Congratulations you have been selected for reincarnation!

I bemusedly watched the message that continued to flash across my field of view brightly and obnoxiously. I hadn't ever been congratulated for dying before but I suppose this was the kind of situation that only cropped up once in your life by definition. I still shook my head in disbelief at the way that I had been killed. Instead of being run over by a truck which seems to be the standard in Japan, I was instead run over by one of South Africa's famous taxis on that death trap of a road outside my place of work. I grimaced briefly at the thought of all the work that I left and the sheer hassle my colleagues would find in completing with it without me considering my laptop would also likely not make it through unscathed. That reflexive expression of pity had no true feelings behind it and I briefly thought of closer family in an attempt to elicit some emotional response that just didn't seem to come.

I guess Sir Pterry was right about the lack of glands equalling lack of emotions, although it doesn't explain how I'm currently able to think without a brain. I had been waiting for a good few minutes for the crushing weight of loss to hit me and it was a relief to find out that I wouldn't have to deal with it any time soon. What I would have to deal with was that floating list beneath the congratulations message containing a list of worlds that I could allegedly choose to be reincarnated in.

The list was rather long but didn't contain any franchises I didn't already know, although there was a notable bias towards anime; or maybe I've just been watching too much anime recently and the list is obliging me. I flicked my finger upwards and a couple more worlds appeared indicating that the list may contain more names than I originally thought.

"Let me see," I monologue to the surrounding white void. "Naruto, ugh; no thank you." I have no desire to be reincarnated in a feudal feuding child-soldier society that was plagued by grey on grey morality when not viewed through the lens of an idiot. Maybe I was being too harsh to the world in particular; but my morals balked at the idea of becoming an assassin for such a nebulous thing as patriotism.

High School DXD was next on the list providing the classical harem option and I reflexively forced down a mocking laugh. I absolutely despised the idea of harems and servitude and while the series rubbed me wrong in several ways it had absolutely beautiful world building with a rich world that as whole really needed to really learn to keep its pants on. Still the idea of taking on the overpowered 'good' guys consisting of ludicrously plot armoured Issei, the stupidly overpowered Sirzhecs and the weakened but still nigh-omnipotent Ophis did appeal to me somewhat.

One Piece is amazing and I would rather insert burning nails into my fingers before I could bring myself to alter the canon in any way.

Akame ga Kill was the next world and I hovered over it briefly before moving my hand away. The Naruto problem of being a paid murderer kept me back although it was significantly more black and white than the ninja series due to the presence of such tremendous monsters such as Esdeath and Honest; although if I was honest with myself Esdeath will forever be best waifu.

Bleach was also skirted past by me. While the series would always hold a special place in my heart the world-building was comparatively mediocre and even the promise of almost immortality wouldn't sway me to go to a place with pick a factions or die logic; even if it does have some of the most attractive women in any anime series in my humble opinion.

Ranma ½. No fucking way. I would rather reincarnate as a fucking root vegetable than have anything to do with that tremendous clusterfuck.

Fairy Tail tempted me horrendously with its friendship and good villains and large world and exciting magic and adventures and I dithered for a while before a symbol on the top right that I had previously overlooked caught my eye. The simple image of a dice taken from a 3d perspective was immediately recognizable and to its purpose ultimately intriguing. I actually really hate gambling normally because I was not good enough to make money off of it and I was stingy enough to hate losing money but I also had a habit of poor decisions.

Not the kind of poor decisions like taking heroin or sleeping with the bosses wife though; more the sort of poor decisions where you would order the fish and it would turn out revolting or you would choose a movie and it would suck. I ended up regretting a lot of my choices in life once I saw the results of the other choice, so maybe I should export my agency to the divine being that apparently had brought me here. I felt familiar hesitation slow my actions and so with a force of will I closed my eyes before hitting my fist against the dice symbol.

As soon as I did that I began to feel woozy as if all the related stress of my death suddenly became real and I realised through delayed mountains of panic and horror that the list began to wildly spin downwards showing blurred names that whirred past. I fought against the tiredness forcing me to close my eyes while trying to hold back the bile that rose inside my throat and failing to keep a clear head through the waves of sheer exhaustion that wracked my body. Darkness encroached in my vision and before I blacked out I managed to read the name that the list stopped on.

Welcome xxxx xxxxxxx to the One Punch Man Universe.

xxx

When I regained consciousness I could barely move my limbs at all. My head felt heavy and the light was blinding. Discordant noises greeted me and I felt myself held aloft by a man I could barely see. My first thought was that I've become a baby; an assertion that proved itself correct a moment later when I heard somebody announce the words 'Congratulations it's a boy.' This was a fact that I was immensely thankful for.

My thought felt fuzzy and sluggish and I wondered if it was because I had been reduced due to being a baby. That explanation felt wrong though considering the fact that it had not reduced anywhere near to make me the median among babies. Considering my body felt weak I would have to spend some time to evaluate my current status.

I jerked my head back sharply as a blue fricking window popped up in front of my face like a geometrical ambush and I was pulled further into the arms of the one holding me. I ignored the slight feeling of shock, instead taking the time to look at the object in front of me.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 210/210

Mana – 330/330

Level – 1 EXP 0/200

STR – 1

VIT – 1

DEX – 1

INT – 13

WIS – 12

LUK – 25

Points -0

Money 0¥

'King from the One Punch Man Universe,' I thought to myself. 'Well I only know of one person named King in the One Punch Man Universe,' I continued to muse. 'I suppose it's also thematically appropriate that I was born with the Gamer. It is also probably one of the single greatest powers in all of fiction if used appropriately.' There were an awful lot of gamer fanfictions on and they tended to range from mediocre to pretty damn sweet. I'd been recently reading through some and had been contemplating doing my own for some time now.

Just then I found myself swiftly swaddled and placed in the arms of a woman who slowly rocked me from side to side, a quite pleasurable sensation that nearly had me drifting off to sleep if it wasn't for the fact that I was a grown man and could prioritise. I looked up at the face of my mother while discreetly examining the blue screen and I heard the awed sound of 'he's got your eyes from my mother.'

It was impossible to move my hand at the moment and I didn't want this to turn into an issue in future so I focused on the tab and thought the word 'skills'.

For thinking about a logical solution to a possible problem your Intelligence has increased by 1 point!

I checked my stats and confirmed that my total intelligence had just increased by just over 7% testament to the power of the Gamer. The true power of the system was that it provided a large initial boost as well as gains that hardly diminished over time. In many fics that I've read the author was forced to either place the gamer close to the timeline of the main plots limiting their time to grow or to force them to decrease the time to train in some or other way.

With that in mind I started wriggling against the grip of my mother, my weak infant muscles contracting and retracting while my new mother gripped me until an announcement popped up.

For trying to escape the grasp of a far stronger opponent your Strength has increased by 1 point!

For moving your body under great restriction your Dexterity has increased by 1 point!

For understanding the proper way to apply the Gamer system your Wisdom has increased by 1 point!

For physical skills I would gain power by pushing my limits. If I operated at my maximum Strength for a certain amount of time I would gain power, even if it was something as mundane as arm wrestling myself. For Dexterity such simple things as moving my body or portions of my body at speed would allow me to increase it. For Wisdom being sensible and applying my knowledge would increase it while increasing Intelligence would likely be a matter of increasing my knowledge via reading or discussion. Vitality would be as a result of either taking damage or long workout sessions where my energy was expended. Luck must be gained by testing my luck and taking risks, but there was no way that I am going to try and learn that in combat. A simple thing like flipping a coin and hoping for a best result would prove adequate with much less chance of death.

For creating a long term plan on how to maximize your personal ability your Intelligence has increased by 1 point!

That was applying existing knowledge though not gaining new knowledge. So either the system is deliberately mocking me which would be disappointing or my understanding is lacking. Either way there is plenty of time to further my understanding as I age. While many people would balk at being reincarnated as a baby, the simply abnormal amount of time I have to improve my stats was an enormous boon combined with the power of the Gamer which was only limited by time.

Finished with my musings over the gamer system I refocused on the tab that was now open displaying the two skills that were available to me; namely Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body.

Gamer's Mind (LVL MAX) - Passive
1) Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through.
2) Allows peaceful state of mind.
3) Immunity to psychological mass effect.

Without this skill I would likely be very depressed and overwhelmed at the moment if my current situation is to be considered. Hopefully that provides some form of protection against boredom considering there will be a long few years before I am able to do anything remotely exciting besides improving my stats. In addition I am under no illusions that I am naturally a coward, hopefully this skill can go towards preventing any freezing in danger and cutting my life short as a result. The thought that I would have no trouble in this life didn't even cross my mind. The world of One Punch Man was already a dangerous place to live and the Gamer thrived on actual combat. That resolved I looked down at the other skill below.

