Multiversal Manifestation System

The days inside the Dome blurred together, the endless forest around Wang Zi offering little variation. He spent most of his time roaming, sword in hand, searching for anything worthwhile. But luck was not on his side.

He had encountered a few mutated beasts, taking them down with ease, but they were few.

Most of the time, the forest seemed eerily quiet, as if the beasts were avoiding him. The lack of significant encounters left Wang Zi restless.

"I'm not getting anywhere with this," he muttered on the morning of the fifth day, brushing leaves off his shoulders as he sat on a rock.

The plants and rocks he came across all looked the same to him. Without any knowledge of their value, he'd quickly dismissed the idea of collecting them.

His attempt at survival points was no better. Without a consistent location, building a proper shelter wasn't feasible. The most he had managed was roasting meat from the beasts he'd killed.

"Survival points for not starving," he scoffed, biting into a piece of cooked meat. "As if anyone here would starve to death."

The absence of any visible ranking system inside the Dome left all the participants in the dark about their performance. Wang Zi wasn't particularly concerned, but he had hoped to have made some headway by now.

"Sigh... At this rate, I'm not getting first place," he admitted, leaning back against a tree. "No shelter, no artifacts, and barely any beast kills worth mentioning."

He tapped his sword against the ground thoughtfully. His agility wasn't was high, but it alone wasn't enough to scout the Dome effectively, and he didn't want to rely on the Rinnegan too much. The risk of exposing it wasn't worth it, not yet.

"Guess I'll have to focus on taking down contestants if I see any," he decided.

"Maybe lady luck will grace me with her presence this time."

During his wanderings, Wang Zi had noticed a faintly visible sphere hovering in the air above him. It was hard to spot, almost blending into the sky perfectly. But once he noticed it, it was impossible to ignore.

"So that's how they're keeping track of us," he thought, glancing up at the orb while pretending not to notice.

"Guess the audience needs their entertainment."

He wondered if the same orb followed every participant or if there was a larger network of them scattered throughout the Dome. Either way, its presence didn't bother him, he'd already resigned himself to the constant observation.

In the afternoon of the fifth day, something changed. Wang Zi felt it before he saw it, a subtle shift in the atmosphere, like the forest was holding its breath.

He stood still, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword as he scanned the area. The faint hum of mana that had permeated the air since his arrival now pulsed irregularly, sending shivers down his spine.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered, his senses on high alert.

"Don't tell me there really was something wrong with the place? Were the novels and anime right for once...?"

The orb above him flickered briefly, as if reacting to the change. Wang Zi frowned, his unease growing. Whatever was happening, it wasn't normal.

As the Dome's mana surged irregularly, the audience outside and the participants within felt an ominous presence. While most assumed this was part of the competition, the Awakener Academies' representatives and principals exchanged wary glances. The Dome's strange behavior wasn't in the schedule, and its unusual mana fluctuations were beyond their understanding.

Wang Zi was resting on a tree stump, chewing on the roasted meat of a mutated beast he'd slain earlier.

Suddenly, he felt it - a subtle hum within the mana.

"What now?" he muttered, frowning. The mana had taken on a faint grayish tint, barely perceptible to the naked eye but clear to his enhanced vision.

"Gray mana?" Wang Zi murmured, his frown deepening. "That's new."

As Wang Zi stood, preparing to move, he caught movement in his peripheral vision. His sword was already halfway out of its sheath before he turned.

From the dense foliage emerged a group of mutated beasts. Their forms were familiar, ones he'd encountered earlier in the competition, but something was different now.

"Ah? Not avoiding me anymore?" Wang Zi was surprised, did the gray mana give them courage? But then he noticed something.

Their eyes, now glowed an unnatural black. Their movements were erratic, their bodies twitching as if struggling to contain something.

And then came the gray mist, tendrils of it seeping from their bodies, twisting and writhing as it spread through the air.

"Well well well, ain't that something." Wang Zi muttered, his lips curling into a smirk.

"ROAR!!"

One of the beasts roared and charged at Wang Zi.

"Come to daddy points!" Wang Zi just laughed.

Wang Zi sidestepped the first attack with ease, his enhanced reflexes allowing him to track every twitch of the beast's muscles. With a single fluid motion, he swung his sword slicing cleanly through the creature's side.

But instead of falling, the beast let out an even more frenzied roar. The gray mist pulsed violently from the wound, the creature's eyes glowing brighter as it turned on him again, unbothered by its injury.

"Oh, come on," Wang Zi groaned. "You're supposed to die when I do that."

The other beasts didn't wait. Two more lunged at him from opposite sides, their claws and fangs glinting in the dim light. Wang Zi ducked low, his blade flashing as he spun, leaving trails of fiery arcs in the air.

"Sun Breathing: Clear Blue Sky!" he shouted, the flaming slash severing the legs of both attackers in a single motion.

But again, they didn't stay down. The gray mist seemed to bind their wounds, regenerating their limbs at an alarming rate.

