Summary:

An explanation of the Quirk!

Notes:

Chapter Two! :P
Yeah, my naming theme for this book is song titles and lyrics. 🙃

Chapter Warnings:

It took Izuku five minutes to get back to the warehouse, and another two after that to figure out how to change back into himself. He looked down at his gakuran in dismay, taking in its shredded state. With a sigh, he sat down and pulled on his shoes, glad that he at least had something to protect his feet. He slid his backpack on, wincing as it rubbed against tender skin, and made his way back down from the roof. As he continued back to his usual route home, he thought back to the flurry of notifications he'd received while at the bottom of the docks. It looked familiar to him, in the way that most game interfaces were. And now that he'd recognised what it likely was, he figured he could do some things with it.

Chat Backlog.

Ding!

A glowing screen appeared off to one side of him, and he tilted his head slightly to read it while still looking where he was going.

Chat Backlog:

System Activated!

Hidden Quest: 'Overcome a Life-Or-Death Situation' has been completed!

Your drive to propagate your own strength has triggered a Quirk Awakening!

You have unlocked the Monster Gacha!

You have unlocked the Personal Window!

You have unlocked the Monster List!

You have unlocked the Skill Window!

You have received Mid-Tier Monster Gacha x1!

You have received Unstable Element x50!

Skill Unlocked: Monster Extraction

Skill Unlocked: Skill Extraction

Skill Unlocked: Elemental Skin

Skill Unlocked: Monster's Will

Skill Unlocked: Monster's Shape

You are in severe danger. Will you use Mid-Tier Monster Gacha x1?

Used Mid-Tier Monster Gacha!

Monster Received: Cruel Claw Wyvern, Odogaron!

You have activated Monster Skill: Bleeding!

You have activated Monster Skill: Bleeding!

You have activated Monster Skill: Bleeding!

Opponent Defeated! Gained x50 Unstable Elements! Gained x100 Water Elements! Gained x20 Blast Elements!

He wondered briefly at the last few notifications, but looking at the timestamp for it, it must've been when he pulled Kacchan away from the sludge villain. He hadn't looked to see what happened to the thing, but apparently he'd done enough damage to it to take it down. Going back over the tab again, he saw a pin-shaped button in the top-right corner. He poked a finger at it, and it lit up in white. Thinking for a few seconds, he put a finger to the bottom corner of the display and dragged upwards and in. The screen – and the text on it – shrank accordingly, until it looked like a small, thin chatbox in the corner of his vision. He scrolled back to the top of the box and read through the notifications again, before pausing at the ones that looked like they would be menu names.

Open Monster Gacha.

Ding!

A large blue screen with an old-fashioned ball vendor appeared before him, with a bright description hovering in front of the image.

System Interface: Monster Gacha

The Monster Gacha consists of four possible tiers of monsters:

Low (150 UE*)

Mid (400 UE*)

High (1,000 UE*)

!@*$# (!#@*& UE* [Restricted])

*UE, or Unstable Elements, are the currency of the Monster Gacha. You can use different Elements in place of Unstable Elements to roll for a specific type of Monster. For example, rolling the Monster Gacha with Water Elements will provide monsters that align with that element, such as the Leviathan Sea Wyvern, Lord of the Seas: Lagiarcus.

Izuku nodded at the message.

Close description. The text disappeared, revealing the entirety of the ball vendor and the button below it, the text of which was currently dyed red. A message below it read 'Cannot roll Gacha. Insufficient Funds.' A little icon in the corner showed him how many of each Element he currently had. There was a small, glitched-out orb that he thought might represent Unstable Elements, and the number next to it said 100. Small water droplet silhouettes apparently indicated Water Elements, and the number next to that read 100 as well. The third and final circle held a small explosion silhouette, which Izuku thought stood for Blast Elements, and the number next to that was 20. Izuku sighed and closed the tab.

He couldn't do much with that right now, so he moved to the next item in the chat backlog.

Open Personal Window.

Ding!

A large skill window appeared, like the basic character sheet for a game, and the same glowing text as before offered another explanation.

System Interface: Personal Window

The Personal Window allows you to view and access your current stats, available Monsters, extracted Skills and collected Elements.

Izuku read through the explanation and closed the tab, looking at the Personal Window with confusion and mild offence.

