Harry’s eyes snapped open to blinding white.
For one terrifying moment, he thought he’d gone blind. The world was nothing but a flat expanse of glowing emptiness stretching into infinity, as though someone had taken reality and erased everything except him.
Then the words appeared.
Glowing, floating golden letters materialized inches from his face.
[BOOTING PLAYER INTERFACE… 27%]
Harry blinked.“Brilliant. I’ve died and gone to one of Dudley’s video games.”
[Incorrect. Host is not dead. Yet.]
Harry made a face. “Yet?!”
[Statistically speaking, you come very close rather often. Please consider not doing that.]
Another window popped into existence beside the first:
[WELCOME TO THE GACHA SYSTEM!][Initializing Tutorial…]
Harry stared around the blank void. “Okay… either I’m unconscious in the forest or someone hit my head so hard I’m hallucinating fonts.”
A soft DING chimed.
[TUTORIAL STEP 1: Orientation]Status: Failed. Host is confused.]
“Oi!”
Before he could argue with the floating text, a ripple went through the void. The white space cracked open like a shattered mirror, and reality reasserted itself all at once.
The forest slammed back into place—dark, wet, full of smoke and distant screams.
Harry lay face-down in the mud, coughing.
“What—what just—?”
DING!
The same golden letters hovered above him, visible even here.
[Host Consciousness Synced.][Warning: Threat Level—Moderate.][Tutorial Step 2: SURVIVE]Reward: 1x Beginner Gacha Pull
“Survive? Survive what?” Harry hissed, pushing himself to his feet.
A weak groan answered him.
The blonde woman. She lay crumpled a few feet away, trembling, half-conscious. The masked attacker Harry hadn’t managed to hit properly was also stirring.
Great.
“Okay, uh—System? A little help?”
[Assistance Mode Activated! Initiating First Pull…]
A glowing circular portal, about the size of a plate, spun open in front of him like a slot machine made of light.
Symbols flickered past—items he didn’t recognize, runes, strange icons, something that looked suspiciously like a cat wearing a crown—before it slowed.
The circle clicked.And an object fell out, dropping neatly into Harry’s hands.
It was… a glove.
Black, fingerless, and shimmering faintly with blue thread that pulsed like tiny rivers of light.
A window identified it:
[You Received: ARC REACTOR BRACER (UNCOMMON)]
Origin: Marvel UniverseFunction:
Converts ambient magical energy into kinetic reinforcement
Enhances grip strength, stabilizes wand-hand motions
Adds minor protection to forearm
Auto-adjusts to userNote: Please do not punch anyone dramatically. This is not armor.
Harry slipped it on automatically.
It tightened to fit him, humming softly.
“Okay,” he breathed. “This… this is actually sort of cool.”
[See? Helpful.]
“Helpful would be giving me a wand!”
[You have one. You stole it. Try using it properly.]
Harry scowled but raised the wand anyway.
The Death Eater groaned louder and pushed himself to his elbows.
“Right. Survive,” Harry muttered.
He steadied his aim.The bracer vibrated gently, guiding the angle of his wrist—adding a strange, weightless stability.
“Stupefy!”
The spell cracked through the trees like a rifle shot.The masked man flew backward, slammed into a trunk, and crumpled.
Harry blinked.“Woah.”
[Congratulations! Tutorial Step 2 Complete.]
“Wait—there are more steps?”
[Naturally. You’re barely competent.]
“HEY!”
[Tutorial Step 3: Assess Injured NPC]
“NPC? She’s a person!”
[That’s what NPC means.]
Harry groaned loudly but hurried to the woman, dropping to his knees beside her. Up close, her face was gaunt, streaked with dirt, but her chest rose and fell steadily.
“Hey—hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?”
Her eyelids fluttered slightly.
[Analyzing Condition…][Status: Stabilizable. Host intervention recommended.]
“Okay, and how do I do that?”
[Inventory Opening…][You have: 1 Mud-Covered Wand, 1 ARC REACTOR BRACER, 0 Healing Items, 0 Common Sense.]
“STOP BULLYING ME!”
[Then stop nearly dying.]
Despite himself, Harry huffed a laugh.
“All right. What’s Step 4?”
A new window blinked into existence.Its letters felt heavier somehow.
[Tutorial Step 4: Choose Your Path][The Gacha System has been bound to your soul.][There is no returning to normal.][Proceed?]
Harry swallowed.
Smoke drifted through the trees.Screams echoed from distant tents.The unconscious woman shivered in the dirt.And his stolen wand trembled in his hands.
“…I don’t think I ever had a normal,” he muttered.
He lifted his chin.
“Yeah. Proceed.”
All the glowing text vanished—then breathed out a final line:
[WELCOME, PLAYER.][The Game has begun.]