Ducking below the strike of Kendo Nick felt the breeze flow past his head. Kendo wasn't using his quirk right now although he was still much faster than a normal person, and his punches still hurt like hell but they were nothing Nick's enhanced body couldn't handle.
Weaving between the strikes and deflecting some Nick made sure that none hit him. That was the point of this exercise, after all, to not get hit. Backing away from the next strike Nick took a few steps back holding his hands up showing he was done. His face was covered in a sheen of sweat. Nodding Kendo went and sat down on one of the many crates that littered the room as he spoke, "you're doing great little man!"
Nodding his thanks Nick just did his normal routine of water then oats. He had a lot more stamina now and as he had used and adjusted to his quirk he found it was starting to take less and less energy to heal himself. Small injuries barely cost any stamina at all at this point. He wasn't surprised, Kai had brought his companions back from death or death's doors more than once and had barely looked phased by it.
Cracking his neck Nick massaged a tight spot in his shoulder muscle as he gently pushed his quirk into it loosening it up before building it back again. He had found it harder and harder to keep on condensing his bones and muscles since he had surpassed normal human ability. He could, he just became bulky as a truck like Muscular. Which he didn't want at all, he would if he had to but he preferred not to.
Walking over to Kendo he held his hand out and Kendo nodded his thanks as he reached out and slapped the boy's hand, gripping it as he made contact and feeling the wave of tension pass through his body before it faded away. He had gotten used to Nick using his quirk on him and only nodded his thanks as he continued. "You sure you don't want to fight in the ring little man? You would do amazing! An instant hit!"
"Nah, I don't want that kind of attention, especially the attention this club brings." His voice tired as he felt the hit from healing Kendo. Walking over to the magic bag of oats he scoffed at the note on the top of the bag.
'I don't know what you too are doing with all of these but it better be a charity like feeding the homeless or I'll kick your asses myself. - Ratu.' Letting out a snort of amusement he just turned it to powder before letting it drift away. Putting his hand into the bag and stocking his reserves back up. He was really really REALLY good at converting plants to body parts now, continuously doing it over and over and over most days for the past four years really helped you grow skills, funny that.
Knowing for a fact Ratu, the ex fighter now gruel maker, could not care less about homeless people he promptly forgot about the note as he turned to Kendo that was speaking again.
"Come on, your skin is insanely tough and you can punch through brick walls and heal any damage you can take in less than a second. I don't think even I could kill you, little man. What are you even learning to fight for? You don't talk much about yourself do you?" His voice was curious. This had been brought up more than once through the years of coaching but it wasn't something Nick ever divulged freely.
"Not scared of it or anything. What I am willing to admit I am scared of though, is who might be watching. You already know I have asked you to keep my quirk secret, I have reasons to stay out of sight. Honest answer, I just want to protect myself from what could happen, life is full of the unexpected and I want to be prepared to take it head on. Being weak isn't fun I know that much..." Walking over to his bag as he spoke he put his bottle inside and checked his phone, swiping away the notifications from his dad's friends that he was currently staying with.
He had practically moved in with them at this point. They had a son just a few years younger than him. His name was Micheal and he was annoying as any twelve year old. He always was trying to follow Nick out of the house, it was tiring.
He had hit a roadblock with his biological research. He couldn't change anything more about his body and make it permanent. He had tried to change his muscles to a more steel like substance but it was a lot harder as he had to convert the none organic to organic for him to be able to make it a permanent change. He had put that research to the side for now however. He was focusing once more on his mechanical skill having more ideas for how he could improve himself.
He was able to merge non organic materials with his body now, he could only do so temporarily though. But it was very useful to be able to move stone onto his skin to cover his body or something, the only issue was that crouching down and touching the floor would put him in a bad position in a fight. Kendo had punished him many times for trying to get low to the floor.
He had something he wanted to try when he got back home this weekend. He had swapped his schedule around so he stayed in Osaka during the weekdays and went home on weekends. His parents were very generous in his freedom as long as he did call often and inform them of his progress.
Turning his attention back to what was happening he watched as Kendo was taking the wrappings of his hands. Seeing that the man was busy packing up he got back to doing it as well. Putting away the last of his stuff that was left throughout the room he nodded his head in satisfaction before walking towards the back door that he normally used to get into the underground fighting ring. Turning back to Kendo before he walked out he said. "See you around big dude! Gonna be taking a few days to sort some things out that I am managing before I come back but you should see me around!"
"Alright little man, don't let anyone but me beat your ass you, you hear me!" His voice encouraging as he waved Nick off, turning as the boy left the room to continue cleaning up.
