Chapter 9
Izumi had been hunting monsters all night, but she only managed to kill a few minor ones. And after she got home, it didn’t take long for her adrenaline rush to wear off.
When she was awoke, she wasn’t surprised to find her body covered in scars. Her hands and arms, chest, legs, and two very large ones on her back, courtesy of Rasaka's Fangs. Her clothes were nothing more than rags that look like they had been soaked in blood and left to dry.
But while she definitely felt quite stiff, all her cuts and bruises were gone, and while the burns from the Blaze Wasps and her scars were still present and very fresh, they had healed over very well. All Thanks to her Passive Skill: Longevity.
Her reward for passing Courage of the Weak, it not only made her immune to all forms of foreign substances like poison, but, also all forms of disease, and allowed her to heal exponentially faster while asleep.
So, a pretty bullshit power if she was being honest.
After a nice shower, and a change of clothes, she felt much better. But she was probably gonna need to burn what was left of her clothes before people got the wrong idea.
Izumi switch on the TV as she went into the kitchen to make breakfast. She listened as a news told the story of last night’s Dungeon Break.
*As you can see, the Dungeon Boss was left in literal bits, and it appears to have been defeated in a single attack* The Screen then showed an image of the same Monster that Izumi had defeated, but the it changed just as Izumi entered the Living room with a bowl of cereal *No Hunters or Heroes have claimed responsibly for ending the Monster thus far. In other news, the number of Awakenings has risen by 43% over the last 5 months, but the number of new Hunters has risen by only 36%*
(It’s not that surprising) Izumi thought (not everyone wants to be a Hunter or Hero. Some just prefer the simple life. Can’t exactly blame them)
*However, the biggest story is that the Hunter Association, now with backing of the Hero Commission are planning a forth and final Raid on Jeju Island*
Well, that certainly caught her attention.
Jeju Island was the fourth S-Rank Dungeon Gate to ever appear, and the only Gate to still be open to this day. 5 years ago, the Entire Island had been overrun by giant Monstrous Ants, leaving it uninhabitable for humans. There had been 3 attempts to take the Island back, but each one had ended in failure, for one reason or another. But, none of those raids had ever had the Heroes backing them. Ye Hero Commission had Forbidden Heroes from going, in fear that the absence or even deaths of Heroes could cause a significant rise in crime.
So if the Hero Commission was allowing Heroes to participate, that would be double the manpower and fire power of the previous two Raids! And possibly more with all the new Hunters-
(Wait a minute. More Hunters. That means......)
Izumi ran to her bedroom, fired up her laptop, and........
She had 247 new requests from the Hunter Association.
“MOTHERFU-"
When humans first manifested Mana, or as it is more popularly known as “Awakening” it caused a lot of problems.
Since Mana enhanced and reinforced the bodies and physical abilities of those who manifested it, that also included Quirks. As they are by definition are physical abilities.
Suddenly, those with Quirks that say, allowed people to shot miniature streams of fire from their fingers, could unleash powerful geysers of flames. And those who were not born with Quirks, suddenly had the power to stand on par with those considered top Heroes.
Awakened Beings could be separated into 6 main Classes, and were Ranked any where from E-Rank, to S-Rank.
Fighter: Fighters got a balanced enhancement to their entire body, increasing all their strength, speed, stamina, durability and Quirk an equal amount. E-Ranks had slightly higher physical abilities than a normal person, with their Quirk boost being nothing that couldn’t be achieved with enough training. Say they had Quirk that let them transform their hands into buzz saws, then the boost would make the blades spin faster and grant them greater sharpness and durability. But an S-Rank could achieve physical power on par with some of type strongest Enhancement Quirks, and make their blades spin with enough force to effect the air around them, and easily cut through even the strongest of metals.
Tank: Tanks possess even higher strength and defence than a Fighter, but are lacking when it comes to speed. Tanks can endure all manner of attacks sue to their enhanced durability, with even E-Ranks able to survive attacks a normal person wouldn’t, and some S-Ranks able to easily withstand things like buildings being dropped on top of them without a scratch. The Enhancement of Quirks is the same as a Fighter, though a Tank has better resistance to their Quirks physical drawbacks.
