History Fanfic / RiskItAll

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: Ren learns that a 24-hour diner is a front for the Snake-Flower Triads, making it a target for Black Mask's mafia. But it also means that there are ordinary people inside, springing Ren into action before Black Mask can light the place up with bullets.

* BlindingBangs: Due to being in a coma for six months, Ren's hair has grown to the point that it drapes over his eyes. He keeps it out of his face with a hairclip, but he complains about how inconvenient it is and intends to get it cut as soon as he can.

''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/risk-it-all-young-justice-gamer.922364/ Risk it All]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' fanfic written by Ideas-Guy. It follows [[OriginalCharacter Ren]] as he explores his new [[RPGMechanicsVerse gamer-like]] superpowers, gambling his livelihood, reputation, and life against the forces conspiring against him.

* SerialEscalation: According to the author, the variety and general effectiveness of Ren's new skills will go up as his fame grows. Ren might go from SupernaturalMartialArts to more impressive abilities like [[BlowYouAway airbending]]. In addition, Ren can invest prestige points into skills that he already has to make them more useful.

* FateWorseThanDeath: Discussed. Ren avoids using Soul-Crushing Strike on anything but people's arms. He didn't want to test the limits of Thou Shalt Not Kill, and he considers being a vegetable a fate worse than just killing them. The skill's description even lampshades this, saying that Ren's opponents won't be able to die even if they want to. * {{Foreshadowing}}: After the second attempt on Ren's life, his parents go from hovering at his bedside to letting him go out on walks unsupervised following his return from the hospital. He finds it baffling how unconcerned they seem to be about the threat of one of the biggest mobsters in town, especially after said mobster tried to kill him twice. [[spoiler:This is because Ren's father has his own superpowers, and he's implied to have ripped off Black Mask's hand in retribution for nearly killing Ren.]]

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: According to the author [[spoiler:the clan of qi cultivators Ren's father belonged to were once powerful enough to reshape the world map. But after driving all of the spiritual beasts and medicines to extinction in their ceaseless pursuit of power, their power has diminished considerably by the present day, though Ren's uncle is still able to accomplish feats of SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, and seeming teleportation.]]

* {{Ninja}}: Black Mask accuses the Triads of sending a "ninja fucker" after him and his men, mistaking Ren for one of the Triads. But he also says the same guy [[spoiler:tore off his hand]] a month ago, which piques Ren's interest as [[spoiler:his uncle had just informed him that his father has the same qi powers as him]].
* NothingButSkinAndBones: A six-month coma leaves Ren so emaciated and weak that he has to relearn how to walk and stand. Luckily, his ability helps him build muscle quickly by dumping his prestige points into strength, letting him recover and return home within a month of waking up.

* RedHerring: There are multiple hints that Ren's mysterious uncle is a member of the Triads, given how unusually wealthy he is to easily pay for Ren's six-month stay in intensive care, the Triads' unusual cooperativeness toward him, and his parents' unwillingness to talk about him. This is all window dressing for the real reveal that [[spoiler:Ren's father descends from a line of superhuman qi cultivators. Any theories of Triad connections go kaput.]]

* AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength: After seeing how easily Soul-Crushing Strike can break a man's arm, Ren is terrified of doing anything worse to someone. That's what he keeps Thou Shalt Not Kill, lest he accidentally kill someone by mistake.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Black Mask lost his hand and had it replaced with a robotic pincher some time between the time Ren got shot and their next confrontation. Black Mask accuses the Triads of sending the man who ripped off his hand, which the Triad leader Mao denies. Though given the reveals dropped by Ren's uncle, it's possible that Ren's father ripped off Black Mask's hand as retribution for nearly killing Ren, explaining his nonchalance to Black Mask's activities.]]
* AntiquatedLinguistics: [[spoiler:To reflect how Ren's uncle is a member of a cabal of qi cultivators, he speaks with a level of flowery formality in contrast to the plain speech of Ren and his father, who left the clan even under threat of death.]]
* ArchEnemy: After Black Mask's two attempts on Ren's life, Ren makes it his mission to stop Black Mask to prevent him from hurting his parents or anyone else in the process of getting to him.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Soul-Crushing Strike is guaranteed to smash bone is such a way that it will never heal properly. It can't be blocked properly through martial arts and is delivered with a simple punch. Ren only ever uses it to incapacitate mobsters who don't think twice about murdering others. Even then, he purposefully avoids hitting the legs, chest, and head to avoid turning them into vegetables or preventing them from walking.
* BatterUp: After learning Reinforcement before heading out to take on Black Mask, Ren arms himself with his old Little League baseball bat for some extra reach, using his powers to prevent it from denting as well as making it hit harder.

