140 MHA 14
I sighed, not out of fatigue, but out of habit, as I finally settled onto the sofa in front of the TV. The apartment was enveloped in a peaceful silence, broken only by the gentle splashes of water coming from the bathroom where Olivia was indulging in a long, relaxing bubble bath. Meanwhile, Sky lay sprawled out on my lap, peacefully asleep, offering both warmth and comfort as I sat there, lost in my own thoughts.
It had been a long day, full of fun, excitement, and a final goodbye.
After the fight with the lackluster heroes, I met up with Eri, Olivia, and Sky, and took them to this world's equivalent of Disneyland, located on the other side of the globe. The themed rides, roller-coasters, and haunted houses weren't as entertaining as I hoped they would be, well, not for me or Olivia, but Eri and Sky enjoyed it, so we couldn't truly complain.
In hindsight, I should have thought about it. Compared to our max speeds, with Olivia's closing in on Mach 6 and mine steadily standing at Mach 4, these rides were excruciatingly slow. However, we endured it without a word. Because Eri's childish screams laughs and smiles brought an unusual warmth into both of our hearts.
From Olivia's occasional stealthy glances and her gentle interactions with Eri, I knew her motherly instincts had awakened, and I understood I didn't have a lot of 'freedom' left.
After our little excursion, I employed my vast arsenal of powers to find perfect candidates for Eri's future family. Many people wished to adopt, but only a few could get through my meticulous screening process. Some had future money troubles, others had hidden problems with law enforcement, while others had pity-driven reasons for adoption, like trying to save their marriage through a child.
All of those were ignored, and some were even anonymously reported to the authorities. In the end, I narrowed down the list of millions to barely three families and allowed Eri to choose. At first, she was reluctant, as during the two days she spent with us, she had grown extremely fond of us and our hectic lifestyle. However, maybe due to her heightened intelligence, she understood that she couldn't stay.
She made a logical choice, selecting a family that wanted a child but, for medical reasons, couldn't have one naturally. My mental scans of them didn't uncover any damning evidence and they were a genuinely nice and loving couple, eager to extend their family with a child. They were financially stable, with a larger sum of money in their bank accounts, and lived in the suburbs of a fairly calm neighborhood. It was a perfect, albeit maybe a bit boring, choice, but it promised a normal childhood with a loving family, and Eri understood that.
Before we said our goodbyes, I fulfilled my promise and granted Eri the abilities I had promised, uploading my experiences with them directly into her mind, and bringing my total skill count down to 121. This gave her a fairly good comprehension and control over these powers right from the start. However, I knew that to master them fully, she would need to study subjects like thermodynamics, atomic physics, chemistry, and even biology. Simultaneously, I used [Overhaul] and repaired her DNA, extending her lifespan by a good seventy to a hundred years. She had a long and exciting journey ahead, and from the glimpse I took into her future, I knew she will achieve grand feats.
Another sigh escaped my lips as I dug my fingers through Sky's fur, reminiscing about Eri's tears and warm hug as I placed her in the arms of her new adoptive mother. It tugged at my heart in an unusual way. I found myself reflecting on the strange evolution of my [Mind Discipline] skill, as I wasn't particularly fond of these sentimental feelings.
During the retelling of the most exciting part of my so-called fight, Olivia, fresh out of the bathroom, covered by only a single fluffy towel, finally joined me on the sofa. I wrapped my arm around her, and the sensation of her damp hair brushing against me sent electric shocks through my body. Without a word, she snuggled up to me, taking her rightful place beside me, while playfully scratching Sky's floppy ears.
We continued to enjoy each other's company, basking in the warmth of our love. When, finally, Olivia broke the silence, just as an image of the aftermath of the fight was shown on the screen. "So... Care to explain why you dressed those heroes in the same scandalous costume you wore? Also, why do they have a tattoo of a duck holding a sign saying 'The Quacker was here!' on their asses?" She looked at me with a dangerous smile, which I completely ignored as I explained.
"The outfit was so they could display the true souvenir I gave them in its full glory to the rest of the world. They'll forever remember the fight with the mighty Quacker!" I theatrically raised my fist into the air before chuckling. "Also, it's not an actual tattoo; it's more of a birthmark. I altered the melanin only on that part of their skin, even changed its molecular composition. They'll have fun trying to remove it," I said with a grin.
