Arata slammed his palm against the metal desk, the sharp clang echoing through the lab.
The supercomputer's massive display flashed red again— ALGORITHM FAILURE: MERGE ERROR.
He stared at it, jaw clenched, breath uneven.
'Again… it failed again…'
Arata dragged a hand down his face before slumping back in his chair, the wheels creaking softly. The sheer exhaustion of iteration after iteration pressed against his temples like a tightening vice.
The merging process—the third step— was proving far more monstrous than he expected.
He leaned back, eyes drifting to the giant holographic panel where his process outline hovered:
Step 1: Decode the quirk DNA → Store digitally → Create artificial quirk cores.
Step 2: Convert compatible quirks into microchips → Quirk chips.
Step 3: Merge cores using singularity-simulation algorithms → Create a new evolved quirk core.
Step 4: Stabilize, condense → Transform into an Infinity Stone.
He exhaled slowly.
'The third step… why is it this stubborn?'
The difficulty only meant one thing—the Infinity Stones, once completed, would be beyond anything this world had ever seen.
But right now?
He couldn't even get the first one.
He let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling lights until they blurred.
'Screw it… I should cool off. Maybe I'll just make some more quirk-chip weapons…'
Arata turned to another folder on the supercomputer— the one labeled QUIRK DNA STORAGE.
At least 10,000 samples sat inside, neatly categorized.
He clicked it open, scrolling.
'So many options… but I shouldn't get carried away. If I keep making new weapons without mastering any, I'll end up being…'
His hand froze mid-scroll.
'…a jack of all but a master of none.'
He blinked.
Then he blinked again.
Slowly, he sat upright—eyes widening.
"Wait."
He closed the DNA folder instantly and reopened the Space Stone project file.
Images flashed on the screen—failed merges, corrupted cores, unstable outputs.
He leaned forward, typing quickly.
'I've been brute-forcing it… throwing every compatible quirk core into the mix and hoping the algorithm works. But that's not evolution. That's chaos.'
His heart pounded.
'No… I have to treat this like a puzzle. Piece by piece. Compatibility first. Structure second. Small merges. Slow merges.'
Like a jigsaw puzzle.
Not a blender.
Not a lottery.
The realization hit him like lightning.
His fingers flew over the keys. His mouse moved with controlled intensity. The supercomputer hummed louder as the new algorithm assembled itself—structured, logical, incremental.
Time began to melt.
The world outside vanished.
Only the screen existed.
Sweat trickled down Arata's forehead as his eyes darted between lines of code, compatibility indexes, and quirk-core energy graphs.
Minutes turned into hours.
Four hours passed before Arata finally stopped typing.
He stared.
His heartbeat stuttered.
There, on the screen—
A glowing, rotating digital core of pure blue-white energy.
QUIRK EVOLUTION SIMULATION: SUCCESS
The bold green letters almost blinded him.
Arata slapped both hands over his mouth, eyes trembling.
'No way… no way… I did it… I actually—'
He stood so abruptly that the chair rolled back and slammed into the equipment rack.
"YES!"
His shout shook the lab.
He grabbed his phone, scrolled through playlists with trembling fingers— And blasted a loud DJ track.
Arata danced—full body, wild movements, absolutely no rhythm—for fifteen whole minutes.
When the track finally ended, he flopped back into his chair, chest heaving, face flushed.
His eyes softened as he stared at the floating digital core again.
'The Space Stone… the first step… I really did it.'
But the excitement slowly gave way to realization.
He hadn't created the stone yet.
He'd only made the core.
He still needed a machine capable of condensing, stabilizing, and crystallizing the energy.
And that machine…
'Will need a terrifying amount of power.'
The problem could be ignored for the other stones— once he had even one Infinity Stone, its energy output would be more than enough to power the creation of the others.
But the first?
He needed an external source.
A powerful one.
He sat there for several minutes, chin resting on his clasped hands.
Then he began searching—typing, scrolling, scanning through hundreds of sources.
Government facilities.
Power plants.
Black-market reactors.
Scientific hubs.
International labs.
It took almost an hour before a listing on a secured dark-web auction page made him pause.
He clicked it open.
A legal 7-day pass to I-Island was being auctioned illegally, since its tickets were always monitored by the government.
I-ISLAND!
The world's greatest technological sanctuary.
A 95% metal, man-made floating fortress.
Home to the most advanced quirk-engineering labs on the planet.
Arata leaned back, mind racing.
'I-Island… best equipment, best power supply, best tech. And no villain activity because it belongs to David Shield, All Might's old support engineer.'
He drummed his fingers on the table slowly.
'No villain would dare touch the place. Not when All Might could show up. Well....except for that 200 something year old potato man.'
But Arata knew something the black market didn't.
'All Might can't come. Not anymore. He's already injured. Already fading.'
He let out a slow breath.
'I-Island… this might actually work.'
And even if something did go wrong?
Arata's eyes drifted to 2 small metallic chips on the table.
The first chip was labelled "Super Radio Waves", and the second was labelled "Compress".
He reached toward it, fingertips brushing the cool metal surface of both chips.
His eyes narrowed.
'I have a very strong Ace up my sleeve.'