Canon Fodder

“Holy hell,” I mumbled as I stumbled into the red room. “That was a deep one.” Whatever had been done to my mind to keep me stuck to the girls in One Punch Man World was quickly passing. Like a fog leaving me, I wasn’t nearly as desperate to be by their sides anymore.

For weeks I had been telling myself I needed to go, but there was some sort of hold that the world had put on me. The three girls anchoring me there as the challenge came ever closer. I received a new notification.

Congratulations for Opening All the Doors in the Manga Room

Please Choose Reward

Challenger Ability Slot

Challenger Bonus Slot

Challenger Item Slot

“Hell yeah,” I said. Looking through my status screen I decided on Ability. I really wanted the Psychic Resistance too but my Abilities were stronger. I clicked the reward and a new notification popped up.

Congratulations on making it to the First Challenge

Your Opponent has been chosen.

Your Challenge will begin in:

59:57:00

We recommend you pick Challenger Slots before time expires

World Doors will be Locked until the Challenge is Complete

“Fuck,” I mumbled, my heart pounding in my ears. The clock ticking down second by second, I forced myself to calm down. I had a whole hour. I pulled up my Status Screen.

Name:	Weston Watanabe
Current Quest:
World 1:	Naruto
World 1 Quest:	Save the Girls
World 2:	One Piece
World 2 Quest:
World 3:	My Hero Academia*
World 3 Quest:
World 4:	Hunter x Hunter
World 4 Quest:	Receive License
World 5:	One Punch Man
World 5 Quest:	Get to S Class
Passive Skills:	Memory Meld
	World Lasting Physique+
Usable Abilities:	Status Screen
4 Challenger Slots	World Escape
	Chakra
	Chikyugi
	World Store	Shop
	Dynamic Quirk
	Conqueror's Haki
	Cross-World Summoning
	Chakra Sense
	Berserker Mode
Bonuses:	Increased Intellect
1 Challenger Slot	Poison Resistance
	Tough Organs
	Increased Vision
	Drug Resistance
	Psychic Resistance
	Venom Resistance
Items:	Keychain
2 Challenger Slots	Chukyugi Necklace	Stored
	Seastone Jitte	Stored
	Chakra Absorption Scroll	Stored
	Arm and Leg Weights	Stored (3)
	Hero Costume	Stored
	Reject Dial	Stored (2)
	Gantz Armor	Stored (13)
	Gantz Sword	Stored
	Baria Reef Map
	Anti-Hero Costume	Stored
	World Choice
	Full Heal
	Weakness Eliminator
Currency:	Berrie	147,134,899
	Yen	1,120,995,117
	Ryo	3,210,125
	Gold	486.75
	Zeni	195,424

I slowly made a plan for which to use for my Challenger Slots. Passive Skills was out, until I figured out how to get a Challenger Slot for that set. First was Abilities then. I needed Chakra. That was a given. It could make me stronger, I could make water and other things. My chakra would be weaker if my body was weaker, but it was still required for a lot of my skill sets.

Originally I had thought Chikyugi, but that couldn’t help me in a fight. All the skill did was gave me the hearts on my junk and allowed me to use the Lust Element more easily. There were plenty of people that could use the Lust Element that did not have the Chikyugi. I would probably lose my larger dick, but I could potentially change that with Epitome in other worlds. I didn’t think Chikyugi would be needed for a fight.

The only abilities that I felt would be useful would be Dynamic Quirk, Conqueror’s Haki, and Berserker Mode. In the last few weeks Dynamic had been a bigger part of my fighting style. Allowing me to reflect back attacks and empower my own when hit. I hadn’t figured it out fully, but I was much closer than I used to be.

Left was Conqueror’s Haki and Berserker Mode. Conqueror’s Haki allowed me to have stronger Haki. I was sure Haki became stronger the stronger you were, so that meant it would be weaker if I didn’t have my World Lasting Physique. But Observation and Armament would be a godsend, weak or not.

I had played with Berserker Mode. Thinking of things that made me angry also made me stronger. But there was the risk of blacking out. There were too many what-ifs to think about. I decided to move to Bonuses. That was easy, I wanted Tough Organs. It made my skin and all my other organs thicker, able to take more damage. That left the risk of my challenger using psychic attacks, but I wasn’t too worried about it for this first challenge.

