Chapter-01 · EP-017
Episode 17: Skill Verification
The hall at the dungeon entrance was circular, about the size of a gymnasium. In the center stood a pedestal with the Skill Board, and opposite the entrance was the descending staircase leading to the first floor of the dungeon.
When I came to the dungeon entrance to test the ability of my skill, Skill Camouflage, I noticed another student had arrived earlier. Were they practicing their skill? Even though we had just done our first dungeon exploration today, there were diligent students.
The student who came earlier was in a corner of the hall, so perhaps I wouldn't be seen, but I wanted to keep Skill Camouflage as secret as possible. To be safe, I decided to go down into the dungeon.
I carefully watched the other student while approaching the dungeon entrance. Then, a large object floated above their head.
The object floating while changing shape was water.
Looking closely, I saw the student was my classmate Maika Momota.
She had struggled during the skill class, so she was probably practicing on her own.
Do your best, I muttered in my heart as I descended to the first floor of the dungeon.
I was probably the only student who would venture into the dungeon on the very first day it was opened.
On the empty first floor, I moved to a spot where I was unlikely to be seen.
Now, this skill called Skill Camouflage. According to my childhood memory, I had been able to hide it from the Skill Board by setting it to Hide. In other words, I could make it appear as if I had no skill. But what bothered me was the name: not "Hide" but "Camouflage."
If it was just a skill to hide your possessed skills, "Skill Concealment" would be fine. Since it was called "Camouflage," perhaps it could also make it appear as if I had skills I didn't actually possess?
Thinking about such things, I reached the dead-end wall of the hall. First, as I remembered, I tried to see if I could display my status without using the Skill Board, and how to make it appear and disappear.
Back then, my status suddenly appeared without me doing anything. I tried blankly staring, but there was no sign of my status. Maybe I had to say the word "status" aloud? That was embarrassing, so I kept that as a last resort.
For now, I willed my status to appear.
Shirou Ichinose: LV2 ▶
Skill: Skill Camouflage (Hide) ▶
Party: None
"It appeared!"
I couldn't help but say it aloud.
I quickly covered my mouth with my hand. It would be bad if anyone was around. I had to be careful.
Anyway, my status was displayed before me. It seemed that just by willing it, my status appeared. I was really glad I didn't have to chant "status" every time.
Probably, the ability to display status like this was also part of Skill Camouflage's power. Normally, you had to use the Skill Board or use an Analysis skill to peek at someone else's status. Just being able to check my status without coming here to the Skill Board every time was a useful ability in itself.
Now, let's check the displayed information.
In the skill field, there was the word "Skill Camouflage (Hide)", which had not been shown on the Skill Board.
Seeing it with my own eyes, I felt an indescribable emotion.
This was probably an incredible cheat skill that would support my future dungeon exploration.
And there was another new piece of information that caught my eye.
"LV2."
Yes. Somehow, I had already reached level 2.
Normally, from April to July, over four months, you'd defeat about 100 slimes to reach level 2.
But I had reached level 2 by exploring for just one day. This was probably amazing.
I thought about the reason.
In the Arizona Dungeon I experienced with my father for one day when I was five, I hadn't defeated a single monster. So I hadn't gained any experience points.
And today, I had only defeated one slime and one Acid Slime.
Come to think of it, I heard that Acid Slimes don't normally appear on the first floor. And they were much stronger compared to regular slimes.
If the experience from a slime was 1, maybe the experience from an Acid Slime was about 100?
Was that why I reached level 2 by defeating just one Acid Slime?
If defeating stronger monsters gave more experience, then the academy's plan of only exploring the first floor for the entire first semester seemed terribly inefficient. I didn't know how dangerous it was, but wouldn't fighting on the second floor allow you to level up faster? It was probably safer this way, but I preferred efficiency even if it meant more risk.
Anyway, considering I leveled up, the Acid Slime incident was lucky. How much stronger had I become by reaching level 2? I looked forward to checking my strength.
But I couldn't just bask in the joy of leveling up. I came here to test my skill.
Just as I remembered, I touched the words "Skill Camouflage" in my status with my index finger.
Then the display changed.
Skill Camouflage ◀
・Skill Camouflage: Hide
This was also the same as in my memory.
I clicked on the "Skill Camouflage" text.
Skill Camouflage ◀
・Skill Camouflage: Display
The text "Skill Camouflage" changed from gray to black, and the "Hide" text changed to "Display."
Up to this point, it was exactly as I remembered.
I repeated the same operation several times and found I could toggle between "Display" and "Hide" each time I clicked.
And… that was it.
The only skill I had, Skill Camouflage, could only be toggled between showing and hiding.
Maybe this skill was completely useless if I didn't have any other skills?
I was dismayed.
Because the probability of acquiring a new skill was astronomically low.
I had acquired this skill in the Arizona Dungeon purely by accident and luck.
Either a Skill Orb dropped from a monster with a one-in-a-hundred-million chance, or I became a top-tier explorer and explored floors no one had ever set foot on and happened to find a Skill Orb. Frankly, neither was realistic.
That meant the probability of me acquiring a new skill was virtually zero. If so, this skill was completely meaningless.
"Sigh…"
I let out an involuntary sigh.
Murasakimura had self-deprecatingly said his Lightning Magic was a dud skill, but my Skill Camouflage was far more useless. I thought Murasakimura's Lightning Magic had much more potential use.
But well, originally, more people had no skill at all. I could just think that I had no skill from the start.
No, being able to check my status without using the Skill Board should come in handy someday.
Comforting myself with that thought, I looked at the status screen.
By the way, what were these triangles? Did they have some meaning?
Skill Camouflage ◀
・Skill Camouflage: Hide
Until now, I had been clicking the lower line to toggle between Display and Hide, but this time I touched the upper line, "Skill Camouflage ◀".
Shirou Ichinose: LV2 ▶
Skill: Skill Camouflage (Hide) ▶
Party: None
The status screen simply returned to the initial state displayed on the Skill Board.
Oh, that was it.
Looking closely, the direction of the triangle was opposite.
So the right-pointing triangle probably moved to the next display, and the left-pointing triangle moved back to the original display.
And then, I noticed something.
Next to "LV" there was also a right-pointing triangle mark.
I touched "LV2 ▶".
Level ◀
・LV2/2 ▼
The display changed to show only the level. The level notation was "2/2". I noticed there was also a downward-pointing triangle on the right, so I touched that.
Level
・LV1/2 ▲
The level notation changed to "1/2". Had my level actually become 1?
The direction of the triangle on the right had also changed, so I clicked again.
Level ◀
・LV2/2 ▼
The display returned to normal. After clicking again to set the display to "LV1/2", I clicked the upper line "Level ◀" to return to the main screen.
Shirou Ichinose: LV1 ▶
Skill: Skill Camouflage (Hide) ▶
Party: None
Sure enough, my level was displayed as 1. I would need to verify later whether this actually lowered my level or just changed the displayed value.
For now, I set my level back to 2.
After this, I also checked on the Skill Board. When I set my skill to Hide, the Skill Board showed no skill. When I set it to Display, the skill field showed "Skill Camouflage".
What I learned was that I could toggle the display of my skill, and I could also change my displayed level within the range of my actual level.
I didn't know in what situations this might be useful, but at least I had confirmed what I could do with my skill. That was good enough.
That was enough for today. Thinking that, I left the dungeon.
Momota was still practicing her Water Magic at the entrance, so I passed by quietly so as not to disturb her.