"Yes! I finally got Tachyon to 5 stars!" The triumphant cry ripped from my throat, a pure blast of ecstatic relief that seemed to shake the very walls of my room. That beautiful, brilliant, crazy horse girl was mine, maxed out, a testament to hours of grinding and gacha luck.
"This is the best day of my life," I sighed contentedly, letting the phone drop onto the comforter and collapsing backward onto my bed. My muscles ached from the hunched position, but my spirit soared.
I glanced toward the window. The digital clock on my desk glowed a cool, unforgiving 3:17 AM. "Oh, it's pretty late. I guess it's time to sleep."
Closing the game and the phone, I slipped under the covers. The sweet victory of the 5-star evolution was the last thing on my mind as I drifted into a deep, well-deserved slumber.
A drawn-out, heavy, almost theatrical "Yaaaawnnn!" brought me back to consciousness. My eyes fluttered open, but something was wrong. Something felt… off.
I was lying on a bed, but the sheets were a sterile, clinical white, not my familiar navy blue. The ceiling above was high and unfamiliar. I sat up, the movement feeling light and strangely uncoordinated.
"Wait, why is everything smaller?" I mumbled, the sound of my own voice feeling thin and high-pitched.
Panic started to bubble up. I scrambled out of the bed, my feet hitting a cool, tiled floor. I bolted toward a door that I instinctually knew led to a bathroom, threw it open, and faced the mirror.
My breath hitched. My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Wait... I am... Agnes Tachyon!?"
Staring back was the diminutive, wild-eyed figure of the Uma Musume I'd just maxed out. Her shock of brown hair, the signature clip perched precariously on her ear, and the unmistakable clothing: a crisp white lab coat over a school uniform. The lab coat, in particular, was the real-world proof.
"Why am I Tachyon? Wait, what happened!?"
As if in response to my frantic questioning, a translucent blue window shimmered into existence right in front of my face.
[You are Agnes Tachyon "Faster than Light"]
The truth hit me like a runaway train. I wasn't dreaming, and this wasn't an elaborate cosplay. I actually became the character I was obsessed with.
"I actually became Tachyon," I repeated, my voice now a dazed whisper as I slowly sank back down onto the bed.
I waved my arms, the oversized lab coat sleeves flopping around ridiculously. "This coat doesn't even fit—well, it fits her, I guess."
The thought of the system window returned, snapping me back to focus. If I had a notification, maybe I had a system interface, too.
"Wait, if I have a system then... Status!"
Another, much larger window popped up, detailing my current existence.
[Name: Agnes Tachyon
Race: Uma Musume
Assimilation: 10%
Strength: 6
Speed: 10
Endurance: 6
Intelligence: 10
Skill:
I am the smartest!: Able to learn anything faster than regular people and understand it to an advanced degree.
Mad Scientist: No moral values will affect you. Able to create and make new technology, and of course, data is more important than morality.
The greatest mind: Knows all knowledge in Earth and knows how to make or produce it.
U=ma2: I am faster than light! Run faster.]
"Assimilation?" I pondered the foreign word, but the reality of the situation was already sinking in with unnerving speed. The skills, the race, the stats—it was real.
"I am really her now."
I took a moment to truly look around the room. It was sparse, clinical, and definitely not my bedroom.
"Wait, this is not my room." I jumped to my feet, pulled open the pristine white curtains, and looked out.
The sight was grim. Towering, run-down megastructures blotted out the sky, and the street below was littered with refuse. It was a bleak, dystopian cityscape that sent a chill down my spine.
"This is not my world," I whispered, before a sudden, visceral grin stretched across my face. The familiar, slightly unhinged exhilaration of my new persona began to surface.
"I, Agnes Tachyon, will have more data!" I declared, a wild spark igniting in my eyes.
The moment passed, and I mentally slapped myself. "So that's how Assimilation is affecting me, huh," I mused, the calm, logical part of my original self wrestling control back.
"I need more information."
I began to systematically check the room. Under a small, metallic desk, I found a heavy, reinforced cardboard box. Inside, it was stuffed with various beakers, test tubes, half-finished circuit boards, and other scientific paraphernalia.
"How will I even carry all of this?" I grumbled, pushing my goggles up onto my forehead as I looked down at the bulky container.
