Izuku was sitting on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the horizon, the very edge of the forest visible. Him and Misaki had decided to train in the ShadowScape. Their plan was to go down to floor three and see if they can find a dungeon from his memories.
He had asked Aki to train him in how to use Dimensional Traveler. Her first task was to boot them out to space and have him make his own way home. Before that though she did force him to learn quantum physics and the ideas behind the Multiverse. It was easy to learn for him, but Misaki had complained the whole time.
"Mana?"
'Nearly full. 96%'
Turns out the only reason he was able to teleport during his missing eight months and still cast was because he wasn't pinpointing a destination. Throwing a dart at the cosmic world map didn't need to be aimed, or powered. He could open a portal to any random location for roughly 600 mana, but to aim at a certain point, it cost nearly 1,800 for him. Aki had transferred 10 levels of Dimensional Traveller to him and stopped at that. Something about too much at once could cause him to lock himself out of a dimension. He didn't want that to happen. Obviously.
'We're good to go!'
Standing up, he jumped into a dive and floated downward. As he landed, Misaki said, 'Congratulations! You've received one level in showboat.'
"If I didn't know you better, I'd say your near max level in smart ass. Minus the smart of course."
She caused a massive pain in his head. 'Dumb ass. That wasn't even funny, you need to gain some type of joking skill.'
"I'll ask Eraserhead for advice."
She snorted, 'Okay. That was funny.'
He began his jog to the nearest pit. All across the scape were holes. Most went down a level or two, but some went much, much further. Sei had explained, during an earlier expedition, that this place had a nearly infinite amount of floors. Floor 1, the floor he was currently on, had no monsters on it. Floor 2 had low level monsters, not including bosses. Every floor there after got harder and harder. Their mother had apparently gone to floor 19, where every mob was unique, aka a boss.
The pit came into view and without any hesitation, he jumped in.
[Now entering, Floor 2 of ShadowScape.]
The second floor was still weirdly lit up by the moon/sun. The nearest pit that went down a single floor was roughly 375 km west.
'Wanna play I spy?'
"Everything is black down here and it's mainly rock."
'Just an idea. Sheesh.'
"I'm not saying no, just get prepared to lose."
'Bring it, Sunshine!'
—————
Five and a half hours later, he found himself on the third floor ready to explore a dungeon. The cave entrance was barely big enough for him to walk through, but opened up into a closet sized cavern. Opposite of him was a large stone door. It didn't seem to have any easy way of opening it.
'Break it open! Like an egg!'
"Or I can just touch it?"
'Fine be boring.'
Walking across and reaching out a hand, he was frozen in place.
[You are about to enter a dungeon!
Cave of the Forebears
Mission - Clear Floor 12, proceed to the boss.
Do you wish to enter?]
Misaki selected yes and the world faded to black. If he didn't have [Dark Senses] he might have stood there until he moved. His skill allowed him to see a pitch black tunnel directly in front of him. Turning around he looked for the exit, first lesson of dungeon delving, the stone door was covered in black handprints. Touching the door again, another notification popped up asking him if he wanted to leave. He selected no and turned back toward the dark tunnel.
Throwing a tiny fireball downward into the tunnel, he was greeted by nonblack stone. The walls were an aged brown stone. Paintings, no longer hidden behind the greys of his skill, adorned the walls. Each depicted some sort of human and animals he had never seen before.
"Huh. Weird."
'Think they're real?'
He shrugged. "Maybe. [Observe]."
[You lack the required knowledge to investigate this object.]
'Hm. Maybe we should leave and come back?'
"We could, but what skill would we need? It's a bunch of paintings from a place we have no clue about."
'Maybe we could do research on how those scientist people do it?'
"Archaeologists?"
'That's it!'
He thought it over. That would mean he would have to come back, but it would help him learn about this place. Maybe he could find out the secrets of this place. "You okay with me studying?"
'For this? Yes. If we can find the secrets of this place maybe we can find a strong enemy!'
"Or, it leads us to a bunch of rocks with words on it."
'Izuku.'
"Yeah?"
'This place is filled with monsters and nightmares. Do you really think the secrets of this place will be a rock?'
He conceded the point. "Alright let's go back." Leaving the dungeon and opening a portal back home, he studied.
—————
The next day
—————
"Quit your complaining. You're the one who wanted to go back."
'I didn't know it would be so boring!'
"Did you think there would be a physical course on it?"
She didn't answer immediately. 'Maybe?'
He sighed. After heading back home, he had spent all night learning about how scientists discovered new cultures and how they translated everything. He had gained several new skills during his night, but none gained any XP. He was assuming he needed to actually use them to gain levels unlike his other knowledge skills.
[(See below)]
'3 o'clock. Looks dangerous.'
Looking, he saw a person holding a bow drawn. "[Observe.]"
[Liam, the Abyssal Hunter
Level: 32
HP: 870
Mana: 2,550
Stamina: 2,475
Str: 312
Con: 87
Dex: 605
Agi: 583
Int: 164
Wis: 173
Cha: 91
Res: 183
Luck: 6
Status -
Abyssal Soul - All spells gain the [Abyssal] subtext.
Living embodiment - This being has been submerged in the object of their hate for so long, they are no longer what they were.
When the lost become found, are they what they were before?]
'Dodge!' Using an [Air Step, he jumped to the side. A black arrow richotected past where he was and he was forced to dodge another.
"[Ethereal Haunt]."
As the world slowed, his eyes widened. The ranger moved perfectly fine in his spell and aimed straight for him. '[Mana Shield]!'
The blue aura enveloped him and shattered instantly. The magically enhanced arrow hit him in his shoulder, throwing him into a spin. With Ethereal Haunt and Sylph's Blessing ending at the same time, he fell like a sack of bricks toward the ground. His mind began to swim with pain.
'Pull out the arrow and stand your ground!'
Her voice snapped him out of it, and he threw himself to the side. An arrow embedded itself where he laid a nanosecond before. "[Line in the Sand]."
He needed something to block the arrow that he could either summon again instantly or could take more than a single arrow. He didn't have a way to take more than a single hit, so whatever it was didn't need to last more than that. Out of all his spells, only a few were physical. He couldn't sacrifice HP to block so that only left Frost Giant's Spear. He needed to create a new sub spell, something quick, fast and able to both block and attack. He couldn't cut an arrow, so swords were out.
That left weapons with a flat blade and small. Hand axes? That could work. As an added layer of protection, he needed a way to deflect the arrows before they busted through them though. The fastest and easiest way to accomplish that would be Gravity. He could probably add a Gravity Well to the head of the axe.
He saw an arrow head straight for him. Feeling weights in his hands, he leaned away from the arrow, swinging his left hand.
The axe shattered against the force, but redirected the arrow away from him. His new sub-spell instantly formed a new one. The new gravity power took a second to apply, but he was fast enough to block the next arrow with his other axe. '[Sylph's Blessing, Hermes' Blessing].'