* BookDumb: Although his grades are middle-of-the-pack at best, Ren demonstrates a keen understanding of probability and statistics, quickly crunching the numbers to weigh the risk vs. reward in casino games as well as the randomness of the skills and powers he gains. He's also knowledgeable of common gambling games and machines, not bothering to make a bet on a crane game because of how badly they're rigged.
* BoringButPractical: Driving and Multilingual are this. Ren notes that they're basically useless in a straight fight, but they're both helpful life skills that he might need down the line.
* BornUnlucky: Ren has always had poor luck. Between growing up in Gotham, getting shot by Black Mask, his repeated humiliating bouts of NotWhatItLooksLike tarnishing his reputation, it's hard to argue with him. As if to emphasize the point, his base Luck stat is a piddling 2. But at the same time, he's thankful for having "all the luck in the world" for surviving two gunshot wounds to the head, and he starts investing his prestige points in Luck to do away with this trope. [[spoiler:Even after giving himself double the luck of the average person, Ren still runs into Batman after giving Black Mask a FateWorseThanDeath.]]
-->'''Ren:''' I always had rotten luck. If anything could go wrong around me, then it would. That was just a fact of life -- water was wet, fire was hot, and I had shit luck.

* ButHeSoundsHandsome: After his super identity becomes known as "the Breaker" on the internet, Ren feels the need to defend himself to his dad, who had referred to him as a "dangerous metahuman". Try as he might, Ren can't really say anything good about leaving several men with crippling injuries.
* ButNotTooForeign: Ren is a Chinese-American who admits to being only half-Chinese, which has him worried when he runs into members of the Triad who may not appreciate his "impure blood". He also has blue eyes because of this, so he wears colored contacts to make them look more like a typical dark brown to hide his identity while acting as a vigilante.

* CastFromStamina: Ren's powers seem to be taken from his own energy reserves. Using FlashStep and Soul-Crushing Strike in rapid succession over the course of a 40-second firefight leaves him winded and gasping for air despite not taking any hits. To offset this, he starts investing a good number of points in Endurance, making it his highest stat when he confronts both the mafia and the Triads at a 24-hour diner.
* ClarkKenting: Inverted. Ren is by his own admission a nobody, but he goes the extra mile to disguise himself as a vigilante, hiding his hair InTheHood, wearing a face mask, and putting on contacts to change the color of his eyes. He also wears baggy clothes to avoid drawing attention to his rapid recovery from his six-month coma. Despite all this, [[spoiler:his uncle, a man he's never met, deduces his identity fairly easily.]]
* ClarkKentOutfit: Ren mentions that he's going to need baggier clothes after gaining 20 pounds of muscle overnight from raising his Strength stat from 20 to 50 in one go.
* ClassicalAntiHero: Ren starts the story as a nebbish guy with no friends and no money. He's not particularly confident in himself and agonizes over his own mistakes. He isn't especially brave even with his powers, but his desire to help [[CowardlyLion overcomes his fear of being hurt.]]
* CivvieSpandex: Ren wears a skintight bodysuit with armor plating beneath a hooded vest and cargo shorts while going out to investigate Black Mask. This is largely out of necessity, as wearing body armor under his clothes would be suspicious and wearing pants and a jacket over it would be hot and cumbersome. Meanwhile, going out in just the spandex body armor would make him conspicuous to the mobsters he's trying to stop.
* CombatPragmatist: Ren takes a page from Batman's book in his approach to superhero work, ending fights quickly and abruptly to minimize potential collateral damage and loss of life. This means {{Speed Blitz}}ing people with his FlashStep and taking them out of the fight instantly with Soul-Crushing Strike. When it comes time to take on Black Mask himself, Ren doesn't barge in the front door, instead dropping flashbang grenades from the ceiling and taking out as many people as he can while they're half-blind.
* ComboPlatterPowers: The powers that Ren gets from his gamer power are random, resulting in him getting a strange hodgepodge of skills like SupernaturalMartialArts, becoming a BadassDriver, a DoubleJump, or the abilty to FlashStep. To add to the randomness, his powers are largely derived from other series like ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' and ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''.
* ConvenientComa: Rather than dying from getting two bullets to the head, Ren merely falls into a coma and wakes up with his gamer superpowers six months later, albeit, not before having to undergo physical therapy to regain his lost muscle tone.
* CowardlyLion: While Ren has been in his fair share of scuffles before, he's initially terrified of entering real firefights, to the point that the sight of a gun is enough to stop him in his tracks. Superpowers or not, he's no Superman and he certainly isn't ImmuneToBullets. Despite this, his desire to change his own life and protect others wins out, and he soon throws himself into the thick of it to disrupt Black Mask's plans. He then proves himself surprisingly capable and crafty with his new powers and does surprisingly well against armed mobsters despite his own fear of getting shot again.
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:Ren's father burned bridges when he decided to abandon his clan to leave for the U.S. with Ren's mother. So much so that Ren's uncle says that Ren's father would be killed if he ever returned to China. Simply making contact with him is a huge risk for Ren's uncle.]]
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Ren's desire to stop Black Mask and dismantle his operations to protect himself, his family, and others is noble, but it's blatantly clear that he doesn't think through everything. He freezes up when he sees a gun again, becomes a HeroWithBadPublicity due to lacking awareness of his surroundings during his fights, and gets mistaken for a Triad, reigniting the MobWar in the process.

