{10} - Evans Smith: Scorching Blood
Evans frowned at the thin slab of metal he'd pulled from his Inventory. The thing was thin—thinner than even his nails—but somehow just as heavy as a small block of steel. It gave an unnatural glow as he spun it between his fingers, its glimmer too bright despite the dim moonlight casted from above.
[-Random Skill Card (Uncommon)-]
[A Skill Card that infuses the User with a Random Skill drawn from the Archive. Skills drawn from the Archive will be Uncommon or above.]
It was midnight. After they took down the giant anaconda, he and Jin Woo fled to the restaurant Jin Woo had reserved the day prior. They had a nice barbeque dinner there, and he even had his first taste of Soju. They went to Jin Woo apartment a couple hours later, and were greeted by a disgruntled Sung Jinah.
The girl had seen their stunt on the live television, it seemed. And it was clear she was intent on dragging her brother by the ear for being so reckless. He let Jin Woo deal with her on his own—he'd mentioned that he had something he wanted to talk about with her as well.
So he sat on a bench just outside their apartment complex as he pondered over his Rewards. He still hadn't gotten any information about the [Potential New Student] that his System mentioned, and he wasn't all that worried about it.
This Random Skill Card on the other hand; it was something he hesitated to use. A new Skill was nice, but Skills came in all sorts of flavors, and there was a chance he'd get something debilitating instead.
…
What was life without a little gambling?
[-Random Skill Card (Uncommon)- has been used. Drawing from the Archive…]
He clasped his hand in prayer. "Bless me, O' RNJesus." He whispered half-jokingly. "Please don't let it be something terrible."
Gacha games have already taken everything from him. Don't take this as well.
[-Blood Code: Scathach- has been Achieved! Additional Skill -Gift: Fire Cloak- has been Achieved!]
Suddenly, hiis chest burned. He bent forward as he grit his teeth. It felt like his blood boiling, as if fire was burning through his throat. He pressed a hand into his chest, but paused as he saw the veins in his arm glow a disturbing red.
The burning fled minutes later, only to be followed by pain that stabbed into his brain. It was as if his head was being split in two, as a flood of information crammed itself deep into his memories.
That too went away after some time. And he let loose a choked breath as he slumped back onto the bench.
[-Blood Code: Scathach Lv 1 (0%)-]
[Warning! User's biology doesn't synchronize well with the Blood Code. Effects of the Skill has been reduced by 50%]
[Increases User's Agility and Skill by 10%, Intelligence and Magic by 8%, Strength and Endurance by 5%. Reduces damage received from Fire-based attacks by 10%. Gives User access to Specialized Gifts.]
He frowned. Blood Code. He could've sworn he'd heard of that somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember where it came from. That was fine. He could look through his Library when he returned to his School.
That aside,
He grinned. His Skill was awesome. The bonuses might be small, but his Skill was still at Level 1. Those numbers would only get higher with time.
But more than anything, Magic! His Skill had finally given him the Magic Stat! He didn't know any magic, nor did he even know where to start, but he reckoned the additional Skill he got would be his answer.
[-Gift: Fire Cloak Lv 1 (0%)-]
[Cloak's the User's Body with Fire, increasing all dealt Damage by {Magic + 5%} and inflicting the {Burning} debuff.]
He brought his hand forward, and he took a breath. He was still reeling from all the information that'd been jammed into his brain, but there was an instinct deep in his gut. He followed its guidance, and he did his best not to flinch at the sudden explosion of heat in his lungs.
Then, came fire.
It burst to life in a sudden flash. The fires coiled around him, its glow contrasted against the dark of the night. The flames are strangely dark, almost velvet in color despite its luminosity. It almost looks like blood that'd somehow turned into a roaring flame.
He took a breath. He felt a little lighter, as if some invisible lake inside his chest had been drained. That was his Magic, he supposed. He still didn't know how to control it, but that was fine. Just having it meant that he could begin his journey towards wizardry. Maybe he could even help his Students as well.
"You're a wizard, Izumi." He whispered with a grin as he quenched the flames.
The embers fizzled away, but he felt warmer than he'd ever felt.
…
He disappeared from Earth a couple hours before sunrise. It took another 5000 Mentor Exp to return to his school, and he reappeared in his Classroom. He hadn't been gone for long—it hadn't even been a day—but it felt like he hadn't seen this place in weeks.
He took a breath. He could faintly smell the ash wafting from his insides.