Walking down the long hall he went up the steps, two at a time as he was eager to pack his stuff at his current place of residence and get back home. He honestly was missing his shed after five days away from it. He just hoped his dad hadn't let himself in and messed with anything like he used to do. He knew that he had done it out of worry but he didn't need to be so concerned. Nick knew what he was doing, most of the time at least.
Finally reaching the top of the stairs he continued down the thin dimly lit hall. That was barely wide enough for him to walk through without his shoulder scraping against the walls. He could hear the chatter of the cafe that was on the other side of the wall, it was dim and muffled but it was still audible.
Getting to the door he knocked on it twice and leaned against the wall. A knock was heard back now he just had to wait. He hadn't understood why this was happening at first but he soon got it. Being a secret entrance and all, they didn't want people seeing the same people leaving the door over and over so the mind-reading guy who had never shared his name was there to manage it. He just had to wait until no one was in the road then he would be let out.
After a few minutes the door swung open. Walking outside into the afternoon sun Nick looked down at the 'homeless' man and nodded his head. Not even saying anything before he walked off. He didn't talk much to the guy and the guy didn't want to talk to him so he didn't bother trying. He was just a gatekeeper although the rocky guy that escorted him on his first visit constantly was complaining about the smoke stains on the door frame.
Finally making his way towards a more populated area he looked over his shoulder as he went through a car park. Not seeing anyone around he changed the colour and style of his clothes as well as his physical appearance. Making it normal again before leaving through the small connecting alley. Soon he was back in the crowd that was going around their daily lives.
---
Walking through the front door he called out into the hall. "I'm home! Aunty, I brought the breadcrumbs too." Taking his shoes off he dropped them onto the floor, pushing them into place with his foot as he passed and grabbing his slippers from a shelf but not even putting them on, just letting them hang from his fingers as he walked into the living room. Micheal was there playing something on the TV, the volume was at a reasonable level though so that was nice, he didn't hate the kid, just found him annoying when he tried to poorly practice his tracking skills.
Making his way to the kitchen he put his bag and slippers down on the floor just outside as he opened the front pocket and took out the small bag of breading before making his way into the kitchen and seeing his 'aunt' there looking exasperated and annoyed. Hands covered in egg wash and flour as half a bowl of un-breaded pork tonkatsu sat next to its finished counterpart. Opening the bag as he walked in and said, "hey Cass, did you not make sure you had the ingredients this time either?" His voice was lightly amused as he went over to the dish that had breadcrumbs in it and refilled it for her.
"Oh thank you dear, no no I swear I checked this time, I just couldn't find the bag. I swear I bought two I just don't know where the other one went!" Cassandra replied, her voice exasperated as she thanked Nick once more. Clearly in a flustered state from her mistake.
Grabbing his stuff and leaving the kitchen Nick made his way to his temporary room. Throwing his bag onto his bed he grabbed his laptop and charger, the only things he really brought between houses and packed them into the bag. He already had most other things but did a quick check of his pockets for his wallet phone and keys. Oh and his blue-tooth headphones. Grabbing them from their charger he threw them into the bag before slinging it over his shoulder and heading out of the room. He had forgotten his keys once but overhauling a lock really wasn't hard.
Walking down the hall he peaked his head back into the kitchen and said, "I'll see you Monday Aunt Cass. Tell Garry I said goodbye, oh and that his car has been fixed, the drive belt had snapped. That was why it was overheating."
"What? You're not staying for dinner?" Her eyes glanced between him and the clock on the wall, seeing it was already close to 7 pm. "Oh, it's that late already, we'll see you soon then! Do you have all your stuff?" Her voice was motherly as she looked over at Nick.
"Yeah got it all this time, don't want to be getting home too late, he would probably be back home at 11 or later. He would have to work on his project in the morning.
Walking out of the living room a simple, "cya little man." Being thrown at Micheal. The kid in his childish tantrum from being avoided earlier today not responding. Nick hadn't even noticed his taking of Kendo's nickname until after a few weeks.
Walking out the front door he made his way to the station, checking his phone. He would need to jog to get there in time for the train but he didn't mind, a little afternoon jog was good for health. The thought almost made him laugh, his health would always be fine, and he hadn't had a cold since getting overhaul.
---
Finally getting home Nicklaus let himself in, seeing his mother at the kitchen table he had a small conversation with her before a goodnight hug. The same questions as every Friday night were asked and answered and after a small questionnaire about how he was doing he managed to escape to his room. Putting his bag on the chair he collapsed onto his bed, there was something just so wonderful about your own bed… life was good.
