The reward for the delivery of the letter to Kelbeck was 200 gilans. It would only take thirty minutes to get there and back, so the amount was appropriate.
Inefficient.
That was Hikaruâs conclusion. Even in RPGs, it was normal for delivery quests to have mediocre rewards. It seemed that was also the case in a different world. You could earn money efficiently by taking recurring and Boss Kill quests.
âŚNow what would I do when I earn moreâŚ
Hikaru flopped down on the floor. He was in the same inn he stayed in last night. He couldâve forked out more and stay in a better inn, but he decided to do that after he thought about plans for his future here.
First, I need to save enough so I can live my life in satisfaction. Second, look for ways to return to my world. Third, immerse myself in a hobby. But I donât really have oneâŚ
Hikaru loved reading books. He played video games as well and liked studying. But sports were something he couldnât bring himself to enjoy. Try as he might, he didnât have the ability to become the best. So he thought it was inefficient to bust his chops for clubs that required some level of tenacity.
The world is inefficient. Be that as it may, thereâs really nothing else I can do⌠Thatâs it. I just have to find something I want to do. I should see what they have here in this world.
First Iâll go see the world. Then Iâll think about what I must do.
Abruptly, he got up on his feet.
And for that, I need money! Funds! Itâs all about efficiency!
Standing and feeling confident, Hikaru fell over just as quickly as well. Even with the ruckus, the others didnât notice him with his Stealth on. He didnât think it was wise to use the Skill out on the streets. It would only cause trouble if people found out about it. His experiments had concluded with his infiltration into Kelbeckâs room.
He was nervous back then, but the experiment was a huge success. He didnât notice the watchers, though. But that made him realize that while he could hide himself, he couldnât actually detect others.
Detection Skill, huh⌠There was something like a Perception on the first window of my Soul Board.
He summoned his Soul Board.
ăVitalityă
..ăNatural Recoveryă0
..ăStaminaă0
..ăImmunityă
..ăPerceptionă
Hikaru surmised that perhaps things like âSmellâ or âHearingâ would show up. Although, just one point on Imperceptibility applied to all the senses.
Well, there are lots of uses for improving my sense of smell than just detecting people. I can understand why just one point in Imperceptibility applied to all senses. Its only use is to not get detected by others, after all.
Hikaru assumed that every point was equal all across the board.
Therefore, improving my Perception would be inefficient.
He had four points available. It felt like such a waste to use them right away, but he was already aware of the incredible power the Soul Board held. So it was better to use them.
Heâd examined the Soul Board before. Next was to check each item. The unlockable fields âImmunityâ and âPerceptionââs descriptions read like this:
ăImmunityăUnlock Skills related to Immunity.
ăPerceptionăUnlock Skills related to Perception.
That was all. So first, he checked every item with the number 0 â Skills he could already allocate points on.
ăVitalityă
..ăNatural RecoveryăEnhance ability to heal external wounds. Max: 20.
..ăStaminaăEnhance ability to sustain prolonged physical effort and recover from fatigue. Max: 20.
ăMagical Poweră
..ăManaăIncreases total mana â the resource one uses when activating a spell. Max: 30.
ăPhysical Strengthă
..ăStrengthăIncrease strength. Max: 30.
ăAgilityă
..ăInstantaneous Power Burstă Enhance ability to exert strength in an instant. Max: 15.
..ăFlexibilityăMake the body, especially the joints, more flexible. Max: 10
..ăBalanceăImprove sensation of the torso. Max: 20.
What surprised Hikaru was the maximum points allowed. Skills under Stealth required five points max. Assassination and Snipe only required three. But the ones he checked now required ten or thirty points to get maxed.
So what, theyâre divided into fundamentals and the actual applications?
The ones that didnât need to be unlocked further required more points to max. They all had something to do with the basic attributes of a living being.
What would happen if I allocated 30 points to Strength? Maybe I can crush a boulder with my bare hands or lift a whole house. Yeah, rightâŚ
Hikaru paused.
Itâs certainly possible.
He already witnessed the effects of his Stealth. What kind of power would he get if he poured in thirty whole points to an attribute?
Letâs forget that for now. There are three boards left unlocked.
The pentagon, hexagon, and the unlabelled one. So far, he had unlocked Vitality, Magical Power, Physical Strength, and AgilityâŚ
If we go by game mechanics, I guess next would be Willpower, Faith, Charisma, and Dexterity? If I want to be efficient, first I have to know. I canât achieve efficiency without information.
Hikaru got up.
But if I unlocked all three, Iâd be left with one point. Itâs inefficient to have only one point to allocate. If I have to unlock only one firstâŚ
He chose the unlabelled board.
I really wanna know whatâs in this unlabelled board! My curiosity is killing me!
ăUnlock Soul Board? 1 point required.ă
ăYes.ă
What emerged on the screen wasâŚ
ăIntuitionă
..ăInstinctă0
..ăInsightă
..ăIntelligenceă
..ăMemoryă0
..ăDetectionă
Instinct! Itâs instinct!