Assassin: Assassin’s could be considered the opposite of Tanks, having extraordinary speed but very low strength and durability in comparison. Assassins can bot only move but also think and react faster than normal people. E-Ranks can move fast enough to just avoid regular fire arms, while S-Ranks can sidestep Lightning with ease. Quirks are enhanced similarly, although the overall Speed of Quirks are enhanced more.
Mages: Mages received a slight enhancement to their physical abilities, but they make up for it in their various magical abilities. Elemental Control, Curses, Holy Magic, Summoning, etc. Each Mages abilities differ. An E-Rank Mage would only manage one somewhat powerful spell before exhausting their Mana, where as a S-Ranks could use dozens of Spells at once. In terms of their Quirks, the boost they receive is balanced, but lower than that of a Fighter. However, some Mages have can infuse their spells with the effects of their Quirks, and vice versa.
Rangers: Rangers receive the same physical boost if a Mage, though they do have significantly enhanced speed, though only half that of a Assassin. Rangers of a specialize in ranged attacks, able to summon projectiles made from their own Mana. These usually take the form of arrows, however some Rangers use bullets, spears, or even daggers. Some Rangers have special versions of weapons, such as projectiles that lock on to moving targets, poison tipped, binding, the list goes on. While E-Ranks can only summon one or two projectiles, S-Ranks are capable of summoning dozens at a time. Rangers receive the same boost to their Quirks as Mages, and like them, they can infuse certain aspects of their Quirks into their projectiles.
Healers: Healers have the same physical abilities of a Mage. Their main speciality is that of Healing and granting power Buffs to others. E-Ranks can only Heal one person at a time, and their Buffs only last for a few minutes, while an S-Rank can heal and boost at least a dozen people at once, and heal injuries such as most limbs in seconds. When it comes to their Quirks, they have the same boost as Mages and Rangers, but they can actually bestow certain aspects of their Quirk, or straight up give a copy of their own Quirk to others, which is then enhanced by that person’s own Awakened power.
So, with that in mind, it should be simple to figure out the effects Awakenings have on Quirks, right?
WRONG!
A person’s Awakened Class is completely random. Your personality and Quirk have no bearing on it, and that’s not even including Skills and Sub-Classes.
Skills are essentially like Quirks, abilities that a Hunter can use for a specific Mana cost. And Sub-Classes are just that, sub categories of the original six Classes.
So with that in mind, there is a near infinite number of possibilities. Izumi had to take every single factor into account with each request, before then providing her full analysis, a training regime, ways to make both power sets work for them, etc.
Izumi finished all 247 requests in a hour.
As she sent the requests back to the Hunter Association, Izumi sat at her desk, her head lying next to the keyboard. It had been a strenuous task, but she had succeeded nonetheless.
Her head was still swimming with information , it felt like she was on the verge of a major headache.
Even though she had only woken up an hour ago, she couldn’t shake this feeling of tiredness coming over her. She felt drowsy and it didn’t take long for sleep to take her again. But it was anything but peaceful.
A barren wasteland, littered with the bodies if monsters and angles.
Blood soaked the earth, as a battle raged on. Beings born from the Abyss battling against Beasts and Demons.
A figure made of darkness, standing over a defeated Demon. No one could make put their words. Feathers fell from the sky. The Dark being looked up to the light.
And then nothing
RIIIIINNNGGG! RIIIIINNNGGG! RIIIIINNNGGG!
Izumi jumped up from her seat, looking around and found she was back in her room. The dream was so, foggy, yet, weirdly real.
RIIIIINNNGGG!
Oh right her phone.
She pulled out her phone, and found immediately recognized the caller ID.
“Oh Hi, Doctor Ishi! What’s up?" she answered, trying to hide the tiredness in her voice.
*...........*
“Oh, yeah I can make it down. Why? Is something wrong?”
*...........*
“Ok, I’ll be there soon"
She hung up, slightly concerned. Dr Ishsi had told her she needed to come down to the hospital. Urgently. He wouldn’t say why over the phone though.
And he sounded worried. She had never heard him sound worried before.