"[Banshee's Wail]!" With her spell, he charged forward. The screech erupted from his lips throwing the ranger back. Before it could land, he charged One for All at 100% into his left foot.
"Dagaz Streak!" He launched forward and did a double sideways chop with both axes. The ranger flew backward, a resounding boom echoing across the empty plain. He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, his pulse was racing.
"Finish it! Burn his corpse! Burn the world!" He took a step forward and collapsed. His head hitting the ground snapped him back to consciousness. 'What the hell was that?' His breath was coming in ragged gasps.
Misaki groaned, 'My head.'
Hearing movement focused his mind. Looking up, he saw the ranger take something out of its pocket and fade. He laid his head back down and rested.
"What happened?"
She groaned, 'New level.' After a pause, she added, 'Can we do that again?'
He pushed himself to his feet. "What happened?"
[Perk Level up! Wisdom of Two Lvl: 3
Your mind is now perfectly split. Your AI is now able to take over your body, with your consent.
Cooldown - 12 hours
Duration - 10 minutes (This time needs not be consecutive)]
Along with that tidbit of new information, he also received quite a few notifications about his new skills. He ignored them all. "Misaki?"
She hummed.
"When did you take over?"
He could feel the pleasure rolling off her. It was somewhat intoxicating, until Gamer's Mind negated the feeling. 'Right after I told you to stand up. Your mind couldn't take the feeling of pain.'
He pulled up his gauges. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at his HP.
[Izuku Midoriya
Level: 20
HP: 612 / 2,390
Mana: 2,910
Stamina: 2,160 ]
"That was a single hit?"
'Three. We were hit a couple times when you were creating the new spell and power.' He started to heal his foot and limped his way to the thing that the ranger dropped. 'Can we do it again?'
"Are you going to go on a killing spree?"
She hesitated, 'No?'
"You sure? Toward the end you went kind of insane."
'I'm-I'm not actually sure what happened.'
He hummed as he picked up the object. "We'll have to experiment." Flipping the thing over in his hand, he undid the small latch. Opening it, he was greeted by a small picture of three people. It was of what he assumed was a young child and his parents. What made it really creepy was that the three faces were scratched out. He slipped the small locket into his pant's pocket.
'We heading back?'
Looking at his HP, he shook his head. "HP is going up steadily and we're almost to the cave. I also want to use the new skills I spent all night learning."
'Kk!'
He jumped toward the cave and opened the battle log. The window stated each attack did almost a thousand damage each. When Misaki took over, all spells stopped taking Mana. 'I didn't exactly pay attention to notifications, sorry.'
"It's okay. We'll have to figure it out later. It does seem like the state ends once you hit a certain amount of HP though."
'That's lame, but if I can't control myself it makes sense.'
"We need to figure out a way to end it faster before then. So no switching before that's figured out. I'll go over notifications once we get back home.
She sighed, 'Fine.'
————
"So tired." Uraraka laid down on a bench in the locker room.
"Ribbit, You have been working really hard. I'm surprised you can even move the morning after."
"Coffee. Lots of it."
Momo gave her a sad expression, "You shouldn't be drinking coffee at such a young age."
She raised her arms in the air and dropped them. "What else am I supposed to do?"
Momo smiled and closed her eyes. "I get massages and soak in a salt bath."
She grumbled, 'What is your life?'
Kyoka said, "I don't know about a massage, but soaking in a salt bath and sleeping early helps me a lot."
Sighing, "I'll have to try that then."
"You could always ask Midoriya for a massage." She nearly jumped two feet in the air at Toru's voice. The girl had become even more invisible ever since she began training.
She felt her face heat up and she began to wave her away. "What are you talking about?"
From across the locker room, Ashido said, "It's not much of a secret girl. All of us know."
She gave a forced smile, "What secret? Know what?"
Kendo sighed next to her and flicked her forehead. "Don't play stupid. I can always just tell him you know?"
Her eyes went wide. "You wouldn't dare."
The girl smirked, "Wanna try me?"
"Don't tease her Kendo." Momo came to her rescue. She turned to Uraraka, "We'll just leave a note for him!" Or not.
"Please no." She could hear the desperation in her own voice.
"Don't worry, ribbit. I'm pretty sure it's not needed."
Tobu finished putting on a fresh shirt, "Why's that?"
"I'm pretty sure he knows."
The girls started laughing as she went airborne. 'Please no.'
————
"Well that's stupid."
'I was tortured for nothing?'
He nodded, "Pretty much."
'Destroy it. Kill everything in the damned place.'
He chuckled as she started hurling insults at the dungeon. Using [Observe] on the artwork led to nothing. The prompt revealed that it meant nothing. After receiving that, Misaki sent a message to Aki. Her reply only made the AI even more irritated.
A: The shadowscape takes memories of people who have died there to form itself. More than likely an archeologist/history fanatic was killed.
Maybe they should have asked her first? His inner thoughts went ignored as she began to play loud music. Sighing, he started his descent.
The first thing that attacked was a spider the size of a large dog. At her request, he channeled his fire and scorched the thing to ash. It let out a blood curdling screech before it died, [Gamer's Mind] blocked whatever debuff it tried to give him.
'Burn them through, along with the web, it's slowing us down.'
Creating a long single string of fire, he crossed and zigzagged it around itself. With his makeshift fire net hovering in front of him, he proceeded forward. The web burned to smoke and when the spiders attacked, he incinerated them.
'This is amazingly boring.'
"Agreed."
'Try making new powers! It was really cool to see your thought process.'
"What's it like?" He incinerated another spider.
'What? Seeing your thoughts?'
"Yeah. Is it like a movie? Words?"
She gave a mental shrug, 'Movie, but with dulled colors and slightly distorted sound. Your idle thoughts are more greyed and silent, they have subtitles but require more focus to see. When you think clearly it gets more colored and the sound is crystal clear. Your emotions become more intense and overflow into me when it happens.'
He nodded as a spider jumped at him, only to be swatted backward into the fire. "The same happens when you get worked up."
'But it's more fun when it happens to you. When it happens to me, it's nothing but calmness. It's only fun when you have fun thoughts.'
He raised an eyebrow, "Fun?"
'Lust and wrath. Hp is at 60%, switch to spells for now.'
He canceled the fire and began to sling spells at the small horde that was attacking him. "Can you tone down on that by the way?"
'What?'
"Stop trying to get me to sleep with a girl."
'You're a teenage boy who has a lot of candidates to be with. Why aren't you more interested is the real question.'
Letting loose a [Mana Storm, he thought about his answer. "I want to focus on training and becoming a hero. Having a girlfriend would be fun, but I don't know if I could balance them. Especially since I'm in charge of the other students now and we have a goddess after us."
'Fair enough, but if you spend your whole life training, will you actually live?'
