Chapter 3 - Analyst

The girl walked out through a metal door that led to a cave. It was a completely different view from the laboratory. On either sides of the cave were lit torches. Not the modern kind of torches. No. I'm talking about sticks lit with fire.

The black dragon ran up her arms and rested on shoulder, leaving me on one of her palms. The girl then grabbed one of the torches, and she began walking through the cave. This led me to think to myself for a bit.

'Was it some sort of secret laboratory? Maybe I was some kind of secret project in the works. Yeah, right. Why give a secret project to a little girl? As if anyone is that dumb.'

As we walked through the cave we came to a massive area. There was a large underground lake with a hole in the ceiling which was letting in the moonlight. The lake was reflecting the moonlight, causing it to glow with a beautiful blue hue and shimmer like a gem. It was a very beautiful place but the most stunning feature was the massive crystal that was directly underneath the ceiling hole, right in the middle of the lake.

The crystal absorbed the moonlight and then dispersed it like a star, illuminating and bathing the cave in serene lunar light. The girl dropped the torch, and as soon as it made contact with the ground, the flames were extinguished.

'Weird.'

She then proceeded to move towards the lake.

'Is she going for a swim? Ou, maybe this is my chance to get a sneak peek at a naked girl's body.'

I waited for her to remove her kimono, but she didn't. She just kept on walking towards the water body. Maybe she preferred to swim with her Kimono on. Surprisingly enough, her feet didn't touch the water. I looked at the water and it didn't even ripple as she walked over it. It was like she was walking over an invisible platform. What was going on?

<<Answer. Probability of her using the skill [Air Plates] is 100%>>

'[Air Plates]? Skill? Ok, now everything is starting to sound like an RPG. Please explain what you mean by skill.'

<<Answer. A skill is an ability that allows an individual to perform a certain action. Skills are to be learnt after hard training, and are sometimes automatically obtained due to a person's class. There are various kinds of skills. Regular skills, Learnt skills, Unique Skills, Advanced Skills and Ultimate Skills>>

'Huh? I'm guessing regular skills are what a person or race is born with?'

<<Affirmative>>

'In that case learnt skills mean they can be learnt from other means. Unique skills are blessings from higher beings. Now it's left with these two. Advanced and Ultimate skills. What are those?"

<<Advanced skills are formed when regular, learnt and unique skills undergo a sort of evolution, to become more powerful>>

'I see. So it's basically a rank up for skills.'

<<Ultimate skills are the pinnacle of the skill tree. The final and most effective form of any skill>>

'Can't say I expected more for it. Wait… you mentioned some other unique skill earlier right? Evolve or something like that.'

<< [Unique skill]: Evolver>>

'Yeah! That. What does it do?'

<<This skill has the ability cause its user to adapt to its environment endlessly. User may also acquire the abilities of creatures it consumes>>

'Woah. The unique skill [Evolver] sounds good. I wonder which higher being thought to give me something like that. Ah well, I guess I'll just wreak a tiny bit of havoc once I become powerful enough like every other Isekai protagonist. Ok. Now that I think about it, this is starting to sound like some cliché Isekai anime. But, why the heck am I chicken. This is the worst of the worst. I did get unique skills. But still, what the heck?!'

<<Would you like to see your status panel?>>

'Status panel? Like a video game?'

<<Yes>>

'Um... Ok'

Suddenly, a clear screen popped up in front of me. It had my information like a character status screen.

STATUS

[Name: Hinotori

[Species: Golden Chick Level 1/15

[Status: -

[Age: 30 minutes

[Rank: F

[Titles: [Newborn in a New World], [Rare Species]

[Blessings: Ancient goddess' blessings

[Level: 1 Exp: 0/20

[Health: 20/20 Stamina: 25 Strength: 5 Speed: 40 Defense: 7 Dexterity: 6 Intelligence: 10 Luck: 40

[Skills: [Evolver], [Analyst], [God's voice], [Adorable Wink], [Imprint], [Baby Chick Cry]

'It's just like a video game. I guess poultry is too low for even Rank E, huh. Wait, how's my name Hinotori now?'

<<Target was designated the name Hinotori by a being stronger than it>>

'A being stronger than me? So Hinotori is now my name forever?'