Izumi grabbed her hoody, and put on her shoes. But she couldn’t shake that world feeling from her dream. Maybe a good run would help.
After all, it would be an excellent time to test out her Speed Skill.
What normally took Izumi an hour to walk, she covered in 10 minutes.
She came to a skidding halt at the hospital, barley slowing down in time to not collide with a wall, leaving light scorch marks on the ground and the rubber soles of her shoes smoking. Patients and Hospital staff all looked over at her, slightly surprised.
Izumi ignored them, more focused on her smouldering shoes. “Definitely need better shoes for this. Maybe Ingenium brand.....?
“Izumi?” a familiar voice called, and said girl looked up to see Dr Ishi standing by the smoking shelter of the hospital, with his vape pen hanging out of his mouth.
“Oh hey!” She smiled, while he soles were still smoking slightly.
“Did you, run here?” He asked
“I did. Took me ten minutes” she stated proudly.
He stood there for a moment, took in inhale from his Vape, exhaled, and looked back at Izumi “ So I have a feeling there’s a lot to unpack here......”
Dr Ishi was expecting Izumi to be happy she not only had a Quirk, but also Awakened. He was definitely expecting her to completely need out about it. But he was completely caught off guard by what her Quirk was.
He examined the numerous scars on her body, amazed at how well they had healed. Izumi showed no sign of pain or discomfort from them at all.
The fact that these injuries had come from Monsters generated by Izumi’s own Quirk, a Quirk she supposedly didn’t have.
The fact that these injuries had come from Monsters generated by Izumi’s own Quirk, the fact her Quirk could manifest artificial Dungeons, her entire story of last night was, was just absolute madness.
“Your Quirk certainly sounds like one of the more absurd Quirks I’ve seen. But from the sounds of it, you have a Gaming Quirk. A Rare type that simulates the effects of a video Game in or adds certain video game logic to real life” He said, now examining Rasaka’s Fang, admiring its craftsmanship.
“It is. But, how the hell did I miss this?. I mean, a Quirk is a Quirk, how did it not show up on my blood scan or, anything it until now?”
Badasu scratched his head “I’m as confused as you are. Even if you never fulfilled the criteria for “Courage of the Weak" until now, a blood test should have picked it up. But we’ll have to figure that part out later. For now, there’s something else about your Quirk we need to discuss”
“I’m guessing it’s about registering my Quirk?” Izumi asked
“About that" He looked nervously at her “I think we should hold off for now”
“Ok cool, so let’s get star- wait, WHAT!?” Izumi had to stop herself from yelling “Hold off? Doc, I’m already a decade late! Of I don’t register it, they’ll kick me out of UA for lying about my Quirk Status!” While the rule for no Quirkless being able to take the exam was lifted, it was still grounds for expulsion for lying about ones Quirks.
Badasu held up his hand “I understand that. And if you had a different Quirk I would, honestly I would. But because you have the ‘System’ it’s to dangerous to officially register your Quirk"
He took a heavy sigh “The moment your Quirk is officially registered, it paints a massive target on your back. A Quirk like the System will attract a lot of unwanted attention. Quirk Traffickers would kill to get their hands on you. And their not the ones I’m really worried about. The Hero Commission is much worse. An old friend of mine, Lady Nagant, was one of the many kids ‘recruited' by the Hero Commission for their Exemplar program. She was taken in and made into one of the most effective killers in Japan. Up until she, at least officially, had a mental breakdown and was classified as a villain. The real story, nobody is really sure. But there is no doubt in my mind they’d come for you the second you Quirk is registered”
Izumi’s heart sank “That’s, horrible”
“It gets worse. With your mother in a Coma, and your father dead, you don’t have a legal guardian to contest them”
“So, what the hell am I do? If I can’t register, what about being a Hunter?” she asked, hoping to find a way around the Hero Commission.
“You’d still have to register your Quirk. And while being a Hunter would delay them a bit, it wouldn’t stop them. Well, at least as you are now”
Izumi raised an eyebrow “As I am now? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you registers a Hunter now, I’d guess you’d be a C-Rank. And with your Quirk, you’d certainly make S-Rank, much faster than most ever could. Which is what we need. S-Ranks have a lot of special privileges. Privileges that would protect you from the Exemplar Program”
“Your kidding me? How is that even possible?”
