Canon Fodder Novel START OF BOOK 4 CHAPTER 319 PROLOGUE

START OF BOOK 4 CHAPTER 319 PROLOGUE

My na is Mikhail. I assu I had a good childhood. Unfortunately my younger life is a blur. The first true mory I had was crawling from a frozen lake. My friends had tried to save , or so they said. I had fallen through the ice far out on the lake. I had apparently swam to the edge on my own. Breaking myself free long after I should have succumbed to the cold.

We had been too scared of discipline from our families to say anything. Over ti my mories before that event were forgotten. Simply washing away like lted snow in spring.

I was told I beca different after that incident…Colder almost. I simply beca aware. Aware of my surroundings. Aware that my actions had consequences. While the other boys were busy being children, I beca disinterested in them and the gas they played.

When I was old enough I joined the military. I did my ti and ended up traveling. I spent a lot of ti in China and Korea. In those countries there was more access to outside entertainnt. I rembered seeing my first video ga as a young man. Born far from a city I had never run into such things. It was an arcade ga called Double Dragon. For the first ti in a long ti, I was interested in sothing. I beca engrossed with it and other gas.

After leaving the military I traveled more. Enjoying all the past tis that had eluded . Where my awareness of the mundane nature of my life was brought to bare, my mind turned to other avenues to try to find enjoynt. Gas, movies, manga, everything was an interest to . For the first ti, I was the older kid desperate for the release of this or that book or ga. I lived in Japan. The Aricas. Europe. Acting as a Russian interpreter and translator, I did my best to fit into the countries. Eventually settling in Canada.

My past life was a blur. No enjoynt in it. Instead I focused on other worlds made by people I would never et. I was drawn to any and everything to pass the ti. I beca quite good at video gas. Never competition worthy, but they weren’t about getting the highest score. They were about drawing

away from the dull life I lived before.

I never married. Never had kids. No friends that I interacted with other than through a screen. I simply existed. No matter where I was, I beca the weird foreigner that never talked. Hardly leaving my room I had been happy with that simple existence.

I died in a fire. My body wasn’t as fit as it had been once upon a ti. Especially after I could do my translation job from ho.

I woke up near the end of the fire. After my nerves had been burned off. I didn’t feel much of anything. Simply waited for it to end. And once it was over, and I felt my last breath leave , I was fine with it.

I was quite surprised to open my eyes again. In a large black room with 4 red lights over 4 doors I sat up to find I had my younger body. 15 or 16 years old. As I stood up I noticed the blue female figure appear in the room.

“Hello Mikhail,” she said in perfect Russian.

“Cortana?” I asked. She was as I rembered from the Halo video ga, but far more life-like. Blue luminescent skin. Short black hair. Skin tight clothes. Halo was the first ga I had beco an expert at. I had played it for days on end. Thousands of hours. I had looked forward to its release. Posted tips and tricks on the ga. It was my passion.

“I am the Moderator,” she said. “But you can call

the Moderator if you want.”

“Okay…” I said slowly. “Is this-”

“Hell, purgatory, heaven? No. Sorry to interrupt, but I have to get through a lot of these. Welco to the Challenge. You and 9,999 others that died around the ti you died, have been brought here. Or more specifically, rooms just like this one. No, I can’t tell you why you were picked. Why we are putting you through this. What happened after you died. None of that. Think of this place as a second chance, and take it for the gift it is.”

“Which is?”

“A second chance,” she said with a huff. “Are you not paying attention?” Her hands behind her back she began to walk the periter of the room. “Beyond these doors will be every world you ever dread of visiting. Halo?” She pointed at herself. “One Piece, Marvel, Tales of Demons and Gods, Solo Leveling, Gravity Falls, Harry Potter, Stranger Things. Any and every popular form of entertainnt is at your fingertips, you simply have to pick your favorite.”

A screen popped up in front of my face.

Please Pick 4 Halls.

Note: The First Hall Chosen will be your Main Hall. Your Main Hall will have different perks and advantages.

Books

Comics

Manga

Manhwa

Ani

Movies

Television

Video Gas

Manhua

Cartoons

“What am I picking these for?” I asked.

“To live,” she said. “That’s all I can tell you on that question.”

So that ant there were other questions I could ask. “Why is there an Ani and Manga Hall? Most manga are ani. Are they separate?”

“No, they will have a lot of the sa worlds. The main difference is filler episodes mostly,” she admitted. “And there are so interesting worlds that don’t have manga. There are a lot of shared worlds though.”

I nodded. My decisions weren’t too hard. I pushed Video Gas, then Ani, Manga, and Television.