Last was Challenger Item Slots. My Chikyugi Necklace was useful, but if I didn’t have the Chikyugi skill or my huge chakra reserves, I wasn’t sure if I could use it to the fullest. Also since I didn’t know if I would have enough chakra, I needed the Seastone Jitte. I could create water through it more easily, and use it as a weapon.

The Gantz Armor was a given. It would make me stronger, and provide defense. The real question was did I want my Jitte or the Full Heal. If I could take the Full Heal then I could be losing and have another chance to continue. Basically a second life…but I was one of those idiots in video games that kept the important stuff for the end game. This was the first challenge. I needed to save the Full Heal for something. I wasn’t sure what, but it wasn’t this. Maybe if I got another Item Challenger Slot I would change my mind. But for now I needed a way to make my deadly water easily, and make my body stronger. Attack and Defend.

My Challenger Slot ideas ready. I did something that I had been putting off. Clicking the World Choice a window popped up.

Would you like to use your World Choice now?

Y/N

I meant to do this weeks ago, but then I got caught up in the One Punch Man narrative. I hoped this was what I thought it was. I clicked Y. The list was massive. Hundreds of names and titles. I poured through the screen as it kept going and going. I looked to see if there was anything I could do with the names. Turns out I was able to swipe them and get rid of some.

I went through line by line. Eliminating those names I didn’t recognize. Then focused on the list trying to memorize everything.

Books	Comics
A Song of Ice and Fire	300
American Gods	100 Bullets
Animorphs	DC Universe
Chronicles of Narnia	Hellboy
Cultivating Chaos	Invincible
Demon Cycle	League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Dresden Files	Locke & Key
Dune	Marvel Universe
Earthsea	Nimona
Farseer	Preacher
Gentleman Bastard	Saga
Harry Potter	Scott Pilgrim
How to Train Your Dragon	Sin City
Hunger Games	Smut
Kingkiller Chronicles
Lightbringer	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Lord of the Rings	The Boys
Mistborn	The Umbrella Academy
Old Man's War	The Walking Dead
Percy Jackson	V For Vendetta
Romance	Watchmen
Shannara	Y: The Last Man
Space Prison	The Mask
Steel heart
Sword of Truth
The Dark Tower
The Expanse
The First Law
The Inheritance Cycle
The Old Kingdom
The Stormlight Archive
The Witcher
Twilight
Vampire Hunter D
Wheel of Time
Manga	Manhwa
Akira	A Returner's Magic should be Special
Attack on Titan	Dungeon Reset
Berserk
Black Clover
Bleach	Hero Has Returned
Chainsaw Man	I Am the Sorcerer King
Death Note	Infinite Leveling Murim
Demon Slayer	Leveling with the Gods
Digimon	Limit Breaker
Dragon Ball Z	Movies are Real
Eroge	Murim
Fantasy Species	Murim Login
Fist of the North Star	Nano Machine
Full Metal Alchemist	Omniscient Readers Viewpoint
Gantz	Peerless Dad
Goblin Slayer	Population Replenishment
Harem	Ranker Who Lives a Second TIme
High School of the Dead	Red Storm
Highschool DxD	Seoul Station Druid
Hunter x Hunter	Sex System
Hypnotization	Slice of Life
Jujutsu Kaisen	Solo Leveling
Medabots	SSS-Class Suicide Hunter
Mind Break	The Beginning After the End
Mob Psycho 100	The Gamer
Monster Rancher	The Live
Moral Reversal	The Tutorial is Too Hard
My Hero Academia	Tomb Raider King
Naruto	Tower of God
One Piece
One Punch Man
Parasyte
Pocket Maidens
Pokemon
Shaman King
Tentacle
Tokyo Ghoul
Reincarnation
Vagabond
Vinland Saga
Yu Yu Hakusho The most update n0vels are published on novel·fire.net

These were all the possibilities I knew something about. Which meant other Challengers could have power systems from these worlds. The long list really brought home that my opponents could be anyone. I scanned through each, one at a time as I tried to remember all of the opportunities. I focused on Manga first. I had to watch out for Mob Psycho 100. Hell, Pokemon too. What if someone got a Pokeball Item? I would be screwed if someone caught a Mew or something.

There were just too many. One thing I did notice was there were no Gundams. For all I knew you could open doors later though, so I might have to watch out in the future. There was also something else glaringly obvious. There was porn.

