Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Izumi POV - October 19, 2xxx
My whole body ached. And that was good. It meant the physical training I'd been doing was working wonders. And I absolutely needed it, especially if I wanted to face Ant-King.
My Zoro template wasn't complete. Or rather, I hadn't reached the same level as Zoro. Zoro was a damn training fanatic. Yes, the template helped me improve my muscles and everything else, but I still needed to push myself to reach Zoro's peak, and I was way off.
And the reason was really simple. I hadn't had time to train properly, or at least not at the same level as Zoro. Where Zoro had trained his muscles every day for several hours, I could barely manage a couple of times a week.
Between school, helping mom at the store, training my sword styles, my haki, my aura, studying to get into UA, or helping train Taylor, and before that Kazuto, or even hanging out with my friends, I had very little time left to train at the same level of intensity as Zoro.
Therefore, while my Haki level was on par with Zoro's, and my swordsmanship was equal to, or even superior to, his thanks to Yoriichi, I lagged far behind in the strength department. So, pushing myself physically at this level helped me train a lot.
And it was much easier thanks to the creation of the Gravity Blade, Touta Konoe's sword from UQ Holder, with Mai. The Gravity Blade was a katana capable of increasing its weight almost without limit. And we had done it, although increasing the sword's weight consumed some of our aura.
The average weight of a katana was around 1kg to 1.4kg. And our limit, the limit we had set, was 500,000 times our available aura, and that used up a large portion of our reserves. So, the upper weight limit was now 500 tons.
But if necessary, we could actually increase the weight even more. It wasn't easy to do; in fact, it was impossible to lift Mai to her maximum capacity at the moment, although I should be able to in the future, and I would.
But for now, I could barely lift around 150 tons and wield Mai smoothly. It was still a good sword to use in combat. The original Gravity Blade had a dial to control the weight, but here it was more inherent; both Mai and I could control its weight, so I could use it effectively in a fight.
And besides the Dial, there were some differences with the real Gravity Blade, mainly, it didn't have an AI inside the sword and much less could it change shape like the original, so it was good, because without that, the cost of creating the sword was reduced.
That sword was truly excellent for training. Yes, it could be used for attacking; I remembered someone simply throwing that sword at its maximum weight and destroying an entire palace, so yes, it was a good sword, but that didn't detract from the fact that it was excellent for training.
The Gravity Blade, plus my shadows from placing tons of rocks inside, had allowed me to push myself beyond my limits. So I'd been training, pushing myself beyond my limits, enough to make my whole body ache even with my aura healing me.
It had been worth it. Although now I could barely hold a pencil or notebooks for class.
"Alright class, today we'll have some important changes to the school curriculum." Aizawa said, entering and standing in front of us. We all immediately paid attention. "As you know, this department is the Hero and Hunter course, with an emphasis on both. Yes, UA is primarily focused on heroism, and that's why many of you, if not all, enroll here."
"But that doesn't mean we ignore or overlook the 'Hunter' part. As you know, everyone has had their Hunter License since day one at UA. Some of you have done week-long internships with one of the Hunter Guilds. And we've also had some monster exercises."
"But it's time to step things up."
"During the next month, all hero classes will be replaced with hunter classes. That means you'll learn everything you need to know about Gates, Monsters, Guilds, and the laws surrounding all of that."
"Any questions?" Aizawa asked, looking at all of us. We all stared at him in surprise before the commotion suddenly erupted. "Silence!" Aizawa snapped as he activated his Quirk. We all fell silent. "Yaoyorozu, you first," Aizawa grunted, calming down.
"Y-yes, sensei!" Yaoyorozu squealed, clearing her throat. "I understand the curriculum and class changes, but why the time limit? Only one month? Shouldn't it last longer? Wouldn't it be better to combine both classes, Hunter and Hero?" Yaoyorozu asked, confused. Aizawa nodded.