Olivia rolled her eyes, but a small smile threatened to bloom on her face as she tried not to laugh, imagining their reactions. "You're irredeemable," she said shaking her head, before adding, "But do you feel alright?" with a concerned look on her face.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "I'm fine."
"Because you're just not acting like yourself." She tapped her chin with a finger deep I thought and asked, "Is it because of Eri?"
"You're just imagining things..." I protested half-heartedly.
"Andy..." She called out with a gentle tone, making me sigh, knowing I couldn't fool her.
"Alright, maybe I'm taking it a bit harder than I'd like to admit," I confessed, drawing her even closer, seeking her comforting embrace.
"It's alright," she said with a tender tone, wrapping her arms around me and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, "Do you want to go and get her back?"
"Nah, I took a minute to look into their future, she'll be more than fine there, so there's no need," I said with a grin, knowing all too well what lies ahead for Eri.
"Hmm..." She looked up at me, her eyes shining with warmth and love, "You know, we could start working on our own kid. With how you interacted with the girl, you proved to me that you'd be a fantastic father."
"Maybe, considering various factors, my analysis predicts an 86.7% success rate of being a passable father." I said proudly, throwing out a random number and continuing, "But, sorry dear, I'd rather stay as daddy, than father, for a little bit longer." I said with a wry smile, receiving a playful swat on my shoulder.
Olivia rolled her eyes, but a mischievous smile quickly appeared on her face as she looked up at me, "Well, we could still practice the making part," she said, playfully teasing, opening her towel and with a husky tone, whispering, "Daddy~"
"Yep, now you've done it." I grinned, warping us up to the bedroom, leaving the confused wolf cub in the living room, ready to continue our intimate moments.
Thanks to Olivia's nightly care routine and the effects of [Soul Cohesion], I woke up the next day feeling calm and refreshed. Together, we tickled into the kitchen and prepared a delightful breakfast, filled with both love and laughter. Sky, the jealous wolf pup, kept a distance from us, seemingly still mad at our sudden disappearance the previous day.
After breakfast, Olivia and I shared a passionate smooch, which was playfully interrupted by Sky's antics. With a grin, I bid them farewell as they set off on their patrol, leaving me alone in the apartment with a world of possibilities swirling in my mind.
There were so many things I could do in my free time. I could practice my existing skills, generically engineer new abilities, or even experiment with the unique combinations of powers at my disposal. However, I knew I had to adapt all of my plans for this world, especially after discovering the issue with soul weight.
First and foremost, I needed to find the kid with the Copy quirk, as acquiring it would be the final piece of the puzzle for my overpowered ability steal skill.
Secondly, I wanted to complete the All Might quest and prevent him from finding a successor. I planned to take Fa Jin, GearShift, and the original power that was granted to the First user, Power Accumulation while ignoring the rest of the skills. Danger Sense had some usefulness, however, it was nowhere near as potent as Olivia's version, which she could share with me in a few weeks. The other abilities nested within the quirk were of no use to me. On the other hand, Fa Jin, GearShift, and Power Accumulation, when combined with Kinetic Burst, should create a formidable skill related to kinetic energy.
With a clear plan in mind, I expanded my senses, opening thousands of miniature spatial gates around the town, while employing [Mental Domain] to locate my main targets. Thanks to my [Mental Mapping] skill working in tandem with my other abilities, I had a mental image of the entire town, with all its inhabitants moving like busy ants in their daily lives. With such abilities at my disposal, finding my targets was as easy as plucking a needle from a haystack.
For this excursion, I decided to assume a new persona. Inspired by the misunderstanding that Eclipse was a group of people, I crafted the identity of Darkness, the second member of the fictitious group.
Turning off my watches' cloth generation, I made the nanites recede back to the watch and activated [Comi-Coat]. I conjured a completely black outfit, complete with a cloak and a face mask, only making my eyes visible. However, even they went through a slight change. Activating [Overhaul], I shifted their color from brown to emerald green, making my appearance even harder to recognize.
With my preparations for the meeting with All Might complete, I paused time and teleported to my first target, Neito Monoma, a future Class 1-B student with the ability to copy quirks through touch. The kid had a lot of insecurities and an eccentric personality, and I had doubts about his potential as a hero.
