Chapter 1: Delayed
Izuku yawned, waking up from his sleep with the sun. He sat up and threw his sheets aside, rubbing his bleary eyes.
But once he opened those eyes, he saw something odd.
It was just… strange white text, floating in the air.
Hello, Midoriya Izuku.
Welcome to your Quirk: The Gamer! Apologies for manifesting so late.
Was this… some kind of joke?
It was probably an illusion quirk or something. Most likely just one of the other kids at school messing with him, using their quirk to make him look the fool. Izuku sighed and curled up in bed. It was a cruel prank to play on a quirkless kid. Trying to make him think he had a quirk. Well, he wasn't going to let anyone make fun of him! He would ignore the stupid message as long as it took.
Izuku waited, but the words in the air didn't go away. He huffed, and poked the words impatiently. They rippled under his touch. Izuku blinked as the words in the air changed.
To begin, please say 'Profile' aloud. This will bring you to a list of your abilities. If you wish to see any categories within the Profile Window, state them aloud while in the Profile. State "close" when you wish to close the Window. Say "okay" to confirm!
Izuku stared at the message for a long time.
Eventually, he cautiously said, "Okay?"
The text vanished, as if it were never there.
Then, Izuku, feeling cautious (feeling as though his classmates were about to jump out any minute and make fun of him) whispered "Profile", quiet enough that none would hear it.
A giant box appeared across his vision, filled with white-colored text and numbers.
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 12 -- Age: 14
HP: 120/120
Exhaustion: 0/600
Title: None
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
Izuku still felt stupid for experimenting with it, but…
He glanced around.
No one was around but him. If this was an illusion quirk, then how was that person changing the illusion to follow whatever he said?
"Stats," Izuku said, testing the waters. The white text flashed to a different screen.
VIT: 12, STR: 6, DEX: 7, INT: 15, WIS: 13, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 0
Were those stats meant to be for him? He supposed it made sense. His strength was the lowest, and he wasn't very strong. If someone was making stats for him that's what they'd probably pick, after all. And the interface had reacted to his words again, which meant the first time hadn't been a fluke.
"Um… Skills?" Izuku said.
Skill List
Japanese [Lvl. 81]: speaking the Japanese language
Literacy [Lvl. 45]: reading and writing [language: Japanese]
Mathematics [Lvl. 45]: ability to use mathematical equations to solve problems
Quirk Analysis [Lvl. 30]: make deductions about what a person can do with their powers, and what their weaknesses might be
Observe [Lvl. 1]: gathers information about something when the player states 'observe' while looking at that thing
This…
If this was a quirk, it was the weirdest one Izuku had ever seen.
Izuku was staring down at his spare notebook, pen in hand.
He didn't want to put information about this, in Hero Analysis for the Future #13. That seemed far too hopeful, like he was assuming all this was real.
It probably wasn't! Really. It probably wasn't.
Besides, even if this was a quirk, he didn't want anyone reading his usual notebook and finding out about it. Especially his mom, he didn't want to get her hopes up and then proceed to crush them. Better to put it in a top secret notebook. He titled it, "History Notes."
(Anticlimactic, but it was supposed to be a secret.)
He wrote about the strange, untouchable words that floated in the air. He wrote down everything written in the stats and skills pages as well. Once he was done writing those things, he still had more to check.
"Profile," Izuku said.
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 12 -- Age: 14
HP: 120/120
Exhaustion: 0/600
Title: None
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
"It says my quirk is 'The Gamer'," Izuku muttered, writing it down. "It said it was the Gamer, earlier, didn't it? So it's definitely claiming to be my quirk…" Weird.
'The Gamer' was a strange choice of name. But Izuku could understand how his quirk was supposed to be similar to a game, considering the leveling system and the stat points.
"Inventory," Izuku said. It popped up, but unfortunately…
Inventory: [LOCKED] -- Required Level: Lvl. 20
"Required level--?" Izuku muttered, then glanced at his profile. "Since I'm only level 12, I need eight more levels to access the inventory… but how do I level up?"
And what was inventory even useful for, if he did suddenly manage to reach Level 20?
There was no one to answer him.
With the inventory unavailable for now, Izuku decided to try the next tab.
RELATIONSHIPS
Midoriya Inko: Rep +96. Unconditional Love.
Bakugou Katsuki: Rep -53. Enemy. (Type=Petty)
Bakugou Mitsuki: Rep +10. Friendly Acquaintance.
