First Boss

The books I'd stolen were of varying importance. From a manufacturing book, to a manual over driving, to a book that talked about how to get taller. Most interesting of them all was a book was titled, "How to return your Quirk to its most basic properties so that you can master it."

The book didn't sell well at all, but I found it to be an interesting read. It wasn't a skill, so I actually had to sit down and read it.

Personally, I didn't have any big issues with my Quirk, but I wasn't blind either. It wasn't the strongest Quirk around and had fairly limited uses on top of that.

If I could figure out how to maximize its uses, I would possibly be a better hero down the line.

School ended and I was quick to rush over to my training spot. Dexterity even leveled up after all the extended running. I planned to try out what the book I had stolen detailed.

I sat down with my legs crossed and took a deep breath.

In all honesty, there was totally a good reason why the book didn't sell all too well. It didn't sell well because it wasn't very specific… like, at all. It was overly vague and wouldn't work with a lot of Quirk bases.

The basic idea was that all Quirks were a product of one's genes and a mysterious energy mixing in as well. That mysterious energy could apparently be funneled and pushed out with enough concentration according to the book.

The author, Tokotachi, spoke of many experiments that weren't verifiable in any way. The experiments spoke of people with emitter Quirks becoming far more powerful upon redistributing the mysterious energy that Tokotachi spoke of.

Apparently, even mutant type Quirks could be activated and deactivated at will through the mysterious energy.

I wanted to deactivate my mutant Quirk because… having purple balls on my head was super lame!

My Quirk functioned fairly well, so I didn't have many problems with that, but how it looked was beyond trashy, so yeah, I was trying something genuinely ridiculous.

I took several slow breaths in and out, calming myself as I focused on my Quirk. I remembered the first day when I'd gotten it, when my normal purple hair had changed into the balls that sat on my head constantly.

After about ten minutes of doing that, I heard a ding. Curious, I opened my eyes.

Now it must be said, the book detailed that the experiments took several years to show even the slightest of results within people. I utterly understood that some things come in time, so I wasn't expecting any sort of changes in a measly ten minutes.

As I read the notification, my eyes widened.

[Due to intense focus on your Quirk, Pop-Off, it has now lost any physical form and has become an activatable skill. Skill: Pop-Off.]

My hand shot up to my hair, and like all those years ago, I once again had a head of messy light purple hair.

"Huh," It wasn't some crazy change that shifted my entire perspective, but I still thought it was impressive.

After a moment of thinking, the thing that should've been a much bigger surprise dawned on me.

Something that should've taken several years had taken me far, far less than a single day.

With the combined ability to learn skills in an instant through using skill books and even learning things that take other people years to do, could I be on a natural-born path to success?!

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair before looking to the description of my original Quirk.

[Pop-Off (Active) Lv. 1 | MP: 10 and HP: 5]

This skill allows the user to create a purple ball of mana which sticks to anything it touches. The effectiveness of these mana constructs depends on the user's Intelligence stat, the level of the skill, and the opponent's level of resistance.

Due to the naturally physical aspect of this skill, it costs both HP and MP to use upon activation.

Huh. I don't know what I expected, but I thought the description would be more special because it was naturally my skill.

Still, I noticed that my Quirk-formed balls were supposedly made of mana, which would be fine now, but didn't make any sense when referring to anything over nine days ago.

My mind drifted back to Tokotachi's book.

"Could the mysterious energy be mana?" I clicked my tongue, shrugging the thoughts away.

By just sitting here and thinking I wouldn't be receiving any crazy results, so I decided that I'd look for more of Tokotachi's books whenever I got a chance to.

I activated Pop-Off, a purple orb appearing within my hand in an instant. It was just like the ones that were on my head until moments prior, as expected.

It pulled from my MP as normally, but it also made me feel weak for a moment, a certain effect of the HP cost of the skill. It wasn't anything too brutal, but I could feel it and kept it in mind because of it. I didn't want to put myself in any reckless positions because of the HP deficit the skill could've possibly put me in.

