Recess

As we jogged to the next destination on our list, I hummed skeptically.

"Do you really think something like that would work?" I asked, receiving a nod from Manami.

"Eh, probably," Manami shrugged, looking around for a moment before continuing. "At the very least, it will disconnect you from the crime."

"True, that sounds believable. The part about acting like Seiryu himself would make things extremely hard to tie back to me, but to simultaneously act like him and not act like him has kind of got me lost."

"Eh, you're not just acting like him, you're replicating his skills. Of course, we're not gonna explain anything to anyone, but they'll create whatever stories they want. Seiryu is specifically a good option because that title almost guarantees that there are more to improve your mastery, right?" Manami hummed as I looked back to my title.

[The Dragon's Child]

Obtained by using all of the basic techniques of the ancient martial art within battle. You've become a proper student of Seiryu! Train hard to improve your mastery!

20% increase to the damage of Azure Dragon techniques.

20% increase to the defense of Azure Dragon techniques.

10% decrease to the cost of Azure Dragon techniques.

"Seems like it. It's useful when using the skills, but I have 'Amateur Monster Hunter' activated equipped right now. I'll switch when training and during the mission," I informed her.

[Amateur Monster Hunter]

Obtained by killing multiple boss monsters. You've slain several beasts of myth, but still have a long way to go before you reach the top! Become a true Monster Hunter to defeat these creatures with ease.

50% increase in damage against monsters.

50% increase in defense against monsters.

20% increase to experienced gained against monsters.

"The big point is, you know that the art isn't complete, but who else can say that? Even professionals would look at your mastery as impressive," She nodded before continuing. "And hey, if anyone did notice, it's not like they'd be able to fight you about it. You're still closer than thousands of others who've tried to do the same."

"I guess so," I agreed with a nod. "And I do plan on learning the rest in due time."

"Oh yeah, how close are you on that?" Dabi spoke up, sounding genuinely interested.

"Well, for the penultimate technique, I need 45 Strength, Vitality, and Dexterity, with 50 Intelligence, and Wisdom. I have 15 of the former three, with 51 Intelligence and 20 Wisdom," I informed him, and after a moment of doing the mental math, he spoke up.

"From what you told us, you just got 30 points too, right? Do you plan on using them soon, or are you going to wait on them?" Dabi asked.

"Well, I'm not using them on my physical stats, because those can rise through physical training. Wisdom though, hasn't ever risen through training or studying. I don't really want to but…." I let out a sigh.

"It would probably be smart to use them on Wisdom, right?" Manami finished my thought, receiving a dejected nod from me.

"My dear points, you will be remembered," I shook my head, expecting some sort of comment from Dabi. Upon receiving nothing though, I inserted my points and felt new energy wash through my body.

[Due to raising your Wisdom to 50, you have received a new skill. Skill: Elemental Affinity.]

[Elemental Affinity (Passive) Lv. 1]

Those who have learned about the secrets of the world have grown to understand the flow of energy to a deeper level than others. This skill increases the user's sensitivity to and control over those elements, improving their affinities with such elements.

25% increase to Mana Recovery Rate.

10% increase to Elemental Attack.

10% increase to Elemental Defense.

50% increase to efficiency of Elemental moves.

Once again, a loss of points was off set with the glee of a new boost in abilities.

"Speaking of points, what should I do with mine? I have 15 so far," Manami informed me, causing me to run over her stats before nodding silently.

"Because you're not fighting, the Strength and Vitality basically go out the window. Luck is never a real option for me, and Wisdom is more… meh. The obvious options are Dexterity, for speed while gathering info, or Intelligence, for y'know… intelligence," I told her, receiving a small nod from her.

"Since my Intelligence is at 93, it probably couldn't hurt to bring it above 100, right?" Manami asked.

"Yeah, it couldn't hurt. I also get additional skills upon passing 50 in my stats, so you could get one by passing 100," I told her, seeing as she nodded before inputting her stat points.

