NOVEL NEXT Chapter 181
“…Momo, since when did you have a unique skill…?”
“Wan?”
Momo shakes her head and tells me that she doesn’t know either.
Cute.
For the time being, I guess I’ll do some research using “The Right to Question”.
I immediately type in “Resonance” in the space provided by “The Right to Question”.
*****
Skill: Resonance
This skill was bestowed to the first creature that consumed a magic stone after the two worlds merged.
*****
The first to consume a magic stone in this new world…?
Now that I think it, Momo was already LV 2 by the time we met and became party members.
In other words, she had fought against monsters before our encounter.
Does that mean Momo had this skill from the beginning?
Looking back, Momo was craving for magic stones ever since we met.
She must have known that they were safe to eat—and that they can make her stronger.
“Haha, you’re amazing, Momo.”
“Wow, Momo-chan is incredible!”
“Wan! Wan wan!”
Delighted by our praise, Momo rubs her body against me and Ichinose-san.
Of course, Ichinose-san and I stroke her without holding back.
She’s so lovely. I feel healed.
A skill given to the first creature that consumed a magic stone…
The condition for acquiring “Resonance” is somewhat similar to my “Precocious”.
In my case, it was something along the lines of “the first person to defeat a monster”.
(…But what kind of effect does the skill have?)
“The Right to Question” tells us how to acquire the skill without describing what the skill actually does.
This is one of the things that I don’t like about “The Right to Question”.
(That’s not all. There’s a skill labeled “■■■■” below “Resonance”…)
Momo, Aka, Kiki, and Sora all have “■■■■” listed as their unique skill.
In fact, Sora has two such skills.
When President Igarashi “Appraised” her yesterday, Sora only had one unique skill listed in her status.
Was I mistaken?
Did she obtain one overnight?
If she did, how?
“Momo, when did you acquire ‘■■■■’?”
“Kuun? …Wan!”
‘Yesterday, I think,’ replies Momo.
Yesterday, huh…the only thing that happened yesterday was…
“We befriended Sora…”
Is it a unique skill that can be obtained by becoming friends with a Dragon?
Wait. Then why would the skill appear on Sora’s status as well?
Is it the other way around for Dragons? Do they have to join someone else’s party to get the skill?
There’s not enough data to come to a conclusion…
“K-Kudou-san!”
Suddenly, Ichinose-san raises her voice while sounding panicked.
“What’s wrong, Ichinose-san?”
“P-please take a look at this! At my status!”
“Please calm down. Your status isn’t visible to other people.”
“R-right. Sorry…”
“What happened? Did something change?”
“Yes, yes. I was just checking my status when I noticed ‘■■■■’ displayed under my unique skills column.” [1]
“Eh…!?”
I’m rendered speechless by this piece of information.
It’s displayed on Ichinose-san’s status as well?
“I’m sure that it wasn’t there while we were coming here. The skill just appeared out of nowhere—”
“Say what…?—W-wait a minute.”
I check my status in a hurry.
*****
Kudou Kazuto
Newtype
Level 5
HP: 782/782
MP: 338/338
Strength: 379
Endurance: 396
Agility: 803
Dexterity: 775
Magic: 185
Magic Resistance: 185
SP: 42
JP: 23
Occupation
Shinobi LV3
Tracker LV3
Jet Black Performer LV3
Trainee Monk LV4
Unique Skills
Precocious
Profession Enhancement
■■■■
*****
—It’s there.
I also have “■■■■” displayed as one of my unique skills.
I’m certain that it wasn’t there when I was typing in my question for the “The Right to Question.
It has suddenly appeared without warning.
Huh? Why?
(If the condition is to have a Dragon join the party, Ichinose-san and I should’ve gotten it yesterday…)
Why did it appear now?
Is there a time lag?
Does it have something to do with “Telepathy”?
Is it because we were acknowledged by Sora?
Is it because we talked with her?
