I kind of thought about this when reading some fics where Izuku has a game leveling quirk like in "Level Up!" by Yojimbra, but they usually have a separate dimension and dungeons for him to level up in. I figured this seemed to be a better way to do it.
Edit: 11/17/21
I did my math wrong.
HP = CON*5
SP = DEX*3
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Transition…
[System]
Chapter 1
Izuku could remember the day when he got his quirk. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. He was coloring with Kaachan when the menu popped in front of his face for the first time.
[Izuku Midoriya]
[LVL: 1]
[HP: 25/25]
[SP: 15/15]
[STR: 5]
[CON: 5]
[DEX: 5]
[INT: 6]
Gasp* "Sensei! Something weird happened!"
"What happened Midoriya?"
"I see a bunch of weird letters and numbers."
"Is that so? I don't see anything."
"It's right there!"
Izuku pointed to a screen that only he could see.
"Maybe it's your quirk! I'll call your mom to let her know and you can go to a quirk counselor okay?"
"Hai Sensei!"
Izuku made his way to his best friend, Katsuki "Kaachan" Bakugou.
"Hey, Kacchan!"
"What is it Izuku?"
"I got my quirk!"
"What is it?"
"Um... I don't know, but I can tell you after I go to the quirk doctor to check it out!"
"I bet it'll be strong since mine is strong too. Mine will still be stronger, but I bet yours will be strong."
"You think?"
"Yeah!"
...
Quirk Counselor's Office...
"Well... This is quite interesting indeed."
"W-What is it doctor?"
"According to your son, there is a panel of letters and numbers that only he can see."
"But what does that mean?"
"Well, it depends on what exactly it says."
The doctor turns to the small child who was idly swinging his legs on the chair.
"Izuku? Could you read out what exactly the panel says?"
"Okay! Um, first it says my name, 'Izuku Midoriya', then it says 'lu-vu-la' and then the number 1. And then-"
"I'm sorry, you said 'luvula'?"
"Well, the letters are L, V, and L."
"Hm... Very interesting. How about this, how about you write down exactly what you see since you can see it?"
"Oh! That's a good idea."
The doctor handed the small verdette a paper, pen, and clipboard and patiently waited by conversing with the older Midoriya about her family's quirk history.
"Done!"
"Very well, let's see here. Huh... Oh? I see. Well, this is very interesting in many ways. You see, this panel is something I see quite a lot in my younger years."
"You see it too?"
"Well not exactly. This here is quite similar to a video game status sheet."
"V-Video games? How does a quirk relate to video games?"
"Well you see, these letters here mean level, Health Points, Stamina Points, Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Well, they most likely mean those."
"Can I be a hero with this quirk?"
"Well, I believe you can. Just as long as you level up, I'm sure that you can be a great hero!"
"Did you hear that mom? My quirk is strong!"
"Mrs. Midoriya, I recommend that you buy him a few RPG video games. I'm certain that both of you will learn a lot about Izuku's quirk."
"I see, thank you, doctor."
...
School...
"Kacchan! Kacchan! I figured out what my quirk does!"
"Well, what is it?"
"My quirk is like a game where I can level up and get stronger!"
"That's so cool. I mean, my quirk is cooler for sure, but your's is still cool."
"Thanks Kacchan!"
...
Present...
Izuku chuckled to himself as he reminisced on his quirk's awakening. It hadn't helped him in the slightest. All it did for him was quantify his capabilities. It might have gone up, but he theorized that it was mainly from his efforts in training and simply getting older. It was the tenth anniversary of his quirk and he hadn't leveled up once. He looked at it his status again, looking through his meager stats.
[Izuku Midoriya]
[LVL: 1]
[HP: 80/80]
[SP: 51/51]
[STR: 17]
[CON: 16]
[DEX: 17]
[INT: 20]
He considered himself lucky that his stats went up with training. He had an idea that he never lost stats but he wasn't willing to try. The easiest stat to increase was INT. All he had to do was mentally challenge himself and it went up. He could remember stuff better and absorb stuff quicker, but he had a lot to go. STR and DEX were easier to do, as he could just train and exercise his muscles and endurance and it went up. The hardest thing for him was CON, which gave him his HP, although he had no idea how to train it, as he wasn't keen on hurting himself. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that he didn't get injured. Every time Bakugou exploded him, his skin was left unblemished, although his HP went down by a good amount. It was a testament to the strength of the boy's quirk for sure.
