As Dylan finished preparing a hearty breakfast, he gathered his thoughts.
"This world obviously had technological advancements earlier than the previous one." He murmured, changing the song playing on his Skyline brand smartphone. The year was 2007, the year the first iPhone was launched in his past life. Yet, here, even his Skyline S, considered outdated by tech enthusiasts, already surpassed the iPhone 6 from his past life. And that was just one example.
More importantly, there were the notable differences in history and culture. Much of it was similar. But in this world, they had Captain America fighting in World War II, a super-soldier and a hero to every American. Thanks to the fact that the DC comics universe was etched into his memory, courtesy of the creature that allowed him to be reborn, Dylan could now naturally identify elements of comic book stories in this Marvel world, even without memories of Marvel itself. And there were geographical differences, as he was sure that the New York he lived in was larger than the one in his past life, and not just New York, but certain places in this world didn't exist in the previous one.
Another very obvious element was, naturally, the existence of mutants. 'They don't seem so... mysterious anymore, sigh,' with a small mental sigh, Dylan admitted that before recovering his memories and knowledge, he had a certain prejudice against mutants. It wasn't hatred or anything, more like distrust.
But now he could only think of them as natural. Obviously, there were those among them who would be villains, and naturally, those who would be heroes. Thinking about this, he couldn't help but recall something he once heard from a high school history teacher, something about a missile incident in Cuba involving mutants.
Anyway, many things were now obvious to him. For example, he could now also identify that there was a forced and planned narrative to vilify all mutants, and this smelled very much of personal interests from certain parties. At least it didn't fully succeed, as today mutants were somewhat common, and no longer something extraordinary, unknown, and feared by society. Of course, just like Dylan previously, there was still a lot of distrust on both sides.
'Furthermore...' still chewing the rest of the steak he had prepared, Dylan picked up his smartphone and stared at the symbol on its back for a bit. 'I remember that Skyline seems to have been acquired by Stark Industries last year...'
Stark Industries!!
Remembering the billionaire playboy and genius who was almost every week in the news, almost always because of some controversy and almost always involving women, Dylan narrowed his eyes.
"I wonder if he's the villain type or the hero type. Considering how he appears in the news, probably a villain... but Batman also used his Bruce Wayne persona to deliberately create some controversies of that kind too... Well, if he's pretending, then maybe he's getting a little too into the role, heh."
Dylan, washing the dishes, would never admit he was jealous of the billionaire playboy. Well, maybe of his money. As for the women... well, his height, physique, loose black hair, defined jawline, and ice-blue eyes basically ensured that this would never be a big difficulty for him, as long as he wasn't a complete jerk. He had at least that much confidence.
Done with the dishes, Dylan went to take a quick shower. More serious and worrying thoughts occupied his mind.
Everywhere he looked, there were traces and elements of comic books. From history, culture, politics, organizations, companies, families, etc. Even if he was wrong about some, he was sure about others.
The problem was that, apart from past events and things that most people no longer talked about, everything was still very "common" in general. The extraordinary world had not yet fully collided with the normal world, and this was the case even with mutants coexisting with ordinary people.
It was obvious that Dylan didn't think things would remain so peaceful. If there was one absolute truth in comic books, it was that disaster was always about to strike.
And he'd bet his balls that the next events to happen first would be the origin events of the superheroes! And that was because this was the most basic logic to follow. Only after the emergence of heroes would a great threat arise to unite them all against a common enemy.
For now, this was good news for Dylan, because origin events had a "damage" scope centered on the protagonists, and as long as he stayed away from them, he wouldn't be affected.
"Wait... how do I know there isn't any 'protagonist' around me if I don't remember anything about Marvel!?"
Dylan groaned with the realization as he finished putting on his sneakers. It should be known that many heroes or villains, or the "protagonists," were completely ordinary before their "origin event"!
"Sigh, I guess I'll just have to play it by ear."
Locking the apartment door and taking the elevator to the first floor, Dylan finally turned his attention to the most important question of all.
Even if the origin events had yet to emerge, or perhaps had already emerged or were emerging at that very moment since he had no way of knowing, this world was still very dangerous, very, very dangerous indeed.
With the awakening of his memories also came a basic understanding of the comic book worlds.
Looking in the direction of Hell's Kitchen and remembering all the stories and newspaper reports about the place, he couldn't help but think that perhaps that neighborhood was Marvel's less gloomy version of Gotham. He hoped not, and shivered again imagining a maniacal laugh and a clown's face. They weren't just stories anymore; now it was reality, and that was indeed terrifying.
'That's why I have to develop this "golden finger" as quickly as possible!'
With that notion in mind, he pulled up his hood, put on his headphones, and started running. It was December, and Christmas was just around the corner.
As he ran towards a park in the northern part of Midtown where there was a boxing gym he had frequented for two years, Dylan wondered how to start his golden finger.
