fics I read

I mean I could go and steal Stats and Skills from an entire apartment block in one night, but that would probably put me into an A-rank threat and I want to regulate that myself. It isn't the time for that yet.

Still, despite my rather small-time murdering, I acquired a Title as soon as the news came up with their moniker for me. I now can equip [Villain] as my Title which gives me increased rep gains with those of 'Evil Alignment' and +10% to all Stats when fighting against those of 'Good Alignment'. Oh, and sets my own Alignment to Evil. Naturally. I hadn't known the alignment mechanic worked here before this. Right now I'm 'Neutral Evil'. Fair enough.

"Another, huh" Hisa commented, looking at the tv over my shoulder.

"The seventh they say" I nod. It was accurate though this one I did kill the day before yesterday. Guess it took a while to find his body.

"That's horrible. I really hope they catch him soon. I sure won't be going out while there is this maniac on the loose"

"Doesn't he attack people at home?"

"Sure, but he must stalk them somehow, it can't be random"

"I suppose" I nod, maybe doing some random selection would be good for me. If the Skill is not worth it, I'll take the Stat.

Hisa looks at me in dead serious "You be careful out there, alright?"

"Definitely"

My roommate chuckles "Then again, do I even have to worry? You've been staying at home for the past few days, tinkering with whatever that project of yours is. Didn't know you were an engineer."

I wasn't just an engineer, I was an Engineer. Brand new Class, having topped up Assassin recently. "I dabble."

Hisa grins "Yeah. Anyway, I have to go to work. Good luck on… whatever it is you're dabbling in."

"Thanks" I grin right back. I'm indeed planning on working on it today, getting some levels in my new Class.

At first I was hesitant on which Class to choose after Assassin – a fighter class was in serious consideration since most would give me a nice tidy boost to STR and VIT, my worst Stats which I really need to raise. In the end I decided to postpone my fighter career and instead focus on crafting gear for myself. I can be a fighter whenever and wherever, but this world has some excellent crafting material and blueprints. Pro-hero gear sells at exorbitant prices, read profit, and gives great bonuses. I can't be going around in my biker leathers forever, now can I?

So Engineer it is. The +2 INT and +0,1 LCK every Class level also isn't anything to sniff at. I depend on INT for almost all of my attacks so let's make me a heavy hitter.

Engineer Skills were a little unusual, being a production Class and all. Most of them were passives related to designing and building, and I have only three actives – [Structural Analysis], [Repair] and [Reinforce]. Methinks the Game ripped off Nasuverse a little.

Still, leveling the Class was going well even though it kept me more in my apartment than in any dungeon. I haven't even finished exploring the third type of dungeon – Moonlit Forest.

My gear was more or less coming along, getting better with each level of Skill but I was running short of material. Well, not short short, my HotD days were very fortuitous indeed, but I was starting to require more advanced material. And since I refuse to pay if I can steal…

Looks like I'll be adding to my list of crimes. My nights are getting rather full.

Or maybe I can do some Stat/Skill stealing during the day. There are plenty of NEETs in this country, they stay at home all day. Though I probably won't be able to mooch any STR from them…

Tomorrow then, today I am planning to dedicate to the gauntlets I'm building. They are the Mk II and I fully expect a lot of re-dos, but they should work well enough.

Not the whole day though, I'm also planning a gym visit. Not only they have weights for those with strength quirks, a lot of people go there too. A lot of people with nice Stats and some nice quirks. Training and recon, all in one.

Might also visit Hisa at work, being social and all that.

Oh so many plans…

Lovers from two opposing sides that can never coexist, truly star-crossed, a hero and a villain. Not that my new girlfriend Kaori, the Glaive Hero: Dextera, has any idea what I am up to at night when she is not with me. To increase the thrill, this woman is one of the pro-heroes that are tasked in finding the Vampire Killer. Fun, right?

"What are you thinking about?" Kaori asks, caressing my hair. Big bad hero likes to be the big spoon.

"Work," I say with appropriate sheepishness, "Yours to be exact."

The hero chuckles "Now should I be flattered that you don't want me to leave or insulted that your mind is already so functional."

"My mind is always functional"

"I'd say, you fawning over my gear yesterday was pretty cute though"

"I do dabble in this stuff you know"

"I know, we are literally in your room which looks more like a workshop"

"You just don't get feng shuei"

Kaori snorts "Yeah, feng shuei, right. I hope I don't trip over your feng shuei again."

"I told you to watch out for the copper wire. And for a pro hero with an agility quirk you sure are clumsy"

"I was distracted!"

"I took off my shirt" I arch my eyebrow with an appropriately dry reply.

"See!" Kaori's eyes widen innocently.

I chuckle.

Kaori sighs wistfully "And I would love to 'see' again, very much so, but I guess I have to go to work."

"You guess? Stop being lazy and go" I grin.

"Mean" Kaori pouted but got out of bed with a smile.

