Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD.

Turning a page, Shinjiro narrowed his eyes at the magical tome.

Magic was turning out to be similar to math. Both literally and figuratively.

In the literal sense, that was how it functioned apparently. Magic, for humans anyway, was a complex series of calculations in order to transfer raw mana into a functioning spell.

In the figurative sense, both math and magic were extremely interesting subjects that only few could really get into. The things one could accomplish upon mastering both were universe shattering. Yet, depending on the medium one learns about them, they could be the most boring subject ever taught. And that was why he assumed most people didn't entertain either topics for too long.

The magical tome for instance was... dull. It read clinically, explaining things in a logical and concise way that left no argument for misunderstanding.

He was grateful for that, yes, but it also sucked all of the mystery out of magic.

Sighing, he turned another page. The practical side of magic had to be more interesting than this. Theory work was just not his forte.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

For a moment it didn't register that someone had spoken, as he could still hear the sounds, but he eventually was wrenched out of his thoughts by realization.

Casually, he turned to the voice of origin and-

Holy shit.

-barely stopped himself from blurting out his thoughts at the ungodly size of the girl's bust that was staring back at him.

With a blink, Shinjiro collected himself from... that, and trailed his gold eyes up to meet the student's cerulean ones. Her long, bright red hair cupped her smiling face unnaturally well as she stared back at him patiently, holding a small tray of food.

Behind the voluptuous teenager was another girl with an even bigger sized bust- how?- with equally long black hair and purple eyes watching watching as she demurely stood without a tray in hand.

Curious.

The girl at the front looked... familiar. He'd never seen her before but her red hair was pretty distinc-

Ah. That weirdo from earlier. Whoever they are, they can't be bothering him already, right?

Locking his eyes back with the girl he's ninety percent sure is related to that lazy hypnotist, he shrugged.

"Not like I could stop you."

His answer was both the truth and a little bit of doublespeak. The message that he really couldn't stop her if she was involved in the supernatural, as he had no real abilities, but that he'd prefer to be left alone.

If she understood, she damn sure didn't show it, as she simply plopped herself down in front of him with a happy hum and began to eat politely. In lieu of conversation, he simply went back to reading his book about boring ol' magic.

Maybe he was jumping the gun a bit? She could just be a normal high-school girl.

His eyes flickered to her breasts again. Never mind. Those cannot be natural. While he was a healthy teenage male, he really didn't care to stare at the breasts of other students. It just... never appealed to him. But it was a bit hard not to look when a girl his age had a breast size that he thought was physically impossible.

Like, he was fairly certain their size was absurd for any age, much less a teenager of all things.

Though, by that metric of oddness, the other girl would be even more entrenched in the supernatural since hers were markedly bigger.

He quietly snorted to himself, shaking his head discretely. Am I really measuring threat levels by their boob size? I must be going crazy reading this boo-

"What are you doing?" The redhead suddenly asked, interrupting his thoughts once again. With her voice, the sound of her soul's buzzing minutely changed in tune.

Or maybe I'm going crazy listening to souls buzzing all day. He deadpanned, calmly looking up at her.

With a slow blink, he answered as if she was a particularly stupid child. "...Reading. Or, trying to, at least." He muttered that last part under his breath.

That sounded rude, but he didn't mean it as an insult. It was a... bait. Both a gauge of her temper and a ploy to reel her into his cover story. He had a feeling she wasn't going to... catch the hint anytime soon, so he was at least going to steer the conversation in a more favorable way.

She gave back a look of mild confusion, but didn't seem particularly offended. In fact, she looked more intrigued than anything.

That reaction was a passing grade in his book.

"...Am I bothering you?" She slowly replied, a slight frown on her face.

He sighed in response, letting the incessant buzzing wash over him before responding. Truth be told he was bothered, but mostly by the sounds than anything. She was actually doing fine in terms of being a decent person. He wasn't being very decent himself, but it was hard to treat people normally when you knew they likely hypnotize people regularly just for laziness' sake.

Plus, her soul was making some really interesting sounds. A cacophony of dark tones twisted into an upbeat mood of a melody. It was beautiful. It was weird. He... liked it.

"I meant that literally, not as a snide remark," He finally answered, giving her his full attention. "Sorry, today has been... a day. The name's Shinjiro."