After recalling his memories, he naturally also awakened his golden finger, finally. But there was a problem, which wasn't really a problem.
At this moment, three things floated in the sea of his consciousness, and he could only choose one of them. And depending on what he chose, it would decide his future development.
None of the options were bad, and none were necessarily better than the others. The reason he was still deliberating was because of the blessed high-dimensional creature. According to the creature, just as he had all Marvel-related memories erased, the golden finger would naturally not come without restrictions. For a quick example, imagine one is lucky enough to receive the lineage of a Kryptonian, living on a yellow-bathed planet, one would naturally feel very lucky.
The problem is that the Kryptonian lineage would undergo mutations, and this would cause Superman's powers to manifest differently and perhaps even strengthen in ways other than the yellow sun, or it would come with the restriction of having to actively cultivate solar energy to then unlock, develop, nourish, and strengthen one's Kryptonian lineage. And so on.
So, in this case, and according to the high-dimensional creature, the development of Dylan's powers and abilities would greatly and solely depend on himself.
Not that this particularly bothered him; he was already used to fending for himself, whether in this world or the old one. But as someone who always planned before acting, and considering the seriousness of the matter, Dylan was just thinking and reasoning about what would be the best development path for him.
The three options were in the form of scrolls. Dylan remembered that the type of golden finger and how it would work—whether it would just be a power grant or a system type, etc.—was completely random. But he didn't remember being told that he would have a choice.
All the scrolls were identical, changing only their content.
The first read: Naruto – Shinobi Technical Course from Basic to Advanced + a special bloodline of the user's choice.
The second: Bleach – Shinigami Training from Basic to Advanced + awakening of a Zanpakuto.
The third: One Piece – Knowledge of Haki from Basic to Advanced + a random Devil Fruit.
"Now, which to choose..."
In fact, the moment the scrolls appeared, he already had a choice in mind. He just thought it prudent to deliberate a little more on the matter and consider the other possibilities.
But even after careful deliberation and calculation, his first choice still proved to be the most correct for him. Of course, his personal preference had some interference in this.
Focusing his mind, he chose the first scroll! Naruto's power system!
As soon as he made his choice, the scroll burned, and a vast and diverse knowledge invaded his mind and firmly settled there. In addition, a drop of luminous white-gold blood with rainbow iridescence floated in his mental space.
As soon as he saw the drop of blood, Dylan couldn't help but feel excited. That drop belonged to the blood, the lineage, he had chosen as soon as he picked the Naruto scroll. Obviously, it was the Otsutsuki lineage!
As for why he didn't choose Bleach or One Piece, it was because, although the choices weren't necessarily better than each other, the only one that allowed for greater maneuverability was Naruto's, and furthermore, it was also the one he personally considered to have the greatest maximum potential!
As he arrived at the boxing gym, located at the corner of Emerald Street and Angels Avenue, the smile that had at some point formed on Dylan's face slowly faded for two reasons.
The first was that, as he expected, his golden finger came with unique restrictions and mutations. He could feel most of the Shinobi knowledge being sealed in his mind, leaving him access only from basic to maximum Genin level! And that wasn't all; instead of simply knowing everything already, the knowledge existed like a library or rather a "teacher," and he would have to learn everything on his own! And only after meeting the requirements could he then "level up" and gain access to more advanced and powerful knowledge, techniques, etc.!
And finally, the Otsutsuki blood would not grant him all divine powers at once. Instead, the blood would have to be progressively assimilated and integrated. And over time, it would strengthen and evolve, unlocking more talents and powers.
The good news was that even at the initial stage, he would already be considered an absolute genius in the ninja world with some unique abilities and talents available, after all, we are still talking about the direct Otsutsuki lineage. He would not only have a superior chakra reserve, probably at the same level as Itachi and Minato possessed, at the Genin level, but would also be able to unlock all elemental affinities eventually.
The bad news was that in addition to affinity, there was now also the mastery category, so even if he managed to unlock all affinities, he would have to master all of them if he truly wanted to reach an all-powerful level possessing access to various Kekkei Genkai, Kekkei Tōta, and most importantly, Kekkei Mōra!
As practically the mother and origin of all Naruto lineages, even extremely diluted and weakened, the Otsutsuki lineage would provide these lineages' abilities, mutations, and talents to Dylan. Even if weakened versions, it was still incredible! And more importantly, he could strengthen and evolve his lineage until one day he not only reached the state of a pure Otsutsuki but perhaps even surpassed one!
As he already expected such things, however annoying they were, they were not enough for Dylan to completely stop smiling.
The main reason was the second.
At the doors of the boxing gym stood a tall, strong man and another slightly shorter but equally strong and muscular man with a face that resembled an eel. Both had some tattoos, but one in particular stood out because both possessed it in the same place. On the left arm of both, on their biceps, was a tattoo of three crossed barbells and a rifle in the middle.
They were two bastards from "The Biceps."