He didn't honestly have an answer. What was the quote? The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have. "I'll think about it. Let's clear as far as we can we'll head back."
—————
Pixie dodged her jab. "How's it going?"
Blocking a strike, she thought back, 'Poorly, I guess.'
Pixie raked her claws at her. She was forced to back peddle. "Did you actually try?"
Going for a leg sweep, she answered, 'How am I even supposed to try? He's a lot younger than me and I'm his teacher.'
Pixie jumped and went for a stomp. "You're a person he respects and treats like an equal."
She grabbed her foot and yanked, pulling Pixie to the ground. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm older."
Holding three fingers, she answered, "In three years he'll be 18 and a full fledged hero. What's the problem?"
"I'll be 34 by then, that's the problem."
"So?" She was letting off orange, clearly annoyed.
"I'm not much younger than his mom."
Pixie gave her dismissive wave, "Guys don't care. As long as you're a good person, I don't see what problem he'd have."
'Pixie, I don't want to feel like a predator.'
Her teammate stood up and wiped herself off, "Then give up."
That actually halted her thoughts for a second, 'What?'
"Give up, if you don't want to try or want it, why bother?" Mandalay started laughing, earning an annoyed look from Pixie. "What's so funny?"
Talking through giggles, "I know I'm overthinking this when you're trying to use reverse psychology."
Pixie glared at her, "You trying to say something?"
Sosaki smiled, "Nope." She popped the word.
"Freaking cougar!" A spear of rock was sent at her. Their spar became more intense.
—————
'Smell that?'
'You mean besides the smell of smoke and burned stone?'
'Yeah.'
'Then yes.'
He activated [Stealth, and let [Dark Senses] wash over him. An acid smell was starting to become more and more pungent as they proceeded forward. Another 10 meters and tunnel had an opening jutting off to the right. It was only a few meters of a downward slope, before it went straight down.
'This could be bad.'
'We need some type of scouting spell.'
That would actually be really handy. 'Add that on the request list.'
'K.' He slowly crept forward and peered over the edge. The acid smell almost unbearable.
The hole went so far down that [Dark Senses]'s range limit went into effect. He charged a small fireball the size of a raindrop and dropped it. It kept going further and further until it hit something. There wasn't enough juice behind the drop to deal damage to anything, but whatever it hit was not happy.
The ground started shaking and the acid smell started getting stronger and stronger. Taking that as his cue, he took off back toward the main tunnel and ran upward. Barely a second later, with a fire in his right hand, he watched a massive purple cloud billow out. It didn't go much further than the entrance, but it was so strongly scented, he started to feel woozy.
'Try burning it.'
'Sounds like a good way for it to explode.'
'Maybe we'll gain explosive resistance!'
He sighed and threw a fireball from his left hand. As soon as it hit the cloud, two things happened at once. The first was he was thrown backward and the second was that his vision went white.
'Woo!'
'Fucking pyro.' Groaning, he sat up and brushed the soot off his face. Sight returned a moment later and he went over his HP. It only did 400 damage, not a lot, but still a decent chunk.
'So what's next? We climbing down the hole?'
"Not until we know what's down there, which means we wait for a scouting spell."
'Not dying sounds fun.'
"Agreed." He began his walk down the main tunnel.
—————
"You have one hour kid." Power Loader had left him alone and returned to his own projects. He looked down at the almost finished arm. So far four of the runes had been etched and he was meant to do the fifth today. Each rune so far has added to the original spiderweb's red color. It currently glimmered with red, grey, yellow, and green. Picking up the engraving tools, he began to work.
It was forty minutes later when he put the tools down. The intricate rune was a weird mix between the ancient form of kanji for death, the Norse symbol of protection, and an ankh from ancient Egypt. It looked really neat, but was one hell of a headache to get right. "[Observe]."
[Rune of the Forgiving Reaper
Stored Mana: 0 / 10,000]
He raised an eyebrow. 'Dang.'
Putting his thumb on the rune, he began to pour mana into it. It drained him almost instantly, and forced him to use [Meditation]. By the time his hour was up, the rune was nearly charged.
"Times up kid. Did you finish?"
"Almost, just a bit more mana then I'm done."
"Well, make it snappy, you got classes to get back to."
"Yes sir." Pouring the last bit of mana in, he was greeted by a prompt.
[You have completed the second to last step to make a magic item! All that's left is to name the item. Would you like to add a name now?]
He looked at the man, "What should we name it?"
The hero grinned, "Normally, we don't name items as we leave that to the hero it's for. I think we can make an exception though, as long as it's good."
'Any ideas?'
'Tapeslinger's Vise?'
His mind did a double take. 'That's actually not half bad.' He shared the name with Power Loader, who gave it a thumb's up.
He turned back to the prompt, entered the name and hit confirm.
[A new magic item has been born into the world! This item is now indestructible and it's enchantments are unable to be disrupted!]
[Only a single magic item may be crafted each year. This cooldown can not be reduced.
Current timer: 365.24 days]
The arm morphed and condensed into a more streamlined form losing bits of excess metal. The spider web design of the mana shifted and over took all the shiny metal. Instead of shining and pulsing like it did before, the mana became a solid color and decorated the arm.
The 'muscles' became a deep red, while the shoulder and elbow took on a dark almost black green. The hand was colored with a dark blue. Once the main colors were adjusted, black and grey lines shot out from the knuckles. They wove themselves in an intricate pattern of a laughing skull with vines crawling across its features. A wicked laugh came from it before the lines became solidified and fused with the arm.
"That was cool kid, but really creepy. What did you do?"
"I'm not sure."
"Well whatever you did saved me a lot of work." He check the clock on the wall, "It's time for you to leave, so get going. I'll wrap it up and we'll deliver it tomorrow."
Before he was kicked out, he used [Observe] on the arm.
[Tapeslinger's Vise
Quality: S
This handmade item was created by Maijima Higari and his apprentice, Hatsume Mei. It was then enchanted by Midoriya Izuku.
Properties:
10% to Str
10% to Dex
10% to Agi
-10% to Carried Weight
Death Save (The enchantment will only work once per person.)]
'Kid you really out did yourself.' He couldn't help but agree.
————
"[Banshee's Wail]!"
The scream erupted from his lips and sent the army of small spiders careening backward. The tunnel had ended in a large cavern with a legitimate army of spiders and one massive crystal spider. It was roughly the size of a small house and had visibly green poison dripping from two fangs the size of his forearm.
'Is it called an army? What's a group of spiders called? A swarm?'
'Not now. Fire whip.' Forming a thick rope of fire, he grabbed hold of it and slashed it out at the large group. The spiders that were hit sizzled and popped. Mama spider charged him and barely seemed to register the attack.
Jumping away from the double leg sweep, he threw two fireballs. Both were charged with quite a bit of power, and slammed into the spider as it spewed out a massive amount of poison at him.
'[Mana Shield].'
