More chapters at my Patreon, and you help me make ends meet while at it.
patreon.com/TheSynonym
────────────────────────
[Time Skip]
────────────────────────
| Three months later... |
…
"Again?"
A middle-aged man muttered, raising an eyebrow at the newspaper in his hands. His baffled expression only deepened as he scanned the lines of text.
"What's up?" another man asked, seated beside him on the same bench, feeding the pigeons.
"It says here that the Rockinesis guy got away again." (A/N: Too bad for you guys, I'm sticking with the name because I'm evil.)
"…Again? How many times has it been now?"
"Six or seven since the first time. Honestly, I don't even get why they bother—it's always just a clone they catch. The real one's probably still out there, laughing his ass off."
"At this point, the police are simply making a joke of themselves. And it's not like the punk's doing anything that bad, is he? Sure, he's beaten a few heroes, but it always looks like self-defense."
"True. And besides, he's finally putting our city on the map along with Tokyo. Honestly, besides that weird guy Super Monkey, none of our heroes stand out… which is pretty sad."
"Why the hell did that clown have to be the strongest hero in our city?"
"He's kind of funny though."
"…Yeah, I suppose he is. At least he's not some weirdo like Midnight. If he started perverting our kids, that'd be the last straw!"
"Didn't he just get caught in a scandal last month, though? They say someone spotted him kissing another heroine in an alleyway."
"Forget it."
Both men sighed in unison.
At the same time, a youth jogged past them, sparing only a quick glance before a small smile curved his otherwise calm face.
Clad in a black tracksuit and white sneakers, his figure stood out against the greenery of the park. Black hair swayed with his steady rhythm, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead—though his breathing remained smooth, showing how far he still was from real exhaustion.
He continued jogging along the park, and as he passed by other people, he couldn't help but overhear snippets of conversations.
"Yo, what are you listening to?"
"Animal I Have Become. Rockinesis uploaded an official video on his channel a while back."
"What? When? Damn it, what's wrong with my algorithm?!"
The youth's smile deepened.
"Yo, I heard there's a villain getting jumped a few streets away!"
"That's sick!"
"Think Rockinesis will show up?"
"Hell yeah."
"Let's go then!"
His smile widened further.
"Mommy, do you know who Rockinesis is?"
"I don't know, but with that kind name, it's probably nobody important."
"Okay."
This time, the youth's smile faltered—just a little. But the slip hardly mattered. The smirk that was already spread across his face was impossible to wipe away just from that little setback.
'So this is what it feels like to be a celebrity, huh? Not bad.' He sneered, shaking his head helplessly. 'It seems I, Takahashi, have become someone of renown.'
Indeed, although you might not believe it, and as incredible as it might be, that youth was none other than Taka—now taller, leaner, and more fit than before.
The past few months had been wild. For starters, one of the missions he had gotten months ago had made him go through quite a hectic week. Eating like never before, drinking like never before, and running for an entire hour at full speed... To say he almost puked a few times would be an understatement. The feeling of bloating also wasn't nice.
The running part was also hard in its own right. Sure, it was hard for him to run out of breath nowadays thanks to his True Breathing skill, but things like friction still affected him, so by the time he was done running, he was always sweating like crazy.
But after going through it for the entire week, Taka finally unlocked the skill "Efficient Body"—a passive that let him eat as much as he wanted without gaining fat or suffering from health issues.
Basically, he could binge Mukbangs and be fine.
It was actually a bit more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it, and what mattered the most to him.
Although he had struggled at first, by the end of the week, his body had somewhat acclimated, so it was only bad for the first half.
Unfortunately, that mission had only been a prelude for what his system had in store.
As soon as Efficient Body unlocked, a new section appeared: the Daily Quests. It tasked him with training his body for a few minutes each day in exchange for a little aura.
It varied depending on how much he exerted his body, but usually it was not much. Usually only 5 points.
Still, like any kind of aura gained daily, it was a nice addition to his passive earnings, which meant more Aura by the time U.A. started. So he happily did them. This jumped his passive earnings from the 25 aura gained per day three months ago, to a whopping 35.
During the three months, he'd also been pushing his cloning ability to the max. Sometimes, he sent clones infused with chunks of aura to farm more outside, putting them to do his usual shows while he himself stayed home, safe from trouble.