I Flung the orb at the closest tree and began training. I trained all day, increasing my Strength by an additional point and Dexterity by two points. Fling, Pop-Off, Observe, and Power Strike all leveled up as well, if at vastly different paces.

I'd decided it was about time for me to start heading home, but just a few steps from the sidewalk, a scream pierced the night.

"Somebody…! Somebody help me!" A woman's voice gasped, then silence returned to the forest.

Immediately after the scream, a notification appeared before me.

[New Quest Created!]

Helping the One Behind the Screen!

The One Behind the Screen has let out a scream. Go help her out of a sticky situation!

[Time Limit: 30 seconds]

This made me feel sick to my stomach, genuinely sick. I was literal steps away from the street, but the time limit of the quest stopped me from even daring to run and try to get any help from Pro-Heroes.

I wasn't stupid either, it was illegal to use my Quirk in a situation like this one. If somebody heard that scream and got a Pro-Hero to come, there was a chance that they'd see me and while I don't think my entire future would be at risk, I could get in a lot of trouble either way.

If a man were harassing a woman, or if that man had a Quirk and was attacking a woman, I'd have to fight him off, but could I even win?

Actually, even if I did win, it would certainly look like I was beating down a man with a metal bat―my only real weapon―and that wouldn't ever lead to any proper victories on my side.

I just got the best ability that I feel like life could've given me, and now there's a chance I could throw myself and my poor mother in a horrible situation after getting it?

And yet, I wanted to be a hero. Someone who was willing to risk it all for another person, regardless of personal gain. Maybe that's why I was so scared.

This ability was testing me. As time ticked down it was asking me a question.

"Will you crack under the pressure, or will you rise to the challenge?"

As the clock ticked down to 21 seconds, I began dashing with all I had towards the location of the scream. I moved quickly but tried to stay quiet. Depending on just who or what I was about to encounter, the element of surprise couldn't hurt me too much.

I heard running and panting, so I grinded to a halt. I ducked behind a tree and peaked out, noticing exactly who I was supposed to be helping.

She was really short, even shorter than me―even though I'd grown at least six inches since I started training daily―which was saying something. She had bright red hair, and extremely dark bags around her eyes. With her title, it wasn't very hard to figure out why though.

[The One Behind the Screen]

[Lv. 21]

[Manami Aiba]

Manami was running away from something, and an infinitely long second passed before I could get a good look of who she was running from.

[Trainee Warrior]

[Lv. 10]

[Skeleton]

It was three positively terrifying skeletons. They weren't even human!

I'm so glad I had gotten Observe, or else I would've been grasping at straws for any sort of solid information. Just scanning and comparing Manami's stats to the stats of any of the skeletons, she was far weaker.

Most of her stats were in Intelligence, and her background told me quite a bit about her secluded life with a lot more browsing on the internet than interacting with other people.

Neither her nor the skeletons' backgrounds explained why they were in their current situation, but I understood that it didn't matter much either. The skeletons were 110% aiming to kill Manami, and I was going to stop them.

On top of that, they were formed by a Quirk according to the system, so destroying them wouldn't directly hurt anybody. With that reassurance, any problems I could've had vanished.

The counter entered the single digits as the skeletons closed in on Manami.

I took a deep breath and observed the situation once more.

The ability to surprise my foes would easily be my most important advantage yet. With as many natural blind spots as there were, if I were taking the first step in the fight, I could control the situation.

My stats were lower than the skeletons' stats, so I would still be fighting an uphill battle even with any advantages I could've possibly had. One of the skeletons, the one in the middle, had a fairly strong looking axe. The one to the left had a spear, and the one on the right had a basic steel sword.

I heard Manami fall to the ground and begin to whimper. I assumed the skeletons were all closing in on her, so I made my move.

I dashed out from behind the tree, Flinging my Pop-Off balls towards the feet of the skeletons before I jumped, activated Power Strike, causing a light purple energy to rise around my bat, and swung my bat towards the skull of the middle skeleton, cracking it and forcing it forward.

That cracking sound was ridiculously cathartic. It reminded me that I could do this, I could help people. It just so happened that I was helping someone by… cracking the skull of an undead skeleton.

