I'm new at this so please don't cook me in the comments.
"I actually like MHA, but in this chapter, the main character is dealing with his death so he's a bit harsh."
...
I was always a happy kid, but as I grew older, life started to feel dull. Naturally, like anyone else facing this emptiness, I tried to shake it off. I turned to books, movies, video games, and anime. The dopamine helped for a while, but eventually, I needed more. I started watching things I didn't even care about, just to fill the void. Which brings us to today. I've read books, comics, web novels, and even Manhwa. However, I had never read manga before. So, I decided to read the first volume of One Piece and compare it to the anime.
On my walk home, I heard a strange honk—a deeper sound than a car horn. Curious, I turned around to investigate. Suddenly, a blinding light engulfed me, and everything froze. The street, the people, even myself—all still, caught in that instant. I felt a strange pressure building, and then I was struggling, like something was pulling me from the inside out. There was a sudden, jolting slip, and before I knew it, I fell forward, landing hard on my hands and knees.
That's when I noticed something strange: I was... translucent. I could see the rough surface of the sidewalk through my hands. My body, frozen mid-walk, stood just a few feet away, while I knelt here on the pavement. I stared, detached, at my own face—expressionless, unseeing. There was a flicker of panic, but it faded, like my emotions were muted somehow.
I looked around, trying to make sense of this bizarre new perspective. "How do I get back in there?" I muttered, half hoping my body would just snap out of it. But nothing happened.
A low rumbling pulled my attention back. The truck that had nearly run me over was still there, only... it wasn't just a truck anymore. Before my eyes, it transformed, shifting into a massive, humanoid figure. It was like something out of a fever dream, but strangely, I felt no shock—just a vague sense of disbelief. This had to be the weirdest, most out-there situation I'd ever been in, and yet it felt oddly distant, like I was watching it happen to someone else.
The truck-man crouched down, examining me. "Hey, kid," it said in a deep, resonant voice.
I blinked, realizing slowly that he was talking to me. "First, I'm not a kid," I replied, a little absently. "And second... what is even happening?"
The creature tilted its head, metallic faceplates moving in what looked like confusion. "Out of everything to question... 'kid'?" it asked.
I looked down at my translucent hands, then back at my frozen body. "I mean... I'm dead, right? Or... maybe not?" The thought lingered without urgency. It was confusing, sure, but I couldn't muster the usual fear or anxiety that should come with it. It all felt like someone else's problem.
The truck-figure let out a sound that might have been a chuckle. "Well," he said, "the 109,999,999,999th human just passed away, so I chose you to be the 110th billionth. Just a random selection."
I just stared at him, processing this information slowly, like trying to focus on a half-remembered dream. "Random... right."
"Anyway," he continued, standing back up, "I'll send you to a friend who owes me a favor." He transformed back into his truck form, leaving me standing there, still unsure how to float, let alone move on my own in this form. I glanced back at my body.
"How do I...?" I started, reaching out awkwardly to it, hoping something would click. My hand passed through it, sending a slight chill through me, and I took a step back, trying to figure out how to "fit" myself back in. Finally, after a couple of tries, I managed to drift into position, feeling something like a lock snapping back into place.
Then, just as suddenly as it had stopped, time resumed. I blinked, feeling the weight of my body settle around me again. The truck was gone, leaving me alone on the street, wondering if any of it had really happened.
...
It wasn't painful—no flashes of my life, no profound regrets. Just an all-encompassing light, blinding and silent. Time seemed suspended, and then suddenly I could see and feel my body again. I was somewhere unfamiliar, but there was no panic, just a quiet curiosity.
"Welcome, child." The voice was rough and distant, like it hadn't spoken in years. I turned to see a dark, shadowy form—a worm-like creature with a mask floating above it. The mask was expressionless, yet somehow heavy with something I couldn't quite name.
"Hello," I replied, surprised by my own calmness. I didn't feel fear or worry, only a strange familiarity with this shadowy figure. I could sense a similarity between us, as if we were bound by some shared understanding.
"So, I'm dead. What now?" I asked plainly, getting right to the point.
"I'll send you to your next world after granting your wish," it answered. I raised an eyebrow, more out of reflex than actual emotion. "Just one wish?" I clarified, a bit curious.
The creature's mask spun, flickering from a quiet gray to a bright, almost electric blue as it leaned closer, hovering directly in front of me. "Were you expecting more?" it asked, its voice a mix of intrigue and faint amusement.
I shrugged. "Books make it sound like there's always more. But this is reality; it's not like beings go around handing out wishes to everyone. That'd be a little too generous."
The creature nodded, as if considering my words. "So, what is your wish?"
