Akiyama Ren was never destined for great things. He was born the son of plumber without any ties to any great historical clans of old nor multinational conglomerates of today. His mother, on the other hand, was an English teacher who traveled to Japan from abroad after college, never really getting off her feet. They had neither shame nor glory to go around. Just two people trying to make ends meet. After a chance meeting at a local bar, they had each other, and after a few years, they had a family, and that was all they ever needed.

All Ren would inherit from them was his father’s love for manual labor. He said he would die before letting his son be some pencil-necked softie who couldn’t use a toolbox. At an early age, he would take the boy around the house, teaching him how to fix anything from a leaky faucet, unclogging a drain, changing light bulbs and other kinds of maintenance around the house.

Unfortunately, by the age of three, their son would begin growing horribly sick. At first, they thought he was choking on some food, but a trip to the ER would reveal that this was a side-effect of his Quirk manifesting. He doesn’t remember it, but his family says he was there for a full week as the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him. He almost died, they said. His lungs were fine, but somehow, his body was barely intaking enough oxygen to keep him alive and despite his blood work being within normal ranges, he was suffering from a severe case of Iron Deficiency Anemia. It turned out his body needed more iron to function properly. A lot more iron. Thankfully, the doctors caught it early, prescribing a supplement. Two pills a day, for the rest of his life, and it was by no means a cheap lifeline.

A year later, the second half of his Quirk would manifest, and with it, another wave of medical bills would hit the Akiyama family. Unlike last time, though, the boy would never forget this one. He was playing around with his father in the park, when at one point, he felt a sharp pain coming out of the palm of his hand. The next thing he knew, blood was everywhere, and not just his own. When he looked down, he saw two of his father’s fingers, rolling in the grass. The moment burned itself into his memory, the smell of blood in the air, the ear-piercing scream of terror, his dad doubling over with crimson buckets spurting out of his hand.

They were able to save the digits, but the injury sidelined his father for months, which eventually led to him being let go from his job. Unfortunately, that was the least of the family’s problems. Replantation surgery was far from cheap, and for an uninsured plumber like Ren’s father, it was a debt he would not be able to pay. The family would have to move back with the boy’s grandparents. The place was cramped, five people living in a space meant for two. Worse than that were all the arguments he managed to overhear through the paper-thin walls. The Akiyama family was going through Hard Times, and Ren couldn’t help but blame himself for it.

Still, the experience, unpleasant and scarring as it was, managed to open his eyes to the kind of person he wanted to be. The way those doctors managed to save a sickly little kid like him, the way they managed to save his dad’s hand. He couldn’t help but admire them. At the time, he couldn’t understand that they were just doing their jobs, much less the price that came with that life-saving aid. All he could see was these good people, working day and night to try to save lives. He wanted to be like them. To make a positive impact on the world.

At first, he wanted to be a doctor. It made his family so happy to hear that, but as he worked his way through Elementary, Grade and Middle School, it became clear how out of reach the goal was. Simply put, he just didn’t have it in him. Biology might as well have been taught in Korean, as far as he was concerned, because he couldn’t understand a word of it. Eventually, he realized he had to find some other way to make a difference in the world.

That’s how he turned to Heroics. It was the perfect compromise. A profession tailor-made for helping people out. Not only that, but with the practical entrance exam, even someone like him had a shot of making it. He just needed to train, and that's exactly what he did.

Throughout all of High School, Akiyama Ren would train like his life would depend on it. And so, day after day, Ren honed his skills. Day after day, he swung his sword a hundred, then a thousand, then ten thousand times. Day after day, he trained his body, forcing it to endure an ungodly amount of pain in the futile hope he could get to the level of a U.A. Hero Student. Day after day, he pushed his Quirk beyond its limits, his body reaching following one breaking point with another as he tried to create more swords, to will himself to be more than what he knew himself to be. Day after day, he lived and breathed that Plus Ultra motto, perhaps more than anyone else in that school’s history.

And it wasn’t enough.

