Bet you never thought I'd come back to the writing game.
Normal Speech: "Hiddly Ho There Neighborinos"
Thoughts: 'I like pie'
Spells Being Cast/Named Techniques: "FIREBALL" "Detroit Smash"
MHX presents Finding the Path, a My Hero Academia and Pathfinder(TTRPG)/Pathfinder Tales crossover.
Finding the path Chapter 1: Rolling Up A Wizard
Kamiyan Books, it was a strange place that seemed to defy the passage of time. It had been a fixture in Odaiba for more years than people could remember rumors said it even pre-dated the dawn of quirks. The exterior was a shabby it's blue paint faded with the passage of years the glass window front displayed the name of the store and best sellers from over a decade ago, the inside was a maze of book shelves filled to the bursting with cracked yellowing paper backs and ancient hard covers. The air smelled of old paper must and dust the owner an elderly balding man leisurely read a thick book and sipped his tea.
Izuku Midoriya, maneuvered past a stack of ancient Shonen Jump magazines keeping his eyes peeled for his prize. He had come to this shop following an internet rumor that they had a rare unabridged copy of I Am Here All Might's autobiography, and Izuku had to have it. He searched up and down the isles searching the stacks for any sign of the Symbol of Peace. He spied the hero's visage at the top of a shelf that reached the ceiling, Izuku's first instinct was to ask the store owner for help but he had to know if this was the real one before he tried to buy it. Unable to find a ladder Izuku took a risk and climbed the shelf it creaked under his weight and Izuku had doubts but he kept climbing and grabbed the book from the shelf and dropped down. All Might's smile greeted him and Izuku opened the book ready to start reading it.
'This wasn't right', was the first thought in Izuku's mind when he saw that the writing in the book; instead of Japanese Kanji, the pages were filled with Western characters, almost like English if the one writing it was drunk. He was about to close the book and put it back when the text started moving on the page, the foreign script morphing into familiar symbols. Izuku nearly shrieked, thrusting the book away from his face as if he was holding a live snake, but he didn't drop it even as the words started forming into something legible. Only when they stopped moving did he hesitantly bring it back to his face; the first line was a sentence addressed directly to him.
"Izuku Midoriya…" Izuku mumbled to himself, his eyes tracing the message. "Because you are reading this message, you are different from the rest of the world, both in talent and in temperament. You are of the correct character to use the secrets of this book wisely, and lacking in the inherent skills of this world, slowly coming to be known as 'quirks'." his eyes widened. "How does this book know my name? How does it know I'm quirkless!?"
"If you are unsure of how I know these things about you, when I have likely been dead for many years, know that I wield the great power of arcane wizardr- wizardry!? This book is a wizard!?" Izuku glanced about suspiciously, checking for potential eavesdroppers. "There's no such thing as magic… quirks, sure, but magic?"
His eyes drifted back to the page. "If your first thought is 'there's no such thing as magic' - oh, great, the magic book knows what I'm going to say, too! - then you have the right mindset for this skill. Rest assured, it is real, the same way that quirks are real. As a matter of fact, it is because you are quirkless that you are able to learn this power at all; you shall learn why I believe this as we proceed further into my writings." his eyes widened. "No way…" He quickly blinked away small tears in his eyes and kept reading. "In this tome, I have transcribed the totality of my knowledge as a wizard, with as many tutorials and guides as possible to learning both the fundamentals and the intricacies of the arcane; I have been as thorough as possible because I will not be there to correct any mistakes you might make. Know that this is as much a science as it is an art, and I am not practiced in all the different variations of magic; there may come a time where you outstrip the knowledge, I can provide on a given field of expertise. It is an incredibly versatile and powerful gift, limited only by your creativity and your willingness to devote to the craft."
"If you do not wish to follow the path of Wizardry, I will not fault you; I only ask that you keep this book safe, and pass it to another quirkless person that you believe is worthy when the time comes. The spells I have woven into this prologue will judge them, and if your assessment is correct, they will see the same message you read now, addressed to them. As I mentioned before, I will have been dead for some time before you read this; I was not without my enemies in life, and they likely search for this book even now. I rest now, with my soul judged by Pharasma, and can only hope that you can right what fundamental wrongs afflict this Plane, and revive true Magic for all. Best of luck, and stay safe. Varian Jeggare, Scholar, Wizard, Count of Cheliax and Pathfinder." Izuku rocked backward for a moment, before cocking his head. "I've never heard of Cheliax before. Is that a place in the West?"