* TheDon: Black Mask is the leader of a major organized crime syndicate in Gotham and is moving into Chinatown while trying to displace the Triads. But aside from the expanse and power of his empire, he doesn't display any of the typical traits of this trope, namely the faux sense of honor and morality designed to elevate him above your average thug.

* DumpStat: Due to the raw power of Soul-Crushing Strike, Strength becomes Ren's dump stat as he prioritizes his other stats to make up for his shortcomings, though he still invests enough to reach the peak of athleticism for someone his age.

* FaceOfAThug: Ren is a PerpetualFrowner whose face makes him look old enough to pass for an adult despite being only sixteen. Despite this, he's a well-meaning kid who loves his parents and tries to stop Black Mask to prevent him from hurting others rather than any sense of revenge.
* FameThroughInfamy: Ren's power does not care if his publicity is good or bad, only that he's famous. As a result, good press will give him as much Prestige as bad press. In fact, his first big boost of Prestige is when he's caught on video apparently mugging a man who had held him at gunpoint earlier. He then gets a huge Prestige boost when he posts a video of him fighting a mobster, only to look like a murderer when a Triad offscreen shoots the man.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Discussed. Ren avoids using Soul-Crushing Strike on anything but people's arms. He didn't want to test the limits of Thou Shalt Not Kill, and he considers being a vegetable a fate worse than just killing them. The skill's description even lampshades this, saying that Ren's opponents won't be able to die even if they want to. [[spoiler:He makes an exception for someone like Black Mask, nailing him with two Soul-Crushing Strikes to the chest to pulverize Black Mask's chest, ribs, lungs, and spine leaving him vomiting blood and crippled but also unable to die.]]
* FirstPersonSmartass: Ren is quite polite when speaking to others. His narration to the reader is much more charged, [[ClusterFBomb cussing up a storm when things go wrong]], snarking at a crook for making his phone password "boob", and comparing the processing power of a library's computer to a potato.
* FlashStep: Ren rolls Flash Step following his first video, giving him the ability to quickly cross short distances, but only forward or backwards. This means he can't turn or go up or down stairs with this power. He also doesn't have the required reaction speed to make this outright SuperSpeed, meaning that he has to slow down before throwing a punch.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: After the second attempt on Ren's life, his parents go from hovering at his bedside to letting him go out on walks unsupervised following his return from the hospital. He finds it baffling how unconcerned they seem to be about the threat of one of the biggest mobsters in town, especially after said mobster tried to kill him twice. [[spoiler:This is because Ren's father has his own superpowers, and he's implied to have ripped off Black Mask's hand in retribution for nearly killing Ren.]]