Harem, Moral Reversal, Mind Break, Tentacle. That meant that somewhere in the hallway outside was a smut themed door. That may have been something I chose. Maybe they let me choose other doors. Either way it looked like there were perverted doors in the halls. Probably some amalgamation of all the weird hentai out there. I moved them out of the way, focusing on the possible worlds that could be in Manga.

I moved to Manhwa. This one was much more concerning. Korean comics had one theme. A guy getting super strong super fast. There were some minor differences like did he return from the past, or was there a leveling system, or whatever. Either way if you were the protagonist you were pretty much set.

The big thing I had learned in my time in manga was you usually were not the protagonist or close to him. But you could become close to him. I could try Solo Leveling but there was no way to know if I would be close to the main character to steal his cheat of leveling up. But in the world you could awaken as someone strong right out the gate, then I could try to get the World Lasting Physique and build my strength from there.

These worlds weren’t an automatic cheat. You could be a beggar in one world, then another a king. Honestly, I was really glad I had chosen the Memory Meld skill. I had woken up in Naruto already knowing how to use chakra. There were issues with it of course, like I got stuck in the drama, or had feelings for people, but still, it was helpful.

I shook my head, time was ticking and I needed to focus. I memorized the list and threw out the smut.

I moved to Comics next. The list was a lot shorter than the others. I guessed mainly because Marvel and DC were combined into their own universe. There was Smut here so I guessed there was a world with all the naughty comics. I memorized the list, but there were too many possibilities.

Moving to Books I could tell I made the right call starting with Manga when I came to the worlds. There were big possibilities of course, but manga was a lot more fun. I found that there was a Romance world too, so at least there was a theme. Maybe whoever put us here liked to watch us have sex. I poured through the list and finally I had what I guessed were the 11 worlds I had chosen when coming to this place. For Manga I sorted it to worlds I might want to check out.

Books	Comics
Animorphs	DC Universe
Demon Cycle	Hellboy
Kingkiller Chronicles	Invincible
Mistborn	Locke & Key
Old Man's War	Marvel Universe
Space Prison	Sin City
Steel heart	League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Expanse	The Boys
The Stormlight Archive	The Umbrella Academy
Vampire Hunter D	The Walking Dead
Wheel of Time	Watchmen
Manga	Manhwa
Bleach	A Returner's Magic should be Special
Death Note	Dungeon Reset
Full Metal Alchemist	Leveling with the Gods
Pokemon	Limit Breaker
	Murim Login
	Nano Machine
	Ranker Who Lives a Second TIme
	Solo Leveling
	The Live
	The Tutorial is Too Hard
	Tower of God

There was no way to close a world quickly for a Challenger Slot since the World doors were closed. But I might want to try to find Death Note in the future. I could easily end the canon for that for a quick Challenger slot. The real problem was I was limited to entertainment I knew.

I was sure there were better worlds out there. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable choosing 11 worlds I had no idea about. So my challengers could have skills I had never heard of or seen before. Luckily I was pretty vanilla. I stuck to popular stuff, so it was safe to say that people would have skills I knew about.

The question was, where did I want to go after Manga? For Books I really wanted to do Animorphs. It was a Young Adult series about an alien invasion. A group of kids ran into an alien that gave them the ability to turn into any animal they touched. I had seen some crazy animals so far. If I could get the morphing skill and learn to morph into one of the sea turtles from Naruto, that would be pretty awesome. Hell there were animals in all of these worlds that it would be great to turn into. Especially if I could morph into Pokemon. But that would have to wait. I needed to pick my next hall. I wasn’t sure it was Books.

Comics was a given. I would pick Marvel. I wasn’t as versed on DC comics, but it depended on what kind of ability my counterpart in that world had. Would I be a mutant? Or Batman’s little brother in DC? My name was Watanabe in Manga. Maybe my last name was Wayne in the Comic worlds. It sure as hell wasn’t Watanabe in my original life.

But let’s be honest. There were too many ways to get really strong in the Manhwa worlds. The people there pretty much had cheats. I needed to pick one that I could potentially be strong right away and not be almost killed immediately like in High School of the Dead. I would be starting over on my physical strength. I had to think it through. All the while the clock ticked while I thought.

I ended up with Ranker Who Lives a Second Time. It was a manhwa that followed a Korean Special Forces guy. His twin brother sends him a watch from the future that has a diary of all the tricks to follow in some tower. The tower could be climbed up and had challenges on each level. The attribute that sold it for me was the fact that right at the beginning of the tower climb you could raise physical stats based off of dodging and blocking arrows. With my Haki I could do pretty well there. That would give me a base strength and hopefully I could earn the World Lasting Physique for the Manhwa worlds.

