LordLukas

You could use a variation of this ability using magic to resemble it or you could try to imitate what Neferpitou from HxH did by covering almost an entire city with her aura/Nen. (translator)

a rival not by choice! it's more like people around them compare them and try to create fights to know who is the best. (Translator)

I see it better that the protagonist is a rival or that he doesn't exist in the story.

Just a suggestion. First: the protagonist will be a random person or a minor villain who has a good background or support. Second: it's good that he starts at an age of 8 to 10 in the verse/story, because starting from birth is complicated. Third: the protagonist will not talk or have the chance to meet the almighty god and such. A God who will give gifts and cheats/Hax or golden fingers "I don't like that". Fourth: I like the idea of ​​the protagonist having an experience panel as soon as he awakens, he can train techniques, merge skills that are similar, have several areas of specialization, such as forging, crafting and inscriptions and etc, a protagonist who creates and innovates. And last but not least, if he has knowledge of the original work, I hope the protagonist is seen as a wise person and well-known for his talents throughout the story and not a person who hides in the shadows and tries to keep things canonical. And if you see something like nefarious people and enemies that are much stronger than him, that use strategy, that make him create a personality like Batman: a figure or a ghost, something inexplicable when he appears, eliminate his opponents and that's it. (This is just my suggestion, don't take it too seriously, I like works that focus on a golden finger in the form of an experience panel or extraction of skills/attributes and talents). The text is quite big lol (Translator)