Ch 42 – A Simulated Reality

In District 7 of Academy City, a grand academy could be located right in the middle of the district where the grand educational institute Zenith Academy is located, the place where the most brilliant of minds are forged from rough gems to crystal clear diamonds of unrivaled worth and beauty.

Within that academy, there resides many powerful Level 5 Espers and the grand Kings of Academy City, wielding unrivaled might in their own right with no other espers ever hoping to match their power. And the Immortal King, a being whose power is just downright absurd that it even outshines, no, eclipses past the boundaries of the King of Reality who is capable of bending reality on a whim.

But that balance, the normal status quo is soon going to be broken, and that balance would break in due time upon the arrival of a crimson blur in front of the open gates of Zenith Academy where students wearing grand uniforms consisting of a cloak-like long sleeve black blazer having gold designs running along the cloak-like blazer, and a pair of black pants having a similar design with the upper body uniform.

On their chest resides the crest of Zenith Academy showing off a design that consists of the themes of mind, power, education, and science, a fitting design for an academy that prides itself as the greatest of greatest in this peculiar world.

Halting his rapid movements, Braun glances at the open gates of Zenith Academy and looks at the other students walking around him with calculating but calm eyes, from the espers flying around to the ones showing off their abilities, their secrets were revealed to him but he didn't bother gaining those abilities for himself to not clutter his ability list, a regretful decision that he did in another Quirkverse where he took AFO and gathered millions upon billions of quirks and didn't master any quirk to their fullest potential.

Now, he knows he must take strong esper abilities and not copy any ability willy nilly, he already created a list of esper abilities he would want for himself and master them, but it doesn't hurt having the 'blueprints' of these esper abilities so he could construct any ability that he wants later after doing enough research, but his base ability of telekinesis is more than versatile enough already.

'Esper Ability, Lucky Nine: Allows the holder to gather up to 9 different esper abilities and could replace those abilities whenever they please. That's a good enough reason for my absurd ability, and I'll just say to copy those abilities, I would have to observe the ability for a certain period of time up close to copy it. And it is 9 because that is the max number of information my brain could handle at any given moment and could bring some leeway to getting more abilities later on.' Braun thought while ignoring walking through the crowd of students as nobody there even recognized that he was the one who was running super fast a few moments ago as his presence lowers to unnoticeable amounts.

'Good thing I have no friends with the back story given by the system. Now I only need to quietly grow in power then just bust open the door and somehow become a Level 5 Esper out of nowhere.' Braun thought while walking away from the crowd of students gathering at the academy's entrance and instead walks towards the open field of Zenith Academy to gather intel and to find some abilities he could copy for now considering the 10 Kings wouldn't appear out in the open, well maybe the King of Body will considering his outgoing attitude.

Walking around with observant eyes, he found some interesting abilities and decides to get Teleportation for now as it is a very practical ability for him, and considering he already sealed his OFA quirk while still keeping the permanent enhancement brought by New Order, he lacked a bit in the versatility department as he just received his psychic abilities a few minutes ago, not even an hour has passed and he was already capable of doing very advance techniques and abilities like flight with telekinesis.

With a slight smile on his face, he walks toward the large building in the distance where his classroom is located with steady breaths while his telekinetic strength is growing steadily indicated by the 5 metallic balls within his bag constantly moving with minute movements showing his intricate control over his new ability.

Standing in front of Class 1-A's metallic door, he watches it automatically open upon standing in front of it and sees all of his classmates staring at him with condescending eyes, but he simply smiled at them and watches all of the girls suddenly have slight rosy tints on their cheeks, but one was different, and it was Amber Phoenix, his dear neighbor who despise his powerless ass.

Taking a quick glance at the whole classroom, he slowly walks to his seat located in the far back of the room in the left-most seat, the seat just directly beside Amber's seat which was quite funny to Braun, an act of enjoying the simple things in life and being open-minded, a development that was quite surprising considering he was a sociopathic monster a few years ago who only lusted for growth.

Dragging his seat back, he sits down on his comfortable wooden chair and lies down both of his hands on the wooden table.

