Multiversal Manifestation System

Wang Zi opened his eyes. The bright lights of the ceremony room were now blinding in comparison to the peaceful, starry void he had just left. He was back in his body, standing before the Awakening Relic. But something was different.

He felt… at peace. The overwhelming tension he had felt before was gone, replaced by a deep sense of understanding. He had no idea what this Artist class meant, but the sense of calm and creativity inside him was undeniable.

And this was all because of the sound he heard.

A soft chime rang in his ears. It was quiet at first, almost imperceptible, but then it grew louder, echoing through his mind until it seemed to fill his entire consciousness.

DING!

The sound was clear and unmistakable. It reverberated, sending a shiver down his spine. It wasn't like anything he had ever experienced, but he knew that sound. And he knew something was about to change.

Wang Zi could feel a deep sense of excitement bubbling up within him. He didn't just have a class anymore he had a system, a limitless source of power. 

Before Wang Zi could react, a blue holographic screen flickered into existence before him, seemingly invisible to everyone, including his little assistant fairy. It was like a glowing, translucent window, suspended in mid-air, with lines of incomprehensible letters and symbols quickly fading in and out.

The letters suddenly arranged themselves and displayed "Loading..."

The text shimmered for a moment, before shifting into something incomprehensible again.

Wang Zi blinked as the system's interface continued to load.

"It's here, a system... It seems my luck isn't so bad after all, hehe."

"Initializing Multiversal Manifestation System..."

"That's a weird name."

The screen flickered again, flashing with colors, blue, purple, gold each pulsing as if it was syncing with his own thoughts. Each shift felt like his mind was being connected to...something.

And then, without warning, the holographic screen flashed brighter, and a new message appeared:

"Welcome, Host Wang Zi. You are now the Host of the Multiversal Manifestation System.

This system will grant you the ability to manifest and realize abilities, powers, and items from various universes and artistic works. This system is bound to your Artist class, and will expand and evolve based on it."

Before Wang Zi could fully process the words, the system continued in a robotic voice:

"Manifestation Mechanism Detected: Artist Class.

You are now able to manifest abilities and items from universes stored in the Multiversal Database. Your primary source of power will be derived from various art forms such as movies, comics, anime, manga, novels, opera, and other creative media."

Wang Zi's mind buzzed with questions, but the system wasn't finished.

"Available Functions:

Manifestation – You can manifest abilities or powers tied to specific characters or copy a characters abilities as a template for yourself. 

Item Manifestation – Items, tools, or weapons from various universes can be realized and equipped.

Combat Manifestation – Manifest characters, creatures, or entities from various universes to assist you.

More functionalities will unlock as you upgrade the system."

"Okay, so far so good. How do I upgrade the system?"

His question was completely ignored though, as a massive holographic wheel appeared in front of him. 

"A gachapon?" Wang Zi was stunned.

The wheel was circular, with brilliant colors and a multitude of options listed on it, each corresponding to different art forms.

The wheel had no handle, no clear mechanism to turn it, and was divided in sections. Wang Zi had a feeling this was the key to unlocking the full power of his system.

There were a total of 8 sections on the wheel:

Movies | Comics | Anime | Manga | Novels | Music | Games | TV Shows

"2 of the following forms of art may be selected for manifestation. Please roll."

Wang Zi heard the system voice, but didn't rush to do it. He first glanced at what was on the wheel.

"Movies. Some great stuff could come out of here. The marvel universe is especially good, lots of good characters to copy skills out of..."

"Comics I hope I can avoid, barely read any of them. Same with music. How can I even manifest something out of music anyways?"

"Novels, if its from what I read they're completely busted, and most likely the best out of all the options. The power scaling in them is ridiculous, any protagonist cultivation method or gold finger item could make me rise in power in an instant!"

"Games... Shouldn't even be here. Between keeping my body in top shape and anime i barely played any."

"Manga and anime are basically the same thing. Aside from dragon ball, from what I watched, there's no chance of competing with the characters that come out of novels, especially the cultivation ones."

"So it all comes down to luck huh... Since I was reborn I don't believe mine is particularly bad. Alright, let's roll it then!"

