[Limit]

After a few hours of trying stuff out, I only gain a few skills. They aren't bad ones, I was just hoping for more.

[Skill Unlocked: Invention]

[Skill Unlocked: Stealth]

Still, I was hoping for more. The only issue is that I don't have certain things I need to get more skills. For example, I can't get the Programming skill, if it exists, because I don't have a computer. My parents are fairly wealthy but the past Katsuo didn't give a shit about technology in the slightest.

...I have a flip phone for crying out loud.

Besides discovering that travesty, I did learn something else about my skills. While I was playing around with Stealth, leveling it up a few times, and making my neighbors think I'm a weirdo in the process, something happened.

I became extremely tired.

It was then that I finally understood why it was taking so much effort to meditate for an extended duration. I don't have an SP bar, but skills that aren't passive seem to take conscious effort and effort results in stamina usage.

I don't get winded mind you, but at some point, it feels like I'm trying to do a push-up with my brain. In other words, serious mental fatigue and a headache if I go too far. I really don't want to find out what happens if I overextend my ability.

Though luckily that feeling of mental strain fades immediately after the skill levels up, so I can continue grinding my Meditation skill without stopping. Not so much for my Stealth skill, however.

Overextending that sounds like a one-way ticket to brain damage town.

I don't know if there's some background stat with my mental exhaustion capacity but I do know that each time a skill levels up it becomes easier to use so I'll just grind my skills until the mental strain feels like a tickle.

Now, what skills should I focus on while I avoid doing my homework like it's the plague?

«Skills Page»

[Appraise] – Lv.MAX (ON)

[Sacred Gear:???] (LOCKED)

[Meditation] – Lv.4/25 (Active)

[Physical Conditioning] – Lv.3/100 (Passive)

[Cooking] – Lv.1/100 (Passive)

[Invention] – Lv.2/100 (Passive)

[Stealth] – Lv.2/25 (Active)

Huh. I never even looked at the skills page since gaining a level-able skill. The idea that there's a cap to my skills is a bit odd but not unexpected. It'd be unfair if it didn't have some cap. I could just gain immortality and sit in a hole grinding for the next million years.

What is more interesting than the cap itself is the fact that active skills seem to have a lower level cap than passives. I'm not complaining though, less work for me. 25/25 and 100/100 are still both 100% so it's whatever.

Now that I have the Invention skill, I have a good idea of how much work it would take to create some of the machines I was thinking of. And... let's just say I'm gonna need a really high invention level.

Luckily, it seems to increase just by disassembling and reassembling things so it won't be that expensive time or money-wise.

It's a good thing it's Thursday because the weekend is gonna be a very exciting time for me and my skills. Lots of grinding, lots of things to do.

And there's one thing I've been dreading since I got home that would be much more stressful than everything I have planned for the weekend. Homework.

I will now continue to ignore it and focus on maxing out my first skill.

Something interesting was the odd feeling I got in my chest when I continued meditating over the current time limit. Each time I passed my previous limit I could feel something reaching out to me. Calling to me but not forcing me to come. Insistent, but patient.

At the same time, each time I pass a certain limit my Meditation levels up so I must be doing something right. When I stopped meditating in between sessions, I felt a pulse of failure for some reason. At level 1 I could barely meditate for a full minute. Then I hit level 2 after toughing it out and meditating for five minutes. Level 3 at ten minutes and my current level being 4 at twenty.

If the pattern continues, then that means I have to meditate for a certain amount of time without stopping to gain a level. That being the case, just reaching level 25 would be a monumental task. Unless the time needed isn't as linear as I think, it'd take years to reach level 25 of Meditation. Level 100 would be impossible.

Hopefully, it isn't a linear pattern.

Now the real question is what to do for the rest of the night. Continue meditating until sunrise, do my homework and go to bed like a responsible human being, or go outside at nighttime and risk getting destroyed by someone like Sona...

Oh, who am I kidding? I like seeing that little number go up, it's time for some good ol' sleep deprivation.

------------------------

(Sona)

Why?

A question that she still didn't have the answer to. It was a small thing, a new student blatantly ignoring her in favor of just getting class without a fuss. It happened quite often, actually. It saddened her to know, but most students couldn't stand school or anything it stood for and just wanted to get in and out as fast as possible.

But this time it rattled her for some reason. Before adopting that familiar look of disinterest, there was a flash of emotion on his face.

Astonishment, and then fear.

He obviously didn't recognize her, she would've noticed that if his emotions were that easily readable. Which had her wondering, why?

His immediate reaction after the fear was to get away as soon as possible. It wasn't a student who just wanted to go home quickly, he was a student running away from something.

So, suspicious and a bit more than a tad curious, she looked at all the information she had about him without doing a full background check. While she could do so, it would be a rude gesture at best and offensive at worst.

His transfer papers were nothing remarkable, and only really met the necessary requirements to move. His school records showed him as a top student. But with grades and test scores like those, he would only amount to a decent student at best in this school.

The only thing slightly interesting about him was that he apparently had a history of isolating himself and being violent when he was annoyed enough. Not the best qualities in a student, but it didn't seem to be frequent so maybe it was just a bad day or two.

That being said, there was one other thing that made her even consider thinking about him more than needed. His magical power.

It wasn't the magical power itself that interested her, he was a regular human with a regular magic core and regular reserves. It was what his magic did sometimes that interested her.

It rippled.

Not like it alerted everyone in the town, Satan forbid, but it did sort of pulse every so often like a heartbeat. She had no idea what that meant, but each time it did his eyes were closed and he looked like he was meditating so it must be intentional.

The only reason she noticed was because she set her familiar to watch him.

Ugh, she felt like Rias. Maybe she should just ask him directly instead of spying on him like a creep. It worked for Saji, after all.

Then again, he summoned her in a moment of desperation and wasn't afraid of her, so that probably wouldn't be such a good idea.

Maybe she could get Rias to do the spying for her, she was desperate for a new peerage member anyway. And this way she could satisfy her curiosity...