"Well, that can really be answered in one response. The main reason, and almost the only one, is that there isn't much to learn about being a Hunter," Aizawa said easily. "Most Hunter fights happen inside dungeons. There are no laws about collateral damage, excessive use of force, misuse of Quirks, how to subdue or process a suspect, protocols, laws, protection, scene preservation, coordination with the police, crisis intervention, negotiation, rescues, public relations... and I could go on. Inside a dungeon, there's none of that."
"The truth is, none of that matters to a hunter. While a hero needs to know all of the above, a hunter only needs to know how and when to kill monsters—it's as simple as that," Aizawa said solemnly. We all paused to process what he'd just said. And… I really couldn't disagree with him. "That's why the Hunter curriculum is so short."
"So far, you have learned to restrain yourselves, with your companions, to stop the villains and much more; you needed to know when and where to apply force and avoid harming both the people around you and the villains you subdue."
"Now, you'll have to learn to use lethal force against the monsters. And that's not up for discussion; all of you will participate." Aizawa said, looking at us seriously. "The gates and the monsters are a real danger. A gate breaking down can happen anytime, anywhere, and all of you have to be prepared for when it does."
"But also, just as the rise in villains in Japan has led us to intensify their training and even their internships, the same is true for Gates and Monsters. As you know, the League of Villains has proven capable of generating and breaking gates, so it's a priority that you learn to fight monsters."
"You need to know how to identify them, so you don't run headlong into monsters much stronger than you. You need to know how to attack them, how to take advantage of their quirks and see how effective they are against monsters, know what their weaknesses are, and much more. And we'll cover all of that this month," Aizawa said seriously.
"Um... sensei?" Ruby said, confused. Aizawa simply nodded in her direction. "I've seen Beacon's curriculum. My sister attended for years, and I've glanced through their books, and it all seemed just as complex as our hero curriculum." Ruby said, confused. Aizawa just nodded.
"And that's because it IS the hero curriculum," Aizawa said easily. "In places like Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and others, they only have hunters, but there, the hunters play the role of both heroes and hunters."
"They essentially combined both professions into one. Normally, that wouldn't be done, but due to the high presence of Grimms, of monsters, outside of dungeons and the fact that they can appear anywhere, in those places it was almost a priority that the heroes knew how to face monsters and villains, indiscriminately."
"Over time, it became easier to combine both professions into one," Aizawa said easily.
"But a month, isn't that even too short?" Ashido asked, raising her hand. Aizawa just shook his head.
"Not really. Hunters need to know how to fight, that's the only and most important thing. And we already have classes for that; you've had them from the beginning and will continue to have them. The rest can simply be covered in a month."
"But specifically, it's because in a month, you'll have a second internship. Right after the festival." Aizawa announced, and we all opened our eyes. "Silence." He grunted again when we all started talking at once. "As I was saying, they'll have internships."
"Last month, you all did internships at hero agencies, and only hero agencies, and that was for a reason. And that reason is because now, the internships are about hunters. You'll choose a guild or form a group yourselves and you'll be accepting missions for a month until the holidays begin."
"Just like with the previous internships, it's your job to secure these internships. Use your contacts just like you did during your hero internships. You have one month to get offers or come up with ideas," Aizawa finally said. We all raised our hands at the same time. Aizawa just sighed and pointed at Jinx.
"Group? Did you mention group? Can we form our own groups?" Jinx asked quickly, sounding excited. Aizawa just nodded.
"Some of you have already participated and exercised your hunter licenses, either alone, joining other participating groups, or forming your own, but as you know, you were restricted to gates of a lower rank than your own for your protection. This time, not so much. You will be able to enter dungeons of your own rank, but accompanied."
"You will have experienced UA-affiliated hunters accompanying you, who will mostly stay on the sidelines and let you lead the dungeon raids, only intervening if it becomes dangerous."
"But also, you will be mixing with and being accompanied by upper-level students, groups from the second or third year classes. This is mainly so that you and the upper-level students can gain experience safely."
