Chapter 14
"Hey! There you guys are!" Izuku said as he saw the other three members of his party taking the exam were in the same place. "How are you doing so far?"
Mezo answered "I haven't tried to keep track. With me destroying many robots at a time, I would have lost track quickly anyways. Although even with the quest we got warning us to survive, this exam has been fairly easy so fa-" Izuku and Ochako slapped their hands against Mezo's hand-mouth he was using to talk.
The unofficial big brother of the group, even though he was the youngest, was berated by the two who had gotten used to the sort of stuff the gamer pulled. "Never say that!" Ochako hissed out worriedly, looking around like something was about to attack them. "The last time we said that the sharks spawned! We never say, "this isn't so bad", or "this can't get any worse". And we never, ever, say "This is easy" in any way!"
But the damage was already done. The ground started shaking as one of the buildings in front of them sank below the ground on some sort of platform. When the platform raised again, which took about 10 seconds to happen, around 100 robots were standing on it. But they weren't any normal robots like the rest of the examinees would be fighting. "DAMN IT MEZO! YOU JUST HAD TO SAY SOMETHING!" While one robot looked similar to the three-pointers of the normal exam, there was a clear difference. First, all these robots had been painted bright red. Second, the one that looked like a three-pointer was twice the size of the normal three-pointers. As for the other robots, they were all about the same size as the normal robots, but they were shaped like crabs! It was about then that everyone realized who was responsible for doing this.
"MELISSA! THERE WILL BE REPERCUSSIONS FOR THIS!" Izuku shouted, not sure if anyone could hear him but not caring anyway. She did hear him because she was watching the exam with the principal, but she wasn't too worried. The four gamers taking the exam had no time to think of a plan because all the robots rushed forward at the same time. They were much faster than anything other than the strongest sand sharks, and a quick use of analyze showed that they were far stronger.
[Analyze: Enemy (Giant Crab-bot)]
[LVL: 1]
[Health: 500/500 (Not based on stats)]
[Stamina: N/A / N/A]
[Mana: 0/0]
[Highest Stat: Durability: 180]
[Analyze: Mini-Boss (Berserker Three-Pointer)]
[LVL: 1]
[Health: 1800/1800]
[Stamina: N/A / N/A]
[Mana: 0/0]
[Highest Stat: Strength: 200]
"SCATTER!" Izuku shouted, and the four of them went in different ways as a rocket from one of the Berserker Three-Pointers flew towards them and exploded. That led them to the discovery that there were three waves of robots, one from the north in front of them, one from the west to the left of them, and one from the east to the right of them. Around three hundred crab-bots surrounded them. And as if that wasn't bad enough, there were three of the far stronger Berserker Three-Pointers. They had a strength stat of 200! That was almost four times what Izuku's strength stat was, and almost seven times what Mezo's strength stat was! This was way too much for a simple exam!
Pulling out their weapons, the four gamers did their best to fight back against the powerful robots made by Melissa and likely mass-produced by the school somehow.
In the viewing room, Melissa asked "How did you mass produce my design so quickly? And what are those weird three-pointers?"
Nezu answered "The three-pointers are rather simple in design. The versions your friends are fighting now are ones designed for the end-of-the-year test for the first years. If they don't beat at least one, they are forced to take remedial lessons or be transferred out of the hero course for their second year. This year we had a few extra because more than one person failed to destroy one, so they were able to be repaired from the damaged state they were in and made a bit weaker for this exam now. As for mass-producing your design, I can't reveal all the secrets of U.A to you. Perhaps you will discover the answer in your time here." Melissa was mostly satisfied with that answer and wasn't stupid enough to push her first question further.
Most of the other teachers looked horrified at the sheer number of robots a group of four was made to be facing. Including those "Berserker Three-Pointers", as the students who fought them had taken to calling them because they didn't have an official name given to them by Power Loader, who had designed the robots, was pure overkill and made most of the teachers want to rush there and help. The only thing stopping them was the fact that they couldn't get there in time before the exam ended.
The blue-haired teen that had shouted during Present Mic's explanation gritted his teeth as he destroyed a three-pointer with a single kick. The robots weren't exactly tough, but he had been working hard and moving fast the entire time. How much time was left for the exam? And would 38 points be enough to pass? "FIVE MINUTES LEFT EVERYONE!" Present Mic answered his first question, and seeing a few more robots down a street, the teen decided to get a few more while he had the chance.
"FIVE MINUTES LEFT EVERYONE!" Present Mic shouted. The gamers were having a terrible time so far. Out of the three hundred crab bots they originally faced, they had only destroyed three of them each. To make things worse, the four of them had grouped back up and were now completely surrounded by the smaller bots with one of the Berserkers coming towards them quickly.
They were getting low on health, and they were all exhausted. Izuku decided "Guys, I think we should use the stat points we got. It might give us enough of a boost to be able to get out of this situation!" The other three nodded. "Try to split them up evenly between your stats! Staying balanced will be our best bet in the long run! Leave charisma alone, because it won't help us at all here!" Each of the gamers had reached level 5 before the exam, and Izuku and Ochako had each hit level 6. Six extra points in each stat might not seem like a lot, but it was better than they were now.
[Character: Midoriya Izuku
Lvl: 6
Exp: 197/250 until level up.
STR: 39 + (20 +20%) = 67
AGI: 33
INT: 44
WIS: 31
DUR: 34
CHA: 27
HEALTH: 340/340
MANA: 750/750
STAMINA: 330/330
CLASS: Dragonborn (Legendary) LVL 5
SKILLS: Tap to see list of skills
QUIRK: One for All LVL 1]
[Character: Uraraka Ochako
Lvl: 6
Exp: 44/250 until level up.
STR: 31
AGI: 29
INT: 28
WIS: 26
DUR: 30
CHA: 24
HEALTH: 300/300
MANA: 540/540
STAMINA: 290/290
CLASS: Space Walker (Legendary): LVL 7
SKILLS: Tap to see list of skills
QUIRK: Zero Gravity: LVL 20]
[Character: Shoji Mezo
Lvl: 5
Exp: 27/350 until level up.
STR: 35
AGI: 24
INT: 26
WIS: 25
DUR: 32
CHA: 8
HEALTH: 320/320
MANA: 510/510
STAMINA: 240/240
CLASS: Brawler (Uncommon): LVL 6
SKILLS: Tap to see list of skills
QUIRK: Dupli-Arms LVL 20]
[Character: Koda Koji
Lvl: 5
Exp: 12/300 until level up.
STR: 32
AGI: 19
INT: 25
WIS: 25
DUR: 28
CHA: 22
HEALTH: 280/280
MANA: 500/500
STAMINA: 190/190
CLASS: Priest Apprentice (Uncommon): LVL 5
SKILLS: Tap to see list of skills
QUIRK: Anivoice LVL 11]
Power coursed through the four of them and the amount surprised them. The robots that had seemed almost too fast to keep up with previously, now seemed almost slow as they moved around. The armor that protected them from all but the strongest blows from the gamers now caved in with far less effort. And when the robots did land a hit, it hurt much less than it did before. It seemed like they were standing just below where they needed to be to fight the robots on equal footing before, and now they were slightly above that point. It still wouldn't be easy, but it was no longer as scary as before.
After clearing out more of the crab bots, the gamers were finally about to face the first of the berserkers, which was still far faster than them and still much stronger. It would be difficult to beat them, but it no longer seemed like the impossible task it was before. The berserker fired a rocket, but Mezo managed to catch it and struggled against it for a minute before throwing it away from him where it crashed into a group of other robots and destroyed them.
