Guest: Will Compress be a nuisance once he hears someone casting actual magic?

A: While Izuku won't be openly advertising the fact that he's using actual magic (as this chapter will show), Compress will indeed get a little miffed when he hears of someone who has magic circles as part of their "quirk."

Arte29: So my prediction of the bookstore being a place that Doctor Strange frequents is wrong. A bit embarassed, but I'm glad.
Anyway, I'm curious what sort of magic Izuku will use. Will he use a variety of spells at once? Stick to one type? Or maybe even innovate his own, like Ubel and her Reelseiden? Very, very interested to see whatever option unfolds. Besides that, I think it's also quite interesting how Quirks seemingly erase the mana within a person, which I'm guessing is how it works since Izuku has a lot while, so far, those with Quirks have little to no mana instead. It actually makes the gap between those with Quirks and those without a lot more equal.
Lastly, just wanted to say, thanks for the chapter. I gotta say, the update rate so far is very impressive. I noticed that some parts, mainly the ones in itallic, are bumping into the non-itallic parts of the text. Perhaps you forgot to add space between them? I still very much enjoyed the chapter, though.

A: I'm blitzing through the first few chapters, yes, but I'll slow down to a weekly update schedule later. As for the spells he's going to use, they're going to be mentioned in this chapter. And yeah, crossposting this across several platforms makes me forget spaces sometimes, lol.

Izuku wasseething. All Might was here. ALL MIGHT of all heroes was here, right in front of him! Having the greatest hero in your general vicinity is one of the best things you can ever experience, and yet Izuku couldn't even get the man's autograph on his notebook! Oh well, there are several heroes here from whom he could get autographs instead. Mount Lady and Kamui Woods in particular had been living rent-free in his head ever since he saw them bring down a villain with a gigantification quirk (albeit Mount Lady was a bit of a capture-stealer… but my, oh my, Izuku found her to be so pretty!). All he had to do was get past the crowds…

"What's next then?"

Izuku jumped. Frieren had, somehow, appeared out of nowhere behind him. "AH! Frieren-san… since when did you come back here?"

"Just now," Frieren replied. She lazily gazed over at the cheering crowds and the heroes dragging the sludge villain inside a wooden box. "It is fortunate that the one known as All Might arrived. Apparently they thought my wind blast spell was his doing. Now no one will ask questions."

"Huh," Izuku nodded. He hadn't been sure whether it was Frieren or All Might that produced the blast of wind. All Might certainly hadn't thrown that Smash to the full, not to the point that it would actually made an impact strong enough to change the weather. It was like half a Smash that was way too strong for what it was. Hearing it straight from Frieren had more or less confirmed that she timed it with All Might's attack, though.

"By the way, Frieren-san," Izuku pulled out his notebook and stepped towards the nearby heroes, who were busy chatting with the police. "Can you wait here for a bit? I'm just going to ask the heroes to sign my notebook…"Hopefully Bakugo is too busy sitting on that ambulance and giving his statement to the police to even notice that I'm there…

Frieren simply nodded, prompting Izuku to fly off towards the heroes. Mount Lady had been the first one he asked, and she gave him the brightest of smiles, signed his notebook with glee… and had one of the nearby policemen take a picture of them together. Kamui Woods and Death Arms were more reserved in their reception of the green bean that suddenly appeared in their midst, simply signing his notebook. Backdraft was already out of the place, apparently, so Izuku didn't get his autograph.

Izuku soon skipped back to a waiting Frieren, who sat on a nearby bench watching a nearby stray cat with mild interest. "Frieren-san… wow, you didn't say you liked cats! You do know what a cat is, right?"

"They are very cute," Frieren simply commented. "I like them. I wish to acquire one."

"Well… that one might have an owner, given how clean its fur is…" Izuku replied. He also liked cats very much, and dogs too, but between him and his mother, neither of them had the time to take care for an animal in the apartment.

As they walked home, the topic of magic came up again. "Are there any secluded, open areas wherein we can practice spells?" Frieren asked.
"Oh, there's this big forest with a bunch of clearings in it," Izuku replied. "Ka… err, Bakugo and I used to march in those woods when we were kids."
"The angry child from earlier?" Frieren asked. "You were friends?"