I thought for a moment before responding, "I wish for reality manipulation that can grow with me."
The shadow pulsed with a soft, warm brown light, its mask spinning once more. "Okay, boy," it murmured. Its form started sinking into the ground, fading away. Just before it completely disappeared, it left me with a final, echoing message: "You've piqued my curiosity. I'll be watching."
And with that, I was left alone, wondering what lay ahead.
***
As I started to come to, I felt a strange heaviness. I couldn't open my eyes, but I sensed something—my body, or at least the beginnings of one, barely responsive. Then, a heartbeat, faint and rhythmic. Realization dawned slowly: I must be an unborn fetus. With a resigned, mental sigh, I settled in for what I thought would be a long wait. But suddenly, muffled screaming filled the space around me, jolting me. And just as abruptly, I was back in front of the shadowy, masked creature.
The masked being's face spun into a deep orange. "You died again," it said, its tone matter-of-fact. My eye twitched involuntarily. "How?" I asked, frustration creeping in despite my ghostly calm.
"If I told you, it would give you knowledge you're not meant to have about that world," it replied. I frowned, a bit confused. "Why does it matter? You're not planning to send me back there, are you?"
A pause stretched between us, a silence thick enough that I could've sworn I heard crickets. Growing uneasy, I pressed again, "Right?"
The mask shifted to a brighter shade of orange, and it answered, "You get three wishes and two perks." I considered protesting but quickly realized it wouldn't change much. I didn't have leverage here. "Fine… but can I keep my previous wish?"
The mask spun thoughtfully, then settled on green. "Typically, your soul is cleansed upon death, which removes previous wishes as well. However, you could use a wish to anchor them to your soul—though that could have unforeseen consequences."
I sighed, tempted by the idea of holding onto what I'd wished for, but messing with my soul seemed like a bad idea. I paused, ready to list my new wishes, but something stopped me. A question was nagging at me. "Is there any chance that making powerful wishes could affect my chances of dying?"
The mask spun again and faded back to its original gray. "There is no known correlation between the strength of a wish and your likelihood of dying," it said, a bit too smoothly.
I squinted, still doubtful but deciding not to overthink it. "Alright, let's go with something practical," I muttered to myself before speaking up.
"I wish for doomsday-level adaptation that grows with me, a physique combining Kryptonian and Martian traits, and the ability to manipulate time," I declared carefully. "For my perks, I want immunity to mind control and protection against any attempts to tamper with my powers, like copying, stealing, or weakening them."
The being gave a solemn nod before slowly sinking into the ground, leaving only faint ripples where it had been. Alone again, I steeled myself for whatever came next.
...
This time when I awakened, I felt a strange sense of awareness pressing against my eyelids and an odd pressure around my waist. Inwardly, I smiled, realizing I was actually being born—already further along in life than I'd made it last time.
3rd Person
The lady on the bed looked at the nurse and asked, "Why are there fighting noises outside?"
"Your husband, BrightBurn, is fighting a villain by the name of Giganta in front of the bank two blocks down," the nurse replied.
The lady on the bed reached her hand out in a gesture asking for her baby. The nurse handed her the baby and quickly left the room. For a moment, she just sat there and stared into the baby's eyes. She was a mom, she thought, the mother of a beautiful baby boy. But before her thoughts could even finish, a massive hand the size of her entire body slammed through the wall, killing both her and the baby.
...
Giganta's had been fleeing from BrightBurn when he heard the hero's desperate shout of "NO!" A searing wave of flames slammed into him as he attempted to steady himself against the closest building. The force was so immense that his arm sank deep into the structure. Confused and in pain, Giganta was driven solely by the instinct to escape the relentless assault of what seemed like a humanoid sun.
Giganta's quirk allowed him to grow larger at the cost of intelligence; the larger he became, the more his mental faculties diminished until he was little more than a creature of base instincts. Despite this, Giganta kept running, driven by primal fear.
Meanwhile, BrightBurn halted his battle and rushed to the front of the hospital. Frantically, he approached the front desk. "Which room is Kelly Baker in?" he urgently asked. The clerk quickly tapped on the computer keys before responding, "She should be in room 328."
Without hesitating, BrightBurn sprinted back to the front of the building, burst into flames, and soared up to the third floor where a gaping hole marked the impact zone. Floating through the debris-filled opening, he spotted something glinting amidst the dust and rubble-covered floor. As he landed and let his flames subside, he bent down and picked it up: a piece marked "328."
"Kelly!" he called out desperately, moving to where the bed should have been. All he found was the shattered remains of the wall, the bed missing, replaced by a large bloodstain on the collapsed floor.