It tried to swipe at them, but Izuku's strength was enough to stall it just enough for Ochako and Koji to target the exposed joint on the robot's shoulder with their ranged skills and break off the entire arm, which Izuku then used as a weapon to bash the berserker's head with. Then, Mezo dealt the final blow by hitting the berserker in the head with six glowing fists, finishing the job of caving it in. It fell to the ground destroyed and then the rest of its loaded rockets fired straight up and came crashing down to destroy other robots around them.
Luckily, one of the robots destroyed was another of the berserkers, so there was only one left to deal with. Other examinees had also started to show up and the groups of them were taking down some of the crab robots, none of them were actually able to beat them, but the gamer's appreciated the effort and the fact that their fellow examinees distracted some of the robots for the moment.
Then the ground rumbled and the other thing they had been warned about that day reared its ugly head. The zero pointer, larger than any of the buildings in the fake city, had finally arrived. It smashed the final berserker flat and Izuku used analyze on it.
Analyze: Boss (Zero-Pointer]
[LVL: ?]
[Health: ?/?]
[Stamina: ?/?]
[Mana: ?/?]
[Highest Stat: ?:?]
It was too strong for Izuku to see any of its stats. But the worst part was that some of the normal examinees were starting to get caught in the crossfire of its attacks. "OCHAKO! MAKE ME WEIGHTLESS!" Ochako did so, and Mezo caught on to the plan too. He picked up Izuku and, after making sure Izuku was ready, threw him at the zero pointer's head.
For the very first time, Izuku activated OFA at 100%. He had used it before at around 5%, but that wouldn't be enough here. He couldn't be sure how much would be enough, so 100% was what he was going with. "DETROIT SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" He shouted as he flew toward the robot's head, and he punched it with enough force to destroy several city blocks instantly. The head of the robot caved in, and it started to fall over backward toward a thankfully empty street. Every bone in Izuku's right arm was turned to powder from the force of the attack, but otherwise, he was ok. And thankfully, it had gone mostly numb, so he wasn't fully feeling the pain at the moment.
After a few seconds, Izuku started to fall toward the earth as Mic called the exam to be over and Ochako deactivated her quirk. Izuku was almost 100 feet in the air because of being thrown, but he wasn't worried. He trusted his party to stop his fall, and if that failed then he would use a much weaker smash to save himself. But luckily that wasn't needed and Ochako caught him using her starship skill. "Hey." She said as she held him in her arms. The two of them held it together for all of 5 seconds before the ridiculousness of the situation caught up with them and they started laughing. Once they were on the ground Ochako said "I'm going to kick your ass for breaking your arm like that. Right after it heals. NOW WHAT WERE YOU THINKING BEING THAT RECKLESS?!" She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to Koji.
Little did any of them know, a very angry Melissa was now in a car and being driven to them by Midnight, who was instructed to bring the five gamers to the nurse's office. Izuku was in big trouble, and he was terrified of whatever punishment he would have to suffer through.
Chapter 15: Intermission: Reward Dungeon #1
"Ow, ow ow ow ow!" Izuku whined as he was dragged by the ear over to Koji by Ochako.
The healer of the party shook his head. "Not healing you. That was reckless and unnecessary, and this is your punishment. Besides, my healing skill isn't strong enough to heal the shattered bone. I could fix the torn muscles and burst blood vessels, but not the bone." As strong as all of the gamers' classes were, each one had its limits. Izuku and Ochako had a limit to the power they could produce and their classes leveled up slowly. Mezo had very few ranged options, and his physical attacks could cause some pretty serious backlash. Melissa had no direct combat abilities yet, having to rely on her inventions to be able to fight. And Koji's healing skill was too weak to heal super serious injuries like Izuku's broken arm along with not doing much damage with his offensive skills.
It might have been possible if it had been a clean break. But it was clear that Izuku's arm was shattered badly. He was lucky that it would be back to normal by the next day anyways. Unfortunately, because he felt virtually no pain from it after the initial break because of gamer's body, it would not stop Ochako and Melissa from punishing him for it. "IZUKU!" Melissa had arrived, and she was pissed. "GET OVER HERE NOW!" Izuku quickly walked over to Melissa, not crazy enough to deny her demands. She grabbed his arm gently and inspected it with her somewhat limited knowledge of first aid. "Your bones are like powder. What in the world were you thinking using your full power?" She started slapping him on the head for his stupidity. "You know you can't handle that much! And 100% wasn't even necessary!" Her slaps got harder and harder until her hand started to bruise from hitting him because of his scales.
Ochako then stepped in and started slapping him, much harder than Melissa was able to. "You idiot!" Tears were in both girls' eyes as they saw what Izuku did to himself so casually. "Don't you dare do this again!" Ochako stopped slapping him and pulled Izuku into a hug with Melissa joining in on it soon after. "You're not leaving my sight for even a second until your arm is healed!"
"Or mine! Now, let's go to Recovery Girl!" Recovery Girl was an elderly hero, well into her 80's. Her healing quirk was one of the most powerful in the world, mainly for how fast it worked. She was the main reason U.A could go through with such a dangerous test: the heroine could heal any of the damage the robots were programmed to be able to dish out.
The nurse said "No need. I'm already here. Let me see the arm." She also inspected the arm as Melissa had. However, she found something that Melissa had missed. "Hmm. How strange." She activated the goggles she wore and the only support gear she ever used, besides the cane that helped her walk and occasionally smacked shins with, and took a quick x-ray of Izuku's arm, revealing what she had felt. "Well sonny, you must have some sort of regeneration quirk because your arm is knitting itself back together rather quickly. In a few hours, it should be back to normal completely. But I can also speed up that process." She kissed his arm and activated her quirk, causing the already fast regeneration to overclock and heal the arm in less than a second. "There we go. Now, run along. I have others to take care of."
The five gamers all teleported away now that the exam was over. Midnight commented "Huh. I had no idea they could do that." Teleportation was useful, even when it had as many restrictions as the version the gamers had access to.
[Quest Complete!]
[Objective: Survive!]
[Rewards: Getting into U.A. (Forgetting about your bet is strongly advised!)]
[Location: Test Site B (U.A)]
[Rewards have been given.]
[Alert!]
[Bonus Rewards Achieved: Reward Dungeon [???], Reward Dungeon [???]]
A few hours after the exam ended a quest complete screen appeared for the five of them. It also included a bonus reward for some reason. Also, the four gamers who had taken the exam were angry at Melissa for making it more difficult. "Did you really have to make the crabs? Was the normal exam not hard enough as is?"
"Hey, you survived, didn't you? And we all got in!"
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER! Now, let's see what rewards we got. Some sort of dungeon, I guess." Ochako was the most upset. She partially blamed Melissa for Izuku getting so hurt.
Izuku decided to stop any further argument by opening up the dungeon menu they had unlocked. "There are two of them, completely identical, neither of them says what they are. Which one do you want to go for?"
"The first one." Mezo offered. "It makes the most sense to start with whichever one appears in the menu first if there is no other difference between them." Izuku nodded. It was sound logic. The other three agreed. Izuku selected the first of the two dungeons and another screen appeared.
[Reward Dungeon #1: ??? (Will Be Revealed after Entry)]
[Powers: Restricted (More Info)]
[Rewards: 50k yen, any loot collected, Non-Combat Companion]
[Difficulty: ⋆]
[Enter?]
