CHAPTER ONE: GACHA REWARD

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John's hands were covered in blood, so too was the entirety of his body and the hallway around him. The blaring red lights, which fluctuated in intensity, turned the hallway into a cruel mimicry of a blood vessel. The alarms of the ship echoed through the empty corridors, their sound mingling with the grotesque stillness of the scene. Dead bodies lay sprawled across the floor, silent witnesses to the carnage, but amidst it all, there stood one lone figure-John. His focus was entirely on the spinning wheel before him.

His eyes were fixed on the panel of light, the small mystical display spinning, spinning, as if it held the key to something more important than the nightmare unfolding around him. The blood pooling at his feet was an afterthought, something outside his world of focus, a silent testament to the chaos he had coursed. His gaze never wavered from the wheel, as if any moment could hold the promise of salvation -or doom.

Still, he could feel the blood on his skin. It slithered down from his forearm, clung to his wrist, trickled over his palm, and pooled at the tip of his fingers, waiting. The weight of it was suffocating, a visceral reminder of what had transpired. But John didn't allow himself to look down. He couldn't. Not yet.

Then, just as the wheel slowed to a crawl, a single drop of blood fell from his fingertip. He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly, his breath steady but his heart racing. In that brief, suspended moment, the hum of the system seemed to resonate through his body, as if to confirm his fate. The air around him pulsed with static, his body tingling with anticipation.

Buzz.

The sound shot through him like an electric shock. His eyes snapped open. The wheel had stopped.

He didn't dare glance at the prize it had chosen for him. The blood on his skin seemed to thicken, to dry and stain him further, but it was nothing compared to the weight of what was to come.

He could not hide from the result.

Seedling! Congratulations

Although unlucky you may seem, your luck has proven itself. You have won the top prize of the draw

Reward: Ultimate Integration

(Rank: Diamond +)

Do you wish to use it?

Yes/No

John Stared at the reward, his eyes tearing up, his heart a steam engine, his mind a wave of raging emotions, What have I done?

“Why?” He asked, his voice a whisper, but he knew the reason, his focus stripped away, then, his eyes finally wandered the hallway, and he saw, saw what his greed for more success and life had caused.

Acquaintances littered the hallway like broken puppets. Among them, he spotted the body of Phoenix-the Korean idol he had flirted with just hours earlier. She had been a prominent member of the expedition to the new city on Mars. His gaze searched for her face, but there was nothing left-only brain matter, splintered bone, and a pool of crimson blood. John gagged, his heart clenched, and he collapsed to his knees, weak and trembling. The ship seemed to spin around him as he shut his eyes. In the suffocating darkness, the bitter taste of vomit lingered on his tongue, and the pungent smell of iron hung thick in the air.

I... I only killed one person, he tried to reason with himself. But the blood clinging to his skin felt like an accusation. He could still hear the echoes of the massacre-the others tearing each other apart.

And yet, he had walked away with only one death on his hands, while the rest had annihilated each other.

Yes/No

The question began blinking as if prodding John to pick an answer. He didn't. John felt his heart beating furiously as he looked between the two options. He had expected a way back to earth, but now he was faced with an option he had no idea what it meant, he was confused, a feeling that got his fist clenching and teeth gritting, but now he just felt small, out of his depth.

At the end John knew his answer, why, he had wondered, and he knew, John was a rising star in the technological world back on earth, he had created a company for power armors and other mecha tech and he still wanted more, John didn't want it to end, the success, he still had more growth in front of him, he didn't know what ultimate integration meant but he would take it over death, John in the end was human and not just any, he was scum, even if it had been a decision made out of fear he knew deep within himself that he would do it again, i… I'm sorry, but it's every man for himself. He thought as he confirmed

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Yes.

Ultimate Integration has been activated

Be warned seedling:

The process of ultimate integration is many and Random.

Be prepared!