Under the gaze of my mask, I could see mana begin to densely gather around Manami, entering her body and giving her additional strength, or well, Intelligence. I didn't expect that energy to explode out of her after a moment though.

We all stopped running once it did, Dabi and I jumping away from Manami.

The move was unplanned but coordinated, a great sign of our similar thought processes.

The truth was, we didn't know the extent of my abilities, so we didn't know what would've happened to Manami. After a moment though, I could confirm it was still her.

Upon looking through her status screen for any changes, I noticed that her Quirk was named something different.

[Devotion: Depending on how devoted the user is to another individual, group of individuals, or a task, several buffs of varying power can be applied to several people. Currently limited to three individuals.]

"My Quirk… changed?" Manami looked to her hands, confusion filling her voice. I nodded, approaching the position I was at before. Dabi seemed more hesitant but did the same without a word.

"Didn't know my Quirk could do that, but… I think I just have to get used to being surprised with new developments. I know this is kind of life-changing for you, but I think we should keep moving," I told Manami, causing her to nod.

Manami put the rest of her points, which was seven, into Dexterity and we continued to run towards our destination.

After a few minutes of silence, Dabi spoke up.

"Life-changing shit aside, do we actually have any ideas about the plan? If we do, I'm left out of the loop. Fill me in," Dabi noted, causing Manami to nod quickly, shaking away the fair amount of shock she was going through.

It was understandable shock, but Dabi didn't really seem like the type to care.

"Right now, the plan is as such, Minoru will go for the Ultraphone while you'll be back-up and I'll be intel. We'll attack in the middle of the week to minimize getting students and civilians caught up in the situation. If all goes well, there'll be too much confusion for the workers to figure out what happened and because the Ultraphone is what's used to share information so quickly, we could get out before they even know what's happening," Manami told Dabi, receiving a nod then a questioning look from him.

"If that's the case, why don't we go right now?" Dabi questioned.

"There are several reasons. First, the timing. I already mentioned that we're going in the middle of the week, but the building does still have heroes that protect it. The good thing though, is that once a month, they have absolutely nobody protecting the Ultraphone directly. They've gotten too lax, so we'll use that to our advantage," Manami nodded, receiving a low grunt from Dabi.

"Second, we need to initiate the plan on a day when All Might has reached his limit of around three hours―he's been doing less hero work since around five years ago because of an accident with a villain. If we can initiate it at the proper times, we won't have to worry about running into a big problem."

"Third, we need to do it when Minoru is strong enough to survive any altercations. Despite what we want, something is going to crop up after we start our mission and while I'm not going to be in the middle of the problem and you're plenty strong enough on your own, Minoru isn't the same case. The best thing about him is that he can get stronger at an exponential rate. Within a few weeks he should be able to hold his own, so that he can at least run away when things get bad."

"Actually, it would be preferable if you can run away. You just need to store the Ultraphone in your Inventory and get the hell out of there ASAP. Preferably without warning anyone either, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there," Manami's comment was directed towards me, so I nodded in agreement.

"And the last thing is that we want Minoru to get in and out easy, so I'm doing some really basic info gathering. It's boring to let things run on their own, but it's far more effective in the long run. Running though emails, using basic passwords, that sort of thing," She shrugged. "While I'm handling all of that stuff, it's more effective for you two to be training over anything else."

Dabii nodded, "Makes sense. If all goes well, we won't face a single fight. Still, we should probably craft some plans against some heroes, just in case."

I nodded this time, "I agree. If we can find some videos of previous Sports Festivals and things like that, we can plan around anything that may crop up."

After all, that was the biggest issue with the Sports Festival when combined with the internet. While it was meant to calm the public and assure them that the next generation of heroes would be strong enough to protect them, it also allowed smart enough villains to plan around the students'―and by extension, future Pro-Heroes'―Quirks and abilities.

"As far as specific disguises though, do you have any idea about what Seiryu looked like?" I asked, receiving a less than confident nod from Manami.