Bakugou Masaru: Rep +9. Friendly Acquaintance.
Classmates [Homeroom]: Rep -29. Moderate Hostility.
Was this true? As happy as he was to see his mother listed as "unconditional love", seeing such low rep with Kacchan made him wince. But, well, it was true that Kacchan wasn't that fond of him, so it wasn't like it was wrong or anything. He didn't agree with the 'enemy' classification, but if the type was listed as petty…
Maybe he could consider Kacchan a petty enemy. That was kind of like frenemies, right?
But this whole weirdness was making less and less sense as the result of someone's quirk or an elaborate prank. How would someone else's quirk know Midoriya's relationship with Bakugou's parents?
"Izuku, come down for breakfast!" he heard his mom yell.
Izuku sighed. He hadn't had time to look at the last tab-- Questlog. But whatever. This would help him check something else as well.
Izuku could see white text in front of him, moving with him as he walked, because he'd never said "close." Now was the chance to see if his mother could see it.
Izuku cautiously sat down at the breakfast table. His mother greeted him cheerfully ("Good morning, Izuku!") and gave him a bowl of miso soup. He started eating his food absentmindedly, glancing up for her reaction to the white screen in front of him.
There was no reaction. In fact, at one point she reached through the text to put down some tea and natto, all without even blinking. His mom definitely couldn't see it. So… was it some kind of illusion? Some kind of false computer interface?
"Close," he muttered to himself, and the Profile vanished. All that was left in front of him was his soup.
Izuku tried to make conversation with his mother, but it was difficult when his mind was still whirling with what he'd just discovered. "Sorry for being distracted," he said. "I just saw this really cool villain fight online and I can't wait to take notes on it."
His mom smiled sadly and shook her head. "You can take notes on it after we eat. It's Sunday, after all."
Sunday… that was perfect. He could spend all day playing with… whatever it was.
He wanted it to be a quirk. Really badly. Even though it probably wasn't.
But whatever it was… maybe it could be useful? If it was real? Being able to tell what other people thought of you… that was almost like an entire quirk on its own, wasn't it? So even if the rest of it was worthless…
By the time breakfast had finished, Izuku had made his decision.
If this was even remotely real… he was going to use it to be a hero. Whatever advantages this 'quirk' could offer, he was going to make the most of them.
Chapter 2: Questline
Izuku figured he wouldn't get anywhere with the Gamer unless he explored it a little. He put his disbelief aside and tried to get into business mode.
"Questlog," Izuku said, in the privacy of his room. He'd been curious about this one. He wasn't entirely sure what it would end up being.
OUTSTANDING QUESTS:
Tutorial Quest Part 1
He had a Tutorial Quest? How was he supposed to activate it?
He could probably try just… saying the quest, right?
"Tutorial quest part one," Izuku said.
TUTORIAL QUEST PT. 1
Explore Each Page of Profile ✔Ask for [Explanation: Stats]Ask for [Explanation: Relationships]
REWARDS: ???
It worked! And… the check mark must mean he completed that part of the quest. He had checked every page of the profile. Now all he had to do was finish the other two parts.
"Can…" Izuku felt a little stupid asking a quirk this, "Can I have an explanation of stats?" When the wall of text changed, Izuku was relieved that it worked.
BASE STATS
Vitality: physical state in regards to health and constitution [affects HP, exhaustion threshold]Strength: the quality of being physically strong [affects Attack Power]Dexterity: ability to move quickly and easily [affects Dodging, Base Speed]Intelligence: the ability to learn new things quickly [affects time spent Learning Skills]Wisdom: the ability to properly apply knowledge to situations [affects Problem-Solving] Charisma: charm that inspires others to like you and take up your cause [affects Conversation, Relationship Statuses]
Izuku scribbled down every word in his notebook, in case they'd be important later. In particular, he made careful note of The Gamer's distinction between Wisdom and Intelligence… might come in handy later.
Once he'd written everything down, Izuku said, "Tutorial quest part one." The tutorial quest popped right back up, even though he hadn't gone through the Questlog first. Convenient.
TUTORIAL QUEST PT. 1
Explore Each Page of Profile ✔Ask for [Explanation: Stats] ✔Ask for [Explanation: Relationships]
REWARDS: ???
"Explanation, relationships?" Izuku asked.