The poison hit the blue orb and began to slowly eat away at it. "[Tempest]!" A circular purple aura illuminated a chunk of the area in front of him, the first thing that moved in it was a small spider, which popped violently. Having pumped nearly 1000 mana into it, the subspell would last for quite a while. Even with this, the larger spider was barely dazed and began charging him again.
'This thing is rather tanky.'
"[Magma Bomb]." He lobbed the condensed ball of rock and heat at the queen. It smacked into an eye and rapidly grew in size. The spider recoiled and began to scream as the ball slowly burned through its carapace.
'More!'
Deciding to indulge her, he turned on Solar Aura, and began to sweat profusely until even that evaporated. The spider tried to backpedal, but the ball of floating death held it in place as he reached out a hand. It tried to spit poison but it evaporated in the heat.
'Burn!'
The shrieks and attacks became less frequent as it finally stilled. Its carapace and innards turned to ash. With the smaller spiders dead from either the heat or subspell, he let the aura die down. [Blind Fighting] highlighted something behind him, allowing him to swing around and stab a [Mana Blade] into another spider.
'Loot!'
"Really? Where?"
'Mama spider. Near her butt.'
"I think it's called an abdomen."
'Whatever. Just pick it up!'
Taking a step forward, he noticed his clothes were pretty much gone. He'd have to talk with Hatsume about that, she had been designing the material for his clothes since the day they met. So far she had made him an outfit that could withstand close to 900 degrees from his best guess.
'She should just give up and ask the real experts what Endeavor uses.'
He smirked at the memory that the statement brought up. Hatsume had nearly blown a gasket when he suggested it. Something about, 'What do those narrow-minded old farts know?' She apparently had a bone to pick with the older generations. He had asked Power Loader about it, but he only got a shrug and something about a screw being loose.
He knelt down at the now fading husk and received a notification.
[Congratulations!
You have cleared a dungeon mini-boss!
XP gained: 15,000]
Picking up the item it had dropped, he used [Observe].
[Crystal Spider Egg
This egg is the unholy combination of darkness, crystal and spider. Using the ritual of companions, you can use this egg and gained the following:
1x Crystal Spider (Tiny)]
'Cool, but what's the ritual?'
The egg was a completely smooth sphere and cool to the touch. It looked like an oyster pearl, albeit made of crystal. "How should I know?"
'I'll send a message to Aki.' As she did that, he pocketed the orb and walked to the entrance of the next floor. 'We continuing?'
"We can check it out and if it's too hard, we'll leave." Pushing the door open, the previous room was dwarfed by the size of this place. A massive cavern filled with columns of rock and a ceiling covered in darkness so thick, it made the ceiling look like a starless sky.
'This is pretty cool. Think we can blow it up?'
He tilted his head in though, "Maybe?" He charged a ball of fire and threw it at the ceiling. He was immediately attacked by bats the size of a baby elephant.
'I hate this room.'
He couldn't help but agree.
—————
"So what's your plan?"
"Plan?"
"Did we come here without a plan?"
"I thought you had one!"
"You're the one who brought up the idea!"
"I only said it would be a good idea, not that we should actually do it!"
Kendo faceplamed, 'These two are worse than the boys sometimes.' She reached out and grabbed both Jiro and Uraraka by the ears and dragged them up the stairs to Midoriya's apartment. "My turn to lead."
They put up a protest with being pulled, but didn't argue. A flight of stairs later, she was knocking on the door.
"One minute!" It was his mom.
She bowed as the door opened, "Hello again, Ms. Midoriya."
"Good afternoon Kendo! Who are these two?"
Uraraka scratched the back of her head, "My-my name is Uraraka, Ma'am. I'm a classmate and friend of Izuku's."
Jiro bowed, "Jiro Kyoka. I'm a classmate of his."
"Well it's nice to meet you two." The mother turned back to her, "How can I help you?"
Kendo smiled, "We were wondering if Izuku was in? We wanted to invite him to go to karaoke."
Inko smiled and waved them in. "I'll see if he's in his room. One second."
Stepping into the entrance they waited. The girls began to ask her questions as they waited.
Uraraka was whispering loudly, "You've been here before?"
She nodded, "We train at the beach near here."
"Train what?"
She ignored the smirk that went across Jiro's face and answered. "Cardio and calisthenics."
"Oh I'm sur-". She was cut off by an elbow from Uraraka who gave the girl an angry glare. "Alright, alright I'll stop."
Izuku's mother chose that moment to come back. She was holding a note, but had a smile on her face. "He's not in right now, but he is at the beach doing some form of training right now. He got back from some traveling not that long ago and wanted to practice something."
Kendo smiled and nodded, "Thank you ma'am we'll head there now." Walking out and back down to the street, she led them to the beach Midoriya had cleaned.
"How many times have you been over?"
She smacked Uraraka on the back of her head, "Get that thought out of your head, he's my friend. Nothing more, nothing less."
The girl rubbed the back of her head, sending Kendo a halfhearted glare, but seemed relieved. "Sorry."
Shrugging and elbowing a snickering Jiro, they finished the walk with little small talk. Reaching the edge of the road, they saw Izuku laying down on the beach. He was playing around with floating shapes and seemed to be making a miniature solar system.
She yelled as loud as she could and watched as the lights disappeared. Izuku looked back and up at them, waved and made his way over to them. "Hello girls, what's up?"
"Momo invited us to go to karaoke. Want to come?"
Izuku winced just slightly, but nodded. "Sure. Let me go home to change." They turned around and began the short trek back to his family's apartment.
"So what was that?", asked Uraraka.
A grin overtook his face, "It's called Photon Molding. I got the idea from a monster I fought earlier."
Jiro raised an eyebrow, "Monster?"
He nodded, "I can go to this place called the ShadowScape whenever I want. I can fight monsters that are as strong or stronger than me, so it can be super dangerous if you're not ready."
"He took me once, it was super creepy. There was this weird ooze made of black." Kendo held her hands out in the rough size of the thing.
"What did you do to it?", Uraraka was looking at her.
She began to feel queasy, "Yeah Kendo what happened to it?" Izuku's grin turned toothy as he teased her.
"Shut up." She took a swing at him but missed.
Izuku hopped a bit further away. "She flattened it and nearly threw up her lunch. It was called a Shadow Slime, and as the name suggests, it is literally made of slime and shadow."
"It was so cold, slimy, and wet." She shivered.
"She asked to leave after that. Give me a minute." He ran up the stairs to his apartment.
"When did you two start hanging out?", asked Jiro.
Closing her eyes in thought, she answered. "It was pretty soon after USJ. Maybe two days into training?"
"What do you normally do?", asked Uraraka. Kendo snuck a glance at her but didn't see any accusation or jealousy.
"We normally play video games or talk."
Jiro clapped her hands together in thought. "That's what you meant!"
The other girl tilted her head, "Hm?"
