*POOF*
John was sitting in a cloud of green smoke, lots of lights flashing through it, making it look like he was in the middle of so rave smoke show. He thought about it for a mont and realized it wasn't far from the truth. As the smoke started to clear, loud music started up and a voice he heard earlier that day on PA speakers bood throughout the...studio?
"Let's welco back with a round of applause our newest and oldest contestant, John Wayne!"
The music continued to blare, but no applause was heard by him. He looked around. He was sitting on the round white chair he was drinking at earlier, a side table beside him with a bottle of water on it. Across from him was Alec, siting in a similar chair. The rest of the room was how he rembered it, ten doorways, a lot of bright lights, and blackness.
John reached for his water, then realized a few things. One, he wasn't tired anymore, it felt like he just woke up from a good nights sleep. Two, he was no longer injured, though he was wearing a thankfully clean version of what he was wearing in the Zombie world, and not bathrobes again. And three, he had a screen pop up in his face.
"Welco back John." Said Alec "How did you enjoy your ti in the High School of the Dead universe?"
John thought about it for a mont. Running for his life, bashing zombies heads in, flirting with Shizuka. If he was thirty years younger he would have been having a blast.
"It was an interesting experience. I must say though, running and fighting at my age is hazardous to my health."
"Yes, we noticed. You fought through the pain admirably though, and you deviated from the canon quite nicely. Did you enjoy your sponsors gift?"
"Gift? What gift?"
Alec smiled even broader, perfect white teeth shining for the invisible caras. "Ah yes, I almost forgot, you do not know the canon of the show. Your gift was the truck! Your unique situation was sothing many of our patrons were interested in watching, and they donated generously to give you a ans of transportation. This in turn caused so major changes into the cannon of the show, which is great for our entertainnt."
John wasn't sure what to think, yeah the truck was great, but how would that cause a major change to the show?
"I am glad you asked" Alec said, reading John's mind. "By not needing keys, when you left the infirmary, you took a different route, rather Saeko and Shizuka took a different route. This ended up causing Takashi's group to be nearly overwheld by the zombies, and getting him bit in the process. He was the star of the show by the way. You also changed a few other instances of canon, which is wonderful. Shall we go through it all and see your rewards?"
Rewards? "Umm...Sure? I didn't know there were rewards."
"Of course there are rewards. Every ti you return here, you will get rewarded as long as you managed to change the canon of the show a bit. The greater the change, the greater the rewards. If you manage to divert the Lore completely off canon before the canon is complete, you will gain so special bonuses as well."
John felt excited for so reason. He didn't know any of these stories so he couldn't abuse that information like other people, but if he just lived, he was sure he would do things differently than a high school kid. He did have a few questions though,
"What do you an by diverting the Lore?"
"Easily answered, here let show you."
He drew a blue line in thin air in front of him. It just hung there floating.
"Okay, lets call this line, the Lore. Its a physical representation of the tiline of the worlds you are entering, before and after the canon."
He then added a hash near each end and attached them with another line, this ti red.
"These represent the canon of the show, from the start," He pointed to one end, "to the finish" he pointed at the other end.
"Now in a vacuum, we could re-run this world indefinitely, and the lore would always follow the canon. Nothing changes."
He then added a dot at the beginning of the the canon. "This is you, or any other reincarnator. You are an anomaly to the canon and to the Lore. As you make changes," He moved the dot away from the Lore. Like it was on an invisible string, the lore line tried to follow the dot and pull away from the canon line, like a dog on a leash. "You influence the Lore to change, however it doesn't want to change, it wants to stay with the canon, like so " He let go of the dot, and it snapped the lore back into place.
"Now, if you make enough changes to the canon, it weakens its hold on the Lore, so at so point." He took the dot and moved it back and forth across the Lore line a few tis, then pulled it away. The Lore line snapped and started to follow the dot instead, and the canon line dissipated.
"If you manage to completely divert the Lore from canon, making your new story the new 'canon', we will give you chances to win so major rewards. Before you ask, those will be a surprise for when you have completed your first world." He waved his hand making the lines all disappear.
"Now John, lets see what your long day of work netted you for a reward!" He gestured to the screen in front of John.