The relationship screen shows you what other people (or groups of people) think of you. People you interact with often or who have strong feelings about you are more likely to appear in the relationships tab. If you want someone in particular to be added or removed from the list, say "add [name] to relationships" or "remove [name] from relationships."
[ALERT! Quest: Tutorial Quest Part 1 has been completed! Collect Rewards?]
Izuku wrote down the message about relationships, but he was mostly focused on the alert. He felt a knot of anxiety and excitement as he looked at it. He took a deep breath and said, "Collect rewards."
Tutorial Quest Part 1 Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: +500 XP, +5 Stat Points
[ALERT! Level up! You are now Lvl. 13!]
… The quest gave him XP?
Congratulations on finishing the tutorial quest! You're on your own now!
"What?! But that was just the first part of the Tutorial Quest! What about the rest of it?" Izuku shouted. When there was no answer, Izuku yelled out to no one, "What even are you? What do you want with me?!"
Izuku felt anger bubble up within him when the only response was quiet.
"Just abandon me, why don't you," Izuku muttered.
He sighed. "Profile."
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 13 -- Age: 14
HP: 120/120
Exhaustion: 0/600
Title: None
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
"Nothing changed when I leveled up, not even HP," Izuku muttered. "Stats?"
VIT: 12, STR: 6, DEX: 7, INT: 15, WIS: 13, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 10
So that's what changed. He got 10 unallotted stat points. Unallotted stat points meant he could put them wherever he wanted, right?
He glanced up at the rewards, which only promised five extra stat points. Now he had 10, even though he had none before. The only other thing had been leveling up… had he received 5 unallotted stat points by level-up?
Izuku was tempted to immediately put them towards Vitality. Since it had said that Vitality affects HP, Izuku had the opportunity to give his HP a massive boost. And he was a bit tempted to do so.
He wasn't sure, though, and he wanted to be thorough. He didn't want to blow his stat points off on something that wouldn't benefit him much in the future. Izuku wanted to maximize the benefit of whatever this was, but that was hard when he knew so little.
Yet, the best way to prove that 'The Gamer' was real would be to boost his stat points and see if anything changed. He needed to know if this was real.
But if he was going to do that, he wanted to choose something that would help him now. If he chose something that was immediately useful, it would justify him spending his stat points right away. And the best stat for that was…
Intelligence.
The description had said that he could use Intelligence to learn skills faster. If he could learn skills faster now, he might get better at his skills fast enough that it would make spending his stat points now rather than later worth it.
"Ten stat points to intelligence," Izuku said, and the text changed in response.
VIT: 12, STR: 6, DEX: 7, INT: 25, WIS: 13, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 0
"Okay," Izuku breathed. "How do I test if I'm smarter?"
Izuku pulled out one of his analysis notebooks and set up a video of a hero fight on his computer. He started working on it, analyzing a fight between Present Mic and the villain Toxic Chainsaw. He decided to focus mainly on Mic's skills, since he already knew some of what Toxic Chainsaw could do from his other fights.
"... three-sixty degree sound waves, weaponization of …" as Izuku muttered and scribbled out his answers, he tried to think if this felt any easier or harder than usual. But to be honest, it didn't. It felt basically the same. He kept going anyway, deciding that he would evaluate afterwards if it were any more skilled than usual.
Your problem-solving activity increased your Wisdom! +1 WIS
Quirk Analysis Skill leveled up to Level 31!
Izuku paused to glance at the alerts. "Stats."
VIT: 12, STR: 6, DEX: 7, INT: 25, WIS: 14, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 0
"My wisdom got higher when I was doing problem-solving…" Izuku glanced down at his quirk analysis. "So quirk analysis isn't an intelligence-based ability, it's a wisdom-based one…" Probably because quirk analysis dealt with the application of knowledge, not the learning of knowledge. Izuku sighed. So his new intelligence wasn't going to help him with Quirk Analysis directly.
But…
Izuku glanced at the Quirk Analysis Skill Level Up. My new intelligence boost probably helped me level it up faster. So it helps me get better at quirk analysis faster, but it doesn't help me actually *do* the quirk analysis?
Izuku shrugged to himself. If he focused on improving skills, then the intelligence boost might still be worth it, even though Quirk Analysis was a wisdom skill. Speaking of, there was another skill that he wanted to work on…
He poked his head in the hallway, glancing out at his mom.
"Observe," Izuku whispered.
