Chapter-01 · EP-016

Episode 16: The Effect of the Rank 4 Potion

The faculty meeting ran long, and a call came from the staff room to the nurse's office, telling us we could go back before Majima returned.

But there was one thing I absolutely had to confirm before leaving, so I came back to the dungeon entrance.

The power of the Rank 4 potion was incredible. Not only did it heal my injuries instantly, but it also restored my memories after I had lost them. I didn't know the technical details, but perhaps it repaired the synapses in my brain? Either way, it was astonishing, far beyond what I could have imagined.

And I thought that the more strongly I willed myself to remember something, the more vividly those memories resurfaced.

I had wanted to remember what happened right before I lost my memory, so I could clearly recall everything from around the entrance ceremony until I fell off the cliff in the dungeon and lost consciousness.

There was also something else I had strongly wanted to remember before entering the dungeon.

That was the memory of going to the Arizona Dungeon with my father when I was five years old.

I was extremely curious whether I had actually obtained a Skill Orb or if it was just a mistake.

So, thanks to the Rank 4 potion, I remembered. The events from ten years ago in that dungeon.

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I couldn't understand the conversation between my father and the local guide.

I could understand some English now, but since I hadn't understood it back then, I couldn't recall it.

As my father and the guide got engrossed in conversation, I gradually grew bored.

At first, I was incredibly excited when I heard we were going to explore a dungeon, but they wouldn't let me fight the slimes because it was dangerous. I just watched my father defeat them by hitting them with something like an iron pipe under the guide's instructions. It was like I was just a tagalong on my father's trip.

Bored, I looked around for something interesting. I found a gap between leaning rocks, a horizontal hole that a child could crawl through on all fours.

The scenery in my recovered memory was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

In the center of the cavity beyond the hole sat a Skill Orb. Yes, even though I'd never seen one before, I was certain it was a Skill Orb. Thinking my father would praise me if I showed him, I reached out with both hands to grab it.

I knew now, but Skill Orbs are absorbed by the human body upon contact. To carry one, you had to touch it with an inorganic object.

So the Skill Orb vanished in my hands as I tried to grab it. More precisely, it was absorbed into my body, but I didn't understand that at the time.

I, a five-year-old, was confused. I'd lost the treasure I'd found, and for some reason, I mistakenly thought my father would be angry. The next moment, something even more confusing happened.

Shirou Ichinose: LV1 ▶
Skill: Skill Camouflage ▶
Party: None

Despite there being no Skill Board, my status appeared in the air before me.

And surprisingly, it showed the new skill I had acquired. Skill Camouflage. At the time, I couldn't read the kanji, but now I could. Camouflage: disguising something as another thing or situation to hide a fact.

I had acquired a skill that hid skills. And probably, due to that skill's power, my status was displayed before me even without a Skill Board.

Now I understood the situation, but at five years old, I just panicked, not knowing what to do. Then I heard my father calling my name, having noticed I was missing.

Thinking I had to make the floating status display disappear or I'd be scolded, I reached out my hand. Somehow, I intuitively felt that I could operate this display like a tablet.

I touched the words "Skill Camouflage" with my index finger.

Then the status display changed.

Skill Camouflage ◀
・Skill Camouflage: Display

Not really understanding, I touched the "Display" part.

Skill Camouflage ◀
・Skill Camouflage: Hide

Then the word "Display" changed to "Hide," and the color of the words "Skill Camouflage" turned from black to gray.

At that point, I didn't understand what this meant. I just strongly willed it: "I want to get rid of this display."

The next moment, the floating display vanished.

Relieved, I answered my father calling my name and went back to him.

That was the memory from ten years ago that I had recovered.

I had indeed acquired a skill ten years ago.

Its name was Skill Camouflage.

And probably, I had used that skill, Skill Camouflage, to set it to hide itself.

That was why when I touched the Skill Board upon enrolling in this Dungeon Academy, no skill was displayed.

This might have been a blessing in disguise.

I had never heard of a skill called Skill Camouflage. It was definitely a unique skill. If it became public, I felt like it would be bad. I had a hunch—no, a conviction—that it was a dangerous skill.

Just how dangerous was it? To confirm that, I had come to the dungeon entrance.