He sighed to himself. After all of these years, after looking through all of his games, he hadn't found a way to level up once. There were no monsters for him to slay, no quests to complete, and no skill to upgrade. He tried killing bugs but gave up after a month of nothing changing. He walked home, a downcast expression on his face. He had developed a love for video games after getting his quirk. Not having many friends helped, but he mainly enjoyed seeing the possibilities of his quirk. He could have skills, a class, magic, and so much more! If only he could level up.
He was brought to the limit when a mosquito chose him to get his blood from. It tried uselessly to pierce his skin, but the CON prevented the mosquito from penetrating the skin. Izuku brought his hand down on it, squashing it effortlessly. He looked at his palm. It was probably the ten-thousandth bug he squashed in an effort to level up. Most games had a low EXP threshold for the early levels, but he hadn't reached that it seemed. He remembered when he baited ants with dropped food, only to squash them with his foot with little remorse.
He rubbed his hand on his pants, ridding his hand of the corpse of the mosquito. He looked forward only to freeze at what was in front of him.
[Level UP]
[2 to all stats]
[3 Stat Points]
His eyes widened to the size of a dish plate. He had leveled up! After a decade of trying he leveled up! He checked his status to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.
[Izuku Midoriya]
[LVL: 2]
[HP: 90/90]
[SP: 57/57]
[STR: 19](+)
[CON: 18](+)
[DEX: 19](+)
[INT: 22](+)
[3 Points Remaining]
Izuku nearly fainted on the spot. He had leveled up and he learned new aspects of his quirk! He took out his notebook on his quirk. It was mainly what his quirk does and theories of what it could do. He quickly noted that he earned bonus stats and stat points every level.
It looked slightly strange to an observer, seeing a middle schooler in the middle of the sidewalk mumbling and writing in his notebook. Izuku didn't notice but people gave him a wide berth after that.
'Ok, how should I use my points? I don't want to min-max, but I don't want to be too balanced and not perform in other areas.'
After a few minutes of pondering, he decided to wait until he got home. He needed more time to think about it, and being in the middle of the walkway was not the place.
'But how did I level up? I just killed the mosquito. I've been killing bugs since forever. What if... they don't give much EXP? I guess that they're weak so they give like 0.01 EXP. But I can't just kill bugs forever. It took me years to level up!'
Izuku gave up on the topic for now. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. His mom needed him to get groceries.
'What a coincidence. I wanted to think about something else anyway.'
He made his way to the convenience store near his house and got whatever his mom needed. He left with soy sauce, fish, and some candy for himself. He left and made his way home. It was sunset at this point, but Izuku was confident that he could complete his homework quickly enough. He had to thank his INT when it came to such matters.
His smile fell from his face when he was roughly pulled into an alleyway by a rugged-looking man.
"I saw your wallet in there kid. It seems like a lot so hand it over!"
"You were watching me? What are you, a pedophile?"
"Don't get snarky with me kid," the man's nails extended about an inch and turned into metal, "either you give me the money, or I take it off your corpse."
"Okay, okay. Just let me put my groceries down first. There's glass in there you know."
"Whatever, make it quick."
Izuku started placing his bags down while his mind went into overdrive. Time seemed to slow down as his INT stats went to work.
'Another thing to note down in the notebook. Thought processing is fas- not now. There's a guy in front of me with a dangerous quirk. What can I do? I can't use my fists. He'll either see it and fight back or will be stunned, but recover and attack. I don't see anything on the ground. I might have to ru-'
Izuku remembered what he said earlier. Glass. He had a glass bottle of soy sauce in his bag. Time seemed to speed up again as he placed the bags on the ground. He held onto the neck of the bottle and got a book grip on it.
"Hurry up kid. I'll give you three seconds to get your wallet out. Thr-"
With a speed unexpected from a middle schooler, Izuku swung the bottle into the side of the man's head, splashing soy sauce, glass shards, and spittle as the man stumbled. His face had a few embedded shards in the side of his face.
"Argh! You little shit!"
Izuku was shaking, both in fear and excitement. He enraged a villain, but he was winning! He was only slightly regretting it, as he had to buy a new bottle.
'Focus!'