Midoriya Inko -- Lvl. 29 -- The Persevering
Quirk: Attraction of Small Objects
[See Stats & Skills]
He could see her name, her quirk, her level… but what did 'The Persevering' mean? Was it a 'title' like he'd seen on his profile?
"See stats and skills," Izuku muttered.
Observe Failed. The target's level is too high.
Hm. So he couldn't see her stats…
"Mom," Izuku said. "I'm going to go to the park quick."
Inko blinked in surprise. "Oh, alright. Make sure to be back for dinner."
"I will," Izuku promised. She was probably surprised because he rarely left the house on the weekends (he didn't have any friends to meet, anyway) but he had some experiments to run!
He wanted to see if he could raise his other stat points by doing things they were related to. With dexterity, that would be running. And in the meantime, he could practice his 'Observe' and see if it actually worked on other people! ( Observe might be a good way to confirm that this is real, noted Izuku. If he could see things that it would be impossible for him to know, it was proof that something was at play.)
He started jogging on the sidewalk, and each time he saw someone, he would whisper Observe under his breath. Their name, level, and what he was guessing was 'title' popped up, along with an option to look at their stats and skills. He tried to look at stats as well, but he kept getting the message that the target's level was too high. He'd even tried looking at the stats of a level six kindergartener, but apparently even they were too high a level for Izuku's Observe. Was it because Observe was still a Lvl. 1 Skill?
After he'd run for ten minutes (and was starting to get really tired), he got what he'd been looking for.
Practicing has made you faster! +1 DEX.
"Yes!" Izuku cheered to himself, ignoring the other people on the sidewalk. Newly motivated, he kept running and practicing his Observe ability, hoping for them to improve.
When he got home a few hours later, Izuku's legs felt like jelly and he was drenched in sweat. He'd spent time running around the park and given himself plenty of breaks, but he still was horribly tired.
Am I really this out-of-shape? I had to keep stopping, since I didn't have enough endurance to run the whole time… geez. I ought to run more often.
On the bright side, though…
Observe Skill leveled up to Level 2!
Practicing has made you faster! +1 DEX.
Practicing has made you faster! +1 DEX.
Observe Skill leveled up to Level 3!
Observe Skill leveled up to Level 4!
He'd gotten better! If he could keep improving his dexterity like this, he'd be fast in no time!
He'd decided to stop after his Exhaustion level reached 200. It seemed to increase the more he worked out, and if this is what 200 felt like, Izuku was frankly a little worried what would happen if he got all the way to 600/600 exhaustion. Death, he suspected.
"I'm going to take a shower!" Izuku called from the door. He took off his shoes and went straight to the shower. He'd have to convince his mom to let him work out, though, or at least just go on runs to increase his dexterity…
Izuku knew that he hadn't technically definitively proven that this was… well, real, yet.
But it hadn't gone away yet, and no one had jumped out to claim the prank.
Though he didn't want to get his hopes up, with every passing second he felt a little bit more secure in his new, yet odd, quirk.
Chapter 3: Incidental
When Izuku woke up the next morning, he was briefly convinced that none of the previous day had happened, and it had all been some sort of weird fever dream. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, groaning. Monday.
"Profile?"
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 13 -- Age: 14
HP: 120/120
Exhaustion: 68/600
Title: None
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
Izuku blinked and stared at the text.
So it hadn't been a fever dream.
Izuku squinted at his exhaustion score. It was still at 68? But he'd just slept! When Izuku stood up, he could figure out why. His legs were super sore, not to mention the fact that he felt groggy overall.
Izuku sighed. Great. "Close," he said.
His mom had left for work early, leaving him breakfast behind. Izuku quickly ate his food and sipped at his green tea, feeling himself get a little bit peppier. Which gave him an idea.
"Exhaustion," Izuku said, and to his pleasant surprise, only the exhaustion score popped up in front of him.
Exhaustion: 48/600
"It decreased," Izuku muttered to himself. He glanced down at the green tea. "Observe."
Green Tea. -20 Ex, +6 HP. Good for you.
A special item?!
His exhaustion had decreased by twenty, so obviously the green tea must have done its work. Izuku grabbed some coffee from the coffeemaker that his mother used, pouring a little bit into a cup. "Observe," he said, once he was staring at the coffee.
Black Coffee. -40 Ex. A bitter taste.
"Decreases exhaustion a lot, but no health benefits," Izuku muttered. "It's another item."
He tried a few other things, but the table and pencil and silverware didn't seem to trigger Observe's effects like the coffee and green tea had. Izuku wished he was able to spend more time experimenting, but he had to get to school. His teachers wouldn't abide by him being late.
