Into the Cosmos (Star Rail SI, Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 8: The Man From Earth (Part II)

Seeing that no one seemed to have any more questions for the moment, I decided to continue, though part of my mind was still busy thinking about my little surprise for Welt and how to bring it up naturally.

“Alright. Now that I’ve explained my first set of memories and my meeting with… that thing, I think it’s time I explain why I don’t believe I’m just some crazy guy with schizophrenia, and why I think that encounter is responsible for my current condition.” I said with a small sigh, knowing full well that what I was about to say next would sound completely insane.

“I don’t think you’re crazy at all,” March immediately said, interrupting me as she shook her head.

“Maybe a little weird,” she added thoughtfully. “You’re always saying the most random things that nobody understands the references to… but they’re still pretty funny.”

“Thanks, March.” I gave her a small smile, not offended in the slightest at being called weird.

“Anyway,” I continued, “you actually just reminded me of something. Before I explain the rest… is everyone here familiar with video games? RPGs, specifically?”

I looked around the group.

March, Himeko, and Welt all nodded, which didn’t surprise me in the least considering some of their backgrounds.

“While I can’t say I’m intimately familiar with them,” Dan Heng said calmly, “I do have a basic understanding of what they entail.”

I looked at him for a moment, silently deciding that this poor uncultured soul absolutely needed to be introduced to some good games later.

Then I turned my attention back to the group.

“Good. That’ll make this a lot easier to explain.”

I nodded.

“You see, when I first woke up on the space station, with March and Dan Heng hovering over me, aside from being confused about where I was and what had happened, most of my attention was focused on something else.”

“A floating screen in front of me.”

“A screen that apparently only I could see.”

“In gaming terms… a HUD.”

That earned surprised blinks from the girls.

“You have a HUD? Like in a game?” Himeko asked slowly, a small frown appearing on her face as she processed the idea.

“Yep,” I nodded. “Which is both incredibly weird and kind of cool at the same time.”

“But we’ll come back to that later. What’s more important right now is what was written on that screen.”

I paused for a moment before March suddenly tilted her head.

“Wait! I thought you said you couldn’t read. How were you able to read the message?”

“You make a good point,” I said, rubbing my chin thoughtfully while nodding at her. “And I actually have a theory about that.”

March immediately smiled, clearly pleased that she had brought something up worth discussing.

“I think what I’m seeing isn’t actually letters,” I explained. “My brain just interprets it that way.”

“If the system, or whatever created it, is advanced enough, it could just be sending information directly into my mind. My brain probably translates that information into something familiar… like written text.”

“That… actually makes sense,” Welt said thoughtfully.

“Still, I think we may be getting a little off track. Perhaps we should allow Caelus to finish his explanation before asking more questions.”

“Hehehe, sorry about that.” March scratched the back of her head sheepishly before sticking out her tongue and lightly bonking herself on the head.

“I’ll stay quiet now.”

“It’s fine, March,” I said with a chuckle, amused by her antics.

“Ahem. Now, going back to what was written on that notification screen…” I began, clearing my throat.

“It said, and I quote—‘Welcome to the Chaos Gacha. PS. Thanks for paying for my drink last night. Enjoy your new life.’”

My expression turned serious as I finished.

“They practically spelled out who was responsible,” Himeko muttered quietly, her eyes narrowing slightly before she shook her head and looked back at me with a gentle smile.

“I apologize for interrupting. Please continue.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Himeko,” I replied softly with a small smile.

“Anyway, after reading that message, I got distracted when I noticed March and Dan Heng were still waiting for a response from me. I eventually answered them and we had a short conversation.”

“But before leaving the room where I woke up, I decided to check if there was anything else on the screen.”

“There was.”

“I noticed another notification waiting to be read… along with two sections labeled CURSES and TICKETS.”

Gasps came immediately from the girls, while the guys’ expressions hardened at the word curses.

“Curses!?” March whispered, her eyes widening with dawning shock, and anger, as the meaning quickly clicked in her head.

“You mean—”

“It does sound rather self-explanatory,” Himeko said quietly, closing her eyes for a moment.

However, I noticed her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, and they were trembling slightly.

Possibly from anger.

Welt and Dan Heng remained silent, but I could tell I now had their full attention.

“You’re starting to see the bigger picture,” I said with a small nod.

“But before I get to that, let me repeat the full welcome message that I was given.”

I recited the words from the Chaos Gacha exactly as they had appeared.

When I finished, the silence in the Parlor Car felt noticeably heavier.

Even Pom-Pom, who had been quiet the entire time, looked visibly rattled.

Two particular phrases had clearly struck everyone.

Infinite Multiverse.

Chaos.

“This is… troubling,” Dan Heng muttered thoughtfully.

“The more we learn, the more convinced I am that whatever did this to you must be at least on the level of an Aeon.”

“I agree,” Welt said with a rare seriousness in his voice.

“Let’s allow Caelus to finish,” Himeko said gently, giving me an encouraging nod.

Sending her a grateful look, I continued where I had left off.