Gamer's Body (LVL MAX) – Passive
1) Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game.
2) Sleeping in a bed restores HP, MP and all status effects.

There was nothing unexpected here besides the implications of no permanent injury and the quickened recovery time that synthesized with the growing stronger over time core of the Gamer power. As a possible downside it was likely that I would continue to be fine until I were to drop down dead at zero hp. That however could be very dangerous in some situations and I would have to constantly be aware of my health.

If I fully abused the Gamer power as it was meant to be abused I could probably easily gain the power that everybody believed King had in canon. Still if there was one thing that One Punch Man has taught me is that overwhelming power is nothing without a purpose to which one could apply it. I had no desire to steal the kills from the main cast or even much of a desire to save the people that inhabited the world, a fickle and lazy sort from what I had seen of canon. I had no desire to obtain a harem and One Punch Man was the wrong sort of series for that anyway. I could go the route of testing out my powers against stronger and stronger monsters but once again the universe came with the implicit message that eventually you would run out of those when you approached the top. My eyes widened with surprise as I realised that there would always be one being at the top exempt from those rules.

Quest Unlocked!
Defeating the One Punch Man

Objective
Defeat Saitama after he has broken his limiter.

Rewards
Title "The Strongest in the World"
15x1030 xp

Failure
?

Accept (Yes/No)

It was a beautifully impossible challenge and one that I could throw myself again and again at without a hope of completion. From what I had read of the webcomic there had been no opponent so far that had even managed to give Saitama a good fight and I relished a chance in being the first.

Quest Updated!
Defeating the One Punch Man

Objective
1) Defeat Saitama after he has broken his limiter.
2) Give Saitama a good fight that will alleviate his apathy.

Rewards
1)Title "The Strongest in the World"
1.5x1030 xp

2) Title "The World's Penultimate Being"
1) 8.3x1024xp

Failure
?

I smiled, my infant form making it come out as a weird giggle as I saw the updated quest. Thinking back on it if there was a character in One Punch Man that I actually did truly love it would be the titular character. As well as one could love a formerly 2d character with an incompatible orientation, I guess. I have always had a tendency to adore characters that are extremely powerful because they are almost without exception individuals with the ability to change the world using nothing but their power and their will. Often the beings are either villains that will prove a nightmare for the protagonist, an aegis under which the fledgling heroes can receive protection or a bystander looking down on both sides yet not pressured to join either. Whenever these beings show up they always drive the plot changing the situation, only balanced by their counterparts, sometimes.

I found myself smiling at the thought of the tragic hero who succeeded too well. When I first read manga by Murata I had loved story of a human who ascended above those around him and yet only found meaning in a struggle that he had long outgrown. 'I want to give him a good fight,' I thought to myself. 'Even if I were to die in the fight I want to be the person to break through his apathy.' Although, holy Crap I need to chill out before I start to sound any more like Nagito Komaeda.

xxx

4 Years Later

Four years had passed since I had first come into the world and for the first time I had obtained a moments respite from the constant presence of my parents. Not that they were bad parents by any stretch of the imagination; if inadequate compared to my prior parents. Breastfeeding was a bit annoying and I had obtained the skill Pain Resistance LV 99 largely as a result of the teething process. I had deliberately propped myself ahead of the curve for the normal development process; making myself appear merely prodigious rather than impossible. Crawling by 4 months, talking by five, walking by six, every single step allowed a momentary increase in my independence and subsequently better ways to train allowing me to grow abnormally quickly.

Strength improvements were gained by exerting force against my own body and the immovable earth, although I did crack the floor a few times when I was younger and could still work out indoors. Honestly speaking I had no idea how strong I was considering the forces that my body could exert would surely cause damage to my parent's house and bring up questions I was not prepared to answer.

Dexterity improvements were gained by continuous use of quick fast movements whenever my parents were not looking. My top speed was frighteningly fast but since I was cooped up in the house all day it wasn't easy for me to get a feel of how great it really was.

Vitality improvements were gained by continuous training and receiving my own punches. Unfortunately once again I couldn't tell how tough I was because I had only taken damage from myself over the past few years and while I know it was high I had no manner of truly testing out how much I could withstand.

Intelligence was gained by reading any of the materials that I had gained and Wisdom was gained by applying my knowledge that I learnt from them in a practical manner. Annoyingly enough I was firmly aware that I was more intelligent now than I was in my previous world, going from above average to easily ahead of the bell curve.

Luck was by far the hardest to train initially but I soon figured out that by testing my luck, in a manner as simple as a coin flip and a wager as small as having my preferred supper, I could increase my luck. Over time I increased the risk to a day without training and then a week and the condition not to lose those things to rolling a six on a die, and then two sixes and then three. I wasn't quite at a level higher than that due to the fact that while rare taking a week off training did happen occasionally.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 8 520/8 520 (HP Regen: 170 per minute)

Mana – 8 080/8 080 (MP Regen: 162 per minute)

Level – 1 EXP 0/200

STR – 869

VIT – 852

DEX – 691

INT – 788

WIS – 702

LUK – 900

Points -0

Money 0¥

Skills

Gamer's Mind (LVL MAX) - Passive
1) Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through.
2) Allows peaceful state of mind.
3) Immunity to psychological mass effect.

Gamer's Body (LVL MAX) – Passive
1) Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game.
2) Sleeping in a bed restores HP, MP and all status effects.

Create Instant Dungeon (LV1) – Active (Costs 10 Mana)
Used to create instant dungeons. Stronger instant dungeons may be created according to level.

Escape Instant Dungeon (LV1) – Active (Costs 10 Mana)

Observe (LV15) - Active
The ability to observe objects, people and abilities. At higher level more information about target may be granted.

The Power of Humanity: Gained at 100 base Strength
Through diligent gains you have tapped into the power latent inside every human. Grip Strength and striking force increases by 50%. No recoil damage is taken when an attack contacts with the target.

The Strength of Beasts: Gained at 200 base Strength
You have regained the power that humans lost when the first civilisations began. Twice per day you can sacrifice Intelligence to gain double the points sacrificed in Strength. Attacks can create waves of air pressure that does a fraction of strength as damage.

The Strength of Insects: Gained at 500 Strength
Your body stands in clear defiance to the square-cube law and your Strength has surpassed what is physically possible. As a result of this you are able to apply the forces of your blows to your target in the manner desired. When you strike a person or object you can choose to increase the effective surface impacted, knockback a target without breaking it or at a penalty striking the internals of the target directly if desired.

Good Food and Exercise: Gained at 100 Vitality
As a result of healthy living your body has grown into the perfect specimen. Negative statuses last half the duration and HP Regeneration is increased by 100%. You can survive harsh environments with little discomfort.

For the Weak: Gained at 200 Vitality
Your overflowing Vitality makes it so that very little can halt your continued existence. The amount of sleep, food and water required is decreased by 70%. Once per day you can recover all of your health at the cost of lethargy and hunger afterwards.

The Ultimate Life form: Gained at 500 Vitality
Your body has surpassed what should be possible for biological life forms. You can last for hours without breathing, weeks without sleep and hunger and thirst are never more than a suggestion. You gain the ability to manipulate your body in minor ways as long as the end result still appears human.

Angel's Grace: Gained at 100 Dexterity
How many angels can dance upon the head of a pin is a question that's troubled scholars throughout the ages. With this skill you can tap into that legendary ability and stand on various surfaces. As long as one of your feet is in contact with any solid or liquid substance you can stand upright with little difficulty.

Lightning Reflexes: Gained at 200 Dexterity
Your nerves in your body fire at light speed. Any attack from an opponent can be reacted to as long as your body is fast enough.

Perfect Movement: Gained at 500 Dexterity
Through practice you have learnt how to align every muscle in your body to gain the maximum output. Speed of any movement performed is doubled and requires less energy to execute.

I trailed off from looking it at this point. Quite frankly my skill list had grown absurdly long at this point although I had no combat skills to speak of due to not fighting any opponents and my health and mana had therefore not increased at all. If I was going to continue with this review then I was going to run through the brief time that I had. With a brief exertion of will I minimized the summaries and rolled my eyes down the remaining skills.