"Remember when we were teasing you?" Uraraka glared at Jiro, who smiled and took a step back.
She flicked the burnette's forehead, "Yes, that's what I meant. We mostly talk about heroes and traveling, but it wouldn't be that hard to talk about relationships."
The girl caught the threat and backed down. Izuku landed in front of them, dressed in a simple button up and some jeans. Unfortunately for the button-up and fortunately for Uraraka, his arms seemed to be too thick to be contained by the narrow sleeves. He had ripped off the sleeves, allowing his arms to show off their toned muscles.
She raised an eyebrow, "Really Izuku?"
He gave a strained laugh, "The only 'nice' clothes I have are prequirk. They're all small and barely fit me."
She rolled her eyes. "Think you can save us time?"
"Where are we headed?"
"You know that mall we passed near Momo's place?" He nodded. "There's an underground karaoke bar there. Momo and the others are meeting us there."
"So who's all going to meet us there?" He snapped his fingers and a green portal appeared. She grabbed Jiro's hand and left Uraraka to Izuku. Walking through, it emptied out into a lush green forest.
She answered his question as he walked through holding the hand of the wide eyed girl. "Momo, Toru, Asui, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Tobu, If she remembers. We invited the others but Iida declined along with Ojiro and Shoji. Tokoyami didn't give us an answer and walked away. Todoroki grunted and walked away. I don't know if anyone asked Bakugo."
He snapped his fingers again, this time the portal was black. "Koda and Sato? Aoyama?"
Jiro answered him before walking through, "Koda wanted to, but he had to babysit. Sato wanted to spend the free time with his family. Aoyama said he didn't want to ruin his beautiful voice."
Walking through, they fell down a meter onto solid cement, their destination was close to 1,200 meters away. "You're off."
She dodged a small fireball he had flicked at her, "I'm still getting used to this. I don't see you teleporting everyone here."
Sticking up her nose, she looked down at him. "I'm not the one with the ridiculous quirk. So that means it's your job to do everything we can't do."
He raised an eyebrow, "So, what? I'm a glorified taxi now?"
She was going to say yes but Jiro spoke first. "Yes and no. Yes you are taxi, but no that's not your only job."
He glared at both of them and picked up the girl next to him in a single arm and jumped away.
She stared after him, "That jerk."
"Eh, not what we had planned, but that worked."
"I'm not complaining about that, he could have at least taken us with him."
Jiro pulled her hand. "Let's start walking."
——————
'Finally!'
"No kidding." The bat cave, as it was now dubbed, was nearly a 3 km trek through the massive cavern. The whole time, they were attacked by bats of varying sizes and a few small crystal golems. The bats were easily killed, it was aiming and hitting them that was the hard part. The golems were ridiculously sturdy, but sonic attacks like [Banshee's Wail] did double damage to them.
The cavern ended at a small stone door with more of the black handprints on it. Opening it had taken them to an entrance room with a massive stone door on the other side.
'Mini boss time?'
"Yeah. Let's cast all the buffs and wait for cooldowns." He began to follow his plan when she started asking questions.
'What's a group of bats called?'
"[Sylph's Blessing]. How would I know? And if I knew couldn't you just look at my memories?"
'I could, but that requires work.'
"Lazy, and a pervert. Anything else I should know?"
'I'm pretty sure I'm Bi.'
"That's not a secret. You wolf whistle at guys and girls all the time. [Hermes' Blessing]"
'I enjoy looking, sue me.'
"[Bone Blade]. The only things you own, is my stuff. There would be no point."
'I got stuff.'
"The things inside your apartment don't count."
She faked a whimper. 'That really hurts.'
"You've said so much worse, get over it. You ready?"
She finished with a sniffle. 'I see how it is, but yeah let's kill something.' Pushing open the door revealed a large room, the walls and ceiling were made of worked brown stone. The floor was split in two by a small river, which entered and exited through cracks in either side of the room. 'Water monster?'
He smelled the air. It was damp, slightly acidic, but lacked the stench of flora. 'More than likely.' Going into stealth, he slinked along the wall and kept an eye on the water as he crept closer.
She began to sing, 'I can see very well.' He tried to ignore it, but he heard music starting to play making it much harder. 'There's a boat on the reef with a broken back, and I can see it very well.'
He got to the edge and peered in. It was dark, more than that actually, it was pitch black. 'There's a joke and I know it very well.' He rolled his eyes. He looked up toward the door on the other side. Is it that easy? 'It's one of those that I told you long ago.'
Taking a step back, he prepared to jump. 'Take my word, I'm a madman, don't you know.' With a rushed step, he jumped and was immediately smacked backward toward the wall. 'Once a fool had a good part in the play.'
Landing on his feet, he looked at the river, it was slowly rising. The pitch black water was taking a shape. 'If it's so would I still be here today?'
"[Observe]."
[Faded Shade
Level: 24
HP: null
Mana: 9,625 / 9,625
Stamina: null
Str: 14
Con: 12
Agi: 172
Dex: 136
Int: 663
Wis: 581
Cha: 10
Res: 23
Luck: 10
Living Shadow - This being is made entirely of shadow. All actions, spells and abilities utilize Mana instead of their normal cost. Mana also acts as the HP of this creature.
A mage forgotten with time, reduced and faded to nothing. Beware his anger.]
So not water. 'It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way.'
"What are shadows weak to?"
'They think it's very funny everything I say.'
He sighed. 'Guess I'm alone in this one.'
First he started with the easy answer, light. Calling on the sun inside of him, he created a miniature sun in his hand. The creature recoiled, but didn't back down and began to grow in size. The darkness that permeated the room began to turn darker and darker, his [Dark Senses] becoming useless.
'Get a load of him, he's so insane.'
He needed more light, activating Solar Aura, he called on the light, keeping the heat inside of him. His body began to glow like a lightbulb and the darkness subsided around him. Now the question was how did he attack a creature made of darkness, if light only held it at bay. Fire? 'You better get your coat, dear, it looks like rain.'
Using his control, he shaped his fire into a ball and expanded it covering himself and a small area around him. He began to throw small fireballs everywhere in an effort to find the thing's main body. If it had one. 'Think you can help?'
'We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.'
Taking that as a no, he jumped into the air, a shadow slamming into the ground a second later. 'All right. I'll need a new subspell or power.'
[Skill Check Pass!]
His body contorted to the right in a harsh angle, but he felt the air rush past him. His sphere of fire illuminated a dark arm. 'Need to dismember this thing, something cutting and filled with light.' Maybe a light version of his gravity weapon buff?
'The In-laws hope they'll see you very soon.'
"Misaki! I'll let you take over if you please shut up and help."
The music stopped instantly. 'Really?'
"Yes."
'Fuck yes! Move over!' He felt his mind fog over and his vision became more focused, like he was wearing glasses. He looked around and noticed his view didn't change at all. He could see his own body moving without any thought from him. 'Focus on yourself, not what you can see. It becomes easier.'
