Silence took over a room. A young man was in the middle of it, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. Nothing else covered his body.
[Status.]
[Name: Shinka Kusaka.]
[Race: Human.]
[Titles: None.]
[Health: 50/50]
[Mana: 8/30]
[Magical Power: Low. (Supernatural)]
[Attack: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]
[Defense: Medium. (Human)] > [High. (Human)]
[Speed: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]
[Mental Skills: Mathematics Lv.29, Rationality Lv.38, Speed Reading Lv.29, Accelerated Thinking Lv.12, Polyglot Lv.5, Divided Thought Lv.1, Hyper Concentration Lv.5, Hypermnesia Lv.5]
[Physical Skills: Strength Lv.30, Running Lv.18, Training Lv.15, In-Boxing Lv.10, Out-Boxing Lv.10, Muay Thai Lv.10, Jiu-Jitsu Lv.10, Shokotan Karate Lv.10, Kyokushin Karate Lv.10]
[Magical Skills: Mana Meditation Lv.5, Focus Magic Lv.8, Mana Concealment Magic Lv.MAX, Invisibility Magic Lv.MAX, Magical Reinforcement Lv.2, Inspection Magic Lv.5, Sensory Enhancement Magic Lv.3, Magic Sphere Lv.10]
Shinka was looking at his stats intently, while a faint blue light illuminated his body.
He was using the Magical Reinforcement skill at that very moment.
Using this skill, all his physical characteristics were elevated using the Mana from his body. The skill's consumption was somewhat high, so he had to be careful due to his low mana pool.
Shinka had completely understood the skills. He had increased his mana amount from 5 to 30 points in a single night. He forced himself to ignore fatigue and sleep to spend most of the night meditating to expand his mana core.
Shinka was genuinely interested in expanding his ability as much as he could.
He needed to become strong. As strong as possible in the shortest time.
Focus Magic had ceased to be useful, and it hadn't even reached its maximum potential, but there really was no point in continuing to practice it.
Something that was much more important to learn was Mana Concealment Magic. He improved this skill to the maximum before his sister and grandmother arrived home.
He wanted to conceal any trace of magic from his body, and although his mana reserves were barely 5 points, he wasn't sure if that would be a measurable amount or not, so he took precautions.
The skill reached its maximum level at level 5.
This took Shinka somewhat by surprise, but it was really useful.
Although he was clear that this concealment magic probably wouldn't work against other humans stronger than him.
It was logical. Reaching the maximum level at a low level was a guarantee that it was a low-level magic and therefore easy to circumvent with the correct knowledge.
But this didn't perturb him entirely.
Now he could modulate the amount of mana that emanated from him, although the main course was always to set that amount to zero.
Invisibility Magic was one he practiced today, and it reached its maximum at level 6. He could effectively conceal his physical presence.
However, the same thing happened as with his mana concealment magic.
Tremendously useful for going unnoticed along with mana concealment magic. He was basically a magical ninja, as silly as that title sounds, but only as long as there wasn't someone better than him.
Another tremendously useful skill was the Inspection skill. He could easily appraise objects and people, obtaining details like their strength, speed, and some skills of whatever he was inspecting at that moment.
He still hadn't used it near his sister or grandmother, because when he woke up, there was no one at home, and even now, it was already afternoon, and he was still alone.
Far from worrying, he was happy because he could practice his supernatural skills in peace.
The last two skills were Magic Spheres, which were basically spheres of condensed energy to cause damage. The amount of damage they could inflict as a limit was decided by the skill's level.
They could be thrown or used in close hand-to-hand combat. Everything depended on the user's interest.
Finally, the Sensory Enhancement Magic was basically an increase in perception in everything, whether it be smell, vision, or hearing.
'Basically, now I'm like a Dragon Ball character!'
Click
Shinka heard the house door opening.
Quickly, the faint blue light enveloping him disappeared. He had deactivated the Reinforcement Magic.
A strange blue magical circle extended on his back for a few seconds and vanished. Shinka confirmed the use of the Mana Concealment skill.
After that, Shinka left the room where he was training and walked with his chest puffed out.
He felt invincible at that moment, and why wouldn't he? He had surpassed the threshold of human physical strength thanks to his magic, he had super senses, and now he could even attack from a distance.
'All fools will kneel before the power of Prince Vege... Err, Shinka Kusaka!'
As he walked, the sound of bare feet from the people who entered his house reached his ears.
'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight people.' Shinka thought while distinguishing the steps of those who had just entered.
Noticing there were more people besides his family, he quickly put on his shirt and approached the living room.
Upon arriving, Shinka observed a total of 8 people, as he had predicted using his enhanced senses.
6 were young girls, there was one boy, and finally his grandmother.
Shinka squinted his eyes; he didn't know anyone there apart from his family.
Reya, seeing her brother bewildered, approached.
"Shinka, look, these are my friends!" she said with a smile.
"This is Shitori Souna. The student council president." She said, pointing to a girl with short hair, strange-colored eyes, slightly purple, and pink Miu Miu glasses.
"This is the vice president, Tsubaki Shinra." Now a girl with long black hair, honey-colored eyes, and blue glasses looked at Shinka.
