I went to the locker room to change into the normal clothes I had brought with me and went outside. I stopped by the restroom and transferred the dropped items I had in my bag to my item pouch.
Then I went to the lobby in front of the reception desk and saw Haru leaning against the wall. Looking earnestly at the back of the reception desk. No, sheâs looking at something in the reception area that requires her skills.
Iâm not sure if sheâs analyzed it as it was, but she took out a notepad and pen and was about to write it down, so I grabbed her hand and stopped her.
âWhat the! What are you doing? Donât scare me.â (Haru)
Haru looks at me in a slightly moody tone.
âWhatâs wrong?â (Kei)
âThe fact that you just startled me and the way people are looking at me.â (Haru)
Haru replied with a grimace. So,
âWell, 16-year-olds usually need parental permission and very few parents allow it. And today is a weekday so itâs a school day. Moreover, Haru is average in height.â (Kei)
âThatâs right, butâŠâ (Haru)
You can get a license to explore dungeons without parental permission as long as you are over the age of 16. However, it is not easy to prepare the equipment that is good enough for exploring.
A simple metal bat is not considered a weapon, and armor is not available to the general public. If I wanted to get all of them, the cost would be beyond what a teenager could afford.
In addition, even if they are able to get the weapons and armor, their license can be suspended at the discretion of their parents if they are under 18. Thatâs why the rule prohibits 16-year-olds from exploring, and why no parent or guardian would allow them to explore dungeons where they canât make money or even risk their lives.
Thatâs why there was no one around us who seemed to be of the same age as us.
âBy the way, why did you stop my hand?â (Haru)
âThere are security cameras and people watching everything you write. If people saw what you wrote, theyâd realize itâs not something you could have easily just observed.â (Kei)
âOh, I see. So, are we leaving?â (Haru)
I was a little confused by Haruâs question about leaving the Dungeon Dam. Iâve been feeling magic from things other than whatâs in this reception area for a while now.
âHaru, do you sense any other source of magical powers?â (Kei)
âHmm, Oh, I think itâs that one. I found it.â (Haru)
âEven with our skills, we couldnât make a device that would automatically use our skills, and we didnât get any drops.â (Kei)
âI looked it up in my [Analysis]. As it turns out, I couldnât inspect everything. Itâs probably a combination of skills and science.â (Haru)
âOh, thatâs what it is.â (Kei)
A fusion of skill and science. Itâs not possible for an ordinary person to do that. But then againâŠ
âYou mean you have the production system skills that can be obtained by defeating the Minotaur, right? In other words.â (Kei)
âThat is a device made by the Self-Defense Forces at the forefront. Itâs something troublesome.â (Haru)
It was bigger than I expected. I thought the âStrongest Partyâ in the dungeon picked it up, but it seems that it was made by a larger organization than I previously expected. If so,
âItâs a bad idea to check it out. Shall we leave?â (Kei)
âYeah, letâs go. We canât even go out to eat.â (Haru)
âIâve spent all my money on weapons and armor. Letâs go home and have dinner there.â (Kei)
âYup.â (Haru)
Fortunately, there were no devices at the exit, only guards, so we left as usual. Itâs not that Iâm doing anything criminal, but Iâve gotten used to feeling like Iâm doing something wrong.
We got on the train and went home without any problems.
âNow, can you tell me the results of the analysis of the device as far as you can remember?â (Kei)
âYes, but it wasnât that big of a deal. Iâll start writing down what I found out now.â (Haru)
âLesser Wolf Iron ⊠Iron with the magical power of Lesser Wolf [Perceive Nature]â
âLesser Wolf Iron ⊠Iron with the magical power of Lesser Wolf [Display]â
âLesser Wolf Iron ⊠Iron with the magical power of Lesser Wolf [Activate]â
âLesser Wolf Iron ⊠Iron with the magical power of Lesser Wolf [Connect]â
âI think this is the parts that were used, and the electronics are operating them in order to run that device.â (Haru)
âBy the way, what is the effect of those skills?â (Kei)
âHere they are.â (Haru)
[Perceive Nature]
Type: Skill
Active Time: 3m
Cool Down: 1m
Examine targetâs skills
[Display]
Type: Skill
Visualizing the information sent to living beings.
[Activate]
Type: Skill
When an object that possesses a skill is touched, the skill possessed by the object is used externally.
Always active, as a rule.
[Connect]
Type: Skill
Active Time: Until the next skill is used
Connects skills
âI wonder did they make it, by combining the parts with the [Activate] skill and the one [Display] skill together. Then they might have let both interact using and [Connect] every 4 minutes. Did they take the displayed information with a camera, turn it into electronic information, and store it?â (Haru)
âThatâs what you would normally think. Hmm? Come to think of it, you canât use your skills outside. What did they do? You canât use any of those skills outside, right?â (Kei)
âYeah. And that device was covered with a metal box except for the sides.â (Haru)
âOh, thatâs right. Wasnât that for protection?â (Kei)
âThat was something else, too. Itâs not manufactured, itâs a genuine drop.â (Haru)
âMicro Dungeon⊠Creating a dungeon in a box.â
âSo, you can use skills in that box. Thatâs tricky. So, the magical power we saw is to grasp the qualities. By the way, what is the nature of that skill?â (Kei)
âItâs the first skill that creatures can get regardless of their skill. Maybe itâs similar to your [Perception] and my [Detection], but I wonder if itâs okay to protect personal information.â (Haru)
âItâs a newly created dungeon skill. You can make a lot of noise about privacy, but itâs not clearly defined as personal information. This may change if there is a lawsuit in the future, but no one will be able to notice it in the first place. Compared to the magical power that moves with magic, the magical power that moves with skills is insignificant.â (Kei)
âEven if your skill is magic-related, you wonât know what skill you have until you defeat the 5th layer boss, so you only feel uncomfortable. Itâs quite troublesome.â (Haru)
We both let out a sigh at our countryâs way of doing things as if theyâre not afraid of being found out, but we couldnât do anything about it, so we changed our focus.
