THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 159: Outsiders (1)

—

Around 6 hours have passed since Japan’s network was manufactured and the country was under attack.

The Catastrophic Dragon’s involvement in this attack had already been revealed, which was why all the blame was falling on Star and Stripes’ shoulders.

In the United States, Washington DC, inside the international HQ of the Public Safety Commission, a meeting was taking place. Five people were sitting at a round table, present in person, while around a hundred or so were present there digitally, communicating via the hundreds of monitors hung on the wall.

[“This is not the best situation if what you said just now is true.”] a feminine voice said from within one of the monitors, making the 5 people on the round table nod. [“Is All Might… really so weakened?”]

“Yes, he is.” one of the five answered. “That was confidential information, only we and the HQ in Japan were aware of this. But in a scenario such as this, I think revealing it is a much better choice.”

[“I understand where you are coming from.”] an old masculine voice said. [“If it is as you say, and you really sensed communication between The Dragon and the previously announced dead All for One, then yes this is the most dangerous crisis in the world since World War III.”]

World War III happened around two hundred years ago, so comparing this with that really highlighted this situation’s danger.

[“Indeed, if All for One and The Dragon are teaming up against a weakened All Might, they will be able to defeat him. In that case, this will become a world-class disaster. They would need a while to spread their influence around in other countries, but when they do, countries closest to Japan, such as Unified Korea and my mother land China will be the first to be attacked.”] said another masculine voice, this time with a Chinese accent. 

South and North Korea have unified around when quirks first started to appear. North Korea was the one who took over the south, so some still refer to Unified Korea as ‘North Korea’. Because to the outside world, Korea didn't unify, instead, North Korea just enlarged because there was no sign of the South remaining anymore. Though the officials still  use the official title for the country, such as what the PSC chairman of China did.

Then, another feminine voice spoke, [“But still, reinforcements in a single day is too much for us. We know you can’t just send your Star and Stripes in there, even though it's her fault to let The Dragon flee from America to begin with. Either way, now that both All for One and Red Dragon are together, she will be eliminated sooner than later if she were to go to Japan carelessly. We agree to help out with reinforcements but… We need at least a month to prepare our reinforcements since most heroes don’t want to listen to their own government, let alone the international PSC (Public Safety Commission).”]

That's when a smug laugh filled the room, coming from one of the monitors.

[“Heh… I don’t think that’d be a problem for us Korea, neither would it bother China, would it?”] asked a short fat man from within the monitors, leaning over to smile. [“Unlike you folks, Korean countrymen wouldn’t dare disobey the orders of Kim-Jong-Un, the 7th, aka me. I am going to send my own ‘Star’ to Japan since America is incompetent and their Star is a scared bitch.”] he chuckled, hearing the soft grumbles from the five men on the round table. [“Have you heard of my Star yet? She only recently graduated from our military, which I consider to be better than UA by miles. She's an aspiring hero, the granddaughter of our current No-1 actually. Let’s not go into further details, you will hear about her soon anyway.”]

Many from the monitors sneered at that. How could they have not heard of that monster, even if Korea tried to hide it? The first-year student who went to a tournament against all the other students of the whole school, killing them all and coming out at the top, that was the ‘Star’ Kim Jong Un was talking about. Ideally, that was a waste of a lot of future Heroes, but if the rumours were to go by… as long as ‘Starfire’ was in there, no such loss would be a problem to Korea.

Most of the people here just couldn’t understand why a country as secretive and self-centred as Korea was jumping to send their potential future strongest out in this dangerous Japan. Was ‘Starfire’ really that strong?

—★—

Back in Japan, Neji was finally checking his current stats after stealing One For All.

===

[          —Status Page—            ]

Name: Neji Hado

Age: 15

Class: The Gamer

Title: Harem Lord

Level: 150

Race: [High Human]

HP: 8050/8050

SP 8160/8160

MP: #/#

STR: 305 ~ 805

END: 345 ~ 845

DEX: 316 ~ 816

INT: 210

WIS: 200

CHA: 275

LUC: 325

HP REG: 2012/min

SP REG: 2040/min

===

Neji reached level 150, from 141, after defeating the Phoenix. Interestingly, both he and Kurai received 9 levels, since the one to defeat the enemy was Neko, a fusion. More interestingly, the exp wasn't divided, but both Neji and Kurai received the actual amount of exp that the death of the Phoenix provided. This meant they hunted 18 levels worth of a beast that usually gave 9 levels, that's how broken the "Fusion" is. 