ăInstinctăHeighten oneâs senses to achieve great foresight similar to clairvoyance. Max: 20
ăMemoryăImproves the function of the part of the brain that governs memories. Max: 10.
And thereâs Detection as expected. I donât like how I have to unlock it first. Now what? I have three points left.
Hikaru stared at the Soul Board for a while, then lied down and closed his eyes. Sleep came right away.
Money left: 4,890 gilans.
ââxx-kun, people say youâre arrogant, donât they?
The light of the bright afternoon was blinding even behind the white curtains. A girl, one year older than Hikaru, stood there with her back against the light, smiling.
ââLife will be rough for you. You may be clever, but youâre also reckless. Someday, somewhere, you might just die unexpectedly.
She was beautiful with long, black hair.
ââI appreciate the disturbing divination.
He wouldnât listen to the words of grown-ups or his other seniors, but Hikaru readily paid attention to what she had to say. Her name wasâŚ
ââHazuki-senpai.
ăâŚâŚâŚă
The next morning.
Hikaru silently woke up in the corner of the innâs large room. The sun was beginning to climb in the sky.
âŚWas that⌠a dream?
He let out one, long breath. He hadnât had a dream ever since coming to this world. And when he finally did, it wasnât about his parents or the high school he went to. It was a dream about his senior who he had not seen for two years.
Hikaru didnât bother reminiscing about his parents. It was not like they were on bad terms, but when his parentsâ relationship had gone completely cold, Hikaru became indifferent about them.
As a kid grows up, they get more difficult to handle. And Hikaru matured early. It got to the point where he treated them like strangers even though they lived under the same roof.
That was the reason why Hikaruâs guild card didnât show his family name. He hadnât considered that, of course. His only comment on the fact his card didnât have his family name was a âHmmâ.
Whyâd I have that dream?
After mulling it over a bit, he understood why. It was because Jill called him âarrogantâ.
Hikaru was indeed arrogant. He thought he was cleverer than the rest of the students at his school and he didnât try to hide it. Skilled at avoiding danger, though, he was never bullied nor ran into any sort of conflict. The cheerful ones donât come near the shadows.
He was aware that his arrogance was being fueled when he came to this world. Rolandâs memories were affecting him. Roland was a noble. His parents were wise, but they didnât forget their pride as members of the nobility.
âDonât yield to anyone.â âDonât let anyone look down on you.â These words formed the foundation of how Roland lived his life.
They may not be his own memories, but inheriting them all would surely have some effect on Hikaru. He was harsh on Jill and was able to perform rash experiments against Kelbeck because of it.
âŚSomeday, somewhere, you might just die unexpectedly, huhâŚ
In an ironic twist of fate, Hikaru died just like how Hazuki described it. It was only sheer chance that he came back to life. Just extremely lucky.
Thereâs no guarantee something like that wonât happen in this world.
Hikaru summoned his Soul Board, opened the Intuition window, and unlocked Detection.
ăDetectionă
..ăLife Detectionă0
..ăMana Detectionă0
Two points left.
ăLife DetectionăDetect life in the vicinity. Max: 5.
ăMana DetectionăDetect beings through their mana. Max: 5.
Hikaru allocated one point to each and was now down to zero points. At the moment, he had acquired the following Skills:
ăAgilityă
..ăStealthă
âŚ.ăLife Obfuscationă1
âŚ.ăMana Obfuscationă1
âŚ.ăImperceptibilityă5
âŚâŚăAssassinationă3 (MAX)
ăIntuitionă
..ăDetectionă
âŚ.ăLife Detectionă1
âŚ.ăMana Detectionă1
There wasnât any explanation as to how to activate his detection Skills. But he felt a new sense in his body â like a mix of his hearing, sense of smell and touch.
OhâŚ.
By focusing on it, he felt the effect of Detection all around him. He could sense the life coming from the young adventurer sleeping in the center of the room. It was like a soft, orange light.
He switched to Mana Detection â the switch was intuitive â and he felt soft, blue light instead.
Hikaru felt some kind of energy from a warrior-looking man when he used his Life Detection. But now that he switched to Mana Detection, he couldnât feel it anymore.
Does that mean he doesnât have much mana? Wait a second. I donât detect âlife forceâ but âlifeâ.
Then he realized. With Life Detection, size didnât matter. As long as it had mass, he could even sense a small insect if he really focused. The only downside was that it functioned just like the human eye. That is to say, he could see large living things, but he couldnât see those that were too tiny, like microbes. On the other hand, Mana Detection was affected by the amount of mana one had. He could feel even the smallest bug if it had plenty of mana.
What would happen if I added more points to them? Maybe the range increases and the ability to pierce Obfuscation Skills is also enhanced.
The max range of his Detection at the moment was ten meters. He couldnât allocate any more points but he concluded that adding more would increase the detection range and he could pierce the abilities of those who used Skills to conceal their presence.
Now this is efficient⌠Well, not really. But I have to prioritize not dying.
After getting ready, Hikaru left the room. A random thought crossed his mind.