His brain switched into hero detective mode, attempting to distract him from the harsh reality lying right before him. Noticing no other blood stains, he concluded that the baby had already been delivered and the nurse had left. The agony of losing his wife and recently born son cut deep, but the burden of knowing it was his actions that led to this tragedy cut even deeper.
He had only intended to draw Giganta's attention away from the hospital, yet the fear of the villain being so close caused him to exert more force than he had intended. Tears streamed down his face, and for the first time in years, he shivered uncontrollably. The coldness engulfed him, seeping through his very being.
He activated his quirk to dispel the cold, but the flames that made up his body did nothing to thaw the icy chill that gripped him. The final tear fell from his eye, joining the others that evaporated before ever touching his cheek.
With resolve hardening in his heart, BrightBurn rose to his feet and ascended into the air. He soared higher and higher until the city lay beneath him like a miniature world. In the distance, he spotted a colossal figure rampaging through the streets.
Like a comet streaking through the nightsky, he hurtled toward the figure. He had never flown with such speed or burned with such intensity before. Every fiber of his being was focused on reaching Giganta, on confronting the colossal threat that had shattered his world.
"His body, though made of flame, began literally falling apart when he got close to Giganta. His body began glowing brighter when he made contact with Giganta."
...
Once again, I found myself before the masked being. I sighed heavily and simply muttered, "Well, fuck."
"I actually like MHA, but in this chapter, the main character is dealing with the fact that he died twice in MHA, of all places, so he's a bit harsh."
...
For the first time, I sat down in what I've decided to call "the void". The masked being looked at me before his mask began spinning. When it stopped, the color had changed to a dull yellow. "What's wrong?" he asked.
I looked up and asked the question that had been bothering me. "She died, didn't she?" I asked.
The being's mask began pulsing, then it replied solemnly, "Yes, she did."
After staring into nothingness for what felt like hours, I looked at the mask again and asked, "What now?"
"You get 5 wishes and 3 perks," it said.
I snorted in frustration. "And what happens when I keep dying?" I finally snapped. "This is all so messed up. I stared into her eyes and felt the love she had for me. And then boom, she's dead. For what? What good are wishes if they do me more harm than good?"
The being's mask began flipping again before stopping at its original gray color. It then repeated something it had told me before: "There is no known correlation between wishes of any kind and your likelihood of dying."
I sighed deeply. "And yet, when I made my wishes lean toward potential instead of raw power, I lived longer."
"Correlation does not imply causation," the being replied calmly.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What the hell does that even mean?" I asked.
"Just because something happened after you did something doesn't mean what you did caused it to happen," it explained.
"Fine, let's test it then," I said, annoyance evident in my voice. "I'll make my wishes focus purely on potential and usefulness instead of how powerful they are."
"1. I wish for powers like Beast Boy's, minus the green skin. 2. I want a healing factor that grows with me. 3. Give me the powers of the Marvel cats with a universe in their stomachs; instead of tentacles from my mouth, let it activate on physical contact. 4. I want all my powers to grow stronger with me. 5. Lastly, I want a system that allows me to travel to any universe, copy people's abilities, and can interact with them even with my eyes closed. This system should access the world's internet and the previous world's internet, with an AI that I can activate as needed. It's said an AI is 125,000 times faster than the average human brain, so I want it always 125,000 times faster than my brain—meaning the faster I think, the faster it processes. It shouldn't be able to administer punishments, but rewards are fine. This wish seems too powerful, so I'll let you put any limitations on it you see fit," I said.
"As for perks, I want immunity to mind control, negative powers, and immunity from attempts to alter my past, prevent my birth, kill me as a baby, or eliminate a weaker version of me."
The being replied, "Let's hope not to see each other again," before sinking into the ground once more, leaving me with parting words: "I'll give you a present if you make it to your awakening."
"What awakening?" I tried to ask, but once again found myself unable to see.
...
I was once again in the womb. However, this time there was something I could do.
"System," I called out. A pit began forming in my stomach as nothing happened. I began to think about how in many novels I've read, the system didn't unlock until certain conditions were met. I started to panic slightly, imagining the amount of time I could be stuck here with nothing to do.
[...] Three dots lit up in the darkness that was my vision. [Loading...]. Then, a progress bar appeared and slowly began to fill up. Excitement, anticipation, and hope swirled around in my chest as the bar reached closer and closer to being full. It felt like watching a movie, to be honest. I literally had nothing better to do, so I just watched it until...
[Loading complete].
The system panel appeared in my vision, with a second panel overlapping the previous one.
"[Would you like to begin the tutorial?]"