Though to balance things up, when a fusion isn't immediately cancelled, like what Neji did to change constantly inside the dungeon, there is a cooldown of 24 hours before Fusion is possible again.

It's been 2 hours since Neji unfused, so there were still 22 more hours remaining.

Looking at his stats, he asked the system. 'System, what's up with that "~" in between some of the stats?'

He could somewhat guess it, but it's better to confirm that guess.

[Master, it is to indicate how far you can strengthen your stats using One for All. It seems all three physical stats are 500-numbers ahead of your original stats. That might not seem like a lot but 500 bonus stat is a lot since that means you are basically around level 400 now, even as a level 150.]

[On top, as you might know, levels are slightly different for you compared to the monsters in the dungeons. They gain one point in each stat once they level up, but they don't get 5 extra stat-points that you do. With that in mind, if you calculate a bit, you'd realise as a Pseudo Level-400, you're equal to a Level-800 monster within the tower. In the tower, only the Boss monsters will be able to match you since their levels get tuned according to your own battle power, pseudo or not.]

The lifeforms in the Tower are actually living beings, and only the boss monsters of each floor were the ones who were under direct influence of the System, so their levels adjust to whatever the Gamer's level is.

But that wasn't the part that shocked Neji. 

Level 800. How strong was that, compared to All Might in his prime?

Interestingly, Mirio wasn't the same as Prime All Might, though he was indeed more versatile. One for All needs to be mastered by the new user to control its full power, just because Mirio could use 100% didn't mean his 100% punch was the same as All Might’s. Neji had no problem with this tough, by stealing it using ⟨Mine⟩ Neji didn't have to bother mastering OFA, as he simply snatched the mastery stored within the Vestiges, and therefore gained the power of Prime All Might… on top of his own.

Luckily, he could use this power like an on-off switch, or even moving would have been destructive in this suddenly strengthened body of his.

'Hey, system, what about Mana? I previously thought OFA used some sort of energy, like Mana or Chakra, but since I don't see any change in my MP, I am assuming otherwise. Anything you'd like to add?' Neji asked in his mind.

He couldn't be mad even if this didn't give him Mana access. 500 stat points was… a lot too much for him to get mad right now. He was flying above the clouds.

[It indeed does have some sort of energy within it, master. But it's not Mana, no. Truthfully, you should be thankful that it's not Mana, or you wouldn't have been able to use it because of the curse. 

Just raising your stats won't take down the curse, you see. You need to achieve divinity of some sorts to fight back the curse, which will be hard.]

'I know. But isn't there any way to use this energy as a substitute for the mana that most of my active skills need?' asked Neji. 'For example, if a gamer was born in the Naruto world, he would use Chakra instead of Mana, right? If that's the case, can't you convert this energy to be usable by the skills?'

In a professional tone, a reply came soon.

[The power stored within One for All is a mixture of different forms of energy, which can be explained by the science of this world. The most prominent of those energies are the Kinetic Energy and a great volume of Life Force energy. The mixture of these two energies can not  only boost a person's strength magnificently, it can also boost the power of the other Quirks they possess. Because Quirks are a power that works using one's vitality, so providing it with more vitality, life force in other words, would boost its powers tremendously.]

That'd explain why One for All users, except for the quirkless ones, had lower lifespans. Because One for All simply had enough life force to boost the quirks it came along with, not the new quirk(s) the user had, which made One for All suck the user’s life force to boost the quirk he had other than One for All (and its other quirks).

[However, life force isn't something that can be converted to Mana, if it could be, I would have converted your own life force a long time ago since as a Gamer there are multiple ways for you to regain lost life force anyway. On the other hand, Kinetic Energy is a very weak form of energy. Mana is the fundamental energy of the omniverse, while kinetic energy isn't even present everywhere, despite what some scientists might say. An entire universe's kinetic energy can't achieve what a single island's mana can do. That's just how it is, as Mana is the foundation of creation.]