Natural Genius: Gained at 100 Intelligence

Mind over Matter: Gained at 200 Intelligence

Ascended Mind: Gained at 500 Intelligence

Learned Sage: Gained at 100 Wisdom

Comprehension of Phenomena: Gained at 200 Wisdom

Supreme Awareness over the Natural World: Gained at 500 Wisdom

Coin on its Side: Gained at 100 Luck

A Bucket Full of Sixes: Gained at 200 Luck

Really Getting on Fate's Nerves: Gained at 500 Luck

Physical Resistance: (LV 69) – Passive

Pain Resistance: (LV 99) - Passive

Mana Control: (LV 17) Passive

Mana Shield: (LV 12) - Active

Psychic Powers: (LV 5) Passive

Jump: (LV 35) – Active

Acting: (LV 95) - Passive

Lying: (LV 43) – Passive

Stealth: (LV 53) – Passive

Accounting: (LV 32) – Passive

Okay now it was getting to skills that had no bearing on the situation. Although I was a little bit hurt that my accounting skill was so low. I've always seen myself as great at my job and having the skills that I accumulated in my prior life dismissed so harshly wasn't the greatest feel. I was procrastinating however; my parents had made their intention to visit my aunt well known leaving their precocious child at home to entertain himself.

"ID Create," I enunciated clearly looking at the list that popped up in front of me. All of the various options were greyed except for the 'undead' option which I clicked on. Immediately the world seemed to crack and fall to pieces and I found myself in a semi-familiar area.

"Oh fuck this looks like Undead Burg," I said as memories of getting my posterior repeatedly kicked Dark Souls returning to me. "It looks pretty cool though," I had to admit. FromSoftware's masterpiece looked magnificent in 3d; although I could really do without the smell of death and decay that ruined the atmosphere. I was at the top of one of the ramparts although I couldn't remember this exact spot although the background scenery looked vaguely familiar.

A shuffling noise from behind me got me to turn and I saw one of those lurching zombies that moved slowly towards you and then lunge… 'Oh it's just done it.' The movement of the zombie appeared incredibly slowly, whether due to my Lightning Reflexes or my high Intelligence, or speed I couldn't quite tell. If I was back in my old life without the assistance of Gamer Mind I would probably be freaking out now and do something incredibly stupid and panicked. As I am now I calmly took a step to the side before calmly punting the zombie off the building.

Critical Hit = 869 X 7.5 = 6517 Damage dealt to Hollowed Undead
10xp gained

Through continued use the skill 'Kicking LV1' has been created.
The amateur way of inflicting damage by using one's legs. This skill governs the proper way to kick without falling over and looking like an idiot.
Effects
10% increase in damage with legs.
10% increase in stability when kicking.

In the end the shambling creature was on a completely different level from my current state. Despite standing less than half its height my statistics were far greater to the point where I didn't even feel like wasting my observation. In the end I would need a lot more like that in order to level up or maybe I could try and hunt down something stronger. A few more of those creatures were milling around closing on me and I decided to make hay while the sun shone.

I bent my knees and dashed towards the first one completely missing it as I overshot and almost went straight off the damn ramparts. My speed was frankly overwhelming and while I had no doubt that I was slower than Flashy Flash I was still faster than the vast majority of beings I would ever face. Deciding to be a bit more cautious this time I walked more slowly towards the shuffling skeletons waiting for one of them to jump towards me again.

One of them obliged and I stepped backwards lashing out with a punch that stopped short of its target.

Air Punch = 869 X 1.5 X 0.1 = 130 damage dealt to Hollowed Undead
10xp gained

The undead was vaporised by my punch and I turned towards the other 3 slowly inching towards me before lashing out with a Rankyakyu inspired kick bisecting all of them instantly.

Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Hollowed Undead
10xp gained

Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Hollowed Undead
10xp gained

Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Hollowed Undead
10xp gained

The skill 'Kicking LV1' has increased to 'Kicking LV2'.
The amateur way of inflicting damage by using one's legs. This skill governs the proper way to kick without falling over and looking like an idiot.
Effects
15% increase in damage with legs.
15% increase in stability when kicking.

'It seems like my kicking is levelling up by quite a lot,' I mused to myself. 'It looks like I'm well on my way to fulfilling my dream of being that asshole who fights with his hands in his pockets the entire time.' Looking at the dead bodies I was somewhat surprised to see that they had disappeared to be replaced by a small pile of coins. Well not that surprised considering it was something that was common to all stories involving the Gamer. Still I didn't really have a desire to engage in the kind of wide-scale money laundering that taking large amounts of money would eventually result in. Still a few coins that were picked up on the side of road wouldn't be an illegal venture and so I took the coins, putting the seventy three Yen that lay in the floor from the former corpses, before I left to hunt.

xxx

'Yes this dungeon was certainly inspired by Dark Souls, but not a perfect replica,' I thought to myself as I stepped backwards dodging a club from a massive skeletal form comprised of hundreds or thousands of mismatched bones.

Vengeful Bones

Cursed Collection of Carcasses

Species - Monster

Health- 18 436/44 631 (HP Regen: 126 per minute)

Mana – 0 (MP Regen: 0 per minute)

STR – 226

VIT – 223

DEX – 126

INT – 51

WIS – 41

LUK – 12

The results of a quick observation showed me that despite its ridiculously large health its stats were lower than mine in every way. Well health was a product of both level and Vitality so it wasn't unexpected that it would be higher than me considering my comparatively low level. I lashed out with at the sea of bones redirecting the force of my kick towards each individual bone splintering hundreds at a time.

Critical Kick = 869 X 8.25= 7169 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Due to unique nature of being the damage is capped out at 5 637.

Interestingly enough it seemed that once a bone took a certain amount of damage it broke and the remaining damage was wasted. Still thanks to my ability to redirect the forces of my attacks I was able to do far more damage than I should. Theoretically the best way of dealing damage was to use an AOE attack but I hadn't developed one yet.

Through continued use the skill 'Dodging LV1' has been created.
The premier way of avoiding damage is not to be hit at all. Anything from punches to Ki blasts can be avoided by proper application of getting out of the way.

Effects
3% increased chance to dodge an attack when aware of the source and direction

'If all the fights are this easy in future I won't be able to develop fighting skills,' I thought to myself. Still this was only the first dungeon and I hadn't even reached the end of it yet. The club came down again and this time I side-stepped before jumping on the side and using Angel's Grace to ascend to the collection of bones that was reminiscent of a head. I used the head as a foothold, feeling the individual bones tried to latch on to my foot before I easily jumped about a dozen metres up and lashed out with a barrage of Air Kicks as I into the bony mass.

Critical Kick = 869 X 8.25 X 0.1= 717 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Due to unique nature of being the damage is capped out at 522
Critical Kick = 869 X 8.25 X 0.1= 717 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Due to unique nature of being the damage is capped out at 412
Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X 1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones
Air Kick = 869 X1.65 X 0.1 = 143 damage dealt to Vengeful Bones

Notifications filled the screen and I mentally turned off all damage calculations as the ground beneath me tore apart and the bones were reduced to powder by the unceasing barrage of air kicks.

5850xp gained
You have gained 5 Levels
Boss Monster Vengeful Bones has been defeated

For defeating your first boss of the Undead Dungeon you have received the Skill Terror of the Dead.

Terror of the Dead: (LV1) Gained upon defeating Greater Undead
All things instinctively fear death. By conquering the undead you have gained the ability to instil the fear of death in others. Against those with strong willpower, and greater strength than you the effect will be reduced.

Did the real King somehow conquer this dungeon? I wonder if it is possible to use this skill to scare monsters to death. Maybe if I do that I can avoid having to fight in front of others until things get really serious. I seriously dislike it when abilities are revealed without waiting for the appropriate time and I find that nothing ruins a good mystery like the truth. Take Saitama's secret after all: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 10 kilometres of running after day. It was the most anti-climactic answer but any answer he gave would always be the same.

Nothing stirs the fears like something that cannot be seen, nothing arouses the appetite like an unsolved mystery and nothing stokes the flames of wonder than seeing impossible happen without an explanation. Knowing this I refused to ever reveal the Gamer, even if I were threatened with death or failure. It would be the most disappointing end to a mystery, unpalatable and unsatisfying. No I would build myself up to be King, the strongest in the world (besides Saitama), a being as mysterious as he was powerful.

"I'm talking to myself again," I say to myself. "My parents stated that they were going to be gone for about an hour and it's already been twenty-five minutes. If I leave myself a wiggle room of fifteen minutes that leaves me with about twenty minutes more in which to play around with my new speed and strength."

I stretched out my muscles experimentally noting how good it felt to really stretch out and use my body without reservations. I had already gained several levels and my body felt much better after this workout even if my stats had barely increased but I had no current desire to inspect my status screen and waste the precious time I had left. If I remember correctly I believe there was a dragon somewhere around here in the original Dark Souls although considering this is a purely undead dungeon it would more likely be an undead dragon.