"This mist…" Wang Zi muttered, his expression darkening as he took a defensive stance. "It's not just mana huh. Looks like that goo that came from the thing in the last round..."

"In that case I'll just burn them to a crisp."

Wang Zi then started breathing in accordance to Sun Breathing, and almost instantly a cloak of flames was draped over him.

"Fuuu... One move.

Sun Breathing, Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!"

Wang Zi's sword turned into a blur, slashing an uncountable number of times in the air, the slashes themselves forming a blazing dragon.

"Go!" Wang Zi slashed one final time, before the flame dragon swooshed through the three beasts, immediately turning them to ash.

Wang Zi exhaled slowly, the fiery glow of his sword fading. The oppressive silence returned, the gray mist swirling lazily around the corpses. He glanced at the remains of the creatures, ensuring they weren't regenerating again.

"Finally," he muttered, sheathing the Nichirin sword. "Now, what the hell is this mis-"

CLUNK!

The sharp sound echoed through the forest, breaking the stillness. Wang Zi's head snapped toward the source of the noise, his brow furrowing.

A few meters away lay a familiar object - the spherical monitoring device that had been silently following him since the start of the competition. But now, it was completely blackened, the once sleek surface corroded and jagged as if melted by acid.

"Guess that's what happens when this mist touches you," Wang Zi mused, stepping closer to inspect it. The ball was smashed, likely from falling from such a great height, but the corrosive damage was unmistakable.

He crouched near the wreckage, his fingers brushing against the blackened surface.

"Looks like I'm not being watched anymore," he said, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

With the monitoring device destroyed, Wang Zi decided it was safe to fully unleash the Rinnegan. His fingers slid the Nichirin sword back into its sheath before he stood straight and opened his eyes wide, revealing the eerie, concentric purple circles of his Rinnegan.

The world around Wang Zi shifted as the Rinnegan's vision enhanced his perception. The gray mist's swirling patterns became more vivid, and then he noticed something that froze him in place.

Above the beasts' lifeless bodies, faint, ethereal forms floated upward.

"Are those..." he whispered, stepping closer, his Rinnegan focusing on the translucent shapes. "Souls?"

The mist seemed to be pulling them, guiding them toward a faint, almost imperceptible stream of energy in the distance.

His heart raced as realization dawned on him. These weren't just corrupted beasts - their souls were being harvested by the gray mist, dragged toward something deeper within the Dome.

As he observed the drifting souls, Wang Zi felt a sudden pull within himself. The Rinnegan seemed to stir, almost alive, as an instinctual hunger washed over him.

"What the..." Wang Zi muttered, clutching his chest as the hunger clawed at him. It wasn't painful, but it was undeniable, a need, a yearning to consume the souls before him.

Then he remembered.

The system had once mentioned that the Rinnegan could absorb souls to strengthen itself. It was a feature he had entirely forgotten, given his caution about exposing the Rinnegan. But now, with no prying eyes, the opportunity was right in front of him.

"So, all this time... I could've been powering up?" Wang Zi groaned, remembering the beasts he'd slain earlier in the competition.

"Damn it. All those wasted souls. Well, better late than never."

Wang Zi raised his hand, focusing on the floating souls.

"Ningendō." He muttered.

A faint ripple of energy extended from his Rinnegan, forming a subtle gravitational pull. The souls hesitated for a moment before being drawn toward him, like moths to a flame.

The first soul touched his palm, and an overwhelming surge of energy coursed through his body. It wasn't just raw power, it was knowledge, memories, fragments of the beasts' lives that became part of him.

"Whoa," Wang Zi said, shaking his hand as if to steady himself. "That's... intense. And useless."

The remaining souls followed, one by one, disappearing into his outstretched hand. As the last soul faded into his Rinnegan, Wang Zi exhaled deeply, the hunger subsiding for now.

"Not bad," he muttered, a smirk creeping onto his face. "I might not need alot of SP to fully unlock the Rinnegan if souls have this much effect."

His eyes scanned the distance where the faint energy stream disappeared into the mist.

"Let me see if there's a big meal waiting for me then." he said, his Rinnegan flaring as he began to follow the trail.

As the gray mana began to seep across the virtual world, the audience outside the Dome started to shift uneasily in their seats. At first, it was subtle - a faint discoloration of the usually vibrant environments displayed on the contestants' screens.

But when one screen after another turned completely black, the tension in the plaza reached a fever pitch.

"Why are the feeds cutting out?" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Is this part of the test?" another asked.

The announcer, stationed near the central holographic display, tapped furiously at a console. His usual confident demeanor was gone, replaced by visible frustration.

"Calm down, everyone!" he called out, his voice slightly shaky. "We're experiencing... technical difficulties. Please remain in your seats!"

But his words did little to quell the growing unease.

In the viewing room reserved for the Awakener Academies, tension ran thick. Silhouettes of powerful figures leaned forward, their features obscured by the darkened space.