The hero goes for my shower, grabbing the duffle bag with her costume. It's a pretty good costume with some nicely made gear, and she has a robo-glaive! Very RWBY. I studied it in detail and with my Skills and Class I am sure I can recreate it without too many issues. Though, I would go for a stronger alloy in…

"This is your science face, thinking again?" Kaori asks, having returned pretty quickly. Or maybe I was just lost in thought about building her weapon for myself.

"Mhhm" I nod happily, burrowing myself deeper into the covers.

"Cute" the hero bends to give me a kiss, "I have to go. I'm on patrol tonight and the next two days but I should be free for lunch sometime?"

"Sure, we'll text" I smile, shrugging would be just impolite. I have a lot of stuff to do and Kaori is way secondary to them.

"Be careful if you go out" Kaori reminds with a light frown.

"You'll catch that vampire soon" I reassure.

"We will. We actually have a briefing today about him, try some new strategies"

"I feel safer already" I smile, mentally making a reminder to scan her for which strategies are those. After all, at least half the reason I am dating her is the information she gets. I'm already up to 16 vampire drains and law-enforcement is getting frantic.

"Bye" Kaori gives me another smile and leaves. I hear a "Bye, Hisa-san!" and the thump of the door, letting me know the hero has left. Time to do some villainy then. After breakfast though.

"Mornin" Hisa greets me with a yawn, "Cereal?"

"I'll think I'm make myself something a little more filling" I hum, eager to start the day and work on my armor project. I recently acquired some goodies so I can definitely make some progress.

"Suit yourself"

Hisa clearly isn't wholly awake yet, for such a peppy person she really isn't all that usable in the morning. I used to be that way too but Gamer fixed me up. Now I even exercise in the morning, quite vigorously, especially since I'm so close to getting a 100 in VIT. I only need two points in it now to get my Perk. I expect it to be double Health regen to go with the Mana one from WIS, which will sure come in handy. My CHA Perk is getting real close too. I'm quite curious what that one will be. The STR threshold is still far but with Engineer on I managed to get my INT to easily climb over 200 which also gave me a Perk – Spellslinger, which increases range of all my INT-based attacks.

I've been here in BokuHero a full month and I have to say that I am overall satisfied with my progress. I'm not god tier or anything but honestly that would've been boring. I don't usually play games on 'easy' after all.

Another thing has enhanced my feeling of progress and that is my Quests that have finally started showing up. So far nothing overly important, they are just about the goals that I have set on myself. I had a quest about my thieving expeditions for example. It's a chain quest wanting more and more stolen blueprints, tools and materials. Similarly, another quest wants me to manufacture a whole new set of armor by myself. Both things I very much wanted to do anyway, only now I get bonus exp when I fulfill them. Some Credits too, even conventional money. For someone who doesn't have normal work, it's a nice bonus to my already cushy cash reserve built out of dungeon drops.

That armor is my current project. I already have the gauntlets, plate and a half-finished helmet. I don't really know how to qualify something for a 'set' but so far everything has the label of 'Mk IV Power Armor' so it should work despite the different pieces having different functions. Right now I am focusing on enhancing my Stats rather than give it any Skill or ability - STR for the gauntlets, VIT for the plate, stuff like that. It's actually quite fun figuring out, the stolen blueprints helped a lot though.

"You fiddling with your machines today?" Hisa asks, starting to go back to normal human via a gregarious application of coffee.

"Correcto"

"You're been working on them really hard recently, got inspired?"

I chuckle and truthfully nod "I have lots of ideas."

"Kaori-san let you inspect her robo-glaive?"

"Why are you trying to make it sound dirty?"

"I'm not!" Hisa defends with a very not believable snort, "Just that inspecting her weapon…"

"You keep using the same tone" I roll my eyes despite my amusement, "The winking doesn't help."

"I meant that totally innocently"

"I'm sure"

Hisa's face got positively wicked "Besides, if I were to make it dirty I would assign that robo-glaive to you. You can't fool me, Kaori-san might be a strong pro-hero, but I know who calls the shots."

"And that's right" I nod imperiously. Of course it is, Kaori is hopelessly under my [Influence] and my Gamer-provided stunning body is doing the rest.

Hisa laughs heartily and gets up to get more coffee. And if I know her, sneak some kind of chocolaty snack too. Which will be followed with more discussion of my love life. Pity though, Hisa is a huge romantic while I pretty much chose Kaori because of her investigator status.

Though if one squints and keeps silent about the serial killer angle, the meet-cute was not the worst. Ever since the taskforce to catch me was established I kept an eye on it, duh, and I was Observing any and all heroes and police officers that had a connection to them. Which basically means I have been camping in a café nearby with my [Observe] active. Nothing overly suspicious, I think. Still, Kaori did notice my staring and interpreted it another way. Not the murderer scoping up the competition but in an interested sense. She immediately smiled at me and sauntered over. All cocky and flirty. Naturally I flirted back, I finding it supremely funny that she was tasked to catch me and here she was trying to charm me. I charmed her right back and now I can deep scan her any time I want to get my info. And, more importantly, I have a girlfriend with an epic body. Epic. All that hero work makes you quite ripped and very much flexible it seems. And the 'I'm the villain you're looking for' thing has still not stopped being funny.