Izuku snapped back to reality only to see the man rushing at him. Izuku threw his body to the side, rolling on the ground. The man stumbled to a stop and turned around. His face was the epitome of anger. He was used to it though, he went to school with Bakugou after all, so it didn't faze him. The Izuku felt great. He was winning and a glance at his status showed that he hadn't lost any HP. The man charged again but Izuku read the attack and dodged to the side and stabbed the man in the stomach.
"Urgh!"
The man fell to his knees. The man's charge and Izuku's higher-than-average STR made the bottle go deeper than what Izuku intended. The man coughed up blood.
'Oh, that's not good.'
[Level UP]
[2 to all stats]
[3 Stat Points]
[Level UP]
[2 to all stats]
[3 Stat Points]
[Level UP]
[2 to all stats]
[3 Stat Points]
'Oh, that's very good.'
Izuku decided to call the police. He figured that he could plead innocent and that he killed the man in self-defense. It seemed believable enough. Some middle-schooler was mugged and he fought back.
A cop car arrived and two officers got out. Upon arriving, they saw the scene, a man laying in a pool of blood and a child sitting against the wall.
"Hey kid, are you alright?"
"Hm? Oh, I think so."
"I was getting mugged, but I fought back. I didn't mean to kill him but I figured I should call the police. I won't get arrested will I?"
"Most likely not. You fought in self-defense and are a minor. I'm sure that you'll be ok. However, I need you to come to the station so we can get a statement."
"Okay."
Izuku got into the police cruiser while one officer stayed back and radioed in for more people. Izuku and the officer made their way to the police station, where Izuku was brought into a bathroom, where he cleaned the blood off of his hands, and into a waiting room.
"Wait here. I'll get a detective and just write a statement. Could you call your mother a call?"
Izuku nodded and brought out his phone, prompting the officer to leave and get the detective he had mentioned. Izuku dialed his mother and explained the situation. He heard his mother's voice shake and assured her that he was fine. He was telling the truth after all. His HP hadn't dropped at all. Soon after he ended the call, the officer from earlier entered and motioned Izuku to follow. They went into an interrogation room for privacy. Izuku was sat down across from a man in a tan trench coat and hat.
"Hello, my name is Naomasa Tsukauchi. I'm here to get your statement on what exactly happened that night. My quirk is {Lie Detector}, and I will use it during this statement. Is that okay?"
"Yes," Izuku agreed, he had done nothing wrong, at least that's what the officer said.
"Name, age, profession, quirk?"
"Izuku Midoriya, 14, and I don't have a job? And my quirk is {Level Up}."
"Are you in school?"
"Yes."
"What year and where?"
"3rd year at Aldera Middle School."
"Very well. Can you tell me what led to the altercation?"
"Ok, well I had just left the grocery store and was going home, but then I got pulled into an alleyway, where the man threatened me for my money. He let me put my stuff down when I got the soy sauce bottle and hit him across the head..."
Izuku recounted the encounter, all the way until he phoned the police.
"Okay..." the detective jotted down the last of his notes, "Thank you very much. I didn't catch a single lie. You're a good kid."
"Um, Tsukauchi-san?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I still be a hero? I killed someone."
The man knelt down and set a hand on the child's shoulder.
"You're never wrong in defending yourself from someone else. In fact, I commend you for your smart thinking. Just try not to get into any more trouble okay? It's dangerous. Try to fight villains when you graduate from a hero school."
"Hai! Thank you!"
"Of course. Now, let's get you to your mother."
The matriarch of the Midoriya family was seen in the waiting room, nervously glancing around for her child. She burst into tears when she saw Izuku walk into the room.
"IZUKU!"
The mother ran up to the boy, checking his skin and making sure he was okay.
"Mom! It's fine. I didn't get hurt. Hy HP didn't even drop."
"I'm sorry. I just can't help but worry after you get threatened by a villain."
"That's fine," the detective piped up, "It's natural to worry about your children after such a dangerous encounter."
"Don't encourage her!" Izuku hissed. It was embarrassing for his mom to fuss over him in the middle of the lobby.
"Let's go home."
"Ah, of course."
The Midoriya family left the police station and took the train home.
"Sorry, mom."
"Eh? For what?"
"I didn't get the soy sauce."
Slap* "That's not important right now," Inko said, but she chuckled a bit at his joke.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. His effort to lift the mood worked. He leaned against his mom and absentmindedly looked at his status. He had leveled up after the fight.
