The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

"Since that's the case, I'll let you off this time! Could you please move aside? I need to go in."

The girl tossed her hair, the electric sparks in it dissipating, and spoke to Li Mu.

"Ah! Oh! Please!"

As he spoke, Li Mu quickly made way for the girl to pass, and then hurriedly walked out.

Seeing the real Misaka Mikoto, he confirmed once again that he had indeed transmigrated, and that he had transmigrated to the same dangerous world of A Certain Magical Index as the original work!

Li Mu's mind is in turmoil; he's both happy and unhappy.

Arriving in the Academy City of my dreams is of course a joy, and the thought of meeting all my favorite characters from the original work is exhilarating! But...

He refused to admit that he had transmigrated, simply because he knew from the moment he regained his memories that the boy named Inoue Hideka was a complete level 0!

In other words, they are powerless and have no special abilities whatsoever!

so......

How could this be time travel?! How could someone who's traveled to Academy City be a powerless being?!

This doesn't make sense!

What happened to the promised benefits?!

Where's the promised cheat code?!

Where's the system you were promised?!

Li Mu looked up at the sky and sighed. Standing on the streets of Academy City, he felt as if he had been abandoned by the world.

Academy City is so dangerous, so incredibly dangerous!

Without any skills or cheat codes, let alone picking up girls, just surviving as a level 0 is a problem!

No wonder this boy went to work!

And now he has squandered this hard-won source of income!

At the same time, I also lost a week's wages!

"Ugh!"

Li Mu sighed deeply, feeling as if life had suddenly lost its color. Dragging his weary body, he walked listlessly toward his dormitory.

Chapter Two: Crisis!

Academy City is a metropolis occupying one-third of western Tokyo, with a population of 2.3 million, of whom over 80% (1.8 million) are students representing the scientific community. It possesses the world's most advanced technology and is generally considered to be about 30 years ahead of the rest of the world.

It was created by the overarching chairman, Aleister Crowley, over a period of 50 years, and is fully managed by the "Overall Council." Because most of its technology and research are highly confidential, Academy City has a very strict security system with strict restrictions on personnel entry and exit.

Academy City is a vast collection of educational institutions comprised of twenty-three school districts that offer specialized educational programs designed to discover superpowers, primarily recruiting students from outside the city.

In addition to educational institutions, there are also research facilities for students, production and commercial facilities, international exhibition halls, international airports, and other living facilities needed for living in the city.

Most of the students here live in school dormitories and receive ability development at various schools, mostly acquiring superpowers through drugs, hypnosis, and electrical stimulation.

有各种类型不同能力，以范围和威力分为无能力者（Level0）、低能力者（Level1）、异能力者（Level2）、强能力者（Level3）、大能力者（Level4）、超能力者（Level5）、绝对能力者（Level6）。

In reality, Level 6 is only theoretically possible for absolute power users; no student has actually succeeded in evolving to Level 6. They undergo physical examinations and are reassessed periodically, but 60% of the students are powerless, and there are only seven Level 6 espers in Academy City.

No.1 One-Way Accelerator: One-Way Vector Operations

No. 2 Dark Matter: Kakine Teitoku's existence does not lead to the generation of matter.

No.3 Railgun Misaka Mikoto, the Electromaster

No. 4 Atomic Collapse Melt Downer, Mugino Shizuri Pelletizer Wave-shaped High-Speed ​​Cannon

No. 5 Mental Out: Multiple mental abilities of Misaki Shokuhou.

No. 6 Title: Unknown; Blue Flower Joy Ability: Unknown

No.7 Telekinetic Artillery Attack Crash - Plate-Cutting Military Overlord Telekinetic Power

Li Mu... No, Inoue Eika lay on the bed, her brows furrowed. Ideals were beautiful, but reality was cruel.

As an anime otaku, in my past life—let's call it a past life—my favorite anime character was Misaka Mikoto.

They possess high self-esteem, are competitive and unwilling to admit defeat, and have absolute confidence in their abilities.

They have a decisive and independent personality, prefer to solve problems on their own, and resolutely refuse to involve others.

Gentle yet strong and resilient, proud and awkward yet sincere, capable yet retaining a childlike spirit.

I can't quite put my finger on why I like her; I guess I like everything about her, both her strengths and weaknesses.

However, that's just a fondness for the two-dimensional world. When the two-dimensional world becomes three-dimensional, the feeling is absolutely different.

Especially when thinking about how I, a level 0 with the lowest level of ability users, stand at the top of 2.3 million students like a god, I feel that the distance between us is even greater than that between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds.

Although I know that given her personality, she would never look down on someone like me, a level 0, I also know that we would never have any connection.

Unlike Touma Kamijou, who is also a Level 0, the existence of Imagine Breaker means that Touma Kamijou cannot live an ordinary life like a normal person.