* FragileSpeedster: Following his first big video, Ren ups his stats to the point that he's near the peak of normal human athleticism. Combined with the SupernaturalMartialArts and FlashStep, he's soon {{Speed Blitz}}ing common crooks and taking them down in one or two hits with Soul-Crushing Strike or just his raw strength. But at this point, he's still lacking in any kind of SuperToughness and is careful not to put himself in someone's firing line.
* TheGamblingAddict: Ren falls on the more minor end of this trope. He became hooked on gambling after winning a hundred dollars from a poker game with his co-workers, joining games at back alley gambling dens before moving up to casinos in hopes of earning money for himself and his parents. Luckily, he's good enough to make a tidy profit, but all of it goes down the drain when he gets shot and put in a coma. He initially swears to give up gambling after seeing how his habit nearly killed him, but soon finds that his new superpowers revolve around it.
-->'''Ren:''' I should just take my money and leave. I’ve made enough. I tried to convince myself. Twenty thousand with a five thousand bet, thanks to winning the split. It wasn’t enough. Nowhere near enough. Not even close.
* GenreSavvy: Due to growing up in a world where Batman and the Justice League exist, Ren is well-acquainted with superhero tropes and goes the extra mile to preserve his SecretIdentity. He's also aware of the PhoneTraceRace and is wary of using his own computer to upload his videos, wiping the prints off a phone he took from a mobster before tossing it in the trash to avoid being traced.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Ren is a fundamentally nice person and squeamish at the thought of leaving someone with crippling injuries. But his Soul-Crushing Strike is the best attack in his arsenal in his early days as a vigilante, and he's more than willing to use it if it means people won't end up dead. [[spoiler:When Black Mask points out that he'll be free within hours of being arrested, Ren decides to cripple Black Mask to render him incapable of harming anyone again. But turning Black Mask's insides into soup troubles Ren enough to make him fight the urge to vomit afterward.]]
* GoodWithNumbers: Downplayed. According to Ren, his grades are nothing to be impressed by. But he's clearly studied up on probability and statistics to the point of calculating the likelihood of what the next card is in a game of Blackjack. Due to his own streak of bad luck, he relies much more on math than good fortune when gambling.
* HarmfulToMinors: As if getting shot in the head wasn't bad enough, he witnesses Alice getting shot to death by an assassin sent by Black Mask and later watches another man die to a gunshot after trying to defeat him non-lethally. He's also mugged at gunpoint, triggering his lingering PTSD from his first two encounters with guns, and later enters multiple firefights while trying to stop the gang war he unintentionally helped cause.
* HeroicRROD: Using FlashStep in rapid succession makes Ren's ankles ache. In addition, using his skills in rapid succession [[CastFromStamina wears him out]]. A 40-second firefight where he uses Flash Step and Soul-Crushing Strike repeatedly leaves him winded and gulping for air.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Ren is hard on himself for his mistakes, particularly when he feels that [[ItsAllMyFault some deaths are on his hands for not being a better superhero]]. This sentiment is only worsened by the wave of bad press his actions have gotten him, but instead of cracking under the pressure he resolves to do better.
* HeroWithBadPublicity:
** Ren's debut as a vigilante involves him mugging the guy who mugged him, breaking the man's arm in the process. The video taken by onlookers quickly gets 10,000 views. He groans at all the comments telling him what a loser he is.
** After a Triad shoots a mob crook he'd been fighting dead, Ren's super identity quickly garners infamy as a killer. The effects of [[ArmorPiercingAttack Soul-Crushing Strike]] only worsen his reputation as "the Breaker" who leaves his opponents with crippling injuries, much to Ren's dismay. He wonders how Batman deals with bad press like this. At the least, his new viral presence on the internet [[PopularityPower gives him a lot of prestige points to work with]].
* IHaveNoSon: Ren's father claimed to not have any siblings, leading to Ren's confusion when his father says that Ren's uncle helped pay for his hospital stay. Even the mere mention of him gets nothing but cold silence from Ren's parents. [[spoiler:This is because his parents have been trying to keep him away from the cabal of qi cultivators that Ren's father once belonged to.]]

* InSeriesNickname: Due to his tendency to leave his opponents with broken bones that won't ever heal correctly, Ren's super identity becomes known as "the Breaker" on the internet.
* InTheHood: As part of his super identity, Ren wears a hooded vest and a headband to keep the hood in place.
* InstantExpert: Several of Ren's skills let him quickly master things he's never done before. Multilingual and Driving make it easier for him to learn languages and operate cars respectively. Meanwhile, combat techniques like Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist lets him instinctively take combat stances, perform CombatParkour, and axe kick someone hard enough to take them out of a fight.
* ItsAllMyFault: Ren blames himself for Alice's death, as she was caught in the middle of an attempt on his life. He also blames himself for the renewed gang war between Black Mask's mafia and the Snake-Flower Triads, motivating him to dive into the fray to stop Black Mask from shooting up a diner filled with innocent people.
* KidHero: Ren is only sixteen and has the maturity of someone his age. As a result, [[DeconstructedTrope he's not mentally prepared to face danger]] on a regular basis, freezing up when faced with yet another gun after the first two attempts on his life. Even after he works up the courage to fight back, his attempts to take down Black Mask make things worse before they get better.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Black Mask shot Ren, leaving him in a coma for six months and later getting an innocent woman killed while trying to tie up loose ends after learning about Ren's survival. [[spoiler:Ren returns the favor by leaving Black Mask a vegetable unable to move or breathe, but still alive thanks to Thou Shalt Not Kill.]]