I scooped the remainder of the items that the skeleton dropped, which included an unwieldy looking club and a small mountain of Yen and headed out to search for the dragon.

xxx

"ID Escape," I said coming out of the dungeon mentally drained yet triumphant and exhilarated. I had found that dragon relatively easy by basically running around at my top speed, which I still wasn't fully used to. Soon enough it had started raining flame and I had gained the passive Bloodlust Sense LV1 as well as Fire Resistance LV1. From then on I was forced to dodge the strafing dragon and its apparent hatred of me. The undead monstrosity had nearly 200 000 HP and Strength and Vitality about a hundred below my own as well as a bone armour around it that apparently passively reduced the effect of physical attacks.

With my time limit I was forced to go on the offensive and yet the creature refused to land and get into melee range and I was forced to try and mix it up. I had first tried throwing boulders at the dragon by tearing up chunks of the castle and lobbing it at the flying behemoth. I gained the skill Throw LV1 from that but none of my attempts with the unwieldy masonry actually connected and I was forced to abandon the idea. My Air Kicks could reach it when it swooped down but it was such a short period of time and the penalty was so harsh that the damage was nowhere near enough to destroy it in the time period.

The solution was Jump of course and I ran up the sides of a nearby Bell Tower before launching myself on the side of the building and onto the Dragon. I quickly activated the Strength of Insects to redirect the force through the armour of the dragon and then the Strength of Beasts to sacrifice six-hundred of my Intelligence and push my Strength up over two thousand. From then onwards it was basically a rodeo with me punching against the steely armour of the dragon and the dragon doing everything to throw me off. Twice it nearly succeeded and I was forced to stab my fingers into the armour of the colossus and hold on, until eventually driven mad by pain or wrath the creature crashed down into a nearby building crushing it, me and the land underneath me.

If it wasn't for my absurdly high Pain Resistance I would have been in quite a lot of distress at that moment and if it wasn't for my high Physical Resistance I would have likely been a pancake. Unfortunately for the dragon all I could think about that moment was the fact that I had less than five minutes before the deadline and thus I used my over two thousand Strength to pick up the multi-ton dragon and with my muscles burning through the Pain Resistance I tossed the dragon over the ramparts of the castle.

After that the message for the defeated Skeletal Dragon popped up and I instantly used ID Escape to leave the dungeon and went back to my room. It wasn't a moment too soon as less than a minute later my parents showed up informing me that the event was cut short. My mother called me down for supper and I was lucky enough that this time I didn't have to spike my food with hot sauce and then after dinner I played games with my father.

'And that was basically my day,' I thought to myself. 'I tackled my first dungeon without my parents suspecting a thing. And I did quite well also taking down two bosses. Honestly it was exhilarating to fight them and I had never experienced something like that in my prior life, being one to shy away from violence, seeing it as unnecessary and dangerous in the modern world. I suppose anybody who basically acquired superpowers would feel a drive to use them, whether for good or evil and I am getting overly philosophical again and need to shut up and examine my spoils of battle.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 9 530/9 530 (HP Regen: 191 per minute)

Mana – 8 900/8 900 (MP Regen: 178 per minute)

Level – 17 EXP 465/3650

STR – 872

VIT – 853

DEX – 696

INT – 790

WIS – 703

LUK – 900

Points -80

Money 9 600¥

HP is calculated by taking total Vitality multiplied by 10 plus the initial 200 HP and on top of that I gained an extra 50HP per level. Mana is calculated by taking total Intelligence multiplied by 10 plus the initial 200 MP and on top of that I gained an extra 50MP per level. Base regeneration for health and mana was 1% but both had doubled when I got their respective stats over 100. Besides increasing the multiplier for health and mana each level up gave me 5 points to spend on a stat that I desired; that I currently had no desire to use for the moment. The system seemed to be relatively simple from what I had seen of it.

Congratulations on reaching level 10! Please choose your desired perk from the list below.

Unarmed Warrior
Through hours of training your body you have achieved a point where your fists and feet can substitute for weapons. You can choose to harden your hands and feet allowing you to block a certain portion of damage without losing health and to sharpen your hands to pierce through materials without resistance

Natural Psychic
Through expanding your mind you have tapped into the natural psychic powers that all humans in the world possess but seldom exhibit. Reading minds, moving objects and even seeing the future is now within your grasp. Increases speed of levelling psychic skills, decreases Mana cost of abilities and increases effectiveness.

Monster Slayer
Through the killing off elements unfriendly to humanity you have honed your ability to kill creatures beyond the reach of normal humans. Critical rate is doubled against monsters and you gain the ability to mark a monster showing weak spots that will automatically generate a critical if hit.

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Magic is a power unheard of in the One Punch Man Universe but well known in many others. You become aware of the power inside you, you have chosen to use and obtained abilities never seen before on this earth. Increases speed of levelling magic skills, decreases Mana cost of abilities and increases effectiveness.

Mysterious Being
Your mind is not normal. Whichever obsession drives you manifests as a physical form giving you power beyond mankind. Increases initial stats by five times but slows down stat growth.

No fucking was I choosing Mysterious being. Besides the penalty which frankly wasn't worth it; I had no desire to ruin the plot like that. I wouldn't be satisfied with that level of mystery and I had a desire to fight Saitama as a human. I would not make Garou's mistake.

From what I could tell from reading the perks so far, all of them were based on archetypes that would probably be able to be customised at higher levels and yet were based on actions I've already performed. Since I have never used a sword then I would not have been given a swordsman class.

I looked down the list and there was a spy perk that I had received for hiding my skills from my parents, a scholar perk from all of the books I've read, and a sage perk for… I'm not sure what exactly. Wisdom is the stat that I'm the least sure about. From experimentation I can tell it has a bit to do with psychic abilities and mana. Of my three skills I gained when levelling up wisdom; Learned Sage provided a boost to learning skills, Comprehension of Phenomena allowed me to replicate abilities by seeing them for a certain length of time and Supreme Awareness of the Natural World allowed me to activate a state of mind where I could sense everything in the surrounding area.

I wasn't approaching this correctly though. I didn't train my body to become a warrior or a magician or an esper. I gained my power, worked every day for four years for the sole purpose of fighting Saitama. As good as some of those perks sounded they would not give me the ability to match the 'One Punch Man'. For that feat I would require something more.

"Dragon-Blooded warrior, Mass Slayer, Natural Assassin, Naturally Lucky," I said looking over a few of the perks but finding none of them appealed to me and then I blinked in surprise as I saw one that was perfect for my goal.

Outsider
Despite your birth here you are fundamentally a creature from outside the current world. By taking this point you are made aware of knowledge from a fundamentally useful power and gain a random power from one of the other universes not chosen. Using this power will damage your body initially as it is native to a different universe.

"Random huh," I said looking at my 900 luck. With a click against an imaginary surface I brought the total luck up to 980 with little thought giving myself the maximum amount of luck before I decided to click the acceptance. The effect of a Bucket Full of Sixes besides increasing my critical damage from 2X to 5X was to increase my chance of events going my way and I would just have to rely on it. The button disappeared and like four years ago, a list appeared and began to spin, although this time I managed to remain conscious.

"Come on," I said to myself silently hoping for either Demon Extract from Akame Ga Kill or Enchantment Magic from Fairy Tail. The roll seemed to go on for way too long and even though I trusted my luck I began to get slightly nervous. Eventually the list ground to a halt revealing the listed power.

?
Requires 100% Attunement
Current Attunement 0%

"I don't know whether I'm meant to be disappointed at that or not," I said to myself. On one hand instead of getting any of the abilities I desired I got an unknown power; on the other hand I did enjoy a mystery and I would have fun trying to figure out this power. Putting it out of my mind for now I started inspecting the other pieces of equipment that I had retrieved from the dungeon which amounted to one massive two-handed sword and a shield comprised of bone. Each of these pieces had 0% Attunement on them and I realised that in order to unlock my new power I would have to attune an item up to 100%. The excitement was getting to me and I resolved to begin the process of Attuning… tomorrow. It had been a long day and even with the power of The Ultimate Lifeform I was still running on fumes. I made a note to improve my stamina when I next got the chance to enter a Dungeon before heading to bed.

xxx

3 Years Later

My God, attuning anything took a long time. Attuning a sword took far too long because I couldn't wield it outside of a dungeon and constant wearing would only increase the level of Attunement by a few percentage a month. In the end the thing that I Attuned was a simple pair of flower-patterned cufflinks that I got from a drop in the dungeons two years ago and had worn with me ever since. If I had known that it would have taken me almost three years to Attune then I likely would have been very ticked off but looking back at it now from current vantage I was nothing but satisfied.

