[Exhaustion]

(Mittelt)

No matter how many centuries you're alive, there's always something that resonates with each and every sapient being.

Boredom.

And that was precisely what Mittelt was feeling before she walked into the human's house. Of course, this was Raynare's fault. It was always Raynare's fault these days.

In her infinite wisdom, she decided to appoint Mittelt to babysit the batshit exorcist while he went on his daily killing sprees.

Something about killing devils to satiate him and killing people who worked with devils because they were scum. Blah blah heretics and what not. She didn't care, and she was only here to put up a barrier so he wouldn't cause even more problems.

That nun they'd been waiting on was coming to town soon so Mittelt figured the girl could set up barriers in her stead. The man-child disgusted her, and every moment away from him was a blessing.

But when he was taking way longer than usual, she decided to investigate. When he killed regular people he liked to tell her in excruciating detail what he was doing to the body, so the fact he hadn't come back out worried her.

Worry? No, that wasn't the right word. She meant it filled her with the hope that he slipped and snapped his neck.

In comparison with the other strays, he wasn't even that good of an exorcist. Whatever experiments they did to try and make a descendant of Sigurd either failed or they overestimated him. As it stands, he's not much better than a regular human.

If it wasn't for his ability with the sword, nobody would put up with his... tendencies.

And what she saw when she walked in surprised her.

Taking slow, deep breaths, the target lay on the ground in what seemed like exhaustion. Covered in sweat, he looked worse for wear but he didn't have a single scratch on him.

In contrast, Freed, the bane of her existence, lay next to him clearly dead. His head was separated from his body and his sword was a few feet away from him.

'That would explain the how. Well, half of the how. The only question is, what do I do with him?' She thought and relaxed after getting over her surprise.

Without his sword, she assumed Freed was pretty much useless. So if the kid managed to get it away from him and had any actual power, the maniac would have no chance. That didn't explain how the kid even had any power since they scanned the town for sacred gears, but she didn't really care.

What she did care about, was that Freed was dead. An annoyance for Raynare, a blessing for her.

Were it any other exorcist or member of their little group, she would've killed the target immediately after realizing they weren't dead yet. But with this exorcist?

Ignoring the posturing of the much weaker human, she smirked.

"Heh, deserved."

And with that, a blue magic circle appeared and teleported her back to base without a word to the.

As much as she didn't like humans, this one was alright in her book. She still had to report to Raynare, but she didn't have to tell her that Freed's killer was still alive.

(Katsuo)

...

Uh, okay. That works for me, I guess.

I thought she was just going to try something but maybe she just really didn't like that guy. I can't blame her, he was insufferable.

That being said, I need to rest before I clean up this mess. I thought my sacred gear took little stamina, but it turns out that it takes way more when it's actually doing something rather than just being 'on'. I should've expected that, it was pretty obvious.

Should I call the devils about this?

...Nah. While they are strong, I get the impression that most of them don't know what they're doing either. Plus, I don't want to rely on devils of all people. I'll just break down the body and use the parts for later.

Speaking of later, what's my next quest?

[Main Quest 3: Conflicting Values]

Description: Some feel as though their race is something to be proud of, that their existence is a gift to the world. Others feel proud of a skill they're prodigious in and have cultivated for years. What, exactly, are you most proud of? What fuels your Pride?

Objective: Find an answer.

Hint: You believe that freedom is the most important thing, and that weakness is akin to a sin. But you are weak and consider yourself not guilty of that sin. Why?

Reward: Subspecies Unlocked

...What kinda bullshit is this? I thought my quest would just tell me to go do something, not think about the reason for having pride in myself.

And 'Subspecies'? Does that mean I'd be a different type of human or something? Like how there are different subspecies of frogs, but they're all frogs at the end of the day.

I don't really have an answer. I mean, I know that I'm proud of my strength but I feel like that's not enough of an answer.

