What Really Matters Isn't Money (3)

"Well, I don't plan on hiding them at this point, but... You don't normally go around revealing your Skills, you know? It's like showing your hand."

"I understand that, but I'm still curious."

When Rex said that, Alice and Kururu nodded in agreement. Seeing them, Kagami sighed and muttered, "Do you really understand...?" Then he opened his Status Window and displayed a list of his Skills.

"Super... Finger...? Hyper Finger... Hey, Kagami-san—"

"What is it?"

"Don't you have a lot of Skills with 'Finger' in the name?"

Alice stared blankly at the Skill names displayed in the Status Window and murmured. At the very top was Auto Revive, presumably the first Skill he'd learned—the one that automatically healed him. Below it was Super Finger, a Skill he'd apparently learned at Level 200.

Below that, the names went: Hyper Finger, Ultra Finger, Miracle Finger, Perfect Finger, Exotic Full Burst Act 5, Reverse, Limit Release, and One Who Challenges God.

"I already know about Auto Revive, Limit Release, and One Who Challenges God because you told me about them before... But what are these Finger Skills, and Exotic Full Burst...? They sound amazing! What do they do?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'll show you one at a time. But don't expect anything as impressive as the three Skills I already told you about, okay? These are unbelievably crappy Skills."

Kagami emphasized this so insistently that Alice, Rex, and Kururu looked confused. But as soon as he displayed Super Finger's description in the Status Window, they focused on it. The Status Window read:

'Super Finger'

Effect: Increases the strength of your finger flicks.

Alice, Rex, and Kururu wore hard-to-describe expressions as they read the effect.

"Is this the Skill that the demon named Estellara mentioned...? How much stronger does it make your finger flicks?"

Kururu asked hesitantly.

"You can make a flick with one finger as powerful as a flick with two."

At that answer, Rex murmured, "That's... underwhelming," and gave Kagami a sympathetic look.

Kagami continued, switching the Status Window to show them each Skill with 'Finger' in its name, one after another.

'Hyper Finger'

Effect: Further increases the strength of your finger flicks.

'Ultra Finger'

Effect: Further increases the strength of your finger flicks.

'Miracle Finger'

Effect: Your finger won't get hurt when you flick something.

'Perfect Finger'

Effect: Your aim stays accurate no matter what the circumstances when you flick something.

"Do you get it, you guys? How I felt back then, having to learn these ridiculously useless Skills one after another until I hit Level 600? I got good enough to flick boogers and kill Slimes, but just punching them is stronger, you know?"

Rex and Kururu wore pained expressions, able to easily imagine the despair of being a Villager—already an ill-favored lot—and then receiving one pointless Skill after another.

At the same time, they felt they understood a little of how Kagami had managed to acquire special Skills that let him surpass his limits. Without that first Auto Revive, the Kagami who stood before them now probably wouldn't have existed.

"B-but! At Level... seven hundred, maybe? You learned a Skill that wasn't another Finger Skill, didn't you? You kept working hard and never gave up, so you must have finally awakened something! And the Skill name sounds amazing, too!"

Perhaps Alice felt she had to do something after seeing their anguished expressions. She forced a smile and hurriedly tried to reassure him. But Kagami didn't answer. Instead, he switched the Status Window to display the details of Exotic Full Burst Act 5.

'Exotic Full Burst Act 5'

Effect: Has a cool-sounding name.

"The Skill that made me despair the most, and want to punch God into next week, was this one."

Faced with Kagami's deadpan response, Alice couldn't say a word. The despair, anguish, and sorrow he must have felt back then came through so vividly in his expression it hurt.

Then Kagami displayed his final Skill in the Status Window.

Rex, Kururu, and Alice had already given up on the possibility that it was an amazing Skill. They were simply overwhelmed by the urge to praise Kagami for persevering until Level 700 despite such awful Skills, then hug and comfort him. Even so, they turned their eyes to the Skill.

'Reverse'

Effect: The lower your level, the more powerful techniques and spells you can use without paying a cost. But the higher your level, the narrower the range of powerful techniques and spells available to you.

"This Skill... Could this be why Kagami-san has only ever used simple techniques, and can't use magic...?"

Kururu had looked at it without expecting anything, but the effect left her staring in shock as she cautiously asked. Kagami replied with that same tired, deadpan expression—

"I learned this Skill at Level 800."

Those words made it immediately clear what he meant.

Neither Kururu nor Rex had expected there to be a Skill with an effect that weakened you.

They had no idea how limited the range was, but Kagami had used simple techniques like Charge Blow, so it didn't seem to make every technique completely unusable, even at the highest level. Still, the Skill was nothing short of pitiful.

It was enough to make them understand why Kagami resented God.