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[What's with these missions?]
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| A month later… |
…
"Come on, Taka, don't tell me you're going down already?" Seiji shot Taka a disdainful look as the kid now lay on the ground, sprawled and beaten. A cigarette flicking at the corner of his lips.
Taka groaned as he pushed himself up, looking at him with an annoyed glare. "Shut up man, it's not my fault a damn Monkey Quirk can be so stupidly overpowered."
"This is called hard work." Seiji scoffed, taking his cigarrete away from his mouth and tapping it twice, letting the cinders fall. "When I was your age, the only thing my Quirk gave me was these big ass hands and a long ass tail to whack people with. So quit your whining and get here, don't tell me this is all you can do after an entire month of training?"
Taka stood up while grumbling under his breath, looking at Seiji with an annoyed gaze.
"You say it like it was a long ass time. It's only four weeks damnit! How the heck am I supposed to master all the shit you taught me, especially when after each session you leave my body aching like hell?!"
"Skill issue, kid. All I am asking is that you fight properly, not excellently. Or don't tell me you think it's fine to try and become a hero with the skills you had in our first class? You tripped yourself after throwing a punch!"
"Kgh!" Taka clicked his tongue like a dragon ball character, and naturally, his eyes drifted to a floating screen beside him.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[This is the start of your Aura Farming Path, and as is to be expected of you, you must be prepared for the many hurdles ahead. Endure the brutal training, and ascend—ready to carve your path to glory!]
Conditions for completion:
▸ Do not use your Aura to boost your physique in any way during training.
▸ Complete at least one month of training without missing a single session.✔
▸ Get your fighting skills acknowledged by Murata Seiji.
▸ Get your physical condition acknowledged by Murata Seiji.
Reward: +200 Aura | Gain the skill: [Trouble Radar]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
A month had already passed, and as such, he had fulfilled the first two objectives of the mission. Albeit one of them would receive its check mark once the mission was over.
The other two, however, had no time limit to be fulfilled. They all depended on Seiji and his opinion on his progress.
He couldn't even boost his physical stats using his gained aura so far, since the quest specifically told him not to.
He could only do this fair and square.
The horror.
With a scoff, Taka put his hands up once again, ready to begin throwing once again.
And he threw, yessir.
-Bam!-
Less than ten seconds later, he was easily thrown to the ground by Seiji, who simply tripped him. Not even using a lock or throw on him.
"Damn it!"
Seiji knelt beside Taka—who now lay on his back on the ground, staring at the air like questioning his life choices—and threw him a dissatisfied look.
"Look, kid, I don't think you're focusing right now. You're throwing punches just to throw."
Taka groaned, giving him a side eye. "What's that even supposed to mean?"
Seiji sneered, flicking the cigarette on his mouth to the other corner, before tapping into Taka's temple with his feet like a woodpecker bird.
"It means thinking properly about what I'm going to do, and what you should do in response. That's the use of all those flashy moves I've been teaching you so far… They're the responses, you use them when it's time, not when you feel like it."
Taka didn't say anything, watching silently as Seiji let out a sigh and stood up, giving his back to him as he walked away.
"Whatever, kid. Let's do this again tomorrow. Be sure to practice today so you don't suck as bad tomorrow."
"Wait." Taka quickly stood up.
Seiji turned, a sly smile appearing on his face.
"You're not him, kid." He said, smiling mockingly as he shook his head. "Stay on the ground, just cause you got motivated doesn't mean you're gonna do any better."
"That's not it," Taka said, pointing at Seiji's crotch. "You got your zipper down."
Seiji's face instantly fell, and in a hurry, he turned down to fix his improper state.
—only, his zipper was fine.
"This kid—!" Seiji's eyes widened, and he lifted his head back in a hurry, watching as Taka lunged at him with hands open like claws.
In a hurry, he sent a palm strike to Taka, trying to keep him away—only for his attack to get deflected to the side the instant it had been about to make contact.
Then, mid-movement, as his palm was pushed aside, Taka lowered his stance, and with his remaining hand, fingers curled like the nails of a dragon—
—CLANG!
