Chapter 11: Chapter 11 - Available Skills
Before Basara realized it, his toes were wrinkled, showing that he had been submerged in the bathtub water for almost half an hour. He stood up, took his first foot out of the water, and placed it on the cold bathroom floor. He then stretched out his left arm to grab the towel on the rack. After briefly drying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and left the bathroom.
"Strange system, now that I've created the skill that lets me see my other skills, what are my skills?" he asked.
[Available Skills:
- Range of Skills.
- Master Swordsman.
- Superhuman strength.
- Immense durability.
- Immense endurance.
- Immense Speed.
- Resistance to magic.
- Enhanced self-healing.
- Banishing Shift.
- Master-Servant Contract.]
Basara was not surprised to see all those abilities. Many resulted from being the son of his father, Jin Toujou, while others he had honed during the intense training of his childhood. However, two things surprised him that night.
The first was the absence of any mention of Brynhildr, his demon sword. However, he deduced that this could be explained because other people — and the system — might consider Brynhildr an item, even though that was not how he see Brynhildr.
The second surprise was the mention of the Master-Servant Contract he had with Naruse Mio.
"Does that mean the contract is still active?" he asked himself, looking at his left hand. "It doesn't make much sense that it's active, but, at the same time, it makes. As far as I know, I'm the only one who has memories of my original world. It was almost obvious to me that that man changed a lot, including our bodies. Now, I don't know. Maybe he just messed with our memories? The last thing I remember is... Shit, what was I doing? God, what a strange feeling. My memories of my world... are misaligned at the same time as they're in order. I remember everyone, but I can't remember the last thing I did before I woke up in this world..."
While he was talking to himself, Basara went to his room and change. He then went downstairs to check the kitchen for food.
"System, can you tell me if the Master-Servant Contract I have with Mio is active for the Naruse Mio of this reality? And help me understand what happened to my memories?"
[As I understand it, you want to create a skill that helps you with extra-corporeal knowledge. Am I right?]
"Out-of-body? What do you mean?"
[It means creating an ability that borders on omniscience.]
"Is it possible to make a skill that powerful? I want to. Do it."
[This action will cost 1000 Naughty Points. Do you want to complete this action? YES/NO.]
Basara's balance at the time was only 135 Naughty Points, so his options were very limited. He could save up points until he had enough to create this external knowledge skill, or try to create smaller skills to complement it.
"Argh, what an expensive skill. Actually, system, forget it... We can try to make this skill another day. As I understand it, Naughty Points can only be got through exciting situations, right?"
[That's correct.]
"In other words, the more exciting situations that happen to me, the more points I'll earn."
[Yes.]
"So, I want you to create a pheromone skill that only works with girls. That way, when they get close to me, they'll get excited and try to do all sorts of things."
[Are you sure?]
"Urgh... Don't talk like that. Does it sound that bad?"
[A pheromone ability could certainly be useful for you, but it could get in your way at certain times].
The system was undoubtedly correct. Although Basara wanted to be fast, he knew he couldn't try to speed things up too much and end up doing bad things. Using pheromones wasn't much different from hypnosis, and Basara certainly didn't stop thinking like a hero even though he had been banished from his village.
'Shit, what the hell was I thinking? I'll have to be more careful and not be so rash. Being able to obtain a new skill just by giving a voice command can be extremely dangerous.' Basara thought.
The kitchen in his house was identical to the one he remembered from his world. The clean worktops and dark wood furniture formed a familiar environment. Instinctively, he approached the fridge, hoping to find something simple to eat. Then, at the last second before he touched the door, a faint glow caught his eye. There was a magic circle discreetly engraved in the top corner of the fridge, almost invisible at first glance.
'Magic circle?'
Basara knew almost nothing about magic, or at least his memories suggested not. Her father had always trained him in combat, physical strength and sword skills, so magic had never been a priority. Now, looking at that strange symbol on the fridge, Basara remembered that such modernities as a fridge, electricity and even running hot water were supposed to be luxuries in this world and not something that an ordinary house like his should have.
Earlier, when he turned on the tap to fill the bath, there was a similar glow at the base of the tap. It looked as if the water had been conjured up from somewhere, and not simply distributed through pipes. And just now, when he turned it on from the kitchen, the same thing happened at the switch. Basara realized that the lighting in the kitchen ceiling was controlled by little magical seals inscribed on the light bulb.
He was living in a world where, apparently, magic had replaced almost all the technology he knew. Everything, from household utensils to door security, was wrapped in magic circles that he did not know how they worked.
As he looked at the lock on the living room door, he noticed another magic circle there. Now that his eyes were attentive to these details, everything became clearer.
Basara sighed, thinking that at least he was already at Ortigia Academy and could focus on learning how these things worked. He took a yogurt from a glass jar and walked over to the table, where he sat down. After thinking for a few minutes about dozens, maybe hundreds of skill options, including whether he should create a skill to have a complete understanding of how magic circles worked, he realized that the amount of points he had was probably ridiculous for the powerful skills he wanted to obtain. So he finally asked that had been on his mind since he was in the bathtub.
"System, how much would it cost for a skill that I can defeat that mysterious man with thought?"
[I don't know the individual who is in his thoughts at the moment and, for that reason, I can't know his strengths and weaknesses. However, creating instant death skills usually requires a lot of points and there are several ways to block them].
"You're right... Still, thanks, you've given me an interesting idea. System, I want to create a simple skill to analyze targets in detail."
[I can create an analysis skill that will accurately describe what the target of the skill is for just 10 Naughty Points.]
"For example...?"
[If you look at an apple, I will tell you that the red, slightly rounded fruit is an apple.]
"No, I want a skill that can do a bit more in-depth analysis than a child, or I could do myself... I want something that lets me know a bit about the person at a glance."
[You want to be able to access individuals' complete bodily information, such as Strength, Mana, Agility and so on. Am I right?]
"Precisely."
[This action will cost 100 Naughty Points. Do you want to complete this action? YES/NO.]
Hesitating, Basara moved his right index finger to the [YES] key on the semi-transparent rectangle, which glowed at the touch.
[100 Naughty Points have been debited.]
[What do you want the Skill in question to be called?]
"I want it to be called 'Analyst's Eye'."
[Skill "Analyst's Eye" has been created.]
[Skill: Analyst's Eye
Description: Having the power to recognize a creature's limits with a single glance is certainly rare.
Effects: You can look at the Attributes of any creature that becomes the target of your skill, except for those that have anti-privacy skills or know that you have this skill. Rating: Unique.
Requirement: None.
Evolution: Available for 250 Naughty Points.]
Basara looked at his own right hand and mentalized the urge to use the new skill. It worked immediately, showing him his own information.