Buying My Way Through the Multiverse

Now that Gray knew exactly what world he was in, he flew back into the dense woods and searched the mountain range for a secluded spot. Finding a solid rock wall, he raised his hand and fired a precise, controlled Ki blast. The energy vaporized the stone instantly, creating a clean cave for him to stay in for a few days if needed.

Inside the shelter of the cave, he opened his system interface to place down a few automated plots of land from his max-level Home Garden. He chose to start with just two plots for now.

Plot 1 was dedicated to generating food products to keep himself fed.

Plot 2 was set to harvest valuable metals, specifically generating a steady supply of gold, silver, and platinum.

He planned to use these metals as raw currency. He needed to track down Giran, the notorious underworld information broker that Shigaraki and the League of Villains eventually used to recruit their fighters. To do that safely, Gray needed hard cash that couldn’t be traced by the government.

He also needed to figure out the exact timeline. Meeting Hawks provided a massive clue... the hero looked completely healthy and didn’t have a single scar or burn mark on his face, meaning the story was still very early in the timeline. The USJ attack might not have even happened yet, or it was just around the corner.

While his automated plots began growing the materials he needed, Gray walked to the mouth of the cave and kept a lookout. He knew the My Hero Academia world was highly advanced technologically compared to the post-apocalyptic settings he was used to. The Hero Public Safety Commission or local authorities could easily try tracking his high-speed flight trajectory using military satellites. He stood in the shadows of the cave, keeping his senses sharp and fully prepared for any threat or squad that tried to ambush his position.

Once the crops and metals were ready for harvest, Gray willed them into his inventory and immediately planted another batch. This time, he set the first plot to generate fresh tree meats and fish, while allocating the second plot to grow a healthy variety of fruits and vegetables.

Now that he had solid, high-value currency to work with, he stepped out of the hidden mountain cave. He launched into the air at his top speed, blurring across the sky so fast that he arrived in Musutafu in the blink of an eye. He dropped down into a secluded alleyway out of sight and stepped onto the public streets to get a layout of the land.

To figure out the exact timeline, Gray started navigating his way directly toward Takoba Municipal Beach Park. He knew that if the beach was still completely buried under mountains of illegal garbage and rusty appliances, it would mean he was extremely early in the timeline, perhaps early enough to find Izuku Midoriya and All Might sweating through their daily cleaning routine.

Following his system map, he walked casually through the city blocks, taking in the sights of a modern quirk society. He was incredibly glad he had permanently upgraded his map before his rebirth. As he walked, he kept his eyes peeled for any dark alleyways or sketchy backstreets, hoping to stumble across some petty villains or low-level thugs. He planned to interrogate them to see if they had a contact line for Giran. If they knew the broker, he was fully prepared to pay them a hefty sum in pure gold or silver for the information... if they didn’t know anything, he would simply beat them into the dirt and move on.

Surprisingly, after roaming around the city streets for a solid hour, he didn’t encounter a single criminal or back-alley mugger. Musutafu’s local hero patrols seemed to keep the daytime crime rate practically at zero.

Eventually, Gray rounded the final coastal street and made it to the beach. He stopped in his tracks, staring out at the ocean. The entire coastline was completely pristine, sparkling, and entirely devoid of trash.

The realization hit him immediately. If the beach was perfectly clean, it meant Deku had already finished his ten-month training, inherited One For All, and successfully taken the UA Entrance Exam. The major question remaining now was just how far along Midoriya and Class 1-A currently were in the school year...

Gray started making his way toward UA High School, planning to check if the students had already started their first term. On the way there, he stopped a few people on the street to pull some information out of them.

First, he approached a man with a transformation quirk that made his skin a vibrant green color. Gray didn’t mind the unusual look at all and simply asked him, "Excuse me, do you happen to know how long ago UA hosted their entrance exams for this year?"

The green-skinned man looked a bit surprised by the straightforward question but shrugged and answered politely. "Oh, the entrance exams? Those were wrapped up about two weeks ago. Regular classes for the new high schoolers don’t actually start for another month or so."

Gray nodded, keeping his face neutral. "I see. Thank you for your time."

Now that he had a crystal-clear timeline, Gray let out a massive sigh of relief as he walked away. He wasn’t too late at all. In fact, he had arrived right in the calm before the storm. The main plot of the anime hadn’t even officially kicked off yet.

He quickly began calculating his next steps. He needed to find Giran as soon as possible so the broker could track down the hidden Shie Hassaikai compound. At the same time, he could use Giran’s underworld connections to forge some high-quality fake papers and a legal identity... he definitely didn’t want to keep running around Japan without any sort of ID or registry.

Beyond saving Eri, Gray’s mind started wandering to the future events of the series. He wanted to track down certain villains who met a tragic end in the original story to see if he could alter their paths. On the flip side, he also planned on saving some of the pro heroes who were destined to die in the upcoming months. And finally, there was one specific thing he was genuinely excited about...he really wanted to see the Rabbit Hero, Mirko, in person... strictly for research purposes, of course.

Gray continued walking until he made it right outside the perimeter of UA High School. He stood staring up at the massive, futuristic glass buildings and the sprawling campus grounds. He knew the academy was huge from watching the anime, but seeing the architecture in person seriously didn’t do it justice. He also recalled that Principal Nezu held massive government connections that could easily solve his identity paperwork issues if he chose to cooperate with the school later. But for now, since he was just a complete stranger to everyone in this world, Gray turned around and walked away.