She didn't even blink at his lack of a surname. Though, that wasn't too odd. Only the most pompous ever really pointed it out, he found.

He technically had a last name, but it wasn't one his parents had given him. so he didn't care for it.

Besides, most people just assumed he wasn't used to Japan and it's formalities. Being considerate, they usually just let him off the hook. They were wrong; He just didn't care either way.

"Oh, what did you mean, then? And it's fine, everyone has those days." She replied, a stupidly happy smile on her face. It made him feel worse for being rude earlier. "And I'm-"

"Gremory, right?" His eyes flickered over to the other girl. Her neutral expression hadn't changed once. "Though I don't know either of your first names."

The redhead happily hummed. "That's me! I'm Gremory Rias and this is-"

"Himejima Akeno." The clearly Asian girl introduced herself softly. "Well met."

He didn't like the sound of Akeno's soul. It felt... off, stopping and starting at random. Like a song with half of the notes taken out, and the notes that did show increased in intensity at random.

She sounded... broken. It was unsettling. He didn't like her song.

"Right," Rias nodded, not taking her eyes off him. "So... how'd you know my last name?"

He shrugged, ignoring the pit in his gut. "You and your dad have very... distinct looks. I'd honestly be more surprised if you weren't related."

"My... dad?" She tilted her head, a finger on her chin. "Oh, you mean that school board member, right? That's my older brother, actually."

That little fact didn't really change his game plan. The game plan being don't piss off the blatantly supernatural family.

His eyes trailed over to Akeno, whose expression still hadn't changed. Dont piss off the supernatural family... or their friends.

"Oh, my mistake. He just looks way older than you so I assumed..." He replied honesty.

"It's fine." She hummed, deciding to finally start eating the food she'd sat down with. With that, he went back to reading his book, taking it as a cue the conversation was finally dying.

He didn't get very far before someone spoke again. Surprisingly, it wasn't the redhead.

"So... what did you mean earlier?" Akeno asked suddenly, her tone deceptively innocent.

Somehow, the question felt like a threat.

"...About?" He replied seemingly absent-minded, not having taken his eyes off his book.

"You said you were speaking literally so... what did you mean by saying you were trying to read?"

Ah, so that's why she sounded like that. Best friends are always so protective of each other.

"Oh, That." He shifted the book, turning it so it was facing the both of them. Rias' eyes perked up, scanning it as well. "Well, I guess it would be easier to just show you. You ever seen anything like this before?"

Akeno hummed, her gaze losing interest. "Interesting. I'm afraid I've never seen anything like this before."

"...Yeah. Me neither." Rias eventually added on, still trying to read it despite being clearly unable to.

Well that confirms that. Nobody would be able to easily read the book without the blood giving, it seemed.

"Right." He nodded, turning the book back to himself. "I think deciphering it is supposed to be some sort of inheritance test. Still not sure exactly where to start."

"That's... so cool," Rias whispered in.. awe? Her eyes even looked like they were shining. Like she was looking at him in a new light, somehow.

He didn't see what was so amazing about a book he couldn't read. Once again, the book itself was really boring.

Maybe it was something to do with his inheritance story? That... technically wasn't a lie. The only part that was a lie was his inability to read it.

"Thanks, I guess." He decided to answer politely.

Though, truth be told? He didn't really get it.

Closing the door behind him, Shinjiro let himself slump against it with a satisfied sigh. Nearly an hour after school had ended, he finally made it home.

It was a... long day.

And finally making it home forced him to realize something. He didn't dislike it. In fact, he was looking forward to going to school tomorrow.

Yet, why was that?

Earlier, he was annoyed that upon learning magic existed that he'd be forced to still attend boring and basic school. And getting stronger being his goal, it made sense that just sitting around a bunch of kids his age would be a waste of time.

But... it wasn't like that at all.

The souls of others constantly buzzed at him, forcing him to be aware at all times. The people were odd, sometimes baffling, and spoke to him at length without his prompting. And while he didn't do much of schoolwork since it was the first day, he was sure it would be somewhat difficult.

So... was that it? Highschool was simply more difficult than he thought it would be and he relished the challenge?

No.

As much as he'd like to convince himself he was an unfeeling megalomaniac, it simply wasn't true.