Wang Zi focused on the wheel, and willed it to roll, and so it did. There was even some accompanying music that sounded suspiciously like music from the price is right.

"I must be hearing things." he said as he shook his head with a subtle smile.

A few seconds later the wheel stopped.

"Anime has been selected as one of your manifestation sources. Anime will be your primary channel for power!"

The second spin stopped just as quickly:

"Manga has been selected as well. You now have the ability to manifest from both Anime and Manga universes."

"... I just had to say they were both the same thing. Sigh."

Before Wang Zi could finish complaining though, another wheel appeared. This one was smaller, but it was even more intriguing, as it was filled with names of anime and manga series he knew and loved.

Wang Zi hurriedly scanned the names "No way, does it limit what I can select from?"

"Damnit, at least most of the anime I watched have decent power scaling, that was my thing after all, whew!"

This new wheel was also divided in sections, each one with a name of an anime or a manga he had read before. Compared to the one before however, there were more than 30 slots, 

Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, Solo levelling, Full Metal Alchemist, Berserk, Fairy Tail, Akame ga Kill, Attack on Titan, JoJo, Hunter x Hunter, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mob Psycho 100, Kill la Kill, Toriko, A Certain Scientific Railgun... Were just a few of the names Wang Zi was able to read before the wheel started spinning, this time by itself.

"Here we go..."

Wang Zi could feel a strange connection to each of the universes as they blurred before his eyes.

The first stop:

"Demon Slayer selected."

The second stop:

"Naruto selected."

The third stop:

"One Piece selected."

The fourth stop:

"One Punch Man selected."

And the fifth and final stop:

"Dragon Ball selected."

When Wang Zi saw Dragon Ball, he almost screamed at the top of his lungs!

"Calm, gotta be calm, everyone is still waiting..." But when he turned around, he let out a gasp.

"What the hell?"

"Did the system stop time to load up?" It had to, Wang Zi saw no other explanation. Everyone was frozen, staring at the blinding light on top of the awakening sphere. The light showed a man drawing something on a canvas, a typical painter. The light however was so blinding that the compatibility had to be very high.

"Yup, bright enough for 100% compatibility alright." He thought, only to be interrupted once again by the system,

"Selection completed."

Wang Zi's vision then blurred momentarily as the system continued its work, the light from the holographic screens shifting and reorganizing.

"Loading system menus..." the system's calm voice resonated in Wang Zi's mind.

"WARNING: Foreign entity with partial access to the user's brain detected. Eliminate?"

"What? With access to my brain?!"

"Wait, could it be the Virtual Brain? I really need it though..." Wang Zi pondered over the [YES] and [NO] buttons before deciding to press [NO].

"Elimination terminated. Searching for alternative... Alternative found. Would you like the system to take over the foreign entity?"

"Take over?" Wang Zi suddenly thought of the little winged fairy he talked to before, "System can you spare my personal assistant while taking over the virtual brain? Or somehow make her only linked to me, unable to be accessed from the outside?"

"Yes host."

"Good, proceed with the takeover!"

..."Takeover completed. Continuing host scan. Scanning... Unawakened talent [Improved Reflexes] found. Talent incompatible with the artist class. Removing talent to make space for [Ultra-Mind]..."

"NO!"

"I actually still have the reflexes from last life? There's no way I'm getting rid of that, the advantage in a fight is too big to give up!"

"Removal stopped by: Host. Searching for alternatives... Alternative found. Would the host like to remodel his soul to accommodate talent [Ultra-Mind]? [Ultra-Mind] is required for most system functions."

[YES] [NO]

"More talents? Of course, do it!"

Wang Zi suddenly fell to the ground clutching his head. "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFuuuuuuuuuuu-"

It felt like a part of himself was sliced open, torn from the inside out, then put together again multiple times, until it found a form the system deemed suitable.

Unfortunately for him, the system cared little for his wellbeing.

"Remodel completed. Talent [Improved Reflexes] changed to [Inhuman Reflexes]. Talent [Ultra-Mind] added to the host's soul. Continuing scan..."