"And these three are my classmates Hanakai Momo, Meguri Tomor, and Tsubsasa Yura." She said while pointing at three girls.
The first had ash-gray hair with blue eyes, the second had slightly pale reddish hair and honey eyes. The last girl had blue hair and eyes of the same color.
"Oh right, I forgot. This is Genshirou Saji. A friend we made outside of school."
Naturally, the only member of Reya's friends who wasn't part of the council, since Kuoh Academy was for girls only.
The six girls greeted Shinka gently. Although Saji seemed reluctant to even look at him.
'D-Damn it! What's up with my sister, why do all her friends look like models?!'
It didn't matter that he had a perfection system. His acting skill still couldn't modify his natural physical reactions.
"I-I'm pleased to meet you all, my name is Kusaka Shinka. And as you already know, I'm Reya's brother. I hope we get along." Shinka said while bowing politely and trying to keep his blush from spreading.
"It's a pleasure to meet Reya's brother. She talks about you a lot when she has a free moment," Souna said after the introductions.
"Ah, that... You didn't have to say that, President!" Reya shouted.
Shinka simply laughed.
"Soon the academy will become a co-ed school. Maybe you can come study alongside your sister so instead of her telling us about you, we can get to know you properly." Souna spoke for the entire student council with those words.
Souna raised her hand, prompting the young man to shake it.
'Kuoh Academy is going to become co-ed?'
Shinka listened attentively with closed eyes, and upon opening them, he felt genuinely happy about that news, but his mood suddenly turned strange.
'But that means many boys will try to woo my sister! I won't let any weird, perverted boy get near her...! Unless he's rich and handsome!'
He imagined himself living off the money of his non-existent brother-in-law, before snapping back to reality.
"Then we'll see each other soon," he said with a determined smile.
As he shook Souna's hand, everyone in the room noticed something about Shinka.
Something that even Reya herself had overlooked.
'That boy... He seems simple, but he's not just the adorable, naive little brother Reya said he was.' That was Tsubaki Shinra's fleeting thought.
They understood that Shinka might be to Souna's liking.
'This girl. She doesn't look like a simple student council president. She acts like part of the aristocracy from a Turkish novel.' He felt the urge to use his Observation magic on her right then, but calmed down, understanding it wasn't the moment.
'Reya, it seems you underestimate your brother a bit.' The council president couldn't help but think.
Shinka and Souna were the first to notice each other's behavior the instant their eyes met.
After a few moments of talking, Shinka's grandmother got to work.
"I left everything prepared since morning. It's just a matter of heating the food and enjoying it," she said, and everyone followed her to the dining room.
As they walked, Shinka stayed behind the group.
Suddenly Shinka's dark brown eye changed color. It turned a glowing blue as he looked at Souna's back.
[Unable to use Magical Inspection skill. The target far surpasses the user's skill level.]
'What? This morning the skill worked on people. Did something change?' Shinka wondered.
This time, he tried to use the skill on the student council vice president again.
The message appeared before him once more.
Finally, he tried using Inspection on everyone present. Even when attempting it on his sister, the message appeared before him.
'ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE STRONGER THAN ME?! IMPOSSIBLE!'
'B-But my stats and my skills... How...?'
It was clear there was something strange. How was it possible that all the people in the dining room were better than him? That didn't make any sense.
Or maybe it was a huge coincidence.
Was there something he wasn't seeing? What if the supernatural had something to do with someone in this room? As if it were something that could be given voluntarily.
So, if that were the case, the first suspect would be Souna Shitori, as the student council president.
However.
Clank!
A tray fell to the floor beside Shinka.
"Ah!" He turned his head, only to see his grandmother, observing him with a drop of sweat running down her cheek.
'D-DAMN IT! I was careless! Grandma saw me...'
His eye returned to its natural color in an instant.
"G-Grandma, let me help you."
"Ah, Haha. Sorry, everyone. Age does its thing." She said to everyone, while Shinka and the others supported her.
'It seems she's not going to rat me out... Then, I'll take advantage of your kindness, Grandma!'
This time, Shinka took more precautions and looked.
[Status.]
[Name: Masako Kusaka.]
[Race: Human.]
[Titles: The Witch.]
[Health: 60/60]
[Mana: 100/100]
[Magical Power: Low. (Supernatural)]
[Attack: Low. (Human)]
[Defense: Medium. (Human)]
[Speed: Low. (Humano)]
'I can see her stats. That means she can't be the source of the abilities.'
Shinka kept thinking.
'Everyone in this group seems normal except for Shitori Souna and Genshirou Saji. Souna seems like the type of person who thinks about every action and reaction she takes. She might be acting that meticulous way of operating, but that would be terribly complicated.'
'The other suspect is Genshirou. He definitely seems like a smug person, but I don't think that's the attitude of someone who is extremely powerful, enough to share a part of his special power with others. That could be his façade, but just looking at him, I'm pretty sure he's not acting.'
'Then I can think that maybe Souna has something to do with the whole mystery, but she's not the direct cause. Maybe some ancestor of hers.'
Shinka refused to believe it was pure coincidence that so many people with supernatural abilities were gathered in the same room.
But...
'D-Do they all possess a system like me, or is it something else?'