Did we unknowingly fulfill the conditions for obtaining a unique skill?
It’s also weird how the skill appeared in everyone’s status at the same time.
(In the first place, are the skills that we acquired all identical to each other?)
I’ve seen something like this displayed on my status before.
It was after we defeated the High Orc.
“■■■■” was listed under my unique skills column, and I had no idea what it was.
It was only after the Monster Tamer died that the skill’s name was properly displayed on my status screen.
The moment she died, “■■■■” turned into “Profession Enhancement”, and I was able to use the skill from then on.
From the way she conducted herself, I can confidently say that she was the original owner of “Profession Enhancement”.
The skill was transferred to me because of her untimely death.
—Only one person can have a particular unique skill at any given time.
If multiple people have fulfilled the conditions necessary to acquire the skill, the skill would be given to the first person who cleared them all.
It’s essentially first-come-first-serve
—At least that’s what I think, and I’m probably correct.
(So we’ve somehow managed to clear the conditions for a unique skill that we don’t even know of?)
For Momo and Aka, the unknown skill might be “Profession Enhancement”.
That said, it’s not like they have any occupations to speak of, so this is unlikely.
Is there a unique skill that’s similar to “Profession Enhancement”?
Assuming that they did in fact acquire “Profession Enhancement”, there’s nothing that can be done about it unless I were to die.
(Could each of us have acquired a completely different unique skill…?)
The chances are low, but they’re not zero.
Then why are they all displayed as “■■■■”?
Did someone else already acquire them?
Have we not cleared some of the conditions yet?
Damn it.
Why can’t “The Right to Question” answer questions like these!?
“There’s not enough information to come to any conclusion. For the time being, we won’t be able to use these skills.”
“So we’re putting them on hold for now?”
“There’s no other option.”
We’re about to confront Peony in a decisive battle, so leaving things hanging isn’t exactly ideal, but there’s no helping it.
“W-wouldn’t it be a huge boost to our strength if we can figure out what these skills—”
“Ichinose-san, that way of thinking is too naïve.”
Conveniently awakening our powers mid-fight against Peony—that’s far too unrealistic.
Also, taking into account how the fights have progressed so far, having or not having one skill won’t change much.
Rather than relying on something uncertain, it’s better to solidify our foundation.
“…Y-you’re right. Sorry for mentioning something strange.”
“There’s no need for an apology, and what you said isn’t strange at all. I should be the one apologizing instead. I’m sorry that I denied your ideas so adamantly.”
I place my hand on Ichinose-san’s shoulder and speak in a comforting tone.
Ichinose-san proceeds to put her hand on top of mine.
“Besides, even if we were to ignore ‘■■■■’ for now, there are other things that we can focus on. Right?”
“…You mean understanding Momo-chan and the others’ skills in detail?”
“There’s also that, but I was talking about their SP. If they can allocate their SP to their skills, they would become considerably stronger.”
Based on how much SP Aka, Kiki, and Sora have accumulated, it’s pretty obvious that they haven’t used any of their SP before.
This means that they’ve been raising their skill levels by activating them repetitively.
Many of Sora’s skills are at LV 10, which makes me wonder how many times she used them in the past.
I’m assuming that the world she came from had fierce competition.
It looks like Momo has been allocating some of her SP to improve her skills, but she still has a lot to spare.
‘Allocating points? What’s that?’
“Oh, I’ll explain it to you. It’s—”
“That aside, isn’t it about time that you two release your hands?”
““Eh?””
I’m reminded by Rikka-chan that my left hand is still on Ichinose-san’s shoulder.
“~~~~!”
“Ah, e-excuse me…”
“N-no, I was at fault as well…”
Flustered, we both let go of our hands.
Our face must be bright red.
Not good. I was touching her without thinking.
Does this count as sexual harassment?
My heart’s pounding like crazy.
I’m sorry, Ichinose-san.
“What an innocent reaction.”
