Chapter 7 — In Truth, I Have Awakened, Gaining Tremendous Power All at Once!
As the food they had ordered arrived, Hanakawa and Van continued their discussion while eating.
“So, what kind of person are we looking for, precisely?” Hanakawa asked.
“Hmm. Someone strong enough to destroy the city’s walls or who can move around ignoring the rules of the continent, I guess.”
“Are you aware of anyone capable of such things?”
“Nope. That’s why we have to search.”
“Could you not accomplish that with your Sage Power or something?”
“It’s not like I can do anything. But I can tell what powers someone has if I look at them, so let’s take a look around.”
“In short, we have no choice but to search one individual at a time?”
“I doubt we’ll find anyone that quickly, so we might as well take it easy.”
“Very well. That means you can tell whether there is someone incredible here by merely looking around, yes?”
Hanakawa scanned the cafeteria. They were in a dorm built for the first-year students, so there were almost no members of the upper classes there. There were plenty of students eating lunch, but he couldn’t gauge how strong they were at a glance.
“Hmm...now that I think about it, I do possess the Insight skill now, do I not?”
“If they’re trying to keep their abilities hidden, I doubt you’ll see much with Insight if you have no experience using it.”
“You mean I will not be able to tell?”
Van pointed. “Try looking over there.”
“Okay?”
“That’s where people pretending to be dropouts like to hang out. For some reason, people trying to hide their talents to avoid getting into trouble gather in that corner.”
“Aha. Those who wish to avoid garnering attention end up all gravitating to the same place.”
“Go ahead and pick any of them, and I’ll take a look.”
“Would it not be easier for you to select a target on your own?”
“Come on, you can at least do that much work.”
“Hmm...very well. I suppose I cannot ask you to do everything for me. How about that young man?” Without any clues, Hanakawa subtly pointed at a random boy sitting in the corner.
“Let’s take a look. It seems he has the Infinite Magic trait, so he can use as much magic as he wants.”
“Oh! Does that not make him quite powerful?”
“It’s a pretty common trait in this school, so it’s not especially strong.”
“How about that guy?”
“He’s good at talking fast, so it looks like he has the High Speed Incantation trait.”
“That does not sound especially strong, does it?”
“Right. There are plenty of people here who can shorten, skip, or just cast without using incantations at all.”
“Then how about that girl?”
“She’s a Saint. She fled to this continent after being exiled as a false prophet. I doubt she’d go back even if they asked her to now. She can use all types of magic, but again, that’s not particularly rare here.”
“What about that man?”
“He has infinite growth and levels up as he walks. But now that you have the Limit Break skill, you can do basically the same thing, can’t you?”
“Oh! But leveling up as you walk seems like a particularly easy way of gaining strength. Is he not extra strong?”
“Having a high level doesn’t do all that much for you here. There are plenty of ways to deal with attacks that are only special by having a lot of power, and I can’t even count the ways you could kill someone who only has extremely high defense.”
“Err...why does it seem like people with such immense power are a dime a dozen here?”
“Those who get really strong and have nowhere to go in this world eventually end up here. So we have all kinds of people.”
“As such, does that not mean those defending the walls are of equal caliber?”
“That’s right. That’s why you need more than just a strong friend to get out of here.”
“Hmmm. What about that person?”
“He can come back to life if he dies.”
“And her?”
“She can ignore defense.”
“That robed individual?”
“Invisibility and the ability to steal items.”
“And him?”
“Everyone thought his skill to add a fixed point of damage to all attacks was awful, but he made up for it by using a rapid barrage attack style.”
“Umm. It seems to me you are seeing their personal feelings as well as their abilities...”
“That’s what’s written in their stats.”
“Then, how about him?”
“He can steal other’s skills.”
“Oh, perhaps he has pilfered skills from powerful individuals before?”
“There are quite a few people who can do that,” Van explained, “so those skills will often be stolen right back. And there are plenty of people who have defenses against their skills being stolen as well.”
“How about them?”
“They can absorb the powers of anyone they eat. It’s similar to stealing skills, but it’s a bit different since they have to defeat their opponent and prepare them as food to take the skill.”
“That one?”
“He can make poison and bacteria inside his body and spread them around. But status resistance is almost universal here, so he doesn’t have much of an advantage.”
“Her?”
“She can make a place that is optimal for training, but no matter how efficient the training is, someone with no strength to start with won’t make it very far.”
“Him?”
“Ultimate Defense. But that doesn’t help against people like the girl who ignores defenses.”
“Then what is so ‘ultimate’ about it? Ah, how about I change my approach? What about that waitress?”
“Her ability is Shopping. She can fulfill orders from any store, even those in other worlds. It’s not totally impossible to use in combat, but she doesn’t have any direct fighting abilities.”
“How about that man with the ostentatious katana?”
“That’s a star-cutter sword. Like its name suggests, it can split stars and planets apart.”
“Oh! Does that not make him the strongest so far?! Something like that should easily cut through the city walls!”
“But even the star-cutter sword will be blocked by an Ultimate Defense skill.”
“Ahh. So it is not like it can cut through anything.”
“A skill that ignores defenses can beat it, but that won’t be strong enough to break the walls.”
“I feel like I am not understanding anything here. Would it not be possible to fly over the walls?”
“There’s a space-time barrier. If you try to go over the walls, you’ll slip into another dimension and never return.”
“So, is there anyone you have seen so far who might be able to help?”
“It doesn’t look like it. They all hide their abilities to save themselves trouble, so they definitely are super confident in their own skills or want people to be shocked by the gap between their appearance and true strength, but none of them seem strong enough to defeat the Wall Defense Crew.”
“What exactly is going on in this academy?”
“It was created by some Demon Lord who was trying to raise someone strong enough to defeat him.”