“Very good,” Cortana said. “Now please pick the available side worlds.” More screens popped up. First was video gas. There was an Eroge option, Puzzles, Shooting gas, Strategy, Racing, Sports. A whole list of options that she explained were there for variety. I asked questions as I moved through the lists. She began to discuss the main goal. Trying to beco stronger. Fighting challenges. It was a lot of information to take in.

“I will go to these worlds? To live?” I asked.

“Sothing like that. I am sure that you are an expert on most all of these forms of entertainnt. You will be picking specific worlds based from these Halls. There you will challenge yourself. 11 worlds for each hall to try to beco the best you, you can be.”

“This body will travel to these worlds?” I asked, looking down to my younger self.

“No,” she said. “Of the 44 worlds you pick, we will find the specific realities with soone that looks like you. There are an infinite number of versions of these worlds, and thus there is an infinite number of worlds with a man that has pretty much your sa exact DNA.”

“They will not be ?” I asked, confused.

“Kind of. We are able to finagle things a little. Force a specific na in each Hall. For instance in the Video Ga Hall you will be…” She looked at her screen. “Mikhail Peters.”

“But my na was-”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cortana said. “That old you is dead and gone. Welco to the new yous. Don’t think too much about it.”

But I did. Any minute now I expected to be dead again. This was far too amazing of an opportunity to be true.

“Why…what picks which reality I will go to? You said that there are infinite options, which would imply there are infinites choices for these worlds.” I said, slowly putting my thoughts into words. “You said there are infinite Mikhails. How do you narrow one specific world down?”

“Good question,” she said, a smile on her lips. “Most don’t think to ask that one. You are limited on questions by the way. I’m glad you asked an interesting one.” Another screen appeared and I began to pick worlds for my Video Gas Hall. Sliding so options off the screen, I had not heard of many that were available.

“There are infinite Mikhails. We limit it to the canon as best we can, try to make sure that the quests aren’t too hard at the beginning. But we do not have the final say. Worlds pick which one you go to.”

“Worlds?”

“Yes, call it destiny, or the god of that specific reality,” she said. “We are moving your consciousness to soone that is close to the story, or far away from it. And you will more than likely try to join that story in so way. The worlds get to decide if you are worth making a main part of the story. If they fear that the protagonist can fail, and they find your past actions worthy, the world will put you near the main story.”

“These worlds know my past?”

“Oh yes. They know everything about you. You get to go to the world no matter what. But if you are found unworthy, the world may decide to test you. The world may pick a less than ideal version and see if you will sink or swim. You chose My Hero Academia. Not everyone has quirks in that world. The World itself may decide on a Mikhail that doesn’t have super powers. It is very rare to automatically have a power system at the get go. But if you prove yourself, continue to do quests despite the handicap a world may give you, the world may very well decide to reward you with quest rewards to make up for the shortfall.” I guessed that ant if I didn’t have a quirk the world might give

a quest to earn one.

“Is there any way to…prove myself to get a better…version of the world?” I asked. Worried that the choices I had made were wrong because I had spent my life behind a computer screen.

“There is a way,” she said. “Make the worlds update. In these doors there will be quests assigned by the worlds depending on your actions in them. There are a few very rare items that will cause these worlds to update. Whether that is through a Companion, or special items for that specific task. Unfortunately only unopened worlds can be updated. So if that is your goal, it’s best not to open a whole bunch of doors. But if you have been a good boy. A worthy addition to the canon. These worlds will often change the you they originally picked. Making you far more likely to join in on the fun that the protagonist gets to enjoy. Infinite worlds ans infinite possibilities. Protagonists don’t always pass the tests of these worlds. If you’re lucky, the world may even move you to a reality where there is no protagonist. You would be able to take their place, earn their rewards, and beco the center of the canon and all the fancy rewards.”

I nodded. Wrapping up my world choices I was feeling nervous.

“Now your status screen,” she said. Bringing up an invisible screen she whistled. “Woah, you already have a bonus. That’s very rare in your world.” I looked at her confused, but then she showed

the screen.

Na

Mikhail

Current Quest:

World 1:

Passive Skills:

Usable Abilities:

Bonuses:

Self-Awareness

“What does it do?” I asked.

“This is your last question. You sure you want to waste it on that?” She asked. I chewed my lip, but shook my head. She nodded. “Don’t worry, there are ways to figure it out later.”

Cortana looked at her invisible screen again. “Okay, 2 last questions on my part. Are you interested in a passive skill? It is called mory ld. There are hundreds of new lives all around you. Each of those lives have past experiences. With mory ld you would be able to know all they experienced.” She waited, I didn’t ask a question. Cortana let out a sigh. “The cost of this skill would be that you do not rember coming here, talking to , or what worlds you chose.”