âOh, that reminds me. I didnât notice the drop last time and missed the self-appraisal.â ()
âOh, by the way. Last time we missed [Self-Assessment] because we didnât notice the drop.â (Kei)
âHere, the drops. Weâve become something like villains. We should at least use what the main character goblin dropped.â (Haru)
âYes, yes. The drop items are two Iron cards, one silver, one gold, and one black. Do you want to put off gold and black and use only iron and silver?â (Kei)
I picked up the cards one by one and tried them out. I picked up the iron card, but it didnât work, so I picked up the silver card and it responded.
âMaterial: ?? Nature: ??â
âHmm?â (Kei)
Suddenly, something strange appeared in my mind and the card turned into a fog and disappeared. The card disappeared with it.
âWhatâs wrong brother?â (Haru)
âNo, something came up the moment I used my skill card.â
âBrother, I think youâve got some kind of analytical skill. Iâll take a look. Iâll show you. Oh, I got it. Canât you see it yourself? [Material Cognition].â
Looking at my own hands and I think about [Material Cognition] and in my mind. Then,
âOh, wow. But itâs a lot harder to read than Haruâs. Magic Capacity and Strength arenât separated. Magic, Skills, and Passives are indistinguishable.â (Kei)
âWell, then itâs a lower skill under [Analysis]. By the way, [Self-Assessment] canât see details like [Analysis]. And it seems that you canât see your Name, Skills, and Magic Attribute.â (Haru)
âIn other words, [Self-Assessment] is a sub-skill of [Analysis], and [Material Cognition] skill is a sub-skill of [Self-Assessment]?â (Kei)
âMaybe yes. By the way, do you know the details of the skill?â (Haru)
âHmm, this?â (Kei)
[Material Cognition]
Cooldown time: 10s
First cognitive skill.
âThatâs it.â (Kei)
âThereâs not much information. This is what it looks like when I use [Analysis].â (Haru)
[Material Cognition]
Type: Skill
Cooldown time: 10s
Perceive details of objects that have no magical resistance.
âThereâs no such thing about the âfirst cognitive skillâ, but this one is more detailed. By the way, can you use [Material Cognition] on me? Iâm trying not to resist it as much as possible right now.â (Haru)
âAh, itâs impossible. Even if you donât resist, you still have a small amount of magical resistance.â (Kei)
âThatâs true.â (Haru)
While I was checking my skills, Haru uses a card I havenât used yet.
[T/N: So I changed the second item âskill/ æèœ â to proficiency since it seems to make more sense. I will retroactively change the other chapters with this. Thank you.]
âYouâve got some pretty disturbing skills.â (Kei)
I canât help but throw such words at me after seeing [Magic Bullet] and [Rampage].
âYeah. [Magic Bullet] is a skill that just shoots magical power as it is, and [Rampage] just uses magic power to increase the ability.â (Haru)
âWell, leave it at that until we can use it next time. Then, what about the gold and black?â (Kei)
âYeah. I feel like Iâm with the gold one. Thatâs where my eyes always go. If I didnât think about anything, I would probably use it before I realize it.â (Haru)
âI feel like that too. It feels like Iâm being pulled by the black one.â (Kei)
Something magical is not happening, but it feels like my eyes are somehow always drawn to it.
âThen, Iâll touch it. Here goes.â (Haru)
I use the black card to match Haruâs shout.
It felt like the temperature of my body was suddenly burning up, but thereâs still a chill across my skin. Then distorted letters come to my mind.
âDomination.â
As the letters disappeared, the heat of my body went away.
âHow was it?â (Haru)
Haru was smiling next to me while looking at me.
â[Domination]. I donât know the details.â (Kei)
âLeave it to me, anyway, my card is a skill called [Skill Sublimation]. I couldnât learn any new magic or skills, but I could sublimate my skills. So I sublimated [Analysis] and added it to [Detection] to make [Inspection]. It doesnât mean that it doesnât matter what your magic resistance is, but it seems I can force anyone with less magic than me you accept the [Analysis].â
Haru was so happy that she started to ramble on.
âThatâs good. What about my skills?â (Kei)
As I listened, I released my own magic power to resist.
But the magic power coming towards me from Haru became thinner and thinner, weaving between my magic power and approaching me with ease, touching me easily.
âDonât resist. I did it. Here it is.â (Haru)
Name: Touka
Proficiency: Enchant/ Alchemy
Magic Attribute: None (Curse)
Level: 56
Strength: 79
Magic Capacity: 115
Skill: Stealth/ Positioning, Material Cognition, Domination
Magic: Speed, Power, Guard, Bind, Chain, Slow, Loss
Passive: Perception / Acceleration / Alchemy
âAnd this is the result of using [Detection] on [Domination] that youâre interested in.â (Haru)
âDomination⊠to control only those things that match oneâs ability.â
âYeah, I donât understand what that means.â (Kei)
âI know. I donât get it.â (Haru)
âWell, itâs time to make dinner.â (Kei)
âIâll wait. Tomorrow weâll go to the dungeon. Also, Iâll look for a trash skill since it has a shorter cool time now that I have [Inspection].â
As usual, we quickly put important matters out of our minds and returned to our peaceful lives.
It would be a long time before we would notice the unsettling atmosphere in the dungeon.