Chapter 47 – ４７ – Masked Body Skills

Debut Match Arc

“…Now then, since it is time, we will begin the Masquerade lesson. Today’s topic is Skills.”

This was the afternoon class the day after the meeting.

I arrived at the designated classroom.

The instructor was Ms. Tarui. Aside from myself, there were a little over thirty students, which naturally included Suzu, Ichi, and Marie.

It was obvious that the academy had arranged for us to be together.

I don’t know if this proves it, but I was the only student in the room who had received an A-Rank Magic Capacity.

Given that, the other A-Rank Evaluated students, like Tokuto and the others, were likely taking their lessons separately today.

“…I assume you have all completed the preliminary study, so I will keep this brief.”

Now, about Skills.

As a premise, Masquerade is a technique that utilizes a Device to convert magical power and form a Masked Form.

Skills are an application of that technique. In exchange for consuming a large amount of magical power, they allow the user to do things a standard Masked Form cannot—such as temporarily transforming the Masked Form or converting magical power into something else before ejecting it.

That was what Suzu and the others had taught me during the duel.

Today, I was to learn what comes after that.

“…While Skills depend on the compatibility between the Device and the individual, they can generally be swapped out with ease. While you can read general tendencies, it is virtually impossible to fully grasp which Skills an opponent has equipped before a duel. Therefore, even after the functions of a particular Masked Form are known and countermeasures are established, a Skill can change everything. In modern dueling, which Skills one brings into the fight is a critical factor that can determine the outcome.”

I see; Skills are easy to swap.

Furthermore, based on Ms. Tarui’s tone, there are dozens of varieties. Even if you know a person’s preferences, you can’t be certain.

Depending on the Skill, a one-shot reversal is possible.

Therefore, if I didn’t listen seriously to today’s lesson, things could get ugly.

“…However, Skills are standardized functions; they cannot be adjusted. For example, if a Skill increases the length of a blade held in the hand, a Masked Form function could be adjusted in terms of length, speed, and duration based on the user’s will or training. For a Skill, however, it extends to a fixed length, over a fixed time, and returns to normal over a fixed time.”

But Skills are inflexible.

If you do it a hundred times, you get the same effect a hundred times.

That might be a good thing in some cases, but a bad thing in others.

Thus, while they are convenient, it is unwise to rely on them so much that you stop thinking.

“…Now, we will move on to the practical application. You will register a Skill to your Device and then test a single Skill within the simple Barriers prepared in the individual classrooms next door. As you know, the Skills you can handle are sensitive personal information, so do not disclose them to anyone other than those you trust. For the test fire, I recommend using a general-purpose, common Skill.”

Now, it’s time for the practical part.

And so, the usual four of us gathered and began by checking the lists.

Was it okay for Suzu and the others to find out which Skills I could use?

At this point, it hardly mattered.

“Now, whose Skills should we look at first?”

“Hmm, personally, I’d like to prioritize Naru’s…”

“I have a feeling Mr. Naru’s Skills might not be very ‘general’…”

“If that is the case, they might be poor as teaching materials. Though I suppose it is a case of ‘to each their own,'” Marie added.

“Eh…”

That was the reaction when I opened the floor.

Well, I’ve been told for a while now that the nature of my magical power isn’t normal, so it makes sense that this abnormality would affect my Skills.

I also understood the point that it’s hard to make a comparison without knowing what a “normal” set looks like first.

Still, I didn’t expect all three of them—Suzu, Ichi, and Marie—to look so troubled.

“Well, let’s just look and judge for ourselves. The Academy-issued Device might handle things nicely. Naru, place your Device here on the equipment.”

“Got it.”

“Now, channel some magical power into the Device. That will naturally activate your Masked Form, and the Device will display the Skills that are compatible with its specifications.”

I followed Suzu’s instructions and operated the Device.

Then, several names appeared on the screen attached to the equipment…

“…”

“…”

“…”

Suzu and the others all wore expressions that seemed to say, Now what do we do with this?

“Ms. Tarui. Help.”

“…So it really happened.”

Suzu called Ms. Tarui over, and it seemed Ms. Tarui had already predicted this.

She approached us calmly.