He looked down and started reading over the log for the world called "High School of the Dead"
[World - High School of the Dead]
[Canon Completion (By Manga) - 10%]
[Anomalies]
[Minor - Acquired Bokken supply - 0.5%]
[Minor - Kissed Shizuka - 1%]
[Minor - Saved Ishii in infirmary - 0.5%]
[Minor - Brought dical supplies - 0.5%]
[Major - Diverted Shizuka and Saeko from joining the rest of the protagonist - 5%]
[Major - Assud a leadership role quickly - 5%]
[Minor - Shizuka got in contact with Rika - 0.5%]
[Critical - Takashi turned, then killed Ishii. Rohta killed Takashi's corpse - 15%]
[Minor - Rei stopped acting like a spoiled princess. - 1%]*
[Minor - Avoided main lobby and zombie swarm. - 1%]
[Minor - Quietly advanced through the parking lot - 0.5%]
[Major - Rescued students while leaving Shido for dead. Belief in Rei and Saeko's opinion of Shido - 5%]
[Minor - Avoided Onbetsu bridge - 0.5%]
[Minor - Assigned all mbers of the group jobs - 0.5%]
[Minor - Showed Tsunoda trust and respect - 0.5%]
[Diversion from Canon - 37%]
[Canon Snapback - 15%]
[Total Change - 22%]
[Canon Integrity - 78%]
[Rewards]
[Gatcha Tokens - 2000]
[New World Bonus - Confird]
[Stat Points - 2]
[World - High School of the Dead - Locked]
[Calculations Complete]
[Would you like to allocate stat points now? Y/N]
"What does this all an Alec?"
"Well most is pretty straight forward. About 10%** of the Manga canon is completed...that would be the "comic book" version of this world, not the ani or "cartoon" version.
The anomalies are where you changed sothing, or the butterfly effect of your prior changes. We gave them arbitrary percentage values on how important those events are. You giving Shizuka that kiss was aweso and our viewers loved it, but in the grand sche of things it was pretty minor compared to Takashi, the Main Character being turned, then being put down by one of the other protagonist of the story." Alec continued on.
"So we calculated that you are already 37% off canon, but the canon pulled back about 15%, by so minor things, like Saeko's speech to Ishii before killing him, Shizuka ripping her skirt and complaining its Prada, to more major things like gathering all the current protagonist, escape in a vehicle from school, and ending up at the gas station/convenience store Takashi and Rei were at in canon."
"This leaves the canon at about 78% integrity, which ans further changes you make will make it easier to move away from canon, and the Lore will have less Snapback.
Finally, your rewards. You get 2000 tokens to spin in the gatcha, its like a prize wheel at a fair. The next world bonus cos from your sponsors. You did well enough that where ever you choose to go to next, you will receive a bonus, like the truck you received in High School of the Dead. You don't get to know what it will be ahead of ti, because we don't know what door you will end up going through.
Then you have your stat points. These you can add to your stats when you are at DEN. They are the only permanent stats you will bring with you between worlds. Sa with skills. Only what you gain through the gatcha will co with you to other worlds. You can keep the knowledge you learn in the different worlds, but if you say enter a world where you gain superhuman powers, like magic, you don't get to keep the actual magic when you co back here unless you got a gatcha for that skill. You just get to keep whatever stats you earned while there.
John was trying to follow along...he really was...but Alec kept tossing stuff at him that was beyond his comprehension. "So...I get stronger when I do stuff in other worlds and then co back here to get...stats? and spin a prize wheel?"
Alec looked like he just bit into a particularly sour pickle. His contestant really didn't need any in-depth explanations, so everything he just rifled off went pretty much over his head.
"Yeah. Go into different doors, live your life, then co back here once in awhile to get a stronger body overall. Rinse, lather, repeat. When you co back here, we will tell you how good a job you are doing to change the Lore and making a new 'canon'." He changed the subject "Why don't you add so points to your stats, then roll your gatcha. Then we can talk more or you can choose your next door. "
"Sure...umm...status window? Oh its...ahh..hmmm....ah right, Yes please." John said, fumbling with the status screen. It was all voice activated but he kept trying to punch the 'Y' on the screen for a mont before facepalming himself.
[Status - John Suzy Wayne]
[Age - 83 ]
[Mana - NIL]
[Stats - Human Average 20]
[Free Points - 2]
[STRENGTH - 30 -> 22 (Compromised Internal Structure)]
[REFLEX - 22 -> 7 (Compromised Internal Structure)]
[SPEED - 20 -> 10 (Compromised Internal Structure)]
[ENDURANCE - 25 -> 5 (Critical Heart Failure Imminent, DEN System Maintaining Reincarnator from expiring.)]
[INTELLIGENCE - 25->12 (Early stages of Alzheir's***. DEN System Maintaining Reincarnator. Exhaustion degrades condition significantly)]
[WISDOM - 35->14 (Early stages of Alzheir's. DEN System Maintaining Reincarnator. Exhaustion degrades condition significantly)]
[LUCK - 42]
[DEN Achievents - None]
[Skills - DEN Return (24 hr cooldown)]
[Quest - No Active Quest]
"WAIT? I am about to have a heart attack?" John yelled. He was fine this morning...or whenever that truck hit him.
