*Commission available!

I stared at the blue screen in front of my eyes, while my brain looped around in its own blue screen.

What?

A system? It was real after all? Not only in books or anime...

I hesitantly poked the blue screen, and my finger touched...something. Like gelatin, but digital. Strange, I know.

*Commission accepted.

-Choose your own adventure!

So many options!

I immediately scrolled through the Perks, searching for something to make me, better. Obviously.

Ajin

You become an Ajin, as such you generate endless IBM (Invisible Black Matter) within you, making you effectively immortal as upon death it rapidly replaces lost matter, tissue, and nutrients while reforming your body and mind from the head, collecting all nearby pieces in the process, regardless of the obstruction. An Ajin's wounds begin healing immediately after a revival and it only takes a few seconds to fully regenerate. However, they only begin to heal after dying, or "resetting", otherwise their injuries will heal at a natural rate. Ajin can also use a paralyzing scream that seizes the nervous system, paralyzing everyone in their immediate vicinity, and can manifest a Black Ghost that will fight for them.

Deep pockets

A pocket dimension that can hold anything you want. You can open black swirling portals to access it, and just toss in whatever you want to store, everything stored inside is time locked, so don't worry about it. When you need something, just reach in and think of an item, and it will come to your hand. The pocket dimension is 5x5x5 meters, so you have plenty of room for your stuff, and it will slowly grow with time.

Its good to share

Required: Defence matrix

Resistance matrix

All your companions share the defenses from your perks, and you also have five additional slots to fill, that you can manage freely although when you clear a spot it will be unavailable for the next 24 hours.

Defence matrix

This makes it near impossible for anyone to alter, warp, or corrupt your body. Chemical, magical, technological, none of it works. You can, of course, drop these defences in case you need to get surgery or something. But otherwise, only literal gods could hope to affect you. And even their effects will be minor and slow.

Resistance matrix

You are resistant to disease, poison, and radiation to the extent that no amount of them can kill you, although really potent or divine ones can still affect you negatively. However, exposing yourself to the same hazard repeatedly will eventually make you completely immune to that particular brand of nastiness.

Hanma Blood

You've got the same blood as the Hanma clan, the most badass fighters in the world. That means you're super strong and tough, like a beast. Your muscles are huge and ripped, and you can take a beating like no one else. Also learning new fighting styles and techniques is a breeze for you..

Now that my body had received a lot of upgrades, including immortality and a bunch of complementary perks, it was time to select the other things from the CYOA.

Most flaws sucked, obviously. But there was one with a different type of suck.

Training Arc

Some in, some out. As the anime bullshit starts to fill your world, you’re going to be yanked into another. This world is dangerous, you’ll need your wits about you and to stay on your toes. This world may be one of the ones that are offering their power systems to your homeworld, or it might be somewhere even scarier. Either way, if you can survive a whole year, you’ll gain the ability to jump between this world and your home at will. You will keep access to all your power systems though, even if they are not present in the new world. You can choose to do an extra year in each of the other worlds, but these only grant an extra point each.

See? I get to train for free, in another world. Not bad.

Then it was time to pick how my world would change. This came easily. I didn't want Kaiju or Endbringers smashing a city every three months, for example.

But I did find something interesting.

Dive deeper

A colossal dungeon, its depths reach far bellow the Earth surface. This dungeon is a living entity, hostile to all who dare enter. Within its labyrinthine halls, countless monsters spawn, once killed their bodies quickly decomposing without a trace. However, they may leave behind valuable materials as loot. Dare you delve into the depths of this ever-hungry chasm and face the dangers that lie within?

A dungeon to explore and loot? Obviously great.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

What else?

Oh look!

Academy city

Academy City is a sovereign city-state that is known for its advanced technology, which is said to be 30 years ahead of the rest of the world. It is a city of several schools and institutions of higher learning from kindergarten to university level that learn side-by-side along with the scientists who research on psychic powers and higher technology, the latter being one of the primary reasons for its establishment. The city is home to several Espers (even if you did not pick Espers power system), individuals with psychic abilities, who attend the various academies in order to develop their supernatural abilities.

Universalty!

A couple of beings have dropped into this reality, and have started a school. This school teaches students how to hone, master, and use whichever power systems you’ve chosen. The teachers at this school are not particularly strong representatives. The Avatar is not dropping from the sky to teach bending. These are just people who’re both enthusiastic and skilled regarding teaching. They’ve already gotten funding, and while the school is small now, it’s only going to grow.

The last thing to pick was how my new powers would work.

I could choose: Ki, chi, chakra, even nen. But those aren't as fun as say leveling up and becoming even stronger!

