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Translator: Barnnn
Several minutes had passed, but Takada remained seated, frozen. His eyes fixed on a distant point, as if searching for answers in the void.
Then, suddenly…
“Camera!”
The word erupted from him like a desperate plea, and in a flash, he was frantically rummaging through the discarded suitcase beside him.
Meanwhile, Izumi maintained her Stealth skill. She discovered that her skill extended not only to herself but to anything she consciously targeted, even if she didn’t physically touch it. This revelation was unexpected, but it was quite welcome.
“Please work, please work, please work!” Takada muttered, his voice rising into a frantic litany.
He jabbed the power button on the tablet he’d hastily retrieved, applying it with such force that it seemed he was trying to will the device into life.
[Oh yeah, what about my phone?] Izumi thought, itching to check her own device.
But she quelled the impulse, reasoning — without any real logic — that if the tablet powered on, her smartphone should also be fine. Her gaze never left Takada’s trembling hands as they hovered over the screen.
“Okay, the power’s on… now the camera…! Where’s the camera!?”
Takada’s impatience grew as the tablet took what felt like an eternity to boot up.
Finally, he tapped the camera icon, and the screen displayed… than floor beneath it.
“Oh, c’mon!” he grumbled, flipping to the selfie mode, an option he’d never bothered with on his company-issued tablet. Now, Takada’s face filled the screen. “What!? What the hell!? I HAVE gotten younger! WHY!?”
There it was — confirmation of the bizarre hunch that had been gnawing at him. The reflection staring back was that of his much younger self, stripped of nearly two decades.
“And why fourteen? Where did all those years go!? Is it because you can’t be a wizard unless you’re young? Or is this some kind of twisted, forbidden light novel setup where you get disqualified when you lose your V-card!?”
Takada’s voice pitched higher as wild speculation began to tumble out of him in a torrent.
Izumi watched the unraveling with growing concern, and eventually, she decided it was time to intervene.
“Takada-san, please calm down.”
“Okay, sure… I WAS qualified when I was fourteen. But, wait…! Then why am I not twenty-one!? That would’ve made more sense!”
[Ahh, first experience at twenty-one, huh?] Izumi thought dryly, unable to suppress the connection that she had made.
“Takada-san?”
“Or maybe… you can’t be an adult? What IS the age of adulthood here, anyway? Is it fifteen? Did I revert to before I came of age?”
“Takada-san!”
“Oh…! Uh, what’s up, Ichikawa-kun?”
“Sorry to startle you, but it would be great if you could calm down a bit. I’m just as puzzled as you are about… everything.”
“R-right. You’re the one who asked me about my age in the first place. Sorry, Ichikawa-kun — I completely lost it there.”
“There’s no need to apologize. I doubt anyone could keep their cool in a situation like this.”
“You’re right. Thanks.”
“No problem…”
Izumi watched as Takada forced out a dry laugh, the image she had of him beginning to crumble. The man she’d encountered in front of the elevator had seemed like a sharp, business-minded professional.
In fact, even when they first entered this room, he had appeared as a sensible adult.
But now, as he sat before her, she wasn’t sure if this was the real him, stripped of his mask by the strangeness of this world, or if his current age had somehow made his mind more volatile. She decided to push these questions aside for now, focusing instead on the more immediate problems they had to discuss.
“As I mentioned earlier, the injury on my leg completely healed when we got here. And this Stealth skill I have — it doesn’t just hide my presence; it even silences my movements. It’s like it was designed to help us escape. It feels like someone, or something, is controlling this situation from behind the scenes. Given that, there’s probably a reason for your de-aging as well, Takada-san. Whether it’s temporary or not, I can’t say, but…”
“You know, you’re surprisingly calm, Ichikawa-kun. Just look at me — I’m supposed to be the adult here, but I’m just making a fool of myself. I’ve probably embarrassed myself in more ways than one.”
“Let’s just pretend I didn’t hear any of that.”
“Thanks. So, about the skills, your leg, and this whole age thing… I have to agree with you. It’s almost like we’re being told to ‘escape.'”
“Are you suggesting that this… whatever this place is, might be dangerous?”
“In the worst-case scenarios I’ve seen in novels, that COULD be the case. Too early to jump to conclusions, though.”
“Yes, I agree — We don’t even know where we’d run to.”
“Exactly. We don’t have nearly enough information to act on yet. Also, Ichikawa-kun…”
“Yes?”
“I noticed a few things when I was looking at the status window earlier, and I’d like to share them with you. If you don’t mind, could you show your stats with me too?”
“Of course.”
Beyond the obvious details like age, the most pressing matter at hand was the need to share their respective skills.