I followed up that thought by leaping back up as soon as I landed, activating Power Strike again, and slamming my bat into the skeleton's head again. This time, the head shattered into pieces and the body fell to the ground.

The two skeletons reacted fast, but I was a beat faster. The element of surprise was no longer on my side, but I had to keep moving forward.

I jumped in between the skeletons and held my bat up high before activating Power Strike and slamming my bat into the ankle of the right skeleton. I swung once more and the skeleton began falling down, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the other skeleton.

The left skeleton, even with its feet firmly stuck due to my original Quirk, pulled back its arm and aimed to stab me with its lance. I tried dodging but was a tad bit too late and the spear scraped hard against my arm, and the pain was unbearable.

I wanted to get away as much as possible, but I still had to fight and fend on these monsters. I left this skeleton for last because a spear had a generally large weakness. If I closed the distance, the skeleton would have to step back or readjust itself in order to attack me, and I wasn't going to give it that much time.

I brought my bat up in an odd arc―using my left hand instead of my right―and slammed the weapon into the lower jaw of the skeleton. The jaw fell right off, but the skeleton was still alive.

I quickly repositioned my hands and slammed the bat into the face of the monster, caving it in and killing it.

[Due to one continuous action, you have learned a new skill. Skill: Mana Empowerment.]

Before the spear bearing skeleton could even hit the ground, I was standing above the downed sword-user, slamming my bat into its head to make sure that it would stay down.

[You have leveled up.]

As soon as I was done my bat fell from my hands, blood pumping through my body and making my head spin. That disorientation was extremely momentary though. The worry faded and only left genuine exhilaration. I didn't know why, but I felt like things were… right like this.

My left hand shot over to my right arm, but where there should've been blood and exposed flesh was simply torn and shredded clothing.

"Are you okay?!" Manami shot up from her spot, the words spilling from her mouth. She quickly ran around me, checking me for any clear injuries.

"I… I guess so…?" I thought I'd be hurt too but having no injuries despite being in so much pain just a little bit earlier was certainly odd.

"That's good. I'm sorry I got you caught up in my mess," Manami apologized, bowing to me. This woman was older than me, so it felt very odd to have her bowing to me of all people. I could feel a faint blush rising on my face.

"No, no! It's fine. Um, more importantly than that, are you okay? You were the one who was attacked after all," I asked, silently hoping to get an answer on why she was here.

"Yes, I'm fine," Manami smiled, and I suddenly gained the impression that she didn't have many plans on saying why she was out here.

I didn't know if I should ask or not. On one hand I knew that this was a dangerous situation, but on the other hand, I didn't see any immediate dangers to us.

I suddenly realized I never even checked the rewards to completing my quest, possibly because of how tense things were. Now though, the quest screen had reappeared, and I could take a quick glance at the reward.

[Completion Reward: 25,000 EXP, Increased closeness with Manami.]

25,000 EXP?!

That's more experience than I'd gotten combined, in fact, it was probably triple the amount of experience I'd received so far.

Just to be honest, I wouldn't have hesitated at all if I'd seen those completion rewards just a tad bit earlier. Hey, I'm not a saint. Personal rewards fueled me just as much as the next person.

I accepted the quest rewards, and I was filled with energy as a few notifications filled my vision.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Four more levels felt so nice!

Pushing aside the glee from suddenly gaining several more levels, I opened my mouth to ask why Manami was here but was interrupted by the sounds of several trees falling over and… rushing water?

Through the trees came another skeleton, but this one looked more… intimidating. Horns protruded from the top of the skeleton's head, piercing blue orbs darted around from the holes where eyes would've been, and intricate patterns trailed all across the bones.

Meeting the skeleton's eyes, a chill went up my spine. It was as if my entire body was screaming for me to run away.

[Due to experiencing intense bloodlust, you have obtained a new skill. Skill: Sense Bloodlust.]

My newest skill warned me of what I already had a good idea of, chilling my body and giving rise to an oddly natural feeling. Looking above the monster's head only reassured me of what I was already thinking.

[Failed Disciple of the Azure]

[Lv. 47]

[Skeletal Martial Artist]