It was the first time they had seen a few of those categories. Instead of a recommended level, it had a star rating for difficulty. One didn't seem so bad, so they weren't too worried. What did slightly worry them was the fact that their powers would be restricted somehow. Thankfully there was more information to go off of.
[Restricted Powers: This dungeon will disable quirks, classes, and skills. Items in your inventories now will be unavailable as well. Only powers and items collected in the dungeon, as well as mutant quirks or skills that cannot be disabled without body modification, will be useable. Stats will be unaffected.]
That didn't sound too bad. Sure, it meant that if they got hurt Koji couldn't heal them, but the dungeon was only at one star. It shouldn't be that difficult. But just in case, Izuku asked "Are we sure we want to do this? We have no idea what we're getting into here." He got four confirmations. With a deep breath, Izuku nodded and selected enter. Like with the other dungeons, a portal appeared and the five stepped through it. Unlike the others, when they exited the portal on the other side they were in a glowing white box.
It only took a few moments for something else to be noticed. A screen was on a wall of the box and it said the words "Non-Combat Dungeon. Welcome to the world of Pokemon. Please select your region." And below that, it said, "Would you like to bring in an ally?"
"Ok, if this is really the world of Pokémon then we need to bring Eri. She loves that series and she'll be really upset if she missed this!" Melissa suggested. As she said that a light shone and Eri stood next to them when it faded.
The white-haired girl looked around confused before asking "Where am I?" She saw Izuku next to her and clung to his leg. "Izu, where are we?"
"A special dungeon Eri. You can join us, and we'll get to play Pokémon!" Izuku was doing his best to keep Eri calm. Even if quirks were disabled it would be a bad idea to let her freak out.
Thankfully that worked to calm her down and she hugged Izuku's leg tighter, this time out of excitement. The gamers let Eri decide which region to start in and she chose Kalos. The screen went dark for a second after she selected the region before it lit up again with something new. This time it said, "Choose your starter Pokémon."
Pictures of a little over twenty Pokémon appeared. Each one saw something that caught their eye. Koji picked out a Turtwig. Melissa went with a Fennekin. Ochako decided to select a Squirtle. Mezo took a Chikorita. Izuku chose Scorbunny as his starter. And finally, Eri went with her favorite starter, Mudkip. As each of them selected their starter, that Pokémon was greyed out to signal that they couldn't have the same starter.
The box faded, revealing them to be all in a town square of sorts with six pokeballs in front of them. Each one took their chosen starter and got a special menu that showed their Pokémon. And there was only one way to kick off a journey like this. But it would be a bad idea to do it in the middle of a town, so the group exited to the nearby forest. "Everyone ready?" Izuku asked. He got five nods, and they all released their Pokémon. It was tradition to battle your rival when you each got your first Pokémon.
As there were six of them, they decided to go with three pairs of rivals. And to prove that chivalry wasn't completely dead yet, the girls were allowed to choose first. Ochako chose Koji as her rival. Eri decided to go with Mezo. That left Melissa with Izuku, not that she would complain about that. They also decided to do the matches one at a time so they could pay full attention to the matches, with Eri begging to go first.
Despite the age difference between them, Eri was just as good at battling as the five gamers. It helped that it was too risky for her to go outside too much, and she was left with very little to do except play video games. She might have been at a type disadvantage, but that didn't matter at the moment. Because of the low levels of all the starters, none of them had an elemental move to use just yet, making it an even playing field. "Mudkip, use growl!" The tiny water type let out a tiny growl that wasn't intimidating at all. But it still got the job done as Chikorita's attack was lowered.
That meant the incoming tackle didn't do as much. Because Mudkip was faster, it was able to attack again before Chikorita and hit a much stronger tackle. This went on for a little while, Chikorita using tackle and growl, and Mudkip doing the same. Unfortunately for Mezo, Chikorita was not very good at taking hits compared to Mudkip and the plant Pokémon fell first.
Next up were Koji and Ochako. Ochako was at a similar disadvantage that Eri was in. Unfortunately for her, despite Squirtle being fairly good at taking hits, Turtwig was better at it. That combined with Turtwig lowering Squirtle's stats to make it easier for it to win, and Ochako was in a bad situation. If Turtwig landed one more hit she would lose the battle, and Turtwig could easily take another of Ochako's attacks. And as they quickly discovered, there was no such thing as critical hits in this 'real' version of Pokémon. Moves could miss, but it was about the Pokémon's skill at dodging instead of luck and Squirtle was just barely too slow to get out of the way of Turtwig. Especially as hurt as it was.
So, Ochako did the only thing she could do. It was pointless for her to continue the battle and it would only cause Squirtle more unnecessary pain. "I fo-" A glance from Squirtle stopped her from finishing. He was determined to win and didn't want her to surrender, even if it meant more pain for him in the long run. So, Ochako shook her head and sighed. It seemed she would always be looking out for reckless partners, whether it be people or Pokémon. but she agreed to continue, nonetheless. "Alright, looks like Squirtle isn't done yet. Tackle!" But Squirtle would do one better. Instead of tackling the Turtwig, he launched himself at it and bit it on the cheek. This caused Turtwig to flinch and allowed Squirtle to finish it off with one final tackle before nearly collapsing.
Koji looked slightly disappointed at his loss, but he was more concerned about his Turtwig. The little turtle was covered in bruises, including two larger ones on her cheek and stomach from those last two attacks. "I guess Squirtle really doesn't like to lose." He commented while cradling his Turtwig.
That only left Izuku and Melisssa's battle. Both of them had fire types, but the winner was clear from the start. Scorbunny was much faster and had stronger attacks. It was unfortunate for Melissa, but her adorable little grey and red fox wasn't able to keep up. Oh, right. Melissa ended up getting a shiny Fennekin. It was a 1 in almost 5000 chances for that to happen, so she got extremely lucky. But luck could only get her so far. Without a special attack, which Fennekin specialized in, the female fox just couldn't keep up with the damage Scorbunny, who was a physical attacker, could dish out at the very start.
After the battles ended, a sort of alarm sounded, and the six new trainers were transported to the white box again. A screen appeared to explain why.
[Part One of the Dungeon is complete. Entering the dungeon again tomorrow will allow access to part two. Rewards will now be distributed for completing part one.]
Fifty thousand yen was given to each of them, even Eri. And while they didn't get any items, they did get to keep their Pokémon with them. Another screen explained how that worked.
[You are able to keep up to six Pokémon in your party while in the dungeon. Outside of the dungeon, you can choose one of the six in your party to bring with you. This can be changed at any time. Outside of the dungeon, Pokémon will be unable to use any moves and they will be unable to fight at all. Pokémon are able to interact with the outside world in ways other than combat.]
Then the dungeon spit them back out exactly where they came from. And no time had passed at all. That was good for them because Inko would have freaked out if Eri suddenly vanished with no explanation. It would be a bit difficult to explain the Pokémon, but that could be dealt with later. Right now, the most important thing on everyone's minds was food. They had yet to get lunch after the exam and the five gamers were starving. "Where did those things come from?" Yagi asked, as he had been entering the house and suddenly saw six Pokémon appear.
"First food. Then we can explain." Izuku was dragged away to the kitchen by Melissa and Ochako, neither wanting to let him out of their sight in case he hurt himself again. Yagi chuckled and said "The bet is mine. Those three will be dating by the end of their first semester at U.A."
Chapter 16: Who thought it was a good idea to bring Eri to a raid?!