"[Y/N]"
I stared, shocked, at the screen. In all the books I had read, I had never read about a system tutorial. I gave a mental shrug and decided, "[You have selected 'yes', the tutorial will now begin]." After the words disappeared, I could see the original system panel. It had Five tabs at the top: "[Powers, Quest, Shop, Web, and A.I]." In the top right corner, there were points: "[0 points]."
In the Powers tab, three entries were listed, each greyed out: "[Shape shifting: unawakened, Healing factor: unawakened, Dimensional body: unawakened]". I stared at the screen with joy, realizing these were powers I would gain in the future. A message appeared beside the list: "{This is the powers tab. Here you can view your current powers and their status. You cannot interact with them until they are awakened. This tab allows you to copy abilities that function in specific ways, such as laser eyes or abilities requiring manual activation.}"
The Quest tab then lit up in a golden-yellow color that drew my attention. As soon as my attention landed on the quest, the screen changed. I was now on the Quest tab: "[Instance quest: Complete the tutorial. 1,000 Points.]" There was only one thing in the Quest tab: the Instance quest. I was surprised by the lack of actual quests; I expected more. But after I really thought about it, I haven't even been born—what can I really do aside from messing around with my system?
"{This is the Quest tab. You will be able to receive rewards ranging from points to items. To be able to receive rewards from quests, you must first accept the quest. You can accept multiple quests at a time.}"
The Instance quest lit up in a gold color that once again drew my attention, as soon as I focused on it. A panel appeared overlapping with the original system panel.
"[Would you like to accept the Instance quest: Complete the tutorial. ]"
"Y/N"
"[You have selected yes, Good Luck]"
After accepting the quest, the "X" at the top right gained a golden glow. I focused on it, and the overlapping tab disappeared. After focusing on the glowing Shop tab, the screen changed.
"[Upgrade: unset, Random Key: 200,000 points, Direct Destination Key: 1,000,000 points, random item 10,000 points]"
All of the options were greyed out, so I didn't have expectations from this tab in the near future.
"{This is the Shop tab. Here you will be able to purchase upgrades for abilities via points. The amount of points required for an upgrade depends on the ability. You can buy keys to other universes; for some keys, you'll be able to spend extra points to be sent to a specific time in that universe. Instead of the name of the universe, you will be given a clue about the universe. Random Key is a game where you have a chance of winning any key to another universe. Direct Destination Key will allow you to get a key to any universe of your choosing and the time you appear, down to the day; however, you cannot choose the location where you will appear on Earth. Random item is similar to Random Key, except instead of keys, you get a chance to win an item.}"
After the words vanished, the Web tab began glowing. The screen changed, and the next thing I saw was what looked like the Google home screen, but instead of Google, the words there said "Dekca".
"{This is Dekca. It is a search engine that allows you to access the web from any universe you've been to or are in. It also allows you to view information from all of the universes you've been to at once, or filter them out to just the ones or one you need. Searches cannot and are not limited.}"
After looking at the information, I smiled inwardly. This is exactly what I wanted and more. The Dekca search lit up inviting me to search something with a golden glow. I thought about it for a bit, considering what would most likely give me a bunch of clues. Although I knew I could use as many searches as I wanted, I aimed to get it right on the first try because I thought it would be cool. I decided to search "Powers and Superheroes."
The first thing I saw was "Heroes: A study into our current society and a look at the past." I focused my attention on it like tapping on a tablet, and the screen changed again. The first words I read from the article were "Quirks first appeared in this world around 180 years ago and since then, the profession of heroes and the amount of quirks as a whole have steadily been rising."
After seeing this, I knew exactly where I was, which made it even more shocking—I died here twice. I mean, of course, people obviously die here, but what are the chances of dying twice? A shiver ran down my spine as I thought, "Wait, is this world really darker than shown in the anime? Is the protagonist's halo and plot armor the only reasons we don't see that? What the actual f*ck did I get myself into?"
While I was lost in my own thoughts, The A.I tab lit up, and after focusing on it the screen changed. This time there was only a power symbol and everything else was black. "{This is the A.I tab. You can turn on the A.I on and off from here.}" The symbol lit up, prompting me to focus my attention on it. The black tab then lit up with golden lights floating.
"[Loading...]"
"{Congratulations, you have completed the tutorial.}"
"[You've completed 'Instance quest: Complete the tutorial.']"
"[x2 bonus for finding out what universe you're in before completing the tutorial.]"
"[You've earned 2,000 points.]"
"[Setup complete.]"
|Hello, I am the system A.I. Would you like to give me a name?|
...
I didn't like how short this chapter was so I decided to combine chapters 1 and 2 I intend to keep future chapters at least 2,000 + words long