Static Shock?
You know, CYOAs and reincarnation aren't supposed to be actual things. But when I wake up to a headache, an impossible sight, immortality, and more. Well, then I have to believe. At least I have superpowers now.
This is an alternate version to Painting the Moon. It should be less overpowered, for a couple of reasons, even if the main power is based on a 300 cost Quirk rather than a 200. Onwards!
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 is 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, Electric RPG
A combination of the jump doc Quirks: Graffiti, Longevity, Diagnosis, and Bottled Lightning
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 stored.
So… "Stats," the first command of any new Gamer.
[Shirou Vampirya
Health: 100%
STR: 16
END: 15
AGI: 18]
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. My physical stats are higher than average, due to a little bit of training, but what I remember shows that I'm nowhere near the extreme end of those.
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 1/5;
an ability allowing you to, through observation, estimate the stats, physical condition, and possibly the Quirks of other people. Higher levels mean more information in a shorter time
Bottled Lightning, LV 1/20;
user can control lightning in a short range around themselves. They can also passively collect electricity and store it for later use, with a low limit. At this level, control only extends as far as the fingertips, and the amount is only marginally more than static electricity. Painful, but not debilitating
Graffiti, LV Max;
an ability to paint both objects and in midair. User is limited to changing the colors of objects and the air, and the ability to move them with concentration and stamina drain. Includes the RPG screens, but Graffiti is visible to anyone
Longevity, LV Max;
a mutation similar to that of lobster's, allowing the user to not die of old age. Having been enhanced through Quirk Marriage, the user also has a minor regenerative factor and can heal perfectly even after losing every limb. Additionally, user's body and skills will not degrade over time and will advance quicker than normal
Electricity Absorption, LV 1/10;
user can absorb and store electricity without taking damage, though there is a limit. After reaching this limit, user will take damage like normal.
-Resistances:
Kinetic (4/25%)
Piercing (0/25%)
Cutting (0/25%)
Heat (2/50%)
Cold (3/50%)
Toxin (2/100%)
Electricity (8/100%)
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. Extreme Radiation is the damage that causes cancer. Otherwise, Radiation is individual]
Huh. I guess mental commands work. Neat. The skills I have are rather mediocre, though that's more due to only having gained my Quirk a month ago. I hadn't had time to really train.
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. Maybe. I might be wrong; I didn't finish before this.
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 Longevity stops that from happening.
First, school, then I can start training. At least I should have that Dream Plan perk and Push Through to make sure I won't just quit due to difficulty.
XXXXX
School is just as boring as I remember before, the only difference is the weird way people interact with me. My former Quirklessness was well known before, and then I developed one that, while still weak, is stronger than many of theirs.
Had I started with a stronger Quirk than them, I might have been rather popular. As it is, the oddities surrounding me meant that most went out of their way to avoid me.
Oh well, that's done with now. Training time.
The good thing is, while not ideal, I am not so strong as to not be able to train in my room- I face palm. I bought the Student Origin Item Family, which doesn't seem like it should be an item but whatever, for a reason.
A quick question to the first person I saw had me in a specialized training room with everything I could think of for training my Quirk, and some things I wouldn't.
Including some kind of voltage/amperage measuring device, and a chart showing what happens to people when subjected to different levels of both.
It shows everything from 'cooking a person in seconds' to 'death' to 'taser' level. And of course, due to anime logic, taser level is an instant incapacitation for anyone that doesn't have the required training, Quirk, or sheer stubbornness of people like Izuku or Stain. And for those it does work on, any part or even clothing will incapacitate them.
Currently, I can control around 500 volts and 0.01 amps. Again, enough to be somewhat painful, but not enough to actually hurt anyone. In my old world, it only took 0.1 amperes to kill someone, if it passed through them in the right way. Here, it takes almost 10 directly to the heart or brain.
And a taser is 100,000 volts at 1 amp. In other words, a lot more than I can use at the moment, and so much more than my old world could hope to survive.