Shun Shun Rika (LV 23) – Active
A replica of a power possessed by Orihime Inoue; these cufflinks are the physical embodiment of their wielders ability to reject the world around them. The strength of the wielders mind will empowers these while weak convictions will reduce their effectiveness.

It was quite a shock to see them finally manifest a month ago but not an unwelcome one by any means. I had recently unlocked my latest dungeon (a dungeon covered in an abnormal amount of traps and walking statues) and I had used my new ability perpetually for defensive and offensive purposes. It was actually pretty poor at healing me due to the fact that my body wouldn't change when taking damage and it had in fact taken chunks off my health the first few times that I used it.

"And that is the correct way to spell fortitude," the English teacher spoke up right before the school bell rang, indicating some relief from the tedium of school life.

'1837 Intelligence and this is what I do every day,' I thought to myself with some bemusement. 'Besides most of these children wouldn't comprehend true fortitude if it tore through their weak bodies.' I was just being morbid, there was a world of difference between somebody who had been using the Gamer System for over ten years and somebody who had not.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 21 390/21 390 (HP Regen: 428 per minute)

Mana – 23 140/23 140 (MP Regen: 926 per minute)

Level – 93 EXP 15 589/32 000

STR – 1 721

VIT – 1 659

DEX – 1 651

INT – 1 837

WIS – 1 685

LUK – 1 973

Points -120

Money 959 230¥

My stats improvements were still capped by the insignificant amount of time that I could spend levelling up in the dungeon. My skills had shown similar improvements and I had received a special skill upon getting each stat up to 1 000. Strength had given me the ability to slowly increase my Strength as long as in combat. Vitality had given me the ability to share portions of my regeneration with others. Dexterity had given me the ability to find purchase on air and jump infinitely. Intelligence had given me the ability to speed up my rate of thought. Wisdom's skill gave me the ability to see a few seconds into the future when I activated it. Luck had given me the ability to store any instances of bad luck and convert them to good luck when I needed it.

It was a pity that a new Outsider skill hadn't been made available to me and my skills every ten levels had been chosen mainly from the Unarmed branch with a few Psychic skills and one Assassin skill. It was an eclectic mix but it served me well in the few dungeon travels that I undertook once the watchful eyes of my parents lapsed.

"King-San it's time to leave," the voice of the teacher spoke up. "You're zoning out again. Shouldn't you go play with your friends?"

I looked up at him before thanking him and leaving the classroom. Of course I actually had no actual friends. I am an introvert by nature and even if I wasn't I wouldn't waste my time with a bunch of actual mentally standard seven year olds. Not only would that be unproductive and a bit skeevy, I would not find it fulfilling in any way shape or form.

If I was to be totally upfront with myself, my life was boring right now. While mysterious beings were by no means unknown to the police at this time they were not a threat to the ways of life for most people due to their attacks being infrequent and for the most part handled by the police or army. Apparently in the manga there was an explosion in their population some time before the plot kicked off but I couldn't remember any exact dates or even what age King, which age I; would be by the time that this boom happened.

Besides training I had nothing to do and my training was constantly restricted by my time spent doing inane bullshit. No that was unfair to both my parents and fellow members of society. I had never displayed my ability and so my parents and teachers had never treated me as anything but a standard human. At a surface level my life was ideal and it was only due to my special circumstances that I was having problems.

I needed to test out my strength I decided and in that instant and I had the perfect way to do it. While mysterious being attacks were few but there were various ninja villages, experimental laboratories and at least one robotic organization that may have started before the series. However all of these were a bit too hardcore for me right now and so I decided to head straight into a tournament arc. There other reasons for this besides the fact that it let me test my strength in a reasonably safe manner. While my stats were high, in comparison to the civilians around me at least, my martial arts were virtually non-existent. Whenever I fought in a dungeon I had relied upon a mix of my strength and speed backed up by a few of my skills whenever I needed an edge and when that failed I would pummel them with waves of psychic force until their HP hit zero.

This all stats, no skill approach worked for me for a while considering the fact that I had stuck to fighting beasts whose stats were lower than mine but I had always intended to obtain some martial arts skills or other abilities that would serve as an effective force multiplier. By fighting and observing other martial artists I could glean knowledge from them and incorporate their style into the one that I will eventually create.

It was with a spring in my step that I headed for home intent on attending the next martial arts tournament.

xxx

9 Months later

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 25 460/25 460 (HP Regen: 509 per minute)

Mana – 26 510/26 510 (MP Regen: 530 per minute)

Level – 110 EXP 15 589/32 000

STR – 2 156

VIT – 1 981

DEX – 2 011

INT – 2 086

WIS – 1 857

LUK – 2 201

Points -205

Money 1 150 431¥

Martial Arts Style: None

The above absence of martial arts was the thing that I hoped to rectify in this tournament. Through thorough research I had determined that the Super Fight that took place in the manga and anime didn't exist yet and that many of the larger, more prestigious tournaments that took place required the backing of a dojo or an already famous name to enter.

Lacking both of these things the R-City regional tournament was the best that I could access, although I was able to do so without an ID or even the most basic form of registration. Apparently mysterious masked fighters were almost a tradition among this world's tournaments although they seldom got far, maybe making it through the qualifiers before being crushed by representatives from the famous dojos. I had taken advantage of this and consequently The Cloaked King was listed as a fighter under bracket K. Not that there were many expectations placed upon me by the organisers. On the contrary I was sure I heard one of the organisers chuckle when I turned away. Although I couldn't really blame them considering the fact that I was wearing a black full-body cloak and chose such a chuunibyou name.

Still I had already resolved to win this tournament under the name of King and that was a promise that I wouldn't hesitate to keep. That meant abiding by the rules of the tournament and using only my body, refraining from all psychic attacks and not using my outsider abilities at all. Honestly speaking I regarded the pair of outsider abilities as a dangerous trump card that I still was a long way off making usable in battle. When I reached the level 100 I had gained the ability to receive a new outsider ability that I had immediately picked.

The Spin (LV 12) – Active
A supernatural phenomenon wielded by Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny Joestar; this power allows the user to produce energy by implementing a perfect or near-perfect form of rotation that can be applied towards a multiple of uses.

It was a unique and powerful ability that I had to learn to use without a horse and would be worse than useless at its low level, but could be powerful if I managed to somehow replicate the perfect spin that would unleash infinite energy. Maybe it would even be an ace in the hole against Saitama. I smiled in anticipation of a great battle only to notice a shadow fall over me.

"Ready to be pounded into dust newbie," a large bulky short haired man with an enormous blonde moustache said to me. He loomed over me; almost double my height and I found myself slightly amused at his display. "I am Verit; my style is Multiple Destruction Fist. Many opponents have fallen to these hands. This tournament is going to be the one to cement my name, a stepping stone to becoming the greatest Martial Artist on the planet. You're my opponent in the first round and I'm feeling nice so I'm going to give you a warning." He leaned in closer. "Give up and don't make me waste my energy on crushing you."

Verit

Stepping Stone

Title: None

Species - Human

Health- 6 200/6 200

Mana – 0/0

STR – 350

VIT – 226

DEX – 132

INT – 66

WIS – 32

LUK – 1

Martial Arts Style: Multiple Destruction Fist

I couldn't help at this point. It was a recurring theme in One Punch Man that monsters and heroes would call out their strengths, backstory and reason that they would absolutely never lose before getting pummelled and while this guy was definitely stronger than most of the rabble there was no way that whatever martial arts he had would close a gap that huge. I wouldn't even need to take my hands out of my pockets for this fight. If all fighters were in his league then this entire tournament would be a breeze.

Apparently the man didn't take it very well and like every small fry in every form of medium ever he decided to display his displeasure in the form of a well-thrown yet painfully slow punch. Time slowed down as I focused on the punch and several ideas of how to react went through my head when I saw that suddenly I didn't need to. The man's extended arm was held tight by another competitor; a very familiar looking competitor.

Bang

Martial Arts Master

Title: Silver Fang

Species - Human

Health- 862 425/862 425

Mana – 0/0

STR – ? ?

VIT – ? ?

DEX – ? ?

INT – ? ?

WIS – ? ?

