Heroic Gambler

I'm so sorry for the delay, I've been busy with some things outside of writing and had to do a bunch of math for this chapter but here it is. I made it extra long.

A slight warning, this chapter is a 3 month time skip as I figured going one day at a time was horrible pacing. And a chunk of it is dedicated to displaying his progress.

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POV...UENO KICHIRO...3 MONTHS LATER...

I learned a lot about the system and this world in these past 3 months, and my plans are finally ready to be put in motion. The entrance exam for UA would be soon and I was going over my status and the tickets I had accumulated over the course of these months, I had 24 tickets left over from what I had gained over these months. I wanted to roll them but it was best for me not to, I learned the hard way after burning through 16 tickets and the results left me with 3 unresolved curses from bad rolls. looking through everything to make sure I managed to review the fruits of my labor since the entrance exam was in a few hours and I wanted to make sure I had my gameplan and lineup correct to absolutely crush this exam.

["Ha! Maybe you should have just applied to Shiketsu High, then a 3rd rate wannabe hero like you might stand a chance at passing the exam.]

Opening the curses panel of the system I glared at the one that felt like it was the biggest inconvenience of the three... scratch that it was the most annoying.

[Displaying Curses...]

[Backseat Driver: A disembodied voice has been brought into the back of your mind, it will mock and distract you. This curse resolves when the disembodies voice decides to call you a friend.]

[Mute: You have lost the ability to speak or make vocal sounds, any abilities that require the use of sound are unusable. Resolves after a certain amount of time.]

[Three Pillars: Three people who are already labeled as hostile have become stronger, when encountering one of them they will attempt to eliminate you. This curse resolves when the three enemies are defeated.]

That damn backseat driver annoyed me even more than the fact that I didn't know who the three pillars might be. Being mute didn't change much besides that I won't be able to think out loud to myself... the three pillars was definitely more concerning... thankfully I stopped rolling tickets for three months because rolling 3 curses in a row was concerning. 

["Sounds rough, I hope they jump you"]

I handled that way better than I thought... Ignore the hole in my wall that I covered with an All Might poster, though maybe the curses were just punishments for me pushing my luck too hard and scoring too well on my gacha. pulling up my system panels to review my arsenal and current stats, I felt confident.

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Name: Ueno Kichiro

Level: 9->21

Difficulty: Hardcore

Birth Quirk: Bark

MP: 85/85 ->240/240

Stamina: 95/95 ->190/190

Money: $900->$3,500

Strength: 29->53

Agility: 20->42

Intelligence: 17->48

Wisdom: 10->36

Vitality: 19->38

Luck: 25->50

Stat Points: 25->60

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Common thugs were no match for me, I had no idea how I would hold up once the difficulty really kicked in... Yeah I learned why my fights were so easy, I was still in what was apparently considered the tutorial and the difficulty would actually apply once the exam is over. An exam that to my knowledge had a massive robot for some reason. But I already knew that I likely had what it takes to pass, especially with the new abilities I got… Or rather new ability, I honestly don't think I'll use one of them at all and the other is really only good for aquatic situations. But I managed to roll an actual quirk if I remember right, and the quirk in question was a powerful one that covered its own weaknesses.

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[Displaying Abilities...]

[Abilities]

Quirk -> [Bark LV13->LV60]

Active -> 3/3

1- [Angel Form LV19->LV52]

2- [SPECIALIST LV8->LV45]

3- [Half Cold Half Hot LV37]

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{Storage}

{Angel Form LV52}

{SPECIALIST LV8->LV45}

[Demon Form LV1->LV38]

[Barrier LV1->LV29]

[Non-lethal LV1->LV36]

[Shark LV13]

[Bubbles LV8]

{Half Cold Half Hot LV37}

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That's right, my ability list was pretty decent... if you didn't count [Bubbles] which from my testing was just useless, maybe I could make a pocket of air in water with it but could already do that with my barriers. [Shark] let me take on the qualities and somewhat appearance of a shark... As the name kind of implied which limited my actual use of it, [Half Cold Half Hot] on the other hand. I didn't recognize it's name but when I read it's description and tested it out I quickly remembered that this wasn't some new ability but was the ability belonging to someone in this world, and they were an absolute powerhouse with just the ice alone.