"Yep. You had probably at most a week to live, so I would say it was actually pretty lucky for you that you saved those kids from coming here."
"And Alzheir's too..." John slumped back into his seat. His mind was going and his body was failing him. What in the world was he doing on so weird ga show? He should be in a hospital, hooked up to a IV and a bunch of monitors, his kids and grandkids visiting him. "...I shouldn't be here...I didn't even get to say goodbye..."
Alec looked at John, so tears briefly forming in his eyes. He left the mortal realm millions of years ago, but he still had fond mories of his family and friends from those tis. Many of the beings in the Omni were mortal once as well, and could sympathize with John. But he had a show to put on.
"Listen, I will make you a deal John. Clear one door, any door, and I will let you say goodbye to your children in their dreams. It will be lucid for them, so they will rember it. How does that sound?"
"Really?" John said then paused.
Wait, that ans he could do it now...ahh whatever.
"Yes I could, but think of this as a motivator John. A reward outside of whatever the ga itself gives you for a job well done.
John wiped his eyes and took a drink from his water bottle. It tasted like strawberries for so reason.
"Okay so how do I do the stats? Do you have any recomndations?"
"Well it is up to the contestant normally, but I would suggest you keep plugging stats into your endurance until you can fix your cardiovascular system. When you get it high enough, probably around 12 to 15 points, you should stabilize and regain your lost stats there automatically. After that though, its totally up to you."
"Right. So...how do I do it?"
"Just say 'System, add two points to Endurance' and the system will do the rest, its all voice activated."
"Right, right...System, add two points to Endurance please."
[STATUS CHANGED]
[ENDURANCE - 25 -> 7 (Critical Heart Failure Imminent, DEN System Maintaining Reincarnator from expiring.)]
"Well that didn't change much."
"These stats won't make you into a god, they will just make you stronger. You only get the godhood perks if you win the show later, much later on my friend. Now, would you like to spin the gatcha? Or would you like to hold onto your points for later?
"I would like to spin but can we review the options?"
"Of course, please look at your screen" John's screen expanded a bit, with a large roulette wheel on the right side and ten tabs on the left side. "Now it is touch enabled for ease of use."
[Please Choose Your Gatcha]
[Weapons]
[Armour]
[Equipnt]
[Clothing]
[Vehicles]
[Housing]
[Skills]
[Ability Points]
[Eroge]
[One-Use Spell Scrolls]
John started flipping through the tabs. The first six were broken down further into four tiers, Low, Mid, High, and Special, and prices went from fifty tokens to ten thousand tokens a spin.
The rest were varied. Skills just had single spins, at one thousand tokens, ability points were the sa but at ten thousand as well. Eroge and One-Use Spell Scrolls were only one hundred tokens.
"Well...I don't know what they an by skills but I should probably have them." John hit the 'Spin' button. The wheel started speeding up, lights flashing around the studio. The noise level increased significantly, it almost sounded like the inside of a casino. He resisted the urge to say 'Hit ', smiling about the mories of all the winnings he had whenever he went to a casino. He never played for long, as he couldn't stand all the noise, but he never left without more in his pocket then when he ca in.
The wheel slowed down and landed on sothing...but the screen blew up in his face and silver lights like tiny stars floated around him.
"Congratulations! You have acquired the Mid-Tier skill - General Magic - Adept" The loud booming announcer voice echoed through the room. "With this skill you will have a much easier ti learning magic, no matter the school, then others up until you reach the Adept level or whatever the equivalent is in that world." The lights returned to normal, and the noise shut off.
"Cool...what does that an though?" John asked.
Alec just shrugged "It ans that you will learn to cast a fireball really easy, but if you want to drop a teor on a city, that will be beyond you. Basically, you are the Jack-Of-All trades for magic, but you will not master any school with this skill."
"So magic is real in so of these worlds?"
"Magic is real in every world John, just where your from, humans burnt out the ability during a great war, many millions of years ago, but now isn't a ti for the true history lesson on our- your race. It will be a very handy skill to have though, particularly at this early stage of the ga. You will need to find soone to teach you magic though."
"Okay then, well lets hope the next world has sothing like that then, else this is useless for now. Let spin sothing else."
John went to the weapons. The cost were fifty, two hundred and fifty, two thousand and ten thousand for each respective tier. He chose the two hundred and fifty option for the mid-tier weapon. The lights flashed, the wheel spun, noises resud. This ti a confetti of magenta sparkles surrounded John.