Izuku flipped through the pages of the books the pages had descriptions, diagrams, and complex formula for what seemed to be magic spells. There were dozens of them some of them impossible.
"Can this be real?" Izuku asked himself closing the book and holding it to his chest. Should he try it? Try to do the things in the book to do magic? Izuku questioned himself that old envy creeping up again that of other born lucky enough to have a quirk. "I'll try it there's no harm in trying it just once." Izuku convinced himself as he went to the checkout counter.
"1000 yen." The man behind the counter said after stripping off the dust jacket for All Might's book stretching out a hand.
"Here you go." Izuku dropped a handful of coins into the man's waiting hand.
"Thank you come again." The man said going back to his book and ignoring Izuku's existence.
"Your welcome." Izuku answered leaving with the book in a bag.
A train ride later Izuku was back home in Mustafu in his room with the door shut. He opened the book and started reading. Hours passed and he was starting to understand at least the basics of this so-called magic. It was based spells and every spell needed verbal somatic and sometimes material components to function, there were two languages involved one of words and the other of hand motions. Izuku felt like he was playing ninja as he moved his hands into strange shapes. After practicing them he decided to try one of the lowest level spells known as cantrips.
"Mage Hand." Izuku said to himself, the spell stuck out to him because the description reminded him of his mother's quirk. He stood up from his desk and stretched a bit readying himself. This would be the moment of truth if this way real or an elaborate hoax that he had wasted money on. He followed the instructions writing down the spell's formula in a spare notebook that he had yet to fill with hero observations. After writing it down he read the formula mumbling it to himself as he went over it again and again and again, he could feel something in his mind like a distracting thought but it just sat there on the edge of his mind he knew it was Mage Hand because that's what the book said it would be like to memorize a spell. Now that he had the spell memorized, he could cast it he just needed a target. He focused on one of his All Might figures standing on his dresser, and recited the words of the spell moving his hands just as the diagram in the book showed and nothing happened. Izuku tried again thinking he had made a mistake only for nothing to happen, Izuku looked back at the book thinking he had missed something then he tried again only to fail a second time, feeling disheartened he tried a third time pointing a finger at the All Might figure. He felt the spell in his mind shift he could feel it in his finger something different and the figure shook, Izuku's heart raced was this real? was this magic real could he do it? He pulled his finger towards himself and the figure moved towards him slowly and shakily through the air but it reached him and he held it in his hands.
Tears welled up in Izuku's eyes, it worked he did it. It wasn't the same as a quirk but if he could do this if he could do any of the things in that book then it wasn't just a dream anymore.
"I.. I can be normal." Izuku told himself tears streaming a smile on his face.
The pencil floated in mid-air and most of the class looked at it with awe. Izuku smiled feeling acceptance as though that invisible barrier between him and his classmates had finally broken.
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET A QUIRK YOU FUCKING NERD." Bakugo roared picking up Izuku by his collar and shaking him like a ragdoll. The book fell out of Izuku's shirt with an ominous thud.
"I le-learned if from that book." Izuku squeaked out then Bakugo dropped him and picked up the book flipping through it.
"THIS IS GIBBERISH." Bakugo barked he grabbed the book with both hands and it exploded is a shower of ash and dust.
"My dreams." Izuku whimpered tears in his eyes.
"FUCKS YOUR DREAMS YOU WORTHLESS NERD." Bakugo laughed maniacally explosions going off in his hands the other students joining in pointing and laughing.
That exaggeration was exactly why Izuku was going to keep this a secret until he was going into UA. It was the first real secret he had ever kept from anyone. He wanted to tell his mother to show her that he had powers and he could become a hero but he held it back it wasn't time yet. He told her that he was going jogging before and after school to get himself in better shape, she believed him it wasn't completely false he was jogging to his training spot. The spot was a vacant lot behind a trio of buildings in the old part of Mustafu, he had walked by it on his way to and from school when he wanted to avoid Ka-chan and he had never seen anyone there before and it was difficult to see into unless you were at the opening between the buildings. He used school as a rest in between his training sessions, it gave him time to think about how his training would develop.