"Unlike heroic internships, being a hunter, entering gates full of monsters, is much more dangerous. You can't receive medical assistance or help immediately; anything can go wrong and everything can get worse in a matter of minutes, so you need to be careful."
"UA hasn't had a student die in a dungeon in decades, and you guys aren't going to break that streak, got it?" Aizawa asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously.
""""Yes, Sensei!!"""" we all replied at the same time. Aizawa nodded contentedly.
"It's recommended that you get an internship with a guild, simply to gain as much experience as possible working with guilds and learning how they operate and are managed, in case you need to coordinate with them in the future, but it's not strictly necessary. You'll get the same experience here at UA, so don't worry if you don't get one," Aizawa said calmly, and with that, he began to explain everything you needed to know. There was a lot of information, but the most relevant was the formation of groups.
The groups were mainly made up of four people. In this class, we had six C-ranks, six B-ranks, six A-ranks, and three S-ranks. Yes, we were counting Tenko, who was an A-rank, and not counting Mai, who came with me.
Ranks C and B could form groups interchangeably, as their levels were too similar. Ranks A and S would form the other groups. This was mainly because Izuku wasn't able to fight at an S-rank level since he hadn't fully mastered AFO yet, and Taylor had to rely primarily on her sword since using her quirk was difficult in dungeons.
And apparently, we didn't need to focus only on our class; if we wanted, we could form groups with someone from class 1-B with the same limitations.
"Have you decided which guild to join yet?!" Ruby asked excitedly as soon as class ended. I sighed in amusement.
"I don't even remember what my options were," I said dryly. Taylor just nodded.
"I don't remember either, and I think I even threw most of the offers away," Taylor said, wrinkling her nose. "They took up a lot of space. Do you think Aizawa will be able to reprint them?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm sure they have the list. We can go ask later, especially since we can't form our own group either." Azula hummed, approaching. "Izumi and Taylor are S-rank, Ruby, Darkness, and I are B-rank, so we're separated by rank. We could invite someone else. Yunyun, Jinx, and Visha are B-rank if I remember correctly." Azula said, thinking lightly.
"Oh! Do you think they'll let me do my internship with Mom?! Or at Aunt Raven's guild?!" Ruby asked, panting and sounding excited.
"I don't think they'll refuse," Taylor said, shrugging. "You already worked with your mother for a week, and they let me go to Brockton Bay, so I really doubt they'll ban foreign guilds," Taylor said matter-of-factly.
"And I don't think Darkness is available." I told Azula. She looked at me curiously, and I shrugged. "Darkness had her week-long internship with Heathcliff and his guild, that invincible hunter with the shield or whatever. Darkness really admires him, so she'll probably take advantage of the opportunity to return to them." I said simply. Azula stopped and nodded.
"I guess I'll have to look for more options," Azula said simply.
"And you, will you be going back to Draw Sword?" Ruby asked, looking at me amusedly. "I know they're dealing with this whole problem of them wanting to kill you guys and all that, but I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun messing with them without them being able to refuse or kill you before you can." Ruby said with a giggle. I smiled slightly.
"Oh, it's tempting, especially to go and bother Huntress Tawata, but I'm sure they'll hate me by then." I said, my eyes gleaming. "Which, come to think of it, is a good thing." I laughed sadistically.
"Well, the internships start immediately after the festival, that means a week before Jeju. If they accept you, I don't think they'd be able to fire you without looking bad themselves," Taylor said jokingly.
"Oh, oh, oh! You could also spy on them and all that while you're there?" Ruby said quickly. I stopped and looked at her in surprise.
"You know, that's not a bad idea," I said with a hum.
"Actually, it could also help as an alibi. Instead of saying you were in the right place at the right time to see them commit the attempted murder on Jeju, and that you stopped them just in time, you could say you discovered it during your internship and had to stop them. No one would question how you knew about it then," Azula said, frowning as she thought. I paused for a few seconds before nodding.
"I'll think about it and talk to Nezu about it," I said easily. After that, we continued talking animatedly.
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