He sat down and began scrolling through his Library. He wanted to know where the word Blood Code came from. It was familiar. He knew he'd seen it before. He just couldn't remember where.
After scrolling through a plethora of unrelated topics with the same name, he came across it.
[Code Vein | Danger Level: High]
[In a desolate world, a town is swallowed by a red mist. The air is mired with tainted blood, corrupted by the Light of the Queen. Revenants prowl the streets, struggling to survive as they weather both the horde of the Lost and their own squirming biology.]
Code Vein. That was it! It was something he played a long time ago, back when he'd just finished a game from the Souls series. He'd been craving for something similar, and he found Code Vein. It wasn't anything groundbreaking. The game was much easier, and the story was standard, but he liked the setting.
But before he could celebrate, something else happened.
[The Skill -Blood Code: Scathach- has been detected. The Scorned One is Synchronizing with the Archive.]
[The world -Code Vein- has been added to the Portal.]
His eyes went wide. This could happen? He thought he needed to get a Student from Code Vein to give him access. Huh. Who knew?
He gave the option a quick glance, and winced.
[Portal]
-Code Vein | 20,000 Mentor Exp-
Twenty thousand Mentor Exp. "Yeah, no." He dismissed the screen.
But why though? In terms of danger, Solo Leveling's world was leagues beyond Code Vein's. Was it something else then? Maybe it was the 'distance' between his School and Code Vein? It didn't really make sense, but nothing had made sense for a while now.
He would take a visit eventually. Just not now. He wanted to get that damned Gymnasium added to his School first. And maybe upgrade some of his existing facilities. After that, then maybe he'd consider it. He'd need 40,000 Mentor Exp to go and come back, but that was fine. He had all the time in the world. Or worlds.
...…........
"I moved to I-Island." Izumi began, laid down on the floor as she spun a screwdriver between her fingers. "I mean, UA's nice and all, but compared to I-Island?" She snorted. "God, I can't believe I stuck around for that long. And the farther I am from that annoying thing, the better."
Evans listened with a lazy smile, as if he didn't just derail MHA's canon without even realizing.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked instead. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
"Bzzt." She crossed her arms. "I haven't slept in a week. Close, but not close enough."
He bent down and flicked her forehead. She squeaked. "Get some sleep when you get back." He warned. "I don't want to see you lose an arm."
She giggled.
He smiled back.
His actions had changed the canon. Izumi was no longer a student of UA, having moved to I-Island just a day ago. It was a costly move—or it would've been had Izumi not been stockpiling all the Yen she'd collected from the patents she'd released.
Of course, all the new technologies she'd introduced to Japan hadn't gone unnoticed by both the government and the Villains.
They wanted her to remain, to maintain their access to her Arc Reactor. They even tried to lock down her nationality, or at least he assumed so. She didn't want to explain, and he didn't press. All he knew was that she did something so bombastic it cowed the government from doing anything to her or her mother.
The Villains wanted free access to her intelligence. They sent raid after raid towards her, so much so that she asked the principal of UA to temporarily shelter her mother while she dealt with her pursuers.
That was when she first introduced her Iron Suit. After months of slaving away using UA's inferior tools, she finally made a Suit she was somewhat proud with. And mirroring Tony's first stint in Afghanistan, Izumi flew all across Japan as she rained down hell. The skies were alight with missiles and lasers and explosions of ions.
The Villains tried to fight back. They really did. But he'd watched the video her Suit recorded, and it just wasn't a fair fight. Izumi's -Analysis- gave her an insane edge against them. The Villains were given no chance to fight back, and -Analysis- broke down their Quirks in seconds.
In the span of a few days, hundreds of bases were destroyed. Thousands of Villains were brought in.
The government labeled her a vigilante. The public labeled her a hero.
Izumi didn't care, and neither did I-Island. If anything, they were even more eager to give her a place in their ranks.
And now here she was. We're technically in a [Counseling] Lecture, but it's more of Izumi finally kicking back after all the work she'd done. Really, she'd earned it. She'd done more work in a week than the Heroes have in years.
"Smith-sensei." She began, her previous grin gone. "Can I keep coming even after I've 'saved my world' or whatever?"
[Students who have graduated can return to the School at any time, and can either participate in [Electives] or aid the Scorned One as a [Teaching Assistant]]
He blinked. "You could, if you want."
She smiled. "I see."
She said nothing more after that, content with lying on the floor. He stared at her for a moment, confused, before his attention was pulled by a screen that suddenly appeared before him.
[The Student -Izumi Midoriya- is now ready]
…
How ominous.