"The records are questionable at best, but we can imagine what he looked like and adapt it to you. Some light blue―almost white but not quite there―eyes, icy blue hair, and probably some artificial tattoos just to nail the point home. They may not be easy to see under your cloak, but a disguise is good because it can have multiple layers. Underneath the mask with its weird identification effects is Meng Zhang, also known as Seiryu, and underneath a disguise underneath that mask is you. There are plenty of layers to make people confused."

"With the mask and cloak, you'll be pretty identifiable, but beyond that, we want you to be noticeable. We'll add some dragon tattoos to your arms and back, and possibly a tattoo with your name on the back. Of course, all of those will be applied by your disguise skill, so they won't be permanent. All of that topped off by your fighting style will create an image that is fairly hard to connect back to you."

"Ah, and you won't have an undershirt on, just to cement that image of a powerful martial artist that people are used to," Manami finished, nodding to herself.

Dabi and I met one another's gazes, blinking silently.

"Okay then. It sounds like you've got a solid idea of a plan," Dabi lifted his hands, resigning from his suspicions. "If it works, I won't doubt your abilities again."

With that, Manami smiled, and we fell into a peaceful silence upon approaching our next destination.

-----

"You guys should stay on your toes. This place looks more powerful than the last one. Unfortunately, it's the only place around here that looks efficient for experience points," Manami informed us.

Dabi shrugged aloofly, "We'll figure it out."

"With my new equipment, it couldn't be too bad. I should get three or four levels out of another boss, but I should ask if you wanted to join us," I looked to Manami as our running slowly fell to a walking pace. "It may not be too bad of an idea to have some fighting experience under our belts in case something happens."

Manami shook her head, "No, I don't think it fits me. I'll stay on the party for two or three more levels and put all the points into Dexterity, but then I'll leave so you can keep on the experience for yourself."

She looked confident in her choice, so I didn't press for a deeper explanation. I nodded before taking a deep breath.

We stood behind some trees, our destination, a dilapidated yet tall office building, standing ominously over the nearby buildings.

"We've gotta be careful about this one," I warned Dabi, who shrugged.

"I get it, the chances of being caught are higher, but we still have to do it. No big point in fretting over it," Dabi spoke flatly, totally reassuring me that he'd follow through with what he said he would.

He would though, I could tell. He was being careful; a good sign was the densely formed mana around the base of his feet. That was one of the many exceptionally good parts of my mask. The ability to see things that others couldn't―and probably wouldn't―account for.

Small things like where you're paying attention to on your body or when you were going to activate your Quirk were given away by the mana that flowed regardless of your will. I didn't know if anybody could redirect mana through any processes that I was unaware of, but as far as I knew, many people probably wouldn't.

That was one of the only reasons why I was okay with doing a dungeon in a building. The ability to see how mana is moving reassured me that no heroes―who I thought would've had more mana around them―were around, and that nobody was aware of our presence yet.

We had to get in, destroy the monsters inside, kill the boss, and get out, all while being stealthy.

That was definitely easier said than done.

Dabi's flames seemed like generally wide-ranged attacks so I couldn't even rely on him to save me if things went wrong. Of course, I think his physical abilities could help me out in a fight, but depending on what we were going up against, the efficiency of his physical attacks could be entirely lost.

The worst part about this is that we didn't know what we were going up against.

I could firmly say I didn't expect kobolds and a naga after fighting some skeletons and a martial artist. It could've been anything from a slime to… a dragon.

Of course, I really didn't want it to be a dragon, demon lord, or anything big, but I also didn't think that'd be happening anytime soon either.

Games had a decent way of leveling up, with things like giant dragons or demon lords being final bosses, not something you'd get as a second boss.

We'd simply have to stay on our toes, regardless of the type of enemy we would face.

"Ah, before you two go…." Manami took a deep breath, and I could see mana swell around her. She was certainly activating her Quirk. "I'll Devote my all to this mission!"

Pink energy flared up around her body, swirling all around her before that energy fueled Dabi's and my own, slowly changing into a blue and purple color, respectively. As the mana fueled with our bodies, I could feel my stats rise, even deepening my MP and HP.