While they had already exchanged information about their primary abilities, both of them possessed additional skills, ones that had appeared within their status windows yet had not been brought into their conversation.
Takada had two:
Eye of Appraisal (∞)
Grants the ability to discern the true form of the target.
Applies to both tangible and intangible targets.
Art of Negotiation
Guides conversations toward the intended outcome.
“Here’s the thing,” Takada added, “While the level of my Eye of Appraisal is ‘infinity,’ it feels like an invisible ‘proficiency’ level also plays a factor.”
“Proficiency?”
“Yeah. I’ve been using the appraisal skill on everything I saw, and I’ve noticed the information comes to me a lot faster now. It’s almost instant — less than a second. Also, unless I focus on a specific target, I get overwhelmed by too much information. That happened the first time I used it in the big room — my head nearly exploded from the overload. It took a few seconds back then, but now I get the info instantly, and I can manage how much I take in. Plus, the level of detail I can see has increased. The more I concentrate, the more details I get. For example, take a look at this.”
Takada pointed at the tablet in his hand.
“When I first scanned it, this is what I got.”
He scribbled the appraisal result on a piece of paper.
Tablet
An otherworldly device.
“And then, when I tried again after getting the hang of it, I got this.”
He added the new information to the paper.
Tablet
An otherworldly device.
Communication with the other world is severed.
Functions that require communication are disabled, but other features are usable.
“That’s impressive…”
“I know, right? Gotta say, though, the real genius here is whoever gave me this skill. It feels like the more I use it, the more I improve, and the more I can do with it.”
“It’s the same with my Stealth skill, I think. Earlier, in that big room, it only worked if I touched the target. But now, I feel like I could expand its effect over the entire room without a problem.”
“I see… Well, Ichikawa-kun?”
“Yes?”
“What do you think?”
“Just say it yourself, Takada-san.”
“I’m not sure if I wanna…”
“You’re the one who figured out the proficiency thing. It’s only fair.”
They both knew what the other was thinking, but neither wanted to say it out loud, as if doing so would be like admitting defeat.
“Do I HAVE to? I mean, you look like you already understand enough… All right, fine. So, our proficiency is increasing way too quickly. We’ve only been in this world for a few hours, and our skills are improving at a rate we can actually FEEL. I don’t think this is something that happens to an ordinary person.”
Izumi nodded solemnly, matching the gravity of Takada’s expression.
Considering all that had happened, it was undeniable now — some extraordinary force was at work.
“We don’t know the limits of what these skills achieve,” Takada continued. “But somehow, it feels like we’re being told to ‘improve them.’ Maybe we’re not meant to laze around, now that we’re here.”
“My thoughts exactly. Our skills might be the only thing we can count on for safety. I’ll make sure to use them as much as I can — learn them thoroughly.”
“Let’s make a habit of it, then.”
With one matter settled, it was time for Izumi to share her skills.
Stealth (∞)
Erases the presence of the user and targets.
Includes all aspects of presence, such as aura, scent, sound, etc.
Fleet Foot
Allows the user to run at a speed 100 times their maximum stamina without consuming magical energy.
Perception
Enables the user to detect living beings, inanimate objects, and allies and enemies in the surroundings.
“Hmm?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Ichikawa-kun, your Perception skill mentions ‘living beings’ and ‘inanimate objects’…”
“Yes, it does. Why? Is something off?”
“My appraisal skill says ‘tangible and intangible’ targets. I’m curious about the difference.”
“I get what a ‘tangible’ target is, but ‘intangible’? Hmm…”
“I’m not sure, either…. You know what? I’ll try appraising something that seems intangible later on, see what comes up. Anyway, your Perception skill sounds handy, and Fleet Foot is definitely great to have.”
“They sure are. They’ll probably be crucial for escaping, so I’ll practice with them.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“…Oh, hey…”
“What’s up?”
“Ah… so, I just activated Perception, and all I’m seeing around us are red and yellow dots.”
“Red and yellow, huh? Red seems obvious enough, but what does yellow mean?”
“I’d assume it represents someone who isn’t an enemy but isn’t exactly a friend either. Maybe someone who could go either way depending on the situation?”
“I see. So do these dots just… appear? Or is there more of an interface to them, like a map?”
“There IS something like a map display, but not very detailed. It only has vague shapes representing terrain and architecture.”
“Maybe it’ll develop into a fully-fledged map feature as you get better, who knows?”
“That would be nice. I’ll let you know if it does.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
For now, they seemed to have a grasp on each other’s skills. They agreed to update one another as their abilities evolved with experience.
And then, there was the next topic — one they both felt reluctant to bring up, but it was unavoidable.
The information was right there on their status windows.
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