Experiencing an incalculable amount of time in the void was bound to clash with his fifteen years as a human. In one state, he was a seemingly permanent passive observer. In the other... he had choice.

The difference was like watching movies your entire life, only to suddenly be thrust into the body of one of the characters. Complete with all the urges, desires, and feelings that came with it. That came with living.

And that, there, was the crux of it. He enjoyed having a life, not just being alive.

For some reason, Rias had decided he was going to be the person she clung onto. She babbled almost incoherently to him after lunch.

And in between classes, where she almost got carried away.

And after school she did get carried away, blabbing at him for nearly a full hour before realizing what time it was.

It wasn't like he disliked her. In fact, if it weren't for the unsettling sound of her friend's soul ringing in the background, he probably would've kept talking to her about nothing.

She was his first... friend. Even if he didn't understand why she seemed so enamored by his every word.

It was too bad he had to lie to her about himself, but hey, better to be safe than sorry.

Being safe was his number one priority. It was the whole reason he wanted to become strong in the first place. Strength meant safety. And with safety, he could continue to live his life smoothly.

So after reviewing his schoolwork, he was going to hit up whatever gym was nearby.

Rather than focusing on increasing his level, he should probably just do the same thing everyone else his age was doing. Improve his basics.

With a strong foundation, even the weakest of supernatural abilities would be extremely useful. Therefore, building up his skillset and simply improving before a single level up was paramount.

And what better way to do that than hitting up the gym?

Though, I've never been to the gym...

Maybe he could take those wristbands and ankle wraps his family left him?

A little over an hour later, Shinjiro sat in front a gym he'd found relatively nearby, a familiar screen flickering in front of him.

-•o•-
Shinjiro
Level: 0
Rank: Mortal - T0
Class: [-]
Progress to next level: 0%

Strength: 1 (Suppressed = 0.97)
Dexterity: 2 (Suppressed = 1.94)
Toughness: 1 (Suppressed = 0.97)
Chi: 3
Mana: 1
Faith: 7
-•o•-

He tilted his head slightly, watching as the screen flickered each time he took off the black wristbands and put them back on.

I... think I see the point?

Each time he wore one of the wrist bands, all of his physical stats would be decreased by 3%. If he wore both, they would be decreased by 9%.

Following that thought process, if he wore both the wrist bands and the ankle wraps together, their effectiveness would stack resulting in a decrease of 81%.

Shaking his head, he put them in his back and kept them there. For now, they wouldn't be useful.

There were two uses he could think of foe something like this. One would be to suppress himself for future sparring partners if he became too strong. That way, he could still learn from humans even if he was much stronger than them.

The other use would be to improve his training speed. As he trained, his growth speed would eventually plateau the higher and higher his stats became. With this, he theoretically should be able to keep a linear growth speed for a decent amount of time.

It was a useful tool that he was extremely grateful his family left him.

Though, he still wasn't sure what the silver rosary was for. Maybe they were just religious?

In any case, he didn't have much time in the day. He wanted to get started on magic right after this, as he was almost halfway through the first part of the mana book.

Besides, awkwardly staring into the air was getting him some weird looks from people walking by. Only he could see his system, after all.

Stepping inside, he let out a pleased hum at the crisp air conditioning and walked up to the counter. Across from him was a man who clearly lived and breathed the gym, as was evident by his muscles damn near rippling out of his shirt.

It was sort of funny how this giant of a man was trying to type on such a small computer.

At this close proximity, the sound of the man's soul was pretty 'clear'. So far, it sounded pretty normal, if a bit loud.

After being exposed to so many souls, he was pretty sure the sound of it was evident of one's personality at least somewhat. That, and he could hear their... thoughts? Feelings? He wasn't sure yet.

In any case, he didn't know what having a 'loud' soul meant, but it couldn't be anything too bad.

"Yo," Shinjiro waved at the man apprehensively. He wasn't exactly nervous, but there was always going to be a certain lack of confidence when one was in an unknown environment.

"Hm?" The man grunted, not taking his eyes off the computer. "Need something?"

His tone was gruff, but the sound of his soul barely changed. So... not intentionally rude, just not paying attention?

"I was wondering if I could become a member...?" Pretty sure that's how this works, anyway.

