BNHA Singularity 134 (Patreon)

With the allotted time coming to an end, Arcturus waited for everyone to gather before pulling out what looked like a Viking war horn crafted from bone, explaining, "Within the breaches, you may occasionally find unique items and equipment, commonly known as Magic Items and Artefacts. As the name implies, these items are imbued with an energy known as Mana, granting them all manner of mysterious effects. This horn, for example, is called the Horn of Summoning Goblin. When blown, it absorbs the user's Mana to summon anywhere between a single and one hundred Goblins of various strengths and sizes..."

Hearing Arcturus's explanation, the students of the Knight Course reacted with emotions ranging from excitement to puzzlement and disbelief. They had all heard rumors of the breaches being a literal treasure trove of rare and valuable materials, but this was the first time many were hearing that actual 'magic' was involved.

"I notice doubt in many of your eyes. That is one of the many reasons we asked our guest from Korea to attend the Royal Academy. Han Dae-Jung, please come forward," said Arcturus.

"First the normie and now the Principal. I thought I was supposed to be lucky..." muttered Dae-Jung, hanging his head to avoid the sometimes curious, other times derisive gazes of the other students as he made his way to the front and stood beside Arcturus. Then, at Arcturus's request, he held out his hands, palms facing upward, and materialized a sphere of bright blue energy.

"So there is no confusion about what you're witnessing, student Dae-Jung's Quirk is Focus, an ability that allows him to intensify his focus to the extent of perceiving the world in slow motion," explained Arcturus. "What you see before you is Mana, materialized and given form due to Dae-Jung's extraordinary aptitude for Mana Manipulation."

Turning his gaze to Dae-Jung, Arcturus gave a curt nod and said, "When you're ready, please demonstrate for your fellow classmates the destructive capabilities of Mana."

"Understood..." muttered Dae-Jung, turning to the side so that no one was in front of him before sending the ball of spinning Mana forward. It wasn't very fast, traveling slower than the average person could run, but when it impacted the arena's floor, it exploded with the force of several sticks of dynamite, generating a large plume of bluish-white light.

Seeing what Dae-Jung was capable of, the inordinately affluent youths that had hitherto ignored him had one of two prevailing thoughts: bringing the timid-seeming but powerful youth to their side and preventing others from doing the same. This included Roman, but since he knew Dae-Jung had been scouted by Historia for this particular event, he decided to wait until later to approach him.

"As you can see, Mana is an exceptionally powerful form of energy," said Arcturus, nodding his head and allowing Dae-Jung to return to the crowd before explaining, "But it can be used for more than simply casting spells and destroying enemies from afar. Not everyone possesses the aptitude to become a Mage, but once you acquire special abilities known as Skills, you can do things like this..."

Pointing his sword toward the sky, Arcturus gathered Mana into it, causing golden light to swirl around the blade in a double-helix pattern, eventually forming a blade of light nearly twenty meters in length. Then, with a swift downward strike, he created a crevasse more than sixty meters long, half a meter wide, and nearly twenty meters deep at its deepest point.

"Not bad for an old man, wouldn't you agree?" mused Arcturus, resting his sword on his shoulder with a calm, relaxed smile. Unfortunately, his duties prevented him from delving into more breaches, hampering his growth like others in the same position. This was one of the many reasons the Knight Course was being created, as, compared to professional Heroes, who had longstanding duties like patrolling and policing designated areas, students with Provisional Hero Licenses had significantly more time on their hands. They were also the nation's future, especially in this instance, so allowing them to accumulate strength in relatively safe breaches was beneficial in more ways than one...

After fielding a handful of questions, Arcturus proceeded to explain, "For this second test, I will allow each of your groups to come forward, one at a time, and request between one and one hundred Goblins to face. Since my Mana is limited, however, I can only summon around three hundred in total. If you want to show off, you better step forward quick-"

Before Arcturus could finish, Historia raised her hand, her expression and tone filled with conviction as she proclaimed, "I nominate my group to be the first to accept this challenge!"

Though many were annoyed that Historia got the jump on them, no one dared to complain. Even before she became a powerhouse by entering breaches, she had proven herself as the top student, not just of her year but the entire Academy. Thus, even when Arcturus asked, "Would anyone like to challenge Historia for the right to go first?" no one answered. Their school had a system where students could challenge others to a duel for specific rights and opportunities, but since Historia had never once lost a duel, no one stepped forward to be her next victim.

Resisting the urge to snort, Arcturus instructed everyone but Historia's group to wait in the stands before asking, "How many Goblins will your group be challenging?"

"One hundred," replied Historia, absent even an iota of hesitation. She really wanted to ask for three hundred, but since that would be unfair to the rest of the students, she 'settled' on the maximum amount Arcturus mentioned in his explanation.

"I thought you might..." mused Arcturus, bringing the Flute of Summoning Goblin to his lips, taking a barrel-chested breath, and blowing with all his might. As he did, Goblins began to rise from the ground, similar to the first test. This time, however, they were much better equipped as Arcturus had put more than half his Mana into the summoning.