The first thing he needed to do was form an arcane bond. There was a magical ritual that would intertwine his ability to use magic with a creature or an object. Either option would benefit him if he bonded with an animal it would grant an increase in his senses and he would be able to use his familiar as an extension of himself for scouting purposes and as something he could work his spells on. The drawback was that he would be bringing an animal into danger every time he was acting as a hero, and while Varian did go about his beloved wolfhound Arnisant Izuku wasn't sure that he wanted to have an animal familiar. The other option was he could bind himself to an object, whether that be a ring, amulet, belt or even a magic item once he got around making some. It would give him the ability to cast any spell in his own spell book not just the ones he had prepared for the day. The only downside is if it were stolen or broken his spell casting ability would he handicapped until he repaired or replaced it. This was a pivotal decision for a wizard to make as he could only for the bond to a familiar or object and there was no way to change it once he made the choice.
He looked at the window of the pet shop a litter of puppies frolicking in a pen, he tried to see himself going into battle with villains followed by one of them and all he could see was a thousand ways they could get hurt he would end up as Izuku the animal endangerment hero. So, he decided to form a bond with an object he even had just the thing for it, a sized down replica of the belt All Might always wore, he said he had won in a powerlifting contest in America and had kept it as a good luck charm.
The binding ritual was simple Izuku just had to wear the belt say the words and focus on feeding his magic into his belt then back into himself. He could feel it now; his magic was a part of the belt and the belt was part of him. When he took it off his magic felt wrong it wavered and grew distant like it was trying to escape his reach whenever he called upon it.
Days to turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and Izuku came to the next milestone in his wizard training.
'Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. These are the eight schools of magic codified by generations of Wizards since the fall of the Azalanti Empire. Every spell can be divided into one of these schools based on effect. Wizards can choose to specialize in one of these schools gaining unique abilities in accordance with that school's domain at the cost of two of the other schools of magic. I myself choose the path of the Universalist casting freely from all schools but I have recorded the methods for specializing in each school. Be wary with your choice as once you make this decision changing it is an arduous labor that few wizards have ever done.' Izuku recalled from the book.
Izuku had read through the descriptions of the school specializations the night before and had spent all day thinking about which one to go into. He ruled out Necromancy as that entire school came off as villainous every spell seemed to be about hurting and weakening people or controlling the undead, Izuku doubted that there were any undead in the world despite those rumors of Vlad King and other blood-based quirk users being vampires. Enchantment was next to be cut from his options mind control wasn't something he wanted to do it was too villainous even if some of those spells could be used to help others he didn't want to mess with other people's minds. Illusion seemed useful and he would certainly use them as he further developed his abilities but specializing in this school seemed like a waste. Conjuration could be interesting but it was risky he had never heard of anyone with a quirk that let them summon creatures from another world, he thought it was impossible until he did it himself but if he was ever seen doing it he would be outed way too quickly so he had to turn it down. Divination despite how much Varian seemed to dislike and belittle this school as being lazy or a waste Izuku could see value in the spells of this school especially as an alternative to technology and some of the abilities seemed useful like avoiding ambushes and an increase in his overall competence.
That left his two strongest contender's Evocation and Transmutation. With evocation he could be throwing around fire, ice, lightning, and acid he would be like Endeavor but with more variety. Then there was transmutation he could transform his body and the world around him he could be stronger more like All Might.
"HELP." A voice cried out interrupting Izuku's thoughts, he swiveled his head around looking for the source and saw something in an alley. A woman with cat ears was being pressed up against a wall by a man, his clothes were torn and shabby his skin was grey and lumpy he had the woman against the wall with his left hand and held back his right arm that ended in a wicked curved blade in place of a hand.
"Ah ah ah, no screaming this is just between you and me." The man with a knife for a hand rasped in a voice he scraped the edge of his knife hand on the wall by the woman's head raising sparks and making the woman squirm her eyes tearing up.
Izuku swallowed this was bad, that guy was going to rob that woman or worse. His very first instinct was to call for help to find a hero to find All Might but there was no time. He was here and why was he learning magic if not to help people. It was time, it was his time to be a hero.
He wanted to run right over there and punch him in the face that's what All Might would do, but Izuku wasn't All Might he didn't have the strength of a Greek god but he had his own way to fight. He did the gestures and muttered the words, this would be the first time he had ever used his magic on another person he was about to commit a crime but sometimes the law had to be ignored to do what was right.
"Magic Missile!" Izuku shouted letting the spell fly, a white streak of pure force blasted out of his finger smashing into the man's back he stumbled then spinning around.
"What the hell?" The man called out glaring at Izuku with crazed yellow eyes.
"Run away I'll take care of him." Izuku shouted at the woman was still frozen against the wall.
"Take care of me I'll take care of both of you." The man scoffed brandishing his knife hand at the woman keeping her stuck to the wall, Izuku took a step forward and the man pointed the knife at him.