The next day Nicklaus was up early, greeting his dad as he made his way to the company's workshop. Having a project that needed to be finished by later that month the man was clearly on a time crunch and it showed. Giving his dad some energy he waved him out the door before going and grabbing a few nutritional blocks. They were made for people whose quirks required food or absorbed a lot of it, densely packed food bars that contained everything you would need. Tasted like old coffee but he never had to eat them luckily. He normally liked having breakfast and eating but he had work to be done.
Getting down to his workshop he didn't even unlock the door. Just overhauling it and walking through as it reconstructed behind him. His other hand held a notebook that contained his research into mechanical body parts. Going over the important details he had left for himself.
He knew how to make a robot. Using hydraulics and artificial muscles in conduction to make arms considerably more powerful than a normal human's arm. He could make ones that could bend steel now which he was pretty proud of. Going over to the arm, it was twice as big as his and bulky too. Walking over he took a deep breath and after using overhaul on the arm and pressing a voice recorder he said, "test 67. Connection point modified to better wire nerves. No pain at all, everything is working as intended."
Attached on the back of his shoulder the mechanical arm sat. Shoulder against his and the heavy mass only weighing him down slightly. He would have to get used to using it though and balancing with its weight. Although that wasn't really a problem when he enhanced his legs with mechanics too. After so long being blocked on the biology side he switched his focus. Why not enhance himself with mechanics? As long as he knew the arm's structure completely he convert anything he touched into mechanical arms and enhance his legs as well.
Moving the arm around he nodded to himself seeing that it worked and felt almost like using a normal arm. Throughout the arm were small strands of muscle and nerves so that he could control it like a normal arm and honestly, it took some adjusting to be able to control three hands at once but once he balanced it out with four it actually became way easier. He had mechanics down his spine as well to help support his back and the weight of the arms. With some adjusting, he was soon using them as normal and their strength was insane. Much more than his own. He also enhanced his normal arms with mechanics, just not nearly as much as the full robot arms. Just a few hydraulics to assist his muscles. This was much easier until he could figure out how to push his body past 5% of the normal human limits.
He couldn't use his quirk through the mechanical hands sadly like Kai could with his extra organic arms, even when he put an extra self made hand on the end of the arm as a test. He didn't know why but he assumed it was something to do with his inability to modify his quirk factor, something he was still working on.
Smiling at his progress he said, "test 67. Success. No rejection after 30 minutes of use. No pain in use and the balance has been adjusted. Legs are next then I guess."
Smiling he put his hand against his chest and the mechanics were forced out of his body, his arms returning to normal as the parts fell onto the desk and the arms soon fell to the floor. Although they weren't damaged he did flinch a bit at the impact. Picking them up he put them back onto the desk.
He was starting to feel more prepared for the upcoming entrance exam, converting robots into robotic parts would be easy. He couldn't make too much of a scene through and currently, anything more than two arms made his head hurt from the added strain so controlling a full Mech was still not possible right now.
He had been inspired by Kai's organic body he made but unlike Kai, he couldn't go turning other people into a flesh golem so he just went full on mechanical. Even if it was harder to control and his body didn't accept it as readily as other organics it certainly had its own advantages.
Taking a deep breath he thought about the future. He wasn't strong enough to go and display everything he could do but this was close enough to his biology manipulation that he was happy to use it in public. He couldn't get lost in the excitement and do something compromising. He had to think still.
Finally, he felt he could name his quirk. Revamp
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Thanks for your patience! And thanks for the support so far. I hope this chapter is a better direction for the story. I decided that since Nick still had two years before the exam he would focus on increasing his strength past the roadblock he was facing in biology.
Let me know what you think of the Mechanical enhancement he is giving himself! While it can't be a permanent modification I think that it was a good direction to take the MCs quirk to the next level of utility without being unrealistic. I see no reason why extra nerves and smaller muscles cant help in having mechanical parts and incorporating enhancements. As always your advice and constructive criticism are more than welcome!
The next chapter will finally be getting into the story and I will be writing it later tonight hopefully! No more growing and learning chapters, for now at least, let's hope my next attempt at advancing the plot goes better than the last. Although with all the advice I have gotten I see no reason as to why it won't!
Also, let me know what you think of Nick's personality in this chapter. He only really interacts with those he has to but when he does he focuses on just being polite and has no problem doing small favours for others as long as he doesn't have to go too far out of his way.
And finally, thank you to Mr_Night for the name suggestions! I really liked transmutation but I felt Revamp was a more quirk like name. It is a bit similar to overhaul but eh, future Nick problem. Also, think it matches since he Revamps his body in a way I guess? Or I am just trying to make excuses for using it.