Kays Translations

Chapter 5: Skill

　The adventurer card was made of copper with a special pattern drawn on it, and my information was engraved on the back of the card.

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Name: Arai Takumi

Birthplace: Rosetta Village

Occupation: Hacker

Rank: F.

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　Back in Japan, I was an SE (system engineer).

　I wasn't actually a hacker, but I do have some knowledge about security measures and such.

　It should be compatible with the elements of skill I have.

"Since you just registered, your adventurer rank is F."

　There were seven adventurer ranks, F, E, D, C, B, A, and S, starting from the bottom.

Ranks are raised by quests and other achievements.

　It seems that you can accept quests up to one rank higher than yourself.

“Also, we have some equipment for rent if you’re interested?”

　From the back room, she brought me a knife, a leather breastplate, leather shoes, and a backpack.

　I wouldn't say that they were all worn out, but they were clearly aged.

“These are things that adventurers throw away when they get old," she said, "but the guild buys them, refurbishes them, and puts them out for loan. Use them until you have your own equipment.”

　I thankfully agreed to borrow them.

　The rental fee was 2 gold per day. I was told that the amount could be paid by killing a slime.

　She also said I could stay in the room where I first appeared for a while. I thanked her and left the guild.

　　First, I'm going to investigate skills.

　――I returned to the room I had been reincarnated in and sat down on the bed.

　My occupation is 'Hacker', and I have three skill elements.

　

"Contact" Increases the effect on the target being touched.

"Change" the effect of the change.

"Letter" Character effect.

　I had an idea in a blank space, and I selected the necessary skill elements for it.

　I wonder if the idea can actually work? I’ll test it out now.

I took out a knife I borrowed from the guild and held it wrapped in both hands, conscious of the knife's information becoming text.

　――Five minutes passed.

　Oh, I thought something like "Appraisal" would happen if I imagined it like this.

　Come to think of it, Ms. Hannah said, "You can acquire skills related to your occupation."

　The image I tried just now was "Appraisal".

　Maybe I need to try it with my hacker occupation in mind.

　…… I was consciously checking for any information going around the knife while I was ‘touching’ it, and looking out for the ‘characters’ to show up.

　

　――Three minutes passed.

　Then I felt something flash in my mind, and when I stared at the knife, a status screen appeared.

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name: knife

Condition: old and worn

Attack power: +3

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　Whooooooooaaaaaaaa! It worked!

　I think it's easy for me to understand what's written on the knife's status screen.

　"Old and worn" is the only expression I can think of.

　I also checked my status.

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Name: Arai Takumi

Occupation: Hacker

State: normal

Level: 1

HP: 10/10

SP: 9/10

Elements of Skill: Contact (Touch), Character (Letter), Change

Skill: Analysis (New)

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　There's an "Analysis" entry in the skill column, this is what I call "a skill is born".

　When I focused on the analysis text, more details were displayed.

　"Analysis": Acquire information by touching the target. The acquired information can be displayed. The longer you touch an object, the more detailed information you will get.

　The skill was just as I had imagined.

　Using a skill reduces SP, also expected.

　Now, here's the important part.

　I took the knife and used the "Analysis" skill.

　The status screen did not appear immediately.

　It seems that even for a target that has been successfully "analyzed" once, it still takes at least 3 minutes for the second and subsequent times.

　――After 3 minutes, the knife status screen was displayed.

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name: knife

Condition: old and worn

Attack power: +3

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　I tried to rewrite the letter "3" of attack power to "9". This is the idea that flashed through my mind, changing the letter of the status characters. _ _ _

　Conscious of my hacker occupation, I tried to "change" the target's "characters" with the hand that "touched" it.

　The character of the attack power displayed on the status screen remains "3".

　I know this could take some time to succeed, so I’ll keep imagining it.

　It felt like something flashed in my head again, and when I looked at the status screen, the letter on the knife had changed to "9".

　I did it! This is amazing, too amazing!

　I can't wait, I can't wait to find out more about this skill.

　I quickly checked my status.

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Name: Arai Takumi

Occupation: Hacker

State: normal

Level: 1

HP: 10/10

SP: 7/10

Elements of Skill: Contact (Touch), Character (Letter), Change

Skills: Analysis, Tampering (New)

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　"Tampering": You can change only one character written on the object you touch.

　This is too much of a cheat, there must be some restrictions.

　I tried to organize the results of the verification until the SP became zero.

・If you succeed in both "analysis" and "tampering" once, 1 SP will be consumed. If you fail, your SP will not decrease.

・"Analysis" and "Tampering" will fail if you don't touch the target directly with bare hands or feet for at least 3 minutes while imagining using the skill.

・"Tampering" can only rewrite one character on the target. If you try to "tamper" another character to the target that has been "tampered" once, the first tampered character will return to its original state.

　During the verification process, the attack power of the knife was stated as "3 → 9", and the attack power of the easy-to-throw stone picked up was "1 → 9".

　I decided to end the verification at this point.

　It's hard to believe that it hasn't been a day since I woke up in a completely white space.… feels like such a long time ago.

　In that pure white space, the elements of skill I selected were from the leftovers.

　I bet my life on the idea that flashed, and I won the game.

　My chest, which was filled with anxiety and joy, became lighter.

　

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