LUK – 1 260

Martial Arts Style: Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist

Any pride I had in my meagre abilities were brushed away in an instant as I watched the man who would in the future become the world's 3rd ranked hero; a hero that could take down multiple dragon-class monsters. Another chuckle escaped my lips and I realised that this was the man that I was going to lose against today; because as I am currently there was no way for me to defeat him, especially restricted to my natural speed and strength. I couldn't even see most of his stats the difference in their level was so large. I didn't even know that could happen before today.

"There is no fighting permitted in the waiting room," Bang said sternly and I realised how much younger he looked. His hair and moustache were brown and his face was smooth. "I believe you said you are competing against this man in the first fight, you can settle your dispute then." The man looked like he was going to argue, but a quick look at Bang was all it took for him to back off and leave in an attempt to salvage his remaining dignity.

"Some people's children really need to learn to calm down," I said inspecting the more youthful Bang that I could see before me. "Are you participating in the tournament today?" I asked him, not quite sure which answer I wanted to hear. While I wanted to be known as the one who won the tournament, I also wanted to fight Bang. He just being here was getting me excited to cross fists with somebody who was so much stronger than me. It wasn't bloodlust or fighting spirit or anything but that but the joy of fighting a boss way more powerful and reminding oneself to go back for it later when they've levelled up.

"Try not to kill him," Bang said to me giving me the once-over. He couldn't see my face but apparently he had not judged me too harshly and I nodded in agreement.

"Would the first participants of Block K please report to the arena," the announcer spoke over the low-level hum in the waiting room and I stood up in response.

"See you in the final," I said to Bang and he nodded seriously.

"You're confident," Bang started. "That's good, but don't let your confidence be your downfall."

I smiled at that although he probably didn't see it under my cloak and headed out to the arena. Man, Bang was cool to the extent that I had to seriously refrain from asking for his autograph or asking to join his dojo. I eagerly anticipated fighting him and was forced to clamp down on my excitement lest I rush my fights. After all my goal was to pick up martial arts, something that I hoped my Comprehension of Phenomena skillwould help with. The announcer spoke over the constant drone of the audience, who shouted out their many encouragements but I didn't listen to them.

"Are you ready to pay a visit to the hospital room?" the man who had confronted me earlier said. I had already forgotten his name, and I did not have any interest in remembering it so I simply placed my hands in the pockets of my full body cloak and widened my stance, ready for his display of martial arts."If you give up now I can still forgive you but if you…"

"Stop," I said having enough at this point. "You're just embarrassing yourself further and disrespecting me." While his speech was initially funny, it had grown tiresome and I was through giving him chances. "Show me your ability or leave and let somebody more competent take your place."

"You…" he said, apparently losing the ability to speak in the process.

"I was looking forward to seeing Multiple Destruction Fist but you have rapidly drained my enthusiasm. Either put up or shut up," I said with finality.

He didn't respond; instead letting loose a scream of rage before he dashed forward at a manageable speed throwing a punch. I twisted my body in response my Dodging LV12 kicking in as I analysed his punches. I was not unimpressed. While his stance appeared sloppy and unrefined and I spotted several inefficiencies in his motions, the movements that he made did appear to allow him to exert greater strength and speed than he should be able to. If this was the impact of such a poor level of martial arts then Bang is really going to be a monster to fight.

*Bang* went the sound of my knee against his chest and I activated The Strength of Insects to send him flying out of the ring without tearing his body into two pieces. I dropped back to the ground with my hands still in my pockets before I turned around and left the ring. Traditionally there would be some etiquette after the match but I had no respect for my opponent and I wasn't technically a martial artist.

xxx

I drove another kick into my opponent, some guy with absurdly long and flexible limbs who attempted to grapple me. He had talked big and insulted my small stature several times during the match but his stats were only slightly below my own and his martial arts rendered him a dangerous fighter. It had been an interesting fight and I had relied on all of my skills to obtain an advantage over the man. Using Perfect Reflexes and Perfect Movement in concert I slipped under his arms and shot a kick up into his jaw. That stunned him as I expected and I followed up by twisting my body and landing a flurry of kicks on his torso before kicking him right off of the arena.

Despite lacking martial arts I had a great number of unarmed skills and miscellaneous skills as well as a large amount of experience in killing monsters and other inhuman foes that I found in the dungeon. So far while more than a few of the fights had tested my limits none of them had forced me to go all out or even to use my hands.

"I'm glad to see that it wasn't only overconfidence from before," Bang said stepping up to him. I had actually watched a few of his matches when I had the opportunity to and every single one of them was perfect and effortless. His mastery of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist was a display of a completely different level compared to that of many of the others he watched. I had been running the movements over and over in my head again, sometimes even during some of the more boring fights trying to figure out if it was worth trying to copy and adapt the style.

"I heard we are fighting against each other in the next round," I said to Bang. "I'm sorry that we won't have the opportunity to meet in the finals, it seems I've made myself a liar."

"I've noticed that while you are a powerful fighter you are quite weak technically," Bang replied with an invitation that I've known was coming. "After this tournament I would like to invite you to join my dojo."

"I'm afraid not," I replied regretfully but firmly. "No offence but I would like to create my own style rather than learn yours."

"A difficult path," Bang said and he looked for a moment like he was sizing me up.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," I stated firmly and Bang nodded in agreement before he asked a question that I didn't want to answer.

"How old are you anyway?" he asked me seriously.

"Old enough to both give and take a beating, granddad," I said and Bang huffed in annoyance.

"I will not take it easy on you due to your relative youth," he said giving me one of the surest signs of respect a martial artist can give.

"I'm going to make you work for your victory," I announced in reply. This was nice I supposed. Bang was far out of my league for the moment but he was also not the kind of person that would go so far as to do permanent harm. The only danger came in the fact that I never looked injured and I resolved that if I ever fell below 8 000 health I would forfeit the match.

The two of us sat there watching the next match on the large screens. I sat in silence and Bang was the opposite pointing out the various weaknesses in strengths in each style and how they compared as well as how experienced the competitors were. The older man was a wealth of information and I found myself enjoying his company. Apparently he had spent the majority of the fighting so far sitting and waiting due to the fact that as an established combatant he had far less matches than me and so he had been sitting there alone for a large portion of the day so far.

It was pretty surprising to me when the announcement came for our next fight. There had been a good while of waiting and watching involved and I had found myself falling into a relaxed state, which while far better than my boredom, was nowhere near the joy of fighting something truly strong. No words were spoken between the two of us, we only shared a glance before we exited the waiting room together and took our places on the opposite side of the field.

The announcer spoke excitedly about seeing Bang and 'the mysterious new contestant' fight and I took relief in the fact that my cloaked body had done its job properly. The referee asked us some questions that I had heard dozens of times before and I answered robotically showing none of the nervousness and anticipation I was feeling.

I knew that it wasn't for Gamers Mind I would be feeling nervous, terrified, anticipatory but just as my unbearable boredom was muted so were my other emotions leaving me with only a patient, yet determined feeling. This would be my first fight against one of the main cast and one of the stronger ones no less. Knowing this I placed my foot an inch above the floor and very deliberately took my hands out of my pockets, my short movements easily noticed by my opponent.

"3," the ref announced and Bang suddenly dropped into a familiar stance. His eyes turned piercing and he focused his full attention on me to the extent that I felt like a rat being stared down by a snake.

"2," the ref announced and I raised my foot another inch focusing The Strength of Insects to spread out the damage of the attack further than it logically should go.

"1," the ref announced and time seemed to slow down, all noise faded and I deliberately focused on the future I saw ahead of me disregarding the enormous strength in front of me.

"Go," the ref announced and I brought my foot down shattering the entire arena before throwing it up on the floor. Taking inspiration from HunterxHunter, namely the Gon vs Hisoka fight I then kicked a bunch of the shards towards my opponent. This opening was only the beginning to my plan as I had one more advantage that I had yet to play. Activating all of my Dexterity skills at the same time I leapt from piece of rubble to piece of rubble moving in a perfect 3 dimensional flanking manoeuvre while activating my stealth the moment his sight was obstructed. He still stood in the same space where he started his hands already moving to clear away the rubble flowing towards him that I knew he could easily dispense of.

My surprise punch was blocked perfectly but I had already expected it. Even while not facing me he was able to catch my kick on his forearm while blocking the flying rubble with his other arm. I was able to rotate my body and launch a kick to his side that he jumped over before lashing out with one of those complex movement that his style favoured that I was barely able to avoid by jumping backwards.