"Stop right there. One more step and I'll see what color her blood is." The man hissed and Izuku cursed himself, Magic Missile was the only offensive spell he prepared for today. He had to think of something fast or this could end in blood.
"I'm not moving." Izuku said raising his hands in gesture of surrender, but his mind was racing he had to figure this out. If he moved the man would cut the woman, he needed a way to take him down without letting him hurt the woman. He went through his spell list considering what use to his advantage.
"Good good, now throw down your wallet, phone, and bag then leave like you never saw nothing." The man ordered his knife never straying far from the woman's neck.
"Okay I'm complying." Izuku said he started emptying his pockets and a look of utter despair spread across the face of the cat eared woman. Her eyes said "Why are you running away" and Izuku grit his teeth holding back the urge to apologize, damn it this wasn't right he was supposed to be like All Might a real hero should bring hope not fear. When Izuku set down his bag he turned away and grabbed his belt buckle, he drew on the arcane power infused in it and pulled out a spell, he whispered the words and made the signs vanishing from view.
"What? Where'd he go?" The knife handed man called out his head darting around for the green haired boy. He never noticed when a plank of wood vanished from where it leaned against the wall.
"I AM HERE." Izuku shouted returning to visibility swinging the plank at the back of the man's head with all of his strength. With a loud smack wood met skull and the man collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Thank you thank you thank you." The cat woman hugged Izuku enthusiastically once she was off the wall.
"Y-your w-welcome." Izuku stuttered blushing furiously from the breasts pressing into his face. "But we should get out of here before he wakes up." Izuku slipped out of the woman's embrace.
"Right but shouldn't we call a hero or the police?" The woman asked her ears twitching.
"We should but we can't, I don't want to get in trouble for using my quirk." Izuku said it still felt strange saying his quirk but in a good way.
"Yeah that sucks, but we can't just leave him here. He'll just wake up and try and mug someone else or even worse come after one of us." The Cat-eared woman said and Izuku gulped she had a point but he didn't want to deal with a pro-hero or the police it was too soon he wasn't ready yet.
"If only we had handcuffs or some rope, then we could tie him up and leave him here for someone to pick up." Izuku wished and the cat eared woman smiled.
"Why didn't I think of that, I always have rope on me." The cat eared woman said and Izuku gave her a quizzical look when she lifted her shirt and reached towards her bellybutton and pulled, a length of braided rope the same shade of brown as her hair coming out. "Voila, this is my quirk Rope Trick." The cat eared woman said hefting a coil of rope.
"That's great give it to me and I'll tie him up." Izuku said hoping he still remembered how to tie knots from when studied the Rope Hero: Lasso.
"No need I'm good with knots." The cat-eared said with a wicked grin on her face before she decided on her unconscious attacker. In moments the man was completely restrained in a harness of knots that left his knife hand completely useless.
"Where did you learn to tie people up like that?" Izuku asked out of curiosity and the woman blushed.
"It's something I learned for my job." She answered pushing her fingers together and trying to look innocent.
"What kind of job needs rope skills like that?" Izuku asked part of him considering the possibility that he had just saved a villain from a random criminal.
"The +18 plus kind of job." The woman answered hoping her hero would get it.
"Oh like Midnight?" Izuku asked thinking of the erotic heroine.
"Yes, sort of like that Midnight is so awesome." She gushed stars in her eyes thinking about her personal heroine. "Could we call her maybe I could get her autograph." She pulled out her phone.
"We could but she probably wouldn't come Midnight doesn't patrol this area and she only really patrols after dark anyway." Izuku explained and the woman's enthusiasm evaporated. "The closest hero would be Umpire the baseball hero." Izuku continued and the woman nodded getting the hero's number from the internet.
"Okay I'll call his office and we'll bother leave." She said and Izuku nodded turning away. "Wait, my name is Shibari Nyanko, what's your?" Shibari asked when Izuku was about to step out of the alley.
"Izuku Midoriya." He answered.
"Thanks for this Izuku today you were my hero." Shibari said and Izuku swelled with pride someone had called him a hero.
"You're welcome stay safe." Izuku said running off he had to get back to his training and he felt like he was walking on air.
End of Chapter 1.
I've been quiet for years but now I'm back, this is just the first chapter of many for this story, and I'd like to thank my partner in crime the Animaniac Dude for giving this a polish before posting. He's also rebooting Will Of D so give that a read too
Expect to see Chapter 2