Right now, the electricity I can control is just a spark. Like what you see when you look at static discharge, a spark of blue-white light. I can move it around and have it flow like water, threading between my fingers and running over my arms.
But even after hours of training, though I rotated between different things with the spark and physical training, I only managed to extend my range by centimeters past my fingers. That showed that my range is a sort of oval around me, the two defining arcs being finger to finger and head to bottom of the foot.
I also learned a couple of other things, such as that my maximum capacity is roughly ten times as much as my total output, and that my body has a passive positive charge equal to that capacity. That's how my passive collection works, it means that the air slowly tries to equalize the charge, and using the electricity, of course, 'raises' my charge.
It takes me mere moments to regain my full charge from empty, though I think when my capacity increases it will take longer. I know I can take electricity from things like phones and power lines, but I don't want to. My Quirk is just... too weak at the moment for me to feel safe trying to.
But I think that's enough for today. I advanced a small bit, even a single point of END that I was very close to, but too much is bad for the body. So, school, homework, and then 4-5 hours of training? That works. As I fell asleep, a screen appeared.
[American Dream Plan trait active
Daily Plan: Complete school, finish homework, train for 4-5 hours, Accepted
Semi-permanent screen created
Location: top left 'corner' of pupil
Opacity: 25%]
XXXXX
The permanent screen was annoying for the first hour, before it just faded into a background thing. If I focused on it, it spread out enough that I could actually read it. But if I try to move my head or eyes, it moves along with them.
Being a very light-colored series of words on top of my pupil makes it so that it's very hard, if not impossible, for other people to read it. And, knowing that it's possible to color my own body, that means something like... this is possible.
[New Skill created: Camouflage, LV 1/3;
an ability allowing the user to change their coloration. This is only an aesthetic change, so while you can change your skin color and make it look like you have more muscles, you have not changed physically. Subject to the same limits as makeup, though you have the potential to rapidly change how you are colored to achieve near-perfect visual camouflage]
Interesting, though it's not perfect. I doubt I'll be able to match any changes I can't see or predict, for example, and any change to bone structure won't hold up to intense scrutiny, even at the highest level.
I figured out that skill on the third day of training, and reached LV 2 on the fourth. That only needed me to observe with Diagnosis how certain things moved or didn't in small ways, but that are very obvious in an 'uncanny valley' way.
It was in the fifth month that I reached the third level of Bottled Lightning, showing my control and power at just 228cm and 6000 volts, respectively. Amperage is still negligible for humans on this world, being 'just' 0.8 amps. The best change is that I can now control a second 'band' of electricity.
I say band because, just as the potency increased, so did the size of my electricity. Each spark can now be a band instead, just long enough to touch ends while wrapped around my fingers like brass knuckles.
Actually, that gives me an idea...
Anyways, both of those are a massive boost in potency, or it would be if the electricity itself was stronger. As it is, as weak as it is, that's just two very painful distractions. Maybe I shouldn't have made up and used that 'just gained your Quirk' drawback. Too late to complain now, I just have to deal with it.
If I am reading the near exponential increase in both skill and time required for the next level, I'll reach it near or at the end of the ten-month period.
Which isn't bad at all really, compared to most people I am advancing extraordinarily quickly.
But right now, I think I should develop some techniques rather than focus purely on power. That was the problem with Kaminari, to some extent, if I remember correctly.
The sorts of things I might be able to do right now... enhanced reflexes?
[Warning, user control is insufficient. Creation of skill carries significant risk of backlash
Backlash will require recovery time estimated at 1 month]
Right, so that's out. I can't shoot lightning bolts, too little power. Can't enhance reflexes, too little control. And I don't have enough lightning, power, or control to enhance my speed. Is there anything I can do?!