The man raised an eyebrow, the sound of his soul changing as he finally wrenched his eyes off the computer.

After giving him a good look over up and down, he snorted.

"Yeah, I could get you set you up with a subscription spot. Not like anyone even comes in here, anyway." He grumbled that last part under his breath.

"You eighteen?" The man continued, back to typing on the computer.

"Nah, Fifteen." Shinjiro answered succinctly.

"Oh? You trying to get in shape for a school sports team or something like that?" Both of his eyebrows rose even higher than before.

Shinjiro opened his mouth to answer instinctively before quickly closing it. Answering that he wanted to 'surpass god' would probably be the wrong thing to say.

Though, it would be amusing to see the man's reaction.

"Nope. Just thought I'd better start early if I was gonna take care of my body." Shinjiro took a moment to think on the question some more. "I don't know if my school even has a sports team." He answered honestly.

"Already treating your body like a temple at your age? Wish I was like that when I was your age." The man said absentmindedly, still typing at the computer.

He paused. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be from that expensive school a few blocks down? The one that just recently became coed?"

Now it was Shinjiro's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Kuoh? Yeah, I'm from there."

"Ah, shite," The man cursed, the sound of his soul spiking in volume. "Uh, no offense, my daughter goes there actually. I'm just legally obligated to give students from there a discount."

Shinjiro chuckled in response. "Thats actually perfect. I don't have much money to spare, actually."

The man paused, giving him all of his attention with furrowed brows.

"Your parents can get you into a school like that, but can't spare a couple bucks for your health?" If anything, he sounded almost offended.

"Orphan," Shinjiro corrected. "That's actually why I don't have much money. I only got in with a scholarship."

The man whistled, his expression softening. "Damn, kid. A sharp mind and an independent drive for a healthy body? You're gonna be a force to be reckoned with in a few years."

Shinjiro chuckled again for a different reason. You have no idea.

"Well, you know what they say. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body." He quoted, rephrasing the description of his only real skill.

"Hm... I like that." He hummed, nodding to himself. "Well no point wasting daylight. We'll see where you're at and what you need to work on and go from there."

With that, the man stood and simply began walking away deeper into the gym.

Shinjiro smiled, following after him.

If this was the owner, he didn't seem too bad. A bit rough around the edges, but who wasn't?

Taking a breath, Shinjiro sat upon the meditation mat as he attempted to wrestle down his emotions.

His eyes stung with exhaustion, but his mood was brimming with satisfaction.

To absolutely no one's surprise, his stat page wasn't lying in the slightest about his lack of strength. He may have been tall for his age, but he was as thin as a stick and it showed.

Which, in hindsight, only made sense considering he hadn't once taken any kind of sport seriously before.

Still, there was no reason to be discouraged by his poor performance in the gym like he knew a lot of kids his age would be. He was already at rock bottom in terms of his physique, it could only go up from here.

Well, unless he decided to become fat, for some reason. But if he kept up with his training, that fat would just become bulk.

And while the owner of the place wasn't his personal trainer, he clearly had a vested interest in him by the end of the session since he promised to continue giving tips and helping out here and there.

He doubted he impressed the guy in the slightest, but it must've been something that tipped his favor. Maybe he saw his drive wouldn't just sputter out after one underwhelming workout? Or maybe he just felt bad for the orphan kid without any real help.

Either way, Shinjiro was happy to listen to Ishikawa's guidance.

The man seemed like he knew what was going on, if his giant stature was anything to go by. Shinjiro's stats hadn't changed afterward, but his life wasn't a game even if his power treated it like one. If his stats were going to increase, they'd do so as a reflection of his growth. And as such, he obviously hadn't made any tangible progress in one workout session.

But there was a stat he could probably increase as if it was a game. Mana.

He'd read enough of the book to have a good grasp on the concept of magic. In essence? It was both less and more useful than he thought it would be.

Magic, at the moment, was impossible for him.

Why? Because of how mana functioned as a whole. To elaborate, every living thing produces mana. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, no one really knew, but he knew now how it functioned.

For each species, mana functioned a little differently. On it's own, it was known as unattuned. Neutral, some would call it. But when it's source was the connection between a being's mind and soul, the mana would be made attuned to the species.

