Michatsu Kashimo opened his eyes to another day, feeling like his body had aged a decade overnight. His wrist ached, his back protested every movement, and his brain felt like it had been boiled, frozen, and boiled again. Yet somehow, his translucent green interface floated above his sketchpad, humming like a digital warhorse ready for another round.
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[Good Morning, Host!]
[Reminder: Manga Jump Competition Submission — Next Deadline Today!]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
He groaned. Yeah, I know, I know.
Yesterday's first chapter draft still gleamed on his desk, a messy yet functional mix of pencils, ink, and green-flag pulses. Now came the real pain: creating four more chapters today, polishing enough to submit five chapters at once. He could submit seven total in the end, but the rules were clear — maximum five chapters per submission.
Seven chapters in volume one, five now, two later… simple math. He rubbed his temples. If by simple math they meant "you're going to die from exhaustion," then yeah, sure, perfect math.
The translucent overlay chimed as if in agreement.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Auto-Assist Active — Chapter Flow Mode Engaged]
[Suggested Workflow: Draft → Green Flag → Refine → Repeat] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu leaned over his pad, eyes narrowing at the blank pages. The first panel of Chapter 2 needed to hook the reader immediately, following the same energetic tension as Chapter 1. He recalled the download of JJK, now embedded in his brain via system-purchased chapters. Every line, every expression, every pose was there — waiting to be reproduced in his own style.
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[Tip: Start Chapter 2 with high impact action]
[Hint: Introduce new supporting character in first panel for engagement] ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
High impact action… supporting character… yeah, yeah. Michatsu scowled, gripping his pencil.
The translucent green overlay sprang to life, projecting a ghostly pose of the protagonist lunging into the street, fists raised, dynamic motion lines already pulsing across the page. He traced over them, feeling the familiar thrill of green-flag confirmations each time his strokes aligned with the projected guidelines.
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[Green Flag: Chapter 2, Panel 1 — Achieved]
[Skill Check: Motion Flow — 72%]
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Okay… that wasn't too bad. He tapped his wrist, flexing fingers already stiff from hours of drawing yesterday.
By mid-morning, he had rough layouts for all panels of Chapter 2. The translucent overlay nudged him to adjust panel pacing, suggesting diagonal panel cuts to maximize tension and reader eye flow. Michatsu muttered under his breath, dragging lines in rapid strokes. Every panel pulsed with green flags as he refined the action sequences.
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[Skill Upgrade: Dynamic Panel Flow → Rank C]
[Passive Bonus: +10% Green Flag efficiency]
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
I'm actually… getting better at this, he admitted, though his voice was tinged with disbelief.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[System Hint: Insert subtle foreshadowing in Chapter 2 final panel]┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu tilted his head. Foreshadowing again… fine, he drew a faint shadow in the alley corner, barely noticeable yet ominous. The overlay pulsed green.
Fine, that works.
He paused to sip some cold, half-forgotten ramen, grimacing at the taste. Why do I keep surviving on this stuff?
Chapter 3 began with environmental storytelling. He wanted to show readers the city itself — neon signs, reflections in puddles, trash fluttering down alleys. The system suggested several grids and perspective overlays. One of them was comically complex, showing a three-dimensional street corner with pedestrians projected in ghostly outlines.
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[Skill Check: Environmental Detail — 77%] [Green Flag Count: 15/20]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Michatsu laughed bitterly. "I just wanted a background, not a full-scale city simulation!"
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[System Note: Host humor detected. Stress reduced by 5%.] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
He shook his head and went along with it, adding reflections in puddles, faint silhouettes, and subtle light gradients. Green flags blinked approvingly with every correct placement. By the time he finished, the first few panels of Chapter 3 had a cinematic, alive feel — far beyond what his old amateur sketches could do.
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[Quest Update: Chapter 3 — Panels Drafted: 75%]
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By noon, fatigue was starting to set in. His wrist screamed with pain, his shoulder ached, and the pile of sketches was beginning to resemble a small mountain. Yet Michatsu couldn't stop. Five chapters had to be ready. The translucent overlay reminded him at regular intervals:
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Reminder: Focus required. Next Panel Completion Time — 1 hour]┗──────────────────────────────┛
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. I get it. Don't yell at me."
