Painting the Moon
I wake up to a headache, an impossible sight, immortality, and more. Well, at least I have the chance to be a Hero now. And no chance of cancer, that too.
Nothing to say, let's get straight to it.
Chapter 1
I wake up to a headache, holding my head in pain as memories and feelings both similar enough to be, and far too different to be, mine crash through my mind. If I could focus on anything but the pain, I'd see a screen colored a dark leaf green.
[New Data discovered
Accessing
Installing
Integrating…
5%...
15%...
30%...
60%...
80%...
90%...
100%]
[Update complete]
The pain quickly faded, not quite entirely but enough so it didn't bother me. That's when I caught sight of the screen. It didn't surprise me, I know it as my Quirk.
[Finding appropriate information…
Archiving…
Generating logical conclusions…]
[Welcome to My Hero Academia!
The world of Quirks, Superheroes, and Villains!
Your Quirk is the Gamer, or rather, Living RPG
A combination of the jump doc Quirks: Graffiti, Longevity, Diagnosis, and Brick
Unlike regular Gamer stories, it is only an easy-to-read shorthand for your abilities, with information backed by extreme biological examination via Diagnosis
There is no magic, no stat points, nor any information you have not seen or deduced
Stats are determined by how you stack up to the average, through your base Quirk and training, and so on]
Okay, so I got dropped into one of my 80+ MHA jump ideas. Not the worst thing in the multiverse, nor is it really bad at all. But I don't have Gamer's Mind, so I'm not freaking out because… memory overwrites. It was integrated, not just stored.
So… "Stats," the first command of any new Gamer.
[Shirou Vampirya
Health: 100%
STR: 73
END: 84
AGI: 68]
Makes sense- wait what is that name?! Did my dad's family do that?! Are they the ones that had Longevity? I suppose it would make sense, but really? Ugh.
Ignoring that, I suppose there wouldn't be levels. It depends on all of what RPG can do, but danger comparisons might be harder considering Quirk variation.
Health… yeah. No hit points, since I'm not an actual game character. Stats as well, since intelligence and wisdom are arbitrary. I have very high physical stats, but then, I do have basically tier 3 Brick.
Next is skills.
[Living RPG, LV Max;
an ability allowing you to track increases to stats and skills through training or outside interference. Mostly subconscious, solely for tracking personal physical information
Diagnosis, LV 3/5;
an ability allowing you to, through observation, estimate the stats, physical condition, and possibly the Quirks of other people
Brick, LV Max;
user starts off with much higher base stats, biological immortality, a healing factor, the ability to heal perfectly even from loss of limb, and at this level a minor ability to alter the body
Graffiti, LV 2/5;
an ability to paint both objects and in midair. User has only just reached 3d shapes and the ability to move them with concentration and stamina drain. Includes the RPG screens, but Graffiti is visible to anyone
Malleable Body, LV 1/3;
an ability allowing the user to control many normally automatic bodily functions, including heartbeat, sweating, metabolism, muscle memory, and more.
-Resistances:
Kinetic (4/50%)
Piercing (0/50%)
Cutting (0/50%)
Heat (2/70%)
Cold (3/70%)
Acid (0/100%)
Toxin (8/100%)
Electricity (0/100%)
Extreme Radiation (100/100%)
-resistances apply after damage would have gotten through base durability. Multiple can work on a single attack, to varying degrees dependent on how much applies]
Huh. I guess mental commands work. Neat. The skills I have are rather impressive, though it seems like who I was had never bothered to actually train given they're almost all just parts of the Quirk.
Interesting to note that other people can see the screens, but not surprising.
Resistances… oh, now I remember. If it's something like Endeavor's fire lance, it applies heat, piercing, and kinetic resistance in order of most damage dealt. Numbers don't really work as I'm not actually a game character, but if the damage would have been 100, most of the damage comes from heat, say about 90, then an almost even split of 6:4 for the last. Each resistance applies to the appropriate number, and so I'd take only 32 damage.
I'm not quite sure why my radiation resistance is maxed, but if I had to guess, I'd say some interaction between how radiation does damage and something about Brick stops that from happening.