Ping. His outside voice began to maniacally laugh.
Focusing on his 'body' the glasses effect started to become unfocused and fuzzy. When his body jerked to the right, he had the sensation of falling. His hands felt cold, but his body was on fire. He fell onto his knees and hands as his "mind" began to swim with anger and excitement. He felt like throwing up.
"Come on you stupid boogeyman! Show me what you're made of!"
Feeling a rush of air behind him, he called out, 'Six!'
Misaki spun and unleashed an attack she just named. "Lion's Roar!" Fire erupted from his mouth and began to fill the area surrounding them in a suffocating heat. His breath hitched as he felt the fire heating up his skin to an unbearable level.
Is this what she felt whenever he got hurt? "[Frost Giant Berserker]." Cold began to radiate from his hands, the icy feeling starting to numb them. 'Give me a way to add a light to the axes.'
Her voice was harsh and commanding. A light? Maybe he could make Solar Aura extend to axes? How would he do that though? His mind went into overdrive, but he came up blank. So he needed to try something else.
Activating Solar Aura, he turned up the light and willed it to condense. He'd heard about it in several fiction works, but knew it was technically possible. Trying to slow down light enough to condense took a lot of concentration, but he was awarded with a ping for his efforts. Wasting no time, he molded the light into two blades protruding from his fists.
Misaki began to laugh and charged the highest concentration of darkness. '[Hermes' Blessing, Sylph's Blessing].'
She flew forward faster than intended and crashed into the wall. He felt her rage build further, but she said nothing to him and charged again.
This went on for a few more minutes before he decided to just wait out the timer. He focused on bringing the notifications into his vision and decided to go through all the ones he skipped over.
[New SubSpell! Frost Giant Berserker]
[Power Unlocked! Force of the Void]
[New Skill! Axe Combat]
[Fight Complete!
Stats gained -
3 Str
2 Con
3 Dex
4 Agi
5 Int
1 Wis
3 Res]
[3 New Stat Qualities Unlocked!]
[Strength Retention]
[Reflexive Counter]
[Mind Snap]
[Gamer's Mind has been replaced with Berserker's Mind]
[Power Unlocked! Photon Molding]
'Well that explains her going mad.' He glanced at his HP, still in the yellow, and the timer still had two minutes. Sighing, he tried to work on control in this state. 'She said to focus on myself, not what I can see.' Closing his 'eyes', he began to meditate.
Doing this without the skill to back him up was, weird. He never bothered to try anything like it before, he thought he was pretty well focused before he got Gamer. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Either way, having the skill taught him the basics, but it automated the process.
"Night Lights!", her voice was loud and clear, breaking his concentration. Misaki had utilized Photon Molding to create a multitude of throwing stars and began to chuck them into the black. A faint sizzling sound could be heard as they pierced. They found the main body apparently. He felt her smile as she began to throw even more of them. He watched as their HP went past 35% and braced himself for the oncoming headache.
"Die!"
'Now she's starting to sound like Bakugo.'
Control came back instantly and his mind swam. Canceling the abilities costing HP, he began casting. "[Pillars of Hell]."
The portals shot out and, at his command, spun around the shade. Using what little HP he had left, he used Photon Molding to create a sword and charged. The portals kept the shade from jumping away or slinking deeper into the darkness, leaving it open.
'[Mana Shield].' The blue aura sprung to life and dented as a glob of shadow smashed into it. He told the portals to go to full throttle and jumped into the fire, his sword arm pulled back.
He threw the sword straight ahead and slammed into it, driving it deeper. A loud screech came from the monster before he fell onto the ground. As the darkness began to thin, he heard a cascade of pings.
[Congratulations!
You have cleared a Dungeon Mini-Boss!
XP gained: 20,000
Level Progress: 542,760 / 602,268]
[Fight Complete!
Stats gained -
11 Str
9 Con
6 Dex
7 Agi
3 Int
2 Wis
13 Res]
[New Stat Quality Unlocked!]
[Skin Plating Lvl.1]
'That was fun, nice job with the new power by the way.'
"Too bad for you, it won't be happening again for awhile."
She sighed, 'Fine.' He could hear music playing in the back of his mind.
"Time to go home, that was a little too close for comfort and I doubt we'll beat the next boss."
She didn't answer, but he did feel a slight shrug. He began his walk back out of the dungeon and portaled home.
—————
'I'm so excited!'
'I can tell, I'd let you take control if you could control yourself.'
She grumbled, 'Stupid Perk.'
She had nearly shattered his ears drums when the girls asked him. He had no doubt she would have more fun here than he would, it made him feel kind of bad for her.
"Oh! You guys are already here!" He turned to Momo, who had just entered with Asui and Toru. Momo was dressed in a blue blouse and some jeans. Her hair was done in curls and had a matching blue barrette holding it back. In short she made him look like a bum pulled off the road.
Uraraka had jumped in her seat next to him when the three girls had entered. She was oddly quiet and had stared at her feet since they sat down. As he glanced at her, she took a peek at Momo and looked at her own simple pink shirt and shorts.
'Tell her she looks nice.'
He took Misaki's advice and leaned closer to her. "You look nice by the way."
The girl did a double take, went red and let out a choked whisper as she looked back down at her feet. "Thanks." The three girls sat down and Uraraka began to relax a lot more.
"Didn't Kendo and Jiro go with you?", asked Toru. She was wearing jeans and a white dress shirt.
He looked toward the entrance and smiled as the two girls in question walked in. Both had a sight scowl on their face when they saw him, but lightened up when they saw the others. They descended into girl talk, while they waited for the others.
Denki walked in a minute later by himself, a smile plastered on his face. He was wearing a nicer version of his hero outfit, minus the headset. "Hello ladies!" He saw him and added, "And Midoriya."
'That sounded like an insult.'
"Nice of you to join me in my room Kaminari." He smiled at his classmate. A second passed before he received a ping.
[New Skill! Intimidation Lvl: 1
Cause your enemies to cower in fear or keep allies in check. Either is a great use of this skill. Higher levels in this skill can overcome immunity to mind effects and affect non sentient creatures.
Intimidation success chance - 2%]
'Shit. I didn't mean to scare him.'
"Uh yeah." The effects of the skill seemed to go away after a second as he bounced back. "So when are we starting?"
"We're waiting for Kirishima and possibly Tobu, ribbit." Asui was dressed in fairly basic outfit, jeans and a purple shirt.
Izuku's phone began to vibrate. Checking it, he was greeted by a message from Kirishima.
K: Hey man, are you there already?
I: Yeah what's up?
K: Do you mind coming outside for a minute?
I: One second.
Standing up, he excused himself and made his way outside.
Outside the bar, he found Kirishima with Ashido and an awake Kubo. "Kubo, trap her again."
