[12] The Bakugou Household

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["Alright. Using the ability is pretty simple. All you have to do is focus on your target, and if you're concentrating hard enough, you should be able to see the weak spots appear. Then, it's just a matter of hitting them."]

You gripped your baton and nodded. "Okay. Right. I can do this. Just give me a second and let me get in the zone."

Accompanying you for this endeavor was what had since become your most trusted ally, the Katsuki training dummy. Unlike the real Katsuki, this one was cute and nonthreatening. It stayed completely still and didn't make any attempts to badmouth you, because, well... because it couldn't talk. Which was nice. If only the real Katsuki learned to shut up every now and then.

It was your first time trying out the ability you'd just unlocked, and you felt a bit nervous. You already knew that you weren't exactly physically gifted, so you worried that this would end up being a total failure. If you didn't have what it took to become a hero, then the system definitely wasn't going to play nice.

No matter what, you had to make this work.

"Focus on my target," you mumbled. "I just need to focus... yeah. I can do this. I'm focusing, I'm waiting, and I-ah."

You could see them. All of a sudden, a few circles appeared on the Katsuki training dummy. They were like mini bullseye targets, glowing a bit so that it was easier for you to keep them in your sight. All you had to do was hit one of those, right? And then your ability would allow you to deal a ton of damage?

Pfft. I'm no athlete, but that's a piece of cake, even for me.

Foolishly, you allowed yourself to get overconfident.

So, when you swung at the Katsuki dummy and hit the wrong spot, it only made the whole thing that much more embarrassing.

["Well, now this is just awkward for the both of us."]

"Shut up!" you cried out. "My fingers just slipped a bit, that's all!"

You drew in a sharp breath, feeling hot in the face from embarrassment, then repositioned yourself and tried again.

This time, you actually hit where you were supposed to, and the Katsuki dummy was suddenly knocked back by a burst of pressure.

"Wow," you said, blinking repeatedly. "I don't think I've ever been able to knock it back that far before. So, that was a critical hit, right?"

["Yes. Granted, you don't deal very much damage yet because your natural strength and skill points are still very low, but the more you train, the more your power will scale. There's still a good amount of time until the U.A entrance exam, but you certainly can't afford to slack off. You're not talented enough to afford to do that."]

"Gee, thanks..."

["I'm just being realistic. You'll also realize that you can't use that ability very often as of yet. You'll start to feel increasingly tired the more times you land a critical hit. Over time, this will also improve. Adding skill points to your vitality is a good way to improve your stamina and overall durability, so that might be something worth considering. Anyways, for now, try using the ability some more. Let's see what your current limit is."]

It turned out that you reached your limit after only a few more hits, and you felt even more drained than whenever you ended up crafting an item. The Katsuki dummy was also starting to look pretty beat-up after how many times you'd whacked it thus far. Hopefully you could craft a new one at some point. You'd actually grown rather fond of it.

If nothing else, the daily tasks were a good way to force you to be disciplined, because you doubted you would've trained this hard otherwise. You really hoped that your efforts would start to pay off soon. Being a hero was no easy feat, and you would need to build up the strength and skill to give yourself a fighting chance.

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