5 Chapter 5

Staring at the mirror, I yawned, steeling myself for another school day, getting ready for the school bus. I was quite sleepy because I had spent the night training.

I had noticed that with each mana stone I absorbed, my absorption rate increased, yet the speed of the powering-up process slowed down a bit

But it wasn't bad because I was almost three times stronger than originally. It meant that I could put up a fight against the bullies who had physical power enhancement quirks. Not only because of the strength but also because of the improved reflexes. Now that I was at 8th rank warrior, I could feel red mana burning around my heart.

I had thought I'd feel good with the results. But I was a bit frustrated for one reason. 

'That damn Orochimaru, he didn't tell me I couldn't absorb the chakra unless I level up. For some reason, I feel that he had gotten my little brother's balls for cheap.'

I quickly checked the system's notifications, finding out that all of the sticky balls were sold. Now I had nearly 500 coins, which was enough to buy a few medicines and mana crystals. But I chose not to do that for now. There was no need to hurry. Once Orochimaru cloned Mineta's balls, getting coins would become passive. And I could spend as much as I liked. I put the rest of the sticky balls on sale, and then I made my way to school. 

Since I've set leveling up my character to level 2 as a goal, I needed to keep the money and use it wisely. The way to make it to the 2nd level was by making achievements. I could upgrade my storage, which could count as an achievement. Making my first 500 coins was also an achievement, which I just made. Making ten trades, 20 trades, and so on. 

After I sighed, I entered the school, hands in my pocket, noticing that a couple of guys were giving me hateful gazes. They were Teddy Bear henchmen whom I was blackmailing. Although their money wouldn't contribute anything, it was fun to tease them. 

"Look. All Might," one guy with glasses pointed at the window. 

I turned my head and looked at the window, which happened to be big and gave a large view. But there was no All Might in sight. Was I too slow? Anyway, my ears perked, and my senses alerted me of an attack. When I lowered my head, I saw two hands extending to my legs, another couple of hands going after my phone in my pocket. 

Had it been me a week ago, I could be helpless in this situation. But not anymore. I jumped, dodging in the air. Then I landed on my butt on the guy who tried to hold my legs. 

I've never been prouder of anything in my life. 

I looked at the guy I was sitting on, and the one in front of me. Those were the ones who were counted as money cows. It seemed that they wanted to rebel. 

"What are you doing guys? If you want my search history to blackmail back, I'll have you know. I have no shame," I said, giving the guy I was sitting on a smack. "And for you two, I'll see you in court." I then stood up. 

The two of them rushed behind me, yelling, "Please, we were stupid." 

"It wasn't my idea, it was his," yelled the other one. "I was threatened." 

"Save your excuses for your parents," I said, ignoring them. 

"Please, forgive us," one of them started crying. 

I looked into his eyes, saying, "I'll leave it for now. But don't do it again."

"Thank you." 

"We won't cross you again," they said. 

I started feeling bad for deceiving them. I didn't forgive them. I just wanted to have time to remove the blackmail evidence. I reached my phone and deleted everything in the chat group. Since this was 2100+, the privacy policy was quite strict, and you couldn't take screenshots. Also, after 24 hours, every piece of evidence would disappear. Besides, even if they did have evidence, I could say that I did so to prevent them from bullying others. 

Although they were individuals with a future, and even though I didn't want to punish them, my word came before all. If they had any bright future, it could be saved only by making a settlement. 

'If the chicken doesn't lay gold anymore, it's better to open its stomach and get what's left before cooking it.' 

I then sent the video to my mom, typing, ("Contact a lawyer after 24 hours, I'm going to court.") 

Now, I had more important matters. When I was in class, I put my hand on my right eye to hide the changing colors, looking at the system and thinking about what I was about to do. 

[10 Super Sticky Balls had been sold] [+300 coins] [You got an achievement: Making 10 trades] [+100 coins] 

I now had over 900 coins, nearing 1000, which would count as an achievement. It could be easily achieved by Mineta, who still owed me 80 balls. My little brother would work harder once he realized that his money would be gone and his date wouldn't show interest in him. And then, he'd come back crawling, begging for a job, and he would work for cheaper. I wasn't a bad brother; I was training Mineta before he could enter U.A. 

I upgraded my storage for 100 coins, then another 200 coins, then another 300. It now had a space of 5x4x3 meters. 

[Achievement unlocked: Upgrading storage to level 4] [+200 coins] 

Back to 500-something coins. 

But I was going to spend them since trading was going to get me achievements anyway. 

[+10 healing potions] [-100 coins] [+ Muscle tearing medicine (Tear the muscles and build them again) -200 coins] 

With muscle-tearing medicine, my muscles would get torn, which would rebuild them again. I might end up getting sore for a week because of it. That's why I had healing potions. Also, I had another purpose in mind for having my body get hurt, which was to put on a show. 

[+4 Mana crystals: immediate grade] 

My coins almost hit zero, and my head fell on the table. Although I shopped, I didn't feel as good as I had anticipated. I felt broke, and I had that feeling in my gut, the kind of depressing feeling one would have until the day payment. 

'Heroes are rich enough to buy vast lands, buy expensive buildings. I mean, UA had a huge budget and could build a whole city as a testing site. If I were a hero, I would have enough money to become just a shopper in the system.' 

'Besides, I'm going to high school, whether it's a hero course or not…' 

'The summer vacation is near, and during it, we'd have the entrance exams for hero schools.' 

After school, I didn't talk to anyone and directly rushed to my room. 

I was determined to become a rich hero. After all, being a hero was a job, like being a famous actor. But you'd get paid a ton of tax money. 

Laying on my bed, I brought the Muscle Tearing medicine out of storage. Taking a sip of this should be like spending a few days in the gym, and it seemed to have around 10 good sips in it. Moreover, the more you use the medicine, the more quantity you need for it to be effective. 

I'd admit that my next move was stupid because I drank the medicine without having the healing potion next to me.

All of my muscles were getting torn, an unbelievable pressure applied to my whole body. I endured it. The pain got more intense as if I were nails being hammered on me. I opened my eyes widely and grabbed the pillow, biting it and using it to muffle my screams.

Once the pain became more intense, numbness took over every fiber of my body. 

I started breathing heavily, barely able to move my limbs. 

'With this, I could put on an act in court and count it as training. Two birds with one stone.' 

'Would the healing potions work without protein? Shit… I should have bought protein powder first.' 

I still had around $100 worth of yen. The next thing I did was order protein powder. 

My door opened, and I saw mom there. I looked at her with tears in my eyes. 

"Don't cry, son. Those bullies will no longer hurt you," she said before closing the door. 

I was suffering because of the medicine, but I barely had enough energy to explain the situation. After I took a nap, I recovered a bit. When I walked to the door to receive my protein powder, I could barely move as each muscle was sore. The posture that I had taken was so weird that when the delivery guy saw me, he cringed right away. 

When I paid him and took my protein powder, which weighed less than a kilo, it fell down. I had no power. 

"Your problem is in your bones. Protein won't solve it. Try calcium," said the delivery guy before walking away. 

'Everyone knows something these days.' I sighed as I closed the door.