Kael stirred.
His eyelids parted slowly, as they always did when waking—but something felt wrong. His vision was blurry, his breath shallow. He rubbed his eyes and let out a groggy yawn, expecting to see the familiar contours of his ceiling.
But… this wasn't his room.
The blur faded, and clarity hit like a punch to the chest. He was floating.
In space.
Kael's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Cold panic surged through him as he realized—he couldn't breathe. His lungs screamed for oxygen that didn't exist. His limbs thrashed instinctively, but there was nothing to grab, nowhere to run. Just an endless expanse of stars and a scattering of drifting meteors.
What the hell—?!
His thoughts spiraled into chaos.
Did I make a wish in my sleep? Did I get isekai'd?!
But if this were some other world, shouldn't there be a planet or ground to wake up on? Not the unforgiving vacuum of space?
No. This wasn't some anime fantasy. This was a death sentence.
His chest burned, and his face turned blue. The edges of his vision darkened. Kael's mind screamed one final curse.
"Fuck..."
As unconsciousness crept in, a strange voice echoed in his head—mechanical, calm, inhuman.
[Do you wish to bind with the System?]
Hallucination... he thought. But if this was real, if there was even a sliver of truth—this might be his only way out.
Bind, he willed silently.
His vision faded to black.
[Binding complete.]
[System has detected that host's life is nearing termination.]
[Executing emergency protocol.]
[First Pull has been activated.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have received—]
[Transformation initiated.]
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There was no more pain.
Kael blinked. He wasn't dead. At least, he didn't think he was.
He was still floating in space—but something was... off.
Slowly, he turned his gaze downward—and froze.
He wasn't breathing. He couldn't be. Yet he felt no suffocation, no struggle.
He wasn't in his old body anymore.
Where once there had been flesh and skin, there was now obsidian-black stone streaked with glowing red crystal. He raised his hand, only to find that it was no longer a human hand at all—but a massive claw of molten rock, humming with eerie energy.
What am I? he thought.
Alien?
Monster?
Something else entirely?
The memory of that synthetic voice returned. The system. It had spoken just before he blacked out. A lifeline he had accepted on instinct.
It was real, he thought. Not a hallucination...
Thank god he hadn't ignored it.
System? Kael called out in his mind. He didn't bother speaking out loud—he didn't even have a mouth anymore, and even if he did, sound didn't travel in space.
To his surprise, a flicker of light pulsed before him. A translucent interface appeared, glowing in hues of blue and red, hovering in the vacuum as if anchored to reality by his thoughts.
Kael squinted at it.
[Name: Kael Virel]
[Current Character: Blaze Out of Space]
[Gacha]
[Storage]
This… looks surprisingly normal? he thought. No, not normal—just simple. Minimalist, maybe even crude. But functional.
Then his eyes landed on the [Gacha] tab.
Huh… so it's a luck-based system?
But then something else caught his attention: Blaze Out of Space.
His brow would've furrowed if he had one.
Wait a second... isn't that an enemy from Honkai: Star Rail? No wonder his current form looked familiar—blackened stone, red crystal, monstrous claws—it all matched the design Kael vaguely remembered.
Am I seriously in the body of a Elite boss character? he thought, blinking in disbelief.
Curious, he tapped the [Gacha] tab.
The interface shifted instantly.
Two options:
[Single Pull]
[Ten Pull]
Only one banner hovered over them—a massive, cosmic train roaring through starfields.
Kael clicked on [Single Pull].
Nothing happened—except for a small pop-up notification:
[Insufficient currency.]
He groaned internally. Figures.
Then he noticed a number at the corner of the interface:
[Points: 0]
He tapped it, hoping to see how to earn more.
[To gain points, the Host must harvest emotional energy from living beings. Emotions such as sadness, anger, joy, and fear are valid sources.]
Huh, Kael thought. Seems easy enough... but there's one problem.
He glanced around—the cold, endless void of space stretched in every direction. There wasn't a single living soul within light-years.
So much for farming emotions.
Sighing, he exited the [Gacha] tab and returned to the main screen.
[Storage] was next. He opened it with a thought.
Empty.
He let out a mental sigh. Maybe… the character transformation itself was the novice reward?
