girlfriend.
Even the friends he once had had drifted away, unable to stay close to someone who was always too busy.
His family grew distant too.
They had told him again and again that he never gave them his time. But what could he do? He was busy with work.
In the end, he had grown used to being alone.
Who would've thought he would get a new life, and a second chance?
He clenched his fist in excitement.
This time, he would do better, and live a life that wasn't just about working 24/7.
The Gacha needle stopped once more at Radiant, the best rarity.
[Congratulations, Host has obtained: Swordsmanship Talent.]
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"So I got a talent this time. How good is it?"
[It is a supreme-level sword talent.]
[Think of it as SSS rank Swordsmanship Talent from the novels you used to read. Of course, it's a lot better than SSS-rank.]
[With enough training, you can surpass even the previous Sword Gods. Normally, someone could train for centuries and still not reach that level.]
[With this talent, your path will be much easier.]
The system seemed to have accepted his heaven-defying luck.
Alex's mind raced.
A bloodline that could evolve endlessly, a terrifying physique, and a sword talent that could rival legends.
Alex grinned.
He was looking forward to his new life.
The curiosity pushed him to use another Gacha ticket.
The wheel spun again and landed on Gold.
[Congratulations, Host has obtained: Appearance Improvement Card.]
"…?"
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"What sort of reward is this? How is this on the same rarity as the Evolvnari Bloodline?"
He turned to the mirror again.
His looked taller, healthier, and stronger after his bloodline evolved.
This was without using the Appearance Improvement Card.
"Should I even use the Appearance Improvement Card? If my appearance changes too suddenly, people might question it…"
He trailed off as he saw his reflection.
He looked different already.
"I should just use it.
"It's a good thing my family's schedule is tight, so I won't meet them face-to-face if I am careful about timings.
"As for high school, I can take a few weeks break and when I return, I can say it was a puberty glow-up that improved my appearance."
He activated the card.
His vision blurred for a moment.
When it cleared, the reflection staring back at him nearly left him speechless.
He grew taller again.
He was now around one meter and eighty-seven centimeters (6' 13'').
His jawline was sharp.
His features were balanced and attractive.
He lifted his shirt. His stomach had firm, visible muscles.
His chest was broad, and his arms carried well-defined strength.
He wasn't overly bulky, and his muscles looked sculpted like a Greek god.
He looked down and checked inside his pant.
Even his "little Alex" had received an upgrade.
"…Damn," he whispered, unable to hide his satisfaction.
Alex ran a hand over his stomach and smiled.
The difference was night and day.
In his old life, he had been just another average man.
Now, he looked like someone people would naturally admire.
"People say appearance isn't everything.
"But that's a lie.
"Ugly people get ignored, while beautiful people post one picture online and get fame, sponsorships for advertisements, and money."
He smirked at the thought.
Appearance was power in its own way.
"Now, there is only one last Gacha ticket left."
'Use the Gacha ticket,' he ordered in his head.
The Gacha Wheel spun rapidly.
The colors flashed by until the needle slowed.