"My room... my perfect world. When I'm in here, I feel at peace," Sky muttered, leaning back in his squeaky gaming chair.
It groaned under his weight, like it was begging for retirement, but Sky barely noticed.
The glow from his LED strips bounced off walls covered in anime posters—Zoro mid-slash, Gojo casually flexing infinity, Naruto doing his usual motivational pose.
On his desk: a leaning stack of manga, a collection of action figures that had seen battles, and a laptop clinging to life like it owed him rent.
He scrolled through his usual anime library and landed on his favorite: Arifureta.
"Time to watch the GOAT again," he said with a grin, cracking his knuckles like he was prepping for a tournament.
With headphones that had been duct-taped more times than he could count, he leaned in and pressed play.
The opening theme hit, and it was like everything else in the world just vanished. School drama? Gone.
Homework? What homework? Judgment from the real world? Irrelevant.
This was his world where betrayal turned into power. Where you could fall into a dungeon and crawl out as a god.
"Wow… those first episodes are amazing," he said, fully immersed. "I can feel them in my veins."
He hovered over the final episode.
"I'll watch the last episode and go to sleep."
Just as he was about to click Play, the lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then his PC screen blinked. Hard.
A static charge filled the room.
And then… it happened.
A host-like figure started coming out of the monitor. Not appearing—literally sliding out like some cursed update from another realm.
Sky jumped from his gaming chair like it had caught fire.
He flipped over the bed and crash-landed in the corner, clutching his pillow like a shield.
"Psalm 23: Though I walk through the valley—" he stammered, uttering Bible verses like a grandma caught in a horror movie.
The figure hovered there, glowing faintly like a ghost trapped in Windows 98.
"Kid. Hey, kid. I know you're scared and all, but I don't have time for your crap," the thing said flatly.
Sky peeked from behind the blanket. "Who… who are you?" he asked, surprised that he didn't sound scared anymore.
Who knew when that confidence kicked in?
"Well, kid, I'm the genie sent by an interested god. She likes you," it said, arms crossed.
"But why she sent me? I don't know. I had a lot of stuff to do. Could've sent one of the newbies instead."
"...So you're telling me I can get three wishes and stuff, just because some lady has a crush on me?" Sky asked, slowly rising from the bed.
"Yes. But I'm not just any genie. I'm the anime genie.But not the ginie of time so chop chop kid."
The genie turned and glanced around the room. The manga shelf. The paused Arifureta episode. A poster of Zoro. Action figures of Naruto and Gojo in mid-battle pose.
He nodded.
"Now I see why she sent me."
"Okay, okay." Sky rubbed his hands together. "Let's get to it. I want three things."
"Shoot."
"First—transmigration. But you choose the world. I want the surprise."
"Bold. Alright."
"Second—I want a system. A choice-based one. Stats. Quests. Skill trees. The whole shebang."
"Classic."
"And lastly—I want to choose my bloodline and all that description stuff. I wanna look good when I pop out."
The genie looked mildly impressed. "Okay, kid. I have to admit, you're more organized than most."
Sky nodded like he'd been training for this moment his whole life.
"What's the goddess's motive, anyway?" he asked.
"I don't know. Immortals are weird. You never know what they want. One minute they're watching you binge anime at 2AM, next thing they're sending me to upgrade your life like I'm a fantasy Uber driver."
Suddenly, the genie's form began to glow.
"All your wishes meet the community guidelines. Let's get started."
"Wait—community guidelines?"
The genie ignored him and stepped back.
"Give me space to work, boy."
His body grew larger, light flaring like a supernova trapped in a hoodie. He raised a glowing hand and—
DING!
A blue window popped up in front of Sky's face.
"That window's for selection," the genie said. "Choose the stuff you want on there."
Sky's eyes widened.
It was finally happening.