Badasu smiled “When your an S-Rank, and especially a National Level, a different set of rules apply to you. The Hero Commission wouldn’t touch you. Not if they want a war with the Hunter Association”
Badasu's smile must of been infectious, because Izumi started smiling to “So if I get Level Up to S-Rank status, I can register my Quirk without worry!” Izumi jumped from her seat, fist pumping the air.
“Exactly kid” Badasu felt extremely happy seeing Izumi so overjoyed, but now came the news he wasn’t looking forward to “Izumi, you should probably sit down. There’s, some more news I need to tell you. It’s about your mother"
Izumi’s smile faded. She sat down, a worried look on her replacing it “What’s wrong? Did something happen!?”
“We do regular blood tests on Inko as part of monitoring her condition. We, found some abnormalities, so we investigated further. And we confirmed. Your mother has a Devil’s Heart"
Cold dread stabbed at Izumi. The Devil’s Heart. A parasitic cancerous tumour, which slowly fed on its host until death. But you didn’t simply develop the Devil’s Heart. The only way, was is one was exposed to the Devil’s Blood, a substance only found in high ranking Unholy Monsters, just like the Fallen Angel.
“But you got rid of the Devil’s Blood! How can Mom have a Devils Heart?”
“We don’t know. We triple checked both of you after the battle, and we were 100% sure we had gotten all of the Devil’s Heart out. The best we can theorize is that a few specs of it weren’t removed, and because Inko is a Tank Class, her body naturally held it off better than most. But it’s grown to the point we can’t remove it. Your Mother is dying, Izumi. We estimate she has 6 months left.
Izumi let it sink in “So, there nothing we can do? There has to be a way!”
Dr Ishi was silent for a few moments “Ordinarily, no. But, that was before I knew about your Quirk”
“What does my Quirk have to do with anythin?”
“Well, Every Year, the Hunter Association in New York hold a what they call the ‘Underground Auction’. It’s an exclusive event for S-Ranks, High ranking Government officials, and the tops dogs of the Hero Commission and Hunter Association. It focuses solely on artefacts from High Level Monsters or Items crafted from said artefacts. But the main attraction is The Blood of Kamish. It said that the Dragon’s Blood can heal any injury and cure any illness, which includes the Devils Heart"
“So, if I can make S-Rank, and get into the Auction, I can buy Kamish’s Blood? And save Mom!?” Hope began to fill her, as there was a chance. A chance she could save her mother.
“It isn’t that simple. You need to money to but it, and not to mention you won’t be the only one after it. Listen, the Auction is in 6 months, meaning you have a slim time frame to get the Blood and get back. And the time to actually accumulate that kind of money. It’s a push Izumi"
“I’ll do whatever it takes” Izumi stood up, her face stern, her voice was full of determination. “No matter what kind of monsters I have to go through, who I have to fight. I will save her”
Badasu smiled. This kid was definitely one of a kind.
Risk = Reward
That’s how the System worked. By placing herself in a extremely dangerous situation, she Levelled up by overcoming it. Accelerating her growth, allowing her to grow stronger faster than what most though possible.
As Izumi approached the Gate, she thought about the System function, and how she had improved. She was so much stronger now, but she was a far cry from what she needed to be.
She entered the Gate, a and found herself in massive cave. Dozens of red eyes stared at her from the darkness, hungry for flesh.
Rasaka’s Fang manifested in her one hand, while the Dragon’s Wrath manifested in the other.
‘Being a Hero is gonna have to wait a little longer. Just hold on Mom. I will save you
Izumi charged, jumping into the air, her daggers raised “Bring it on!”
[Name: Izumi Midoriya] [Level: 30]
[Job: None] [Title: None]
[Fatigue: 97]
[HP: 3,145]
[MP:358 ]
[Strength: 48] [Health: 39]
[Agility: 45] [Intelligence: 39]
[Sense: 39]
Remaining Ability Points: 0