"That is quite an interesting dungeon. If you do not mind, I would also enjoy the chance to join you, even if only once." Toshinori listened to the story about the dungeon patiently and found it rather amusing.
Nobody had any problems with that, though Eri was a bit upset at the possibility of her missing out on joining the gamers in the dungeon again so Toshinori could join them. Thankfully, Eri's Mudkip, which she had nicknamed bubbles, cheered her up fairly easily. But it wasn't like they would be going in again that day because there was a twenty-four-hour cooldown between dungeon entries, similar to the dungeons they could find around the world.
In an underground facility, a week after the entrance exam for U.A., a tall lanky man in a green coat with a fancy-looking plague mask on his face asked, "Have you tracked down the ones who took her?"
"Not quite. We've found out who one of them is. The green-haired kid that looked to be the leader. His name's Midoriya Izuku, and he's registered as quirkless, but that obviously isn't true so who knows what the hell he can do. The problem is that he's nearly constantly surrounded by the rest of his group, to whom we still haven't figured out the identities." The one who spoke was short with large glasses. He wore a police uniform and was one of the Yakuza's spies in the police force. "Attacking them all at once would be a poor idea. Not only would a fight attract the heroes, which would make it impossible to get the girl back, but they are also incredibly powerful for students. It is entirely possible that any sort of attack would require at the very least somebody as strong as Rappa. Possibly more if they've grown stronger since they defeated two of our members with relative ease."
That was clearly the wrong thing to say. The taller man grabbed the shorter man by the hair and forced him to the ground with one gloved hand while he removed the glove from his other hand. "I don't care what you have to do! Figure out the best place to attack them! Then let Rappa know to get a group together. Fail me, and those kids won't be the only mess that will need cleaning up!" The corrupt officer paled and blubbered out apologies and agreed to those terms. "I want their heads on a silver platter by the end of the week! Or else!" The man slammed his ungloved hand into the wall and a spike formed, stopping just short of impaling the man through the head.
Midoriya was relaxing on the beach with Ochako and Melissa, pointedly doing his best to avoid staring at them in the bikinis they wore. He was face down with his eyes closed to hide is face and the extreme blush he sported. The only thing to get him to look up was a familiar ding that sounded whenever a quest appeared.
[Emergency Quest Alert!]
[Objective: Complete the Raid Tutorial]
[A dangerous force is planning a wide-scale attack! Learning how to operate in a raid party is imperative if you want to survive!]
[Rewards (Per Person): Random Quirk (Uncommon), Random Item (B Rank) 25,000 Yen, 2000 XP, Equalizer]
[Ally Rewards: Gamer Lite]
[Group Reward: Guild]
[Failure Penalty: The Shie Hassakai capturing Eri because you idiots weren't prepared]
[Location: Takoba Beach]
[Time Limit: 6 Hours, 59 Minutes, 32 Seconds]
[Quest has already been accepted.]
"That can't be good." Melissa said. "But if we win, we all get more quirks! I wonder how that will work. Plus all the others."
As they took it in, Izuku said "We better get Mezo and Koji. We don't have a lot of time for this, and I don't particularly want to find out if those failure penalties are real or not." He pulled out his phone and called Mezo. "Did you get the quest? Good. Go there. I'll call Koji and we'll all meet up there." Another quick phone call to Koji, who didn't actually say anything during said call, and they were ready to go.
A benefit of the gamer is that they can instantly go to Takoba since they've been there before. Izuku took charge, being the 'official' leader of the group. "We don't know what to expect here. In normal video games, a raid is basically a dungeon, but you need a much larger party to clear it. If a normal party is five, a group of at least 25 is normally needed to clear the dungeon, sometimes up to fifty."
"But this is a tutorial raid. Is it safe to assume we won't need that many?" Mezo questioned. And it was a hard one to answer. Most games didn't have a tutorial raid, they just threw you in because by the time you got to a raid you knew enough about the game's mechanics to figure it out.
After a minute to think, Izuku answered "Maybe, but don't expect it to be like that. At the very least, the four of us won't be able to clear it by ourselves."
Koji spoke up. "But we do have allies. And one of those allies is the strongest man on earth!"
A smile appeared on everyone's face. Izuku faced the new portal that was there. Instead of the nice green color the last portal had been, this one was a dark red with red lightning crackling inside of it. There was no level limit or even a level recommendation. A screen was there, but it had very little useable information on it.
[Takoba Beach Raid]
[Recommended LVL: ???]
[Rewards: ???, Quest Rewards]
[Begin Raid?]
The quest already had a time limit, and nobody was sure if it they needed to finish the raid before then, or just had to start it before then. Once again, they didn't want to take chances because of the dire consequences of failing the quest. Izuku tapped the button to start the raid and a new screen popped up while everything else faded into a black void.
[Minimum Member Requirement: 5/10]
[Summon Allies to Proceed]
[List of available Allies: Yagi Toshinori (All Might), Eri, Midoriya Inko, Sasaki Mirai, Naomasa Tsukauchi]
[Start]
"We have to bring Eri?!" There was no back button, so they couldn't back out to find another ally and bring them instead. And even if they could, there was no obvious answer on who to trust that would be able to help. While there wasn't a specific penalty for too many people learning about the gamer, because of its unknown nature and slightly unforgiving tendencies, dragging innocent people with no way of fighting was a bad idea. Plus, Inko wasn't a fighter either and her quirk wasn't one that would help defend her in an emergency like this.
But once again, there was no way to back out of it. The five allies they had were the ones they had to bring. So, with no other choice, Izuku tapped all five names. In five flashes of light, each of the allies appeared. Nighteye asked "Where are we? And what is this raid we're going to do?"
When he got strange looks he said "Video games predate quirks. I know what a raid is. What are the details?"
After a few seconds to get over his shock, Izuku replied "We're not entirely sure. The dungeon that used to be here capped at 61 enemies including the boss. If this raid is just like the last dungeon with ten people instead of five, then we should only have to face 120 regular enemies and one boss. We're not counting on that though. We can assume that the enemies will be similar to the metal crabs and sharks we saw, but I think there will also be more types, a few mini-bosses, and possibly other things."
It was a good thing Nighteye was a no-nonsense hero while on patrol or in a fight, even if he was one of the biggest advocates for laughter and joy needing to be in the world. He took all the information in and combined it with his other knowledge from video games. "Expect at least twice the number of enemies ten people would cause in the dungeon. At least three bosses and I'd say ten to twelve mini-bosses. How good are you all in a fight? And what roles do you play?"
"Little Dragon and I are the front-line fighters and tanks," Mezo says, standing next to Izuku.
Ochako said, "I focus on a mix of ranged damage and taking enemies out of the fight."
"Koji's the healer, and I play support using my inventions." She had an impressive collection of inventions and items she could use thanks to her class skills and items gathered from dungeons. Her main weapon, the energy cannon, was stronger now, and she had ways to distract enemies and one invention she could use to put up a shield that so far not even Izuku and Mezo working together had managed to scratch, let alone break.
In a small voice, Koji added "I can also take control of animal enemies to fight for us. Although they still go toward the enemy count, so we still have to kill them at the end, and bosses are seemingly immune."
All Might, in his small form, said "They may not look like it at first, but I have both seen them fight and fought them myself for a bit of training. They are quite an impressive group of fighters and unless you had prior knowledge, you would think they had been working together for years with how well they act as a team."
"And how much time do you have left for the day All Might?" Nighteye asked.