* LevelGrinding: Subverted. Although Ren's power works like a video game, his power progression is tied to his notoriety rather than how many bad guys he beats up. While beating up bad guys may reward him with additional points, the bulk of his rank ups come from how well-known he is.
* LiteralSurveillanceBug: Some of the smaller and more expensive {{Surveillance Drone}} In Ren's prestige point shop are shaped like common insects like cockroaches and flies. He invests in some of these while trying to track down Black Mask.
* MagikarpPower: Due to the way his power works, Ren wonders if he could make himself as strong as ComicBook/{{Superman}} one day as he keeps acquiring new abilities and upping his stats. But by the time of his first patrol, he's only about as strong as a teenager who barely works out and is very much lacking NighInvulnerability. In addition, several of his powers are useless in direct combat, such as Multilingual and Driving.
-->'''Ren:''' Currently, I was below average in every physical stat, but how high could I raise them? Did I top out at ten times stronger than a normal human? A hundred? A thousand? Did I have a limit at all? Could I be as strong as Superman? I didn't know, and I couldn't know until I hit some kind of stat cap, if I ever did. All of which was fantastic, but it didn't help me with my current situation. It didn't matter if I could be as strong as Superman in the future if I died today for being a weakling. Potential didn't matter unless it was realized.

* MusclesAreMeaningful: Ren's muscles grow in accordance with his strength stat. His six-month coma caused his strength to dwindle to a mere 2, but putting points in strength helped him stand again in a few days rather than months. Getting his strength to 20 gives him freedom of mobility and a below-average physique, while dumping 30 more points into it causes him to gain twenty pounds of muscle overnight, leaving him looking and feeling better than he had before he was shot. With the help of his powers, he's soon performing complex acrobatics and knocking common crooks to the floor with a single hit.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Soul-Crushing Strike is able to put out bone-crushing force no matter how strong Ren is. Even when he's NothingButSkinAndBones, it's able to knock the teeth out of the man who tried to kill him.
* MustMakeAmends: On his first day of superheroics, Ren can't bring himself to accost a young girl stealing to survive, to the displeasure of the food stall owner she just stole from. Rather than walk away, he goes to the shopkeeper and pays for everything she stole with interest to keep everyone out of trouble.

* NaiveNewcomer: Despite living in [[WretchedHive Gotham]], Ren has a certain idealistic streak that hopes everything will turn out alright. This idealism is what got him tangled up in the MobWar in the first place, as his dream of winning big and taking his earnings home brings him face-to-face with Black Mask. After getting superpowers, he starts his crusade with the hope that he'll be able to stop Black Mask despite being woefully inexperienced and largely outgunned. This part of him is quickly challenged by the realities of superhero work. He lets himself get mugged after seeing a gun again triggers his PTSD, watches a man he tries to subdue non-lethally get shot by another gangster he wasn't paying attention to, and accidentally escalates said war through his actions. Then internet brands him a villain due to multiple cases of NotWhatItLooksLike. He chastises himself multiple times for his naivete and lack of forethought, but continues to stubbornly stick to ThouShaltNotKill and minimizes collateral damage whenever he can.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Ren becomes known as "the Breaker" on the internet for leaving his opponents with broken bones that will never heal properly. The threatening label along with accusations of him being a villain stings when he's risking his life trying to stop an evil mobster and his gang.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In his attempts to wage a one-man war against Black Mask, Ren is mistaken for a member of the Triads and accidentally reignites a gang war between them and the mafia.
* NiceGuy: Ren is a nice, well-meaning kid who is in over his head between his gambling habit, superpowers, and getting shot by Black Mask. He can't bring himself to stop a child in Koreatown who stole food out of necessity for herself, instead paying off the shopowner with interest. His crusade to stop Black Mask is motivated largely out of a desire to prevent anyone else from getting hurt rather than revenge (though making Black Mask regret not killing him is a bonus), and he cringes at Soul-Crushing Strike's bone-breaking power even while punching mobsters out to kill him.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Just as Ren crushes Black Mask's internal organs into chunky salsa and is about to call the cops on him, Ren turns around and bumps right into Batman of all people.]] Ren's reaction to this after bumping up his luck stat specifically to end his BornUnlucky streak is palpable.
-->'''Ren:''' Double the luck of an average person my fucking ass.
* {{Omniglot}}: Following his debut video, one of the skills Ren rolls is Multilingual, making it easier for him to learn any language, especially those that are related to each other or exist in the same region.
* OriginalCharacter: Ren is an original protagonist living in Gotham's Chinatown at the start of the story.
* PainfulTransformation: Ren's powers, particularly when boosting physical stats like Strength, tend to modify his body in relation to the points he accrued. When learning skills, this leads to a pinching feeling in his brain as he becomes an InstantExpert of whatever he just learned. But after going viral and dumping a lot of points into his stats overall, the sudden change makes him feel like he's dying and every muscle goes taut as he gasps for air. The sensation is so excruciating that he blacks out afterward, waking up the following morning.