It was at this point that the stones had reached their apex, just under a second since the match had started and in two exchanges I had already proven that I couldn't win. It wasn't just the fact that his stats and HP were higher than mine but he also had a lot more battle experience than me. This is a bonus boss that I had no chance of defeating but also no reason to do so as well. I would never kill the famous Silver Fang and since that wouldn't happen then I wouldn't get Exp either way. The prize money was nice but ultimately not required and the fame that I would get for winning will eventually belong to me anyway when I mature.

My first shot was my best and while I could calculate many different avenues of attack in my mind none of them had a greater than ten percent chance of even coming close to landing a hit. I sighed but internally I felt relieved that this world offered so much more, that the summit was so much higher and so I straightened up, allowing the rest of the debris to fall to the ground.

"Giving up already," the older man said looking at me and never dropping his stance.

"I'm going to have to up my training when this is over," I answer before I lunged forward watching as his hands moved along curved lines to intercept my blow. I watched every motion using my reflexes to the fullest and even looking into the future to predict the movements. Nothing helped as my flurry of blows was deflected every single time no matter the angle.

I pushed off his arms before dropping to the floor again hooking my foot around a broken stone and flinging it at my opponent's head. It never reached as he caught the rock and crushed it and I stepped back for a minute, picking up a single plan that had a higher chance of victory. I dashed towards him spinning by body upside down lashing out with a kick and digging my hands into the mostly shattered arena floor. As soon as I felt my leg connect with his arm I thrust my arms into the ground and then pulled them up filling the arena with sand and dust making sight impossible. With my eyes closed I activated Awareness of the Natural World showing me clearly where Bang was and then I flipped up and activated my newest luck skill Ultimate Luck and released all the bad luck charges that I had accumulated for the last few months.

My fist somehow slipped through Bang's blinded defence and hit straight into his abdomen and I heard a crunching sound before the world turned red as a massive force threw me straight out of the arena and into one of the side walls. I felt concrete crunch beneath my back and a simultaneous fiery pain burnt through every single one of my bones ached but thanks to either Gamers Mind or Gamers Body I was able to stumble to my feet, extricating myself from the partially collapsed wall of the arena.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 3 261/25 460 (HP Regen: 509 per minute)

Mana – 23 150/26 510 (MP Regen: 530 per minute)

He had dealt over 20 000 points of damage even through my damage resistance. If he had hit just a bit harder that would have been the end of King. 'What a terrible end to a story that would be,' I thought to myself. Even ignoring the grief it would inflict on my parents.

"I'm out," I begin to say only to be interrupted by the sight of Bang right in front of me, having moved faster than I could track him.

"Are you okay," he said as he gently grabbed my arms, appearing to check me over a few times with clear worry in his eyes

Bang

Martial Arts Master

Title: Silver Fang

Species - Human

Health- 768 931/862 425

Mana – 0/0

Wow, I had done almost 100,000 damage with that last punch, significantly more than I had ever done in a single strike before, and from the way he was moving it looked like he had broken a rib or something. Still whatever pain he was in he didn't show it as he gave me the once over.

"I'm fine," I said trying to calm him down. "I will be in a bit," I amended seeing his doubtful look. "That was an amazing punch," I said truthfully. While I wasn't going to fight him again until I could at least see his stats there was no point in not admiring such a well-placed blow.

"I should have held back more," he said with some self-reproach. "I knew how strong you were but when you surprised me with that last attack I 'panicked' and lashed out." The word 'panicked' had a metric tonne of disgust on it and I could see that he was likely to attempt to fix that problem in future.

"It's not an issue," I said and it was truthfully none of mine considering I was unlikely to challenge somebody that far above my level in a long time. "You have shown me just how far I still have to go," I admitted to him causing him to raise his bushy eyebrows. I flexed my body feeling just how omnipresent the pain was as well as the how effective the slow healing process was turning out to be. "It has been a pleasure," I finished giving him a bow, a gesture of a match well fought. He returned it and turned around and walked off, having had more than my fill of the day. Some medical workers and other guys tried to stop me when I entered the waiting room but I easily evaded them before taking advantage of my stealth and heading home.

xxx

7 years later

Sometimes I envied monsters. In a world that seeks for meaning in religion and money and other trappings and decries any value past the superficial it was interesting to see beings that abandoned all other interests to pursue their one perfect goal. Sure this often led to hideous mutations, becoming an enemy of humanity, and instilled them with a habit of making corny speeches but it was hard to feel sorry for people that were this happy with their purpose in life.

"I am the greatest brewer in the world," the walking cask said as streams of pressurised alcohol tore through the buildings on either side. "You have never tasted something so delectable, so refreshing. I will make you acknowledge my superiority."

'It was actually pretty admirable,' I thought as I dodged the liquid beer bullets. He threw away his looks, his future, his family all to further his twisted obsession; but in the end he looks happy. 'I wonder if I will look that happy when I finally manage to fight Saitama,' I thought before putting it out of my mind. 'To live is to have a goal to aim for, dreams to look towards, desires to satiate and happiness to grasp and keep close. Thus it could be said that compared to the grey humans running away from the monster was the most alive being in the area as it indulged its current happiness at the cost of its future.

"I won't forget you," I said out loud to it moments before I activated Absolute Spin Style and tore it to pieces with my hands before going into stealth mode again. My last words to it were by no means a lie. Despite being ridiculous and weak the monster was likely going to stick in my mind for a long, long time. Seeing brown liquid on my hands I raised them to my mouth and took a long lick.

"That really was delicious," I thought as I looked down at the body of my former foe before I turned around and walked away. This year was the year when the rate of monster appearances started escalating. So far the panic was subdued as humans did what they did best and rationalized the problems as temporary statistical anomaly. At fourteen years of age, nearly fifteen, my parents had decided I was more than old enough to tolerate spending holidays alone and I had indulged their lapses of oversight by travelling around and hunting these Mysterious Beings.

So far I had found them pretty disappointing. None of them that I had run into had been much above wolf level with one or two tigers, all of which were easily below me and were in fact weaker than many of the monsters I fought in dungeons. In fact not even a month ago I had unlocked a special psychic dungeon filled with creatures that did their best to show me just how comparatively inadequate my psychic powers were. And by creatures I mean Pokémon and by comparatively inadequate I mean Mewtwo dropped a fucking mountain on me.

A tingle on the back of my neck, a slight change in the wind and a shift in my luck was all the warning that I got and I turned stepping slightly backwards and catching the blade that was flung at my unguarded back. On closer inspection the blade was a kunai. According to the internet they were actually primarily used for climbing and stabbing but what the hell do I know about ninjas. 'Oh well, it looked like I was going to be getting a more up to date education,' I thought as I watched a trio of shadows step into the main street opposite me.

"I believe you dropped this," I said as I observed the trio.

Darkness Shadow

Ninja

Species - Human

Health- 12 365/12 365

Mana – 0/0

STR – 6 821

VIT – 5 651

DEX – 7 320

INT – 4 501

WIS – 3 215

LUK – 1 622

Martial Arts Style: Shadow Assassination Style

The other two ninja's were called Thunderbolt Lightning and Pelagic Ocean, a testament to the shitty naming conventions of their village. All of their stats were around that of the first ninja I observed which was incredibly high but nowhere near the power of those at the top of the world. A title which I still cannot claim for myself yet. To be honest these ninjas might be able to scrape into S-Class if Sweet Mask wasn't guarding the gate, there was no way I could afford to take them easily.

"Did you drop this?" I asked calmly as I swung the kunai around the hoop on my finger. I walked forward towards them casually. I noticed that despite me approaching they didn't take a step backwards which spoke of either good training or a genuine confidence in their own abilities.

"You have interfered with a request to take down the rampaging monster," one of the ninja said calmly and quietly. "To cover up the failure of the mission your death will be required."

"I can pinky swear if you…" I started but I could tell they were not listening at this point, instead spreading out in a perfectly formed formation. I sighed and dropped my gaze and I could feel as their attention instantly shifted, picking the point of time that I was 'off guard' to lunge forward. Two came from each side trying to block out my avenue of movement while the third fired off a volley of those blades.

According to the latest chapters of the webcomic ninja's that had left the village didn't work together but the trio proved me wrong quickly cutting off every avenue of escape. Actually now that I think about it these ninja may be knocking on the doors of S-class, in which case I would have to take them very seriously. I leapt upwards and saw them alter their attacks to take advantage of the fact that in the air I was vulnerable. Unfortunately for them they underestimated my abilities as I felt around for that little give that the atmosphere gave me before kicked downwards rocketing towards the ground, letting the ninjas overshoot me as I drew out the full force of my muscles and punched the ground causing a shockwave to resound throughout the area as huge waves of dust were kicked up and the ground shattered.