I had thought Solo Leveling, but honestly I could turn out to be anyone. There was no guarantee I could get the cheat leveling skill. My close second had been the Tutorial is Too Hard. A normal person was able to start in the Hell Difficulty, maybe I could. But Ranker Who Lives a Second Time had too OP of a beginning step.

Then I remembered that I still didn’t have a Challenger Slot for my World Lasting Physique. Even if I did pick Manhwa, it wasn’t like the strength would transfer between worlds. I studied my own screen, I had received a lot of resistances and perks in One Punch Man in a short time. I needed to stick to worlds that had a high possibility of rewarding me with a skill or power system. Holding my breath I pushed Marvel Universe. Of all of these worlds, I was most likely to receive a super power there.

As I pushed Marvel, The light over the Junction Hallway turned from red to blue. I moved over to it. Opening the door the 4 side doors in the hall were still red, but the one straight ahead was blue. I followed it and found the Comic Hall door lit up blue.

Walking over to it I grabbed the doorknob as a pop-up came up.

WARNING YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO OPEN THE COMIC HALLWAY

Please pick the Challenger Slots you would like to keep for this new Hall.

Note: All Status screens are locked to the Hall. Skills, Abilities, Items,

and Bonuses will not be shared between Halls unless picked as a challenger slot.

No progress will be lost for leaving Halls.

Do you want to Choose Challenger Slots Now?

Yes/No

Warning 1: Those skills, abilities, bonuses, and items chosen will be locked

as challenger slots, and not be able to be changed.

Warning 2: You do not have the required Key to open a new Hall.

“Ah fuck,” I spat. I had forgotten I still needed a key to open the Hall Door. I pulled up my Keychain.

Keychain Inventory:
Door Key	0
Hall Key	0

“Shit,” I spat. In my hurry I had forgotten that I was completely out of keys. “Where the hell can I get a Hall Key?” I asked the empty room. No answer came. Looking up at the door the light was still blue, unsure if I had wasted the World Choice I noticed I could pick yes for my Challenger Slots.

I held my breath and clicked Yes. I was then prompted to click my Challenger Slots from my Status Screen. I clicked what I wanted. When I was done my body immediately became weaker. With no World Lasting Physique Challenger Slot, my real power was retreating. Strength leaving me. It felt like my body had been full of air, but was now deflating. As muscles disappeared I ground my teeth, annoyed. I had spent a long time earning these damn muscles. Now they were taking it away.

I looked down to my stomach as my 6 pack became hidden by a layer of fat. My whole body had reverted back to how I looked when I first came to in the room. I was shorter, probably only a little over 5 feet. I was maybe 12 years old again. My black scruffy hair on the top of my head, I still wore the clothes from One Punch Man world, but was severely weaker. I no longer felt as confident for the Challenge in this weaker form of me.

I breathed in and out feeling my chakra still there. A much smaller pool, I guessed maybe a quarter of what I had before. My Haki was still there, surrounding the chakra, and I felt my quirk, but everything felt weaker. I looked at my status screen.

Name	Weston Watanabe
Current Quest:
World 1:
World 1 Quest:
Passive Skills:	Memory Meld
Usable Abilities:	Status Screen
4 Challenger Slots	World Escape
	Chakra
	Give and Take Quirk
	Conqueror's Haki
	Berserker Mode
Bonuses	Toughened Organs
1 Challenger Slot
Items	Seastone Jitte	Stored
2 Challenger Slots	Gantz Armor	Stored (10)
Currency:

Honestly, it was better than nothing. My Status Screen was a hell of a lot shorter, but I felt pretty good with what I had accomplished during the last 5 years. “Weird thinking of it like that,” I said as I tried to twist the door knob for the Comic Hall Door. It didn’t budge. “Fuck you…I’ll be back,” I said, turning around to stand in the middle of the Junction between forms of entertainment.

Grumbling about my luck, I decided to just wait. Shadowboxing, I was trying to get used to my much weaker self. My body was still young. I guessed I was at the strength I was in high school. No real muscle to speak of. At least my chakra channeled through my body and my Haki worked. I became more and more nervous as the timer clicked down. Nervously putting on my Gantz armor, I continued to try to remember what worlds I had to watch out for. It wasn’t too long until the timer hit 00:00 and it all went black.