* ParentalObliviousness: Subverted. It's heavily implied that Ren's father has an inkling of what he's been up to and is suspicious of Ren's rapid recovery and sudden growth spurt, but doesn't press Ren on it. He's also strangely nonchalant about the threat of Black Mask. [[spoiler:That's because he knows Ren's near-death experience awakened his supernatural powers, and that it was Ren's uncle who brought him out of the coma.]]

* PerpetualFrowner: As an UnluckyEverydude, Ren has a permanent scowl on his face by default. It makes him look older than he actually is, allowing him to enter casinos despite being underage at sixteen.
* PersonalityPowers: Ren's affinity for gambling matches with the gambling-based mechanics of his superpowers, namely how he has to earn his powers through mental casino games. In addition, he's always lamented how he wasn't popular, but the only way to strengthen his superpowers is to go viral and make a name for himself.

* PopularityPower: Ren's abilities run off how well-known he is. The more fame (or infamy) he gains, the more "prestige points" he has to spend to gain new skills, buy equipment, and improve his stats. Because of this, he has to make a name for himself to improve his powers, whether it's filming himself with some remote drones and uploading those videos to the internet or getting famous passively from whatever news people make about him.
* ThePowerOfCreation: Due to the way his power works, Ren's ability somehow turns his fame into real objects out of thin air.

* ProfessionalGambler: Ren styles himself as this, crunching the numbers on the probability of certain things happening in casino games to make the right judgment calls and cash in. This talent of his catches the eye of Lei, a Triad member who sponsors his entry into a Gotham casino's VIP room in hopes of winning big. He tries to give it up after being shot, but finds that the time he spent learning these games is helpful when it comes to gambling his prestige points on getting new powers.
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Ren nails Black Mask twice in the chest with Soul-Crushing Strike, turning his internal organs into a chunky soup of ruptured lungs and shards of bone and throwing him across the rooml.]]

* RedHerring: There are multiple hints that Ren's mysterious uncle is a member of the Triads, given how unusually wealthy he is to easily pay for Ren's six-month stay in intensive care, the Triads' unusual cooperativeness toward him, and his parents' unwillingness to talk about him. This is all window dressing for the real reveal that [[spoiler:Ren's father descends from a line of superhuman qi cultivators. Any theories of Triad connections go kaput ]]

* RequiredSecondaryPowers:
** Discussed. While mulling over the weirdness of his gamer powers, Ren notes that abilities like Thou Shalt Not Kill aren't ''too'' hard to wrap his head around, given that Superman must clearly have some kind of tactile telekinesis to avoid ripping every plane he catches in half.
** Subverted with Ren's FlashStep. While it gives him a burst of speed that lets him cross short distances nigh-instantly, he doesn't have the reaction speed to respond during this time and has to wait until he slows down to properly throw a punch. His inability to turn means that he can't use this if someone is in the way, lest he crash into them.

* ScarsAreForever: Ren gains two distinctive scars on his forehead where Black Mask shoots him, one near his ear and another that drags along his hairline. He covers this with a hood while out as a vigilante because they're unique enough to give away his SecretIdentity.

* SimpleYetAwesome: Soul-Crushing Strike is a simple punch that strikes with bone-breaking force and Ren's most-used combat skill. It's a no-frills attack powerful enough to incapacitate any non-superpowered mobster by crushing their bones and can't be blocked through martial arts. The only noticeable downsides are the loud bang it makes upon use and Ren's own squeamishness over crippling someone for life.