<<Negative. Target's name will change if given a name by a being stronger than it and target accepts>>

'A being stronger than me, huh? Like this girl?'

I looked at the girl once again. She had pale skin with cute red lips. Her white hair was tied into a bun, with two bangs reaching right down to her sufficiently sized chest. She wore a kimono with fire patterns all over it, as well as a silver bracelet on her left arm. I just realized that she looked sort of Asian, like a half-cast.

<<Affirmative>>

'Interesting. And what's with the blessings? I get that I have unique skills because of my blessing from the ancient goddess, but what's with that [UNKNOWN] blessing?'

<<Note. A high ranking being can grant only one Unique Skill>>

'Oh. Ok. Which explains why I have been blessed by three higher beings. So I'm guessing I got my [God's voice] skill from the Ancient goddess' blessings.'

<<Affirmative>>

'Then what about [Analyst] and [Evolver]?'

<<…>>

I let out a depressed sigh when the agent didn't respond.

'Oh? Anyway, let's test out this [Analyst] Skill again. Hopefully I don't get blocked like the last time.'

I looked at her with the intention of using the unique skill [Analyst]. Apparently it's as easy as wishing to use it, because I saw a status panel for her too.

STATUS

[Name: Shiro Tatsumaki

[Species: Human

[Class: Summoner Lvl 10

[Status: Excited

[Age: 14 years

[Rank: C+

[Race rank: Tier 3

[Titles: [Magic Prodigy], [Heir of the Tatsumaki Clan], [Summoner], [Troubled Child], [Loved by fairies], [Loved by Spirits], [Spawn of Cursed Blood]

[Blessings: [Ancestor spirits' Blessings], [The fairy god of Light's blessing], [The god of Fire's blessing], [The fairy god of wind's blessings], [The Fallen Dragon God Fafnir's blessings], [Ascension Dragon's blessing], [The fairy god of Water's blessings]

[Level: 45 Exp: 3/789,034

[Health: 2,720/2,720 Stamina: 459/700 Mana: 990/1020 Strength: 340 Speed: 560 Defense: 220 Dexterity: 410 Intelligence: 1,995 Luck: 430 Magic: 560

[Skills: -

'Oi! Oi! What's with the number of blessings she's got?! Isn't there supposed to be like only one blessing? Also, her titles are so weird and those numbers she has for her stats. Scary~'

I looked at her face once again and that confident grin of hers was now starting to give me chills. If those numbers meant what I was thinking that meant this girl was a very scary existence. And the title [Magic Prodigy] alone was reaffirming that for me.

<<It seems that the target has incurred the favor of several high ranking beings. The likelihood of target being a [Hero Candidate] is calculated to be 70%>>

'Huh? Hero Candidate? What's that?'

<< Hero Candidates are beings that possess the ability to become heroes. To become a Hero Candidate one must first receive the blessings of several high ranking beings>>

'Oh. So this girl could become a [Hero]? Cool.'

That started to put my heart at rest. Hopefully she wasn't a horrible [Hero]. I wanted to check out more, but then I realized that I couldn't see her skills.

'Hey, Agent. Where's her skill menu? Didn't you say [Analyst] can see all information about my target?'

<<Yes. The unique skill [Analyst] can observe all information about your target. Except if said target has acquired a unique skill themselves or can intentionally block access>>

My mind went back to the man from before and I got a chill. That observant gaze of his still burnt brightly in my head. That feel of death. I could feel my heart about to pop from hyperventilation, but then a wave of calm hit me and I let out a sigh.

'Let's not get as much attention as last time, eh?'

<<....>>

There was no response, so I would take it as an 'OK'. Then I changed my gaze to the black dragon who was resting on her shoulder. It seemed Karma had no interest in me as it spared no more than a second to look at me.

STATUS

[Name: Karma

[Species: Black Dragon Baby

[Status: Bored

[Age: 5 days

[Rank: E-

[Race Rank: Tier 0

[Title: -

[Blessings: [Dragon god's blessings]

[Level: 1 Exp: 0/50

[Health: 100/100 Mana: 70/70 Strength: 15 Speed: 100 Defense: 50 Dexterity: 45 Intelligence: 240 Luck: 240

[Skills: [Baby dragon squeal], [Baby dragon breath], [Baby dragon claw attack]