Today had been the best day of Izuku Midoriya's life.
This morning, he had been present to witness one of the latest pro hero's debuts first hand. Then later after school he had been rescued by his idol and the number one pro hero, All Might. Most importantly, however, was the fact that not long after, his idol had told him that his dream of becoming a pro hero was possible despite Izuku being Quirkless.
Sure, it hadn't been a perfect day, especially not after his homeroom teacher singled him out in front of everyone for applying to U.A; the greatest hero academia in the country. His childhood friend's outburst and subsequent trashing of his latest hero analysis notebook also didn't help.
But he had gotten the opportunity to see All Might! He had spoken to, shaken hands with the hulking blond-haired hero and received an autograph on his trashed notebook! He had the number one pro's blessing!
It had all been a dream come true.
…
[Initialization Complete]
Izuku shuddered as his consciousness was roused in the middle of his dreamless sleep.
[Begin Character Creation]
The black that consumed his vision was suddenly pulled towards the holographic screen that appeared in front of him. For some reason, probably because he was still half-asleep, he didn't question anything as he yawned and went about looking over the screen.
[Status
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Quirk/Specialization: Warrior/Mage/Defender/Summoner]
Seeing he could choose, he hummed in thought before settling on Mage. Had he been more aware, he probably would have taken hours to decide after questioning everything about the bizarre situation unfolding around him. Alas, he just accept things and more or less responded impulsively.
[Status
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Quirk/Specialization: Mage
Sub Class: Elemental Mage, Phenomenal Mage, White Mage, Black Mage, Conjuration Mage, Alteration Mage]
Eyes glazed over in confusion, Izuku tilted his head as he reread his options over a dozen times before shrugging his shoulders and choosing Alteration Mage.
[Congratulations! You learned Rune Sculpting!]
[Congratulations! You gained the book, "Beginner Mage's Guide to Alteration"]
[Status
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Quirk/Specialization: Mage
Sub Class: Alteration Mage
Stats
Health: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Magic: 100%
Strength: 5
Constitution: 4
Agility: 6
Magic Pool: 12
Magic System: 10
Magic Perception: 15
Skills
Name: Rune Sculpting
Grade: F
Rank: 1
Description: Typically, only the worst rung of mages possess this level of proficiency. Allows Mages to manifest runes from Magic Energy into usable spells. The higher the Grade and Rank of this Skill the more cost effective and potent your spells become.
Inventory (1)
Name: Book: Beginner Mage's Guide to Alteration
Grade: D
Description: Teaches the basics of spell casting for Alteration Magic. Contains a comprehensive list of all the runes for spellcrafting as well as their purpose. Contains common Grade F-D Alteration Spells.]
[Character Creation Complete]
Upon completely reading the last of the messages, Izuku blinked and found himself now fully aware in the middle of a grassy field. For minutes, he simply thought over everything he knew.
Obviously, he was asleep and dreaming all of this, but even for him this dream was a bit too lucid to completely blow off. He had often dreamed in the past of having a Quirk, so that wasn't anything new. However, never had his imagined Quirked ever been as specific nor nuanced as "Bootleg Video Game Alteration Mage."
An overview of his Status showed him his Stats, Skills, and Inventory, and at the top of his vision he could faintly see a translucent countdown tick down from about seven and a half hours.
With nothing else to do, Izuku pulled out the book from his inventory and layed down on the grass. He found, to his surprise, that he could actually understand the theory behind the rather arcane information within the book. Soon, he was putting theory to practice and conjuring extremely basic Magic Circles as he followed the instructions for casting simple Alteration Spells.
[Congratulations! Rune Sculpting has ranked up to Rank 2!]
[Congratulations! You learned the Spell, "Bronze Hands"]
[Congratulations! Rune Sculpting has ranked up to Rank 3!]
[Congratulations! Rune Sculpting has ranked up to Rank 4!]
[Congratulations! You learned the Spell, "Fortification"]
[Congratulations! Rune Sculpting has ranked up to Rank 5!]
[Congratulations! You learned the Spell, "Degradation"]
Around five hours into his studying endeavour, Izuku finished learning the three F Grade Alteration Spells contained within his book. He would have simply continued trying to learn the more advanced spells if not for noticing a shifting in the grassy plains. Namely, he had begun spotting movement near the edge of horizon.
Not necessarily bored with his book, just curious of what it was that moved far off into the distance, Izuku decided to get up and see what was up. Nearly five minutes later, he was approached close enough to see that the object of his curiosity was a green blob; a slime. Three minutes after that, Izuku got close enough to touch the slime and… subsequently learned that it was not the smartest of ideas.
Touching the green blob, or worse, submerging his hand into its body, burned Izuku. 'Probably because it's trying to digest me or something,' Izuku reasoned as he hopped back and prepared a functional Magic Circle.
Casting Bronze Hands, the second time Izuku tried to touch the slime, it merely tickled his skin. Although, seeing as the slime constantly tried to submerge the rest of him within itself, Izuku decided to treat the amorphous creature as a mob monster and kill it. He punched it a couple times as hard as he could before the core within its body shattered and the slime exploded into a puff of smoke.
Poof…
[Congratulations! You gained a Green Slime Core Fragment!]
[Congratulations! You gained 3 Copper!]
True to the notifications, Izuku found two new additions to his Inventory. However, since they were of no use to him at the moment, he ignored them in favor of pursuing another slime.
Asleep he may be, he still found it entertaining to play around with his Magic and pretend to be some sort of fantasy hero. So, he went about casting Bronze Hands whenever the effects waned and continued to massacre the slimes in the grassy field aimlessly.
[Congratulations! Bronze Hands has ranked up to Rank 2!]
[Congratulations! Rune Sculpting has ranked up to Rank 6!]
[Congratulations! Bronze Hands has ranked up to Rank 3!]
[Congratulations! Bronze Hands has ranked up to Rank 4!]
Eventually, the timer at the top of his Status reached zero and in that moment, time stopped.
[Now Waking]
…
One moment, Izuku was chasing after his umpteenth slime and in the next he was blinking his eyes open to the sight of his ceiling from under his bed's covers. He was awake now.
Oh well.
He sighed with discontent as he already missed that wonderfully lucid dream from the previous night. Somehow, he could remember every detail from the eight or so hours he had spent in his dream, studying, casting Alteration Magic, and killing slimes. Alas, now he was back to being just the same old Deku; Quirkless, powerless, boring…
Izuku shook his head at the thought as he got out of bed and went about completing his daily morning routine. He made his bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.
Crack!
Izuku's eyes narrowed on his toothbrush. It had cracked on its weakest point and would most likely break completely now if he tried to brush his teeth. Really, he should have seen this coming, seeing as he had been using the same toothbrush since he could remember.
Izuku shook his head and rolled his eyes at the minor inconvenience as a Magic Circle lit up above the hand that was holding his toothbrush and—
Wait…
"What?!" Izuku's eyes widened to the point that it actually hurt as he stared at his toothbrush. The faint white glow of it telling him that his Fortification Spell had been successfully cast. Still, he refused to believe what he was seeing until he hesitantly shoved the toothbrush in his mouth and started trembling. Pushing it with all his strength against his teeth, the fortified toothbrush did not so much as bend under the pressure.
Practically throwing the toothbrush as if it were physically hurting him, Izuku started breathing heavily as he looked down at his hands. Activating with his intent, another Magic Circle materialized before his hands took on a familiar tan hue and were subject to the properties of bronze.
He could no longer ignore reality. His magic… It had followed him into the waking world from his dream.
He had a Quirk.