"Get into formation!" shouted Historia, but instead of charging forward, as she was prone to doing, she positioned herself to protect Momo and Dae-Jung. Far more surprisingly, her school uniform disappeared into motes of bluish-white light, making her appear naked. Then, like a magical girl, she materialized an old-fashioned royal blue dress with gold trim over pristine white hose, silvery greaves, gauntlets, a stylish breastplate, and an ornate longsword nearly as long as she was tall.

After finishing her transformation by swinging her sword to the side in a sweeping motion, dispersing the light covering her body, Historia made a gesture with her free hand, materializing a massive backpack with a metal frame. Its size was such that even an average adult might struggle to pick it up and wear it, but Rebecca managed to do so with relative ease before a console with keys similar to a typewriter emerged from the mouth of the pack, followed by a pair of large, mechanical arms.

'So Historia's [Armory] can store the equipment and belongings of other people. Good to know...' thought Izuku, casually removing his blazer and handing it to Momo before rolling up his sleeves and manifesting his Full-Gauntlets for his classmates to see. Then, as green electricity began to crackle around his body, his figure appeared to vanish to some before he rematerialized next to a Goblin wearing wrought plate armor, backhanding the Level 25 creature with enough force to cause its upper body to 'erupt' into a fountain of blood and gore. Fortunately, before most of the blood even had a chance to hit the ground, the Goblin vanished into motes of bluish-white light, awarding Izuku and Momo little more than 7,300 Exp...

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Seeing Izuku moving around like a blur, making short work of the group of Goblins, Roman narrowed his eyes and muttered, "He's quite powerful for a no-name monkey..."

After their previous encounter, Roman spent much of the prep time they had been given looking up information on Izuku. Much of Izuku's records had been sealed by Nezu, but as most countries kept their own detailed records of other nations' citizens, Roman had ascertained that, until fairly recently, Izuku was a 'nobody.' He guessed that Izuku had been adopted into the Yaoyorozu Family as a result of his performance at the UA Sports Festival, and based on what he was seeing right now, he couldn't fault the well-established family for their foresight.

'But a peasant is still a peasant...' thought Roman, imagining how he might be able to embarrass Izuku at a public gathering or one of the many balls hosted by the Royal Academy to accumulate funds. He likely wouldn't be able to convince the Yaoyorozus he was the better candidate to wed their daughter, but it didn't matter since they were from different social circles. Izuku and Momo would eventually return to the high society of Japan, so Roman felt no qualms about embarrassing them to secure his standing in the far more 'established' circles of Europe and Great Britain.

While Roman was busy scheming, Izuku managed to finish off most of the Goblins on his own. Not even three minutes had transpired since Arcturus blew the Horn of Summoning Goblin, so while others imagined how they could befriend or gain leverage against Izuku, Historia's father wore a wry smile as he thought, 'I don't like it, but it looks like Historia has finally met her match. At least now I understand why he's been so...successful back in Japan...'

Recalling the names and appearances of some of the women Izuku was involved with, Arcturus closed his eyes and exhaled a sigh. He wouldn't trade his wife for the world, but he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't at least a little envious of Izuku's power and position...

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As they were free to leave after the second test, Izuku exchanged contact information with Historia, Rebecca, and Dae-Jung, promising to meet the first two at the time Momo had arranged before she and him made their way to the dome-shaped 'bunker' that would serve as their residence for the foreseeable future. It resembled a silvery shield from the outside, but after passing through numerous security checkpoints, Izuku and Momo discovered that the first floor was a lounge area with a distinct Japanese feel to it, reminiscent of a Ryokan.

"Looks like they predict that more than just me and you will be staying here," said Izuku, the face of Melissa appearing in his mind. However, as her father wished for her to remain in UA, where it was much safer, it was more likely that Nezu had pulled strings to arrange for Mei and potentially the Pussycats to come over. Momo was holding up for now, but she would eventually need some 'assistance' if she were to perform her duties as his attendant/secretary properly.

Unfortunately, after a quick look around, Izuku didn't notice any proximity markers concealed in or around the building. He and Momo seemed to be the only ones present, at least for the time being, so they spent an hour or two checking each floor to see what facilities were available.

All but confirming Izuku's suspicions that others would eventually be arriving, the first floor was equipped with a large, onsen-like bath and a gym that could easily accommodate dozens of people. This included twelve treadmills and, more tellingly, two locker rooms, each with five rows of ten lockers, several of which had already been labeled with the names of students from Classes 1-A and 1-B.

"I think I know where UA's next training camp is scheduled to take place," mused Momo, covering her mouth to suppress a giggle. If she were being honest, she felt nervous about it being just her and Izuku. She planned to give it her all, but there was a reason they accepted him being in multiple relationships. There were actually several, but the most pertinent, at least in this instance, was that his 'inordinate' sex drive couldn't be managed by just a single woman.

"Then I imagine there's a sex dungeon someone around here," mused Izuku, grasping Momo's hand and matching her expectations by grinning as he appended, "Shall we search for it?"

"Unless you want to do it here..." replied Momo, feeling emboldened by the notion they were the only people present in what they would later discover was a thirteen-story building extending more than a hundred meters into the ground. Fortunately, while the security and surveillance system were already up and running, allowing Nezu to check in on them periodically, the locker rooms were one of several areas deliberately left untapped...

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(A/N: Nezu is the best wingman (o w o)...)