* StealthHiBye: [[spoiler:In classic Batman fashion, the Dark Knight appears out of nowhere in time for Ren to bump into him right after Ren deals with Black Mask by giving him a FateWorseThanDeath.]]
* SupernaturalMartialArts:
** Several of Ren's skills amount to this. Soul-Crushing Strike is a powerful punch that is guaranteed to penetrate attempts to guard with martial arts and smash bones. Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist also has him performing CombatParkour, which he combines with Flash Step to instantly close the distance on some mobsters to beat them down in hand-to-hand.
** [[spoiler:Ren's father and uncle come from a line of powerful qi cultivators who honed their control over their internal energies to accomplish astonishing feats of strength and speed. Ren's uncle is able to avoid all of Ren's {{Surveillance Drone}}s, keep up with his FlashStep, and appear out of thin air. He then seemingly teleports Ren to an empty rooftop and then knocks him out with a tap to the forehead. Ren's own latent abilities apparently saved his life, and his near-death experience awakened them, though it's unclear why they manifested with his gambling interface, nor does it explain his ability to turn fame into power.]]

* ThisIsGonnaSuck:
** Ren recites this verbatim as he uploads his first video, knowing full well that he's going to get a ton of bad press from crippling the mobsters and Triad along with the one mobster who was shot to death.
** He has this reaction again along with OhCrap when [[spoiler:he runs headfirst into Batman after seemingly killing Black Mask.]]
* ThouShaltNotKill:
** Enforced by the skill of the same name. Thou Shalt Not Kill prevents Ren from ever killing his opponents so long as their brains are intact. This means that attacks that would otherwise lead to massive internal bleeding and death will "merely" cripple his opponent. He initially considers selling this, but after seeing the results of Soul-Crushing Strike firsthand, he opts not to, as he simply isn't mentally or emotionally prepared to end someone's life.
** He also discusses the trope while mulling over his reasons for becoming a superhero in the first place. To him, all life has intrinsic value and it doesn't feel right for him to play judge, jury, and executioner. But at the same time, not all life is sacred, and he believes that some people do deserve whatever horrible fate is coming to them. [[spoiler:When he realizes that Black Mask is just going to be sprung from prison within hours of being apprehended, Ren decides to end the threat the mobster poses permanently by crushing his rib cage, lungs, and spine, [[FateWorseThanDeath leaving Black Mask in unspeakable agony, but alive thanks to Thou Shalt Not Kill]]. The sight of this still leaves Ren nauseous, but he doesn't see any other way of keeping Black Mask down.]]
* TiredOfRunning: Between lingering PTSD from staring down the barrel of a gun twice and being a sixteen-year-old over his head in superheroing, Ren freezes up when he's mugged in an alleyway by a guy with a gun despite having superpowers. He learns to get over it through his desire to change his circumstances and anger at himself for being so helpless, breaking the man's arm and taking his money back. From then on he's able to jump into firefights with much less hesitation, though he's still careful to not get shot.
* TooDesperateToBePicky: Ren ''knows'' that entering the shady VIP room in an illegal casino is a bad idea, especially when he knows he's BornUnlucky. But the hope of coming home with a sack of cash large enough to solve all of his family's money problems is too much for him to pass up, so he agrees to go in in violation of his own common sense.
-->'''Ren:''' I knew, deep down, that I was making a mistake as stepped through the doors, but it was a mistake I couldn’t afford to pass up. If there was even the slightest possibility that it was real… In one afternoon, I could make every penny that I needed. I just needed the chance and this could be it.