The number one hero shook his head and replied "Unfortunately, none. I ran out about half an hour ago and could manage maybe ten seconds in my muscle form if I don't move at all." With All Might out of commission, that took the number of fighters from eight down to seven. Or so they thought. "However, even without my muscle form, I will still be able to fight, so long as I have a weapon to use. Increasing my stats hasn't increased my muscle form time, but it has made me fairly capable outside of it. Even if I still look like I could collapse in the next light breeze."
A sword was pulled out of Izuku's inventory and given to All Might. "Here you go. This is one of the swords I got from the dungeon." Each time the party ran the dungeon at Takoba, they would take the weapon there in case a replacement was ever needed or somebody else needed one. Even though they couldn't do it anymore, they still had an impressive armory of weapons with them at all times.
"I'll need a weapon too. But I can't use a sword." Tsukauchi said. He didn't have his gun on him because he was doing paperwork and he didn't carry it on him while in the office. Instead of a sword, he was supplied with a strange-looking rifle.
Melissa explained "It's a low-power plasma rifle. No upgrades for it, unfortunately, but it should get the job done. It has even less recoil than a pistol though, so that's nice."
That only left Nighteye. "What do you have for me? I would be fine with just about anything." He received a single brass knuckle. "Only one?"
Shoji said "Put it on and you'll get one on the other hand too. It's why I only need to put on one to get six. Plus, it saves inventory space."
The last two members of the raiding party were Inko and Eri. They wouldn't be fighting because one was a small, malnourished child, and the other was an out-of-shape woman, and neither had any sort of combat training. But that didn't mean they were unarmed. Inko had been given a plasma pistol and a small round risk. She got a pistol because she couldn't handle the recoil of the rifle. Eri also had a small disk but no weapon.
Once again, Melisssa explained her inventions. "The pistol is pretty self-explanatory on what to do with it. It has an effective range of about fifteen feet. The disks are a bit more complicated. Throw it on the ground and a dome of energy will appear in a five-foot radius around it. Not even Izuku and Mezo working together could break it, so you'll be fine inside it. The problem is, it only lasts for about sixty seconds and gets extremely hot while the shield is up. You need to let it cool down for about two minutes before you can use it again. So, if anything runs at you, shoot it and throw one of the disks on the ground. That will give us enough time to deal with it."
Nighteye asked "If the pistol only has a range of 15 feet, how is it better than a regular one?"
"You don't need to reload it, it never runs out of ammo, it won't overheat, and it has so little recoil that even Eri didn't feel it the one time we let her shoot one. Plus, it doesn't make a really loud noise, so you don't have to worry about hurting your ears."
While Melissa handed out the gear to Inko and Eri and explained what it did, she and the others geared up as well. Izuku's sword went from the simple steel design that All Might was given to a curved scimitar that he could set on fire to do more damage by using a tiny amount of mana that regenerated faster than it drained. Ochako's staff had a blue gem on top now, but otherwise, it was a simple wooden staff. Koji's was the same but with a white gem. Shoji's brass knuckles were made out of stronger steel and had sharp spikes on them and were now silver instead of bronze.
"Let's go." Izuku pushed the start button, which was no longer greyed out. The beach returned but behind them, there was no city, just a large wall that stretched up so high they couldn't see the top of it. In front of them in the water, five pirate ships were floating toward the beach. Izuku used analyze on the raid.
[Analyze: Dungeon]
[Enemies: 500/500]
[Mini-Boss: 10/10]
[Boss: 5/5]
[Secrets: 1/1 (???)]
The first ship had reached the beach but the other four had put down anchors. It looked like they would come in five waves with each ship having 100 regular enemies, two mini-bosses, and one boss. Once the ship reached the beach, a large man in a bright green coat stepped off the plank they had set out. "Ye are trespassing on sacred burial grounds. Surrender, or die at the hands of the five terrors of the sea! The toughest pirate crews ye'll ever meet!"
In response, Melissa shot an energy shot at the captain, who batted it aside with ease. "Fine then. Ye shall all die here!" The captain returned to the ship and his crew ran forward wielding weapons ranging from spears to swords and even a few guns. Izuku, Mezo, and Ochako rushed forward to meet them using their various means of transportation. Izuku grew wings and flew towards them while Ochako rode on a star. Mezo could only run, so he was left behind and had to catch up. Luckily, he was only a few seconds behind, and it didn't matter much.
All Might and Nighteye quickly followed while Koji, Melissa, and Tsukauchi supplied ranged support. Eri and Inko were behind them all, backs pressed against the wall. It was terrifying to see the fight going on, but it felt even worse knowing that they weren't just useless, they had to be protected and that led to a risk of the others getting hurt doing so. So, Inko did her best to play support too. Her quirk had just enough range to reach the end of the beach where the water met sand, which was about twenty-five feet. While the weapons the pirates were using were too heavy for Inko to affect, she was able to grab onto the shoes of the pirates and pull, making said pirate trip and fall as his leg was pulled out from under him. It took a lot of effort so she couldn't do it much, but she did manage to take down about six before she had to take a break.
In all honesty, it was a fairly easy start. The pirates were numerous, but because the beach was small only about ten at a time could leave the ship and still have room to fight. Plus, they weren't very strong or fast, so even though they were skilled in swordplay, none of the melee fighters had any issue beating them. The few with guns took a while to reload after each inaccurate shot. And because of how fast they were being taken out, nobody had been hit yet. Which was good as a single shot would likely have been enough to kill them if it landed in the right spot.
Then the mini boss appeared. It was a large man, larger than All Might in his hero form, and he carried a very large and very sharp sword. He said nothing, just drew his sword and attacked. He was fast, but his strike was blocked by Izuku, who took the time to analyze him.
[Analyze: Mini Boss (First Terror Lieutenant)]
[LVL: 22]
[Health: 2800/2800]
[Stamina: 700/700]
[Mana: 200/200]
[Highest Stat: Strength: 100]
His strength stat was over twenty-five points higher than Izuku's. "Oh crap!" The struggle was over and Izuku was forced to back up to avoid being stabbed in the gut. The enemies were only going to get stronger over the course of the raid, and this one was already too strong to be handled alone! This didn't bode well. And to make things worse, the captain bellowed "CHEATERS! NOW YE FACE US ALL AT ONCE!"
Chapter 17: Damn it Tsukauchi!
"Cheating? How did we cheat?" Izuku looked panicked. For one, this was already the most enemies they had faced at once, and now they were going to fight four times that many, including four bosses and four mini-bosses.
The pirate lord roared "One of ye bastards were takin shots at our crews back there from afar! He nearly sank one o' our ships too! It be that one with the strange rifle!"
All eyes turned to Tsukauchi, the only one with a weapon that looked like a rifle. "Uh. Oops?"
"OOPS? YOU MIGHT HAVE JUST GOTTEN US KILLED AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF IS OOPS?!" Nighteye shouted at the detective.
In response, Tsukauchi shouted "WELL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT IT WAS A BAD IDEA?! I THOUGHT IT WOULD MAKE IT EASIER DOWN THE LINE WHEN WE GOT TO THOSE CREWS!"
To keep the grown adults from fighting like children, Izuku stepped in. "Sir Nighteye, this isn't his fault. We had no idea this would happen and even then, we won't die here. Mr. Tsukauchi, please remember that The Gamer is a borderline malicious system designed to make us as strong as possible. It has made it very clear not to fuck with things."
[Damn Right!]
