Looking down at a floating screen before him, Marvin Puckle was fascinated and confused. He spent the last several minutes staring at it. When the screen first appeared, he was so surprised that he shouted and fell over backwards. The other employees looked at him, several jumping as well, especially the girls.
His nervousness continued for a while, and at first, he didn't want to approach it, but curiosity won out. Plus, the screen kept hovering in its original spot, even though he kept moving around the room.
Once he saw that there wasn't any danger, he read the screen and went through a rollercoaster of emotions. He finally settled down and accepted the weirdness of the situation.
The screen invited him to join a special contest from people throughout many universes. The grand prize of this contest was the full support of MegaSystems Inc., a gaming company or something, to reach the pinnacle of existence in a universe of his choosing.
His own universe, "Wouldn't that be great?" he thought to himself. Marvin scrutinized the screen to learn more about the details of the contest, but nothing more was available. It was either blindly agree or blindly disagree.
"I guess there's no reason for me not to say yes. Although I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, it's got to be better than what I'm doing now. Marvin stood in the back room of a fast-food joint. He is currently the store manager. He can't complain about the salary; it was great, but there was one thing that he just could not stand. He always smells like Grease. It didn't matter how many showers he took or how many different clothes he wore. All he could ever smell was grease. Dates noticed this too, and well, he was an expert at first dates, let's just say that.
Marvin chose not to go to college; it was too expensive, and he believed in the good old American pull yourself up by your bootstraps approach, which meant he went out and got a job. At twenty-five-years old, Marvin was stuck for the time being as the store manager.
The next level from the store manager was a regional manager position, and that was a job that he discovered didn't come along very often. Having hit the current ceiling in his career, he had been pondering what to do with himself.
Marvin always imagined great things for himself, but he always felt that his plan to work his way up from the bottom of the company to the very top, although a great plan perhaps 20 years ago, but today, with the oversaturation of fast food markets, there weren't enough opportunities.
For a while, he considered finding a new path for himself. Now, a new path popped up right in front of his face in the form of a floating panel, inviting him to join a crazy contest.
Marvin agreed to participate in this great contest. Next, a little movie flashed across the screen, and in the movie. He saw people of different stripes, colors, and creeds wearing various types of clothes.
Some look like soldiers in the modern world, superheroes, and others like cultivators. It was a wild assortment of different characters, but they were all fighting one another. According to the message below the screen, this scene was actually taken from one of the prior contests, which shocked and horrified Marvin, because people were dying.
Fast forwarding through all the ups and downs of the battle, there are only two people left, and those two people, one holding a sword and the other engulfed in some kind of crazy Spirit energy or something, wearing a strange karate gi. It was reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z.
The two squared off, and the man with the sword yelled out, "There can be only one!" "Oh, that's the Highlander," Marvin said to himself. The two clashed, and before he knew it, one stood victorious, not the Highlander, but the man in the strange karate gi.
DBZ guy erupted in a display of ultimate might, closing the movie of the battle.
Marvin realizes he agreed to a contest where winning meant ultimate power and losing meant death. And to Marvin's disappointment, there was no back button or way to exit from the sudden agreement he made.
Finally, the screen changed, and the entire new screen was a message.
To prepare, you will begin by traveling to various worlds and acquiring power. To aid you in this acquisition, you will be given a system. The type of system will be at your discretion.
Please choose from one of the following systems. Remember, once this choice is made, it cannot be unmade. Marvin became extremely serious about this choice, which could determine his life and death.>
Before him, there was a list of system types:
Cultivation & Internal Power Systems
RPG, Game, & Stat-Based Systems
Reincarnation, Time, & Identity Systems
Quest, Reward, & Progression Systems
Bloodline, Talent, & Evolution Systems
Summoning, Companion, & Contract Systems
Artifact, Legacy, & Inheritance Systems
Survival, Dungeon, & Apocalypse Systems
World-Building, Territory, & Faction Systems
Crafting, Knowledge, & Technology Systems
Dimensional, Multiverse, & Cosmic Systems
Narrative, Meta, & Awareness Systems
Movie, Genre, & Cinematic Systems
Character Template, Role, & Persona Systems
Morality, Reputation, & Social Systems
Control, Balance, & Restriction Systems
"Geez, look at all these systems. Maybe I should stick with something I'm familiar with. I can't imagine the learning curve on the cultivation systems. World building...no. Multiverse system is a maybe...I don't like apocalypses, usually zombies, which I hate. There are so many here. Character template, that's a possibility. RPG, no, I never had the patience for those.
Oh, here we go, 'Movie, Genre, and Cinematic Systems'! That's really promising. There are so many different types here:
Movie-role systems, Movie-arc simulation systems, Movie-technology systems, Movie-power systems, Movie Assimilation systems, Film-genre systems, Script-following systems, Script-deviation punishment systems, Scene-based progression systems, Director/producer authority systems, Audience-reaction systems, Box-office/popularity systems, Cinematic trope systems, Genre-enforcement systems
Here it is, here's one I like:
Movie Assimilation Systems, the acronym for this is MAS, which means more in Spanish!
These five seem to be pretty good:
Cinematic Inheritance SystemAllows the user to inherit technology, abilities, and knowledge from completed films, but only from a single "legacy thread" per movie. The inherited power reflects the theme of the film rather than its strongest element, preventing immediate god-tier scaling.
Reel Worlds SystemTreats each movie as a semi-real pocket world that the user must enter and survive. Rewards are granted only after resolving the core conflict of the film, and items or abilities weaken outside their native genre unless fully mastered.