At other times, he had them practice with other instruments—steadily working toward his mission of creating his own song. He couldn't just let it be a guitar solo, after all.
The Connoisseur skill also sped up the progress a lot.
Thanks to that, everything was as smooth and efficient as he could have wished. The clones were a great way to multitask, since as soon as they dispersed, their memories came back to him.
Of course, if he had properly spammed his cloning ability, he probably would've been done with that already. But as convenient as it was that memory perk, receiving all the memories of a clone—and sometimes from multiple clones crashing into his mind at the same time—was overwhelming.
It left him feeling weird and kind of split for a bit, as if his mind tried to understand which of the memories had been the real ones.
And having otherworldly memories also occupying part of his mind also didn't help.
So, he avoided using it recklessly, sticking to when it was worth the annoyance. Hence, for farming aura, and practicing every now and then.
Though there was one time he tried using it just to skip school… only to realize that without anything to actually do while his clones handled class, he felt like a complete bum.
And he didn't enjoy being a bum.
So, in the end, he decided it was better to go himself. Leaving all the heavy lifting to the clones was nice, but feeling useless wasn't.
Plus, having his friends talk to a clone instead of him felt kind of cheap…
Friends—as in Jiro alone.
'The path of an Aura Farmer is a lonely one.' He shook his head helplessly.
'...'
And so, that's how the three months had passed.
The song was nearly complete.
His aura had skyrocketed compared to before.
He had gotten a new skill and a new section of daily quests.
Truly a productive time skip.
Smirking, Taka opened up his system panel to admire his growth.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 118
▸ Defense: 236
▸ Aura Projection: 5221
─────────────
Total Aura: 5221
─────────────
Skills:
▸Clean
▸Trouble Radar
▸Connoisseur
▸Pain is Just a Feeling
▸Innamovible Object
▸True Speaking
▸True Breathing
▸True Walking
▸Good job beating me… But that was merely a clone!
▸Efficient Body
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Aura up by nearly 3,300 in just three months. It felt pretty good to look at what his efforts—and those of his clones—had yielded.
Most of that had come from passive earnings, a bit from the daily quests, and the rest from his concerts and other aura-farming stuff he did every now and then.
And his physical stats weren't bad either. With all the training he'd done—both his own and Seiji's usual torture sessions—he'd finally broken past the 100-point mark on his strength, and the 200-mark on his defense. He was basically twice as strong as he'd been when the system first arrived.
It wasn't much compared to what he could reach by pumping aura directly into his body, but it felt satisfying to have reached that point by mere effort alone.
All in all, his growth had been great.
And at this pace, by the time U.A. started, he'd be even more amazing—maybe even pushing 10,000 aura.
'I still remember when I thought 3,000 by U.A. would be a dream goal. Look at me now, huh?' Taka sneered proudly at his numbers.
Of course, this was only the beginning.
When U.A. began, so would the show events... the kind that shook society to its core.
Recognition would follow when he got involved, not merely city-level as it was right now, but the kind that encompassed all of Japan.
No, things had gotten crazy in the later arcs… maybe even global-level crazy.
How much aura would that bring in?
He wasn't near All Might's level yet. But if he ever reached that global level of fame… then maybe… All Might would be a thing of the past.
But for now, there was still farming to do.
Aura Farming.
'Speaking of farming… wonder how I look from the crowd's perspective?' Taka scratched his chin. 'Since I'm nearby, might as well check. Could help me polish my act for when I drop the big song.'
With that quick decision, he jogged out of the park and into the busy streets, weaving through people until he reached his destination.
{"Somebody get me through this nightmare, I can't control myself!"}
And there he was. Or rather, one of his clones.
Up on a rooftop, in his usual black hoodie and mask, playing passionately on his guitar while a chaotic battle raged below, where several irritated heroes clashed with a villain wearing a similar type of expression.
Blending into the crowd, Taka, with his hands in his pockets, watched with an analytical eye.
'I should move more. That looks too stiff. Luckily, the fight below pulls most of the focus.' He rubbed his chin, mulling over the performance. 'But what else could I do?... Maybe I could try flying around the battlefield instead of just staying in the same spot… but holding my instruments with AP while also playing a song is already troublesome enough.'