He spent the rest of his afternoon and evening exploring the city blocks and nearby commercial neighborhoods, mapping out the streets. At exactly 8:00 PM, he opened the system interface and bought the next upgrade.

[New Upgrade]

(10 Gold) 2 Gold/Hour

[New Hourly Rate]

3 Gold/Hour

He knew that his .10x rebirth multiplier wouldn’t actually kick into effect until he started generating at least 10 Gold per hour. The system didn’t like dealing with loose decimals and strictly rounded down to give him the full, flat amount. Gray didn’t mind the minor limitation at all. He simply smiled, closed the menu, and began walking towards the city. He knew from his past experience that it wouldn’t be long before he escalated his upgrades and started making billions of Gold every hour all over again.

Gray walked back toward the city center to hunt for street-level villains or sketchy characters who could give him underworld information. Since it was barely 8:00 PM, he knew he had to wait a few more hours before the lowlifes actually started creeping out into the back alleys.

After about three more hours of waiting, his patience paid off. He spotted a group of five sketchy-looking guys loitering deep inside a dark alley. As Gray casually walked into their territory, the thugs immediately snapped their attention to him.

"Back off, kid!" one of them barked, flaring a Quirk that made his hands glow. "Get any closer, and we’ll beat you within an inch of your life!"

The others pulled out pocket knives and a rusty crowbar, brandishing them to intimidate him. Gray didn’t mind the weapons at all. He kept walking until he was standing right within striking distance.

"Do any of you know an information broker named Giran?" Gray asked.

The thugs looked at each other for a second before bursting into loud laughter. "What makes you think we’d tell a nobody like you anything?" the leader sneered.

One of the bigger jocks stepped up, boldly throwing his arm around Gray’s neck in a mock embrace. "How about you leave your wallet and everything else of value right here on the pavement before you find yourself dying in a ditch, huh?"

"So you guys don’t know anything?" Gray asked, effortlessly removing the heavy arm from around his neck. He let out a small sigh. "That’s a shame. I wish I had my Sin Vision to check if you’re worth getting rid of permanently, but since you’re openly mugging people, I will simply take your wallets instead."

Before the thugs could even process what he said, Gray moved faster than their eyes could track. He delivered a series of incredibly light, precise taps right to their stomachs. Even at a fraction of his strength, the kinetic impact forced the air completely out of their lungs, making all five thugs instantly collapse onto the ground.

Gray methodically stripped them of their wallets, pulled out all the cash they had, and left them groaning and gasping for air on the damp asphalt.

He spent the rest of his night running the exact same routine across the city’s alleys. He cleared out alley after alley, but by 4:00 AM, the nightlife completely died down. He couldn’t find a single thug left to interrogate, no matter how much he searched.

Accepting that he wouldn’t find Giran through low-tier street muggers, Gray went straight back to his hidden mountain cave. Since his next automated gold generation upgrade was just around the corner, he decided to pass the time productively. He used more controlled ki blasts to hollow out and expand the cave’s interior space, placing down two more automated plots from his Home Garden.

His Saiyan stomach was roaring with hunger by this point. He walked out into the woods, gathered a large stack of firewood, and brought it back inside to start a campfire. He pulled a massive amount of fresh tree meat from his inventory to cook over the flames. To make it taste right, he made his Home Garden grow a few salt rocks, crushing the minerals over the meat as seasoning before digging into his massive feast.

Two hours later, Gray checked his system interface and bought the next upgrade.

[New Upgrade]

(30 Gold) 5 Gold/Hour

[New Hourly Rate]

8 Gold/Hour

He did some quick math and noticed that the next upgrade would be available in exactly 7 hours. Looking through his loot from the night before, he found he had almost 100,000 Yen in crisp bills to use for city shopping.

He planned to head down into the city the second the sun was fully up to buy proper cookware, a portable stove, and a massive variety of spices. The tree-meat meal he just finished didn’t taste right at all... since his Rebirth had stripped away Joichiro Saiba’s legendary cooking skills, his palate was suffering, and he wanted to get some actual seasonings beyond just salt.

As he sat by the fire, his thoughts wandered back to the My Hero Academia plot. Thanks to his fully unlocked Training Dimension and the massive roster of legendary masters stored in its database, he realized he could technically be the best teacher this world had ever seen. He started imagining how absurdly powerful the future generation of heroes could become under his guidance. Shoto Todoroki could study fire and ice manipulation under Portgas D. Ace and Admiral Aokiji. Izuku Midoriya could learn physical conditioning and hand-to-hand combat under Master Roshi, Monkey D. Garp, and Black Arm Zephyr.

Gray began brainstorming exactly how he wanted to alter the timeline. He was already actively tracking down Overhaul, knowing firsthand how devastatingly dangerous the Shie Hassaikai leader’s fusion and deconstruction abilities were since Gray had literally used the exact same Overhaul quirk throughout his first run in the Walking Dead world.

But for his next major steps, he wanted to make sure the future heroes actually had a real, fighting chance against the upcoming wars. He made up his mind. Gray would locate the Shie Hassaikai compound, completely eliminate Overhaul to rescue Eri, and then walk straight into UA High School to offer his elite training services directly to Principal Nezu. If the hyper-intelligent principal failed to see just how much Gray could help the students grow, then Gray would simply shrug and train the kids his own way from the shadows.