Okay, I have ten months for training. I should get some skills. That means training. Resistance in some manner would be best, given my level of strength is somewhere around tossing cars.
If I remember correctly, there was this one idea I read about before. It wouldn't have worked then, but now I'm in an anime, and I have a Quirk that should make it work. All I have to do is make my muscles tense the right way, make them work against themselves… there.
[Skill gained: Tension, LV 1/3; an ability allowing one to train by making all actions harder, needing more effort. Level 1 is minor resistance. The concentration needed to keep up the skill is trained separate]
Nodding, I started getting ready for school. It took a few tries, and more time that I would like, but Malleable Body allowed me to put it to muscle memory very quickly.
XXXXX
And school is just as boring as I remember. The only difference is that I'm somewhat popular because of my Quirk. I ignored them before, I can ignore them now. Unfortunately, even with the resistance I didn't get even a single point in any stat. I guess I'm just too strong.
Now, what are some other things I can do? The first thing that comes to mind is honestly probably the most dangerous thing that could work. Force myself to have an adrenaline rush.
'But how to make it happen? Would this… no, that doesn't work. Then should I… no… not that… no-wait,' "Ah-ha!"
[Skill gained: Adrenaline Rush, LV Max; the ability to flood your body with adrenaline, increasing your strength several times over, but at a price. Your body damages itself doing so, decreasing your health by 1% for every minute of active use]
[Do you wish to change Skill name?
Y/N]
No, I'll keep the name.
It's not really easy to figure out what I need to do when I can't see what I'm doing, but Diagnosis is a big help. It's not perfect, but it allows me to accurately guess what I'm doing or messing around with.
[Skill level up: Malleable Body, LV 2/3;
indicates a greater ability in changing automatic processes, speed of use, and expanded changes]
Very good. That skill is what takes this entire Quirk to the next level. Without it, I'd mostly be able to do things regular humans can do, albeit to a physical extreme. That skill allows me to take things further.
Actually, what's next? Looking over the recommended changes again... wait, wasn't there that one anime that was all about breathing? Demon something?
I had a friend who kept going on and on about it, and someone was throwing around moons with their sword. The moons would have to come from Graffiti, but I should be able to copy it.
They did it… right, high amounts of oxygen in a short time. By breathing quick, deep, and even. I think.
[Skill gained: High Oxygen Breathing, LV 1/5; an ability to inhale a disproportionate amount of oxygen per breath, increasing the user's stats by 5%. LV 4 unlocked after constant breathing is achieved]
[Do you wish to change Skill Name?
Y/N]
Well, that worked. Not as great an increase as I had hoped, but not bad. Higher levels should increase it, anyway.
And I won't be able to do the moons until I level up Graffiti, anyway. Not unless I want projectiles that cut everything forever.
I will change the name. One of the things he had said constantly was that the general thing was called Total Concentration Breathing, and then things like Water or Flower Style. An to be honest, that default name is terrible.
One of the things unique about my 'system' is that I am not really locked by progression points. LV in a skill is literally how skilled I am at doing it. If someone downloads a swordsmanship skill into my head, I start at that level. If I get that constant breathing immediately, I jump all the way to LV 4.
The RPG tracks my skill, it has no way to actually affect it. And really, with the ability to commit anything I want to muscle memory, or whatever the respiratory equivalent is, it took less than a minute to get to LV 4/5, and thus a 25% stat increase. Anime/Quirk Bullshit Go!
Now onto learning better control over near-insubstantial paint constructs, and folding 2D pictures into 3D objects.
That, and get Tension to increase in resistance. I have to actually do things, experiment with my skills, in order to level them up. Their LV is a reflection on how skilled I am with them, and I can't just get sudden ability boosts without using them, trying to expand what I can actually do with them.
For Tension, that means I need to increase the threshold of resistance placed on me little by little. I can keep the skill in use all day, but that wouldn't do anything for me beyond just help with stat gains.
XXXXX
Something I've noticed with Graffiti, is that even at max level I won't be able to use it as a shield. It's based around paint, and the 2D nature works against it. It simply has no mass or ability to hold up against anything, and even if it can cut through everything, that doesn't remove the force of the attack.