“How do you know about that, Sir Van?”
“I mean, I’m the one who brought the academy here, after all.”
“Brought it here? I am not sure what that means.”
“Just what I said. The academy existed on another continent before. After creating the academy, the Demon Lord went off, saying he was going to reincarnate or something. It seemed to be just what I needed, so I brought it to Belm.”
“I fail to understand exactly what you needed it for, but this academy is not something that was set up recently, right?” Hanakawa asked, looking around the cafeteria again. Though it was undeniably clean, the floor and walls showed a fair amount of age. It seemed like the building itself was at least decades old.
“Was it a thousand years ago? Maybe ten thousand? Either way, it’s been quite a while.”
“The scale is quite different from what I imagined! Does that not make you incredibly old, Sir Van?”
“Once you get strong enough, you end up becoming immortal. If you train hard enough, you can become immortal too.”
“I see. But a Demon Lord? Are they not regularly defeated? I feel the students of this school are more than capable of defeating one.” When Hanakawa was first summoned to this world, it was to defeat a Demon Lord. Working with his companions, he had succeeded. Thinking back on it, the Demon Lord had barely had any power and wouldn’t have been the slightest threat to the denizens of this continent. A Demon Lord’s invasion here would be little more than a minor scuffle.
“There are all kinds of Demon Lords. It’s not like they’re all the same strength.”
“Ah. But that Demon Lord simply left? What was the purpose of building the academy?”
“Oh no, she’s right over there.” Van pointed at a black-haired, dark-eyed girl sitting across the room. She was rather attractive but had a delicate, slender build and didn’t give off anything like an evil aura. The uniform she wore gave her a dark look, which one could take to be vaguely Demon Lord-like, but there were plenty of people in this cafeteria who gave a similar impression. Hanakawa couldn’t see her as a Demon Lord.
“The situation here has become much too confusing for me. What is her situation?”
“I told you she went off to be reincarnated, right? That’s just what she did. She was born to a couple in the school.”
“Ah, so it is that common trope where she was reincarnated with her powers as a Demon Lord intact?”
“Right. But unfortunately for her, in the time it took to reincarnate, the abilities of the students here exploded. Her powers as a Demon Lord don’t amount to much anymore.”
“Huh? Does that not leave her like a clown, waiting longingly for someone powerful enough to defeat her when she is in fact one of the weakest here?”
“Something like that. As a first-year student, she hasn’t been sent out into combat yet, so she doesn’t really have a way of comparing her strength to anyone else’s.”
“Then would that Demon Lord be unable to help me?”
“I don’t think there’s much she could do.”
“I do not feel like we are making much progress here.”
“Yeah, I thought there’d be someone useful around, but this is starting to look kind of difficult. It might be faster to go through the training and get sent out the normal way.”
“It is starting to appear so. However, now that I have become stronger, it is possible that I am capable of managing it!”
“So, this is where you are, First-Year Hanakawa!”
Hanakawa turned around upon hearing his name to find Ingrid glaring at him as she approached.
“Gah! Ingrid!”
“Oh? You seem awfully energetic! Looks like you are more than ready for another bout of training!”
“Actually, wait! Is this not strange? While it would be one thing to force me to study, what has led to you being so fixated on training me personally?!”
“I told you at the beginning, didn’t I? I’m not going to abandon you.”
“Actually, I do not need the training anymore. In truth, I have awakened, gaining tremendous power all at once! This must be a natural gift of some sort! As such, I do not believe I require any further special attention!”
“Oh? Go ahead and show me this new power,” she said. “I’ll judge it for you. If I’m satisfied, I’ll allow you to join the normal classes.” More than just his upperclassman, it seemed Ingrid was something akin to a superior officer.
“Uhh...is there not some way you can help me, Sir Van?” Hanakawa looked at Van desperately. The Sage had offered to help him, so he was hoping for a hand with this situation too.
“Ha ha ha, there’s nothing more I can do for you here. I’m a first-year and she’s a second-year.”
“Eh? That is all it takes to prevent you from assisting me?”
“I’ve already helped you a lot. You should be able to clear her special training with no problem now.”
“Ugh...you say that, but the thought of being pursued by such a bizarre creature again leaves me feeling somewhat depressed.”
“Oh, that’s right, I can’t afford to spend all my time with you, so we probably won’t meet again for a while. Try to do what you can by yourself from now on.”
“Wait, if you abandon me, things will get incredibly difficult!”
“Do your best.” As Van tried to brush him off, the sound of an explosion tore through the cafeteria.
“Wh-What was that?!” Hanakawa cried. Looking towards the source of the noise, he saw that one of the walls had been destroyed. Something had come crashing through it. It appeared to be an enormous piece of debris. The rubble had come straight through the wall, plowing through tables and students alike before striking the wall on the other side of the room.
Hanakawa looked through the destroyed wall to see where the piece of debris had come from. There were a number of ruined buildings burning in its wake. It seemed this was just the aftermath of another building being attacked. A number of students appeared to have been killed by the impact. As Van had explained earlier, there were some strong people among the first-years, but most of them weren’t that impressive.
Hanakawa rose from his seat and walked over to the hole in the wall. The view outside looked like a disaster. There was something in the sky above them, raining destruction down on the buildings below.
“Uhh...is that...a squid?” A squid-like creature was hovering in the sky, spinning in place.
“Looks like an ancient relic. I’ve never seen one like that before though,” Van said, having come up beside him.
“Umm, it appears that squid thing has flown over the walls. Did you not say there was some sort of space-time barrier there? I thought one could not do such a thing.”
“Yeah. Weird, huh?”
“Is that all you have to say about it?”
Either way, something had made it through the impregnable walls of Suudoria Academy. Hanakawa couldn’t help but think this was a good chance for him to escape.
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