He moved onto Chapter 4, which required a different approach — more dialogue-heavy sequences, character interactions, but still visually engaging. The system nudged him:
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Tip: Balance dialogue with action. Avoid static panels.]
[Hint: Consider motion blur on hand gestures and subtle facial expressions.]┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu sighed, tapping his pencil on the page. Motion blur on hand gestures… sure… why not.
He sketched the protagonist in conversation, using ghostly pose projections for dynamic gestures. The translucent overlay highlighted speech bubble placements and panel spacing. Each corrected action triggered green flags.
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[Green Flag: Chapter 4, Dialogue Panels — 4/5 Achieved]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
He grinned faintly. "Almost perfect."
Chapter 5 was the hardest. It required climax action, environmental drama, and foreshadowing for future chapters. Michatsu knew that once these five chapters were polished, he could submit them all at once and gain initial momentum in the Manga Jump competition.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Tip: Action panels — exaggerate perspective for tension]
[Hint: Final panel should hook reader for next submission] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
His pencil moved rapidly across the page, following the translucent overlay's suggested perspective lines. He dragged diagonal motion lines, exaggerated angles, and subtle distortions to heighten drama. Green flags blinked with every successful adjustment.
By mid-evening, all five chapters were mostly complete — thumbnails polished, action sequences defined, dialogue balanced, environmental storytelling rich. Michatsu leaned back, rubbing his eyes, and let out a long sigh.
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[Quest Update: Chapters 1–5 Draft — Complete]
[Next Step: Final review and submission preparation]
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Michatsu looked at the five chapters spread across his desk. Each page was alive with energy, tension, and hints of supernatural mystery. He had managed green-flag confirmations on nearly every panel, and the translucent interface seemed to pulse in quiet approval.
Not bad for one day, he muttered, though exhaustion weighed heavy on his shoulders.
He gathered the sketches, stacking them neatly. Tomorrow, he would submit them. Two chapters would follow in a later submission, rounding out the seven chapters of the first volume.
But tonight, he allowed himself a rare moment of satisfaction.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[System Note: Host achievement detected. Morale +15%]
[Random Skill Reward: Enhanced Panel Composition Unlocked]┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu smirked faintly, leaning back in his chair. The neon glow outside reflected off the translucent overlay, and somewhere deep in his mind, the box from Chapter 1 seemed to wait silently for the rest of the story.
One day at a time, he whispered. One chapter at a time.
The translucent green screen pulsed softly, like a heartbeat in the quiet night, and Michatsu realized — for the first time — he might actually survive this insane system and become the mangaka the world didn't know it needed yet.
**************************
The five chapters sprawled across Michatsu's desk like a miniature battlefield of graphite and ink. His fingers were stained, wrists sore, and brain fogged from hours of relentless sketching. Yet he couldn't help but grin faintly.
Okay… let's see if this system of mine actually gets me somewhere.
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[Quest Update: Draft Chapters 1–5 Completed!]
[Next Step: Review & Submit to Manga Jump Competition]
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He leaned back, eyes scanning the translucent green overlay hovering above the sketches. Every panel had been checked, corrected, and confirmed with green flags. Even the dialogue bubbles had been nudged into precise positions, thanks to the auto-assist's overly meticulous guidance.
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[Green Flag Count: 50/50] [Skill Check: Chapter Cohesion — 88%]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Michatsu smirked. "Perfect. Just perfect." His smirk twisted into a groan when he remembered the next step: submission.
The interface pulsed in excitement.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Submission Portal Opened]
[Reminder: You may submit up to 5 chapters per batch. Ensure all files are polished.]┗──────────────────────────────┛
He drummed his fingers on the desk, staring at the "Upload" button. Why does pressing a button feel like committing a crime?
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[Tip: Include short introductory text for editor impact]
[Hint: Highlight supernatural and action elements in summary]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Michatsu sighed, tapping the keyboard lazily.
"Five chapters. Supernatural action. High tension. Hooks readers from the first page."
Done. He hovered over the submit button for a moment. One click and… my life changes? Or I get roasted by everyone in the forum?
He clicked.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Upload Complete: Chapters 1–5 Successfully Submitted!]
[System Note: Competition algorithm has registered your submission.]