“No, thank you,” I said. I wasn’t interested in losing any more mories. I already had a plan for what my last question was, and what worlds I wanted to go to.

“Too bad. My last offer. Are you interested in a skill called, Blank Slate? With this skill you would lose all your mories, except coming here and our conversation thus far, and your knowledge of the worlds you picked. All that ti you spent playing Halo would be in your head, but not your childhood crush.”

“No, thank you,” I said imdiately.

“You sure? If you took Blank Slate I would reveal which doors held which worlds. Also you would get 3 free Challenger Slots,” she said, raising her eyebrows in a suggestive way.

“No,” I said.

“Damn. Only seen that one picked like 3 tis. Always interesting. One of these days soone will pick both, and we will get a really cool Challenger,” she mumbled. I was tempted after hearing that, but I feared it would change who I was. I liked who I was.

“Last chance,” she said, hopeful. I shook my head. “Fine, last question. Ask it and I’m gone.”

I had decided against my original question. Instead of asking a simple one I walked up to the door that now read Video Gas. Opening it, Cortana followed. A long hallway ahead there was 1 door on my right, 3 on my left, and 1 straight ahead. I opened the side doors in the hallways. They had a random amount of doors. The door at the end had 11 doors all around. I guessed these were the ones I had picked.

“You said no one knows which door is which world. Is there a way to guess or assu which door is which world?” I asked.

“Never been asked that at this point,” she mumbled. “No, there is no way to know for sure. But each world has a Tier of strength that it takes to beat it. Not just the canon, but the world itself. Beating the strongest of the strong. Worlds go up to Tier 5 in difficulty. The higher the tier, usually, the closer to the entrance the door is.” She pointed at the door we just entered. “But also, the harder the story, the better the quest rewards you will have access to.”

I nodded. “That’s it then. Good luck, Mikhail. I am excited to see where you go.” With that she was gone.

Letting out a sigh I looked around. It wasn’t a question of what world I wanted. I would see if I lucked upon it. 12 doors around

I picked the one to the right of the door I walked in. As it all beca black, the scenery around

began to illuminate. I was in the cargo hold of a spaceship. One I recognized. More than a little excited there were n and won around , but I didn’t know any of the people. I was regretting not taking this mory ld skill.

Checking my body I was in armor that I recognized. Thick chunks of tal strapped to my chest, I wasn’t the main protagonist, but I must have been so marine in the background. As I tried to get more clues I received notifications.

You have chosen the Halo World

Too bad you only have 1 life. Better hope you get it right the first ti.

Rewards:

Status Screen

Access by saying or thinking Status

World Escape

Access by saying or thinking World Exit/Escape

Warning: 24 Hour Cooldown

Despite the cryptic note I had a smile on my lips. This was sowhere I always wanted to go. It was a dream co true.

“Mikhail, strap in. Gonna be bumpy!” Soone yelled from the front of the ship. I noticed others begin to secure themselves in seats. I followed their movents and to my surprise received a quest.

Halo World Quest 1:

Land safely on the ring known as Halo.

Rewards:

Spartan Muscular Enhancent

A wide smile on my lips, the world was already giving

easy quests for great rewards. At least that’s what I thought until the back of the ship blew off. Air being sucked out I saw 2 people that hadn’t strapped in properly be pulled out the rear. Both floating away in the blankness of space.

Alarms blared and I beca so scared I couldn’t help but yell, “World Escape!”

Instantly I was back in the main Video Ga Hall. “Shithead world!” I yelled. “Already ended my chances at living the life?!” I yelled louder. Hitting the door with my fist.

I knew it had been too good to be true. Angry, I cursed and kicked, upset that it had been pulled from my grasp. In Halo the Spartan, Master Chief, was on a ship called Pillar of Autumn. Chased by aliens, the ship found a large ring called Halo. People evacuated the Pillar of Autumn, which must have been where I was when all hell broke loose.

“If only there was a…” I said slowly. Standing up, the idea struck

instantly. Without hesitation I walked out of the Video Ga room. Heading back into the main Junction Room I walked through the door that read Ani. I knew just the world to help

in Halo.

Surrounded by the 11 ani worlds I asked, “Which of you is Fulltal Alchemist?” I asked.

If I could learn Edward Elric’s thod of using alchemy without a circle, maybe I could stretch the tal of the back of the spaceship enough to close the hole. Saving myself from being sucked out into space.

Unsure where to start, I picked a room at random, ready to try again. I was glad I didn’t lose my mories of the rooms. I was able to plan and choose which worlds could help

most. Everything was starting to co together.