Campsite,
Class 1-B
Vlad King led the students of 1-B through the forest in the early morning.
Just like 1-A, they had also gone through the Beasts Forest at the same time yesterday. However, unlike 1-A, they had reached their campsite, which was only a few hundred meters away from 1-A's, many hours earlier, as there had been no extra hurdle in their path like Lemillion.
Still, it had left them beyond tired.
Now, they were on their way to join 1-A, where the main training would take place.
"Develop our Quirks?" Itsuka Kendo, who had Big Fist Quirk, asked, surprised. "How?"
"It's basic gym knowledge," Vlad King explained. "By overloading the muscle fibers, you break them. When they heal, they get stronger and bigger. Repeat the process every day, with proper meals and rest, and even Erasure Head can gain my size."
Most of the 1-B's students' mouths twitched. Here it comes…
"Last year, his 1-A got the better of us!" Vlad King shouted, making a fist. "This year… people will only hear about 1-B! Yeah?"
"...…."
"YEAH?"
"Yes, Sir!!!" The students shouted.
"… Hmm," Vlad King said, nodding as he marched through the forest. "Quirks work the same way. Leave them unused, and they shrivel up—like old skin. Keep using them, and they hold their shape. But that's not enough for you."
He glanced back at the students. "You're aiming to become Pros. And Pros can't settle for maintenance. UA expects you to push past your limits. To level up." He stopped walking. "So we won't just train your bodies. We'll train your Quirks the same way—by overloading them, stressing them, and forcing them to grow stronger!"
"Sir…" Ibara Shiozaki, having Vines Quirk, said, "… but overloading muscles can cause injuries, too."
Vlad King smirked. "That's why we are here," he said, stepping out of the forest, loud grunts already bombarding his ears. "You will be going beyond your limits under the eyes of Pros!"
Behind him, the students of 1-B looked down the cliff and… gasped.
…
In the large clearing in front of 1-A's campsite, and under the cliff that led to 1-B's campsite, all students had already begun working on their Plus Ultra training.
Katsuki Bakugo plunged his hands deep into the drum of boiling water. Then, as his face went red, his burning hands shot out of the water, his palms facing toward the sky.
A BOOM rang as Bakugo fired an explosion with his full power before plunging his hands right back into the drum.
The idea was to stimulate his sweat glands, making them expand.
But, even as he repeated the process the tenth time, he was already worrying about how to put the soles of his feet through the same training.
I will have to pull many all-nighters in secret… Bakugo thought, cursing. Dammit!
He faced his palms up and fired another explosion, the heat carrying not only power, but frustration.
Far from Bakugo, on a rock, Hanta Sero was continuously pouring out tapes from his elbows, trying to maintain its strength and consistency.
Ojiro and Kirishima were going all out against each other, training their body and tail respectively.
Far behind the two of them, on top of a small hill, large bolts of electricity were thundering, as Kaminari kept using his Quirk to charge an enormous battery to its full capacity.
Yuga Aoyama was firing laser after laser through his navel, holding back on the nauseous feeling as long as he could.
They had thrown Fumikage into a cave on a hillside, where he was pushing Dark Shadow to assume its worst form to control the wild transformation.
Uraraka was rolling down the same hill, simulating zero gravity, to train her ear canals, while keeping her Quirk activated on large rocks.
Tenya was wildly pushing his engines to run from one point of the hill to another, kicking all the rocks as they fell when Uraraka lost control over them.
Tsuyu was using her tongue as a rope to climb the hill repeatedly with no gear.
Sato and Momo were… eating cakes. The former was trying not to lose his mind while using his Quirk. The latter was continuously creating random objects, forcing her body to adapt to sudden gain and loss of fat.
Kyoka and Mina were bombarding a wall of rock with their Quirks as well, Mineta piling up balls of hair next to them, bleeding from the head.
Shoji had paired up with Lemillion, turning his appendages into ears and eyes, as the latter used Permeation repeatedly.
Also, Pixie-Bob had taken Toru to the forest, where they were playing hide-and-seek using hundreds of Earth Beasts to train her hiding skills.
And then there were…
Ice shot out of Todoroki's right side, threatening to freeze the entire world.
In the very next moment, Luke, standing a few meters away from him, snapped his fingers.
Nyx's red eyes let out a spiritual glow, as she used the Delay Quirk — covering Todoroki within an invisible spherical shell of 2-meter radius.
Everything slowed down in that spherical region.
The ice, which seemed to be advancing with an unstoppable pace moments ago, came to an abrupt halt, crawling forward frame by frame.
Todoroki was the same, completely failing to blink.
However, his thoughts hadn't slowed down at all.
So, with all his might, he pushed the ice side of his Quirk even stronger, resisting the arrested momentum.
The silent struggle lasted for 10 minutes, and then, with a BANG, the entire block of ice exploded, Todoroki, Luke, and Nyx falling forward, gasping.
When Nyx used Quirk, it didn't feel like it exacted any toll on Luke's body.
However, that was nothing but an unfounded myth.
Every bestowal of Quirk demanded a set of Stamina and Spirit Points. It was true that once activated, Luke didn't lose any of these two Points further. However, that bestowed Quirk only lasted until its Activation Limit, which was 10 minutes in the case of Delay.
Then, Luke needed to bestow the same Quirk on Nyx again to repeat the process.
Again.
Again and again.
"… Again…" Todoroki said, standing up.
Nyx cursed under her breath. "… Your wife will be lucky…"
Luke didn't even have the strength to gasp at that. So, he just smacked the back of her head, taking deep breaths.
"You… dare!" Nyx lunged at Luke, scratching his face.
Todoroki, panting out his lungs, watched as Nyx and Luke fought and smiled, hoping the three-week-long training would finally let him push past his limits…
… let him reach… the absolute ice of Dr. Blessed!
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