He rushed to school and barely made it in time, sliding into his seat at the last moment. His teacher gave him a dirty look, but didn't say anything directly.
Once everyone was in their seats, the teacher started talking. "So as third-year students it's time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives," the teacher said. "I could pass out some career aptitude tests, but… why bother? I know you want to go to the Hero Track!"
Izuku winced as the class celebrated and cheered. It was true, he did want to get into the Hero Track, but he knew no one believed he could do it.
"Hey teach, don't lump me in with these losers! I'm the real deal, but these guys would be lucky to be a sidekick to some busted D-lister! Hah!"
"You can't just say that!"
"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"
"Shut up, extras!" Kacchan barked back.
"Oh, if I remember correctly, you're trying out for UA High, aren't you?" the teacher said. As the class reacted in shock to the news that Kacchan was trying for such a prestigious school, Kacchan bragged about his abilities and how he'd be a great hero. "People all across the world will know who I am, and it all starts with UA High!"
"Oh yeah, Midoriya, don't you want to go to UA High too?" the teacher said.
"Fuck," Izuku muttered to himself as the class burst into jeers and laughter.
That day after school, Kacchan stole his notebook.
"I don't know what you think you're doing, Deku, but we're not done," he said.
"Give it back!" Izuku said. Suddenly he was thankful that he left his notebook about his secret powers at home and only took the hero one to school. As Bakugou taunted him, Izuku pursed his lips. He'd never gotten the chance to Observe Bakugou, so maybe…
Bakugou exploded his notebook and tossed it out the window.
"N-!" Izuku started. All that work!
"Most top heroes have stories about them from their school days. I want the shine of being able to be called the only student to make it into UA from this garbage city junior high school! So don't even think of applying to UA, nerd," Bakugou said, putting a sizzling hand on his uniform.
There was nothing Izuku could say.
As Bakugou was walking away, Izuku said, "Observe."
Bakugou Katsuki -- Lvl. 19 -- None
Quirk: Explosion
[See Stats & Skills]
"What was that, nerd?" Bakugou growled, turning around.
"N-nothing!" Izuku squeaked. Level 19?! That's a full six levels above me!
"You know if you really want to be a hero that badly, there's actually another way. Just pray that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building!" Bakugou said viciously.
Izuku said nothing.
Dammit… I wanted to stand up to Kacchan there, but the only thing that I ended up seeing was how much stronger he is than I am…
Izuku shook his head and sighed. He couldn't believe that Kacchan had said that to him. He grabbed his soggy-but-potentially-salvageable notebook, feeling a bit depressed. Whatever. He'd just go home and then--
[ALERT: EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATION!]
Emergency Quest: Danger Under the Bridge
Goal: Survive the villain attackBonus: Defeat the aggressor alone
REWARDS: ???
BONUS REWARDS: ???
"Wha-" Izuku barely managed to get that out of his mouth before he was attacked by green sludge.
"A medium-sized invisibility coat, just what I need," the sludge villain said, amusement in his voice. "Don't worry. I'm just going to take over your body. Calm down. It'll only hurt for a minute. You'll feel better soon."
Izuku clawed at the sludge covering his mouth, but there wasn't anything he could do. His new quirk wasn't doing anything to save him! Maybe if he had unallotted stat points left he could put them into strength as a hail mary, but… he didn't have any left…
[ALERT! Damage Taken! (Type:Asphyxiation) -23 HP]
[Your current struggles will make you more durable later! +1 VIT]
He couldn't breathe…
"You can't grab me, I'm made of fluid! Thanks for your help, though. You're my hero. I didn't realize he was in the city, so I've got to get out fast," the sludge villain said.
My vision's getting all fuzzy… am I dying? Someone… help… please…
"It's all right now, young man. I am here! TEXAS SMASH!" he heard someone yell.
[ALERT! Emergency Quest has been completed! Collect rewards?]
[ALERT! Emergency Bonus Quest Failed]
[Assisted in defeat of Lvl. 26 Enemy! Contribution level: minor. +1300XP]
Izuku groaned and ignored the text alerts that flitted across his vision as he felt someone slap his cheek. "Hey, hey-wake up! Oh, good. Thought we lost you there."
Izuku made a noise of involuntary surprise as he sat up from the pavement.
"A-All Might?"