[In short, using Kinetic Energy instead of Mana to utilize your Skills, is worse than trying to run a car with water instead of gas.]

“...”

Neji shrugged after a moment.

'Eh… it's fine, really. I expected this somewhat. I kinda guessed access to Mana in this world would be impossible. Not like there isn't a multiverse of worlds out there for me to cure myself, anyway. For now I will manage my need for Mana with Fusion. Until then, I will try my new quirks.’

===

[Quirk page:

Permeation - LVL 9: Permeation grants the user the ability to phase their body through physical matter. User can choose to make one part of himself intangible or his entire body. This allows the user to smoothly maneuver through solid objects and effortlessly evade incoming attacks.]

This was the first, and it was awesome. Neji actually moved this quirk from under OFA after stealing for safety measures.

Neji also didn't have Mirio's weakness to falling under ground when activating this quirk, because he could fly in multiple ways. Secondly, he was immune to any gravity attacks because he would be able to neutralise them with his own.

But if this was interesting, the things below were magnifying.

[One for All - LVL 10 (MAX): This quirk also allows the user to stockpile an enormous amount of raw power, allowing them to significantly enhance all of their physical abilities to a superhuman level. This results in unbelievable levels of strength, speed, agility, and durability. This quirk can even grant the user an exceptional strength boost to their given Quirk(s).

—Below are the Quirks assimilated within One for All.

(1)Hyper Regeneration - LVL 8: The Quirk wielded by the second user. Allows the user the ability to instantly regenerate most of any physical damage they receive. There are exceptions, such as attacks that stop cell regeneration.

(2)Fa Jin - LVL 8: The Quirk wielded by the third user. This Quirk allows the user to build up and store kinetic energy as they move, this energy can then be released as an explosive burst of speed and power.

(3)Danger Sense - LVL 8: The Quirk wielded by the fourth user. This Quirk allows the user to detect nearby threats.

(4)Blackwhip - LVL 9: The Quirk wielded by the fifth user. This Quirk allows the user to produce tendrils of dark energy which are useful for long-range grappling and increasing the user's mobility.

(5)Smokescreen - LVL 7: The Quirk wielded by the sixth user. This Quirk allows the user to generate thick clouds of smoke from their body, which can obscure people's vision.

(6)Float - LVL 9: The Quirk wielded by the seventh user. This Quirk allows the user to levitate. 

There are 6 quirks within One For All, but he didn't need all of them. Such as Float, it was useless for him. Same went for danger sense, so he simply used All for One’s “Combine” ability to Combine Danger Sense with Eyes of the Lord, which allowed Neji to be sensitive to danger even without activating the eyes.

The combination process was simple. He just had to drag the quirk, Danger Sense, on top of Eyes of the Lord in the [Quirk Page] and drop it down as he got a notification. According to the system, it had modified the Combination's ability to work with the system interface. Neji was thankful for that.

‘Thanks, girl.’ Neji said, sending a flying kiss in the air.

[.......]

‘You are a girl, right? Your voice is feminine.’

[I lack gender. Emotions too, for the most part.]

‘Meaning you can be anything you want, and you chose a feminine voice. I see.’

[.......]

[If that's all, I will be going.]

The system’s presence disappeared as Neji chuckled and shook his head. He probably shouldn't flirt with an AI, but here he was.

Back to One for All, Neji got a notification telling him if he wanted to put all his other quirks under One for All, too, meaning if he were to pass down One for All, all these quirks will be passed along. But he rejected it after confirming his other quirks could gain power boost from OFA without putting them under it. After all, even if he wasn't going to pass it down to anyone, this was the power of the main character for generations, what if All Might had some way to take it back?

Realising that, Neji decided to move out all the quirks that were under One for All to put them under Mine instead.

'This is good enough for now.’ he thought, scratching his neck. ‘I wanted to go to Eri's place immediately after UA, which is exactly why I chose Eusha city out of all the options.’

From the little research Neji made Kimi do, the Shei Hassaikai’s main base was located in this city.

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Author's Note: I don't have much to work with on the international heroes, so, there will be some 'familiar' faces from the other side.