Izuku winced. He and Bakugo reallywerefriends. Then Bakugo got his explosion quirk, and Izuku got none at all. That was things started going down, and down, and down until Bakugo outright told him to go kill himself and hope for a good quirk in his next incarnation. "A long time ago, yeah. But no longer."

"But you were so adamant to go save him, even to the point of risking yourself," Frieren reminded him. "Why? Not that I oppose the concept in itself. Himmel always said that saving even those that you don't like or don't like you is a strength."

"Well, I agree with him," Izuku sighed. "I mean, Bakugo's life is no less valuable than any other person here… even if he's a prick and a bully. I just hope that he gets… I don't know, anger management sessions and therapy to resolve whatever stupid issues he has."Or he's just a straight-up quirkist.

"Hm," Frieren nodded. "Very well then. Lead us to this clearing… and then we will begin."

Izuku beamed at that. The time has come! "That's great!" At that moment, though, something else came up. "But… also, you never asked why I wanted to learn magic from you. You just said yes."

"It's quite obvious, actually," Frieren replied. "You practically worship the heroes of this world. You want to be like them, especially that All Might." Izuku practically vibrated in place as he heard All Might mentioned. "And from what I have seen, they do not kill. They are like… town guards, but if mages decided to be town guards. They apprehend criminals."

"Well, they do sometimes have to take the lives of criminals…" Izuku replied on a more somber note. "But only if they really, really,reallydon't have any other choice. Like if the choice is between that or hundreds dying."

"Himmel will probably like them…"Frieren thought.

Later, the clearing in the woods

"I will be teaching you basic offensive magic and basic defensive magic," Frieren began. Izuku tightly gripped the staff that they bought earlier. He was nervous. What if he miscasts? What if he hits the wrong target? What if-

"Calm down, will you?" Frieren gently said. "Now, magic is based on visualization. If you can imagine yourself doing it, then it will be so, as far as your mana and spell can carry you, anyway. Your mana is sufficient, so these first two will surely come to you easily. But first…"
Frieren raised her hands, casting a spell that muted every sound around them except for their voices. "Now, we may practice without the entire city hearing the explosions."

Izuku blinked at that. "Ex… explosions?" What is basic offensive magic, anyway? Is it something like Fireball? But wouldn't throwing fire in the middle of a forest dangerous?

Frieren pointed her staff at a nearby boulder. "I will now demonstrate the basic offensive spell, Zoltraak."

A slowly rotating magic circle appeared on her staff. It was quite frankly, beautiful and artistic in appearance. What came after was much more breathtaking, however. A beam of blue energy streamed out, slamming into the boulder and blowing a molten hole cleanly through it… and into the next three trees behind it.

"Zoltraak is essentially mana concentrated into a beam," Frieren continued as Izuku gaped at her handiwork. "It was developed by a demon lord named Qual, tailoring it to kill humans. However-"

"Wait, what?!" Izuku was shocked by that tidbit of information. "The most basic spell is one that's specialized for killing people?!" Oh no. No, no, no! He can't be a hero if the first thing he does is kill the criminal!

"Let me finish," Frieren said with a neutral tone. She didn't seem to care much about how Izuku had an outburst… or she was already used to outbursts like that. "Zoltraak was later deconstructed by human mages, and defensive magic was built around protecting against it. So, in merely a century, Zoltraak went from the most powerful spell ever devised to being a basic spell. The Zoltraak my apprentice and I use, however, is modified to kill demons. For your purposes, since you apparently want to focus on incapacitating and capturing… you need only scale down the amount of energy you put into Zoltraak. Like this."

She fired Zoltraak again, but this time, it was noticeably weaker, only lightly scalding the rock. She launched yet another beam of Zoltraak, chipping the boulder. "Now you try it. Imagine yourself doing what I just did. Visualize yourself using a low-powered Zoltraak to strike that boulder.

Two agonizing minutes passed as Izuku "You have mana, Izuku," Frieren continued. "You can use magic, if you know of its existence and that it is actually possible. Visualize. Imagine. Cast. You're the only person I have seen so far who has the ability to use Zoltraak and all the other spells that I intend to teach you, after all. You are a pioneer, the first."

Ah.

That was it.

He would be the first mage in this world, in a long time, maybe, since that summoning spell was real. He can do it. He can cast Zoltraak in a way that won't kill anyone, just knock them out. Izuku began to believe. He began to imagine and visualize.