It wasn't a stretch. He was still alive because of this new body. It made sense.
Kael selected [Current Character: Blaze Out of Space] to see more.
[Would you like to remove this character from the slot?]
His heart—or whatever served as its replacement—froze.
Absolutely not.
Switching back to a human body out here would be a one-way ticket to death. He hit Cancel immediately.
Still, something bugged him.
Wasn't Blaze Out of Space supposed to have four skill moves in the game? Yet… the system interface showed nothing about abilities, levels, or upgrades.
Does that mean I can just use the skills naturally? he wondered. Like summoning flame orbs? Launching meteor-sized fireballs?
If so, that opened up a lot of possibilities.
His stone claws twitched with curiosity.
Maybe it was time to test what this new form could really do.
Kael's gaze drifted to a small meteor floating nearby. It wasn't far—close enough to become his first test.
That'll do.
He raised his clawed hand, trying to feel the power coursing through this monstrous new body. The energy responded like a memory written into his flesh—fiery and instinctive. He imagined flames forming at his side, and without needing a chant, trigger, or command… several burning orbs materialized around him.
The orbs crackled with heat, floating weightlessly in the vacuum.
Kael grinned inwardly. So this is the power of "Blaze Out of Space"… instinctive control—like muscle memory for a body I've never had.
He aimed the orbs toward the meteor and let them fly.
They shot forward in streaks of red, each one slamming into the same spot over and over. The meteor cracked, splintered—and then shattered into fragments, scattering into space like glass.
Kael watched, satisfied. Not bad at all.
With nothing else around, he picked a direction at random. One point in the endless cosmos drew his attention—it didn't matter where it led. Anything was better than floating in place like debris.
Focusing his energy, Kael heated his body from the core outward. Flames ignited across his form like a living engine. He shifted his hands behind him and let out a controlled burst of fire. The recoil launched him forward like a rocket.
Time passed. Three, maybe five days. He'd lost count.
Fortunately, his new body didn't need food or air—but it did need energy.
Whenever he spotted asteroids, Kael made a point to destroy them. Every now and then, he'd find glowing crystals hidden inside, pulsing faintly with energy. Absorbing them recharged him, but such discoveries were rare. Most rocks were just that—lifeless debris.
Then, while gliding peacefully through the void, something strange happened.
He hit something.
Or—felt like he did.
But nothing was in front of him. Just empty space.
Curious, Kael reached out.
His claws touched something solid—smooth and cold. Invisible to the eye, yet definitely there.
What…?
He backed away slowly.
A shimmer passed across the void. The invisible surface warped like glass under pressure—then revealed itself.
A spaceship.
Massive, sleek, and alien in design. Floating in silence, without a single light in its cockpit.
Kael circled it slowly. Am I in Star Wars? Or did I land in some sci-fi anime?
The ship looked abandoned. The cockpit was empty. No crew. No signal.
A ghost ship? he wondered. Or worse…?
His thoughts drifted to alien horror stories—ships overtaken by creatures, hosts infected by parasites. A new world—or maybe a new universe—meant new rules.
Still, Kael wasn't afraid.
If something's inside... could it even scratch me? His body was a walking furnace. He could melt through steel or blow a hole through the hull without even trying.
With no signs of human life, Kael saw no need to ask for permission.
He raised one hand, flames gathering into a sharp, molten spear, and blasted through the cargo bay wall.
Alarms blared the moment he entered. The ship's interior lit up with pulsing red lights. The language across the panels was completely foreign—but the meaning was clear enough: emergency breach.
Minutes later, a maintenance bot floated in from a side hatch, sealed the breach with a plasma weld, then flew off—completely ignoring Kael.
He floated deeper into the cargo hold, arms crossed, surveying the place.
That's when a notification pinged in his mind.
[Gained 1 Point from Fear Emotion]
Kael paused.
Fear? He scanned the area. He was supposed to be alone.
Then… someone's here.
His eyes narrowed.
A bold idea came to him.
Let's farm some points.
He drifted silently through the room, moving between containers. As he neared one in particular, the points began trickling in faster.
[Gained 1 Point from Fear Emotion]
[Gained 1 Point…]
Whoever—or whatever—was inside, they were terrified of him. And with good reason.
