CH 9

Chapter 9 – A Pleasant Skill

“Oh… thank you. You saved me.”

The female teacher bows her head down, fearfully looking at the “zombie” that I killed.

I nodded a little to her and then turned my back.

“What should we do now?”

“I’ll check if there’s anything else, just in case. If you want to, you can go back first.”

When I moved a distance from the teacher, as I expected, I heard the voice asking if I want to get a skill.

―1, 《Sword Technique (Intermediate)》

―2, 《Super Maintenance》

―3, 《Martial Arts (Beginner)》

―4, 《Hunger Resistance (Weak)》

―5, 《Natural Healing (Weak)》

“… Well, what does  ‘Super Maintenance’ do?”

―By acquiring “Super Maintenance”, the deterioration of equipment will be automatically repaired up to 80% over time. It also increases the repair speed over time.

It’s easy to understand at least.

It was the higher tier version of the skill I previously acquired 《Auto Maintenance》.

I put my hand on my chin and thought for a while.

Earlier, I heard a voice saying that I had acquired the achievement “First Safe Area”.

In other words, it seems safe to think of this as a safe place for a while (although I have no idea how long it guarantees “safety”).

Safe area.

And, in the vicinity of the school, there is a convenience store.

…Hmm.

At least, 《Hunger resistance (weak)》 is going to be excluded from my options.

When it comes to that, the remaining candidates will be combat skills or << Natural Healing (weak) >>.

Well, so far, I’m not inconvenienced by my combat power.

Then, I decided to emphasize the stability of my own life.

“I choose the fifth one ‘Natural Healing (weak)’.”

―Then, please choose the skill you want to acquire next.

―1, 《Sword technique (Intermediate)》

―2, 《Super Maintenance》

―3, 《Martial Arts (Beginner)》

―4, 《Hunger Resistance (Weak)》

―5, 《Natural Healing (Middle)》

―6, 《Skin strengthening》

So that’s it.

It seems that it was not my misunderstanding that I heard the voice  say level up twice earlier.

Certainly, a while ago,

―You can act freely for a while. It is recommended to raise your level by helping people or defeating enemies.

I remember being told that.

It seems that “raising the level” is also possible by “helping people”.

Furthermore, there is one more thing I learned.

Since I came to the school, I have dealt with a considerable number of “zombies”.

And in this case, my level went up by two at a time.

The “level” rule can be inferred from this.

“Helping people” gives more experience than killing “zombies”.

…Then.

In short, the more difficult the trouble I help with, the more experience I earn.

Well, it’s not surprising when compared to games, though.

“What are the effects of the 5th and the 6th ones?”

―If you get “Natural Healing (Medium)”, you will be able to recover from moderate injuries (fractures, dislocations, etc.) within a day.

―Obtaining 《Skin Strengthening》 will increase the strength of your skin and make you less likely to get injured. Also, you will be able to withstand a certain amount of cold even if you are naked.

Wow.

It’s already getting to superhuman levels.

I don’t have any plans to run around naked even if you say, “It’s not cold even if you’re naked~”.

I was worried.

Personally, I also want to increase the defense power with <<Skin Strengthening>>. But as a result, I don’t know if any changes will happen to my body.

What if my body gets really rugged?

When I give my important [censored] to the prince on a white horse who may appear in the future, wouldn’t he be put off by how my skin feels to the touch?

Well, such a person will not appear for the time being, I do not know if it will appear at all in the first place, and it is unavoidable to think about the future.

I hesitated once before after all,

“Please give me natural healing again.”

I chose the one with relatively little physiological disgust.

―Then, the skill effect is being applied.

The next moment, a strange feeling is born inside me.

Should I say that I am full of vitality? Or should I say it feels like my cells are being activated?

I thought when I acquired “Sword Technique (Beginner)”, but this feeling is a little difficult to explain.

However, I was convinced that something had changed in my body.

If you thought that this was the end of the level-up process…

―Please select the reward for the achievement “First Safe Zone”.

…Hmm?

Apparently there is still more.

―1, Medicine.

―2, Antidote.

―3, Holy water.

“What’s that?”

When I asked that,

―“Medicine” recovers minor injuries immediately by drinking.

―When you are bitten by a “zombie”, “Antidote” neutralizes the poison when drunk.

―“Holy water” can be sprinkled on your body to make it difficult for “zombies” to be attracted to you for a few minutes.

The voice answered everything in a lawful manner.

Ah.

Somehow, it increasingly becomes like a game.

“Achievements” are probably titles or trophies that can be obtained by satisfying specific conditions.

Apparently, “achievements” can be canceled by satisfying some conditions.

And by canceling the “achievements”, you can get a specific reward.

So that’s it.

When it comes to that, I’m worried about the conditions for acquiring that “achievement”.

It may be possible to confirm it somehow, but for now, it may be better to feel like “I’m lucky to get something”.

After thinking for a little while, I gave my answer.

“Then, with the ‘Antidote.’”

And after a few seconds of waiting.

―Then, the item will be supplied.

The moment after I heard that voice, a small bottle jumped into my chest with a blunt feeling like “Let’s do it.”

I caught it in a hurry.

It is unknown where it came from.

From outside the field of view, it flew as if it had fallen and sprung up.

The size of the vial is a little smaller than an energy drink.

“Wow…”

I let out a dumb voice.

The existence that appeared in front of me, “Antidote”, had two meanings to me.

First of all, the mysterious voice that I’ve been hearing since this morning.

The voice is not a kind of delusion that exists only in my mind, but something paranormal that has a physical effect.

For the me who has played lots of games, I noticed the mysteriousness of this when I was able to swing the katana dexterously, but in this case, I got a solid proof.

And one more thing. This is important.

Apparently, “something paranormal” speaks to me.

And it has some sort of causal relationship to this situation that is happening now.

Otherwise, there is no way it can prepare a convenient item such as “Antidote”.

…It’s troublesome.

While looking at the bottle of “Antidote”, I was filled with bitter feelings.