"Whoa, this is useful," Dabi threw a few quick punches into the air, but all of them had a certain heaviness to them. "I feel light, reenergized."

"Thanks for the buff, Manami. We'll be in and out in a jiffy. If we're not out in… 30 minutes, call a Pro Hero Agency," I told her, receiving a soft nod from her before Dabi and I sped towards the building, our enhanced Dexterity helping us cross the distance between us and our destination in a few measly seconds.

"Ah, wait…!" I turned on a heel and jumped into a nearby alley, hopping from the two walls of the buildings until I got to the top of the smaller building. Dabi was quick to follow after me without a word, with a bit of propulsion of his flames to help him up.

"What is it?" Dabi asked, but I didn't care to respond, at least, not immediately.

There was something I'd almost forgotten in the heat of my new items, skills, and fights.

I pointed towards the parapet of the building's roof, activating Electricity Manipulation and pulling energy towards my finger. The power of Mana Blast filled at the tip of my finger, but instead of being purple, it was yellow, electricity filling the small orb instead of my normal mana. It resisted and tried to come apart, but with my mastery of Electricity Manipulation, Mana Affinity, Elemental Affinity, and my equipment, Vasukak and Ishikori helping me, it stayed together.

Then, I unleashed the energy, causing lightning to fly from my finger and entirely obliterate the brick that it slammed into, cracking the nearby bricks and melting the ones it hit directly.

[A new skill has been created through harnessing the power of harsh electricity. Skill: Lightning.]

"What the hell was that?" Dabi asked, but I didn't reply to him.

"Heheh… but I'm not done just yet…!" I ignored Dabi's―rightfully―confused gaze, recreating the skill with much more ease due to the skill, but this time, taking in more and more energy, and fusing my mana into it deeply.

The yellow orb became purple, a result of my mana overpowering the depth of the electricity. This one was becoming too powerful for my finger to hold on its own, so I pulled the orb into my hand, allowing it to expand and rest comfortably within my palm.

I pulled my hand back and let the energy fly with a push, and the uncontrollable energy came flying out of my hand towards the bricks.

This one tore through the bricks as if they weren't even there. The energy continued to pulse from my hand and scorched a deep scar into the road and cement, melting it in a rigid pattern that could held a clear resemblance to a lightning strike. The attack lasted for a few seconds―three, at most.

"What in the hell was that?" Dabi asked, sounding and looking several levels beyond―heh―shocked.

Just as I was about to tell him that I had no idea, a notification appeared in front of my face.

[You have created a new skill. What would you like to call it?]

I thought for a moment before nodding with a grin.

"Purple Thunder," I answered Dabi's and my Quirk's question at once.

[Purple Thunder (Active) Lv. 1 | MP: 100]

A technique formed of lightning and excess mana controlled by the user. With Electricity Manipulation, personally charged mana can be fired, but it holds more power than one may expect.

Power increases with Intelligence, skill level, and Electricity affinity.

This skill is only possible for those who are talented in manipulating both mana and the element of electricity.

50% defense penetration.

500% damage increase.

10 second charge time but can be charged up to 20 seconds.

There is an additional attack damage increase as charge time increases.

I explained the new skill to Dabi, receiving an impressed nod from him.

"It's useful, but very distinctive. If you use it as Meng Zhang, I don't think using it as Minoru Mineta is an option. Purple lightning with power like that is not something you see every day," He explained, and I nodded.

"I agree, but I think I'll manage. If I can get some other elemental skills, I won't have to just rely on Electricity anyways. Besides, I use it in more subtle ways than this, this is just… also useful," I shrugged. "I'm not gonna hold anything back though. I'll leave Pop-Off for Minoru, but everything else is on the table. This is more important than anything I've ever planned of doing, so I'll give it my all."

Dabi looked at me for a silent moment, then towards the destruction brought by my skill.

"If you say so," He resigned, turning to face the tall building. "You ready to head in?"

I nodded, "Yeah, let's go."