"Wait a minute... the system," I realized, recalling the system window.
"Huh, look at that. An Inventory."
I focused my will on the box, and with a faint shimmer, it vanished. A tiny icon of a cardboard box appeared at the corner of my vision.
"Now that's done, let's see if I can get information about this world."
I left the room and immediately found an elevator, which I took down to the ground floor. The reception desk was abandoned. The street was the next step.
The people on the sidewalk looked... sick. Thin, pale, and moving with a slow, defeated air.
"Poor," I said, a neutral observation escaping my lips. I began walking, completely absorbed in cataloging the environment, until a person called out to me.
"Miss, can you spare me a dollar?" she begged, her voice hoarse.
Money? Do I even have money? I checked the pockets of my lab coat, finding them empty. Then, I checked the Inventory. A small icon of a wad of cash was there. 1,000 Lungmen Dollars.
I didn't give it to her.
"Sorry, I don't have any," I lied smoothly, continuing my walk.
The more I walked, the more obvious the affliction became. Small, dark crystalline growths were visible on people's skin—a clear, visible manifestation of a disease.
"Mhm... Very interesting," I murmured, my scientist's curiosity fully engaged.
Another person approached me, a woman carrying a small, feverish child wrapped in a blanket.
"Miss, can you help us? My daughter, she's sick," she pleaded, tears welling up.
The Assimilation progress must be quick or something, I thought detachedly. The sight of human suffering didn't bother me at all.
"I... can't help you," I stated, ready to move on.
She grabbed my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. "Aren't you a doctor!? Just help my daughter! I will pay anything, any price! Just save my daughter, please!"
Her desperation finally gave me pause. Not from empathy, but from opportunity.
"What sicknesses you're both infected by?" I asked, my brow furrowing.
She looked utterly confused. "It's Oripathy. Aren't you a doctor? I mean, everybody knows about Oripathy."
"Mhm..." I pulled my arm free and checked my system. The Shop function, previously ignored, was now a shining beacon of possibility. And what I found there was baffling, yet exciting. I could buy milk. Not just any milk, but Minecraft Milk. And it cost a steep, yet attainable, 500 per bucket.
The ultimate debuff remover... in a world with a lethal, incurable disease. The data potential was astronomical.
"Very well," I said, a predatory glint in my eye. "come with me."
The mother's skepticism was palpable as we returned to the empty, clinical room. I ignored her and pushed her out the door once we were inside.
"I need privacy. Stay out there," I commanded.
Then, I turned to the small child, now asleep on the pristine white bed. My grin returned, wide and unhinged.
"Let's get experimenting."
"Shop," I said, and the window appeared again.
"Good. This has everything I need, and some of this stuff isn't even in Umamusume."
I focused on my target.
[Milk (Minecraft): 500]
"Good. I have enough. Let's see if this works."
I bought the enormous, pixelated bucket of milk, and the moment it materialized, the room was filled with the fresh, slightly sweet aroma.
The experiment was quick and highly technical.
"This... is... too powerful," I muttered, analyzing the mystical substance. "If the body is too weak, it would just die from the process. But if diluted by water and some other stuff, this is completely fine to be used."
I took a small sample from the giant bucket, poured it into a glass vial I retrieved from my Inventory, and mixed in water and a few other chemicals from the Tachyon-themed scientific supplies I'd stashed earlier.
"This is good."
I returned to the child. "Sleep well, child," I whispered, before gently opening her mouth and letting her drink the concoction.
A momentary spasm and a few twitches, and then she was still. When she woke up a moment later, her pale skin had regained a healthier flush.
I opened the door and let the mother rush in. She thanked me profusely, tears of gratitude now streaming down her face. I didn't care about the thanks, only the results. I gave her two doses of the prepared cure, just in case.
"I'd say, even though I am weak in this body, I am very intelligent, and the fact that I can buy everything in my shop—Minecraft items, no problem, tanks and planes—is an absolute goldmine of data," I rationalized, already pulling out new equipment to continue my research.
But the two didn't leave.
"Eh? Why aren't you leaving? I need to do my research," I snapped, annoyed by the interruption.
The mother and child turned, then suddenly both dropped to their knees, bowing down to me.
"You're a goddess!" the mother declared, her voice choked with awe.
"Eh!?"