Naturally, my spree continues without impediment. I'm actually going prowling again soon – almost pity that the two Skills I'm doing it for, [Stat Thief] and [Mind Thief], kill the victim as I didn't get to try out my new toy on a non-dungeon character. You see, killing a bunch of what System called 'perfectly innocent people', unlocked another achievement – Serial Killer. And that one awarded me with [Serrated Dagger]. The dagger is an awesome dexterity-scaled weapon, and it inflicts [Bleeding] to boot. By DEX-scaled I mean that it always inflicts six times the amount of my Dexterity. Unfortunately only to a max of 1000 dmg. Still, a terrific starter weapon. A few quick jabs and pretty much anyone who isn't a hero, or otherwise has high HP, is down for the count.

I kinda get the feeling the dagger is meant for a more fantasy, or medieval world. It fits the aesthetic and generally there is much more fighting with weapons. Over here only a few heroes have weapons, mostly relying on their innate talents and quirks. For all that I am a mage, I like weapons. Really, really do. Epic-looking sword and armor? Yes, please.

And as the dungeons weren't the gear bonanza I expected, I have to build that epic-looking stuff myself. And we're back to Engineer Class. And I fully expect that sooner or later I will be taking the other Production Classes too. After all, stuff you build yourself is innately customized to you and your needs. It will probably not be as strong, but it will definitely beat any 'uncommon' tiered loot. Well, once I advance in level of course.

Which is something I'm going to do right now. I load my plate into the dishwasher and then take a small detour over to the fridge. Gotta keep hydrated all through work of course. With my bottled tea in hand I wave to a much more awake Hisa and retire back to my room.

There is tinkering to be done!

I don't usually jog, especially not in the real world as opposite to a dungeon, but it is a good way to not only lightly train but mostly do reconnaissance. My vampire raids are getting harder and I stayed on top of it only thanks to a perception quirk I had to hunt down. I'm still not satisfied with it, I'm sure I can do better. I actually have an eye on a pro-hero with one such quirk, one they brought from a prefecture over specifically to find me… Is it stupid? Kinda. Am I going to kill him and drain his Skill? Hell yeah. I already have a plan involving poison and not being anywhere in his vicinity. He has 'Radar' as his quirk, pretty impressive range too. I already know where to find him, I only need to work out some kinks in my plan and to wait a little – I don't want to give away that I have a source on the Vampire Taskforce.

Fun fact, I was deemed a B-rank threat, sight unseen. I might actually complete my quest without even doing anything flashy. But probably not, A-rank is for the real heavy-hitters. Though if the famous vampire were to attack, say the Sports Festival of the U.A…. Do an impressive enough showing and I might get promoted to A-rank, fulfilling my obligations to this World.

But that is months away. The entrance exams to U.A., the ones that Midoriya participates in, are in a little under nine months and the Sports Festival is about half-a-year after that? Lots of time to make myself stronger, better equipped, and to come up with something truly A-rank-worthy.

Speaking of Midoriya, he is the third reason for my jogging. Him and his mentor, All Might. Here they are, cleaning up the beach just as the anime depicted. The green-haired boy is still a weakling, but All Might, even though injured and far from his peak form, is a monster. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere near him. He would crush me in melee like a grape. With him I would need to keep my distance and stall for time to let his power fade. Or attack him mentally somehow. Hm… But that is plan B and onwards, plan A is still very much 'not be around him at all'.

Better be prepared though so I engage my rather impressive 259 INT as I jog away. And that is not counting the [Bone Circlet] that gives me additional fifteen. I have yet to replicate that in my armor – so far the highest I managed was a +10 boost. But my Engineer Skills have room to grow yet, I definitely aim to max them. Besides, Stat boosts are only one facet of what I can do with my creations. Now that my Mk VII armor is finished, it is time for MK VIII, this one focused on much more than just pure enhancement in Stats.

Hmm, maybe I also could sell some of my lower-tiered stuff. Good gear is expensive and I would be willing to undercut the price a little, provided it was no questions asked.

Methinks it's time to find some villains.

I'm already using [Telepathy] and [Observe] to survey people as potential victims, now I'll just add 'connected to underground market' to the shopping list. I could take commissions too, I'm sure the villains will have good ideas about gear that I might want to add to my own.

Luck? Luuuck? Be nice to me~~ You are 44,1 with all the boosts now, I want to find a villain~~~ Still, it is kinda funny that I got a +5 boost to LCK from an omamori, a charm bought at a temple. Hisa bought it for me, a prayer of protection against the Vampire Villain. Precious.