"Zoltraak," he repeated. Immediately, a magic circle appeared on his staff and out came a low intensity beam of condensed mana. It slammed into the boulder, chipping off a small piece."I… I did it!" Izuku looked down at his staff, holding it as though it was his greatest friend (the title still belonged to Fumikage, of course, but he was forgotten if only for a few seconds. "I cast magic. I am a mage. I am a wizard. I can be a hero with magic!""Good job, Izuku," Frieren congratulated him. "Now let's continue. Next… fire Zoltraak at me."

Wait.

What?!

10 months passed by in a blaze. Every day, Izuku trained his newfound powers of magic with Frieren in the woods. Frieren practically lived with the Midoriyas now, especially as Inko had stated that "since you summoned her here, she is your responsibility now." Thankfully, Frieren was every bit as helpful as she was curious. She used hydromancy spells to wash the dashes at least a few times, despite Izuku and Inko begging her to let them do it instead. But she wouldn't have it any other way.
Now was the day, however, for Izuku to change his Quirk status.

Of course, there was no way he was just going to tell UA (and Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu; after all, when applying for a school, you have to cover all your bases) "Hey, so I don't have a quirk, but I learned magic from an elf from another dimension that I summoned here using an occult book that my friend bought from a bookstore over in Hosu, and I'm going to use magic to prove that I'm just as good as anyone with a quirk for hero work." That would spawn too many questions, and make life for Frieren a bit difficult. So, today, Izuku will be accompanied by Inko to the city hall to get his quirk status.

He had discussed that little change with Fumikage and Frieren, the former participating via a video call. When he had first called, it had taken Frieren about two minutes to get used to "So, since all the spells that I know to use know appear to utilize blue energy, I think I'll call my 'quirk' Energy Manipulation."

"Sounds generic," Dark Shadow chimed in from the other side.

"But it's safe and covers all the aspects of Zoltraak, Skeldus, Flight, Magic Armor, and Mana Tendrils," Izuku defended. "Besides… while Zoltraak sounds cool, it's just one spell out of several. And it's got a bit of truth mixed in with the lie, so I only feel half as bad about lying about it."

"Hm," Frieren simply said. She didn't need to say it aloud, after all. All of the spells she taught him directly involved direct mana manipulation, unlike the spells most mages of the modern era of her world used, which were usually geared towards manipulating the elements. Zoltraak was shooting out a beam of condensed mana. Skeldus, the basic defensive spell, uses mana to create hexagons that block incoming attacks. Flight… well, that's just consuming magic to stay aloft. Magic Armor uses solidified mana to make hardlight armor pieces to give oneself or someone else a little bit more protection for some time. And Mana Tendrils uses condensed mana as tendrils (how descriptive, yes?) to restrain someone.

"I concur, Izuku," Fumikage added. "I believe that is sufficient. Also, Frieren-san… can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" The elf looked at his video on the computer rather than the camera, making it look like she wasn't looking at him, but she really was.

"Can you… teach me an illumination spell?"

"You have almost no mana… but I suppose that you can make a small orb of light. Why?"

"Um… my quirk becomes... dangerous in the dark."

"If you can imagine yourself creating an orb of light to restrain your shadow… then yes," Frieren answered. Fumikage, not familiar with how Frieren's magic worked, was slightly confused, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Thank you, Frieren-san."

"Alright guys, it's bedtime," Inko called out. That would be all the signal Izuku needed to say goodbye to Fumikage and Dark Shadow and turn in for the night.
Right now, Izuku, a few minutes after showing what he could do to a quirk counselor, watched as a visibly surprised bureaucrat of some kind began updating his quirk folder.

Quirk Status
Name: Midoriya Izuku
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Quirk:None (update; misdiagnosed)

Energy Manipulation

Converts life force into raw energy, which can then be used in a variety of ways. Current applications include energy beams, barriers, armor, and restraining tendrils. Midoriya is a late bloomer due to his quirk requiring heavy visualization, imagination, and focus. Imagining himself as a mage, as evidenced by the "magic circles" he creates whenever he uses his quirk, has greatly assisted in the quirk's growth.

Private Addendum: Private assessment has concluded that Midoriya's quirk has great potential in hero work. Fortunately, Midoriya desires to enroll in a hero school. A recommendation will be sent to the Hero Public Safety Commission to give priority status should he enroll and be accepted in his chosen school.