The girl glared at Kirishima and upon seeing him, walked up to him. "You deal with this, I slept all day so I could be awake right now, which room?"
"Uhh." He glanced at the other two, who began arguing. "4C."
"Have fun." She walked in and disappeared.
'Great. Instead of singing, we get to deal with relationship issues!' He could feel her annoyance building up.
'Calm down, I'm sure it will be fine.'
"-Be here."
"And I'm telling you, they won't care!"
"I wasn't invited!"
"I'm inviting you!"
So that's the problem. He didn't ask about Ashido because Jiro was there, but he had no issue with the girl. "Calm down you two, you're going to cause a scene."
"Midoriya! Tell her she's acting stupid!"
He looked at the girl and smiled. "Ashido you're thinking dumbly."
"You're taking his side!?"
He turned to Kirishima, "And you're acting dumbly."
"Dude!"
Misaki snorted. 'Good start.'
"Look you two, today is supposed to be a fun day. Ashido, while none of the other girls invited you, that wasn't to spite you. Two people invited you and that's enough." He smacked the back of Kirishima's head and hit solid stone. "Don't kidnap people!"
"I didn't kidnap anyone!"
He squinted his eyes and glared at Kirishima.
[Skill level up! Intimidation Lvl: 2
Chance of success - 4%]
His classmate put his hands up in defeat and nodded. "It won't happen again."
He turned to the girl. "You ready to go in?"
She nodded and pushed Kirishima forward. "Go on ahead, Ill be there in a second." The boy gave her a worried look but nodded. Ashido turned to him as Kirishima disappeared. She bowed and began to apologize. "I'm sorry you had to fix my mistake. I screwed up really bad."
'Jeez, anymore problems and we'll have to start charging by the hour.'
He lifted her by the shoulder. "I don't hate you. I don't even blame you. I honestly think the only person with a problem is Jiro."
Tears began to fill her eyes, "Then why didn't anyone invite me?"
'That question will be 200 yen.'
'Shut up.' He looked her in the eyes as he said, "I'm afraid I don't know, but Kirishima and I invited you. That's all that matters, they can't invite everyone in class, then exempt one person because another dislikes them." As an afterthought, he added. "Well, besides Bakugo I guess."
She gave him a small smile, "He's kind of an ass."
He returned her smile with a lopsided grin. "He is an ass. Are you ready to go in?" Wiping away her tears, she nodded. "Sit away from Jiro and tonight should be fine."
"I'll sit with Kirishima and force him to sing with me." He let out a laugh and entered the room with her.
————
Toru and Uraraka had just finished a duet as Denki poked and prodded him. "I'll sing one song and that's it. I don't want to put a shadow over you guys."
Jiro glared at him. "You trying to say something musclehead?"
He waved away her accusation, "I'm not saying anything. I know for a fact I'm a better singer than all of you."
"Alright buddy. You, me, singing competition. Now!"
He smiled at Jiro. "Alright, you're loss."
Misaki began to laugh. 'Damned cheater.'
'Hey, you're me and I'm you. Any skill you level is a skill I have and level.'
[Musical Instrument: Vocal Level: 71
Utilizing your vocal chords, you are able to calm and inspire listeners.
Soothing Voice chance - 71%
Inspiration chance - 35%]
———-
"I win!"
'Izuku!'
'Not my fault her singing is better than yours.'
'Now you did it. Tomorrow I'm practicing all day.'
He could feel the headache already.
"You were good kid, but I'm better." Jiro handed the microphone to him and sat down amongst the girls who were congratulating her.
"You were super good dude. How did you learn to sing?" He sat down next to Kaminari and Kirishima.
"Shower."
"Kirishima!"
Said guy was pulled to his feet and was forced to do a duet with Ashido.
———
"I'll take Asui and Toru home.", said Momo.
Kirishima raised his hand, "Ashido lives down the street from me."
"I can walk," Denki looked at Tobu, "Or is it float, her home?" A couple of the girls laughed, causing a smile to plaster the boys face.
He glanced at the remaining students. Kendo had a wide grin on her face, daring him to challenge this, He sighed, "Fine. I got these three." Opening a small portal, he started handing out bracelets he asked Aki to engrave. "There is one for everyone." Once the last person had received theirs, he explained what they were. "Each of these bracelets signal every bracelet to its current location. Think of it like a mass text, that you can't reply to."
Momo was inspecting the small runes dug into each of them. "How do we turn them on?"
"Is anyone okay with being scared?", he smiled.
[Skill level up! Intimidation Lvl: 2 - 4
Success chance - 8%]
His smile faltered. "Chickens. Ill just have to scare everyone then."
"Wait, Midoriya don't-"
"Too late." 'Misaki?'
'Wooh!' She had 15 seconds left before the time limit hit. Hopefully not enough time to destroy anything.
'Also, I think I figured out the subspell you wanted.'
[New Subspell! Zero Zone Level; 1]
————
Her eyes went wide as she took in the shift in Izuku's stance and mannerisms. His normal confident demeanor turned sinister as he began to slowly cool the temperature around him. Toru could feel the heat being sapped from her. Everyone took involuntary step back. Even Tobu, who acted so sure of herself, floated a bit back.
"Who want to die first?" Midoriya's voice changed from his normal voice to a more manly, yet obviously female voice.
The only person to react was Tsuyu, who was strangely calm. She grabbed the bracelet and instantly everyone's bracelets lit up. As fast as it came, the shift in their president ended.
"That wasn't to bad. Thank you Tsuyu." She gave a thumbs up. "Now the bracelets detect several things going on around you. The first is your sense of fear. No its not reading your mind, its reading the Amygdala. The second is it detects radiated emotions in the air around you. If those two conditions are met, then you can touch the bracelet and it will activate the tracker."
Momo's eyes lit up. "How did you make these?"
"A friend did actually. The science", There was a slight pause, "is super complicated and nearly impossible to replicate."
"Can I meet them?", she was inches away from him.
"Uh, Ill ask." He took a step back and talked to all of them. "Now I want you all to realize that this does not mean run off to help your classmates. They could be in serious trouble and probably need the help of heroes. I don't want anyone going to help them without first contacting heroes, got it?" Everyone nodded. "Now I have to get that through Bakugo's head."
Several of her classmates laughed, but she put hers on and was almost giddy when it completely dissolved in the air. "It's invisible!"
"They all are. It's an added measure of protection encase you get knocked out before you can call for help. Any other question, comments, or concerns?" No one said anything. "Then everyone, head home and stay safe."
Momo pulled out her phone and made a call to her driver to pick them up. Getting into the car, she watched the others walk off toward the train station. The door was closed behind her as Asui spoke first. "Do you think he's being a little paranoid?"
Momo shook her head, "He actually explained why to Iida and I a few days ago. This is a needed measure, and not overkill in any way. What he didn't say though, was the UA teachers each have one also. He plans on giving the rest out tomorrow." She put a finger to her chin in thought. "He also said something about 1-B also."