Anything that I try to block with it just flies right through.
Which... honestly isn't a problem. Stats like speed and defense are calculated as a combination of STR and AGI, and STR and END respectively. It's not a direct combination, instead being, as far as I can tell, the focus plus 25-40% of the secondary stat, AGI for speed and STR for defense.
For the most part. I'm sure if I didn't train everything roughly equally, those calculations would change to reflect my focus.
But after ten months, all my stats are nearly 100. END has only just hit it, and the others are only a couple of points behind.
And it's not like I trained intensely. Mostly, it was just casual exercises after I finally reached the max LV of most of my skills. And I've Diagnosed several Heroes over that time. Without an enhancement Quirk, none of them made it over 30 in a stat.
TCB increases all stats save the hidden DEF. The same with Adrenaline, except as a 3x multiplier, which is part of the reason the later skill causes my body to take damage. My strength is then far too much for my DEF to keep up with.
They also stack together, which means I am perhaps the fourth- no, fifth strongest person on the planet, or at least in the top 10.
Which is kind of ridiculous, but fits with my Quirk.
If 30 is basically the limit for a human in this world without an enhancement Quirk, that means, given some calculations I've seen, All Might has stats at about 1500.
I'm not surprised. Izuku will also get there in time, but only using one muscle group at a time means a lot less force is created. All told, Izuku has basically a Super Saiyan transformation. And I could reach that level in maybe two years with dedicated training.
Especially with how Tension works, as it doesn't really lose effectiveness as I grow stronger. And this is an anime world. Little things, like how being that strong should make my muscles tear themselves off the bone, are ignored.
There's also this.
[Tension, LV Max;
level 3 allows for up complete muscle resistance. Also unlocks the Iron Body technique
[Iron Body, LV 1/2;
one of the 'Six Powers' from One Piece, it allows the user to increase their DEF to a supernatural degree via a specific tensing of muscles. User cannot move during use. Up to 100% increase to DEF]
Not surprising that it happened, not that I was expecting it, but more that it recognizes the rip-off. Then again, it is supposed to be controlled on a subconscious level, so maybe I shouldn't be.
Either way, while certainly a useful ability, it is also very specific about the situations that are ideal for it. On the other hand, the metabolism control portion of Malleable Body had a skill that could be very useful, though I haven't had the chance to practice with it. For multiple reasons, it is impractical to experiment with Enhanced Healing when-
My train of thought was lost as someone came around to collect my paper, not the proctor but perhaps a student that wanted to earn some extra credit or something. Who knows. In short order, all the papers were collected and handed over, then we were sent to be talked at by Present Mic.
And I do mean talked at. He tries, but the potential students just don't want to engage. The literal cricket sounds are a bit much, though.
In short order, all of us got our buses, presumably for efficiency so that students aren't trying to find these giant, lettered cities and getting lost, and then we left.
No one else from my school is here, even in another false city. Most all of them liked me for my Quirk, but it also discouraged them. No matter how useful theirs could have been, they took one look at mine and didn't want to train. They didn't think they could measure up.
And I can understand it. Mine and Aldera were just about average schools. Mostly just common Quirks, with one or two 'good' or even 'great' Quirks. And those are the kids who tend to try and be Heroes.
Not a hard and fast rule, but-
"Hey, that was mine!" Someone breaks in.
Ah. "Sorry, didn't realize we had started!" I yell back to her.
She tripped over a piece of a robot, but seemed not to be injured too bad, yelling "It's been three minutes! You destroyed so many – How could you not notice!?"
I suppose I must have been on autopilot. Easy enough when cement walls might as well be made of Styrofoam. And if the robots could scratch me, they might kill the other students.
So, this test isn't really fair in comparison. But I don't tell her that, instead staying quiet as I help her up, then go to find more points.
As I continue, I almost fall back to autopilot several times, but I notice and pull back. It's too easy when nothing here can hope to stop me, and fifty robots by the time the zero pointer pops up.