Plus, I didn't really do much to become as strong as I am. Others, like that Freed guy, probably train every day as hard as possible just to get even a modicum of power. It took me a few days just to overcome that.

Ugh, whatever. I'll think about it later.

And speaking of Freed, what the hell is wrong with my Appraise skill? I mean, yeah, he used tools to attack me but the fact that he was even able to fight back annoys me. If 0 is a baseline human, having anything higher should put me leagues above him.

And yet, it didn't. It didn't account for his items, nor his fighting ability despite our difference in strength. If this were a game, I had the higher level but he had the stronger skills. That should be accounted for in Battle Power, shouldn't it?

Otherwise, the skill shouldn't be at the Master level. If it has flaws, I don't see how it's mastered.

[Appraise (Master) has been upgraded to Appraise (Unique) as a result of pointing out its many flaws.]

As a (Unique) skill, how it functions is tailored to the user. Choose one of three options.

1. Accurate assessment of the target's combat ability including overall strength in any and all combat-related fields, past fights, skills, and items. However, numbers will be replaced by letter grades.

2. Accurate assessment of the target's percentage chance to defeat the user based on the user's current status. Percentage changes as the user 'powers up'. However, the unique skill will be omitted.

3. Accurate assessment of the target's existence. Including their race, skills, and any relevant information about their past and plans for the future. Omits raw level of power.

Well, then. That is interesting. Does this mean skills that are mastered aren't exactly perfect? And what happens if I make a general skill like Cooking a Unique one? Could I then pick the skill back up, get the other 2 methods, and combine the three?

Or maybe I can only use it with semi-active skills like this one.

Either way, my choice. No for the second one. The issue with that one is that it probably functions off of a fair fight. For some enemies, I don't think a 'fair fight' would be fair for me. Like, I'm not going to fight Goku without trying to assassinate him first.

Fighting him without using sneak attacks or tricks while I'm only this strong would get me turned into a fine paste on the ground.

Three is interesting, but I think it has a glaring flaw. There are seemingly people out there who have lived thousands of years. The moment I used Appraise on them, it would either list out hundreds of combat-related skills or it would just send back a question mark.

The race thing would be useful since I can exploit their race's weakness, but I feel like I would know the race of the person I'm trying to kill. That seems like basic information that if I didn't know, I probably wouldn't be fighting them.

The past thing is useful, but once again. Thousands of years. It would get simplified just to fit in a description and the sheer scale of their experience wouldn't dawn on me until I'm dead.

So I'll go with 1, despite not liking a more accurate system than letter grades.

...

I thought something would happen. The screen closed after I made my decision, but nothing else did.

So how strong am I?

<Katsuo Naoki – Battle Rating: D>

Oof. Right in the pride. I wonder how strong the devils are.

And I wonder how strong the guy I just killed was. Speaking of him, I thought I'd feel bad after my first kill. But when a guy is that crazy, it feels like putting down a rabid animal. It sucks, but it's better than letting it continue to rampage.

Also, he was annoying as shit.

I really want to take these light weapons apart and find out what makes them tick, but I have a feeling I'll need magic or Touki to protect me in case they explode. And right now, my body feels like a sore thumb with how much stamina, Ki, and processing power I used in that fight.

Oh, does using Appraise on them still work?

[Light Gun (Common)]

A gun used by exorcists. Harnesses the light of angels and fallen angels and shoots it out in bullet form.

Current Ammo: 6/30.

[Light Sword (Common)]

A sword used by exorcists. Harnesses the light of angels and fallen angels and shapes it into blade form.

Charge Left: 3hr

That's disappointing. Even if I do break this down, I don't think I'll learn much. It seems like it just functions like a battery of light magic from the winged people.

Maybe I can fill it with Deconstruction magic after all the light has run out. I doubt it since that's not how that spell works, but it'd be pretty sick if I could.

Ahh, fuck it. I really wanna play around with it so I'm gonna meditate to pass the time.

Maybe I'll find the answer to fulfill my main quest while I'm doing that.