He struck Seiji's nuts.
"Ugh—!"
Seiji's eyes widened like saucers, cold sweat pouring down his back as he glanced into Taka's cold, unyielding eyes. His mouth trembling as he spoke.
"Monkey grabs the peach… You copied my signature move."
"Indeed."
Taka closed his eyes solemnly, retracting his hand as he turned his back on Seiji—who was already dropping to his knees, both hands clutching his crotch, face twisted in agony.
"Now… fall."
Leaving those words behind, Taka walked away, hands coolly stuffed into his pockets.
< [+5 Aura] >
Suddenly, Taka lifted an eyebrow and looked back over his shoulder.
Seiji, despite his scrunched-up face of pain, was giving him a thumbs up.
"That was a cool one, kid. Write that down. It'll make the ladies go crazy."
Taka looked at him weirdly for a second before he gave a faint nod.
"Will do."
Then, for real this time, he walked away—ignoring Seiji as he collapsed fully to the floor and had his soul ascend into heaven.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[COMPLETED!]
[This is the start of your Aura Farming Path, and as is to be expected of you, you must be prepared for the many hurdles ahead. Endure the brutal training, and ascend—ready to carve your path to glory!]
Conditions for completion:
▸ Do not use your Aura to boost your physique in any way during training.✔
▸ Complete at least one month of training without missing a single session.✔
▸ Get your fighting skills acknowledged by Murata Seiji.✔
▸ Get your physical condition acknowledged by Murata Seiji.✔
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
<+200 Aura!>
<+Skill [Trouble Radar]!>
A small smirk curled on Taka's lips as the notification popped up beside him.
…
°
°
°
| Minutes later… |
…
In his room, Taka now lay sprawled on his bed, checking out his new gains with amusement.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 61
▸ Defense: 122
▸ Aura Projection: 215
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Total Aura: 215 → 415
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Skills:
▸Clean
▸Trouble Radar
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
"Now this is what I call good progress."
He grinned as he dumped all of his newly gained Aura into AP, making the stat shoot up to 415.
Next, he opened his new skill, already dying to know what it did.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Trouble Radar](Active)
Description: Real life can often be boring and uncool as heck, making it difficult for an Aura Farmer like you—someone who thrives on attention and shines through impossible odds—to grow smoothly on your path to becoming the ultimate Aura Farmer. With this skill, you'll never miss those rare moments when an Aura Farmer can truly stand out.
▸ Grants you a sixth sense that can be toggled on or off at will. It points you toward the place where trouble is most likely to begin brewing, or to immediate danger coming your way.
▸ Can also faintly gauge the level of incoming trouble—from minor inconvenience to world-ending catastrophe. Fate is unpredictable; tread with caution.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
"Huh…"
Taka raised an eyebrow.
Another skill he wasn't sure how to feel about.
Sure, it seemed like it'd be useful for powering up until U.A.'s practical exam in nine months. But the idea of actively being on the lookout for trouble… that was something else.
Especially because trouble in this day and age usually meant one thing:
Villains.
Like the skill warned, if he didn't tread with caution—especially now, with his Aura basically in its baby stage—dying wasn't off the table.
In his parallel life, he might've scoffed and jumped into things without thinking. After all, this was a world from an anime, and villains didn't seem that bad when you were just a viewer.
But now? Now that he had a whole second life in this world, and memories of his past one? That illusion had long since faded.
Dealing with villains here was like messing with terrorists back on Earth.
Yeah. Not exactly appealing, huh?
Cold-blooded people with no qualms about killing—at least the serious ones, not the occasional purse-snatcher. That's what villains were.
So yeah, he had every right to eye the skill with a healthy dose of caution.
Still… if he wanted to power up, there was no way around it.
'Though, if the trouble seems too much, I'm just dipping out.' Taka nodded to himself, reassuring his ego. He wouldn't overestimate his ability. If it got too hot, he'd just leave it to the pros.
That's what heroes were there for, weren't they?
