006

Silence fell over a room. A young man stood in the middle of it, wearing just a pair of sweatpants. Nothing else covered his body.

[Status]

[Name: Shinka Kusaka.]

[Race: Human.]

[Aliases: None.]

[Health: 50/50]

[Mana: 8/30]

[Magic Power: Low. (Supernatural)]

[Attack: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]

[Defense: Medium. (Human)] > [High. (Human)]

[Speed: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]

[Mental Skills: Mathematician Lv.29, Rationality Lv.38, Speed Reading Lv.29, Accelerated Thinking Lv.12, Sleep Resistance Lv.20, Polyglot Lv.MAX, Split Thought Lv.1, Acting Lv.12, Hyper Concentration Lv.5, Hypermnesia Lv.MAX]

[Physical Skills: Strength Lv.30, Running Lv.18, Training Lv.15, In-Boxing Lv.10, Out-Boxing Lv.10, Muay Thai Lv.10, Jiujitsu Lv.10, Shokotan Karate Lv.10, Kyokushin Karate Lv.10]

[Magic Skills: Mana Meditation Lv.5, Focus Magic Lv.8, Mana Concealment Magic Lv.MAX, Invisibility Magic Lv.MAX, Magic Reinforcement Lv.2, Inspection Magic Lv.5, Senses Enhancement Magic Lv.3, Magic Sphere Lv.10]

Shinka scrutinized his stats closely as a faint blue light illuminated his body.

He was currently using the magic skill of reinforcement. Using this ability, all his physical characteristics were enhanced using the Mana from his body. The consumption of the skill was somewhat high, so he had to be careful due to his low mana.

Shinka had fully understood the skills. He had increased his mana from 5 to 30 points in a single night. He improved his sleep resistance and spent most of the night meditating to expand his mana core.

Shinka was genuinely interested in expanding his abilities as much as possible. He needed to become strong. As strong as possible in the shortest time.

The focus magic had become useless, and he hadn't even reached its maximum potential, but it really didn't make sense to keep practicing with it.

Something much more important to learn was the mana concealment magic. He improved this skill to the maximum before his sister and grandmother arrived home.

He wanted to hide any trace of magic from his body, and although his mana reserves were only 5 points, he wasn't sure if it would be a measurable amount or not, so he took precautions.

The skill reached its maximum level at level 5. This took Shinka by surprise, but it was really useful. Now he could modulate the amount of mana that came out of him, although the main goal was always to set such amount to one point.

Invisibility magic was one he practiced earlier in the day and reached its maximum at level 6. He could effectively conceal his physical presence.

Tremendously useful for going unnoticed along with mana concealment magic. Basically, he was a magical ninja, as silly as that title may sound.

Another tremendously useful skill was inspection magic. He could easily assess objects and people, obtaining details like their strength, speed, and some abilities of whatever he was inspecting at the time.

He hadn't used it near his sister or grandmother yet because when he woke up, there was no one at home, and even by afternoon, he was still alone.

Far from worrying, he was happy that he could practice his supernatural abilities in peace.

The last two skills were magic spheres, which were basically condensed energy spheres to inflict damage. The amount of damage it inflicted as a limit was decided by the level of the skill.

Shinka could currently kill a normal person if he threw an energy sphere at their head. The spheres had a diameter slightly larger than the launcher's hand.

They could be thrown or used in close combat hand-to-hand. It all depended on the user's interest.

Lastly, the senses enhancement magic was basically an increase in perception in everything, whether it be smell, vision, or hearing.

Click

Shinka heard the door to the house opening.

Quickly, the faint blue light enveloping him disappeared. He had deactivated the reinforcement magic.

A strange blue magic circle spread on his back for a few seconds and disappeared. Shinka confirmed the use of the mana concealment skill.

Reaching the maximum level, he didn't even feel whether it was activated or deactivated. It was extremely natural, making it dangerous.

After that, Shinka left the room where he was training and walked.

'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight people.' Shinka thought as he distinguished the footsteps of those who had just entered.

Noticing that there were more people besides his family, he quickly put on his shirt and approached the living room.

Upon arrival, Shinka observed a total of 8 people, just as he had predicted using his enhanced senses.

Six were young girls, while there was one boy, and finally, his grandmother.

Shinka squinted, he didn't know anyone there besides his family.

Reya, upon seeing her brother puzzled, approached.

"Shinka, look, these are my friends!" She said with a smile.

"She's Shitori Souna. The student council president," she said, pointing to a girl with short hair, strange-colored eyes, slightly purple, and pink lenses.

"She's the vice president, Tsubaki Shinra." Now a girl with long black hair, honey-colored eyes, and blue lenses looked at Shinka.

