Chapter 30: Detective Level Up (Tuesday Request for Follows, 25k2)

"Oh?"

Ochiai looked surprised for a moment.

He turned to Sonoko and asked, "Is this reliable?"

"Of course it is!"

Sonoko proudly patted her chest. "Ran's mother is none other than the undefeated queen of the legal world, Eri Kisaki!"

"If that's the case…"

With that, Director Ochiai bowed deeply to Ran. "I hope this young lady can help contact that esteemed lawyer for me!"

"Ochiai-san…"

Seeing the elderly director bow like this, Ran felt a bit sorry for him.

She then handed him Eri's contact information. "I don't know if it'll work, but… if it's my mom, she probably can do something…"

"Thank you so much!"

…

And just like that, the art museum incident was resolved.

At least, from Fujino's perspective, it was considered resolved.

He had done everything he could. Honestly, it was only because Ochiai was elderly and pitiable that he didn't take the opportunity to squeeze out a hefty commission…

But Fujino didn't lose out either. Completing this task earned him 500,000 yen and, more importantly, a random purple-grade profession upgrade ticket.

A purple item—something easily worth a million yen.

…

After dropping Ran and Sonoko off at their homes, Fujino returned to his room, stepped out onto the balcony, lit a cigarette, and opened his system interface:

[Congratulations, the host has completed the Art Museum Incident: Haunted Murder Case, fulfilling Task Option 1]

[500,000 yen and 50 Detective Reputation have been issued]

[Random Profession Upgrade Ticket has been issued]

[Detective Level increased: Beginner ★★]

[Congratulations, the host has acquired a new detective skill: Detective Aura]

"Detective Aura?"

Seeing the new skill listed after his detective level-up, Fujino bit the cigarette filter and muttered curiously.

With interest, he opened the system's professional interface:

[Name: Fujino

Current Professions:

Main Profession – Detective: Beginner ★★ (400 Reputation needed for next level-up)

Profession Skills:

– Full-time Detective (Earn additional rewards and reputation from solving cases and completing commissions)

– Detective Time (Beginner: During reasoning for one minute, no one can interrupt you. Can be upgraded)

– Detective Reinforcement (Beginner: Strengthens the host's physical abilities. Can be upgraded)

(Duration: Beginner ★★ – lasts two minutes. Can be upgraded)

– Detective Aura (When triggering detective effects, the host will automatically exert psychological pressure on suspects. The suppression level depends on the situation. In a suppression state, enemy combat effectiveness is reduced by 10%)

Current Profession Points: 1

Sub Professions:

– Student: Intermediate (50 proficiency points to next level)

– Swordsman: Intermediate (500 proficiency points to next level)

– Bomb Specialist: Beginner (100 proficiency points to next level)

Current Balance: 2.05 million yen]

"So… this is a taunt… or weakening-type skill?"

From the system's description, this skill seemed to function like a passive debuff aura.

A passive skill.

Combat power in the Conan universe was always strange.

Against strong opponents, the characters became stronger. Against weak ones, they could still get beaten by old men with golf clubs.

Fujino guessed that fighting strength probably correlated with presence or aura—like the effect of a protagonist's plot armor.

"This is a pretty good skill…"

Retracting his thoughts, Fujino couldn't help but mutter to himself with a hint of satisfaction.

Then, he opened his system inventory.

The storage slots were crammed full of all kinds of items he'd drawn from professional balls.

Among them, the purple Random Profession Upgrade Ticket stood out vividly.

With a thought, Fujino selected it for use.

[Random Upgrade Ticket used]

[Bomb Specialist profession upgraded to Intermediate]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Bomb Specialist profession ability: Mad Genius]

[Bomb Specialist: Intermediate (Requires 200 more proficiency points to advance to the next level)

Bomb Disposal Expert (Beginner: Increases bomb disposal success rate by 10%; Note: Success rate does not stack for the same bomb; Upgradable)

Bomb Maker (Beginner: Increases success rate of bomb-making by 10%; Note: Success rate does not stack for the same bomb; Upgradable)

Mad Genius (Beginner: When a bomb is about to detonate, grants the host additional reaction time. Current detonation delay: 5 seconds)

Current Profession Points: 1]

"They upgraded the Bomb Specialist?"