She couldn't help the gossip queen side of her and asked. "Can you tell us why he had these made?"
Their friend looked worried. "I promised not to say anything."
Tsuyu had her side, "Wouldn't we be in more danger not knowing than the other way around, ribbit?"
Momo glared at her but let out a sigh. "Promise you won't tell anyone? Izuku even made Iida promise to not saying anything or acting out about it. It's the reason he declined coming with us."
"What do you mean?" Her curiousity was going through the roof.
"If he came with us, he would probably be looking around every corner and vetting every person we passed on the way here."
"Why aren't you worried like that?"
She gave her a deadpan look, "We have Izuku."
Toru laughed, but couldn't help but agree. "True."
"So what is happening?" Asui hadn't laugh and looked more worried now than before.
Momo sobered and looked at her knees. " A villain is kidnapping heroes off the streets and just two weeks ago a student from another school was kidnapped. The media is being told to keep quiet. Apparently there's a massive manhunt going on alongside the USJ manhunt."
The rest of the way to her house was done in silence. What type of monster kidnaps people? She gave each of the girls a hug as she got out and looked down each side of the dimly lit street. 'Maybe he's not paranoid enough.'
—————
Once their group had made it to the train station, they prepared to separate. He clapped hands with Kirishima and Kaminari, hugged both girls slightly. "See you guys tomorrow at school."
Once everyone said goodbye, he dragged his group on the train headed toward Jiro's place, who was the closest.
"So Midoriya." He looked up from the ground at Jiro. "Do the bracelet rules apply to you?" She finished with a grin.
He smiled back at her and said with as much honesty as he could. "No."
Kendo and Uraraka raised an eyebrow as Jiro tilted her head. "Just no?"
He held out a hand and produced a small fire. "If anything were to happen to any of my classmates, know this." He raised the heat of the light by a few hundred degrees. "I'd destroy everything in my way to save you." He cut off the flame and let it disperse. "And that's a promise."
'So damn dramatic.'
'Shush you. I know for a fact you would kill anything in our way if it would happen.' His classmates had grown on her, she was particularly fond of Kendo and Sato. The punchiest of the lot and most likely to fly into a rage.
'As long as I can do it with my own two hands.'
'We'll see.'
————
Kirishima had just dropped Ashido off at home and was about to enter his house when the bracelet turned on and pointed at the source. Quite a few cuss words went through his head as he pulled out his phone. "Midoriya!"
"I know. Kendo is calling the cops right now. I'm on my way there right now. Stay home and watch your phone."
"Got it." Before his class president could hang up, he asked, "Who is it?"
"From the direction and knowing all of your addresses, it's Kaminari and Tobu. I'm two minutes away and am getting another call. Bye." Izuku hung up, leaving him there filled with worry and anger. He couldn't help in any way, shape or form, he felt useless.
'Come on Kaminari. Prove your man and give it your all.'
———————
Denki dodge to the side away from the oncoming attack. Tobu and him had got roughly three blocks away from her house when they were attacked by a humongous villain. Tobu was acting as the front line right now, barely keeping the monster at bay with her army of nightmarish creatures.
A small red acorn popped into existence in front him. "HELP!" It poofed away.
What did she want him to do? He could barely hold Tiger at bay when they would spar.
The villain, finally using it's quirk, summoned the water from a few nearby sewers and walloped Tobu. She went flying into a nearby wall with a loud crash. His panic flared even worse now. He began to pray to any god that would answer his prayer. 'Someone help!'
Another acorn appeared, this time a pale blue and slightly faded. He assumed this was outside her bubble. It's voice was sad and almost a whisper. "Denki please help." It faded away.
Something clicked in him, his fear was still there, his hands shook badly and his legs were weak, but he still stood. "Hey, Ugly!" It was both an insult and statement. The villain's face was contorted and looked like it was dragged through cement. "If you want a fight, bring it!"
The villain released a howl and turned to face him. "Pest!" It's voice was guttural and made him sound like he was gurgling rocks. It began to walk toward him before picking up speed.
'I got one chance at this.' He forced his body to relax and prepare for the pain. "Lightning God's Speed."
—————
Chapter Done!
I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to come out! I've been busy with other stuff and this chapter was so awkward to write for me. The next one should come out so much sooner than this one, promise!
As for the cliffhanger, sorry again. As I said, most students, heroes, and villains are getting an upgrade, the first one we get to see is Denki's!
One last thing, I write this fanfiction for fun, not to impress anybody. I will take constructive criticism in stride and try to learn from it, but I will not listen to people who just want to complain about the story/storyline. If you don't like where I'm taking it, you are free to read any one of the thousands of stories on this site. Sorry for the rant. Have a nice week and I hope you all stay happy and healthy.
———
Skills gained -
Excavation
Survey
Analysis
New Subspell: Frost Giant Berserker
Call on the frozen hate of ancient beings. Your spear may now take the form of axes. While still fragile, they need less mana and have a shorter cooldown.
Damage: Axe Combat Damage / 4
Cost: Base Spell Cost / 5
Cooldown: 3 seconds
New SubPower: Force of the Void (Base Power: Gyrokinesis)
Forming small vortexes of gravity, you are able to contort space and create small invisible celestial bodies.
Cost: ??
Cooldown: ??
New SubPower: Photon Molding Lvl: Max (Base Power: Heliokinesis)
Utilizing light in any form, you are able to harden and condense it into wieldable objects. Objects created must be simple, such as a shape to a simple key. More advanced objects are impossible to make with this ability.
Damage: ??
Cost: ??
New Skill: Axe Combat Lvl: 4
Many cultures have utilized the axe in both combat and utility. No matter your lineage, you will do your ancestors proud by wielding such an ancient weapon.
Damage: (Str * 1.4)(Dex * 0.24)
New PerK: Berserker's Mind
Calmness has no place in your mind. You are a warrior who has seen battle and lavishes in it. Let your hate and anger fuel your mind and body.
Restriction: To be used, affected Gamer must be able to shut down Gamer's Mind. This can be done in a multitude of ways.
Effects:
Mana and Stamina combined with HP
Mana and Stamina regen combined with HP regen
All abilities, spells, and powers will cost HP in place of normal costs.
New Quality: Strength Retention Lvl: Max
Your Str is now immune to debuffs, this can be overcome by a greater force however.
New Quality: Reflexive Counter Lvl: Max
Fist sized objects moving under 15 m/second are now able to be caught, and redirected with little to no effort.
New Quality: Mind Snap Lvl: Max
In fights of mental combat where your mind is pitted against an opponent, you gain a 50% chance to shatter their mind.
New Quality: Skin Plating Lvl: 1
Sacrificing HP allows you to harden your skin to different levels.
Current rating: Hardened Leather
Damage reduction: -2.5% to incoming damage
Cost: 5% of Max HP.