First Man

After Ken Kaneki carefully studied the system, he gained a general understanding of its functions. Simply put, there was no newcomer gift pack. Aside from a personal data panel, the system had only two functions: stat allocation and lottery draws.

Stat allocation was straightforward—completing tasks issued by the system would grant varying amounts of attribute points. As for the lottery, the system explained that when Kaneki first interacted with protagonists of different grades in the timeline, causing them to experience intense emotional fluctuations, or when he altered the main storyline, he would receive lottery chances of corresponding grades. For example, this hospitalization, as judged by the system, brought Kaneki into contact with S-grade protagonist Daiki Aomine and A-grade protagonist Satsuki Momoi, earning him one S-grade and one A-grade lottery chance each.

"Not bad. No starter pack, but at least two lottery chances—better than nothing." Kaneki curled his lips with slight dissatisfaction and opened the lottery page.

On the page, five lottery wheels were arranged from high to low: "S, A, B, C, D." The B, C, and D wheels were grayed out, clearly unusable, while the S-grade and A-grade wheel icons displayed a "1" in the upper right corner, indicating one lottery chance each.

"Seriously? Why does this cheat system look like such a cheap browser game?" Kaneki couldn't suppress his urge to complain as he stared at the crude interface. "With a system this brain-dead, what good stuff could it even give me? Don't tell me I'll end up pulling something like 'One Slash, 999 Damage' or 'Bro, Come Chop Me'..."

Disdain aside, as the famous military strategist and cultural figure Li Dazhuan once said: "Any poultice that draws out pus is a good one—having something is better than nothing." Following the principle of "since I'm here, I might as well not leave empty-handed," Kaneki first clicked on the A-grade lottery wheel.

The A-grade wheel was densely packed with over a dozen prizes, including skills from sports anime he was familiar with in his past life, such as Dual-Wielding, Swallow Return Flash, and Zero-Style Slice, among others.

"All solid skills." Kaneki clicked his tongue in admiration at the dazzling array of prizes. "Too bad, with this body of mine, no skill can make up for the talent gap... Whatever, let's just spin. Whatever I get, I get. At worst, I'll become a streetball king." With this mixed mindset, Kaneki pressed the lottery button.

"Ding~" As the button was pressed, the wheel spun with a rumble. After who knows how long, the wheel gradually slowed, and the pointer stopped on "Basketball Bible."

"Congratulations, host. You have drawn the technique-type skill: Basketball Bible." As the system notification sounded, information about the skill appeared before Kaneki.

"Skill: Basketball Bible. Skill Type: Technique. Skill Trait: Perfect. Skill Level: A+. Skill Effect: Upon acquiring this skill, the host will possess perfect-level fundamental basketball techniques, including dribbling, shooting, post play, rebounding, blocking, and stealing."

"Not bad." Kaneki thought of how hard he had trained in his past life with little progress and felt somewhat relieved. "At least with this skill, I won't have to waste time learning basketball from scratch. Even if I can't go pro, I can still make it as an internet-famous streetball player or something."

Once the A-grade lottery chance was used up, the A-grade wheel turned gray like the B, C, and D wheels. Kaneki shifted his gaze to the S-grade wheel icon.

The S-grade wheel looked no different from the A-grade one, except the prize pool was smaller. Aside from "Thank You for Playing," there were only seven options: God's Chosen Body, Zone, First Man, Air Jordan, Copy Transformation, Unconscious Knowledge, and Flow.

"They all look pretty good... I know God's Chosen Body and Air Jordan, but what the hell is First Man?" Kaneki stared at the golden-haired, blue-eyed portrait on the prize and fell into thought. "I wonder what I'll get this time. With my current physical talent, Zone and Flow wouldn't help much. Unconscious Knowledge is an explosive-type skill my body can't handle. Copy Transformation is a decent prize, but with this body, even if I learn it, I can't use it..."

Thinking about how his mediocre body would render these prizes useless, Kaneki scratched his head in frustration and irritably pressed the lottery button.

"Ahhhh! Body! Body! It has to be a body! This time, I have to get a body!" Kaneki stared nervously at the light screen, feeling like his heart was about to leap out of his throat.

As the wheel slowly came to a stop, the pointer stubbornly jumped from God's Chosen Body to Zone, finally stopping on First Man.

"Congratulations, host. You have drawn the body template-type talent: First Man. Current template bound. All subsequent body template-type prizes will be revoked." The system's voice rang out again.

"Ahhhh, my God's Chosen Body and Air Jordan! Let me see what this First Man thing really is. Please don't tell me it matched me with some caveman. If that's the case, I'd rather die, jump off this hospital building..." Kaneki wailed as he opened the prize description. A dazzling golden light nearly blinded him.

"Talent: First Man. Talent Type: Body. Talent Trait: Demigod, Divine Void Vision. Talent Level: SSS+. Talent Effect: First Man Adam, as the first human created by God in His own image, is God's most perfect replica. The demigod's physical potential surpasses human limits. Under Divine Void Vision, all human skills are laid bare. The perfect physique can copy and enhance all skills witnessed. The extraordinary intellect can calculate all of the opponent's movements in advance."

After Kaneki carefully read the prize description, he rubbed his dry eyes and said thankfully, "This haul is way too big... Heh, this is really fragrant."

As Kaneki claimed his rewards, the system updated his body data and displayed it.

"Host: Ken Kaneki; Age: 13; Height: 180cm/200cm; Weight: 85kg; Wingspan: 200cm/220cm; Talent: First Man (Adolescent); Strength: 85/110; Speed: 85/110; Jumping: 85/110; Coordination: 85/110; Agility: 85/110; Endurance: 85/110; Flexibility: 85/110; Skill: Basketball Bible. Evaluation: S-grade (Among basketball players of the same age worldwide, you are one of the top 100)."

"Top... 100, huh?" Looking at the system's evaluation, a confident smile flickered across Kaneki's lips. "If I'm only one of the top 100, that would be a waste of this demigod's body."