"This isn't a glitch," one of them growled, their voice sharp and commanding. "Look at the mana fluctuations."

"It's gray mana," another figure muttered, their voice tinged with disbelief.

The eldest among them, Lulu, the Psychic, spoke with a grim tone.

"It's something far worse than we anticipated. This isn't the Dome malfunctioning. This reeks of the Silent Ones."

Her declaration sent a ripple of unease through the room.

At the edge of the plaza, Principal Anton Wanderer of Nexus Academy slammed his fist against the console nearest to him. His face was flushed with anger and fear as he turned to Principal Gregory Solis of Lumina Nova Academy.

"This isn't right," Anton barked. "We need to get in there and get our students out, now!"

Solis, though equally concerned, kept his composure. "The Dome was supposed to be stable. It's been used for years without incident. What's changed?"

"The humans' lack of caution, that's what," interjected another principal from a higher-ranked academy, his tone dripping with disdain.

"This artifact is ancient. We should have handed it over to the Consortium the moment we found it."

Anton rounded on him, his eyes blazing. "So they could experiment on it and leave us in the dark? No thanks. We've handled it fine until now."

"Handled it?!" the other snapped. "Look at it!"

The Dome, visible from their position, was now shrouded in an impenetrable layer of gray mist. It pulsated with an eerie rhythm, and every attempt to breach it, whether with mana-infused tools or brute force, was met with failure.

Lulu folded her arms, her piercing gaze fixed on the mist-covered Dome. "This wasn't random. The Silent Ones must have planned this long ago."

A younger representative from another academy frowned.

"But the Dome has been stable for years. Why now?"

"Because it was dormant," Lulu said grimly. "Artifacts like this don't activate without purpose. It's been lying in wait, gathering energy, waiting for the right conditions to awaken."

"And what happens now that it's awake?", Principal Solis turned toward her, his face pale. 

Lulu didn't answer immediately. Instead, she closed her eyes, reaching out with her psychic abilities toward the Dome.

Her body stiffened as a wave of dark energy pushed back against her mind. She gasped, her eyes snapping open, filled with fear.

"It's a soul farm," she whispered, barely audible.

The room fell silent.

"A soul farm?" Anton asked, his voice hoarse.

"Yes," Lulu said, her tone heavy. "The Dome isn't just an artifact. It's a trap. The Silent Ones might use structures like this to harvest souls. No wonder the world resets itself, they want the souls..."

The principals and Awakener representatives worked tirelessly, trying every method at their disposal to breach the mist. Mana cannons, teleportation spells, and advanced Consortium technologies, all failed.

"This gray mana," Solis muttered, his voice low, "It feels alive."

"And it's protecting the Dome," Anton added grimly. "Whatever's happening inside, we're locked out."

As the mist continued to ripple ominously, a grim understanding settled over the crowd and the leaders. The human federation's arrogance, their decision to keep the Dome instead of handing it over to the Consortium, had come at a heavy price.

The principals and Awakener representatives gathered beneath the massive holographic rankings board, their eyes scanning the names for any sign of change.

"The ranking still updates," one of the academies' leaders said, pointing to a name that had climbed two places. "They're still scoring points. That means they're alive."

"For now," Anton muttered darkly.

Principal Solis narrowed his eyes at the display. "What happens if one of them dies?"

A grim silence fell over the group.

"No one's ever died inside the Dome," Lulu said softly, her expression unreadable.

"It wasn't supposed to be possible."

"But we've never dealt with something like this before," Anton countered, motioning toward the mist-shrouded Dome. "The Silent Ones don't follow the rules. If they've corrupted this place, then anything could happen."

A young Awakener representative frowned. "We can't even confirm if death in the Dome means death in reality."

Lulu glanced at him, her voice sharp. "You think the Silent Ones would allow these souls to return to their bodies after they've been harvested?"

The young man's face paled, and he said nothing more.

Solis rubbed his temples in frustration. "So, all we have is this ranking. If their name turns black, we know they've been disqualified."

"And if it doesn't?" Anton asked, his voice low.

"Then we pray the ranking still updates," Lulu replied, her tone grim. "Because if it doesn't... they might already be gone."

Attempts to breach the Dome continued in the background. High-level mages chanted complex spells, while scientists from the Human Federation worked tirelessly, analyzing the gray mist.

"Every mana signature we send into the Dome is reflected back," one researcher said, staring at his holographic interface. "It's like the mist is alive, intelligent, even."

"It's not just intelligent," Lulu interjected, her voice cold. "It's predatory. And it's feeding."

The audience, too, was growing restless. The suspense of the competition had turned into outright fear.

"What if something's really wrong in there?" a young woman whispered.

Her friend shook his head. "The ranking's still updating. That means they're okay... right?"

"Then why are so many names staying still!?" She countered.

As the leaders continued their efforts to breach the mist, Principal Solis sighed heavily, looking toward the Dome.

"Human greed is really... Sigh."