Midoriya Izuku

HP: 650/650

SP: 200/325

Vit: 13 (+3)*

Str: 10 (+3)*

Dex: 12 (+4)*

Phys: 9 (+2)*

*Average of each stat is 10. Numbers in brackets are additions to current stats since the last time this page was opened. These additions have already been included in your total score. 50 HP and 25 SP to every 1 Vit. 0 HP = Unconscious, 0 SP = Immobile

Monster Skills: N/A (None)

Skills: 5 (See System Interface: Skill Window for more information)

Elemental Skin

Monster Extraction

Monster's Will

Monster's Shape

Skill Extraction

Monsters:

Odogaron (See System Interface: Monster List for more information)

Elements: 102 Unstable, 100 Water, 20 Blast

So he was pretty average all around, even with the boost that the Odogaron had apparently given him. He didn't level up, but monsters could give him Stat boosts.

Open Monster List.

Ding!

System Interface: Monster List

Type: Amphibian

N/A

Type: Bird Wyvern

Theropod:

N/A

Flying:

N/A

Type: Brute Wyvern

N/A

Type: Carapaceon

N/A

Type: !@*$# $&!"$@

N/A

Type: Fanged Wyvern

Odogaron [Expand Description]

Type: Fish

N/A

Type: Flying Wyvern

True:

N/A

Quadruped:

N/A

Type: Herbivore

N/A

Type: Leviathan

N/A

Type: Lynian

Catlike:

N/A

Humanoid:

N/A

Type: Neopteron

N/A

Type: Piscine Wyvern

N/A

Type: Primatus

Fanged Beast:

N/A

Pelagus:

N/A

Type: Relict

N/A

Type: Snake Wyvern

N/A

Type: Temnoceran

N/A

Type: Unknown

N/A

Type: Wingdrake

N/A

Expand Odogaron.

Ding!

Monster: Odogaron

Type: Fanged Wyvern

Title: Cruel Claw Wyvern

Elements: N/A

Status Effects: Bleed*

Skills:

Bloody Strike

Cruel Claws

Crushing Jaws

Hunting Prowess

Slash Frenzy

Whirlwind Dash

Weakest to:

Ice

Thunder

Habitat:

Coral Highlands

Guiding Lands

Rotting Vale

Size:

34 hh**

45'5 nose to tail

*Bleed: Status Effect that inflicts –1% HP per second. Lasts 30 seconds or until target is healed or struck again.

**hh = hands high. Measured to the withers (shoulder). Four inches to a hand

A terrifying monster that scours the Rotten Vale for carrion. Its highly aggressive nature means that anything, be it monster or man, is a potential meal.

Izuku gulped at the description of the monster he had been running through the streets as not so long ago. No wonder people had been screaming.

Close Description.

The page disappeared, and Izuku was left staring at the Monster List. He closed that, too, while checking the chat backlog. He was almost home, now, and he was starting to worry about what his mother would think of him showing up with an utterly destroyed gakuran hanging off him in rags. Not to mention, the cost of a new uniform was almost more than they could afford right now. He'd tried several times over the last few years to get a job, but he had always either been overruled by his mother or turned down by the employer for being 'not right for the job'. Or, worse, they wouldn't care what he thought, and had straight-up told him that they didn't accept 'disadvantaged' or 'unevolved' people, all the while sneering in his face.

He sighed. No point in dwelling on the stupidity of others. And besides, now that he had a Quirk, maybe things would change. . . . Who was he kidding, there was no way that would happen. And it's not like his classmates would change their attitudes, either. No, to them he'd always be Deku, the weak, Quirkless punching bag. Something deep in his chest snarled at the thought, and for a moment he was reminded of the Odogaron, and its description in the Monster List. Its highly aggressive nature means that anything, be it Monster or man, is a potential meal. He shivered. Would he end up with new instincts because of his Quirk? Would he suddenly start craving roadkill, or tree bark, or rocks, or some other weird thing?

He chuckled to himself, thinking that he'd at least save his mother a good deal of money if all he ate was rocks. He took a deep breath and steeled himself as he opened the door to the apartment, slipping off his shoes as quietly as he could in the genkan as he nudged the door shut behind him. His mother must've heard the latch, however, as she came skidding around the corner and threw herself into his arms, bawling.