Later on, it was Misaka Mikoto, who was like a god to him, who was chasing after Kamijou Touma.

Sigh! Anyway, she has her own hero, and she doesn't need someone like me with no abilities to save her. This world is no longer the two-dimensional world, so I'll just bury my feelings for you in the two-dimensional world deep in my heart.

Thinking this, Inoue Hideka got up and began searching through all the cash, passbooks, and bank cards in her house to assess her current financial situation.

Putting aside personal feelings, the most important crisis right now is actually the issue of survival.

According to the body's memories, the parents died in an accident a year ago. After losing their source of income, the body has been making a living by doing odd jobs, which is not too bad.

I'm just exhausted and haggard from all the odd jobs I do every day.

Inoue Hideka couldn't help but think maliciously, "Could it be that the original owner of this body died from overwork?"

He still doesn't understand why he time-traveled.

I had spent the whole day looking for work, and as usual, I fell asleep exhausted. When I woke up, I found myself here inexplicably.

Could it be that the two, both exhausted, resonated with each other and swapped bodies? Then, did the original owner of this body travel to their own world?

If so, you're probably just as bewildered as you were on the first day. You might miss out on that hard-won interview opportunity.

Well! Let's not think about those things anymore. Since we're here, let's just make the best of it.

Adding up all the available funds, the total is 66600 yen.

666? That's a really weird number. You'd expect such a lucky number to bring you good fortune, right? But looking at it now, it's definitely not lucky at all. Inoue Hideka is beyond exasperated.

Hmm... 66600 yen, which is about 4000 Chinese yuan.

In my past life, this amount of money would have been enough to live in a small city for two months, but considering the prices in Academy City...

Besides, Inoue Hideka is currently in the growth stage, and as the saying goes, a half-grown boy can eat his father's bread!

It's questionable whether this money will even last a month!

This can't go on! I need to find a way to make money. I should go back to working, like before...

No, no! I don't want to experience that kind of devilish work that might exhaust me to the point of time travel or even kill me.

We also need to strengthen our physical training regularly, so that we can at least have the ability to protect ourselves.

However, don't misunderstand, Inoue Hideka doesn't intend to protect herself in this world where A Certain Magical Index and Railgun are full of saints and angels.

He wasn't that brainless, nor would he provoke those who saw him as an ant for no reason.

They were indeed ants.

Inoue Eika was simply trying to save her life from the omnipresent delinquents in Academy City.

He's a time traveler, after all. Wouldn't it be too frustrating to die at the hands of scoundrels?

And also, that guy Aleister, we absolutely cannot overlook him.

The airborne traverses are spread throughout every corner of Academy City, constantly monitoring the city and knowing everything that happens there.

As expected of the founder of Academy City, he truly dotes on his children!

You mustn't do anything unusual to attract his attention!

Otherwise, they wouldn't even know how they died.

Although he couldn't possibly notice someone as insignificant as himself—no! Strictly speaking, not even an insignificant person!

But it's always better to be cautious!

The more I thought about these questions, the more hopeless my future seemed. Was I the most unlucky and useless time traveler in history?

Inoue Hideka couldn't help but want to imitate Kamijou Touma, so she put her right hand to her forehead and sighed deeply.

"What a misfortune~~~"

Chapter Three: My Life is About to Rise!

Damn it! How are we supposed to resolve this situation?!

There are quite a few places in Academy City suitable for students to work part-time, but most of them are restaurants, clothing stores, jewelry stores, and the like.

Otherwise, you could accept a commission from the research institute and hand over your body to them, letting them ruthlessly abuse you like a guinea pig... Ah, no, you could also get a substantial subsidy for conducting proper research.

As a level 0, even if Inoue Eika approached those research institutes, she would be met with disdain and driven away.

Forget about subsidies, even if they were to take pity and conduct a study, it would probably just be used as a substitute and destroyed, right?

Consider the plight of those children, especially those from the Ezuki family. If it weren't for Kiyama Harumi's unwavering support... their ultimate fate would have been self-evident.

I'm definitely not going to restaurants again, and as for clothing stores and jewelry stores, it seems most of the sales staff are young women.

I'm a grown man (or maybe a little man? No, that's not quite right either).

Sigh! Should I really start my own business?

Inoue Hideka pulled hard on her hair in distress. That's it, Traditional Chinese Medicine!

Thinking that I studied traditional Chinese medicine, I realized that this knowledge could come in handy.

Although Academy City is teeming with espers, they are ultimately just ordinary people, and ordinary people are subject to birth, aging, illness, and death.

But the problem came again.

I don't have the start-up capital to open a clinic or pharmacy!

Moreover, I am only thirteen years old. Putting aside whether they believe I can treat patients, the key question is what if I am convicted of practicing medicine without a license?