Level Up!

Gain: +5 points

Incompatible with: Falna , Tier magic

A game-like system that shows stats as numbers and lets you choose skills and jobs. Jobs can be anything from fighting to supporting, like being a swordsman or a cook, but you can choose only one, and the list of available jobs will depend on person skills and personality. The max level is 100, and you can level up by doing things related to your job, killing monsters or beating other people with superpowers. Skills and jobs have different rarities, from common to legendary, and the higher the rarity, the harder it is to get. A level 100 person with a rare or higher job of combat variety can match a top-level user of Ki or Chakra. People who received a gamer system, will not get any other ability, this does not apply to you.

Thus I picked the level up method, and didn't feel bad at all. I already had a game screen, might as well use it.

Those monsters that would appear I chose from the easiest one. Demons or devils? Bah.

Beasts

Rather than adding more creatures, this supercharges some that are already here. It turns a proportion of regular animals into gigantic, monstrous versions. These creatures can still mate with the non-monster versions, and have basically the same behaviors. All except a serious aggression towards human beings. Some can be tamed out of that aggression, such as horses or pigeons, but good luck getting the fight out of a hippo.

See? Even if a White Tiger spawns someday, at least it will look like a tiger. Simpler.

And then when choosing my items, I kept it simple as well.

Anime choker

A normal looking choker that has the power to transform the wearer into an anime character. It will alter the appearance to resemble an anime protagonist, including unusual hair and eye colors, unrealistic body proportions, and gravity-defying assets. Additionally, it will grant common advantages that anime characters possess, such as increased durability and the ability to surpass one's own physical limits.

More durability and breaking my limits too? Please!

After choosing my utility item, I scrolled for a weapon. And what a weapon!

Spiritual weapon

A weapon of unparalleled quality, forged with your soul as a part of it. You can sense its presence and manipulate it from afar, and it can channel your Chi flawlessly, as well as other forms of power to a lesser degree. It is extremely durable, but if it ever breaks, you will lose a portion of your power until it heals itself.

Sadly, the weapon used Chi, so I had to go back and enable another perk.

Versatile

Some options in this CYOA are limited to certain power systems. This changes it, allowing you to substitute a power system of your choice for up to two other options. If you want to substitute more, you’ll have to buy this again. An example of how this might work is Rise. Instead of activating a Stand, you could activate a different power set, or make an existing one stronger.

Lastly, I had the option to use my remaining 3 points on a companion.

I knew myself well enough. I was no genius. So I would need someone to carry the thinking for Team Pef.

Lisa Wilbourn

Cost: -3

Lisa is an Esper, she has the power to project psychic blasts, read minds, manipulate emotions, and even alter memories. She's not as strong as Mob, but she's still formidable in her own right. She's smart, cunning, and resourceful, able to use her abilities to get out of tricky situations. She's also a bit of a loner, preferring to keep her distance from most people. She doesn't trust easily, and she doesn't like being controlled.

Not simply a great Thinker, this Lisa also had Esper and mind-bending powers. On the other hand, there was no alien Shard grafted into her brain to create constant problems. And with my sharing ability, she would receive a great boost to durability and resistance.

I grinned inward and clicked End in the blue screen.

Then a giant fist punched me in the soul, and threw me into another world.

I landed beside a confused Lisa, barely feeling the cracked pavement left behind by a head-first dive. Or the other way around.

"You, you know something about all this? Where are we?" Lisa yelled at me as her eyes began to glow.

Uh. Esper powers confirmed. I looked around, and saw a huge tower climbing into the sky. Orario, the Labyrinth City.

Made sense, considering what I chose in my CYOA screen. Could have been much worse. Warhammer 40k during a Necron Tomb World awakening, for example.

"That tower...is a dungeon. Filled with monsters." I half-explained while my hand tapped on the blue screen and called my character status up.

Pef - Level 0

Title: Commissioner

Strength: 3

Speed: 3

Mind: 1

Magic: 1

Chi: 1

Endurance: 27

The Esper girl glared at me, then let her eyes gaze over the town around us. Humans and demihumans passed by without a care, some carrying swords or shields, and one even had a mage staff.

"We must be in a game, right?" Lisa asked while moving beside me to observe my game screen.

Not exactly.

"The real question is, do you have a character screen?" I asked my involuntary companion.

Lisa frowned and tried to summon her own screen. "Try saying : Status!" I advised her on a whim.

"Status?" she uttered unconvinced.

Still nothing. Oh well.

I'm sure we'll figure something out. This place had real Gods walking around.

How hard could it be to find one and get Lisa a Falna?