[Izuku Midoriya]
[LVL: 5]
[HP: 120/120]
[SP: 75/75]
[STR: 25](+)
[CON: 24](+)
[DEX: 25](+)
[INT: 28](+)
[12 Points Remaining]
He had noted that he had gotten an entire lifetime of training in a day. Well, his lifetime at least. It truly was better to level up than to train his body. He began to think about what stat he wanted to upgrade. He decided to upgrade STR and CON with 5 points each and 1 point for DEX and INT. He could train the INT and DEX by studying and running long and fast easy enough, but he wasn't willing to train his CON since it was too dangerous.
[Izuku Midoriya]
[LVL: 5]
[HP: 145/145]
[SP: 78/78]
[STR: 30]
[CON: 29]
[DEX: 26]
[INT: 29]
Izuku smiled to himself. He had gotten a lot stronger and felt good about himself. He could finally make a name for himself. He could-
"Izuku, we're at our stop."
"Eh?"
He was a bit annoyed but got off the train. His thoughts had been interrupted many times and it was getting annoying. What was he thinking at the time? He couldn't remember. He was walking home with his mother and felt his annoyance disappear. It was actually nice at night, seeing the lights on and lights in the windows were similar to stars. Well, it was kind of nice. His annoyance shifted to hypervigilance. After getting mugged at sunset, he wasn't willing to risk anything. Luckily they made it home safe and sound. His mother left the food unattended so they went bad, although Izuku said he was fine eating late. They ate dinner well later than they were used to, but that was fine. He felt that a lot happened today, so he didn't mind. His mother didn't mind either, seeing as she told him not to stay up too late. He probably wasn't showing that he was too traumatized from the experience.
He went to his room and took out his notebook. It was a bit scuffed from the fight but was in relatively good condition. He began to write about what had happened in the fight.
'Oh! Time seemed like it slowed down! That's what I was forgetting. You know, I feel like I should remember that due to my INT. I guess it's not high enough to remember everything.'
Scrawled on the paper was the breakdown of Izuku's quirk. There wasn't a lot, but it was quite detailed. It should be, Izuku had been researching different games and their mechanics. Although they didn't always show what he had. INT was usually geared towards magic, not actual intelligence or mental processing speed. So he supposed that he shouldn't depend on games all the time. He mulled over what he wrote down. He made sure not to write down the exact method of how he gained EXP. It would be problematic if anyone saw how he did.
He had guessed that it was the case earlier in the day, but the fight with the mugger cemented it. Izuku had to kill in order to level up. He was conflicted on how to feel. After all, he knew how to level up, but kill? He couldn't kill. Only villains killed. And even though the policeman said that he was fine because it was self-defense, he couldn't just go out and try to get mugged. The police would probably catch on that Izuku was probably not killing on accident. He still wanted to be a hero after all. He mulled his options over. If he went on a killing spree, then he would probably get caught.
There was no good option there. This was a lucky day. He got mugged, and he was able to kill and level up. It's not like he'll get another opportunity like today. He decided to sleep on it. Surely the answer would come to him tomorrow.
Thanks for reading! I ho-
Izuku came to a revelation. He couldn't go around killing people willy nilly, but he could kill villains. After all, Endeavor killed villains sometimes and no one bats an eye. So if he kills some villains, he'll level up, and by the time of the entrance exam, he'll be strong enough to enter, and then he won't have to kill anymore! That was the perfect plan. He just had to start doing it. Maybe tomorrow. He needed to prepare and it was Sunday tomorrow. He had a little more than a year before the entrance exams. If it was a few levels per person at the beginning, then he'd get stronger in no time! Izuku got out of bed and began planning. He had so many ideas running through his head, and they would all come to fruition and he-
Izuku's face fell onto the notebook. SP didn't represent energy and he needed to sleep as much as anyone else. He had a smile on his face as he snoozed away. Tomorrow would be full of excitement, that was for sure.
I don't know jack shit about how the police work so feel free to correct me.
Also, it might seem that 3 levels for a human being are a lot, but I see in video games is that they start out small. You know, fighting rabid animals like wolves, foxes, and rats, or monsters like slimes. They're weak, and in a world of people with quirks, I value them as higher level and net more EXP. I value EXP based on the quirk and maybe the physique of the person. Like a small child may have a strong quirk, but if Izuku killed one, it would barely net any EXP.
Tell me what you think! Maybe suggest some stuff! No guarantee if I'll use them if they disrupt the flow of the story but feel free!