"Congratulations! You have acquired the Mid-Tier weapon Mithril Katana. It has Holy magic affinities, along with being extra effective vs Undead and Demonic style enemies."
"Oh now that is really cool." John drew the blade. It was about a ter long, with a slight curve to the blade. The mithril reminded him of silver tallic paint mixed with pearl, with a interesting wave pattern along the the middle of the blade. He sheathed the weapon. He wasn't sure how useful a sword would be, but it would be better than his fist.
"Yes, but it probably should have been put in the low grade pile. As cool as many lee weapons are, there are also firearms, plasma weapons, laser swords, a whole ton of things in the gatcha that would be better than a sword made with a nice tal."
John nodded as if that made sense. "Wait? I could bring a laser blaster or maybe a phaser from a sci-fi world back into a fantasy world or even High School of the Dead?"
"Yep, but rember, just because its powerful, doesn't an it works forever. Every weapon has ammo of so sort, be it physical ammunition or a power supply. Really, that is pretty much the only reason why there are lee weapons still in high and special level gatchas. We will let you buy more ammo if you get such a weapon, but it will cost you tokens."
"Fair enough." Did he just argue both points? John shook his head.
Armour. Two Hundred and Fifty. Spin, Noise, green sparkles this ti.
"Congratulations! You have acquired the Mid-Tier armour Wyvern Hide Set. Made from the scales of a Blue Wyvern, this light weight armour is resistant to most slashing and piercing type attacks and provides protections from lightning and electrical based attacks. Be aware, like most armour, once an attacks power reaches a certain threshold, the armour will be defeated and hit the wearer, no matter if there were resistances or not."
A mirror materialized beside John and he looked at himself. He looked...like he was wearing dieval blue scale mail. It covered his torso and arms and hands, with extra layers over his shoulders. Around his waist was a skirt that went down to his knees that parted in the middle. And the blue...it was aquamarine, and shiny and oh damn he stood out.
"Umm, a little...ostentatious isn't it?"
"A little, but depending on the world you go to next, it might be just the thing to keep you alive. Heck if you were wearing that in HOTD, you would probably be still down there."
"Right. Anyway we can tone down the saturation a bit here, I look like a disco ball."
"Fine." The armours hue turned into a pale sky blue. It was still bright, but no where near as bad.
"Thank you. Now I have 250 points left. Lets spend 50 on equipnt."
Spin, noise, a kazoo sound.
"Congratulations! You have acquired the Low-Tier item travel back pack. Cos standard with a sleeping bag, a full water bottle and food for two days."
"Nice." He was looking at what was left. He could spin for more equipnt, but there was sothing he wanted to look at, Eroge.
He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking at, as that word wasn't in his vocabulary. "So what is this gatcha for?"
"It is to improve things for you and your won, sexually. It could be a sex toy, bondage gear, or improvents for yourself, such as increased length or girth, increased fertility, faster refraction periods, longer tongue...the list goes on." Alec said with a smirk.
The beings of the Omni were, if nothing else, voyeurs and people of culture. They loved watching their contestants get it on. That gave Alec an idea and he quickly pitched it to the director in a thought, and it ca back positive.
"Pffft...really? That's a thing? Why?...I an..." John was a big man, but...well he was average at best down there. Not that his wife ever complained...oh god...she did have a lot of toys...
"TWO SPINS ON EROGE!"
Spin. Noise. Pink stars, then purple ones.
"Congratulations! You have acquired 'Increased girth'. 1 Cm added to the diater of your penis. Congratulations! You have acquired the skill "Ejaculation Control - Novice" You now have better control over when you release. No more one pump chump, now you can better hold out until she has had her pleasure as well. Note - You can still cum quickly if you are not careful, this isn't perfect control, just better."
What did I just do?
"Haha, well you might like that one. Most of our male players don't use the Eroge right away, they wait until they have a girl or two under their arms...or a boy, we don't judge here. The girls are sotis tempted to use it right away depending on their own body image. Speaking of body image, there will be other body modifications just for you under Eroge. Tighter skin, less wrinkles, less unwanted body hair, stronger tendons, repaired neurons, among other minor body improvents. Minor for most, but would probably work out well for you yes?
God damn it, now they want to spend my points on the sex wheel...this is why I hate gambling, even if I am lucky at it. I want to keep doing it.
"Bah, we will see what I need next ti."
"Great" He turned to the non-existent cara, "Now folks we are going to comrcial, when we return, see what door John goes through next." He then stood up and gestured for John to follow. They moved to a back spot just off the edge of the stage, and suddenly they were in a bright room.