* UnexplainedRecovery: Due to his refusal to tell his parents about his new powers, Ren's rapid recovery from NothingButSkinAndBones to healthy and even fit over the span of a month comes across as weird at best and concerning at worst. Never mind how he somehow left the hospital with no lingering effects from brain damage despite being shot in the head at point blank range twice. His parents notice this, but seem to be happy to just have in home rather than confronting him about it. [[spoiler:Though it turns out they already have an inkling of the truth, as Ren's father comes from a line of qi cultivators.]]
* UnluckyEverydude: Ren is friendless, has middling grades, and lives in [[WretchedHive Gotham]] of all places while his parents struggle to make ends meet. To try and ease their burden, he uses his gambling talent to make money as a "part-time job", but it ends up biting him in the rear when Black Mask shoots him, leaving him in a six-month coma that forces his dad to reach out to Ren's estranged uncle for financial support.
* UnskilledButStrong: Zigzagged. Ren's abilities make him an InstantExpert with most of them, but he's still naïve and inexperienced at crimefighting. He largely relies on his overwhelming speed and brute force advantage to take down crooks one-by-one, lacking the gadgetry, expertise, and long-term planning used by veteran superheroes like Batman.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Alice, Ren's physical therapist, is introduced as a kindly and supportive doctor working to help him recover from his coma. She's unfortunately shot dead by an assassin sent after him, motivating Ren to use his new powers to stop Black Mask from hurting anyone else.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Some of Ren's less combat-ready skills are at least useful life skills like speaking multiple languages or driving. He struggles to come up with uses for some of the more esoteric skills like Barista, which just makes him an impeccable coffee brewer. The only thing he can come up with is starting a [=MeTube=] channel about brewing coffee for some Prestige.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: After being nearly shot dead by Black Mask and seeing Alice get shot to death by an assassin aiming for him, Ren has an understandable fear of guns. The mere sight of one makes him freeze up and meekly fork over cash to a mugger despite having superpowers, and it's only his frustration at being helpless before one that gets him over this fear. Even then, his fear isn't completely gone, he's just not completely paralyzed by the sight of them anymore.
-->'''Ren:''' I just… really, really, really wish that it was harder for people to get their hands on guns.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatHotness: Ren notices that he gets noticeably more muscular while increasing his Strength stat. This is most noticeable after he decides to dump 30 points in Strength all at once, resulting in him packing on twenty pounds of muscle all at once overnight. Upping his Charisma also makes him look better in general, removing pimples, giving him a more pronounced jawline, and making his hair shinier following his six-month coma. By that point, he's confident enough in his physique to consider going shirtless for an internet video to get more Prestige.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility: Following the second attempt on his life, Ren resolves to use his powers to defend his parents from Black Mask rather than any kind of self-benefit. His sense of morality soon motivates him to go on patrol in Gotham's Chinatown and Koreatown, knowing that he would hate himself if he let something happen when he could do something about it.
-->'''Ren:''' If there was a rape or a murder? If it happened nearby? Right when I decided to shrug my shoulders and go home? [[ItsAllMyFault I would hate myself.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Black Mask thinks nothing of shooting Ren, a sixteen-year-old who had no idea Black Mask owned the casino, out of the belief that Ren was a Triad. The callousness with which he does it implies that he wouldn't care either way.

* WrongContextMagic: The source of Ren's powers is a mystery. He's never had any kind of empowering accidents except for being shot in the head and tests negative for the metagene. He also has no knowledge or relationship with magic or the supernatural prior to obtaining his powers. [[spoiler:It turns out that Ren's father is a defector from a line of qi cultivators. Ren's latent abilities from his SuperpowerfulGenetics kept him alive long enough to receive medical attention, and his uncle's intervention helped him awake from his coma. Though it still doesn't explain why his abilities manifested with a gamer interface, nor his ability to instantly learn techniques or create things out of thin air.]]
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler:Ren's father's side of the family wasn't happy when he left China to be with Ren's mom. In fact, his family was so angry that they threaten to kill him should he ever set foot in China again, and merely contacting him is a huge risk to Ren's uncle.]]
* YoungerThanTheyLook: [[FaceOfAThug Ren's "Resting-Bitch-Face"]] allows him to enter an adults-only casino with the help of a fake ID despite being only sixteen.

** [[spoiler:Ren's father and uncle come from a line of powerful qi cultivators who honed their control over their internal energies to accomplish astonishing feats of strength and speed. Ren's uncle is able to avoid all of Ren's {{Surveillance Drone}}s, keep up with his FlashStep, and appear out of thin air. He then seemingly teleports Ren to an empty rooftop and then knocks him out with a tap to the forehead. Ren's own latent abilities saved his life, and his near-death experienced awakened them, though it's unclear why they manifested with his gambling interface, nor does it explain his ability to turn fame into power.]]

* ArchEnemy: After Black Mask two attempts on Ren's life, Ren makes it his mission to stop Black Mask to prevent him from hurting his parents or anyone else in the process of getting to him.

* MobWar: There's been long-standing friction between the Snake-Flower Triads and the mafia led by Black Mask for some time before the start of the story, as shown by how quick Black Mask is to shoot Ren. Due to being mistaken for a member of the Triads in his vigilante identity, Ren inadvertently reignites war between the two factions, starting with Black Mask's lackies trying to shoot up a diner.