Pain AND Gains.

Kai walked down the street, wearing a clean red zip-up hoodie and new athletic shorts. Fenn sat on his shoulder, munching on a miniature bag of chips. As Kai was walking, he looked everywhere for some clues as to what could be different in this version of MHA. Everything seemed the same as he walked, he saw people walking past him with All Might merch, stores advertising the merch of the top 10, nothing he could instantly point out as off base. Deciding that nothing would pop up on the ten-minute walk to the gym he'd picked out, he opened the menu for his most recent quest.

Quests;

'Training Montage'

You've got roughly 7 days until your support course entrance exam. The good news is that Hibiki set you up with pre-enrolment, so you didn't miss the deadline. The bad news is that you're a waif of a man with no quirk control.

700 Sit Ups (0/700)

700 Push Ups (0/700)

700 Squats (0/700)

70km Run (0.0/70km)

Make Empowered Fruits. (0/15)

Rewards For completion- Physique Enhancement Voucher, Advantage Devil Fruit Spin.

"Why are you opening the window again? You saw it just half an hour ago dude. I'm trying to people watch and can't with this in my face." Fenn complained, waving his empty hand at the screen like it was a pesky fly.

"I know, I just can't get over the fact that I'm going to become Saitama." Kai chuckled. "And why isn't anyone looking at you? Even here the idea of a foot tall gangster sitting on a college kids' shoulder should be weird."

"That's because people can't see me unless I want them to. That's one of those fun little perks for working for the company for eternity." Fenn said, throwing his empty bag to the side, the discarded plastic flying square into a trashcan. "So why did you decide to go to a gym? You could do all the stuff you need at home."

"Maybe." Kai admitted. "The difference is, the gym I'm going to is a Quirk Gym, one designed to allow anyone to use their quirk for the purposes of improving them, and I have an idea that might just cheat the quest." Kai quickened his pace, the gym coming into view. As he approached, he noticed something peculiar—a massive mural on the wall depicting heroes in dynamic poses, but there was no sign of Endeavor.

"Hey, look at that!" he pointed at the mural. "No Endeavor stuff. That's a change."

Fenn tilted his head, intrigued. "Maybe this world's got different preferences when it comes to heroes. Or maybe he's not as popular here."

With a shrug, Kai entered the gym, the familiar scent of sweat and metal greeting him. The atmosphere buzzed with energy as people lifted weights, ran on treadmills, and practiced martial arts. He felt a wave of energy wash over him, vibrant and inviting.

The front desk attendant is a tall, athletic individual with a friendly demeanor. They have short, spiky blue hair that hints at their energetic personality, styled in a way that suggests they're always ready for action. Their eyes are a vibrant green, sparkling with enthusiasm.

They wear a fitted Surge Fitness t-shirt that showcases their well-defined physique, paired with comfortable black workout leggings and stylish sneakers.

"Welcome to Surge Fitness, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you here for a membership or are you just looking around?" The attendant asks. Kai looks down and sees their nametag says they're Hiroshi Sato.

"I'm here for a membership, thank you. Where do I get started?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kai pushed through the last set of squats, each rep burning but invigorating. He collapsed on the floor, every breath shaking his entire body. 'I miss my old body,' Kai complained in his mind. 'I've already done ten years of this stuff the first time. Starting over as a scrawny teen sucks. Progress.'

'Training Montage'

700 Sit Ups (100/700)

700 Push Ups (35/700)

700 Squats (65/700)

70km Run (7.8/70km)

Make Empowered Fruits. (0/15)

Rewards For completion- Physique Enhancement Voucher, Advantage Devil Fruit Spin.

"I can feel my plan working. I can feel the energy building. In five minutes, I'll have made a fruit that can help me." Fenn had long since returned to who-knows-where, leaving Kai to lay on the padded floor, trying to catch his breath.

As the five minutes passed, he pushed himself up and moved into one of the Quirk Training Rooms. The room was a simple space, roughly the size of a bedroom. They have larger ones for more destructive or mobile quirks, but those cost upwards of thousands of yen, and Kai didn't need them anyways.

He sat meditation style in the middle of the space, and reached into his body to feel the energy he'd been building for the past three hours. It took significantly more energy than he had expected, primarily because he was attempting to reverse the effect of the energy, but he'd finally reached enough for it to work. Without further delay, he compressed the energy into a sphere and pushed it up into his branches, and a single fruit resembling a peach-colored mandarin rapidly grew. He plucked it off and examined it.

Fruit Level: 6

Name: Double Recovery

Ability: Doubles the user's base stamina generation.

Duration: 1 Hour

Cooldown: 36 Hours

"Good. This is what I wanted. The cooldown is a little insane; I won't be able to use any other fruits for a day and a half, but the double stamina regen rate is more than enough to offset that." Kai looked at the fruit, satisfied with his creation. He peeled it and saw that the flesh inside was an appealing crimson color, then popped it into his mouth all at once. As he chewed, he was delighted to feel his energy tank rapidly refill.

As Kai felt the energy coursing through him, he grinned, exhilarated by the rush. "Time to see what I can really do," he muttered, heading back to the main workout area.

He decided to tackle his quest head-on, determined to make the most of the hour he had. He cranked out sets of push-ups and squats, each rep feeling lighter than the last as his body responded eagerly to the influx of stamina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour and ten minutes later, Kai crashed hard onto his bed and groaned in pain. Fenn popped into being behind him, a soft look in on his tough face. "Jeez kid." He spoke. "You didn't have to go that hard. The quest was paced for the entire week, instead you took it as a challenge." Fenn pulled up the quest window and saw.

'Training Montage'

700 Sit Ups (350/700)

700 Push Ups (245/700)

700 Squats (350/700)

70km Run (7.8/70km)

Make Empowered Fruits. (1/15)

Fenn looked incredulously at the screen, even attempting to peel off the numbers like someone had stuck a sticker over them. "Not to mention that fruit you made. How can you even make fruits of that level already? Even with a massive cooldown, that's crazy powerful. You should be soft locked at like level 4 with your energy manipulation."

The only response he got was Kai passing out from exhaustion.