With time frozen, neither he nor his friends at the karaoke bar noticed my arrival. My palm glowed with a blue hue as I activated [Power Absorption] and placed it on his shoulder. In an instant, a notification pinged in my mind, indicating a successful acquisition of his quirk.
I proceeded to activate the skill merger system, selecting [Copy], [All For One], [Observational Learning], [Power Absorption], [Spellsteal], and [Empathic Mimicry], hoping that the [Advanced Skill Management] had a hidden function enabling this merger. But my hopes were dashed as I received a disheartening message:
[Notice: Skill Merger cannot commence, skill [Spellsteal] is part of the currently equipped class Spellthief.]
A groan left my lips as I quickly checked my classes, realizing that I only needed four more levels to max out that class. Doing some quick calculations, accounting for the shared experience between classes, I estimated that I required around 550 thousand experience points.
Considering the experience reduction caused by tier differences, that meant I needed to gain a massive amount of experience. I made a decision and turned off experience sharing with Olivia and Sky, warping myself away from Japan and straight into the heart of China, to the fictional, yet in this reality real, city of Yu Gang. With a population of seven million, it was a large target.
Without hesitation, I took a deep breath, mustered all my power, and activated [Annihilation], unleashing a devastating blast of energy that obliterated the entire city in an instant. The destruction was swift and absolute, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake. The once bustling city now lay in ruins, and the lives of millions of people were tragically snuffed out.
[Meta Human (T1) x7,680,517 slain (768,052) 768,052 XP Received]
[Meta Human (T2) x208,125 slain (208,125) 208,125 XP Received]
[Meta Human (T3) x172 slain (17,200) 17,200 XP Received]
As the experience points flooded into my system, I felt nothing but satisfaction. There was no guilt or remorse for the lives that had been lost; they were merely a means to an end. The massive surge of experience raised each of my class levels by four and my global level by one, threatening to max out my other classes in the near future.
"I should really do this more often," I mumbled to myself, noticing aircraft swiftly approaching on the horizon.
Unwilling to face the consequences of my actions and confront wannabe heroes, I warped myself back to our apartment and unequipped my maxed-out class of Spellthief. Feeling giddy and eager to see the final result, I swiftly proceeded with the skill merger, making [Copy], [All For One], [Observational Learning], [Power Absorption], [Spellsteal], and [Empathic Mimicry] disappear from my skill list, to be replaced by [Assimilation].
[Assimilation x6 LVL: 1/100]
- Grants the user the ability to absorb and assimilate the powers of other beings through contact, observation, or empathy.
- Grants the user the capability to permanently take a power, making it a permanent part of their own repertoire.
- Grants the user the capability to create a temporary copy of a power, allowing them to use it for a limited duration without permanently incorporating it.
- The user gains the ability to share or condense the essence of his non-system and non-merged skills into crystalline skill orbs, making them portable, while also enabling the user to share them with other entities, without losing the original skills in the process.
- The user gains a deep understanding of the absorbed powers, granting them a faster skill experience gain, gradually reaching the same level of mastery as the original user over time.
- The user can only absorb and assimilate powers from beings weaker than themselves, however, they can copy and temporarily use them even from stronger entities.
I stood there in shock, trying to process all the instinctual information the merged skill had granted me. It had become something more than its components, something beyond my expectations.
The new skill now operated independently of my stats. There was no need for Perception to observe and learn new skills, nor did I require Wisdom to comprehend them. It functioned effortlessly, granting me mastery over any newly acquired ability.
The 'Power' mentioned in the skill's description, encompassed everything from mundane skills to magical abilities, innate powers, and even complex spells. However, there were limitations. It couldn't permanently steal knowledge-based skills or divine domains. Merging it with [Mental Domain] might offer a solution, but I didn't want to sacrifice that valuable skill.
Nonetheless, from the merging process, [Assimilation] had gained two intriguing new abilities. The first one, derived from [Spellsteal] and [Copy], allowed me to temporarily acquire skills, even from entities stronger than myself.
This meant, that by using the empathic aspect of the skill, I could remember an entity or a skill and temporarily gain or regain the ability. However, this function only worked for skills encountered after the inception of [Assimilation], preventing me from copying abilities from powerful entities I had met in the past, for example, the one that brought me the chills to this day from the Harry Potter world.