Another jogger crosses me, one going in the opposite direction and then into an alley to my left.

I love you Luck. I love you System.

Are you going to [Deep Scan] him?

'Indeed. And then probably kill too, to be sure. And he looks buff anyway.'

+1 WIS

'Thank you for your approval' I chuckle out loud and set to follow my new target. I love that System isn't judging.

I adapt to the host. It is how I can create suitable quests

'So if I say, wanted to conquest this world, I'd get a quest for it?'

Yes

Do you want to?

'Nah, too much trouble and not enough interest on my part. I will probably do some conquering at some point, but not here. In some nicer world, one I will want to stay in more long term.'

Interesting

'We'll see what my next World selection will be. Right now in BokuHero I am just to get strong quick. And maybe get some more Credits in the bank for later selections.'

I'd recommend more questing

I chuckle again, 'Indeed. Which is exactly what my little friend here might just help provide…'

"Money, money, money, must be funny… in a rich man's world. Money, money, money…"

Perhaps you could steal yourself the [Singing] Skill

"Always sunny…" I sigh, "You know, System, that was just mean."

Merely stating the truth

"It's not that bad" I frown. Just to prove my point I take it again from the top. "I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay. Ain't it sad. And still there never seems to be a single penny…"

[Quest Alert!]

Rescue Operation: Ears!

Objective: Finish your shower

Award: Skill Book [Singing], +5 Credits

I stop washing my hair "Really!?"

You like Credits, don't you

"This is like, manipulation! I can sing dammit!"

What are you going to do, never ever finish your shower?

"I can have the Skill Book and never use it"

…

"HA!"

Flaw Received!

A Stubborn Bitch: Gives a permanent -200 to WIS

"I'm sorry! Really, really, REALLY sorry!" I desperately grovel, "I'll use the book! Right away!"

Flaw [A Stubborn Bitch] lost

I sigh in relief and quickly finish my shower to comply with the demands. "You know, that was beyond mean. I was just happy about my new business."

Take the Credits and stop whining

"You used to be nicer"

I am nice, that should show you just how bad your singing is

I wonder if I should mention that now having the Skill means I will have to train it, but that doesn't seem at all smart right now. Instead I decide to focus on my new business, without the happy singing.

And boy do I have a reason for that happy singing – only five days since my entry onto the black market and I made quite a sum. And that was only for selling nothing of real value to me. And I also received my first commission this morning which also doubled as a Quest. Nothing difficult either, the client just wanted an EMP bomb. Easy enough, I actually have a version of it in my Inventory already back from my assassin leveling. I just need to look it over with my new Engineer eye and higher INT. I'll give it a day, two days? so that it looks like I really worked on it. My time is precious and I don't want the clients to expect a next day delivery.

Since this quest is as good as done, maybe today I could try getting the radar quirk. One of my big concerns doing this in the vampire fashion is that it might up my ranking. I don't want that A-rank yet, not when I have so much I still want to do here. Still, killing off a pro-hero might do it. Perhaps I could kill him in another fashion so that it isn't attributed to vampire me? Hmmm.

I mean I could just kidnap him. Not leave a body. I tried this with Inventory and it stores bodies just fine… Yes, a one-off that won't be directly linked to my vampire self. That should work fine.

The hotel the hero is staying in I already scouted in disguise so that is done. Now I only need to deliver the poison. Nothing consumable will work, he never orders anything from the service, eating with the members of the taskforce or simply buying something himself. Something airborne then? Or I could soak his pillow in something. I have this one poison that reacts well with moisture and body heat. If the hero falls asleep on the pillow, he is sure to get a dose. The downside is that this poison isn't all that strong.

But… it should keep my target under and completely oblivious to a drone that could inject him with something a little more fun. And by fun, I mean potent. I could also see through the drone if it was safe to come pick him up.

That leaves the problem of possible guards and surveillance. I'm real sneaky now but I would have to be super careful… Well, looks like I will have to go in as a maid again.

Deciding not to lose any time, I head to the hotel in question. Not directly, of course, and not in a single face either. Kaori told me of another tracking quirk that hadn't worked on me only because of my paranoia.

Nobody questions my presence among the cleaning crews, I only have to temporarily Memory Alter them so that they remember me as a colleague and not a newbie. It means I will have to do some actual cleaning, but that isn't as bad. I'm assigned to the rooms one floor above my target's room which is perfectly fine, I'll just have to slip in after the maid downstairs is finished.

Normally it takes all morning to clean the assigned segment but with my impressive speed, both normal and telekinetically enhanced, it shortens the time I need. Plenty of time to sneak downstairs and into the hero's room. It's nice, pristine and smelling vaguely of mint. Hm, in comparison my cleaning is a little bit sloppy. But then again, I am here as an assassin, not a cleaning lady. In that capacity I withdraw a small bottle form my Inventory and thoroughly spread its contents over the two pillows, both sides. Then I take a small camera I made and strategically place it so that I could see the bed. The loaded drone is hidden as well.

