I opened my gacha inventory, the one where all the unused cards end up chilling. Thank God it's still working, unlike the stupid Assimilation slot.
One thing I really hate about this system is that once you take something out, you can't shove it back in.
Since there's a chance the ANBU might decide to do one of their random home inspections while I'm out, I'd rather not have them stumble across glowing potions and weird scrolls lying around. So, unless I seriously need something, I just leave most of it in there—especially the smaller stuff like food, clothes, or other items I got from gacha.
Anyway, scrolling through the list, I spot:
Red Potions x10 (Overlord)
Stamina Potions x20 (Overlord)
Nice. I grab one of each.
First, the red one. The moment I drink it, I feel this warm wave spreading through me, kind of like standing under the sun on a freezing winter day. Then, boom. The pain fades. My legs don't feel like they're made of glass anymore. Totally healed.
"Alright, that's actually insane," I muttered. I hadn't tried them before this.
Now for round two. I down the stamina potion, and instantly it feels like someone hit the energy boost button.
"Okay, now we're talking," I said, flexing my fingers with a small grin. "Let's see who's possessed now."
I flicked the inventory open again, scanning through the list.
Cloak of Invisibility (Harry Potter)
Tempting… but nah. I didn't take it out. Instead, I picked a normal-looking cloak from another card. No way I'm risking it. Who knows how sensitive the mages here are to mana? For all I know, that cloak could light me up on their radar like a damn beacon.
I threw the plain cloak over myself and stepped out of the alley.
And just like that, the world changed.
The dark, empty alley I'd been hiding in opened into a street bursting with colour and noise. Merchants were shouting over each other, carriages rolled past, people laughed, argued, lived. The smell of baked bread mixed with smoke and dust hit me all at once.
I didn't stop to stare. Instead, I started moving through the streets, quietly mapping everything out in my head.
Cid Kagenou, son of Count Kagenou. A noble. Born with privilege, money, and every luxury you could imagine. Despite being less talented than his sister, he had never really faced the ugly side of life—until today.
After being branded as "possessed," everything flipped upside down for him. Overnight, he went from noble heir to unwanted outcast.
The memory flashed vividly in my mind: him wandering the streets, lost, starving, trying to figure out what to do next. That's when it happened.
He was picked up by a group of thugs. They didn't recognise him, or maybe they just didn't care. They stripped him of everything valuable, and when he tried to tell them who he was, to warn them, they just laughed.
"A noble? Out here? Nice joke."
And then they beat him. Again and again, until his body gave out.
He'd been trained to fight. Four years of basic mana control and combat drills should've been enough to handle a few street rats. On any other day, he could've done it. But not that day. Not when the mana corruption in his body had already started eating him alive. His flow was unstable and broken. He couldn't channel mana properly, couldn't enhance his body, leaving him defenceless.
The last thing he saw before dying was their mocking faces.
I exhaled slowly, forcing the image out of my head. "Alright… enough of that."
I needed a place to train—somewhere quiet, out of sight, and safe.
So, I spent the next hour searching. Ducking through alleys, memorising routes and escape points, keeping an eye on patrols.
An hour later, I was back.
The moment I returned to the Naruto world, I threw off the blanket covering me and turned toward the clock.
Exactly one hour had passed. Maybe a few seconds more, the time it took to sit up and check.
It looked like the system synchronised time between both worlds. Great. That made planning a whole lot easier.
I pulled up my status window again. Both Assimilations were running smoothly now, having resumed automatically the second I returned.
Taking note of that, I leaned back on my bed and sighed. I didn't have anything urgent to do tonight—or rather, there wasn't anything I could do right now.
"Guess sleep's the best option," I muttered.
Thanks to Batman's training template, I didn't need much rest, but sticking to a normal schedule was important. Acting too different might raise flags, and I wasn't ready for that kind of attention.
I stared at the ceiling, eyes tracing invisible patterns in the dark. Man… I really wish I could just get out of here already. There's so much I need to do, so much I can't do while stuck here.
My gaze drifted to the travel system window floating above me. The cooldown timer blinked faintly at the bottom, showing one hour remaining. I couldn't use it yet.
"Marvel, huh," I muttered under my breath.
Just saying the name made my chest tighten. That world wasn't a playground; it was a damn death trap. Gods, aliens, sorcerers, mutants, and men who could erase entire cities just by sneezing wrong.
Still, the temptation was there.
I exhaled, long and low. "Looks like I can't hold it back anymore."
A pause. "Actually, I can… I just don't want to."
After experiencing what it felt like to walk through another world, to exist in it, staying put here suddenly felt suffocating.
I knew the risks. Hell, I'd been telling myself for a year that I was "training," getting stronger, building my foundation. But deep down, I knew the truth. I'd been stalling.
A whole year gone, just like that.
Even if I justified it, saying I was being smart or cautious, the math didn't change. Nineteen years left. That was all the system had given me.
There might not be any new powers waiting for me there. I could end up walking straight into a warzone. But even then…
Even then, it would be worth it.
The technology alone in that world....Stark Industries, Oscorp, Wakanda, and S.H.I.E.L.D... could change many things.
There's also numerous alien tech.
Sure, Batman isn't exactly clueless when it comes to tech, but he's no Tony Stark either. Each of them plays in a different league: one thrives in stealth and prep-time warfare, while the other builds flying metal gods in his basement.
If I could study Marvel's technology, understand it, maybe even replicate it here…
A grin tugged at my lips.
Yeah. That was worth the gamble.
I opened my inventory, my eyes landing on one particular card.
[COPY CARD]
Allows the user to replicate a character card, even used ones.
A one-time use card, but a damn powerful one.
With this, I could recreate a character template I'd already burned through.
My gaze shifted to the Assimilation slots.
[Hatake Kakashi — 49%]
The progress bar glowed faintly, like a heartbeat waiting to accelerate.
"Hmmm," I exhaled slowly, a smirk forming on my face.
"Looks like soon Marvel will find out what a real ninja looks like."
**********
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