Isaiah stood in the center of his bedroom, hands on hips, surveying the transformation. The walls, once plastered with an obsessive shrine to heroism, now stared back at him with blank, cream-colored expanses. Only faint rectangles of slightly darker paint marked where posters had hung for years.
Stacked cardboard boxes lined one wall, each neatly labeled in Inko's careful handwriting. "Collectible Figures," "Limited Edition Posters," "Hero Movies." The burial containers for a dead boy's dreams.
The door clicked shut behind him. Inko had just left after pressing a maternal kiss to his forehead.
"Mission accomplished," he murmured, rolling his shoulders.
『You play the traumatized son remarkably well. I almost believe you myself.』
Isaiah ignored Arcan's commentary and walked to his desk. There, in splendid isolation on the otherwise empty surface, stood a single, pristine All Might figure. The Golden Age edition, still in its original packaging.
On the wall above hung a solitary poster—an abstract composition of blues and greens that suggested motion and power without depicting any specific hero.
"Plausible deniability," Isaiah explained, adjusting the figurine's position by a quarter inch. "Total rejection would raise questions. This way, I'm not erasing my past—I'm 'maturing' beyond a childish obsession."
『Calculating. I suppose that's why you kept the most valuable piece too?』
Isaiah smirked. "That's just good business. This little guy's worth three times what the others sell for combined."
He sat on his bed, bouncing once to test the mattress. This body felt so light, so underdeveloped. In his old life, he'd been wiry but tough, conditioned by street fights and survival. This vessel was soft, maintained only by the minimal fitness standards of Japanese schools.
"To build a real foundation," he said to the empty room, "I need to know exactly what I'm working with."
He lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "System."
The air before him filled with a translucent blue-black interface. Six options hovered at the main menu:
STATUS | INVENTORY | GACHA | QUEST | PILLARS | SHOP
Isaiah narrowed his eyes. The last two items—PILLARS and SHOP—were grayed out, shimmering with faint text that read "Recalibrating..."
"What's wrong with those?" he asked, pointing.
Arcan's voice dripped with smug satisfaction. 『You broke it, genius. You chose an off-menu item, so the kitchen is re-tooling the entire assembly line to accommodate your special order.』
"In plain English, please."
『Custom paths have custom rollouts. Some features remain locked until you meet hidden progression flags. You wanted to be special? Congratulations. You get to play on Hard Mode.』
Isaiah scowled. "Fine. Let's see what does work."
He tapped STATUS, and the familiar screen expanded before him:
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Level: 1 | Title: Quirkless Loser | Class: None | Attribute Points: 50
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: F(0/25) | Agility: F(0/25) | Vitality: F(0/25)| Intelligence: F(0/25) | Sense: F(0/25) | Aura: F(22/25) |
Active Abilities [0/2]:
Passive Abilities [0/4]:
Skills and Traits:
Isaiah sat up straight, eyes locked on the unfamiliar stat. "What's Aura? That wasn't there before."
Arcan's voice took on an instructional tone. 『That's the unique perk of your 'Opportunist' path. Heroes get Charisma. Villains get Intimidation. You, you little schemer, get Aura.』
"And what exactly does it do?"
『It measures your presence, your ability to command a room through sheer force of personality—whether with a smile or a threat. It's the stat of a king.』
Isaiah's eyes gleamed. A stat that measured pure influence, the ability to dominate others. Perfect.
"Put all fifty AP into Aura," he commanded.
A harsh red [ERROR] message flashed across his vision, accompanied by a grating sound:
[THIS ATTRIBUTE CANNOT BE MANUALLY UPGRADED]
Isaiah sat up, scowling. "What the hell?"
Arcan's laughter filled his mind, bright with malicious glee. 『Oh, I'm sorry, did you think you could just buy your way to a legendary presence? You can't. You can't buy respect, you can't buy fear, and you certainly can't buy Aura.』
"Then what's the point of having it?"
『That, you have to earn through your actions. It's the stat that can only grow naturally based on the weight of your deeds and the power of your reputation. It's also the only stat that isn't level-capped.』
Isaiah frowned. "Level-capped? What are you talking about?"
A long-suffering sigh echoed through his mind. 『Pay attention, because I'm only saying this once.』
The interface shimmered, reorganizing into a more structured display.
『Everything is ranked, from F to S, with some freaks even pushing beyond that. You're at the bottom. F-Rank. A statistical anomaly someone forgot to delete.』
The screen highlighted his F-Ranks, pulsing them red.
『Your stats have a ceiling based on your rank. As an F-Ranker, you cannot push any single stat past 25 points. Strength, Agility, all of them. Hit 25, and you're maxed out for this tier.』
"That's stupid," Isaiah growled. "Why would—"
『It forces weaklings like you to have a balanced diet instead of just eating your favorite stat candy,』 Arcan interrupted. 『The System doesn't want one-dimensional fighters. It wants survivors.』
The screen shifted again, displaying a formula that made Isaiah's head hurt.
『The cost to raise a stat increases with each rank. Right now, it's cheap—5 AP per point. When you hit E-Rank, it'll be 10 AP. By the time you're sniffing A-Rank, you'll be spending hundreds of points for a single nudge. The System rewards early investment.』
"So with fifty points, I can only raise ten levels total right now."
『Correct. And choose wisely. Early mistakes cost more to fix later.』
"This is ridiculous," Isaiah muttered. "So once I max out my stats for F-Rank, I automatically rank up to E, right?"
A harsh buzzer sound made him wince.
『Wrong. When you max out your stats for a rank, you don't just magically level up. The System issues a Rank-Up Quest. A trial.』
"Like what?"
『It could be anything from 'Survive a fight with a Villain' to 'Successfully manipulate a Pro Hero.' You pass the test, you pay the AP fee, and only then do you get to climb to the next rung of the ladder.』
Isaiah stood up, pacing the room. "Let me get this straight. I'm stuck at the bottom with almost no points. I can't make meaningful progress until I complete some arbitrary challenge. And even basic upgrades will cost more the stronger I get?" He ran his hands through his hair. "This system is designed to keep people weak."
『No,』 Arcan corrected, her voice suddenly serious.
『It's designed to make sure that the host knows the responsibility needed to wield such power. The universe doesn't hand out participation trophies.』