Silver Screen Assimilation SystemConverts cinematic concepts into reality-compatible equivalents. Advanced technology and supernatural abilities are downgraded into early-stage frameworks that must be rebuilt through research, training, or cultivation, ensuring long-term progression.
Movie Script SystemBinds the user to narrative roles within each film—hero, supporting cast, or hidden variable. Powers are earned through performance, decision-making, and deviation from scripted outcomes, with greater rewards tied to greater narrative risk.
Mythic Cinema CodexCategorizes films into tiers (mundane, legendary, mythic) and restricts access accordingly. Early films grant foundational skills and principles, while higher-tier cinema unlocks conceptual powers only after the user establishes sufficient personal "story weight."
There it is! The Movie Script System, that's the one for me. This is great, I can control the danger level, get the rewards I need, and I don't have to worry about changing things. In fact, changing things might get me better rewards.
Marvin clicked yes, and a new series of questions popped up.
Non-Sentient & Passive Systems
Responsive & Reactive Systems
AI & Intelligence-Based Systems
Sentient & Living Systems
Personality & Emotional Systems
Moral, Ethical, & Value-Based Systems
Autonomous & Independent Systems
Manipulative & Adversarial Systems
Restrictive & Controlling Systems
Cooperative & Supportive Systems
Symbiotic & Bonded Systems
Hostile & Survival-Oriented Systems
Limited, Broken, & Unstable Systems
Hidden & Obscured Systems
Authority, Scope, & Control-Level Systems
Temporal & Evolutionary Systems
Narrative & Meta-Existence Systems
System–Host Relationship Types
Communication & Interface Styles
Failure, Endgame, & Exit Systems
Wow, this system is really customizable.
Marvin spent over an hour working on his system setup. When an employee asked him something, Marvin either gave a short answer or told them to figure it out for themselves. This behaviour was unusual for Marvin, but stranger still was that Marvin seemed to be staring at something and occasionally moving his fingers like he was trying to poke something.
Before him was his cool system profile:
Name: Nova Kane (formerly Marvin Puckle)
System: Movie Script System
System Type: AI Assistant, no personality or sentience
Homeworld: Highlander 2026 (formerly Earth non-cinematic 2026)
Powers: None
Skills: None
Technology: None
Artifacts: None
Marvin hesitated as he was about to select 'yes'. He looked away from the screen and called to an employee, "Lemonjello! Come here for a second." A young eighteen-year-old African American walked over to Marvin.
"What's up, Marvin?"
"Do you think the name Nova Kane is cool?"
"Novacain, you mean that they shoot into your gums when you're about to have a tooth pulled?" The young man asked.
"Darn, I knew it sounded familiar. Okay, if you could choose a cool name, what would it be?"
"I have a cool name," the young man said, looking at his boss with something like quiet pleading.
"Of course, you have a great name. I want to make a cool name for a game character, what do you think?"
Smiling, Lemonjello thought for a moment, "Crosshair, Kurt Kang, Jason Dark, only I would spell it like D-a-r-q-u-e." The young man continued to rattle off a bunch of names.
"What are you guys talking about?" Another young man, Carter Smith, asked. The conversation attracted him.
"Marvin's asking for game character names, and I gave him some great ones, but he doesn't like any."
What's the game?" Carter was a big game enthusiast, so he knew all the latest games.
Caught off guard, Marvin finally admitted, "I don't know the name, but it's an adventure game where you go into different worlds. The name needs to sound cool no matter where I go."
"Oh, that sounds like fun. Try and find out the name of the game, I'd like to play it." Lemonjello nodded in agreement with Carter.
"I'll do my best. Any suggestions?" Marvin was getting a little impatient.
Carter thought carefully, "If you're going into different worlds and you need to blend in then you need to have a pretty generic name, but if you want the cool factor, maybe you could also have an alias."
"What would you suggest?"
"You could do aliteration, like Bruce Wayne, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, and so forth. The names sound pretty normal, but there's the cool literary factor. You could also do something that has a hint of a greater identity, like Han Solo or Diana Prince. She's a princess, so Prince doesn't make the immediate connection, but it's kind of a wink to the audience. You could give yourself a regular name like Tony Stark, Dick Grayson, and so forth."
"Which way would you go, Carter?"
Carter's eyes brightened up, "What about Cyrus Alexander, two famous kings and one name!"
Marvin's eyes squinted and then widened, "I like it! Lunch is on me, Carter and Lemonjello!"
"You mean it's free, you don't mean like the 10% employee discount, right?" Lemonjello asked.
Pulling out his wallet, Marvin gave each kid fifty dollars, "Keep the change!" The youngsters looked at one another happily.
Putting the new name Cyrus Alexander into the computer, he immediately accepted this as his new name.
After this, he settled on his first movie world, chose the rewards he wanted, and the system gave him a mission that would result in getting those rewards. When he finished, he examined everything before authorizing the mission start.
Movie World Chosen:
Movie1: Star Wars
Character Chosen: Anakin Skywalker - Attack of the Clones
Chosen Rewards: Force User (all Universes), Lightsaber, Jedi knowledge and skills, droid blueprints, blaster blueprints, Anakin's mechanical aptitude
Mission: The film's plot must be drastically altered, triggering consequences that reshape the galaxy itself.
Time Dilation: 1 second (Homeworld): 365 years (Star Wars Galaxy)
Time Limit: None
Cyrus (formerly Marvin) looked around the restaurant and felt a wave of nostalgia. He worked here for seven years. He remembered all his friends and some of his enemies who had come through here and left. He thought about his life, and finally hit 'yes'. "There's no one here that would miss me."
Cyrus disappeared.