“To be honest, I have no idea what motives whoever did this to me had,” I admitted with a sigh. “But what I do know is that I was given both a few abilities… along with several curses.”

“One of them far more serious than the others.”

I paused briefly.

“Now I should probably stop stalling and just get to the curses I received. I got four in total.”

I raised my hand, holding up four fingers.

“Let’s go in order of severity according to the system. I’ll even use the descriptions it gave me.”

“The first is…”

I went through each of the four curses—Alcoholism, Orphan, Illiterate, and Disease—reading their descriptions exactly as the system had shown them to me.

Once I finished, I fell silent and leaned back into my seat, giving them time to process everything I had just said.

The moment I relaxed against the couch, a warm body suddenly wrapped around my arm.

Looking down, I immediately spotted a head of pink hair.

March.

“That’s horrible!” March exclaimed angrily against my chest as she clung to me, her voice trembling. “Not only did they curse you with an incurable disease and give you less than a year to live… but they also killed your parents!”

I could feel small tears soaking into my jacket.

Smiling softly, I pulled her closer into a proper hug and gently rubbed her back in a soothing motion.

“I don’t actually think that particular curse is as bad as it sounds… at least for me personally, March,” I said gently.

She immediately pulled her head away from my chest and looked up at me in shock, and a bit of anger for even suggesting that.

Before she could protest, I gently placed a finger against her lips.

“Let me finish,” I said softly.

After a moment, she reluctantly nodded.

I removed my finger and continued.

“The reason I say that is because the parents from my first set of memories were already gone by the time all of this happened. So that part… wouldn’t have changed anything anyway.”

“As for my parents in this universe… you already know my memories were erased. There’s very little I know about my life here.”

“But whenever I try to think about them deeply, I don’t feel any real sense of loss.”

“Until I learn more about my past in this world, I think it’s best if I set that aside for now.”

March searched my face carefully, clearly trying to figure out whether I was just putting on a brave front.

But when she saw I was being genuine, she let out a quiet sigh and wiped at her eyes.

“…Alright.”

She crossed her arms with a small huff.

“And besides, it’s not like you really have the luxury of worrying about that right now.”

Her expression hardened slightly.

“Not with the curse that’s literally killing you.”

“Exactly my point,” I replied with a nod.

Seeing the serious and worried expressions around the room, with Pom-Pom even moving from their original spot to place a small paw on my knee in silent support, I decided it would be best to move on and give them a bit of good news.

“Now, like I already told March earlier, while my situation is indeed dire… there is hope for me,” I said with a small reassuring smile.

“And it all has to do with the rewards I receive from the system. Or Tickets, if you will.”

Once I confirmed that I had everyone’s full attention, and more importantly that they had calmed down a little, I continued.

“What this system, the Gacha System, basically does is reward me for completing certain objectives or overcoming challenges.”

“With what exactly?” March asked.

“With abilities, traits, skills, items… and even familiars,” I explained with a small grin, raising one finger in the air.

“I’ll explain what each category means later, but I mentioned earlier that I was given some rewards alongside my curses, right?”

I looked around at everyone with an excited smile.

Then, before their eyes, my golden eyes suddenly turned red, several tomoe forming within them as I activated my Sharingan.

“Take my eyes for example,” I said. “They give me exceptional visual perception and allow me to copy and imitate movements and techniques that I see.”

“Things like swordsmanship, spearmanship, marksmanship, even fighting styles.”

I couldn’t help the giddy smile forming on my face as I explained it.

“So your eyes were an ability you gained!” March exclaimed, slamming her fist into her open palm in realization. “The moment you mentioned abilities, I immediately thought about them.”

“That’s right,” I said with a nod before deactivating them.

“And that meteor I pulled down from space while we were fighting the Doomsday Beast was another one.”

“There is a limit to how many abilities I can have active at once, but that limit should increase over time. Those are just the examples you’ve already seen.”

“That sounds incredible… and very difficult to believe if we hadn’t witnessed it ourselves,” Dan Heng said thoughtfully.

“I assume the thing with the chest was also related to this system?” he added, glancing at March.

That immediately caught her attention since she had been there when the chest had vanished into motes of light.

“Correct,” I nodded. “Think of them as loot chests scattered throughout the universe.”

“Apparently I’m the only one who can see them unless I specifically point them out to someone.”

I shrugged slightly, explaining it in gaming terms.

“Your abilities do sound remarkably similar to an RPG now that you describe them,” Welt said thoughtfully, resting a hand against his chin.

“No wonder you asked whether we were familiar with the concept.”

There was also a small hint of excitement in his voice, which honestly wasn’t surprising. The guy clearly was still a kid at heart.

“Now you’re getting it, Mr. Yang,” I said with a pleased nod.

Then I turned to Himeko, who was watching all of this unfold with quiet amusement.

“Here, I’ll give you all a personal example,” I continued.

“I’ll demonstrate one of my abilities, from the weakest I currently possess, so you can get an idea of how they scale.”

I turned to the redhead beside me.

“Would you mind if I held your hand for a moment, Himeko?”