This change from it's natural state would cause mana to function in slightly different ways depending on the species. Devils, for example, had such a powerful connection between their mind and soul that their sense of self physically changed their existence. And following that connection, their mana was so potent that they could control it with imagination alone.

Humans were one of the unfortunate species that gained pretty much no advantages when their mana was 'human-attuned'. In fact, it was more of a detriment.

The reason being that upon leaving the body, a being's mana would simply stop being attuned to the soul and... dissipate. For the most dominant creatures, the connection of the mind and soul was so powerful that their version of mana would simply follow their whims no matter where it went. For humans? No dice.

The moment mana left his body, it would just... stop listening to him.

That's where magic came in. They were tools, instructions that the user would 'condition' their mana to follow like a program on a computer. The moment the mana stopped listening, it would default to it's conditioning, following the 'spell' taught to it.

Without even a fraction of an idea on how to do that though, there was no point trying to use magic.

Even Merlin only figured it out after using devil test subjects and reading their mana flow.

Still, as he closed his eyes and stilled his emotions, he figured he could use mana for something as long as it was within his own body.

For a while, a long while, there was nothing of the world except his controlled breathing and the quiet buzzing of his own soul.

According to the book, this was normal. Finding his mana would take time. Controlling it should take even longer.

Which is why he almost missed it when a part of his soul spiked under his attention.

Wait... did his soul sensitivity mean that he had a talent for...?

He scrunched up his nose, his head throbbing slightly as he focused all his attention on the sound of his soul.

Slowly, it began to click with him little by little. Like learning to move a muscle that he didn't know existed. A foreign feeling that somehow felt... right.

Despite knowing where it came from, none truly understood mana. It was an ever-present aspect of the universe, another element to add to the periodic table. A force of nature outside of mortal comprehension. And while he could hear the result of it's movement, understand it on a theoretical level, he was starting to feel it's actions.

His weary body didn't feel changed, but more like he was finally aware of it in it's entirety. A piece of his whole being that had been previously blind to him.

A burgeoning vortex of energy began to form in a space around his heart, slowly spinning as he willed it into existence. There was a wall of resistance as he pushed it, sweat beads forming on his head, but he didn't stop.

Just.

A little.

Further.

And he could-

"Gah!" Shinjiro exclaimed, a sharp pain piercing through his body. Snapping open his eyes, he let out a hiss as he let go of his intense focus.

Something... changed.

He didn't feel much different than before. The only significant thing he could distinctly feel was his soul's connection to his mind. It was far less obvious than the buzzing of his soul, but there was no denying it's presence now.

An indisputable change. Was that why he now had a system prompt waiting in front of him?

-•o•-
[New Skill Gained!]
[Primitive Mana Manipulation]
"The skill which encompasses the proficiency the user has for controlling and molding their own mana."
-Effectiveness of skill is dependent on the user's [Mana] stat-
-•o•-

This... wasn't this sort of skill extremely valuable? If he was reading it correctly, it just added a whole new function onto his Mana stat...

That meant that even if his proficiency was low, the more mana he had then the better he would be able to control it! When he learned whatever form of magic he came across, his spells would be shooting out crazily fast and with barely any drain to boot!

Maybe there were other skills like this for both Chi and Faith? Though, trying to figure them out seemed like a greedy endeavor.

Focusing on that feeling once again, he felt a dull stinging sensation as he tried to circulate his mana through his... channels.

I think I may have strained my... what would you even call that? Mana organ? Magic circuit? The-thingy-connecting-the-soul-with-the-mind. I should probably read further into the mana book...

Yeah, it was better to accept this overpowered skill than try and rush for a bunch of skills he wasn't even sure existed.

Honestly, he was surprised he didn't get some sort of meditation skill instead of this. He didn't think he'd done enough to earn it, but he damn sure didn't do enough to earn a skill as powerful as this one.

Besides, this skill alone was going to be super powerful even if he didn't know how to perform a spell. While it was within his body, his mana wouldn't need complex calculations to perform internal spells.

Like, could he make a spell to enhance his body with mana? Or even one to improve his regeneration speed? Create a technique for supernatural senses?

Absentmindedly, he raised a hand to cup his chin in thought.

This... he could work with this.