"I-I-Izukuuuuu," she cried, the tattered remains of his gakuran becoming soaked within seconds as she sobbed against his chest. He looked down, patting her back as she sobbed, swallowing back tears of his own as he thought that, for a few terrible minutes, he had been set on leaving her alone in the world. His mother's shaky voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"I thought you were go-o-oone," she wailed, clutching him tighter. "You didn't come ho-home, and then Katsuki was on the n-news, an-and there- there was that a-awful m-monster, and then you still weren't home, and-" she burst into a fresh round of hiccupping sobs, and this time, Izuku couldn't hold back tears of his own as he wrapped his mother in a tight hug, hiccupping his apologies past the lump in his throat. How could he have been so selfish? Never again, he promised himself. I'll be strong enough that she won't have to worry about me.

Eventually, they both calmed down, and his mother pulled back to look him over. She gasped and gripped tightly at his shoulders when she saw the shredded gakuran, but once she realised he was unharmed, she started fussing over the material, trying to figure out how it could possibly be salvaged. In the end, they had both agreed it would need to be replaced. Izuku had fought against it, arguing that he had two perfectly fine gakurans in his closet, but his mother could be very persistent. She'd pulled out a wad of cash from a box she kept in her room, saying that she'd been putting away a little of her income with each paycheck for the past five or six years.

Izuku had broken down crying at that, and Inko had quietly wrapped him in a hug until he calmed down again. Half an hour later, and there was a brand-new gakuran hanging next to the others in his closet, and he and his mother were sitting at the table eating a hurriedly-prepared dinner of pre-packaged soba. Afterwards, when his mother had tried to grill him on what happened, he made some transparent, passing remark about being clumsy and tripping into a thornbush that his mother could clearly see through, before hurrying off to his room.

Once he was safely tucked away behind his closed bedroom door, he moved to the next item on the list.

Open Skill Window.

Ding!

A list appeared in front of him, and glowing descriptive text appeared in front of it.

System Interface: Skill Window

The Skill Window provides a full overview of the user's current skills, taken from both their own abilities and the Monsters they call upon.

Izuku closed the description and read through the extensive list of skills it had hidden.

Personal Skills:

Elemental Skin [Expand]

Monster Extraction [Expand]

Monster's Shape [Expand]

Monster's Will [Expand

Skill Extraction [Expand]

Monster Skills:

Odogaron:

Bloody Strike [Expand]

Cruel Claws [Expand]

Crushing Jaws [Expand]

Hunting Prowess [Expand]

Slash Frenzy [Expand]

Whirlwind Dash [Expand]

Izuku considered the list for a few seconds before just deciding to go down the list.

Expand Elemental Skin.

Ding!

Personal Skill: Elemental Skin

Passive Skill

This skill grants the user a 25% chance to absorb Unique Elements from an opponent's attack. Automatically absorbs 1 Unstable Element from the environment every hour. Can absorb Unique Elements by enduring special environments.

Expand Monster Extraction.

Personal Skill: Monster Extraction

Active Skill

This skill allows the user to extract the monsters they receive from the Monster Gacha.

Expand Monster's Shape.

Personal Skill: Monster's Shape

Active Skill

This skill allows the user to transform into the Monsters listed in the Monster List, once they have been extracted from the Monster Gacha.

Expand Monster's Will

Personal Skill: Monster's Will

Passive Skill

The user's resistance to the Mind Arts, such as Hypnosis or Legillimency, are increased by 95%.

Expand Skill Extraction.

Personal Skill: Skill Extraction

Active Skill

This skill allows the user to extract two skills per monster, for use in their human form. Some Monster Skills are compatible with other Monsters, although this is rare. The first Extraction for a Monster is free, but the second costs 50 Unstable Elements. Skills are selected randomly.

Izuku closed the last skill and sighed. His own skills were quite underwhelming on their own, but when he used them with the rest of his Quirk, it came together nicely. Now, onto the Monster Skills.

Expand Bloody Strike.

Monster Skill: Bloody Strike [Odogaron]

Active Skill

The user temporarily sharpens their senses to target their opponent's weak and/or vital points. Has a 95% chance to inflict Bleeding on a target.

Critical Hit Chance: 90%

SP Consumption: 25

Izuku shuddered. He could see why, if this was the first skill in the list, the Odogaron was considered a dangerous predator.