This should work. Cleary the hero isn't expecting any visitors with nefarious intentions – I did look around very thoroughly with my [Observe] and there are no trap or surveillance equipment. His quirk also only works on organic things, so he shouldn't pick up the new addition to his room.

Ah well, even if he does notice something wrong, it's not like the cleaning lady's face can be linked to me, the gadgets either. I should be in the clear should this go to shit. One never knows with quirks, but I have been really careful. I hope.

Returning to 'my' floor to clean that last room and retrieve my trolley, I quickly finish up. My 'character' has today's afternoon off but I still take lunch with the rest of the crew. Hey, free lunch is free lunch. It's part of their benefit package.

Now, where to camp out. I mean I could return home and go to a dungeon or do some engineer work but I don't want to take my eye off radar-boy. I don't know his shifts, he might come back to his room to take a nap. I have to be there when the poison takes effect. I plan to use my shadow travel, so I at least need to be somewhere I can see into the hotel. The closer to my target, the better.

Having enough time, I start checking out the apartment block near the hotel, many apartments should have a clear enough view. Key is finding a place to [Shadowport] where no people can see me. I have left the curtains open in one room that is not supposed to be occupied, but anything can happen in the span of a day. Still, that is where I am aiming for. I'll adapt if necessary.

Breaking into another person's home is old hat by now and this one was particularly easy. Also nobody was home so I made myself comfortable and set to wait, my little camera working perfectly and showing me the hero's empty room. I also installed another camera to see when the owners would be at the door so I'd have time to react and put them to sleep and Alter their memories.

With nothing better to do than to check the monitors form time to time, I take out a book out of my Inventory. A nice and light novel, perfect for relaxation. I have been meaning to read it for some time but this new World has kept me busy.

Despite my expectations, the hero comes to his room quite late – I'd have thought that with them hunting a vampire, they would focus on the night. Guess not this night then. Pity he didn't came home sooner, it would've spared a small family the pain of getting knocked out. Anyway, he is in his room, alone. Now it is a matter of waiting for him to go to sleep and my poison to take effect. Two hours tops is my estimate.

A beer, a shower and some light reading and Mr. Radar goest to bed. My camera can see well in the dark as does my little insurance policy of the drone. I'm give my poison an hour and I'll deploy the drone for a far heavier sleep.

I still remain in the apartment, I will teleport only if everything goes exactly to plan. Though I have to confess myself excited. This is different than my usual heists or huntings. This is against a pro-hero. A respected one at that, Kaori was very impressed with him and his experience with working with various law-enforcement.

In turn I am very impressed with myself, turns out that poison was the way to go to deal with mister 'perfect spatial awareness'.

Minutes pass and I still wait. And wait. And… now. Nice and easy. I pilot the small drone out of its hiding place and watch it take careful aim. A quiet 'phut' signalizes the release of the poisoned dart.

The hero does not move.

I feel the urge to celebrate but I know it is too soon. I can celebrate all I want after the fact. Let's go.

[Shaodowport] takes me into the room on the sixth floor which has fortunately remained unoccupied. I have my biker helmet on along with my old biker leathers, sticking to my disguise, and I sneak one floor down and to the room I want.

Once again the lock proves easy and I slip in, confident that no one saw me. First thing I do is [Observe] my future victim and I breathe a sigh of relief when his profile clearly displays his 'poisoned/asleep' status.

I approach him carefully, ignoring the slight awkwardness of him sleeping in the nude. Here he is, all mine.

[Stat Thief]

New Skill Acquired!

Presence Detection (Active)[Level 1] – Gets you a sense of what and who is surrounding you, range 10m - 500 MP/use

Grinning under my helmet I put a hand over on his chest, ready to throw him into Inventory. But then a shiver of coldness travels along my spine and I know I screwed up.

"What, he's not appetizing enough for you?"

I turn around with all the reflexes my DEX affords me and cast [Grasp Heart].

Turns out, that was a pure waste of mana as the being in front of me is made of purple smoke. I know that… man? He is a character in Boku no Hero Academia. A villain that can teleport too, and he's working with that creepy dude with the hands that wants to kill All Might.

"I only wish to speak" smoke-man raises his arms in a gesture of surrender, "Besides, I have no blood or heart to affect, Miss Vampire Killer. Hah, the heroes truly have no idea they even got the gender wrong, how amusing."

"What do you want?" I ask, pitching my voice lower than usual. Something in my arsenal could surely kill him but I don't want to make a mess. And, yeah, I am curious about what he's doing here. Worst comes to worst, I either flee or try [Subjugate] on him. He might not have a heart, but he clearly has a mind. And now I wish I had trained [Subjugate] a little bit more than the paltry 15 it is. I'll remedy that when I get out of here.

"I am called Kurogiri" the smoke-man gently bows, "And I am a villain. My boss would like to speak with you, villain to villain, about a possible alliance."