White tile floors, white walls with so black trim. The right wall was a counter top, a black onyx colour with white cabinets below it. The counters were covered in various foods and drinks, like this was back stage of a TV produc- oh wait it was. There were several tables and chairs scattered on the left side of the room, with at least a dozen people in various clothing scattered about chatting. So looked his way and waved when they entered but remained focused on their conversations.
The biggest thing that stood out to John was...the ears and tails. So of those people had cat ears on their heads, and tails that were moving very much like a cat. Other just had pointy ears like a Vulcan. Others had dog ears, and another looked like they had tiger ears and Vitiligo that looked like tiger stripes on her body. The tiger-girl was wearing a deep yellow dress that accentuated her orange hair. It really showed off her generous cleavage as well.
"Hey, snap out of it John, Xiaolin probably doesn't want you staring at her." Alec said with a stern face.
"Oh gosh, I am so sorry, I have just never seen anyone like her before, or well anyone with animal traits." John was mortified with himself. He didn't like to make anyone uncomfortable unless they were being assholes, then it was fair ga.
"Pffft! You should see your face. Don't worry about it John. She doesn't mind, right Xiaolin?"
"Stare all you want big boy, win this contest and I will let you give these puppies a spin for a decade or two." The tiger-girl squeezed her breasts together and let them go. The pair of gorgeous orbs nearly the size of small waterlons dropped then bounced twice and jiggled for a mont. John's eyes watered for a mont then he ca back to his senses when Xiaolin and her table companion burst into laughter.
"Gets them every ti" "It never gets old."
She got up from the table, and gave John a peck on the cheek before moving off to another area of the stage. Alec just shook his head, the cara girls always flirted with the newbies when they first returned, and they always left them speechless.
"That's beast folk for you, always playing gas. C'mon John, you have about three minutes before we go back out. Have so good snacks and get ready for your next world. Next ti you return, it will probably be longer, along with an interview."
"Any hints on the next door I should choose? I have no idea what I am getting into."
"That's normal. " He pulled on his white suit a bit, adjusting it. "I want to say you will be fine, but if you pull a bad door, like Gantz, without gaining more power beforehand, you will not survive on anything other than luck." He stopped and thought for a mont. "Though if you could bring a Gantz suit back with you, it would fix many of your body problems."
"I have no idea what that is."
"Its fine, its a crazy world, that if you knew the cannon, you could pretty much clear it in a couple days. But if you didn't know its like conscripts in Soviet Russia in WW2 defending against the Germans...straight up slaughtered."
John gulped.
"Eat man, and lets head back out. Honestly most worlds are more slice of life even if they are full of monsters. You will be fine."
"Welco back to DEN. Please welco your host, Alec Trivec and contestant, John Wayne back to the stage."
Alec ran to the center and John followed him. Alec raised his hands and bowed. "Thank you, thank you." He turned to John. "Now that was a rough start for you, entering a Death World right away. You were lucky that it was High School of the Dead and not one of the more grueso worlds. Now that you had a little ti to process, what are you feeling about it?"
"Well, I want to go back, but I see it is blocked off." He looked over to the door. The green door now had police tape in a big 'X' across it, a visual barrier to make sure he didn't return there.
"Yes it is. Unless you gain a skill or get an item that can cure the zombie status you have, you won't be allowed to return there. Is there anything you want to do there?"
John thought about it. Other then the exhaustion, he was actually having a good ti. He was never really allowed to vent his rage before other then in the gym. He kept it away from his family for the most part, and in peaceful, modern society, there was no need usually for overwhelming physical strength in day to day situations.
In that 'Death World' he could be a leader through physical strength, the way humans were ant to act. It was the antitheses to modern thinking, but that whole place was about to go down to the stone age if strong leaders didn't step in to run the place. It was a liberating thought.
"I want to gather more people and lead them sowhere that I can protect them. Then, if it is like most zombie movies I have ever seen, I want to start a new nation and give hope to the people who remain. To do that, I will get stronger in the worlds behind these other doors, and when I return, I will be in a position to provide for those people."
"You will make an amazing dictator I am sure. Just don't start going on about your five year plans okay?"
"No promises." John smiled. Maybe he would bring the imperial dynasties back to Japan, or beco a king of the island nation. That was a problem for another day.
"So now it is ti. Which door will you choose this ti." Alec adjusted his jacket again. John thought, then halted that thought. "Well, I think I will go for this one." He pointed to the white door.
"Well enjoy your trip, and we will see you soon. Rember, you can co back anyti, you don't necessarily need to be in great peril to co back here."
"Thanks." John was feeling great as he opened the White Door and walked through. As it closed, the sign above the door changed like the previous door. This ti it read.
[The Great Cleric]****
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