To test a theory, Kael floated away.
[Gained 1 Point from Joy Emotion]
Then he came back.
[Gained 1 Point from Fear Emotion]
A smirk formed in his mind.
Interesting. The system really is harvesting their emotions like fuel.
Back and forth he went, repeating the cycle like a twisted game of hide and seek. Points continued to rise. His presence alone was enough to draw out the emotion.
Even if the emotional farming trick worked, it was excruciatingly slow. Kael sighed, shaking his head.
"Fun while it lasted," he muttered in thought, floating away from the container.
Still, curiosity stirred within him. What kind of alien was hiding inside? Why would a supposedly intelligent being be crammed into a cargo crate, trembling in fear?
Something happened on this ship… but what?
He floated closer, hand extended toward the sealed container. As he reached for the latch, emotion notifications spiked again—fear, panic, desperation—but Kael didn't care. He was too intrigued.
Just as his clawed fingers brushed against the seal, he heard it.
A soft, wet sound—slorp... drip...
He froze, then turned his head.
On the floor behind him, something glistened. A trail of viscous liquid, reflecting the red emergency lights that flickered like dying embers.
Saliva?
He scanned the shadows. When had this… thing appeared? There hadn't been anything there a second ago.
A slow chill ran through his otherwise heat-forged body.
Something's stalking me.
He floated upward slightly, peering down the corridor with narrowed eyes. No sound. No movement. But it's here.
"Xenomorph," he thought grimly. "This has all the signs."
The ship was empty. No signs of struggle, no gunfire damage—just the eerie quiet of a crew that vanished. If there was a survivor inside that container, Kael could guess the rest. Something had killed everyone aboard. And it was hunting again.
Suddenly, the lights flickered—then cut entirely, plunging the corridor into shadow.
An instant later, a backup system kicked in. The lights flashed red, casting everything in an ominous strobe. The silence was broken only by the hum of machinery and Kael's slow, deliberate breath.
[Gained 1 Point from Anger Emotion]
Kael's eyes flicked to the side.
Oh? So now you're angry?
It wasn't seeing him as prey—it saw him as a thief.
He glanced back toward the container. The survivor. The creature must've been circling it, protecting its meal.
Kael grinned darkly.
So that's it. You think I'm stealing your dinner?
If he wanted to draw it out, provoking it through the container was the fastest way. He floated back toward it, hand hovering just above the latch again. His fingers wrapped around it, about to pull—
WHAM.
Something struck him from behind.
He barely budged.
Turning slowly, Kael saw it—a sleek, obsidian form coiling in the red light. Long, glistening limbs. Gleaming dome-shaped skull. Needle-like tail. It clung to the wall like a spider of death, drooling acid onto the floor.
It hissed.
A newborn, Kael noted, unbothered. The creature bared its fangs and lunged again, its claws screeching against his crystalline chest.
No damage. Not even a scratch.
He raised a clawed hand and caught the xenomorph mid-pounce. It writhed in his grip, thrashing violently, but Kael didn't flinch. Its acid-laced saliva sizzled against his stone-like fingers and evaporated harmlessly.
He held it up like an oversized rodent.
"Well," Kael thought wryly, "someone smuggled an egg onboard."
It was obvious now. Some idiot had brought a xenomorph embryo aboard, hoping to sell it, study it—maybe weaponize it. And now, the crew was gone. Swallowed by their own greed.
"Play stupid games…" he muttered in his mind, "win horrific alien deaths."
The xenomorph snarled, still thrashing in his grasp. A lesser being would be terrified—but to Kael, it was no more dangerous than a broken toaster with teeth.
Now the question is… what to do with you?
He considered his options.
Burn it to ash with a flash of fire, erase it from existence in one brutal strike.
Snap its neck, quick and clean—like ending a nuisance.
Or maybe... slam it into a wall until it splattered like roadkill.
Kael tilted his head slightly, watching the alien struggle.
"What's the most entertaining way to kill something that can't even hurt me?"
He tightened his grip slightly, enough to make the xenomorph let out a sharp, shrill screech.
[Gained 2 Points from Fear Emotion]
Kael smirked.
"Or maybe... I could keep you around."
Just long enough to see if it had friends around.
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(A/n: Hi)