A Penny Stumps a Hero

The moment the system notification fell silent, Peter felt an entirely different kind of power quietly being born within him.

Unlike the immense strength that came from his muscles and bones when the Lizard Serum transformed his body, this was a more internal, purer energy.

This energy seemed to be intimately connected to his mind and soul.

As he focused his thoughts, it slowly flowed through the meridians in his body, bringing a warm and soothing sensation everywhere it passed.

This was chakra!

The product of physical energy and spiritual energy combined!

Just as I guessed, my chakra reserves are astonishingly huge!

And this chakra isn't as useless as I thought. Even simply coating my fist in chakra can significantly increase its power.

I don't know how much chakra ordinary ninjutsu consumes, but with my current reserves, making a ball should be more than doable, right?

With that in mind, Peter immediately began trying to make a ball.

Every detail of Naruto forming the ball flashed through his mind at high speed.

Shape transformation, ultimate rotation, ultimate power!

To ensure the highest chance of success, he even chose the basic method of using both hands to form it.

He extended his right hand and opened his palm, trying to gather and compress the chakra within his body in his palm.

The fingers of his left hand swept rapidly around his right hand, injecting chaotic, high-speed rotating chakra into the chakra sphere!

Boom!

An explosion suddenly rang out.

The Rasengan in his hand instantly detonated due to an imbalance in proportions, whipping up a violent gust in the bedroom that rivaled a small typhoon.

Peter was sent flying as well, his muscular body crashing through the already old wardrobe behind him.

Holy shit!

Hearing hurried footsteps coming from downstairs with his enhanced hearing, Peter did not hesitate for even a moment. He immediately used the Horse Talisman's power and pressed his hand against the bedroom floor.

A flash of light went off, and the messy bedroom instantly returned to normal.

"Peter, are you all right?"

About ten seconds later, Ben's worried voice came through the bedroom door.

"I'm fine."

Peter calmly opened the door, even stepping aside so Ben could inspect him.

"I was exercising just now and accidentally bumped into the floor."

"Be careful, kid. Exercise needs to be gradual too."

Ben looked around, then gave Peter another look. Only after confirming that he did not appear injured did he finally leave in relief.

Only after Ben had left did Peter let out a long breath.

On his first attempt at using chakra, he had already basically formed the chakra sphere.

His chakra control was far stronger than Naruto's in the original story, when Naruto had been affected by the Nine-Tails.

And although it had only been his first attempt at using the Rasengan, he had already gained a basic understanding of rotational speed, output frequency, and form stability.

With his genius mind, he only needed a few more tests to calculate the approximate range of values needed to keep the Rasengan stable. Once he did, quickly mastering the Rasengan would no longer be a pipe dream!

This was far more efficient than blindly training like Naruto.

If the Naruto from the original story needed to train day and night for a week to master the Rasengan—

Then Peter would probably only need... half a day?

But he definitely could not practice the Rasengan tonight.

The noise from failed attempts was far too loud. If he did it a few more times, Ben and May would definitely become suspicious!

He would wait until after school tomorrow and find an empty place to practice.

As for now... he should think about something else first.

He first checked his system.

There were still five items left in the system, and he had 2,000 points in hand.

But Peter had no desire to spend any more.

The remaining items in the system, such as the Nichirin Sword and Kagune, either lacked supporting techniques or had extremely low potential. Their value for the cost was terribly limited.

Rather than spend sacrifice points, which were not easy to obtain, on such useless things, he might as well save them for next month's item refresh!

The most urgent problem is still the suit!

A suit that could conceal his identity and let him move easily was essential if he wanted to step into the night.

Peter picked up a pen and paper. With his extraordinary memory and a brain comparable to a supercomputer, he quickly sketched a suit unlike that of any Spider-Man on paper.

The inner layer was a skin-tight black-and-gold bodysuit. Over it went a hooded trench coat in the style of Assassin's Creed, while the mask was designed as a skull mask identical to Ichigo Kurosaki's.

The overall look was both agile and flowing, yet still stylish and cool. It was simply awesome!

I'd look absolutely badass wearing this out!

He could practically imagine how many fans and female admirers he would attract while dispensing justice in that outfit.

He would definitely be more popular than some little spider in a black-and-white ballet leotard. [side-eyeing grin]

But after deciding on the suit's style... Peter began to struggle.

He had the design, but where would he get the materials? What about the tools?

May did have an old sewing machine that could be put to use, but even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice.

Even if he emptied every pocket, his entire fortune did not amount to more than thirty dollars.

That little money probably could not even buy scraps from a single piece of specialty fiber.

Asking Ben and May for money?

The moment that thought arose, he immediately snuffed it out.

The two kind elders were both at the bottom of society, making a living through odd jobs.

They had already done everything they could just to scrape together his school expenses. How could he bear to add any further burden to them?

With that thought, Peter irritably flopped onto his small bed.

Strength, skill, god-tier items... he already possessed every quality needed to become a superhero.

Yet he was stuck at the utterly ridiculous step of raising funds for a suit.

How ironic was that?

Peter sat by the bed, quietly watching the brilliant lights of New York City outside the window.

Who knew how much unseen crime and darkness lay hidden beneath that prosperity?

After a long while.

The curve of his lips gradually turned cold and sharp.

If he wanted Ben and May to live good lives, then he definitely had to take the righteous path.

But... if it was only about earning the first bit of startup capital for his hero career, then perhaps he did not need to follow the rules so rigidly.

Extraordinary people did extraordinary things.

As an antihero, isn't it perfectly reasonable for me to raise funds through black-on-black crime?

The next morning.

When the first ray of sunlight shone into the room through a gap in the curtains, Peter had already opened his eyes.

He had no intention of staying in bed. The triple boost from the Lizard Serum, Horse Talisman, and chakra had left him brimming with energy.

It had even further fused his body with his newly acquired powers.

He could feel that his five senses, strength, speed, and even neural reactions had all improved slightly compared to yesterday.

The feeling of growing stronger every second was truly intoxicating.

After deliberately changing into looser clothes to make his physique less conspicuous, Peter confidently walked out of his room.

He chatted and laughed with Ben and May over breakfast, but what Peter was thinking was:

Today's goals: successfully master the Rasengan and... seize the first pot of gold needed to make my suit!