"... I'm just going to ignore that for now and unpack the fact that it seems to be developing some sort of personality later." Izuku decided. "For now, we need to figure something out. Because this just got a lot more dangerous, even if it won't kill any of us."
That was the second time Izuku said that. "How do you know it won't kill any of us?" Nighteye asked. Izuku pointed to where the top left corner of Nighteye's vision would be. When Nighteye focused on that spot, a list of buffs appeared. He only had one buff, but it was an extremely powerful one. "Tutorial Immortality?!" Izuku nodded.
"I got it in the first time I went into a dungeon too, even if I didn't notice it until afterward. It'll last until we either beat the raid, or all our health reaches 0. We aren't sure what happens when we do reach 0 health with this buff, but my guess is it will either knock us out or just plain kick us out of the dungeon one by one until none of us are left."
Before anyone could question what was going on, the first captain shouted "If ye bastards are done wastin' time! It be time for ye to die!" The other four ships had arrived and all four captains along with the mini-bosses were standing on the beach.
Izuku told his group, "I have an idea. It might save us from fighting all the crews." He faced the pirates, including the one who seemed to be the leader. He was dressed in black and taller than the rest of them, even larger than the first lieutenant. Also, larger than All Might in his hero form, though certainly not stronger or faster. Izuku used analyze to see something.
[Analyze: Final Boss (Fifth Terror Captain)]
[LVL: 27]
[Health: 5000/5000]
[Stamina: 1400/1400]
[Mana: 300/300]
[Highest Stat: Strength:190]
Far weaker than the zero pointers, and definitely the strongest of the five bosses. "I'm the leader of this group. As the leader, their mistakes are my own. So, to make up for this I challenge your leader to one-on-one combat."
The man in the black coat smiled viciously, yet also with a hint of respect. He spoke in a gravelly voice that sounded like he had been gargling nails for the last sixty years. "You are well-spoken for one so young. Very well. I accept your challenge." The rest of the captains backed away to give the two room to fight. "However, you must first defeat my lieutenant."
[Analyze: Mini Boss (Fifth Terror Lieutenant)]
[LVL: 24]
[Health: 3000/3000]
[Stamina: 720/720]
[Mana: 250/250]
[Highest Stat: Strength: 115]
That slightly complicated things. Izuku had only ever managed to call on the power of OFA at 100%, and it usually knocked him out afterward because of the pain from shattering every bone in his arm so badly they were basically powder. He could instantly destroy whatever he hit. But he could only do it once, and then he would be unable to fight for a while because of the broken arm. Then a quest appeared.
[Quest Alert]
[No Such Thing as a Painless Lesson]
[Breaking your bones every time you fight is a bad idea. Until you learn to control your power, The Gamer will disable One For All each time you try to use it above your current limit. Current Limit: 8%]
[Goals: Learn to use One For All without hurting yourself. Reach a limit of 10%]
[Rewards: Unrestricted Access to One For All, Quirk Skill]
[Quest has been accepted]
The lieutenant hadn't said anything yet or made a move other than stepping to the front, seemingly giving Izuku the first move. The captain said "He'll give you a few minutes to prepare. Talk strategy if you need, or just say goodbye if you don't feel confident in your victory."
Izuku walked over to All Might and asked, "How do you control OFA?" The number one hero tried to respond but he was cut off by Nighteye.
"He has no idea how to teach. Any advice from him would be more harmful than helpful. Therefore, until I can give him proper tips on teaching, I will explain the best I can. Make no mistake, I still do not think you are the best choice for a successor. However, I cannot let you get yourself killed before you prove me right or wrong." Nighteye had always been slightly distant to Izuku. Not hostile, but cold and dismissive. Now Izuku knew why, but he would deal with it later. "To control your power, you must isolate it in your mind and focus on it completely. Then, rein in the power and only release what you can handle, which based on your height and build, I would guess is somewhere between five and ten percent. Spreading it across your entire body will likely give the best results."
Izuku tried to follow Nighteye's advice. He closed his eyes and focused on OFA. A vision formed, likely from some sort of influence of The Gamer. It looked like an orb of rainbow-colored fire. He took a sliver of it into him and spread it across his body. When he opened his eyes, green lightning was sparking around him and he got a new skill for it.
[Quirk Skill Unlocked: Full Cowling LVL 1/10
Type: Active
Description: An almost unnatural amount of energy is sent coursing through your body to boost your strength, speed, reflexes, and perception. If more energy than the body can handle is used, serious injuries will occur.
Effects: Depending on the percent used, a boost will be given. A minimum boost of +20% will be given at 1% of the maximum, and a maximum boost of +2000% will be given at 100% of the maximum. Current Safe Limit: 8%. Boost at 8%: +160%]
Izuku stepped toward the final lieutenant and threw a punch. His fist blurred as it impacted his opponent and threw the larger man onto his back a few feet away. "Now I'm ready." Something he noted was that the normal explosion of flames was massive, making Bakugo's quirk look like a sparkler. The only explosion bigger was the one that came with the punch he unleashed upon the zero-pointer. It hadn't seemed to do much damage, but it was a start. With his sword long forgotten, Izuku activated one more skill. Scales formed over his body as his nails sharpened into long claws. The scales stopped at his neck, and his teeth elongated into fangs. This would be a bloody fight, but he couldn't afford to lose here.
The large man stood up and seemed to activate a skill of his own. One of his fists glowed with black energy, and he struck at Izuku with enough force to knock a person's head clean off their shoulders. This was why the man carried no weapons despite every other member of his crew doing so. He simply didn't need them, not with the asinine amount of strength he wielded. But that strength wasn't enough to beat Izuku. The small green-haired dragonborn threw a punch of his own, and the force of the two punches meeting caused a shockwave, but Izuku was standing tall, the two blows canceling each other out.
Before the Lieutenant could activate that skill again, or another stronger skill, Izuku struck again, landing a blow to the chest with his claws. The flames exploded outward again, throwing the man back as he burned and bled, suffering even more damage. Still not speaking or even grunting in pain, the man stood up again. More energy surrounded his fists, but he never got the chance to use it. He had the strength to go with his speed, but Izuku was now much faster than before. The Lieutenant was slightly faster than Izuku, but Izuku was a smaller target and dodging was easier. The blows that would have hit him were dodged or met with blows of his own. Even with a skill similar to Mezo's, this mini-boss was no longer a match for Izuku.
Quickly, the larger fighter fell to his knees, defeated. Izuku wasted no time in finishing the fight. It might have been harder if any of the crew members showed any sort of emotion to one of their strongest fighters being defeated with ease. But no, none of them even blinked. That solidified in Izuku's mind that these were nothing but mindless constructs of The Gamer system. So, he had no hesitance about killing here. He wasn't cold, he just knew that these weren't real beings.
The captain, presumably the strongest one there, congratulated Izuku. "Well done boy. It's no small feat to kill my lieutenant with such ease. However, you will find that I'm in a whole other league. But let's spice things up a little more, shall we? There are nine of us left on our side. And there are presumably nine people capable of fighting on your own. What say you about making this include everyone? Of course, the little girl back there will be excluded, and anyone else who doesn't want to fight will have that option as well."
"Wait really? You'd just let them sit this out?"
The final boss of the dungeon, who seemed strangely sentient, replied "Only a monster would force those who don't want a fight into one. I will say that you are the only one the offer doesn't extend to, because you are clearly willing to fight. But don't think it will be a nine-on-one if you're the only one who does. It'll just be me and you in that case."