Seeing my eager expression, Himeko simply giggled before extending her hand toward me.

“Hihihi, of course~ Now you’ve made me curious about what you can do as well.”

Grinning, I gently took her soft hand and slotted in my Cool ability.

A moment later, Himeko blinked and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, her expression filled with mild amusement.

“My hand just got a bit cooler all of a sudden. Was that your doing?” she asked curiously.

“That’s right.” I nodded and let go of her hand. “Pretty harmless, right? That was an ability called Cool, which is ranked Trash. It basically lets me lower the temperature of something by a very small amount.”

“Now let’s move on to my strongest ability. I actually got this one after defeating the Doomsday Beast, if you’re curious.”

With a grin, I swapped Cool out for Schrödinger.

The moment I did, I could feel the ability settle into place, and on a personal level I somehow knew something had changed.

The universe suddenly felt… open.

“Now please don’t blink or you might miss it,” I teased before closing my eyes.

In a literal instant, I vanished from my seat beside March and Himeko—

—and reappeared across the table, now sitting beside Welt and Dan Heng.

Everyone immediately noticed.

March’s eyes widened as she shot up from her seat in alarm.

“Where did he go!? He was just sitting right here!” she exclaimed.

“I’m over here.”

My voice made the girls turn in my direction.

Meanwhile, Welt and Dan Heng froze as they slowly turned their heads toward me.

I was sitting beside them with a cheeky smile, holding up a peace sign.

“Ta-daa~”

“…Astounding,” Welt muttered, his eyes slightly widened as he studied me carefully.

“I didn’t see you move at all. One moment you were sitting beside Himeko and March, and the next you were gone.”

“That goes far beyond mere speed. Did you teleport?”

Closing my eyes again, I instantly returned to my original seat.

March squeaked in surprise and lightly slapped my arm in protest.

“Hey!”

“Not exactly,” I said with a small shake of my head, ignoring her small huff as she sat back down.

“Here, let me read you the description.”

Once I finished explaining Schrödinger, everyone stared at me in stunned silence.

“…That’s a lot to take in,” Himeko finally admitted, taking another sip of her coffee to steady herself.

“What rank is this ability?” she asked carefully. “You said the other one was Trash.”

“Mythical,” I replied simply, my expression serious.

“And the most shocking part is that there are two more ranks above that.”

That revelation brought another wave of silence over the Parlor Car.

Letting out a small sigh, I decided to keep going since we weren’t done yet.

“Let me give you a quick breakdown of the ranking system for abilities and the different categories of tickets I can receive.”

That got everyone’s attention again.

I then explained in detail how the system worked, how each category functioned and what kind of actions or achievements would reward me with a ticket.

I even described most of the tickets I had earned so far. Even showing them my ring and Bag of Holding.

Though I carefully avoided mentioning a few… questionable ones along with keeping some for a later surprise.

Namely In Shining Armor, Tantric Healing, and my familiar Virgo.

I planned to save that reveal for later.

When I finally finished explaining everything, silence settled over the group once more.

Then March turned toward me with hopeful eyes.

“That means your disease, or curse in this case, can be cured as long as you roll the right power, right?”

Smiling gently, I patted her head and nodded.

“That’s right. That’s why I said there might still be hope for me.”

“This is… a lot to process all at once,” Himeko admitted with a sigh.

“But at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

She lifted her cup again, only to realize it was empty. With a quiet hum of disappointment, she set it back down.

“To think there’s an entity out there willing to grant this kind of power simply for completing feats like a video game,” Welt said thoughtfully, crossing his arms.

“If I’m being honest, we still can’t rule out the possibility that the Elation is responsible.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Dan Heng agreed with a small nod.

“While I would love to discuss that probability further, let’s move on for now and get to the last part of my story, the part that concerns my life here and the person known as Caelus.”

I spoke calmly, receiving small nods of acknowledgment from Welt and Dan Heng.

Letting out a quiet sigh, I leaned back slightly and looked upward.

“To be honest, this part will be rather short since I don’t know much about my current self. Most of those memories were erased.”

“Though… there are still certain words and scenes that remain.”

I paused briefly, choosing my words carefully.

“There’s this terrible longing in my heart… a feeling that I need to reunite with someone, or maybe several someones.”

“To fulfill a promise I made to one of them.”

“And above all else…”

“To keep moving forward on my journey.”

My voice softened slightly as I continued.

“Fragments of a frozen world…”

“Fighting a Lord Ravager…”

“A land of dreams…”

Then I paused again.

This time, I made sure I had a full view of Welt.

Because I knew what I was about to say would probably shake him.

“…Being known as the Deliverer.”

“And joining the Flame-Chase journey.”

The moment those words left my mouth, Welt went completely still.

His eyes slowly widened in unmistakable disbelief.

I had to fight very hard to keep a straight face.

Inside, I was dangerously close to bursting out laughing, knowing I had just triggered memories of Kevin Kaslana and the funniest part about this was that I actually resembled him pretty closely.

Huhuhu…

Sorry, Mr. Yang.

I couldn’t resist.