["And yet his 50% effort will always be better than your 100% with the ability hehe"]

I had to refrain from attempting to shout at the ceiling, not that I could with the [Mute] curse and looked out into the hallway of my home. I figured out it would be best for me to just leave all my familiars summoned at all times that way they could level themselves up even if just a little without actual combat, I wasn't sure where my summons were exactly since I haven't pinged them in a while but I knew that one of them was currently at the gym because exercise gave it EXP.

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[Displaying Familiars]

[Banshee LV5->LV19]

[Harpy Eagle LV1->LV12]

[Angel LV1->LV15]

[Clone LV20]

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The clone was my newest addition but it was my easiest to level up, it was a perfect replica of me, it had everything I had except that it only had 1 ability slot when I got it, but if the pattern follows then it will gain another slot every 20 levels which I learned recently. My clone is at the gym right now after I gave it [SPECIALIST] and [Demon Form], sadly my own abilities don't level up when my clone uses them but I'm sure when my clone levels up more it might become stronger than me similar to how my Banshee was way stronger than me at first.

My new perks weren't all that special... actually one of them was.

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[Displaying Perks...]

[Normal?]

[Normal?: This perk alters the perception of others for most things the user does to view them as normal, however this perk can only go do so much before it can no longer disguise the user's actions.]

[Alchemist]

[Alchemist: This perk increases the quality and potency of anything alchemically made by 50%]

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The perks were decently good, [Normal?] was outright useful for me training in public or during vigilantism. my items that I pulled were outright useless except for 1 of the 4 I had gotten in these 3 months, I managed to get an All Might themed hat, an All Might plushy, cooking utensils- not even a full set mind you, just two wooden spoons for some reason, and finally... The only useful one, a health potion. Underwhelming items aside, my skills improved greatly.

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[Displaying Skills...]

[Skills]

[Cooking LV14->LV45]

[Holy Power Manipulation LV8->LV59]

[Brawling LV12->LV34]

[Demonic Power Manipulation LV22]

[Barrier Manipulation LV19]

[Ice Manipulation LV21]

[Fire Manipulation LV21]

[Riding LV1->LV23]

[Reading LV29]

[Sprint LV31]

[Massage LV12]

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Some of these skills were self explanatory like [Massage] and [Reading], which were just how well and how fast I can read and give massages. [Sprint] simply made me run faster when I activated it at the cost of stamina, [Fire Manipulation] and [Ice Manipulation] I got after practicing with [Half Cold Half Hot] for long enough, same goes for [Demonic Power Manipulation] and [Demon Form].

Needless to say I felt incredibly ready and decided on which abilities I would use as I walked through the front gates of UA since they allowed for early arrivals for these exams which lead me to this line-up as I waited in the courtyard.

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[Abilities]

Quirk -> [Bark LV60]

Active -> 3/3

1- [Angel Form LV52]

2- [SPECIALIST LV45]

3- [Barrier LV29]

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Making sure I had the wooden pendant I had bought during my 2nd month here, I knew [Bark] would be one of my best defense abilities, and as I learned upon it hitting LV50... I can somewhat make it an offensive ability. When it hit LV 50 I became able to somewhat alter the shape of my wooden body, like putting spikes on my knuckles for example. At LV25 I had become able to regenerate my wooden body as long as I was in contact with something made of wood other than myself. LV60 however is where the fun began, at LV60 I became able to influence my other abilities with it, for example my Barriers could be made of wood which would help hide the fact that it was a completely different ability from my quirk. All my specialist auras became green, and Angel form... not much changed from before, the wings were still made of leaves and whatnot but the light I made with holy power in the mix became able to help plants grow. But [SPECIALIST] had the biggest change on it's own at LV25.

