"I need to see her!" Izuku cried, throwing himself against the horde of doctors trying to hold him back and ignoring the shaking all over his body. "Where's Yaoyorozu?!"
"Sir! She's in intensive care, she's lucky she's alive! You can't see her right now! It's a miracle that you're alive! Lay down!"
"Izuku!" A small shape came rushing through the door, weaving past the doctors and slamming into Izuku's chest. "Oh thank god!"
"Kei…" Izuku groaned, "What are you doing… out of school?" He fell to his knees, helped down by the doctors and his sister.
"You idiot!" Kei drew back her hand like she was gonna slap him across the face, but apparently thought better of it and instead worried about holding back tears. "I got a call that my brother went missing in a Raid! You think I'm gonna stay at school?!"
"Fellas," A calm voice called out from the doorway, "Are we having some trouble here?" The man, dressed in a suit that had not a wrinkle or smudge on it, walked into the room. "Izuku Midoriya?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"I'm Detective Tsukauchi, I was part of the Raid team that recovered you and Yaoyorozu."
"Then I owe you my life…" Izuku mumbled, his already weak body growing weaker.
"Nothing of the sort." The man said. "But what I do need you to do is calm down and get back in the bed. We're gonna have some questions for you if you feel up to it."
"But what about-"
Tsukauchi shook his head. "The girl will be fine, we've got some of All Might's top healers on it."
"All… Might?"
Tsukauchi nodded. "When the Pro heard about the scenario, he sent the best he had on hand."
"Why? We're not that special are we?"
Tsukauchi smiled. "That's one of the things we're here to find out. But he and I have been friends for some time. I called in a favor when I heard a D-Rank Gate swallowed so many competent Heroes without spitting 'em back out."
Izuku grimaced, "Competent Heroes… I bet I wasn't included in that list."
"On the contrary. I pulled your records. For an E-Rank, you're damn hard to kill. You're either skilled enough to avoid death… or you should be playing the lottery, because you'd have to be damn lucky." Tsukauchi smiled as he helped Kei get Izuku back into bed.
"Would you mind if I had a moment alone with your brother?" He also nodded at the doctors, who took their leave.
Kei frowned, but when Izuku nodded, she relented. "I'll just be outside."
When the room was empty, Tsukauchi took a chair beside the hospital bed. "I'm part of the Hero Safety Commission, an agent assigned to handle mysterious on-goings in situations regarding Gates. So I need to know, what happened?"
Licking his lips, Izuku dove into the story, visibly shivering when memories of the pain, or that ungodly creature popped into his mind. He told up to the point where he was supposedly consumed by the giant spider-like entity, leaving out the detail about his forcibly amputated arm.
"And that's the last thing I remember. Everything else is… fuzzy, like a dream." It was the truth, sitting upon that throne, it felt real and unreal at the same time.
Tsukauchi nodded. "When we entered the Gate, we found no sign of any Villains, nor an altar. We only found you, Yaoyorozu, and the bodies of your Raid party. Which all-in-all, is really strange. I'm sure you know that as well as I do."
"Yeah… I'm still having a hard time believing it all happened."
"That's understandable," Tsukauchi grabbed something from his suit pocket. "This is a small-scale power sensor. It's only rated to go up to C-Rank in terms of power assessment."
"You wanna see… If I Reawakened?"
Tsukauchi shrugged. "Gates as strange as the one you entered tend to be special. If you were left alive… Well, I have no idea what it could've done to you, but there's no point in not trying right? Besides, it is my job to figure this whole thing out."
Izuku was more than happy to try. If he really did get a Reawakening, then he wasn't going crazy, those green floating holographic boxes were real and a part of his new power. So he laid his hand on the baseball-sized measurement device, taking it from Tsukauchi. There was a small number incrementer on the side, but it didn't rise above 10, Izuku's standard measurement.
Tsukauchi grinned belatedly. "Well… I guess that's not what the Gate was for. But I guess it'll just end up one of those mysteries for now. My Quirk is basically a Lie Detector, and I sense no lies in your story." Apparently lies of omission didn't set off the Quirk. "Whenever Miss Yaoyorozu wakes up, I'll confirm your story with her and then you can go back to your life."
Izuku nodded, conflicted. He was debating if he was, in fact, going crazy and seeing things, or if the measurement had been wrong. No, it was far more likely that he had lost his marbles than an Agency's device being faulty. But then… what was the Dungeon for if not to bestow upon Izuku these strange things?
"Get some rest, kid," Tsukauchi ordered. "By the way… I'm sorry about what happened to you two. It might be smart to stop your Hero work. No matter how long you've evaded Death… he'll catch up sooner or later." With that, he left the room, allowing Kei to once again rush in and berate Izuku over and over again.