When the time came, Ren took the U.A. Entrance exam. He failed. He wasn’t good enough to be a Hero. Not only that, but with mediocre booksmarts, he wasn’t able to get into any university, much less the one he wanted. He had to accept it. He would never amount to anything, he would never make a difference. It was a hard pill to swallow for him.

Before long, he managed to pick up a minimum wage job in construction, thanks to a contact his father had. It wasn’t much. Subcontracted work, barely above minimum wage, but it was better than nothing, and it would allow him to hone his hobby of blacksmithing. However, no matter how much time passed, he could never take his mind off it. He was a failure. Too sloppy to control his own Quirk, too stupid to get into med school, and too weak to get into Heroics.

Those feelings of inadequacy kept bubbling up inside of him until one fateful night, where, as he was coming back from work, he heard the sounds of a gun echoing in a nearby alley. Without thinking, he conjured an armor before charging in head-first, and from there, the rest was history.

-A few swords, decorative and otherwise.

- One set of armor.

- Blacksmith tools

- Climbing equipment.

- Bow and arrow.

- Bicycle.

[attr="class","ability"]

[attr="class","ability-content"]

[attr="class","ability-header"]

[attr="class","ability-name"] LIVING FORGE

[attr="class","ability-rank"]Emmiter/Mutation- C-

[attr="class","ability-desc"]

Living Forge is a Mutation and Emission-type Quirk that allows the user to create metallic constructs through the iron in their blood. According to medical records, the user presents with abnormally high amounts of iron coursing through their blood, most likely the result of a Mutation. Using the Emitter part of this Quirk, Ren can manipulate this metal inside his body into various items like locks, chains, wires, and yes, weapons. The constructs pierce through his skin, damaging him in the process.

Daggers, greatswords, maces, flails, bows, arrows, spears and shields alike. Ren can produce any weapon, like well, a living forge. Their strength and durability is determined by the Quirk’s rank. Ren can also use this Quirk to create individual pieces of armor to help him guard against incoming attacks. An important note is that Ren can only create weapons and equipment from steel, meaning he cannot create massively complex pieces of support gear or firearms, as those have other materials they need to work.

Narratively, he can use this Quirk to enhance various skills, such as using climbing spikes to stick his feet to walls or using iron arrows to enhance his archery. Mechanically, it provides no benefit to either of these skills. As a bit of flavor, the Quirk can be used to create various miscellaneous tools that don’t affect combat. Finally, the mutation aspect of the Quirk allows the user to resist certain types of heavy metal poisoning, as their body has adapted to living with the exorbitant amounts of iron needed to create all of those weapons.

The main drawback of the Quirk is obvious. The weapons come from inside Ren’s body, piercing through the skin. Now, you don’t need to be a doctor to know that having a sword being lodged into your body is bad for your health. Turns out routinely having sharp metal objects violently coming out of you isn’t that much better, either.

Ren’s control of the Quirk allows him to avoid damaging any bones or internal organs, however, every time he uses this power, his body takes damage proportional to the size of the construct he’s trying to make. Simply put, a bigger weapon means a bigger cut on his skin.

Narratively, continued use drains him of the necessary amounts of that substance from his body. Should he exert himself too much, he will begin exhibiting the symptoms associated with iron deficiency. No iron means no hemoglobin. No hemoglobin means the body can’t carry the oxygen to where it needs it. The result? Shortness of breath and exhaustion. If left untreated, it could even kill him.

The dramatically increased amounts of iron in his body come with their own sets of disadvantages, too. For one, it makes any attempt to fight anyone with magnetic or metallokinetic abilities a futile and painful endeavor. It would be exceedingly easy for anyone with those powers to simply rip the iron out from his body. Not only that, but it also means he takes extra damage from attacks using electricity, as the increased conductivity of his metallic blood makes him more susceptible to those types of attacks.

Narratively, the Quirk also requires the user to drastically increase their iron intake, to the point where even dietary alterations cannot cover it. Twice a day, Ren has to take medical supplements that help him maintain the levels of iron in his body. Should he not take them, he would be unable to create larger constructs and he would begin feeling anemic. If he can’t get access to these supplements for longer than a week, his body will begin