Without hesitation, Izuku said "Mom and Eri are sitting this out. I won't speak for anyone else, but those two aren't fighting at all!" The captain nodded, having no problem with that. Everyone else agreed to fight.
Once the people fighting were decided, the lead captain said "There'll be rules to how this will work. First off, you aren't limited to a single opponent. Attack whoever you feel like fighting. Just don't be surprised when we follow that rule too. Second, we can tap out at any time, but that counts as the entire team surrendering. Third, we declare any and all weapons we plan on using in the fight right here and now. And finally, this is a fight to the death. Unless you surrender, we will be fighting to kill. I'll be the first to declare my weapons. Just this here sword." He pulled out a pistol and a pair of knives and tossed both onto the sand behind him. Each captain did something similar, though some chose to fight with either their pistols or knives instead of the sword. The lieutenants that were still alive used the same weapons as their captains.
Izuku chose to fight with his sword, though he did say that he might abandon it for his fists in the middle of the fight, which was accepted. Tsukauchi and Melissa declared their rifle and arm cannon respectively. Ochako and Koji stuck with their staffs. All Might was sticking with his sword. And finally, Mezo and Nighteye were using his brass knuckles.
There was no countdown, no time to talk strategy, no further discussion. The pirates attacked first, to little success. Izuku just barely managed to block the final captain's strike, and Ochako struck quickly. A single touch was all it took for the captain to be sent floating away unable to do anything. "OH, THIS IS BULLSHIT!" He cried. Everyone still wondered why he didn't have an accent like the rest of the pirates did, but they didn't have time to ask about it.
With it being a fair fight now, the gamers decided to try and focus on the weakest enemies first. Because of their training and years of experience, Nighteye and Tsukauchi had far higher stats than anyone else there. That was why they were able to hold off six of the enemies on their own, letting the rest of the gamers deal with the first lieutenant and captain. It was difficult, but Tsukauchi provided ranged support while Nighteye used his quirk on the strongest one there at the moment. It allowed him to dodge all the attacks and land attacks of his own. The ability to see the future was a powerful one, even under all the limitations he had.
While everyone else dealt with the captains and lieutenants on the ground, Izuku took to the sky to fight the one up there. Before, the captain had been floating there silently and blankly, but once Izuku got within a certain distance, he came to life. Izuku swung his sword as hard as he could, using the momentum from his flight to put more power into it. The black captain blocked it, but with nothing to brace himself on, he was sent flying even higher than before. Izuku flew up above him and struck again, sending the captain hurtling toward the ground.
The final boss of the raid might have outclassed Izuku in almost every stat, but in the air, he was helpless. Not only did Izuku fly over twice as fast as the boss, beating him in speed when boosted by OFA, but he could attack from any angle and actually maneuver himself. His class combined with Ochako's quirk; most enemies were helpless. This boss was no exception.
Izuku landed next to the final boss and activated his only magic skill. A torrent of flames washed over the boss, quickly chipping away at his health. Then the boss activated his own skill and a large wave crashed into the beach, dowsing the flames and allowing the boss to escape. "Your mastery over flight and flame makes you a formidable foe. But it won't be enough to beat me." Another skill activated, removing the effects of Ochako's quirk. "Now we'll fight for real."
But it wasn't so simple. In the time Izuku spent fighting and distracting the boss, the rest of the gamers had taken down all the other enemies. Plus, the fall did a lot of damage to the boss. He wouldn't be able to defeat them all before one of them managed to take him down. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get the chance to try either. Melissa, who had been charging a shot, activated a skill she gave her weapon. "HYPER BEAM!" Everyone had already moved out of the way when they realized she was finished charging her attack, but they didn't expect it to be that powerful. A massive beam of energy impacted the last standing enemy of the raid. When it faded, a large chunk of the beach was missing, and not even ash remained from the boss.
Melissa then collapsed to the ground and Izuku used analyze to see what was wrong.
[Melissa Shield
HEALTH: 89/170
MANA: -150/900
STAMINA: 0/290
Debuff: Mana Exhaustion]
Her health was low but regenerating fairly quickly thanks to the regeneration skill the full gamers had. Her stamina was completely drained, and her mana was somehow in the negatives. And she had a debuff, the first any of them had ever seen. Whatever that skill was, it was a dangerous one. It completely drained her mana and stamina from however full they were. Luckily, it didn't seem to drain health. Her missing health was just because she had been shot by the pirates a couple of times. Izuku used analyze on Mana Exhaustion.
[Debuff: Mana Exhaustion
Cause: Mana dropping below 0
Effect: While most of the time Mana can't go below 0, certain skills ignore that rule. While Mana is below 0, the target will be unable to use mana-based skills and will suffer a horrible migraine until Mana returns to a positive value. Nothing can be done about this migraine except returning Mana to a positive value. Mana regenerates at half the regular speed when negative.]
So Melissa's collapse was because she was out of Stamina. Still, whatever that skill was, it was a dangerous one. With how vulnerable it left her; she would be defenseless if anything ever survived or dodged it. Before anyone could help her up, a bright light shone and transported them all back to the beach. The raid complete screen appeared.
[Raid Complete]
[Enemies Beaten: 500/500]
[Mini-Bosses defeated: 5/5]
[Boss killed: 5/5]
[Secrets discovered: 1/1 (Boss Rush)]
The expanded party appeared at the beach again. After they regained their bearings, each person went over the screens with their rewards the best they could. Eri struggled to read them all as she was still learning how to read, so Inko helped her.
(AN: There are a lot of rewards to break down. Because of this, this whole next section will be nothing but information on those rewards. Another line will show the rest of the story, so you technically can skip this part but don't be surprised if you don't know what a certain quirk or skill is later on. Also, I'll include the name of whoever got the skill or quirk for specific rewards. Hopefully, this helps get rid of any confusion.)
[Equalizer reward: Power Stockpile(Epic Quirk)]
[Effect: The amount of power in the stockpile will match the amount the current user of OFA can safely use. Using too much of the stockpile will cause injury. The power stockpile can be added on to other skills to increase the power of those skills.]
[OFA Comparison: 8%]
[Safe Limit: 8%(Mezo) 7%(Koji) 5%(Ochako) 3%(Melissa)]
[Quirk: Double Strike (Uncommon)]
[Category: Emitter]
[Effect: Any physical attack the user performs will automatically happen twice. The second attack will use only the base damage of the user, not any buffs or boosts from skills or quirks.]
(Izuku)
[Quirk: Gravity Shift (Uncommon)]
[Category: Emitter]
[Effect: The user can change the direction gravity affects them in, allowing them to run on walls or ceilings. Overuse of this quirk will cause nausea.]
(Ochako)
[Quirk: Oni (Uncommon)]
[Category: Mutant]
[Effect: Small blunt horns grow out of the user's forehead, and the user's skin and muscles become tougher, making the user stronger and more durable. Grants a 5% boost to strength, and a 20% resistance to all non-elemental damage.]
(Mezo)
[Quirk: Plant Whisper (Uncommon)]
[Category: Emitter]
[Effect: The user can summon vines from the ground to capture or attack enemies. The strength of the vines scales with the user's durability stat.]
[Quirk: Aimbot]
[Category: Emitter]
[Effect: Any projectile thrown or shot by the user will always hit its intended target, even if it has to go around obstacles to reach them.]
[Item: Dragon Scale Boots (B-Rank)]
[Category: Armor]
[Effect: Gives a 5% resistance to physical attacks and a 10% resistance to all elemental attacks.]
