I had a strange dream.

In that dream, I was somebody else.

A memory akin to a cutscene flashed by, as I caught myself being pulled by the hand when I came to.

She was a little girl with a lovely smile. Holding my hand tight, we pranced by the beach with our sand-muddled feet. As we got tired, the two of us sat under the shade of a large palm tree.

Words came out of her mouth, but I couldn't hear it. She held me close, her face smiling as if she was looking at something precious. The girl said something again, but still, silence returned. 

This girl… She looked familiar. 

When I began to feel my senses coming back to me, the dream had already ended.

The island where childhood sweethearts played together, it slowly faded away from view.

…

My eyes opened to the dull, familiar ceiling of my apartment. 

As I slowly regained consciousness, I began to feel the numbness on my body. My muscles were screaming for help, so I laid down for a bit more as I blanked out for a few minutes.

Ah, that’s right. I strained my body yesterday trying to kill zombies. Zombies… so it’s not a dream.

Time… it’s two in the afternoon. I had slept for this long? I blinked my eyes, and the interface returned in view. The UI reflected before me, spread out expansively with such familiarity.

Yeah, it’s been this way ever since I became the possessor of a skill [Cyber World], inheriting the concept of the gacha game that I used to play just recently.

I had to plan out what to do next. 

As I looked through each reward that was given for the combat milestone of defeating a zombie, it was clear that there was not much I could do alone to make full use of this strange power that I had. After all, the ability embodied the concept of the original gacha game. It wasn’t meant to power the player up. It was a progression system for the gacha characters in it.

Powerful, augmented humans. From cyborgs, androids, half-machines, or even nano-bloods. These characters had transcended human limitations to become war potential for the Doctor. I could only see a future where dependence on the gacha characters were necessary.

The zombies were quick, relentless, endless, and everywhere. Facing them for the first time, I had truly experienced the ferocity of the undead. An armed soldier would probably be able to handle one or two of them. But when they come in droves, no amount of ammunition will be able to stop them in time.

Defeat Zombie (4/20) - Reward: 1,000 Z-Chips

Back to me.

Since I’d killed 5 in total, my next combat milestone was already underway. I had 15 of the Nano Disruptors remaining, but it didn’t mean I could repeat the same strategy like yesterday. Over time, the zombies would become increasingly difficult to isolate. Chances would be hard to come by since the Nano Disruptors produced a lot of noise that could attract the horde.

This entire building was a residential one, and clearly, there were way too many zombies for me to handle alone.

I turned on the TV, and realised that news was still being played. Seems like telecommunications are still active after a day. Surprisingly, it seems like many things have happened since the outbreak last night.

“...I knew it.”

I wasn't the only one who had these strange powers.

For one, it’s been discovered that several people had manifested “abilities”. I observed the interviewee swinging his arm hardened into steel. The man, who seemed to be in his twenties, swung his arm towards a lamppost for demonstration. The lamppost was blown off, causing the crowd around him to gasp.

The report continued to give details on these powers, as they ranged from physical enhancements, to even the fantasy projections of shooting fireballs.

The age of superpowers huh. As I looked at my interface, I couldn’t help but mull over its implications. I had sort of accepted the possibility that I wasn’t the only one who would obtain an ability. But…

As I scrolled through the forums on my PC… it didn’t seem like anyone had something even close to what I had.

Manifestation_of_wind_heels.mp4— A video of a schoolgirl who was being chased by zombies, suddenly ran super fast. Her feet had turned blurry with a gust of wind.

”My eyes became X-ray vision!”— Another user claimed that as he was hiding from zombies, he entered a dark storeroom, and as he was trying to look for a hiding spot, he could suddenly see the insides of objects.

”I was fighting for my life…”—The comment started with the middle-aged policeman firing his rounds at a zombie. When he had finally run out of bullets, …he ran towards the zombie as a last ditch effort. The baton he had swung glowed silvery, and incapacitated the zombie in one swing.

There were plenty more of these reports of people supposedly gaining powers in a crisis, but it was undeniable that humanity is fighting back. There were rumours on the forums that the government was beginning to establish a ranking system for ability users.

Bookmarked. This ranking system… I’ll keep an eye on it.

Next was the news talking about death figures. There was a very big coverage on the massacre by the bridge that led to the city. A massive shootout occurred to prevent zombies from entering… but it had failed. Our city was now marked at high risk by government officials, as the estimated count of zombies reached tens of millions. As time passes, the dead will eventually overtake the living.  

The final piece of news, however, overwrote all sorts of feelings that I had.

“…Fallen meteorites investigated?” 

When I listened in for a bit more,  my face scrunched up bitterly. On the news, I could see the familiar convenience store in the background of the reporter. The camera pans to a scene blocked off with yellow tape. 

Various officials were moving around what seemed to be… the capsule. Or rather, the thing that gacha characters came out of after they were pulled. There was a slight zoom onto the capsule, and a silhouette of a person could be seen inside of it.

They were there for one reason only.

“It’s a 4-star character.”

But no one should realistically know it was a “gacha character”. Instead, what probably happened was that a seemingly ‘living person’ was sleeping inside of it. An alien? A messenger from space? To save humanity from this crisis? As the timing of awakening powers happened close to each other, many baseless speculations began to surface. This was only heightened by the fact that not many ability users had awakened.

A slow realisation, perhaps. That if you don’t possess an ability, you’ll slowly fall below the hierarchy. 

The power to defeat zombies. If that capsule is opened, perhaps I will also get an ability!

There must be something to save us from the zombies!

There was a comment like this, and many others who shared similar thoughts. Regardless of what the sky-fell capsules held, the country had surely taken notice.

Seems like the news had also been picked up from overseas.

Maybe it’s another phenomenon caused by an ability user. Someone commented.

“...”

Riding the tide of similar sentiments, or perhaps it was a way to redirect the people’s fears as they hid in their shelters awaiting their deaths, the operation was expedited. Many military personnel created bases around the “sky capsules”. 

This had, too, attracted many zombies. Which was why the attempts to break open the cryogenic chamber became even more forceful. Several other reports show similar happenings in the other nine crash sites.

The military states that one of the sky capsules, now dubbed EC-04, is on the verge of opening. Experts say…

I turned off the news.

It only took them half a day to get this far. Is it really possible that the capsules can be broken into? 

No… if there even was a possibility… I should stop it.

I’ll admit it. I’m selfish. I want to survive alone. The things that I have summoned, all belong to me. The items and characters from the gacha raised my survival rate. That was all there is to it.

I didn’t have the leeway to care about anything else for now.

Yes, my decision was already made the moment I had acknowledged this ability of mine.

I closed my eyes to consider my options. Zombies in the stairwell, unusable lifts, my remaining ammunition. Barricades. The eyes of armed officials. The 4-star character.

I stare at the items in my inventory and grit my teeth. There was a way to break through, but I had to be prepared to be a little more reckless to pull it off.

Well, what choice do I have? Let’s just trust in the process.

I stuffed everything important into a backpack. Medicines, food and bottled water,  power bank, torchlight, spare change of clothes—

When I had packed everything, it was already 4PM. Understanding that time is of essence, I decided to move out immediately.

“Let’s go. …I’ll secure it. My first character.” Tension was set to an all time high, as I relived the feeling I had when I started out playing the game. But this time, much more was at stake.