[Searching user memories
Skill template found, Lightning Arrow(imperfect), LV 1/10;
a minor technique used to fire lightning shaped like arrows past the user's normal range. Has a 10% chance of hitting the target after leaving their range. Adds 10% piercing damage due to shape. Metal objects, such as lightning rods, can redirect this technique
Imperfect: something about this technique isn't quite complete. It might be that your control is lacking, too little power, or maybe something just isn't there. Either way, the technique just isn't quite as strong as it should be. Until you can make up for it, the technique is only half as effective]
Okay then. I didn't know that skill templates were a thing, I thought I would have to go on my memories of anime and create them from scratch. But that imperfect... only a 5% chance to hit whatever I aim at, and +5% piercing damage from however much damage is dealt by just controlling my electricity.
But now that I remember it, I think I know what it is. I'd need to level up again to make sure, but this technique is supposed to also create a sort of electric bow. Trying to use it now has me draw a not-there bow, using a too-short arrow, and once it leaves my range it just falls to the ground.
The arrow is just my two electric bands connected end to end, giving me another Bottled Lightning sub-skill.
[Combined Current, LV Max;
user can combine separately controlled pieces of electricity into one, multiplying the volts, amps, and size of the weakest by the number combined. Subverts the user's regular limits, being more akin to using to both hands to control something rather than multiplying the size of what is being held]
That skill could be very good. At full power, going by the description of the power, I should be throwing around actual lightning bolts. If I can get enough independently controlled, I might be able to throw Kirin's!
That would be amazing.
But at the next level of BL, it might just allow me to finally imitate a taser. All the normal limitations apply, of course. Since my total output of electricity has doubled in number, I now have a capacity of twenty times my single shot, and ten times the combined shots.
Damage is, of course, the combination of voltage and amperage. It's a hidden statistic, just like speed or defense. Physical damage is, in some way, a combination of speed and STR. Speed is based on AGI, plus some amount of STR. Defense is based on STR, plus some END. There might be others, but I don't know them.
On the social side of things... nothing has changed. My classmates have grown a bit more comfortable around me, so we can do group projects easily enough, but I'm not friends with any of them.
And I know those stories that have the MC meeting any of class 1-A before U.A. by chance are, if not lying, then at least misguided. The only one I know the school of is Izuku from Aldera, and U.A. takes applicant from the whole of Japan. So, they could be from anywhere.
Not just casually roaming around Musutafu, far away from their homes.
I take a quick glance around, wondering if I had just jinxed myself. I don't have It Must be Destiny, but I am an SI, so I wouldn't put it past the world to prove me wrong.
Shrugging, I continue to the restaurant. The servants are good at their jobs, but sometimes I just want to eat out. I need to eat more than normal people, so I order larger, but where some people can eat for twelve, I only need to eat enough for two. In other words, not on the extreme side.
I finished my meal quickly and then left for the arcade.
Today is one of the few rest days I had given myself. While Longevity allows me to physically go without, and Dream Plan gives me the determination, that would do bad things to my mental state.
And I like being sane.
Most the time, if I want to take a break, I just find a book to read. But sometimes, I go to other places and try other things.
I only spent an hour there before moving on, nothing really holding my interest. Then it's back home to sleep, and my schedule repeats again.
XXXXX
Eventually, the ten months were over. It's good to know that many of my estimates were correct, with the acquisition of level 4 two days ago. Range: 304cm, volts: 12,000, amps: 1.6. Size is harder to compare, and I haven't gotten control of a third, but combined the two can cover the first half of my limbs.
Getting that also allowed me to complete the Lightning Arrow technique, which as I thought required forming a bow. The bow combines with the arrow after release, which is part of the reason for the cut.
My stats also increased, getting up to 21 for AGI. From what Diagnosis has told me, that's at the low end for any Pro Hero who is even halfway serious. As well, 20 would have been 'peak human' before Quirks and anime logic. They don't scale linearly, but it seems that 30 is the new limit, barring enhancement Quirks.
In any case, I am ready for the exam.
I quietly hand over my paper as some comes to collect them, 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.