Standby…

Standby…

Suitable integration Found…

Process initialising

1, 2, 3

The numbers twisted as a brutal vertigo wracked John's body and mind and then he was falling, his body hit the metal ground with a echoing clung and the hallway was still, his unmoving body seemed to fit into the bloody picture of the hallway as his chest rising and falling, slowly stopped and life no longer existed in the hallway.

John’s world was a churn of darkness and bubbling emotions, a thick, unyielding wave pressing down on him. He felt the urge to weep, to sink to his knees - if he could feel them - and beg forgiveness. But in the end, he was a man of logic.

I don’t know what this is, but I’m not dead. At least I’m still alive, he thought, steadying himself. But the ache remained, a hollow drumbeat in his chest, as the image of her face - the idol he’d met hours earlier - burned in his mind. She had been captivating: crimson and black-dyed hair framing her delicate face, full pink lips drawing him in, mirth-filled eyes that seemed to see right through him. Then, like a battering ram, the memory of her broken face slammed forward, and he recoiled, trying to bury it.

But he stopped himself. This time, he didn’t look away. He faced the memories head-on, like a judge delivering his own verdict. The System message had been clear, its words both ominous and cold: survive this “trial” and gain entry to the Integration Zone. The details had been more disturbing than the message itself, though-the Integration Zone was Earth.

The choice that followed had been merciless. Death for all but one-or death for everyone. For John, it wasn’t fear that spurred him into action. It was something colder, sharper: simple logic.

Everyone else had dismissed it as a prank, unsettled but willing to let the timer run out. John couldn’t afford that risk. If this was a joke, it would end when I tried to kill. But the System hadn’t stopped, as if it were waiting for someone to make the first move. In that suspended moment, he sensed something from it-something beyond technology, a presence, a will. He realised the others felt it, too. They had all moved then.

He could still see the man’s face, the one he’d strangled. He barely knew him, a face blurred by casual indifference, yet now it was etched into his mind like a stone carving.

This better be worth it, he’d told himself, hands trembling as he’d let the lifeless body drop.

Now, in the shadowed silence, John found his emotions-a chaotic river-beginning to cool. The horror receded as his calculating side took hold, anchoring him. He asked himself a single, relentless question:

Was it worth it?

He didn’t know. Not yet. In the darkness, both literal and figurative, he came to a realisation.

I don’t think I’m normal.

John didn’t know how long he had lingered in the darkness. It was timeless, weightless, until the silence fractured, and he felt the faint call to awaken, like the gentle end of a long dream. Awareness trickled in, and his head began to ache, a dull throb that pulsed through him as he felt a connection forming between mind and body.

The first part to respond was his fingers. Stiff, unyielding, like they’d been frozen in place. With slow, stilted jerks, he tested their movement-fingers, then toes, his lips twitching in a sluggish response. It felt like shedding layers of rust, his joints grinding to life, gradually yielding to his control. Finally, his eyelids, heavy and sealed tight, began to flutter.

Before they opened, another sense awoke. The scent of something faintly sweet reached him, teasingly familiar and oddly addictive, threading through the haze in his mind. And then, touch-a hand, clasped tightly around his own. The warmth was a shock, soft and tender against his skin, with a hint of hesitance in the way it held him.

Finally, his eyes flickered open in slow steps, pulling him fully into the waking world.

Then for what felt like an eternity John heard the voice of another human and it was a word he had never heard directed at him ever.

"Son." The word was hesitant, like her touch, her voice calm, rich, and slightly husky, yet trembling at the edges, unravelling with emotions too raw to hide. John felt it-every quiver, every break in that voice so close to falling apart. He was lost in its depth, until he felt the warmth of a tear land softly on his cheek.

John was lost in the emotions of the beautiful woman that had called him; her son. He was caught off guard by the notification that appeared in front of him then.

Congratulations Seedling!

First Step of integration complete

Second step of integration complete

Third step in process…

…

Brace yourself seedling