Expand Cruel Claws.

Monster Skill: Cruel Claws [Odogaron]

Active Skill

The user can grow the double-rows of long, razor-sharp claws that the Odogaron is renowned for on each limb.

Expand Crushing Jaws.

Monster Skill: Crushing Jaws [Odogaron]

Active Skill

The user temporarily boosts their jaw strength to deliver a bone-shattering bite.

Inflicts: Broken Bones, Bleeding

Critical Hit Chance: 60%

SP Consumption: 75

Expand Hunting Prowess.

Monster Skill: Hunting Prowess [Odogaron]

Passive Skill

The user gains instinctive knowledge of all land-based melee attacks.

Expand Slash Frenzy.

Monster Skill: Slash Frenzy [Odogaron]

Active Skill

The user chains attacks, landing anywhere from ten to fifty strikes on the opponent in rapid succession.

Inflicts: Bleeding

Critical Hit Chance: 25% per strike

SP Consumption: 75

Expand Whirlwind Dash.

Monster Skill: Whirlwind Dash [Odogaron]

Active Skill

The user temporarily strengthens their legs to boost their movement speed by 200%.

SP Consumption: 25

Izuku stared at the page for a long while, dazed. Now he understood why the Odogaron had been called a terrifying beast. Its skills alone, in a human body, would make for a formidable opponent, but combined with the Cruel Claw Wyvern's natural abilities? He shivered. He would not want to be stuck with one of those things.

He looked over his Personal Skills again, his eyes lingering on Skill Extraction. With a small grin, he used the skill.

Skill Extraction.

Ding!

Please select a Monster to Extract Skills from.

Monsters:

Odogaron

Select Odogaron.

Fanged Wyvern: Cruel Claw Wyvern, Odogaron, selected!

Extracting random Skill.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Skill Extracted: Slash Frenzy!

Would you like to extract the second skill for 50 Unstable Elements?

Izuku glanced at the chat backlog, which had three new messages, each marked an hour apart.

You have extracted x1 Unstable Element from your environment!

He only had 105 Unstable Elements. But he gained 24 in a day, and he could absorb more by 'enduring special environments', whatever that meant.

Yes.

Ding!

Extracting random Skill.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Skill Extracted: Whirlwind Dash!

He nodded at the skills he'd collected. He could use Whirlwind Dash 13 times without using anything else, and he could use Slash Frenzy 4 times, and have enough SP left over for a Whirlwind Dash. And his stats would only continue to grow as he collected more Monsters, so all he had to do was train. A thought occurred to him, and he sat up straighter. What if he could boost his stats by physical training alone? He only had ten months until the U.A. Entrance Exams rolled around, so he'd best get started.

Ding!

Urgent Quest: Pass the U.A. Entrance Exam!

Quest type: Urgent

Time limit: 10 Months

Reward: x150 Unstable Element, System Interface: Item Shop

Penalty: Quirk Ownership

With your new strength, you can reach new heights. Train hard, and win harder, and reach your goal! Pass the U.A. Entrance Exam and guarantee yourself a place in the Heroics Course! Good Luck! 😊

Izuku stared at the Quest Notification for a solid five minutes, his jaw hanging wide. He'd only just gotten his Quirk, and now it was threatening to stop letting him use it? Wait . . . Did that mean his Quirk was sentient? He felt a deep rumbling somewhere behind his ribs, and he was again reminded of the Odogaron. It felt like . . . was the Monster laughing at him? Now, that was just rude!

He sighed. He couldn't do anything more about it now. It was already late, and he was exhausted. He'd talk to his mother about getting a diet plan and training for U.A. tomorrow.

Notes:

:P

Yay!

Chapter two finished! And oh my gods this chapter was an absolute nightmare to write. My laptop corrupted itself maybe halfway through the chapter, and I have never been more grateful to my habit of not saving anything directly to my laptop. Plus, I – being the absolute fuckwit that I am – decided it would be easier to write the whole thing out in the Limited HTML script, so that I could just copy-and-paste my chapter into the Ao3 page on my phone and hit upload without worrying about finding the missing formatting, because my stupid, old-as-dirt phone doesn't copy formatting. I was wrong. If there was a special hell made just for me, I think it would be writing smutfics in Limited HTML.