"And these three are my classmates Hanakai Momo, Meguri Tomor, and Tsubsasa Yura," she said, pointing to three girls.

The first one had ash-gray hair, with blue eyes, the second one had slightly reddish-pale hair and honey-colored eyes. The last girl had blue hair and eyes of the same color.

"Oh, of course, I forgot. This is Genshirou Saji. A friend we made outside of school."

Naturally, the only member of Reya's friends who was not part of the council, because Kuoh Academy was for women only.

The six greeted Shinka kindly. Although Saji seemed reluctant to even look at him.

'That boy... He has a strange arrogance.' Shinka thought as he saw his attitude.

"Pleased to meet you all, my name is Shinka Kusaka. And as you already know, I'm Reya's brother. I hope we get along well." Shinka said as he greeted gently with his body.

"It's nice to meet Reya's brother. She talks a lot about you when she has a free moment," Souna said after the introductions.

"Oh, that... You didn't have to say that, president!" Reya shouted.

Shinka simply chuckled discreetly.

"She struggles to admit that she cares about me," Shinka whispered loud enough for people to hear.

"It seems so. Soon the academy will become co-ed. Maybe you can come to study alongside your sister and we can get to know each other properly," Souna spoke for the entire student council with those words.

Souna raised her hand, prompting the young man to shake it.

Shinka listened attentively with closed eyes, and upon opening them, he felt genuinely excited by that news.

"Then we'll see each other soon," he said simply.

Shaking hands with Souna, everyone in the room noticed something about Shinka.

Something even Reya had overlooked.

'That kid... Just like the president, he has all his moves calculated.' Was Tsubaki Shinra's fleeting thought.

They understood that Shinka would be to Souna's liking because they were both intellectual types. Those who took into account even the smallest thing before making a move.

Shinka and Souna were the first to notice each other's similar behaviors the moment they made eye contact.

For Souna, she felt somewhat happy that sooner rather than later, such a person with a mind perhaps as privileged as hers would be under her command in the student council.

But for Shinka, having someone who calculated everything as meticulously as him nearby didn't inherently mean something good.

After a few moments of talking, Shinka's grandmother got to work.

"I've prepared everything since this morning. It's just a matter of heating up the food and enjoying." 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 had become a shining blue as he looked at Souna's back.

[Unable to use magic inspection skill. The target far exceeds the user's skill.]

'What? The skill worked with people this morning. Did something change?' Shinka wondered.

This time, he tried using the inspection skill on the vice president of the student council.

The message appeared again in front of him.

Finally, he tried using inspection on everyone present. Even when trying it with his sister, the message appeared in front of him.

'All these people have a system?! IMPOSSIBLE!'

It was clear that something was strange. How could it be possible that all the people in the dining room had a system? That made no sense at all.

Or perhaps it was a very large coincidence.

Was there something he wasn't seeing? And if the system had something to do with someone in this room? Like something that can be given at will.

Then, if that were the case, the first suspect would be Souna Shitori, as the student council president.

How could someone with the status of leader not be the progenitor of the system to her subjects?

Or maybe she could just be a puppet so that others would think she was the true leader. But following that scheme, anyone in that group could be the leader.

Shinka looked at his grandmother.

[Status]

[Name: Masako Kusaka.]

[Race: Human.]

[Aliases: The Witch.]

[Health: 60/60]

[Mana: 100/100]

[Magic Power: Low. (Supernatural)]

[Attack: Low. (Human)]

[Defense: Medium. (Human)]

[Speed: Low. (Human)]

'I can see grandma's stats. It means she can't be the transmitter of the system and, in the first place, she doesn't have much idea how to use it.'

'At the same time, it also confirms my theory of a different system for each person. It's impossible that if she had the perfection system, she wouldn't be the strongest person here after living so many years. At the very least, she should have mana concealment magic to be more discreet.'

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 through every action and reaction she makes. She could be acting in that meticulous way of operating, but it would be terribly complicated.'

'The other suspect is Genshirou. He seems like someone arrogant without a doubt, but I don't think that's the attitude of someone who is extremely powerful, to share a part of their special power from the system with others. It could be his façade, but just by looking at him, I'm pretty sure he's not acting.'

'Furthermore, I'm overlooking something... Grandma was already known as a witch before Reya and I were born. It would be impossible for these kids here to be older than my grandmother. And if it were possible, then it would be very complicated to hide their real identity dating back 90 and 100 years.'

'Then I can think that maybe Souna has something to do with the whole enigma, but she's not the direct cause. Maybe one of her ancestors.'

Shinka refused to believe that it was pure chance that so many people with a system were gathered in the same room.