With that resolution, he finally let out a breath of relief.
It hadn't really hit him until now, but after a month and a half of non-stop training missions, he was finally free.
He could focus on doing other things—maybe even relax a bit—
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Now that you're capable of holding your ground—barely—it's time to focus on other aspects of being the perfect Aura Farmer. Not everything in life is about fighting, so sharpen your other skills and avoid becoming a one-trick pony! Aura farming is everywhere in life, so broaden your view.]
Conditions for completion:
▸Practice a type of art for a month.
▸Dominate the basis of said art.
Reward: Gain Aura depending on your performance beyond what is asked of you | Gain the skill: [Connoisseur]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka blinked at the floating screen, thoroughly unamused.
"What's with these missions, man?"
He flopped back onto the bed, already regretting jinxing himself.
What was even the point of learning art? How was that supposed to help with his aura farming? Sure, people would like what he did—for example, drawing—but would simply liking his drawings grant him aura?
As far as he knew, the feelings of people had to go beyond that for there to be any cashable aura.
So it seemed really unlikely any art would be worth the trouble of learning, considering the time he'd need to master it to a level where aura would just then start being gained.
For that, he could just fight some random ass villain in the street to show off, and get done with it.
He scoffed and glanced at the mission description again.
'Maybe I can just ignore this mission. Even the aura to be gained depending on performance may be a small amount, considering it is not specified.'
For a moment, he looked at it with a tired expression, already fed up with having to go out of his comfort zone purely for the aura points.
But then…
His eyes twitched. A certain thought popping into his head.
"Aura farming is everywhere in life." That line stuck with him. It echoed for a moment, like guiding his train of thought as a certain idea began brewing.
Until it fully formed.
"Say, System," Taka smiled, looking slyly at the screen floating beside him. "...when aura farming… do people necessarily have to be physically near me for me to gain the aura? What if I'm being cool online? Would the aura still reach me, even if they are kilometers away?"
[Analyzing question…]
[Answer: Your Quirk draws in the energy produced by awe and relatively similar feelings from people near you. The system's function is to harness this energy and prevent it from dispersing. If people are too far away, the energy may dissipate before the system can absorb it. However, if the number of people generating such feelings is large enough, the energy may persist long enough to reach you. Note: A significant portion of said energy will likely be lost in transit.]
Taka frowned, looking at the screen, thoroughly confused. "What do you mean by my Quirk? I thought I was Quirkless. Are you referring to yourself?"
[Negative, you have always possessed a Quirk. However, due to its nature being practically indetectable as you could do nothing with the aura you gathered, and you not drawing awe from your peers often at all, there was never a concentration high enough to be noticed by you or anyone around.]
"Ouch."
Taka's eye twitched at the jab. That hit a little too close.
Yeah, since he was a kid, he'd basically given up on getting along with people once he got labeled as Quirkless. Never bothered to put on a good face, and never tried to impress.
He didn't get bullied, but he for sure wasn't especially liked.
So… yeah. The math checked out.
Loner = No Aura.
Still, he couldn't help but feel speechless at the revelation that he was never Quirkless to begin with.
He actually had a quirk!
'Albeit a useless one—if not for the system here.' He deadpanned, though this time, he gave the screen a slightly more appreciative look.
As he slowly came to terms with this new truth—not world-shattering, but still something—his mind circled back to that earlier idea.
A small smirk curled on his lips.
"So I could actually gain Aura online…"
His eyes gleamed with interest, the idea of a video going viral and aura raining from the sky practically making him giddy.
Okay, maybe not giddy. But interested, very.
Though his enthusiasm dipped slightly at that whole part about most of the energy dissipating, it still didn't kill the idea.
This could be another viable method of Aura farming… one that didn't involve nearly dying for the cool factor.
His eyes drifted back to one of the conditions from the mission.
'Practice a type of art for a month…'
If he combined this assignment with his new plan to go viral?
Yeah.
He might be onto something.
…
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-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: Plans are forming, and gains and growing.
Check that one out. Just thought about it now.)