I'm glad you're okay! I'm sorry I caught you up in my villain fighting. It turns out the city sewer system is pretty difficult to navigate," All Might said, with a bellowing laugh. "But, you were a big help. I captured him safely!" he said, holding up a bottle that seemed to contain the sludge villain.
Izuku was barely able to react. "A-an a-autograph--" he started to say, but once he opened his notebook he realized All Might had already signed it. "He already did! Th-thank you very much! I will treasure--" as Izuku was babbling, he thought of a new opportunity, better than an autograph, that he could get from this. After all, knowing more about All Might would help Izuku write better quirk analysis of him! "Observe," Izuku whispered.
Yagi Toshinori -- Lvl. 99 -- The Symbol of Peace
Quirk: One for All (transferred)
[See Stats & Skills]
ACTIVE BUFF: Quirked Form (+STR, VIT, DEX)
Buff Time Limit: 3mins, 2s remaining
Izuku's jaw dropped. All Might's… real name? Oh gosh, he hadn't even thought about how that would pop up. Wasn't that some kind of national secret? He probably shouldn't know that his name was Yagi Toshinori. Not to mention the name of his quirk… One for All… and that buff… a time limit? His buff was called Quirked Form… was All Might's quirk on a time limit? Why... how?! All this information was probably extremely classified and he hadn't even thought of that part.
If the villains ever found out All Might had a time limit… if that's what was even happening and Izuku wasn't misinterpreting, of course…
Luckily, All Might seemed to take him saying 'Observe' as part of his incomprehensible hackneyed muttering, and seemed to take his awed (horrified) silence as just a regular civilian reaction.
"Okay! I gotta take this guy to the police! Stay out of trouble, see you around," All Might said.
"Wait, you're leaving already?!"
"Heroes are constantly fighting time as well as enemies. Now stand back, I'm taking off. Thanks for your continued support!"
"All Might--!"
But All Might was already gone.
Chapter 4: Rewards & Training
As he walked home from his encounter with All Might, Izuku glanced up at his alerts. It looks like I got XP from almost getting killed by that villain because apparently I technically contributed to his defeat.
Not to mention the quest that he'd just completed. He had rewards to collect.
"Collect rewards," Izuku said.
Danger Under the Bridge Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: Detect Enemies Skill (Lvl. 1), +8 Stat Points, +2100 XP
[ALERT! Level up! You are now Lvl. 14!]
"A new skill," Izuku muttered. "XP, and some stat points." Izuku was most curious about his new skill. "Skills," Izuku said. Glancing through his skill list, he noticed a new skill added at the bottom.
Detect Enemies (Lvl. 1): Say 'detect enemies' aloud to detect anyone with the 'enemy' relationship or the 'bloodlust' status effect within a five-foot-radius.
Huh. That looked sort of useful, if he wanted to figure out if someone was trying to kill him or not. But a five-foot-radius was kind of small, so the enemy would have to be right on top of him if he wanted it to work. Not to mention that he would have to literally say 'detect enemies' aloud? Maybe the radius would expand if he leveled-up the skill.
It was probably not worth getting almost murdered for. But he supposed it wasn't going to hurt to have it.
"Stats," Izuku said.
VIT: 13, STR: 6, DEX: 10, INT: 25, WIS: 14, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 13
Thirteen new stat points to play with. He would wait to put those into something later. For now, he needed a game plan for how he was going to improve his stats fast enough for the UA entrance exams.
Izuku was doing push-ups.
Well, he'd done a couple of regular push-ups before he'd gotten far too tired, so he switched to doing push-ups on his knees instead. Which was mildly embarrassing.
But he just had to keep going until he confirmed--
[Using your muscles makes them stronger! +1 STR]
Izuku collapsed to the ground, panting.
"So… working out… increases your strength," Izuku huffed, scribbling that down in his notebook. He'd suspected it strongly, but it was important to test.
So far, he'd confirmed that quirk analysis increased WIS, that running increased DEX, that taking damage (almost getting murdered?) increased VIT, and that working out increased STR. All he had left to figure out was INT and CHA, and he had a few ideas on how to test those out. But first…
Izuku grabbed the green tea that was just within reach and chugged the cup. He felt some of his tiredness and muscle soreness vanish, the -20 Exhaustion from the item taking effect.
Izuku pulled out his homework and got to trying to increase his INT.
After ages studying, Izuku finally managed to increase his INT by one point. It seemed like trying to learn new things (both memorizations and new techniques) was the factor that increased intelligence, just as he had suspected.