"Why are you here?"

Kurogiri nods towards the corpse "The heroes expected him to find you. Since we wanted to meet you, I was watching him so that we could get to you before the heroes or the police. I was quite surprised to find you here, but it is most fortuitous. You are quite resourceful and that only increases your value. We truly do not intend any harm, my boss just wants to talk."

Before I could reply, Kurogiri forms one of his portals. Warp Gates I think. Boy, I would love an ability like this. And maybe I can… "If you would follow me. Of course you may take the snack with you or feast beforehand."

I hum, weighing my options. Eh, who am I kidding, of course I am going. Villains have nice quirks too and this way I could be connected to canon if only peripherally. Might be fun, and fun is what games are about.

"I'll eat later" I say to my would-be-kidnapper and I store the hero in Inventory, making it look like he is falling into my shadow. I am turning to be quite the performer.

"Interesting" Kurogiri remarks, "You have quite a wide array of abilities. Blood manipulation, influence over shadows, and what else. A true vampire it seems."

"Where does that portal lead?" I ask instead.

"My bar. And hideout"

I hum and initiate a self-destruction mechanism on my camera and drone and set it on delay. Seems my vampire disguise is holding and I don't want to shatter that illusion, so my machines have to go. The camera would be probably ok, but the drone is too much.

"Alright. I'll take a Bloody Mary"

Kurogiri chuckles "As the lady wishes."

The travel through his gate is instantaneous and rather pleasant. Less pleasant is seeing the hand-villain, his name completely eludes me, sitting on a bar stool talking with himself. He's really creepy.

"Boss, we have a visitor" Kurogiri announces and slips behind the bar, fetching a tall glass for my drink, "Miss Vampire Killer."

"Oooooh" the hand-covered face inclines with interest, "Where did you find her, Kurogiri?"

"Standing over Mr. Takanaga. It seems she too did not appreciate his quirk"

Hand-man giggles, voice high like a little boy "Did you devour him?"

"Not yet" I shrug, forcing down my revulsion and the frisson of fear. I am grateful to Kurogiri who hands me a glass full of red, something else to focus on other than the man.

"Oh? You are willing to show us your face? How polite" hand-man giggles again. Tomura! His name is Tomura. I think.

"Korogiri-san said you wanted to talk?" I prompt instead, taking my helmet off. After all, it is not my face they're seeing. And I'm getting thirsty. My [Observe] also detects no poisons and actually promises my bloody Mary to be 'excellent'.

"A vampire indeed" Kurogiri chimes in when my face is revealed. Thanks pal, I put a lot of effort in it. And the teeth don't bother me anymore.

"I did want to talk" Tomura? nods, "Tell me, vampire-san, what do you think of heroes?"

"They get in my way" I shrug, "Nothing else to tell."

"What if I told you I have rallied villains, united them in a League of Villains, to strike against the heroes? To dispose of this era of so-called peace, let the true nature of man, violent and cruel, run rampant" Tomura says, surprising me with his eloquence and burst of sanity.

I still shrug "Good for you? I wouldn't mind a fewer heroes around but I am out for myself, not any ideals of villainy."

"There is safety in numbers," Tomura hums, the sound quite sinister from under the hand, "If we have found you, the heroes will no doubt do so as well. Sooner or later."

And here we go, the subtle threat of exposing me. "That might be true, but I sincerely doubt your League has any villains of quality aside you two. Numbers in this case would actually be to my detriment rather than safety."

"I have been preparing to kill All Might" Tomura decides to drop his bomb, "I have means to do it and the will. Oh, yes, the will indeed. After I shatter the illusion of his 'peace', the new era of villains will rise. But I understand your skepticism. How about you seeing it with your own eyes?"

"Being cannon-fodder against All Might while you prepare your weapon?" I chuckle, "That doesn't sound very appealing."

"Nothing so crude, my plan is still being formulated and I am sure you will be convinced of its success" Tomura said calmly, very self-assured, "And I am sure you'll come to appreciate a friend that could free you from police custody should you get arrested. Wouldn't you like to be friends?"

"I wouldn't mind a friend" I play along, "Provided he's on the up and up."

"How about a gift? Kurogiri?"

The smoke-made bartender presents a phone "A burner phone, a way for us to contact you. We also have a villain in the adjacent room. He was very rude to Tomura-san and tried to attack. We have no further need for him. Perhaps you can still find some use for him."

I admit, this was quite nicely done. Threats and blackmail, all neatly wrapped up in politeness. I like it. No need to be crude, this is how high-end criminality should be.

Nodding I pocket the phone – this one is going straight into Inventory, I don't want the two of them tracking me in any manner. [Observe] says that Kurogiri can port to coordinates, not really places or towards people, so I better not give him any coordinates.

"I'll take the rude villain off your hands" I incline my head.

"Excellent! We will truly be the best of friends!" Tomura exclaims, clapping his hands in glee.