He bore the brunt of her disapproval until she had worn her throat out. Once that was done, she "harrumphed" and crossed her arms, pouting like a child as her dark hair spilled over her shoulders.
It made Izuku smile. "You look like dad. He always pouted when mom made him eat his vegetables."
Kei's pout softened and glimmers of tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. "You're still an idiot."
"I know…" He said, reaching out and ruffling the black hair she'd inherited from their father, as opposed to the dark-green from their mother. "Go home, do your homework, and get some sleep."
"I should be telling you that."
He just gave her a knowing look before she threw her hands up in the air. "Fine!" And relented, leaving, but not before giving him a hug.
Izuku, now left alone in his hospital room, stared at the green boxes floating in front of him. They were slightly transparent, but solid enough to read.
[Inbox: 3 New Messages.]
Izuku tried tapping on the messages, but his hands went straight through.
"Um… read?" Nothing happened.
"Check inbox?"
[Alert: The System has been installed.]
[Alert: The System is in place to help the Player become strong.]
[Alert: Refusal to work with the System may result in a penalty.]
[Daily Quest Activated: Become Strong]
"Uhhhhh… Okay. Maybe I'm not going crazy." The boxes appeared displaying words that hadn't even been on Izuku's mind. It meant that this wasn't a creation of his deluded and damaged mind, but the real purpose of that Dungeon, to give him this "System."
[Daily Quest: Become Strong]
100 Pushups
10 km run
100 Squats
100 Curl-ups
[Warning: Failure to complete this Quest may result in a penalty.]
"I couldn't even do all that if I was fully rested…" Izuku thought to himself, falling back onto the pillow of the bed. "It's a Daily Quest, I just got it now, so that means I have 24 hours right?" He couldn't even finish the thought before drifting off into peaceful sleep. Peaceful, at least until the alarm woke him up.
Izuku's hands found their way into the soft silky sand that one would only find in the most remote deserts.
[Penalty Quest: Survive]
Time Remaining: 3:59:59
"Four hours?!" That was when Izuku realized he was in some sort of remote desert, with sandy dunes stretching out farther than the eye could see. "Okay… note-to-self: when the magical system threatens you with a punishment, take it seriously."
He looked over to the message. "Four hours… It better teleport me back after four hours. Otherwise I'm gonna need to find a phone in the middle of the Sahara."
Izuku had always heard that in some survival situations the best thing to do was sit still and wait for help. But that usually applied to scenarios much different than Izuku's, and really he had nothing else to do. So he began strolling the dunes, kicking up sand like he was a toddler at the beach, all the while looking for signs of… something. The only things of interest were some giant crystals that turned the sunlight into powerful beams of energy on certain points, creating melted sand. Which meant he wasn't on Earth as far as he was aware.
By the time he reached the tallest hill of sand he had seen yet, only thirty minutes remained on the timer. He had no reason to be suspicious that anything else would happen, after all, being in this desert was punishment enough for a newly admitted patient to the hospital. Izuku was tired, thirsty, and in real need of a shower. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that simple.
In reality, Izuku's challenge was only beginning. And it started with Izuku getting taller.
He squinted, unsure of the reason why it felt like he was rising higher and higher ever so slowly, the other dunes getting progressively smaller. The reason became clear soon enough.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Izuku looked down to see that he had not only been standing atop the highest dune, but also a very large bug, one that was pissed to have been awoken from a peaceful slumber beneath the warm sands.
[Poisonous Giant Centipede]
The name appeared at Izuku's feet, directly above the creature's head.
It made a sound similar to a roar and whipped its head to the side, flinging Izuku off with no effort. Thankfully, it was exactly the direction Izuku wanted to go. He knew that the creature was way too strong for him. So either he outran a creature with fifty times more legs that he did for thirty minutes, or… he could kill it.
This was not some Lovecraftian horror stalking him in the darkness, this was just a standard Villain, a monster that humanity had killed time and time again. Perhaps that was why Izuku found his legs more sturdy than just a few days ago in that deep dark dungeon. Of course, he'd still have to run for his life, but he was pretty used to that.
The centipede, still groggy from its interrupted nap, was slow to catch up, and allotted Izuku just enough time to reach the towering crystals that focused the sun to a powerful beam.
He stood just to the side of one, standing out of the way of its angle, and making a perfectly stationary target for the creature. It roared, thinking its prey had given up, and charging faster. He wanted a snack after his slumber.
At the last moment, Izuku leapt behind the beam of light, narrowly avoiding the molten pool of sand/glass. But the centipede was not so lucky. Incensed into catching Izuku, it whipped its head to the side to try and follow his jump. Instead, it passed right under the crystal.