Wang Zi finally felt the pain ease, and got up from the ground, "Oof... No wonder it hurt so much, so the talents are stored in my soul! I guess since I technically have two, or a merger at least, the system was able to make space for another talent... Good thing I didn't have to get rid of my old friend haha." He checked his status while the system was finishing the scan:

Name: Wang Zi

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Class: Artist

Rank: SSS (Compatibility: 100%)

Level: 1

System Level: 1

System Points: 0

Talents: [Inhuman reflexes]: Reaction speed increased by 50 times.

[Ultra-Mind]: Grants perfect memory, enhanced comprehension and control over the body.

Basic Stats (average human [10]):

Strength (STR): 12

Agility (AGI): 15

Stamina (STA): 12

Intelligence (INT): 35

Wisdom (WIS): 40

Luck (LCK): 20

"...Still plagued by low physical stats and high mana and soul stats huh."

"Nothing I can't fix after the ceremony is over." Wang Zi lifted his shirt to show his now flabby belly, "Don't worry boys, soon."

DING!

"System Fully Loaded." the system's calm voice resonated in Wang Zi's mind. "All starting Functions are now operational."

The blue holographic screen expanded once more, revealing new tabs and menus that had been previously hidden. Each of them represented a new part of the system.

"Quests have been unlocked."

"Manifestation Store has been unlocked."

"Multiverse Gachapon unlocked."

"□□□□□□□□□□□□□ locked. System level too low."

"□□□□□□ locked. System level too low."

"□□□□□□□□ locked. Host level too low."

"□□□□□□□□□□□□ locked. Host level too low."

Wang Zi frowned as he look at the screen in front of him "So many things locked..."

"I understand my level being low, but system level being low?"

As Wang Zi was wondering how to upgrade the system, he heard it again,

DING!

"Quest 1: Publish Your First Work"

Objective: Create and publish either a manga or anime from the previously selected worlds using the abilities you've unlocked from the system.

Reward: System Points x 10.000, Inventory unlocked.

"Quests... System points, and an inventory. That will come in handy."

"So that's why [Ultra-Mind] is a needed talent, without it and with my talent for art I'd be lucky to draw a stickman heh." Wang Zi mused.

"System, what are the points used for? And how do I earn them?"

"System Points (SP) are earned by completing quests, and gaining emotional responses from your creations. The greater the intensity of emotions, the more points you will earn. Negative or positive emotions have no difference. A maximum amount is set by person, depending on level.

System Points (SP) can be used to purchase manifestation privileges for items and characters from the Manifestation Store. SP is also used to upgrade the system, or the host's manifestations.

Lastly, SP is also the currency for the Multiverse Gachapon."

"I see, so that's how I upgrade you. Let's see the store then. System, open the Manifestation Store for me."

The store glimmered in the hologram, showcasing various items, artifacts and characters that Wang Zi could eventually buy. Some were grayed out, showing that they were locked until he achieved higher levels of his Artist class or earned enough System Coins. Or maybe some other conditions? But one thing bothered him.

"System, how come the characters are all blacked out?"

"Characters and templates can only be unlocked with rewards from quests, or gotten through the gachapon system. The more the Host matches the template's character the better the manifestation becomes, and the more power of the character you can draw out.

Additionally the host can comprehend the characters abilities by himself, but that will take longer. When the host reaches above 90% template completion, he can make the character's abilities his own, with their potential tied to the host instead of the character."

"When a character is unlocked, the host can use Combat Manifestation to summon the him/her using mana. If the host's mana is insufficient, SP can be used as a replacement."

"I see."

"Comprehend their abilities, or act like them. It seems the system really wouldn't work without [Ultra-Mind]. As for the points for the Gachapon, it seems i can only publish a story first."

"Beginner's gift pack delivered. Would the Host like to open it?"

"Oh, there's a gift pack too! Great! Open it up!"

"Beginner's gift pack opened: Random World Draw x1, Designated character manifestation card[No Limit] x1 , Cloaking shield x1, Federation coins x1.000.000"

"System loading complete. May the host have a pleasant experience."