The second new ability was equally fascinating. I could now condense the essence of my skills into crystal spheres known as "skill orbs." Though using this option would cause some skill progress loss, it offered a unique benefit. My skills could be preserved in these orbs, and I could share them with others or retrieve them later. The process took a few seconds, but it provided a valuable storage mechanism for my abilities.
My mind buzzed with excitement as new possibilities and ideas flooded my thoughts. Sharing [Assimilation] with Mai through [Soul Cohesion] and enabling her to create a storage of skill orbs was a brilliant idea. I envisioned dungeons within my dimension, where adventurers could earn skill orbs as rewards for clearing them. This concept reminded me of popular Korean novels, where dimensional invasions and powerful rewards were common themes. It could be a thrilling addition to my dimension's design.
Lost in contemplation, I considered using the three solar systems within my dimension to create three distinct worlds with unique species. Each world could have its own events and challenges, guiding them down different paths of development. The sheer amount of possibilities was both exhilarating and daunting.
"There's so much to decide," I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I attempted to refocus my attention on the skill description.
Some parts of the original skills had undergone interesting but light changes, providing me with a deeper understanding of the abilities I acquired. This enhanced comprehension and significantly accelerated the leveling process for skills I had made mine. However, the most significant change was the description of how I could gain new skills – Contact.
A mischievous grin spread across my face as I realized the full extent of this new revelation. Physical contact was still a valid method, but now "contact" extended to any interaction with a skill or entity. I could manipulate energy as a medium to block a power and then make it a permanent part of my repertoire. Alternatively, I could be careless and allow a power to hit me, absorbing it and gaining it permanently.
The possibilities seemed endless, and the thrill of mastering and accumulating an ever-growing array of skills filled me with excitement. With [Assimilation] at my disposal, my journey to ultimate supremacy had taken an even more enticing turn.
The more I entertained the idea, the more amusing and tempting it became. Imagining myself in a martial arts world, dressed in a traditional robe with a calm and enigmatic demeanor, caused a mischievous smile to spread across my face. The thought of causing some chaos in this ancient setting, blending in seamlessly while pulling strings from the shadows, intrigued me.
Another amusing scenario played out in my mind. I could don my Quacker outfit and pose as a hidden expert, making people believe it to be a divine treasure. The image of a confrontation with a martial arts master was too entertaining to resist.
"Ho! Fool! You dare use the Heavenly Descending Feather Separating Strike on me! Prepare to face its wrath!" I would exclaim.
"Impossible! It took me 20 years of seclusion to learn that technique! Yet you comprehended the Heavenly Descending Feather Separating Strike just by witnessing it!"
"Muhahaha! It was child's play for me! You're nothing but talentless trash!" I'd taunt, adding a dramatic flair to the scene.
I shook my head, chuckling at the absurdity of the idea. Surely, visiting a martial arts world just to make fun of arrogant young masters was a ludicrous notion. However, the more I considered it, the more it appealed to my sense of mischief. Perhaps, just for the sheer fun and enjoyment of it, I might give it a try one day.
As I stood there, satisfied with the merging process and the analysis of my new ability, I cast a quick glance at [Mental Mapping] to locate my next target. Instead of simply using spatial gates to take his abilities from my current location, I decided to have a little fun and engage in a battle.
Checking my outfit for any damages caused by my previous use of [Annihilation], I made sure I appeared presentable before my next target. With everything in order, I warped through space, arriving before a muscular blonde guy, ready for our encounter.
(A/N: So, I just stumbled upon this hidden gem of a manga over the weekend and ended up binge-reading the whole thing. It's a refreshing down-to-earth ecchi rom-com slice-of-life drama, without the unnecessary clichés often found in those genres. The female lead is an accountant struggling with her body image, while the male lead is a good-looking project lead with a peculiar fetish for scents (not feet). They both work in the same cosmetic company, and the story starts with the male lead taking a sniff at the female lead, and liking her scent. To be honest, I went into it with the intention of giving it a quick look and dropping it after a chapter or two, but it surprisingly kept me entertained and wanting more. So, if you're interested, do check out Ase to Sekken (Sweat and Soap); it's definitely worth the read.)