[Mobility mode: the user gains flight and enhanced speed. greatly sacrificing defense and strength]

In most cases of common sense, speed determined who had the upper hand in a fight. And although the loss of defense and strength were sad to see, I had barriers for defense and holy power to attack with. Though using three abilities at once drained my MP like crazy.

["Hey dumbass, pay attention you might get kicked out of the exam before you even get to the practical portion."]

The backseat driver didn't even upset me this time, that was actually a good reminder for me to lock in since it was time for the written exams. Finding the classroom that I was assigned for my exam I sat down and waited for them to pass out the papers and start us off... Damn these questions are actually difficult, I was never a smart kid in my previous world but I at least had decent grades and yet these questions are way harder than I thought they would be... I made my way to the lecture hall for the practical portion's info dump and I was sure that I just barely passed the written exam.

["Hey wood for brains, you should probably check yourself before you wreck yourself, it's not heroic to look like you are one bad day away from murder"]

... Fair point, this is a hero academy so maybe at least trying to seem approachable, friendly, and overall heroic was in my best interest to not get kicked out if I do manage to pass. Taking a seat in the lecture hall a few minutes passed of soon to be students or soon to be failures finding their own seats and then a blond man with weirdly done hair and what looked like speakers around his neck.

"WELCOME UA CANDIDATES, I'M THE RESIDENT DJ OF UA PESENT MIC! ARE YOU READY? CAN I GET A 'YEAH'!" damn he was loud, I wanted to go along with his antics in hopes of a little favorability but unfortunately [Mute] actually started becoming annoying.. And nobody in this entire room humored him, poor guy.

Eventually we came to a point where we would be wrapping up when a guy I vaguely remembered stood up to ask a question and now I remembered who he was because of this in particular. "On the pamphlets it says there are 4 kinds of villains in the exam yet you only mentioned 3, if this was a lapse of judgement then I am severely disappointed in UA. And you! The boy with the green hair, you've been muttering this entire time. If you don't want to take this exam seriously then just leave."

I don't know enough about the show to know how his character ends up, but he starts off as a prick if this is anything to go off of. I can't even put up my act and try to defend the kid because of [Mute] but it was honestly bull that Midoriya got singled out, considering I didn't even notice his muttering till it was mentioned and I sat closer to him than the guy who decided he knew best. Honestly I heard someone else's muttering from somewhere else in the room more than Midoriya's and he got singled out for whatever reason?

"I WAS GONNA GET TO THAT LITTLE LISTENER, IF YOU MAY SIT BACK DOWN. THE 4TH KIND OF VILLAIN IS MORE OF AN OBSTACLE THAT GETS YOU NO POINTS, IT'S BEST TO BE AVOIDED." At least Present Mic was professional and cut in before the kid could grill anybody else, we were then dismissed to our exam locations via bus... Yeah, apparently this school's campus is so massive that some of the training grounds you had to leave by bus to get to.

I didn't really remember most faces from the small bit of what I saw about the show, so trying to spot important characters was impossible for me... Oh wait, there is the pink girl, I think her name was Mina but I'm not exactly sure. And despite the differences between this world and an anime, with everything being more realistic... She was cute, if I wanted to be a friendly and nice guy for my own benefit before then now I wanna be a friendly and nice guy to try and win her over.

["She's out of your league, don't even try it when you are a walking 2/10"]

Sadly my inner thoughts about brutalizing a disembodied voice were interrupted by the crack of a whip which drew in my attention and needless to say... Why did they think it was ok for the walking kink show to be around children? Turning away I listened to the instructions given as the doors slowly opened.

"Alright kiddos! I'm the pro hero Midnight and through these doors are all of the faux villains, go around and tear stuff up... why are you waiting around? there are no countdowns in a real fight." She said and when I looked at the actual gates I noticed I was already behind, the rest of the candidates had already ran through the gates. 