“…Ah, I see. This is beyond my imagination. Some parts are as expected, but other parts are far beyond.”

“I think this is fine to test for now, but how should we explain this to Naru?”

Ms. Tarui and Suzu were discussing this with serious expressions.

Wait, is the list of Skills I can use really that bad?

I mean, we’d talked before about how I probably couldn’t use Skills that affect appearance, but judging by their faces, it seems it’s more than just that.

“Naru. I will send the list to your terminal for now. Be careful not to let anyone else see it,” Marie said.

“Ah, yeah, okay.”

I received the information from Marie.

By the way, it seems that once magical power is infused, the Device placed on the equipment maintains a state where the Skill list can be checked and implemented for about an hour.

So, I could let go of it now.

Now, as for the contents of the list…

‘P-Un White Light’, ‘P-Accelerated Body Regeneration’, ‘P-Impact Reduction’, ‘P-Muscle Fiber Enhancement’… there are quite a few.

As Suzu predicted, there are no Skills that would cause a change in appearance.

However, it didn’t look like a list that would baffle Ms. Tarui…

“Mr. Naru. This is Ichi’s Skill list. If you look at this, you will understand a fraction of your own abnormality.”

“Is it okay?”

“Ichi and the others have seen your list, so we’re even.”

“I see. I’ll take a look.”

And so, Ichi showed me her Skill list.

Let’s see… ‘Lock-On Shoot’, ‘Fuzzy Outline’, ‘Full Burst’, ‘Magic Shoot’, ‘Fireball’… huh?

The letter ‘P’ that was attached to my Skills is missing.

Also, the names seem quite different.

Oh, wait, if I scroll down to the bottom of the list, there are Skills with a ‘P’ just like mine.

And the content is far more abundant than mine.

“I see, it really is abnormal. My Skill list is strangely short.”

“Exactly. That is one of the abnormalities.”

Comparing them side-by-side, the number of Skills Ichi could use easily exceeded fifty; it probably reached a hundred.

I see. With that many, as long as the list itself didn’t leak, it wouldn’t be a breach of information.

In contrast, my Skill list… didn’t even reach thirty.

It was oddly small.

“But that is not the only problem with Naru,” Marie noted.

“Not the only problem?”

“Yes. Didn’t you notice? The presence or absence of the initial ‘P’.”

“Oh, yeah. Most of Ichi’s Skills don’t have it, while mine only have the ‘P’ ones. For that matter, what does this ‘P’ even mean?”

Apparently, there were other problems with my Skills.

Or rather, judging by Ichi and Marie’s expressions, this particular problem was the more serious one.

But since I didn’t even know what the initial ‘P’ stood for, I had no idea what the problem was.

So, I was about to ask… ah, it looks like Suzu is free now.

“Suzu.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you. ‘P’ stands for ‘passive.’ In this context, it means the Skill is passive. When attached to a Skill, it means it’s a Skill that activates automatically once certain conditions are met.”

“Huh, sounds convenient.”

I see, the ‘P’ for Passive Skill.

In that case, for example, with ‘P-Accelerated Body Regeneration’, does it mean a wounded body would heal rapidly on its own?

That does sound convenient.

“Right, it is convenient. But Naru, think about it. Skills generally have poor fuel efficiency. What do you think happens if a Skill with poor efficiency keeps activating automatically?”

“Ah, uh…”

Suzu’s words made me realize it.

I didn’t know exactly how poor the efficiency was, but if something that even A-Rank Evaluated students like Ms. Maruta used sparingly was constantly activating on its own?

If that happened, even with my Magic Capacity, which exceeds Ms. Maruta’s, I might run out of magical power in the blink of an eye.

“Now, what should we do? If you only have Passive Skills, we’ll have to think this through.”

“Indeed. If we include Skills, Morikuni would certainly be able to break through Naru’s defenses,” Marie added.

“It’s a matter of how much can be covered by Mr. Naru’s Magic Capacity and nature.”

“…Please try various things. Depending on the Skill, there might be something unique about it. Now, I shall be going.”

“Yeah, let’s give it our best. I’ve got plenty of magical power, so I can afford to experiment as much as I want.”

For now, I have no choice but to try them out.

That should clear things up.