Notifications kept pinging in the corner of his vision as aura trickled in from the crowd, but he ignored them. By now, he was used to it. Maybe even a little sick of the constant ringing.
Eventually, though, he grew bored of watching and turned on his heel to jog away.
He had already watched enough. He could always think about what to do while being in the comfort of his home.
Besides, loitering at the crime scene was the kind of thing that got serial killers caught. This wasn't murder, and neither was he a serial killer, but… close enough.
Ten minutes later, he was back home.
-Click...-
Closing the door behind him, the first thing Taka saw was Seiji lounging on the couch, arm draped lazily across the backrest while the TV flickered in front of him.
At first, Taka was just going to head straight to his room—until he noticed what was playing on the screen.
It was himself again, doing his concert.
Right on cue, Seiji turned his head lazily toward him.
"Yo, Taka. How was your run?"
"Run-ish."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Seiji snorted and glanced back at the TV, where the image of his clone rocking could be seen. "This guy's been playing the same damn song like six times now. Doesn't he know anything else?"
Taka's eyebrow twitched.
"Composing is hard, you know."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't be showing up this often without something new. At this point, that guy's just chasing fame, recycling content."
Taka's teeth ground together, but he managed to keep his face straight. With a sigh, he muttered,
"I suppose. If only the heroes in this city were competent enough to catch him… Whatever. Guess he'll just keep getting away."
He couldn't see it, but he knew Seiji's eyebrow twitched too.
"Hey, Taka, you up for a spar? I'm feeling rusty."
Taka smirked. "Why should I deal with that? Go bother your girlfriend."
"Tsk. You too, huh? Inappropriate this, unprofessional that… Everyone's just jealous of my peerless charm. Since they can't pull a pro hero baddie, they gotta drag me down."
"More like peerless dumbness. With that costume of yours, I don't even know how you got her to kiss you. If it were me, I'd have run for my life."
"Jealous, aren't you, little Taka? That's right, already entering puberty and still no girlfriend. Don't worry, since I'm your guardian, it's my responsibility to instruct you in the arts of awesomery and baddie-pulling."
"Shove it."
Before Seiji could answer, Taka walked to his room and shut the door.
Now in the safety of his sanctuary, Taka rubbed his temples in frustration. "What an annoying guy."
Flopping onto his bed, he grabbed his phone. As usual, he went straight to checking clips of himself—a habit he'd developed due to watching views in videos where he appeared skyrocket, which got him the dopamine he always needed.
He scrolled and scrolled, skimming past dozens of videos, until one caught his ear.
It was his first performance, the Devil May Cry track.
But it wasn't his own clip. Instead, it was someone breakdancing wildly to the rhythm.
Taka couldn't help but watch, fully drawn in by the insane moves. By the time the video ended, his thumb had already hit Like. Something he almost never bothered doing, even when he enjoyed something.
"That was sick," he muttered.
Then a thought struck him.
He'd noticed earlier how stiff his performances looked.
If he could move like that… wouldn't it make his shows way better?
And it seemed he wasn't the only one who thought the same.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[You have finally taken notice of the mesmerizing art of dance. But you have yet to realize its true potential! Let the Aura Farmer within you bloom further as you open your mind to the wonders of corporeal expression.]
Quest Conditions:
▸ Learn a dance style to a skillful degree.
▸ Reach a new level in martial skill by enduring a fight with a serious Seiji for one full minute.
▸ No enhancing yourself or using aura projection during spars.
Reward: +500 Aura | Gain the skill [Let's Dance!]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka's mouth twisted. "Seriously, what's up with these missions?"
Still, since it was asking him for an improvement in martial arts… that meant this skill was probably something good, right?
His eyes slowly turned toward the door, hesitant.
Then, with a sigh, he stood up, pulled it open, and yelled:
"Oi, Seiji! About that spar—"
…
────────────────────────
-To be Continued…-
────────────────────────
(A/N: And we have skipped time by a greater margin this time. Now, only three to four months remain for U.A.
Also, since it's a time skip, here's a referential image of how I imagine Taka.
->
It just looks as edgy as Taka would want to look on the outside. So it was the perfect appearance. Like, look at that face, you'd probably think he's a cold emo teenager like Todoroki. Then you realize he's probably thinking of going to take a dump.
I might draw an actual picture myself, but you never know with me.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.)