[Estimated initial exposure: 10,000+ readers preview] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu leaned back, letting out a low whistle. "Wow… that was anticlimactic."
The system chimed again, cheerfully oblivious to his tension.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Hidden Quest Unlocked: Observe Initial Reactions]
[Reward: Random Skill + Reader Engagement Insight] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
He squinted at the translucent overlay. The system began showing live previews: small avatars of readers flipping through his chapters, comment bubbles floating over panels.
"Whoa, the motion lines are insane!"
"Love the shadow foreshadowing!"
"The dialogue feels natural, yet tense — what is this?"
Michatsu blinked. People actually like it?
He leaned back, staring at the glowing green pulses of approval indicators floating above each comment.
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[Skill Check: Reader Engagement — 92%]
[Green Flag: Audience Reaction Positive]
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He let out a quiet laugh. "Not bad… not bad at all."
Meanwhile, the system started giving him live updates:
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Alert: First wave of readers finished Chapters 1–2]
[Most common comment: 'Dynamic action is fantastic'] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu raised an eyebrow. "Dynamic action… I guess that's my thing now."
Another chime:
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[Alert: Chapters 3–5 being previewed]
[Viewer metrics: 87% retention through Chapter 4 panels]
[Suggestion: Minor pacing adjustment recommended for Chapter 5 final panel] ┗──────────────────────────────┛
He leaned over his sketches again, dragging a faint line to adjust the panel spacing just slightly. Green flags pulsed as the pacing optimized.
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[Green Flag: Chapter 5 Final Panel Adjusted — Tension Maximized]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Michatsu grinned. Even lazy me can optimize tension.
Then came the first subtle hints of rival reactions. The system highlighted avatars of other contestants who had submitted entries. Some comments were benign, but a few had a hint of scrutiny:
"Interesting… unfamiliar style, bold for supernatural."
"Not sure about pacing, but intriguing energy."
"Huh. That paneling though… impressive."
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[System Note: Competitor awareness detected. Your work has piqued interest.]┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Michatsu tilted his head. So they're noticing me…
He leaned back, brushing hair from his eyes. For a lazy, unmotivated guy who just wanted to see some anime girls and maybe relax, this was… exhilarating.
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[Hidden Stat Update: Popularity Potential +12%]
[Reward: Insight into competitive strategy unlocked]
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
He smirked faintly. "Well, I guess I better pay attention then."
The translucent overlay pulsed again, showing real-time heatmaps of panel engagement — which parts of his pages drew the most attention from readers. Motion lines, shadows, foreshadowing in the corners, and dramatic facial expressions lit up in green as readers lingered. Michatsu leaned over, adjusting subtle details for the next submission:
Panel 6 of Chapter 2: motion line exaggeration increased by 3%
Shadow placement in Chapter 3: foreshadowing contrast slightly enhanced
Dialogue bubble placement in Chapter 4: optimized for left-to-right reading flow
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[Green Flag: Optimizations Registered — Reader Engagement Improved]
[Random Skill Reward: Visual Storytelling +5%]
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He rubbed his temple. I feel like I'm running a lab experiment on readers…
Night deepened. Michatsu finally leaned back in his chair, scanning the five chapters spread out before him. The green-flag overlay pulsed quietly, giving a soft, almost approving glow. His wrist ached, his back was sore, and his stomach growled faintly — but he couldn't help but smile faintly.
┏──────────────────────────────┓
[System Note: Host has successfully completed first batch of Manga Jump submission]
[Initial reader response overwhelmingly positive] [Next Step: Prepare Chapters 6–7 for final submission]
┗──────────────────────────────┛
Michatsu rubbed his eyes and let out a long, exhausted sigh.
Okay… first five chapters submitted. Readers are reacting. Competitors are noticing. And somehow, I didn't die in the process.
The translucent interface pulsed once, soft and green. Somewhere, far in the distance of his mind, the box from Chapter 1 seemed to wait silently for the rest of the story.
One step at a time… one chapter at a time… he whispered. Let's see how far this system can push me.
The city outside was quiet now, neon reflections rippling across puddles. Somewhere, a train whistle sounded, distant and lonely, and Michatsu finally allowed himself to slump back into his chair.
For the first time in this chaotic system-driven world, he felt a small, rare sense of victory.
End of chapter-Next "Final Two and Rising Tension"