In a world where the gods gift a chosen few with great powers, Sam Shepard could be counted among the weakest of the weak. His crappy healing ability can’t even cure minor injuries without having to drain Sam’s own life force to do it. Hero society doesn't think Sam's useful, and after failing to heal those he was tasked to save, Sam couldn't help but agree. But it turns out that giving up the hero's life isn’t easy. Not when one’s caught in the machinations of the gods themselves.

After Sam gets pulled into rescuing the hero Thunder, he inherits a strange ability from her: the training system that taught Thunder how to become a top hero. Triple-A apparently holds the secret to leveling up one's power, a feat previously thought to be impossible. Not that it'll be easy to achieve...

A series of challenging missions and the occasional hero lesson from the system’s creator guarantee a lot of cuts and bruises in Sam's immediate future. But at least he finally gets the chance to go from zero to hero. Oh, yeah, there are also ghastly horrors and megalomaniac supervillains to contend with on Sam’s path to becoming the symbol of hope that humanity needs.

Level UP Hero

His next lesson was quite simple in its application. All Sam had to do was swing Gram in a downward motion from a high-guard stance five thousand times. If he did that, then Chiron guaranteed he would learn something truly amazing. 


“I-I have to swing my sword”—Just like that, his focus broke—“f-five thousand times?!” 


Sam had yelled so loudly that Thunder spared him a glance. She mouthed an, ‘Everything okay?’ while dodging the air blade projectile that fake Superion threw at her. 


Remarkably, her virtual opponent hadn’t been destroyed by Skyfang’s power. It was a testament to the resilience of Marcus Flint’s hard-light technology. 


Sam shook his head and mouthed back. ‘Chiron’s crazy!’ 


Thunder gave him a sympathetic smile along with, ‘I know, but you can do this,’ just before she disappeared in a shower of electrical sparks that trailed after her. 


Practice Makes Perfect, Part 2