“…Hnnn.”
Rikka-chan is staring at us with a grin on her face.
On the other hand, President Igarashi is sulking for some reason.
‘Hey, are you going to explain or what?’
“O-oh, right. I’ll start explaining then.”
I’m glad that Sora is bad at reading between the lines.
It takes a while, but I eventually finish my long explanation about what skills are and what they can do.
Sora has been listening carefully and following along, checking out her own skills from time to time.
She doesn’t encounter any trouble while allocating her SP, but she was surprised when she saw her status plate for the first time in her life.
Her reaction was kind of funny.
“You seem to be able to use your points without any problem.”
Sora has allocated her points to skills such as “Enhanced Breath Attack”, “Super Enhanced Breath Attack”, “Enhanced Claw Attack”, “Enhanced Dragon’s Scale”, and “Enhanced Flight Speed”.
Unfortunately, she didn’t gain any new skills.
Unlike us, monsters like Sora and Momo don’t have access to a list of “acquirable skills” or “initially acquirable skills”.
As such, they have to use their SP on skills that they already have.
After thinking about it carefully, we raise some of the skills that Momo, Aka, and Kiki possess.
With this, we should be significantly stronger than we were before.
“Now, we just have to wait for Nishino-kun to contact us.”
“Hm? We’re waiting on Nisshi?”
“Yes.”
Nishino-kun has been in a conversation with Fujita-san and the others since early this morning.
He has apparently come up with some strategies to defeat Peony, so they’re discussing whether or not his plans are viable.
Other than that, they’re also talking about something much more important.
—It’s about how much time we have left.
We’re currently in the preparation phase for the decisive battle.
Although the “Safety Zone” is protecting us, there’s a limit to what it can do.
Food shortage would soon become a problem.
With Peony putting pressure on us, we can’t level up or scavenge for food.
(What I have in my Item Box and what’s left in the City Hall.)
That is how much food we have left, and it also represents how much longer we can stay cooped up.
Of course, the food won’t be distributed evenly.
Priority would be given to those at higher levels.
Those that won’t be participating in the battle would have to endure.
After all, it wouldn’t be a laughing matter if some of us collapsed from starvation before we could even put up a fight in the decisive battle.
Some people might riot, but we have President Igarashi who can take control of the situation using her powers.
< You have received a mail. >
—It’s here.
An announcement echoes inside my head.
I check my mail inbox.
Sure enough, it’s from Nishino-kun.
I open up the mail and read its content.
“…”
After reading the content of the mail, I look back towards Ichinose-san and the others.
“I’ve received a mail from Nishino-kun.”
Everyone’s expression changes.
“…What does it say?”
“Both of Nishino-kun’s strategies were deemed feasible.”
“…! R-really?”
“Yes.”
Ichinose-san and Rikka-chan buzz in excitement.
President Igarashi also seems surprised.
“This is rather unexpected. I didn’t think Fujita-san and the others would give him the okay.”
“We must be ready to bear some risks if we wish to survive. It’s good that we at least have an idea of what to do from now on.”
When Nishino-kun first told me about the strategies, I was honestly shocked.
At the same time, I was impressed that he could come up with strategies like that.
We’ve taken care of the only thing that has been hindering us from carrying out the operation.
Even though the operation is extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming, we can carry it out now.
A lot of burden will be placed on me, but it can’t be helped.
The only thing I’m worried about is the number of days we have left.
“When…will it happen?”
I respond to Ichinose-san’s question after a moment of pause.
“—Three days later. Three days later, we will be challenging Peony to a decisive battle.”
We only have three days left to prepare everything.
Only three days.
All of our preparations must be completed by then.
Sora and Aka are the keys to this operation’s success.
We must succeed no matter what.
We must win and survive this together.
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[1] The raw says “Desu desu”, which means “Yes, yes”. Which one do you think is better, “Desu desu” or “Yes, yes”?