With a loud POP and a disgusting smell, the centipede's head fell to the ground, decapitated from the rest of its body.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have acquired items:]
C-Rank Villain Core
Poisonous Extract
Chitin Scales
[You have completed the Secret Quest: When the System gives you Punishments make Rewards!]
Izuku grimaced at the Secret Questline, it felt like a joke made at his expense, one that could've gotten him killed. It was frustrating to have what felt like a computer make jokes about putting him into life or death situations. But that frustration was belayed by the following message.
[Rewards:]
1. One D-Rank or lower Item From the Store
2. +20 Stat Points
3. Rune Stone
"Store?" Izuku muttered. "There's a store for this thing?!" He felt like flipping off the System, God, and anyone else who would see it, but he didn't want to tempt fate. "You gotta give me more than like ten minutes to learn all this stuff before throwing me in the deep end!"
Izuku looked around, not spotting any other creatures. So with twenty minutes left on the timer, he began looking through the system.
"Okay… store… inventory… stat page… armor… weapons… this really is a video game." Izuku checked his inventory for the supposed Rune Stone, curious about it, but it wasn't there.
"Oh right, I still need to claim them. Uhh, accept rewards?" The inventory immediately filled with the Rune Stone and a unique looking coin, assuredly a voucher for the free store item. The stat page also showed the available points to be distributed. But he put it off for the time being, not because he wanted to save them for later, but because he already knew how stats worked. He'd rather focus on his other rewards before paying attention to the stat page.
[Rune Stones: Contain the concentrated magical power of various Villains. Crush a Rune Stone in order to obtain a new Skill.]
"A new Skill? Those are like magical powers right? Sounds pretty cool…" He stared at the stone in his hand, an oblong shape. "There's no reason to save it, is there… nah… couldn't be."
Before he could question himself any further, Izuku exerted his force on the stone, crushing it without any sort strain.
[Skill: Echo Attack]
Active Skill
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Description: Your next attack strikes twice in quick succession.
"So then if the centipede hit me with this… I'd get hit by 200 attacks…?" Izuku cringed at the thought, but quickly shook it off, instead bringing up the store to look through the D-Rank options.
Thankfully, the store had a bunch of applicable filters to it: Armor, Weapons, Artifacts, Materials, and a few other things that were locked and labeled as '?'
"Hmm… I want something that is more expensive so I can make full use of this. A weapon… or armor… or both…" Izuku scrolled through weapons and armor until he found exactly what he was looking for, the 'Gauntlets' section.
[Breaker Knuckles]
[Aegis Gauntlets]
[Earthshakers]
The list was rather short. And despite their anime-like names, nothing about them was all that special. They were just gauntlets enchanted with Mana as far as Izuku could tell. But even that was more than he'd ever had in his life.
With seemingly no differences other than base stats and gold cost, Izuku picked the one with the most stats and consequently the one with the highest price.
[Item: Earthshakers]
Item Class: D
Item Type: Gauntlets
Attack: +20
They fit onto Izuku's hands perfectly, as if they were made for him, which he supposed they were. Seemingly made up of dark gray rocks, they made Izuku's fists almost twice as large.
"Kinda unwieldy though… can't keep these guys in a sheathe…"
Thankfully, after some experimentation, Izuku found out how they worked. With nary but a thought, Izuku could send them between the inventory and his fists within an instant, making them far more convenient than even a sword being sheathed.
For a brief moment, with his new gauntlets, and new rises in Levels, which he had felt took him up in power, he considered hunting for more of the centipedes. But as soon as the thought was brought to mind, his knees wobbled, then collapsed. Without even noticing, Izuku had expended himself beyond what he thought was possible. He was so suddenly exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open.
[Time Remaining: 00:00:05]
With a tired sigh, Izuku fell asleep, his sand-covered body returning to the hospital room.
Izuku Midoriya:
Level: 5
Strength: 15
Vitality: 15
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 15
Sense: 15
Available Points: 20
[Mana: 150/150]
[HP: 600/600]
A/N: Thank you for reading so far! It's been a lot of fun to dive back into this fic and as you can see, the differences are pretty apparent. I'm going to continue to evolve this fic, but I also plan to keep plenty of elements the same. Some are worried about the classic Shadows not appearing and all I can say is that I plan to rectify one of the issues with the last fic, that being that certain Shadows did not have enough "screentime." Fear not, the only thing I plan to do with the Shadows differently is add some new guys, I won't be leaving out Shadows unless they were truly useless in the last fic and this one. Also you can see I changed Izuku's sister's name... because everyone hated the last one she had lol