"That would be nice" I reply, finishing my drink, "If that is all, I'd like to excuse myself. I hadn't planned to be out so late."

"But of course, but of course" the hand-man giggled, "Wouldn't want to keep you."

"I can take you somewhere if you wish" Kurogiri speaks up.

Fat chance. "No, thank you. A walk at night is always refreshing"

"True. If you'd come this way, I have your meal ready"

I follow the man, a bit curious with what I'll get. If I remember correctly, they work for All for One and he was one to collect quirks. Hm, does he still have the Skill even if his quirk is missing? How does it work. Can people even survive the extraction?

Eh, if he has no quirk I'll just take the Stats, that's good too.

I glimpse at the very broken man and I confess myself surprised, looks like I will be getting a Skill after all. A nice gift indeed. I quickly perform my [Mind Thief] as he drops into Inventory. I can't store anything living and I don't want Kurogiri to realize I just killed him without any blood-sucking. Fortunately my [Telepathy] works on him just fine. Tomura is chaos, but the smoke-man is no trouble, so I know he doesn't suspect anything. Fun fact, they were intending to catch me and offer me to their boss should I have refused their offer. Heh, an offer you can't refuse. Killing me was an option too.

As I walk out of the bar, I note its location for future reference. I will need to wander a little bit and do some anti-tracking measures before going home, but right now I'm enjoying my walk. Wasn't kidding when I said it was nice.

So, this was a little more villain contact than what I planned for. That said, it went fairly well. I will probably be 'blackmailed' into some attack or other, maybe at that rescue center from the anime, but it still went ok. I will need some more contingency plans though.

Ah well, contact with the League was a possibility. Also, better the villains than to heroes to be the ones to find me. Besides, they didn't find me, just Maledicta. Yep, I named my vampire character, another Pratchett reference. I thought I should have one ready if Tomura asked. Now I just have to be careful and not link me and her together.

Still, this was actually fun – I hadn't expected to interfere in canon here, besides maybe stealing some class-A Skills, but since I am now a bit more involved… Eh, we'll see. Right now, business as usual.

Eventful day today.

If I were a true vampire, I would be really full right now. Last night… I might've indulged. Perhaps it wasn't entirely wise, judging by Kaori's apologies about having to stay at work late and the tight voice she used to say it, but I just couldn't resist. A really prestigious cram school was in town for a field trip, and since most of them were aiming for U.A., they had some very nice quirks. I mean, who wouldn't want to imitate Superman and have laser vision? I couldn't possibly pass it up.

OK, it started with laser-vision, but it kinda continued. But in my defense, those kids were really talented! I mean [Presence Concealment] to upgrade my stealth? A healing ability? Those were hero-grade Skills without any hero-grade protection to defend them! So yeah, I indulged. I took all three and never looked back. And then a few others too…

Might want to lay low for a while though, when the news is going to break out, there's going to be a lot of pressure on the police and the heroes to catch me. All societies view an attack at their young as the worst crime. If I was already infamous before, it's nothing to what is to come.

Yeah, laying low is the plan for now. I have enough to do anyway. Commissions to build aaaand, fresh out of a selection, a new Class to level.

Sure, I will be re-equipping Engineer a lot, its Skills are so worth it, but I guess it will be nice to go into a dungeon again. I haven't been slacking off but, I confess I concentrated mostly on building my weapons and armor and experiment around a little bit. Besides, Engineer wasn't meant for dungeons anyway. And my vampire ambitions were a priority too.

But now, I am a Brawler. Although that sounds a bit uncouth, I fully plan to attend at least one lesson of any martial arts or self-defense program in the city to make up new passives or Skills. Right now the class augmented my (level 3) [Unarmed Combat Proficiency] by ten free levels and gave me the sustained Skill [Bolster Defense] which allowes to up my VIT considerably along with a bonus to any of my defensive actions. Not magical though, only physical. Still, not bad. It's similar to my [Evasion Stance], good to have.

Brawler will also give me that sought after STR every level. Not only I need that for HP, I need it to finally surpass Kamui Woods and get my reward. I'm sure it's nothing like the money and exp I get from my commissions and stealing, this should be something good. That question mark in reward practically guarantees it. Anyway, Brawler gives me +1 STR, +1 VIT and +1 DEX every level, so pretty good. Sure, the Vanguard gave +2 STR and +1 VIT, but I wanted the Brawler. I mean, I am in Japan, a bastion of martial arts. Where better to learn unarmed combat.

Hmm, might also take a look at some of the armed classes. The sword is a given, but Japan has an excellent reputation with archery and the spear. Besides, with a killer on the loose, it only makes sense for a weak woman like me to try some self-defense, right? I grin, all too pleased with myself.

The new class being a novelty and all, I decide that today I would brave a dungeon instead of working. I'm rather looking forward to putting on my entire armor and do some smashing. The armor is still my Mk. VII with only Stat increase but it should be more than enough. Especially since I think I'll be returning to basics – zombies. If I am to go pure melee, and my HP being what it is, I'll do some Skill leveling on the easy enemies before I scale up.