(Izuku)
[Item: Star Bracers]
[Category: Support]
[Effect: Reduces nausea and makes it easier to use gravity-based abilities.]
(Ochako)
[Item: Nature Magic Tome (B-Rank)]
[Category: Artifact]
[Effect: Grants access to nature magic spells up to the intermediate class.]
(Koji)
[Item: Divine Steel Fragment (B-Rank)]
[Category: Material]
[Effect: Enhancing an existing piece of gear or creating a new piece of gear using this material will imbue the item with the light element, giving it an increased effectiveness against dark element enemies and a decreased effectiveness against other light element enemies.]
(Melissa)
[Item: Demon Crest]
[Category: Artifact]
[Effect: Physical attacks can be imbued with the dark element at the cost of mana. Strength is boosted by 10%]
(Mezo)
[Gamer Lite: A prototype of The Gamersystem. There is no class system, and the user is only granted Gamer's Body, not Gamer's Mind. Instead of individual skill trees for classes, quirks, and base skills, one skill tree with skills relevant to the user will be available. It is not possible to upgrade this to the full version of The Gamer . Gamer Lites can access the inventory, and both see and invest points into their stats. There is a party system, but it is only compatible with other Gamer Lites unless a full version of Gamer invites a Gamer Lite to a raid. Gamer Lite is only granted to those in a guild, or those who earn it as a reward from a quest.]
(Eri, Inko, Toshinori, Naomasa, Mirai)
[Guild: Includes a Guild Hall, Guild Perks, and Guild Vault, to start. Other features can be unlocked through the Guild Perks menu. The starting limit to members is 15 people. Those without full versions of The Gamer will be granted Gamer Lite. Current Members:10/15. Current Guild Master: Midoriya Izuku]
[Guild Hall: A place for all members of the guild to relax and enjoy. Or to prepare for raids or other important events. Because of the existence of Player Housing, The Island of Misfit Gamers has been transformed into the guild hall.]
(All)
[Guild Perks: Upgrades to the Guild, such as expanding the member limit or more rooms, can be purchased. The cost of these upgrades is taken from the Guild Vault. One perk has been granted automatically free of charge. Normally the skill would cost 150,000,000 yen. Skill: Bonus Cash, has been granted. All monetary gains from raids or dungeons are doubled from this point on.]
(All)
[Guild Vault: Storage for the money and treasures gained from raids and dungeons. Any unclaimed treasure will be sent to the vault, and an amount equal to the cash reward of a dungeon/raid will be added to the vault automatically after each successful raid/dungeon completion. Current Holding: 50,000 Yen, [5 Locked Items (Divine)]. Any member of the guild can add money to the Vault, but money can only be taken out or spent on Perks for the guild with the Guild Master's approval.]
(All)
(AN: Oh my god, that took forever. Most of them were just typing them out because I already knew what I wanted from them. But some, like the quirks I wanted each Gamer to have, and the items a few of them got, took longer because I was debating between a ton of different options and didn't know which one to go with. Thankfully I got it all sorted out. The actual story continues from here. If I missed something or something is misspelled, too bad. This section took almost two hours to finish, and I'm done with it.)
After taking everything in, Izuku said "We should talk about all this. Let's go to the guild hall." The ten of them vanished from the world and reappeared at the guild hall, which had changed from before. The house was bigger, and the beach had expanded as well to allow room for the five new members.
Once they got inside, they sat down in one of the meeting rooms. "I'm not going to ask you all to go over everything you got. Just the basics. Are anybody's new abilities causing them trouble?" He got nine no's. "Good. Explain Gamer Lite to us please."
Nighteye said "It seems to be similar to before. However, now we have new skills we can buy, and inventory space when we didn't before. Other than that, there is no change. I have bought a skill already, and it is supposed to let me use my quirk more often. I should be able to use it once every six hours instead of once every twenty-four."
'Seeing him be a leader like this is hot.' Ochako thought to herself. But there was something else that had to be addressed. "The Shie Hassakai are still after Eri. They can't get to her in here, but what should we do?"
"Nighteye and I have been looking into them. They're a Yakuza group, one of the last ones alive. We suspect them of producing and selling trigger, a dangerous quirk-enhancing drug, but we haven't been able to find any sort of production or storage warehouse. And anybody we catch selling trigger denies any sort of connection to them. I know they're lying, but I can't get them to tell me a location. Not even a false location." Tsukauchi said. "The moment we can tie the recent trigger distribution to them, we'll storm their bases and take them out. And unfortunately, we can't just storm the base right now, because being part of the Yakuza isn't actually a crime. So, unless we catch the organization as a whole with something illegal, we won't be able to do anything."
With a frown hidden by his mask, which nobody had seen him without yet, Mezo said "A dead end then. So, we will do what we were doing before. Protect Eri no matter what, and if anyone tries anything, we take them down." Everyone nodded.
"So, what do we do now?" Melissa asked. "Do we just keep working on dungeons and raids and stuff? Keep getting stronger and prepare for U.A.?"
Pulling out four letters, Toshi said "Not quite. I feel it would be best to slow down for a bit. After today's raid, you will all already be far stronger than you were in the entrance exam. Melissa, you are the exception because you didn't take the entrance exam, but the point still stands. No clearing dungeons or raids or the like. Instead, do things the normal way. Work out, go for runs, study, socialize. Be normal teenagers preparing for hero school. Which is where these letters come in. Here you go."
He handed a letter to the four who actually took the exam. Each one contained the same message. 'Congratulations, you passed in 1st/2nd/3rd/4th place and are in class 1-A.' Toshi spoke up again. "Originally, we were going to spend the week recording messages for you all. However, we decided against it and just sent out letters with that message. The other paper contains all the details about what you'll need. Submitting hero costume designs, and gear requests, and informing the school about any special requirements you have, such as dietary needs and whatnot."
"Where's my letter?" Melissa asked. She knew she was getting in, but she still needed the forms.
Holding up his hand to calm her, Toshi said "Not to worry. You are also in 1A, as Nezu wants to keep you all together. And as you are also a support course student, you will have a special schedule. And thanks to records sent by your father, you have tested out on every single subject you need except for Hero Training. That is why you will be spending most of your day in the support labs, crafting your own gear. By the end of your first week, you are required to have made a functional costume that is approved by both Powerloader, the support instructor, and Midnight, the hero art instructor. Until that happens, you will wear a standard gym uniform during hero training at the end of each day." Melissa sighed in relief.
Koji asked "What about the other students? Have they been decided yet?" Toshi nodded.
"They have. They have also gotten their letters; I just took all of yours to deliver personally. Nezu knows, but none of the teachers do. So don't say anything about our more personal relationship. I am supposed to be your teacher, with no prior interactions with any of you." He said. The conversation switched to other topics as they explored their new guild hall and all its features. However, trouble was brewing elsewhere, and none of them would be prepared for it.
In a dark bar somewhere in Tokyo, a dark purple screen blazed to life. The only person who saw the screen looked confused. They approached the screen with caution, but also curiosity. It had a polite greeting on it.. 'Did I stay up too late playing video games again?' They tapped the screen with one finger, careful not to touch it with all five in case this was real. The screen read "Hello, one of the new and final users of the Gamer 2.5!"
"Well, well, well. Looks like the game really has begun!" He fiddled with the screens for a moment, going through the tutorial. Rule one of any new game, don't skip the tutorial just because you're an experienced gamer. You never know what you might miss! And this was quite the discovery the screen revealed to him.
[Character: Tenko Shimura (Tomura Shigaraki)]