Bab 56: UA High (2)
Chapter 56: UA High (2)
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Inasa couldn't believe he lost. He… was strong, very strong. People like Todoroki couldn't beat him, though he did refuse to use his fire, but still, the point was that he is a strong motherfucker. Yet he lost one-sidedly, with a score of 0.
A part of him wanted to believe that his opponent just had a more suitable quirk for the game, but another part of him retorted to that.
He was no coward. He was strong, prideful even, but cowardliness? That's not him, not even a bit.
He clenched his jaws, taking a deep breath.
He had lost. Fair and square. He accepted his defeat. Even if a corner of his heart blazed with the feeling of failure, he still stood straight and high.
The next second, he bent his waist and lowered his head for a bow.
"I, Inasa, am very grateful for this match!!"
His voice rang aloud, he could see his opponent's face, but he felt like that guy was listening to him attentively.
"This has made me open my eyes, made me realise my standing in the greater scale of things. If given the chance again, I hope we'd be able to push each other to the limit! In a proper duel, not a game."
He just heard a small chuckle from in front, causing him to peek forward without raising his head.
"Sure, why not. I am free."
Inasa beamed at this.
"Thank you!!"
He couldn't say this didn't make him feel better. He lost. But he now had a new rival to surpass.
—★—
A certain trio, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Izuku watched the scene silently.
They were busy staring at me with matching frowns. But I could tell their thoughts were different. And this guy… weirdo.
Ugh, kids.
I shrugged my shoulders and walked away, going to Momo instead. She gave me a high-five just as I spotted a hidden concern on her face.
I have <Intuition>. A sub ability of <Observe>, which is again a sub-ability of <Eyes of the Lord>... Intuition is something that works strangely, normally it just helps me avoid attacks in a battle without using EL, but sometimes it gives me a lead on a problem I didn't know even…. existed.
This was one of those 'sometimes'. Right now, something was telling me, something was whispering in my ears, "Something is wrong."
I don't know what, of course, but I do know something is wrong, I can feel it.
Aizawa scribbled something on his notebook, so taking this chance, I decided to ask Momo head-on.
"Yaomomo, is there anything bothering you?"
I am her best friend, she is mine too, so I expected her to answer me quickly but surprisingly she looked hesitant. Her lips thinned as she looked at my eyes with a strange glint in them.
"It's nothin-"
It was surely something, I knew. So instead of letting her close to the case, I interrupted her.
"Wanna hang out together after school? This is our first time being in this city, we should get to know it better for any emergency situation in the future."
After a minute of consideration, she licked her dry lips and nodded slowly at this.
"Yeah, let's do that."
"Okay, cool."
I nodded at her just when Aizawa called in his bored voice.
"Everyone." He eyed each of our faces. "There were multiple, and by multiple, I mean dozens of reasons this game was held. However, the main two reasons were - One, for me to get familiar with your quirks so that I can plan future scenarios for you guys as your Homeroom teacher. Two, for you all to understand your limits, get familiar with the others, and get a general understanding of where you stand in the class."
He went into depth a little more, but it wasn't that important. He basically said how UA is a place where Heroes are made, it's not like the middle schools we attended, how it would prepare us enough to protect the world, and blah blah.
I am not here to be a hero. I don't have time for that shit. I might look chill on the outside, but it's mostly me trying to fool my brain into believing "It is fine.", but in truth nothing is fine. This country would end, this world, this hero society, everything would end. I am neither delusional nor naive enough to play hero right now. There is a reason I am at this school, instead of travelling countries and conquering dungeons. It's because of that.
I turned my head to the left, high in the sky, a tower stood. A 10 story tower with large golden texts floating over it.
[Tower of Utopia - No.1 dungeon]
I noticed this the moment I stepped into this ground, but I instead focused on the match back then. But now that I am free, I couldn't help by asking.
What the hell?
Weren't there supposed to be 10 dungeons? Just a week ago, there were 10 '🗝' signs before, but now? All the other signs disappeared, and only one remained. What exactly happened, system?
[I just decided to mash the 10 dungeons together, in the grid that the Rank 10th dungeon is Floor-1, and Rank 1 dungeon is Floor-10, in the hope to help you a bit.]
The voice of a teenage girl, as if a mirror of my own but female, neither emotionless nor emotional, sounded in my head.
[From my calculations, this way you'd need 3x less time than clearing the dungeons separately. I hope you don't mind.]
Mind? Are you joking? This is incredible. If you can do the same for all the dungeons around the country, or even the globe, I won't need to run around the world!
The idea was gorgeous, but the system's next statement caused my face to darken.
[Unfortunately, I can't do that. My power is dependent on Master's own, and your current 'Existence' isn't defined enough for me to use it in such a way. I was only able to mix these 10 because they were all under a kilometer. I am terribly sorry.]
...Well, the thought is what matters. But this is great news either way. Okay, last question, how long do you think it'd take me to clear the Tower?
[This is a progressive dungeon. I don't think you'd be able to clear Floor-1 in a week, let alone Floor-1o which holds a Divine Being from another world. So I'd say a year? If you're lucky, of course.]
Well, luck is everything I got. Though Divine Being from another world…? Like anime worlds? I wonder who it is, and how much EXP they would give me.
Anyway, so 1-year at UA. Not that long, and the time won't be wasted either because of the dungeons, I would keep getting stronger. I just need to make a way for me to get close to the Tower without anyone stopping me, and that'd be hard since wandering around the campus is forbidden.
Okay… it's time to be serious.
—★—
He didn't get the chance to get serious. His older sister had arrived in the 1st year compounds for the lunch break, so he didn't have a choice other than eating in the cafeteria with Nejire and Momo. Just like that, after a few hours, the class ended.
"Wow, I didn't know one of the Big Three was your sibling."
Ochako Uraraka had her fingertips touching together as she walked beside me with a happy smile on her face.
"You know, winning against a true future hero… it's different from how it was in middle school. I really feel like I am progressing, I am heading somewhere."
Neji eyed her face with a smile of his own. "It's not really that deep. You might have a goal in mind, but if you don't enjoy the process and only thrive for the end, things won't… feel right at the end of the day."
Uraraka slowed down at this but Neji kept walking forward, he waved his hands as his figure drifted in the far, approaching a car.
This just made her remember why she wants to become a hero. Money. Maybe it's not that bad if she relaxes a bit?
A relieved sigh escaped her as she felt a great weight come off her shoulders. She made a great friend.
Though her great friend was going to meet his soon-to-be girlfriend.
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