["Congrats on already slipping up"]

Ignoring [Backseat Driver] and grabbing the wooden pendant, made of the most durable wood according to my research which was Australian Buloke and let me tell you now it was hard to buy this when the tree is apparently more rare in this world, my body changed. My body becoming made of wood as I activated [Mobility Mode]. Green lightning, though it would have normally been blue were arcing around my body as I sped forward and not only caught up but started flying over the cluster of other contestants. Ignoring the architecture of the city and simply flying over it I eventually landed before switching [Specialist] into it's [Offense Mode] and started going on a killing spree, I sadly wasn't getting EXP from the robots which was probably because they neither had sentience or actual life and were not programmed to actually kill me... As fun as fighting robots is, it kind of gets boring when it's the same kind of robots over and over, I lost count of how many points I got when I reached 73 a couple minutes ago which I already knew was enough to pass.. Or at least it should be, either way I managed to get more points after that and the ground started to shake which was the courtesy of the biggest robot I have ever seen.

["Ohhh you should run like the rest, you seem like the self preservation type"]

Looking over at the main road after using the enhanced speed and flight from [Mobility Mode] I was now amongst the majority of students running from the massive robot that in all honesty made the buildings look small. Then I got the idea of a lifetime for me to do the opposite of what the [Backseat Driver] wanted, swapping [Angel Form] for [Half Cold Half Hot] and started flying around it and filling the Zero Pointer's joints with ice. I wasn't doing this to save anybody, I just figured that defeating something this big would give me more tickets. Eventually after filling it's joints with ice I started flying more around it, encasing the rest of it's massive body in ice to keep it from breaking free as much as I could since I saw some of the ice already cracking and eventually, I started mixing barriers into the ice... landing on the ground with my MP dangerously low after freezing the Zero Pointer in it's entirety, it was only then that I noticed a girl with earphone jacks coming out of her ears. Correction, they were part of her ears and she seemed familiar so I assumed she was part of the main cast even though I didn't remember who she even was.

scooping her up off the ground since it seemed she fell over and was trampled a bit by the stampede of other candidates I decided to move her so that she could at least sit upright against a wall.

"Thanks for helping me out, though I'm not sure why you even bothered. The school would have probably shut it off before it could actually hurt me." She said as a loud buzzer rang through the entire exam sight.

"Time is up! if you have any kind of injury make sure to visit the school infirmary! Exam results will be sent in the mail after evaluation!" Midnight's voice announced from the speakers, though I didn't see her but I didn't need to since I'd rather not have to witness her erotic hero costume. Ignoring my thoughts to keep myself functioning at the moment I made an ice pack using [Half Cold Half Hot] and some cloth before handing it to the girl since she probably had some bruises that I couldn't see due to clothing... I wish I didn't have [Mute] right now so that I could respond to her but I decided to go with the next best thing and pulled a small notepad and pen from my satchel.

'A hero shouldn't run when someone needs help.' was all that I wrote on the notepad, although it was a blatant lie since I did it out of spite to [Backseat Driver] but I needed to be a model example for a hero if I wanted the most benefit from this school. Her face seemed more confused than it was already since I wrote instead of talking but it only lasted for a moment before she seemed to have come to a conclusion, not sure what conclusion but the confusion faded away as I deactivated [Bark] so that I could return to looking like a normal person before walking off since I wanted to get home and sleep this all off before checking my notifications tomorrow morning.....

["Of course you'd wait, you lazy bum."]

I have no mouth and I must scream...

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Author's corner time! Kichiro's luck streak got broken by the rolls for this time skip, which I am thankful for since if I am being honest. It's hilarious to take some of his curses into account when writing, and he has 24 tickets left over from his 3 month skip. you are probably wondering why he didn't roll all of them?.... He was scared to possibly get more curses because he got 3 in a row somehow.

As always, criticism and advice are more than welcome!

And if you have any recommendations for the wheels then feel free to suggest them!

See you next time... Soon.... Hopefully...

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