Thankfully for me, all the bystanders had already run away leaving the nearby streets bare; but I still saw a few of the nearby buildings shake and I made a silent resolve not to cause a calamity here. A hint of a shadow in the dust, a brief gust of wind and I was able to launch forward twisting my hands in a particular style that allowed me to take advantage of the Spin as I lashed out with all the power contained within my muscles amplified by the nigh-infinite energy obtained within the Spin.

Interestingly enough when I had reached 2 000 in all six of my stats I had unlocked the last skill Power of Body and Mind. This simple skill sublimated all of my previous skills that I had gained upon attaining previous levels of stats and incorporated them into itself before giving me understanding of how they previously worked. I now knew how to tap into all of my muscles for power, why standing on a surface required perfect balance and precision, how it was possible for the human body to recreate itself as a perpetual engine to survive without sleep or fuel or air, how the mind existed apart from the body in a realm of psychic energy, how knowing oneself and the world constituted pure wisdom and how luck existed and intersected with fate and sometimes won and lost.

It had taken me weeks to get used to doing it manually after I had done it automatically all my life but the result were evident as I tore through the stomach of an unfortunate ninja in a single punch. Even with his guts decorating the floor he still managed to stumble backwards and I took a step forward with the intent of aiming for the head and bringing his HP down to zero.

I revaluated my plans as I sensed an attack aimed at my back and I turned around, having to adjust my hand at the last moment as the attack curved in a particularly sneaky manoeuvre. My fist clashed against the short sword that the ninja wielded and the two locked against each other for a second before I was forced to dodge a hail of ninja weapons that were thrown from my blind spot.

The ninja with the sword came at me again and I let one of my cufflinks form into an orange sword that sliced through his sword easily before gouging into his flesh. With my other hand I reached forward and grabbed his shirt before angling him to block the knives. At this point I used my other cufflink to fire an orange spear of energy at him that he dodged and then was immediately hit by the body of his comrade. I moved to him, about to kick him and take him out of the match when I was forced to stop suddenly to dodge a dart.

I turned my head to see the first ninja, the heavily injured one, crouching with a blow dart that he fired repeatedly and I briefly regretted not aiming for his lungs. I stepped backwards catching one, two, six, dozens of those flying annoyances that were probably coated with poison. These ninjas were by no means weak but they had very little defence against my own trump cards and they were actually less skilled than me. I suppose fighting monsters every day of your life can imbue you with better instincts than even the harshest of training. Still that blow dart barrage was irritating so I reached out with my psychic powers and snapped it in two.

The other ninja had already extracted himself from the body but in the time that he was stuck the orange spear formed from my Shun Shun Rika had pierced through his body. I moved forward in that brief moment of distraction lashing out with my foot that connected directly with his head and I heard a *crack* that indicated that his neck had buckled under the pressure. The last wounded ninja I grabbed with my telekinesis before dragging him to me with no resistance. Without intervention he would certainly die, but I was not going to save him. He had killed many in the past and would likely kill many more if allowed to live. It was regrettable that he had been turned into this by the Ninja Village but it was beyond my ability to fix him. I did not bother asking him for the location of his former home, instead using my psychic powers to take it from his mind before I gave him the sweet release of death.

xxx

2 Weeks Later

"So the Village is here," I muttered to myself staring at the outskirts of an inconspicuous forest. My parents had called to tell me they had extended their holidays and so I had taken the time to scope out the location of the Ninja Village. I had actually found it about three days ago and every day since I had come to look at it before retreating backwards. Honestly the thought of actually attacking that village filled me with doubt.

The thought of leaving that unquestionably evil organisation alone frustrated me and yet I could not insure my victory against it. From the webcomic their master was being drummed up as an unquestioningly powerful mysterious being that was on the upper tier of S-Class. Even if I was confident that I could escape from that I was not certain that I could get away from the subordinate ninja's who might be lesser S-Class.

It was at that moment that a minor muffled boom sounded, indistinguishable to normal ears rippled across the land causing me to frown. That was the sound of a very far off explosion, familiar to me due to my dungeon exploration. I hate explosive dungeons but I can't deny that they have been good for my situational awareness.

With barely a seconds hesitation I moved, cutting through the air and sliding past the sound barrier in a second before accelerating towards the source of the disturbance. In a scant few seconds the relatively lush grassy environment gave way to barren land and I had to catch my breath as I saw two beings moving at incredible speeds; their impacts causing shockwaves that ruffled my clothes even from hundreds of metres away.

Their distance away combined with the speed that they were moving prohibited me from getting any details using observe but I hardly needed to when I saw the one of the figures. While there had been no good look at the number one hero Blast in both the webcomic and manga, what I had seen of him linked up precisely with the description. Not to mention there wouldn't be that many human monsters at around that time. That means that the enemy he was facing was the head of the Ninja village and this must be the day that he knocks him into a coma.

Even as I marvelled at the sheer immensity of their powers I never let go of the awareness of my surroundings and so I was not surprised when an arrow tore straight through the place my heart was a few milliseconds ago, before creating a sonic boom and causing an actual explosion a few hundred metres back.

"So the observer is not such a shrimp after all," a man with pink spiky hair dressed in a black and white striped jersey said as he landed a hundred metres away aiming at me with a plastic bow. "I am Bow Recurve and you have made a grave mistake. For the sake of my master today I will pierce your flesh.

Bow Recurve

Ninja

Species - Human

Health- 78 926/78 926

Mana – 0/0

STR – 13 526

VIT – 11 361

DEX – 23 516

INT – 9 856

WIS – 7 936

LUK – 2 615

Martial Arts Style: Sudden Death Bow Style

"Are you sure you can handle him," another Ninja said as he leapt forward landing next to Bow Recurve. This guy was massive at over ten feet with disproportionately large hands and a bald head containing a large mouth with grinning teeth. "You are the weakest one of us after all. I Fist Hands will be a much better choice so as not to embarrass our master.

Hands Fist

Ninja

Species - Human

Health- 226 541/226 541

Mana – 0/0

STR – 26 451

VIT – 21 368

DEX – 17 657

INT – 5 461

WIS – 8 978

LUK – 1 114

Martial Arts Style: Crushing Fist Style

"Both of you are already embarrassing the master", a third more slender ninja with golden hair and a pair of kukris at his sides said. I idly scanned him for a moment looking at his name and stats.

Shining Glimmer

Ninja

Species - Human

Health- 178 888/178 888

Mana – 0/0

STR – 36 502

VIT – 17 361

DEX – 32 504

INT – 38 541

WIS – 29 100

LUK – 12 852

Martial Arts Style: One Flash Style

'So he's like a weaker version of Flashy flash,' I thought to myself before my awareness pinged and I dodged to the side as a spear passed by my neck. The sneak attack was perfectly timed and aimed for my blind spot and would have probably done some damage if I didn't have the merged version of Supreme Awareness over the Natural World. I immediately lashed out but the blow was avoided and a fourth ninja dressed all in black darted away from my punch

"Stygian Umbra," the one named shining glimmer said to the fourth one. "Are your sneak attacks getting dull recently? You are shaming our master."

The fourth one started to reply but by that point I decided to no longer remain passive. A quick glance placed the last one as average compared to the other three and so having properly evaluated my opponents I stepped forward.

"You four are there to protect your master and help him escape if he loses, right," I said politely only to get four rather rude glares in response.

"A piece of trash like you shouldn't even entertain the thought that our Master would lose," Bow recurve said notching another arrow as he aimed it at my heart.

"Oh I'm sorry," I apologized. "I misspoke. What I actually meant to say is that when I kill all four of you and tear your bodies to shreds your master will die lamenting the uselessness of his disciples." And so as they floundered over my needlessly aggressive words I stepped forward with the noble mission of completely fucking over canon.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 313 460/313 460 (HP Regen: 6 269 per minute)

Mana – 284 830/284 830 (MP Regen: 926 per minute)

Level – 602 EXP 173 564/864 560

STR – 32 458

VIT – 28 321

DEX – 31 051

INT – 25 458

WIS – 24 621

LUK – 27 777

Points -2 465

Money 25 634 892¥

Author Note: I actually had a few fanficitions that I started and just left alone. I've decided to start releasing a few instead of letting them gather dust. This is one of them. The reason I wrote this was due to the fact that when I wrote my first fanfiction I had a few people accuse me of writing a self-insert, which it most definitely was not and therefore I decided to write an actual self-insert out of pure spite. This is not my most original of ideas. I believe there are already a few King Gamer! stories as it is rather thematically appropriate but... yeah.