Now that he was finally here and gathered more intel, he closes his eyes to think more about future plans.

'Considering I actually have no need for the system, I'll just do the side objectives for the trials and tribulations it would bring. A sort of training that I could take. But for now, demonstrating my abilities is a must and I could show it off with today's combat test. Once I show my power, I would instantly go from Level 0 to something higher, hopefully, Level 3 or Level 4 in one go.' Braun thought, deducing many possible futures of what his actions could lead to due to his abnormal mental prowess.

'Hmm, there is a chance I would become an experimental subject but I could just instantly go guns blazing. Instead, it would be more likely that they would ask what my ability is and I could explain it to them, say that I couldn't copy the abilities of any of the 10 Kings due to their abilities being too complex for my current mind and instead copy 8 other abilities and get special treatment from the higher-ups.' Braun thought, deducing many variables and future possibilities that it is just imaginable and incomprehensible to any biological mind.

But out of nowhere, he senses the air inside his field slightly whooshing and without even opening his eyes, the ball of paper thrown at him suddenly halts in mid-air and without any reservation, the crumpled paper turns around and shoots straight into his number one bully, Zach's head.

Surprise at the sudden turn of events, Zach, who has spiky red hair, red eyes and red eyebrows, jagged teeth, and wearing the Zenith Academy school uniform, lets out a shout when the paper ball hits him straight in the middle of his forehead with enough force to push him off his chair causing everyone else in the class to laugh.

"Shut up!" Zach shouts, rubbing his forehead that has formed a red mark showing just how strong that paper ball was.

"You! Who the fuck redirected that paper ball at me!" Zach shouts while standing up, veins popping out of his forehead while a slight golden glow covers his body causing his muscles to slightly inflate and have a metallic sheen to them.

Glancing around with anger in his eyes, he founds that nobody responded to him even though he was Zach of the Goldenbody family, a family who gave birth to his older brother, Alex Goldenbody, the 10th king of Academy City, King of Body.

"I did you stupid fucking retard," Braun said, standing up while his eyes open with a slight squint to them, a smug smirk plastered on his face causing everyone else in the room to be shocked including Amber Phoenix.

"You?! Freidrich motherfucking Braun?! Oh please! You can't even hurt a fly you little twi- ah!" Zach shouts while laughing his ass off, that was until he suddenly sees his pants pulled down to reveal his gray boxers to the whole world causing the girl's in the classroom to blush.

"YOU!" Zach shouts as he hastily pulls his pants up from the ground while his face became red from embarrassment, gritting his teeth, the golden glow around his body getting brighter due to his emotions fueling his esper ability to become stronger.

But suddenly, Zach felt a hand suddenly grabbing his shoulders causing him to let out a loud shriek.

"Mister Zach and Freidrich, could you please tell me what is happening today?" their teacher, Vergil who has the ability to manipulate Space and is a Level 5 Esper said, causing Zach's heart to skip a beat.

"Well mister Vergil, my dearest of classmate Zach here threw a paper ball at me and I decided to use my newfound telekinetic abilities at him but accidentally used too much force and caused unwanted conflict. I must say my sincerest of apologies fellow student Zach Goldenbody, and if you really want to consolidate this conflict, we could fight against one another in a friendly battle in today's sparring session," Braun said eloquently as everyone looks at him as if he was an animal in a zoo, well it's not their fault for doing that at his sudden personality change.

"Well thank you for the explanation, Freidrich, both of you may take your seats now," Vergil said, letting go of Zach's shoulders and walking to the front of the class.

Sitting down, Braun glances at Vergil and inspects his appearance. Having slick void black hair, that complements well with his jet-black eyes, black suit, and his pale white skin that gives him a monochromatic look due to his black suit consisting of a white, long sleeve shirt underneath and a black tie.

"Eh herm, if student Freidrich Braun doesn't mind explaining to us, could you please entertain our curiosity upon how you suddenly became a potential Level 3 esper and your sudden personality change," Vergil said, worry clear in his eyes indicating his concern for his precious genius student Freidrich Braun, a shy mess of a kid who can't even stand up for himself with his bullies formed from past traumas and being an orphan taken by Zenith Academy due to his prodigal mind.