I don't believe anyone from my school applied for the Hero course, not having confidence in their Quirks. I know the people who got in in canon, and mine is more effective than many of theirs.
Actually, these robots seem deliberately unshielded. These Taser level arrows shouldn't be enough to make them shut down like they are.
Not that I'm complaining. That's ten down in under a minute. Actually, I should be conserving my power, while I did clear the initial area before anyone else really reacted, now I'm out of power.
Actually… the robots have to have a power source of some kind. I should be able to drain some of that to get a full charge. I get within range of one robot and pull with my power, proving my theory true.
This is great for efficiency. Just one robot grants me a full charge. But I want to try something.
[Skill Template found: Lightning Armor
User power insufficient]
[Sub-skill found: Lightning Greaves, LV 1/5;
an ability allowing the user to coat their legs in lightning, creating crude greaves, increasing both speed and defense of the covered area. Area of control and Lightning Absorption allow for continuous use. Increases speed by 50% for applied area. Increases defense by 100% on applied area. Coating second leg doubles this effect. If both arms are coated, double that effect for each Greave]
[Sub-skill found: Lightning Gauntlets, LV 1/5;
an ability allowing the user to coat their arms in lightning, creating crude gauntlets, increasing both attack and defense of the covered area. Area of control and Lightning Absorption allow for continuous use. Increases attack and STR by 50% for applied area. Increases defense by 100% on applied area. Coating second arm doubles this effect. If both legs are coated, double that effect for each Gauntlet]
Very good. At the moment, I can only coat one part at a time. That will change in time, if it's like I think and every odd level shows control over another arc, at BL level 5 I might even have three at once.
But crude is right. At the moment, they're only blobs of electricity on top of the limbs, with 'claws' for fingers on the gauntlets, which I suppose is where the additional attack comes from. There are also arcs where electricity is being lost, but then pulled back into me. Still, even like this it is a very useful skill.
Hopping around with the skill is easy, the lightning moving just as fast as I can absorb it and transfer to the other limb. I know better than landing on an uncoated limb, I'm moving fast enough to bruise without the extra durability.
With the skill, every kick is tearing through the robots, and my claws, as dull as they are, are also ripping into the surprisingly flimsy metal. I know this is set up so that teenagers can pass, but even then, these robots are no challenge to anyone with reasonable confidence and training.
In other words, most of the hopefuls here find it too difficult.
In short order, my speed allowed me to rake in dozens of points, my regeneration was more than enough to keep me going, and sniping robots every now and then that were about to hit someone should give me some rescue points.
It wasn't long before the Zero Pointer showed up, with no one trying to fight it in my area, and then the test was over and we were sent back home to wait for our scores.
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
Did any of my skills level up from that? I know I saw those subskills level up as I was tinkering with them, but 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 82 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
And there it is. The same end point, but almost exactly a thousand more words. These two might have started from similar places, but they will be very different. For one, it will take a lot longer for this one to get as overpowered as the pure strength build was going to be.
To give you an idea, that one gained about 60 points to every stat through 12 hours of hellish training with full leveled Tension.
If you didn't catch it, part of the reason this one starts out so weak is he only gained his Quirk roughly a month before insertion.
And unlike Izuku, he started with baby-level strength with his Quirk. Over time it will get even better, but for now, this is where he is. For the most part, the volt/amp won't really make a difference. Next level in the base skill, and going full out means an accidental hit to the heart will kill most people.
And yes, he is still going to be in 1-A. The same reasoning applies as the first. Actually, I think I'll go ahead with this version.
I don't know how accurate it is, but I am trying to make my math at least consistent. Prior to writing this story, the most I knew about electricity was that these terms existed, and that it is somewhat rare for a person to survive a lightning strike.
But to be fair, I am also deliberately invoking anime rules for some of this, only partially due to being an anime. The major reason is how his Quirk works. Unless he makes it, his lightning can't hurt him.
Other than that, Quirks might as well be hereditary magic.
There were some other things I wanted to say, but I've forgotten.
See you next time.