Something else was quickly becoming apparent, though, and that was discrepancies between the times it took to increase certain stats. He'd been able to increase strength and dexterity fairly quickly, but the less said about the time it took to gain one intelligence point the better. Was it the activities themselves, or…?
"Stats," Izuku muttered.
VIT: 13, STR: 7, DEX: 10, INT: 26, WIS: 14, CHA: 11
Unallotted Stat Points: 13
"Do they increase on a curve?" Izuku muttered to himself. It would explain why it was easy to get STR and DEX (things he didn't have that much of) but hard to get INT, which he had a lot of. His theory was that the more points he gained in a stat, the harder it would be to get more after that. It was just a working theory for now, but one that Izuku feared would be the truth. If it were the case, it would be very easy for his progress to plateau.
"Keep an eye on that," Izuku muttered to himself, writing down a note. "Record how much time it takes to increase certain stats as opposed to others, to test that theory."
If stats did increase on a curve, that meant he should grind up all his stats as high as they would go before adding his unallotted stat points to them, because once they were higher they would be tougher to increase. Which meant dumping all those points in intelligence had probably been a bad idea. Oh well.
On the bright side, he'd noticed that he learned much faster and retained a significant amount more than usual when he was studying, so if nothing else, at least he'd gained that.
Bakugou shoved him up against the wall. Izuku winced as he hit the bricks.
[Alert: Damage Taken! -2 HP.]
"Kacchan--" Izuku tried.
"You haven't withdrawn your application to UA, nerd?" he snarled.
Bakugou's bullying had gotten a lot worse since that day. He apparently hadn't gotten over learning that Izuku was truly trying for UA, especially considering he still thought Izuku was quirkless. Izuku hissed in pain as Bakugou used his quirk to singe his arm.
[Alert: Damage Taken! (Type:Fire) -8 HP.]
He knew it wasn't that much HP, nothing a few green teas couldn't fix… but it still stung very badly. Burns hurt!
"Detect enemies," Izuku said.
[Alert! Enemy detected!]
"Why do you keep saying that?!" Bakugou demanded.
(Also, maybe the fact that Izuku kept saying 'detect enemies' was contributing to the fact he was getting bullied… but he needed to level up this skill! And Bakugou was the only enemy he had, even if he was technically classified as a petty enemy!)
"Detect enemies," Izuku replied.
[Alert! Enemy detected!]
[Your observation of others increases your people-skills. +1 CHA.]
Bakugou screamed in frustration.
Izuku stumbled to class bruised and a little singed, but the teacher paid him little mind. At this point Bakugou's bullying had become routine, and neither he nor the teacher wanted to go through the official procedures that were supposed to take place whenever one student assaulted another. They'd tried doing that before, and nothing had ever been done. Honestly if the teacher took him to the office every time somebody pushed him around no one would get any learning done.
"Observe," Izuku muttered as quietly as he could, using his abilities to scan students around the classroom. Even though he was trying to be quiet and non-obtrusive, he knew that doing this all the time would probably make him look weirder than he already did. And he was already known as the weird kid.
[Observe Skill leveled up to Level 5!]
Izuku resisted a sigh. Sometimes he just wished that he could be normal, like all the other kids with quirks.
He wished his quirk had come in on time?
No… more like he wished he had a regular, normal quirk. This one was so finicky and he didn't know anything about it, and it came in so late… and he probably wouldn't be able to convince anyone of it, so having a quirk now didn't increase his social status.
The only thing that his quirk was good for was letting him know how much his classmates hated him. (-31 Rep, Moderate Hostility.)
If only he could convince everyone he had a quirk…
Then maybe he'd finally get some friends around here.
GET INTO UA -- SEVEN STEP PLAN
1. Grind DEX stat by going on daily runs. 2. Grind STR stat by doing push-ups and sit-ups every day. 3. Work on WIS by doing Quirk Analysis in spare time. 4. At school, go for CHA by practicing Observe and Detect Enemies Skills. 5. VIT --- might increase on its own with Kacchan attacking me all the time? 6. Grind INT with extra studying. 7. IMPORTANT: How will I explain my quirk? Can I?
Could I pass it off as something else?
That would be committing fraud!
But it would be easier than trying to become a quirkless hero…
Maybe I could actually make some friends at UA if everyone knew I had a quirk
I want other people to respect me