But that was not all, he wanted to know what happened to Freidrich Braun due to the chill that formed in his spine when he looks straight into Braun's eyes, it was as if those eyes could suck his mind in and swallow him whole, as if the mere thought of opposing him would lead to his death, a gut feeling he formed from the years of experience he accumulated throughout his life.

"Gladly!" Braun said, standing up from his seat and walking in front of the whole class with a slight grin on his face that makes anyone look at him calm down, it was as if his face was a calm lake that would put anyone into a meditative trance that only causes Vergil to be more alert at Braun's sudden change.

Standing in front of the whole class, Braun clears his throat and opens his mouth while all of his classmates anticipate his reasoning, trying to see if he somehow unlocked a cheat code to become stronger.

"Well mister Vergil, it was all due to an accident that suddenly happened at around 7 am on Saturday. While I was in my living room, I accidentally tripped and slammed head first into the wooden table in my living room, pathetic I know, like wooden? Am I living in poverty?! Well indeed yes fellow classmates of mine, I'm indeed considered less fortunate compared to you guys. But I'm not done mister Vergil, so please close your mouth for now," Braun said while shaking his head.

"After that, I woke up and my mind became big brain squared levels of big brain. From multitasking to parallel processing, everything became clear to me. And finally, to the forbidden fruit of that traumatic event of almost killing myself, my special, super-duper special magical omega mega giga super looper cheater power, I call, Lucky Nine. It allows me to copy up to 9 esper abilities at once upon enough observation and understanding of how those powers work. And as a demonstration, could mister Vergil please show us your mega broken ability Space Manipulation," Braun said with a calm smile on his face and his explanation causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock at his absurd ability.

"Are you sure you have that ability?" Vergil asks, his eyes widening upon the realization of Braun's potential.

"Just do it mister Vergil so we could get this all over with. But it might take me a few good minutes of close observation to see it work, and no, I think getting the Reality Warping of the King of Reality is too much for my brain, in fact, I think from the 10 Kings, I would only be able to copy the King of Body's ability, so no, I'm not that overpowered compared to the Immortal King," Braun explains while rolling his eyes, answering Vergil's question without him even asking it in the first place.

Sighing, Vergil stands in front of Braun and demonstrates his ability, following Braun's instructions and after a good while, everyone in the class watches Braun create a tear in space just like Vergil causing a loud uproar, especially Amber and Zach who looks at Braun in disbelief.

"Yes yes, I know! Surprising innit? To think I, the baby powerless loser of Class 1-A of Zenith Academy is now this unrivaled gigachad who could have up to 9 fucking abilities, yeah, suck your mom's tits motherfuckers! You ain't licking these toes any time soon! I'm going to be a Level 5 esper in mere weeks and before you knew it, I would have become one of the 10 Kings already, so fuck you, Zach! Say goodbye to your family's pride and joy Alex Goldenbody who is going to be replaced by me!" Braun shouts while pointing his middle finger at Zach who looks at him in dread.

But soon, everything within the room comes to a sudden halt and then the whole scene suddenly explodes into tiny little crystal fragments revealing Braun floating in his void mindscape, sitting in a lotus position butt naked to show his toned, model-like body.

'Hmm, if I chose that path, it would have definitely made things a lot faster but the risk factor isn't worth it, I'll just reveal more of my abilities and explain it to Vergil later when we are alone and when he would eventually ask me about my ability and rank me up accordingly.' Braun thought, revealing the events after the both of them sat down was a mere simulation in his mind, a broken ability that would be envied by many, and perhaps some may even use it for more… indecent means.

AN: This is 2572 words, you're welcome.

I bet some of you guys got bamboozled by this chapter, did you really think Braun, the man with the minds nearing the borders of divine, would act that crudely?! Well actually yes, he would indeed act like that if the situation calls for it because big brain.

Writing a chapter takes me more than an hour, so send me some powerstones.

(June 7, 2022 – 195th day of writing)