Chapter-04 · EP-066
Episode 66: Cheat Skill Discovered
I'd never opened this status screen when I wasn't alone before, so I hadn't noticed. My skill, "Skill Camouflage," still had unknown abilities!
Yuno and the others weren't paying attention to me. I reached out to the status screen without them noticing.
First, I touched the triangle mark next to Yuno's name.
Yuno Hayasaka: LV3 ▶
Skill: Healing Magic LV1 (Active) ▶
Party: Shirou Ichinose ▶, Maika Momota ▶, Iori Takigawa ▶
What? Yuno's status was displayed. It seemed my skill could also show the status of my party members.
According to that, Yuno had also reached LV3.
When I pressed the triangle to the right of LV3, I could lower or restore the displayed number, just like with mine.
The problem was the skill. With me, I could toggle between (Display) and (Hide), and when set to Hide, the skill wouldn't appear on the Skill Board. However, Yuno's showed (Active) instead of Display/Hide. I tried pressing the triangle to the right of Healing Magic.
Healing Magic ◀
・Healing Magic LV1: Active (Display)
I hesitantly pressed the "Active" text.
Healing Magic ◀
・Healing Magic LV1: Active (Hide)
What was this?
I pressed it again.
Healing Magic ◀
・Healing Magic LV1: Inactive (Hide)
Inactive? That would be bad. Yuno wouldn't be able to use her magic!
I panicked and pressed it again.
Healing Magic ◀
・Healing Magic LV1: Active (Display)
It returned to the original display. It seemed to change in the order: Active (Display) → Active (Hide) → Inactive (Hide).
I hadn't confirmed it yet, but probably:
- Active (Display): Magic can be used, and it appears on the Skill Board.
- Active (Hide): Magic can be used, but it does not appear on the Skill Board.
- Inactive (Hide): Magic cannot be used, and it does not appear on the Skill Board.
In other words, my skill could also camouflage the skills of my party members.
Just in case, I checked Maika's status too, and it behaved the same way.
So it seemed my skill could hide or disable the skills other people possessed. It was a bit tricky to use, but I felt it was a skill that would be bad if discovered, so I decided to keep quiet.
I then returned to my own status display.
And I was speechless at the words written there.
Shirou Ichinose: LV4 ▶
Skill: Skill Camouflage (Hide) ▶
Healing Magic LV1 (Inactive, Hide) ▶
Water Magic LV1 (Inactive, Hide) ▶
Party: Yuno Hayasaka ▶, Maika Momota ▶
Because there, displayed, were Yuno and Maika's skills, which hadn't been there before.
Surely I hadn't stolen their skills? A feeling like guilt crossed my mind. I quickly checked their statuses again, but their respective skills were still displayed as before. I breathed a sigh of relief.
So, I hadn't stolen their skills, but copied them?
Was it called "Skill Camouflage" because I could camouflage my party members' skills as my own?
I extended my index finger to the triangle mark to the right of "Healing Magic LV1 (Inactive, Hide) ▶" on my status screen. The display changed.
Healing Magic ◀
・Healing Magic LV1: Inactive (Hide)
I touched the part that was set to Inactive (Hide) by default. Like when I manipulated Yuno and the others' skills, it seemed to change in the order: Active (Display) → Active (Hide) → Inactive (Hide).
Meaning, if I set this to Active, wouldn't I be able to use the same skills as them?
To avoid being discovered on the Skill Board, I set both Healing Magic and Water Magic to "Active (Hide)."
I wouldn't know for sure without actually trying to use them, but if I really could use skills, this was undeniably a cheat skill.
If I formed parties with various people, copied their skills, and camouflaged them as my own, I'd be able to use many skills.
Skills that were considered lucky to have even one innate, and acquiring a second or third required miraculously finding a Skill Orb in a dungeon – yet in my case, I could obtain multiple skills this easily.
This skill was dangerous! This was cheating – no, it was too cheaty.
If anyone found out, I might be arrested as a dangerous individual. No joke.
I felt both excitement and fear towards my overly cheaty skill.
"Shirou! Aren't we going to the fourth floor?"
Hearing Yuno's voice, I hurriedly dismissed the status screen.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry, I spaced out."
By the way, could the status screen displayed by my skill be seen by them?
If a third party could see it, I couldn't just display it carelessly.
Thinking that Yuno and the others, whom I trusted the most, would keep it a secret if discovered, I decided to check with Yuno.
I displayed my status screen.
"Yuno, do you see anything floating around here?"
"Huh? What, what? What do you mean?"
I held my hands up in the space where my status screen was floating and asked Yuno if she could see it.
But Yuno peered at that spot and reacted as if she saw nothing.
"It looks like nothing's there?"
"No, there's nothing, but I thought it would be convenient if we could check skills without a Skill Board from about this distance."
"What do you mean?"
"In games, you can see your detailed status at any time, right? I was just thinking it would be nice if reality were like that."
I made up something on the spot to brush it off.
At any rate, I learned that Yuno couldn't see my status screen. Meaning, this screen was invisible to anyone but me. Now, even if I used skills during normal exploration, there was no risk of being seen.
"Are you talking about games again? Games and reality are different, you know."
"Y-yeah, I guess. Well, shall we call it a day here? Iori, you're satisfied, right?"
"Yeah. I leveled up, so I'm satisfied today. Let's save the rest for another time."
We descended the stairs to the fourth floor that appeared after defeating the Floor Boss, then used the portal to return to the surface.
On the train home, we discussed our strengths and the issues we faced in group battles.
We checked the Skill Board on the surface and were delighted to confirm that all three had reached level 3.
Still, I never expected the three of them to reach level 3 in a single day. And now they had already reached the fourth floor, where I was currently exploring. Even if I tried to push ahead and lead the way, wouldn't they just catch up to me soon?
But somehow, it didn't feel bad.
I was beginning to understand the joy of getting stronger together with companions, different from the joy of leveling up alone.
And another thing: I silently vowed to dive into the dungeon again tomorrow to test my newly discovered ability, to see if I could still use it even when alone.