"Status"

Name: Sofia Vetinari

Level: 20 (71%)

Title: Villain

Class: Brawler (Lvl 1)

STATS

HP - 766.800 (1M)

MP - 5M (5M)

STR - 71 (89)

VIT - 108 (133)

DEX - 194 (207)

INT - 286 (291)

WIS - 186 (191)

CHA - 111

LCK - 25 (45)

Available Stat Points - 94

Yeah, horde mode is just what the doctor ordered. My INT is exquisite and the other Stats are coming along nicely, just that STR… But that is why I will be focusing on it right now. I'll need to check Kamui Woods again but if his Stats hold, I am already better than him everything except STR and VIT. The latter being roughly 50 points behind and the first about 60. Should be easy to grind with my new class and going melee. The VIT being over a hundred levels much slower now, but STR should catch up pretty quickly. And that is without the free points Brawler gives me.

Alright, enough. Let's go. [ID Create: Zombies]!

I appear on a rooftop, away from the horde. I grin, this time not minding being back in HotD. But first… [Summon Wolf]. It's nice to have a companion. And now, the only thing left is to flex my new armor. Pity I have to unequip the [Bone Circlet] to fit on my helmet, but the set gives me bonus HP.

Ok, let's brawl!

"You look like hell" Hisa announces instead of her usual happy greeting.

"Hello to you too. How was work?" I roll my eyes tiredly.

"No really, like hell. What were you doing today?" my roommate insists.

I sigh and roll my shoulder, Gamer body or no, I do feel tired. But pretty happy. Mainly tired though. Maybe spending the whole day in a dungeon wasn't the smartest thing to do. But hey, the pay-off was good.

"Sofia?"

"Just went a bit overboard at the gym" I explain, it's close enough. I am actually looking forward to a nap, maybe just a quick dinner and an early bedtime today?

"I know I told you to take a break from your machine project, but this isn't what I had in mind," Hisa sighs, "You really aren't one for half-measures, huh?"

"Nope"

"I was thinking we could cook together but how does take-out sound?"

"Heavenly"

"Any preference?"

"Something spicy?"

"Oooh, I haven't had mapo tofu in ages! How about it?"

"Great pick" I hum, I haven't actually ever had it but it was mentioned here and there in anime and manga. I did want to try it at some point.

"I know a great place but it doesn't deliver" Hisa sighs, "I guess I'm going out again."

"Be careful, it's getting dark" I caution, not that she has anything to fear from the vampire killer. But hey, there are plenty of other crazies out there. Like Tomura. The creep. Glad he hasn't tried to contact me yet. Not that I was expecting anything major before the new school year started.

I almost curse and blame Murphy when I hear a ring tone but I quickly calm down when it's not a notification form Inventory but rather the normal ringtone of my 'civilian' phone. "Yes?"

"Hey, love"

"Hey, Kaori, what's up?"

Hisa makes a little wave at me and collects her purse before going out again, hopefully for that food.

"You know how I told you I'd be working late because of the vampire? I might actually make it to meet you today if you're free"

"You caught the vampire and got time off?" I ask, quite curious about the actual reason.

"No, but we do actually have a lead" Kaori surprises me, not pleasantly, "We'll see how it pans out. To be honest, I'm not holding my breath on this one. Boss is trying to drag a hero with a psychic quirk into town, that looks a bit more promising. Anyway, since I pulled a couple of double-shifts and I might be coming down from a tiny triple one right now, I got ordered home."

"Well, I'm really tired too so feel free to come over right now. I'll probably be in my pajamas"

"Oh? How come?"

"Overdid it at the gym" I give her the same excuse I gave Hisa.

"Jealous of my abs?" Kaori laughed.

"Somebody clearly thinks highly of herself. But no, I simply wanted some exercise after spending too much time fiddling with tech"

"I'd gladly let you exercise"

"After a triple shift? If you don't fall asleep right after taking a shower, it will be a miracle"

"That sound like a challenge"

"Sure, if you want, but I warn you that I plan on being a pillow princess tonight"

"Sound like my lucky day! I'll definitely stop for coffee!"

"Is that a jab on my more domineering side?"

"…nope!"

"Just get here"

"Yes, mistress"

"If we were to play it that way, I would prefer 'my queen'"

"Oh. I'll keep it in mind. … my queen"

I chuckle "If you're really stopping for coffee, how about bringing some cake."

"…did you spend all that time in the gym just so you could have cake?"

"I deserve it"

"Alright, I'll pick something up"

"See ya soon then"

"See ya"

I end the call, suddenly feeling quite a bit refreshed. That is both the [Gamer's Body] at work and the promise of cake. And sex. Best of all, food and the rest is being delivered to my doorstep without me needing to do anything. Yep, I am definitely conquering a world at some point, I could get used to this.