Fujino shook his head, feeling a bit regretful. "Why does it feel like that Profession Upgrade Ticket was wasted… It would've been great if it upgraded the Detective profession instead…"

With a sigh, he stopped dwelling on it and allocated all of his professional points between the Detective and Bomb Specialist professions.

[Bomb Disposal Expert (Intermediate: Increases bomb disposal success rate by 20%; Note: Success rate does not stack for the same bomb; Upgradable)]

[Detective Enhancement (Enhancement Beginner One-Star: Enhances host's physical ability by 120%; Upgradable)]

This time, Fujino didn't increase the duration of the Detective Enhancement. Instead, he chose to improve its effect.

His combat strength was still somewhat lacking. Even though with all buffs stacked he had already reached C-rank, it still felt a bit insufficient…

Clearing his thoughts, Fujino shifted his gaze to the profession orb exchange interface and spent 900,000 yen on a ten-roll draw.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Strength Enhancement Card… Constitution Enhancement Fruit… Small Personal Storage Space (0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 m) - Gold Quality]

"Holy crap!"

Staring at the system notifications, Fujino blinked in disbelief and pinched his arm. As a sharp pain surged to his brain, Fujino finally realized he wasn't dreaming—he had drawn a legendary gold item!

[Small Personal Storage Space: Allows host to store items at any time. Current space dimensions: 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 m. Note: Upgradable. Current upgrade cost: 1.5 million yen]

Fujino wasn't unfamiliar with personal storage spaces—most transmigrators had one.

But needing 1.5 million yen just for an upgrade? That was highway robbery…

Next, he shifted his gaze to the Constitution Enhancement Fruit.

[Constitution Enhancement Fruit: Permanently enhances the host's physical constitution to a certain degree]

"A purple item, Constitution Enhancement Fruit?"

Fujino took out the enhancement fruit and examined it.

After a moment of contemplation, he made up his mind and popped the pinky-sized fruit into his mouth in one gulp.

Moments later, a warm current gradually spread throughout his body.

"As expected of a purple-grade item!"

Feeling the changes in his body, Fujino couldn't help but sigh with admiration. "What a treasure!"

As the fruit was fully digested, he could feel a significant boost in his constitution.

Even the chronic ailment of catching colds easily—which modern medicine couldn't cure—was noticeably improved.

This was something even Conan's world's advanced technology couldn't fix… truly, metaphysical systems were on another level.

"Since my constitution's improved… does that mean my combat strength has gone up as well?"

With that thought, Fujino couldn't wait to activate Detective Enhancement.

Instantly, he felt a powerful surge of strength flooding through his entire body.

Right now, he could feel that his combat strength had reached a level far beyond what he previously imagined.

One minute of pure power!

Even if he went head-to-head against a fully unleashed Miwako Sato-type strong woman, he'd still have a fighting chance—at least for one minute!

[Ding! Detected that the host's level is Beginner Two-Star. A detective profession bounty mission has been issued!]

Just then, the system notification interrupted Fujino's thoughts.

"Bounty mission?"

Fujino was taken aback, then quickly opened the system's mission interface:

[Detective Profession Bounty Mission: Arrest Numakawa Kiichiro

Mission Objective: Arrest Numakawa Kiichiro

Mission Location: Kyoto (System navigation enabled)

Mission Time Limit: 3 days

Mission Rewards: 2 million yen bounty, 100 Detective Reputation, Random Equipment Pack]

"Numakawa Kiichiro…?"

"If I remember right, that guy's one of the vicious ones who escaped from the Organization…"

Fujino stared at the system's bounty mission, thoughts racing in his mind.

Could it be…

(To be continued