People can apply whatever motive they want, but I decided to attack it on a whim. I just wanted to not be so bored.
Not that it helped. I activated Adrenaline Rush, hit it in the chest, and it just fell onto its back. A quick run behind it, since it fell far too slow, allowed me to rescue a student just watching slack jawed, and that was it.
And then the test was over. I know it was supposed to be an important moment in the show, but it just did nothing for me.
Wait.
Didn't I write down a Diagnosis for everyone in my testing room?
That could be bad, but at least I wrote in like, type 0.0001 font.
XXXXX
So, now what are my stats like? Did I get anything from the test? Probably not, I didn't use Tension, so I could do my best.
[Shirou Vampirya
Health: 100%
Base (Full power)
STR: 100 (375)
END: 101 (378.75)
AGI: 100 (375)
PER: 20 (75)]
When did I get a PER stat?
[Perception is as it sounds, it relates to the acuity and to sort through the information provided by the regular five sense. It was unlocked as a Stat with the development of the Vision Enhancement skill]
I suppose I did do that, when I was looking for any hidden robots in the distance. Interesting.
And all of my regular stats are over 100 as well. Nice.
Anything else?
[Diagnosis, LV Max; at LV 5, it allows for the detection of Quirks through the analysis of adaptations that arose in their body as a defense. Does not allow for true mind reading, as that is a chemical and electrical process that cannot be deduced through regular sight alone, though cold reading is possible]
Well now. That is good. Very good.
Mwahahahaha.
"Shirou! A letter is here for you! Come and get it!" My mother yelled up at me.
What? Isn't the letter supposed to arrive a week after the exam? Why is it here now?
Opening it, that hologram projector falls out and the principal appears looking unusually serious.
"Greetings, Mr. Vampirya, or would you prefer Mr. Shirou? In any case, congratulations on your first place finish of 113 points in total, and your acceptance into class 1-A.
"As for why you received your acceptance letter early, we need you to come in in the next couple of days to address a few security concerns. You have done nothing wrong, but your Quirk requires the precaution. You may walk in when you like. Please inform your parents, and they will be allowed to stay nearby while we speak.
"Have a good day, and let me be the first to say we are glad to have you."
XXXXX
Okay, that happened. Sorry for the huge delay in everything, but the world has gone crazy and I wasn't the best with schedules in the first place.
I had wanted to and considered putting him in 1-B, but I don't think I'm good enough yet to try that. Too many characters I'd have to make personalities for basically from scratch, some backstories, and trying to tie in how they would all act with each other.
And yes, that is really his name. I intentionally went for such a cringy name, wanting to torture him a bit. If it makes you feel better, imagine it as his grandfather to make it more trouble than his father wanted to deal with to change it.
So, what do you think? I'm not sure how well I explained above, but I'll try again here.
His system only tracks changes. He cannot make changes using it.
In the end, his greatest ability is Malleable Body, which allows him to make minor, but compounding changes to his body.
He hasn't tried yet, but he could, little by little, alter his bones to be more durable. This would increase his base durability, as well as the three physical resistances. Harder bones are harder to piece, to cut, and can take greater impacts.
The skin can be made thicker, to much the same effect. In part, that is what he is doing as he trains, though that is more of a change in musculature to grant those effects.
And, because anime, it can be done without limit and beyond maybe more attractive muscle tone, it doesn't have an aesthetic effect.
Many of the things he can do – because this is not an SI, I could never survive an anime world – are not possible for people of our world. There is a limit to how dense he can make his bones, the thickness of his skin, etc. But it is much higher than would be reasonable here.
Many of his skills have either been mastered or have such low levels because, at the moment, there is very little that can actually be done with them. There's very little that can improve with Adrenaline Rush, and the damage is something that can't be changed without simply improving his durability, which is mainly done through increasing strength, which simply makes the problem stay the same.
The only hard and fast limit is that all of these changes require some kind of nutrients, and his body requires more in general than a normal person. This includes his regeneration.
That explanation wasn't supposed to be as long as it was. Oh well.
I'm not sure about how to write someone smarter than I am, but I'll give it my best shot.
See you all next time, and have a good day.
