I pinched the bridge of my nose. Alright. One problem at a time. This wasn’t new. I’ve done worse. I can handle this.
First things first, I think I’ll do the easy problem first.
Discreetly, I sped up my mind, not too much that I wouldn’t see anything, but enough for me to see everything. I used mana sense and my ability to perceive mana currents, I began to feel the inner energies of the plate. The mechanism of the plate wasn’t particularly challenging which was a bonus.
Then, in real time, I slowly began to prod the plate in my hands with mana. Like how a thief would fumble around the tumblers of a lock. Slow, precise, and careful. It’s a delicate process for sure, I don’t want to break anything important. Fortunately, something like this wasn’t beyond me, thanks to the education and training I had. And the amount of practice I did.
Whenever a current drifted somewhere I didn’t want, I nudged it back into place with ease. Internally, the device felt almost like a manatech circuit board, complete with logic gates and flow structures. That meant I only needed to find one thing: the memory storage. The part that recorded the actual status.
Celestia, completely unaware, was beaming like a child who’d just been given unlimited candy.
“Who’s first!?” she repeated, bouncing lightly on her toes.
Everyone else suddenly refused to make eye contact. Even the adults wore the kind of expressions usually reserved for tax audits or police summons.
“We’ll volunteer, me and Terry,” Arthur’s father raised a hand. Then he passed two plates to his son, who went to pass them to Celestia.
She shook her head, and with a wide smile, used both hands and gestured towards the machine.
“Lord Arthur, please, feel free,” she beamed.
Arthur scratched the back of his head and a with wry smile stood up and approached the machine as everyone watched with no small amount of anticipation. Including the king.
“Just insert them into the slot. The machine can display two statuses at once. When it’s done, simply pull them out,” Celestia instructed brightly, pure enthusiasm.
“Okay, sounds simple enough,” he replied and inserted the plates as instructed.
The machine hummed for a few seconds, then began printing out their statuses.
==================
Name: Spencer Macmillan, Terrance Rosemont
Level: 1
Experience: 0/300
Master Class: [Professor]
Job Class: [Mentor]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 240
MP: 262
Stamina: 209
Movement: 33
Stat Rating: 448
STATS
Strength: 50
Agility: 50
Endurance: 79
Intelligence: 101
Will: 91
Arcana: 77
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Common] Encouragement (0) ??????????
[Rare] Mentor (0) ?????????? [X,X,X,X] (Slots, 0/4)
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Common] Guidance (5) ??????????
[Common] Instructor Training (7) ??????????
[Common] Demonstration (5) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Calculations (5) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned]
That was something, from their attributes to their statuses were the same. The only difference was their names. We all turned to look at Celestia and the king’s reaction.
Celestia’s grin—if it was even possible—stretched wider.
“Majesty! Look! Despite being level 1, their stat ratings are over 300! And they even have one stat over a hundred!” she squeaked, practically vibrating with excitement. “But more than that! They also have subclasses!”
The king raised an impressed brow before nodding with a smile on his face.
“Is that alright, I mean, okay, even if we aren’t the chosen heroes?” Terrance asked with a wry smile.
“Of course,” the king replied warmly. “As I have said before, whatever your choice, we will respect it. Whether your potential is that of the mightiest hero or that of the lowest common man.”
“But, are we really that strong?” Spencer pressed, doubt in his voice.
“Yes! To compare, a normal individual in this world has a stat rating of around 300. Guards and trained soldiers score higher, but rarely over 400!” Celestia added, her enthusiasm so intense her words practically tumbled over one another in trying to get out of her mouth.
The king sighed, then coughed once.
“Might we speed this along?” he suggested, his tone gentle but firm. “For everyone’s sake—and for my mage’s—so all of you can rest for the night.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. All except for the mage who looked a bit disappointed.
The next volunteers were, surprisingly, my parents. They passed their plates to my brother, who got up and mimicked Arthur’s earlier actions, carefully sliding the plates into the machine.
==================
Name: Kazehiko Reyvidaneo
Level: 1
Experience: 0/300
Master Class: [Engineer]
Job Class: [Civil Engineer]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 232
MP: 283
Stamina: 236
Movement: 28
Stat Rating: 466
STATS
Strength: 44
Agility: 41
Endurance: 92
Intelligence: 143
Will: 70
Arcana: 76
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Rare] Design Creation (6) ??????????
[Rare] Mineral Analysis (0) ??????????
[Rare] Ground Survey (0) ??????????
[Rare] Foundation Survey (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Rare] Builder Team Management (6) ??????????
[Rare] Surveyor’s Intuition (7) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Analysis (5) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Calculations (7) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned]
==================
Name: Annamaria Reyvidaneo
Level: 1
Experience: 0/300
Master Class: [Engineer]
Job Class: [Civil Engineer]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 229
MP: 280
Stamina: 240
Movement: 31
Stat Rating: 466
STATS
Strength: 48
Agility: 46
Endurance: 92
Intelligence: 143
Will: 67
Arcana: 70
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Rare] Design Creation (6) ??????????
[Rare] Mineral Analysis (0) ??????????
[Rare] Ground Survey (0) ??????????
[Rare] Foundation Survey (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Rare] Expert Cooking (5) ??????????
[Rare] Expert Sewing (4) ??????????
[Rare] Expert Barber (3) ??????????
[Rare] Surveyor’s Intuition (7) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Analysis (5) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Calculations (7) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned]
We all turned back to Celestia and the king.
Both of them looked stunned. The king seemed genuinely, seriously, impressed, his mouth opening and closing once before he recovered enough to offer my parents a respectful nod.
“All, rare skills,” Celestia breathed, almost reverently. “And at such levels… higher than mine. Their stat ratings are even higher than—”
She cut herself off, unable to finish. Instead, she stared at my parents like they were some, eighth wonder of the world or something.
My mother smiled wryly at her stare. My father on the other hand was the opposite. He looked far too pleased with himself, though he did his best to pretend otherwise.
Yeah, no. That won’t do.
“Wait,” I said out loud. I stared at him then my mother. Then back at him. “Mom’s stronger than you! HAH!”
Mother let out a soft pfft! and covered her mouth as her shoulders shook. My father turned toward me with a glare sharp enough to skin someone alive. If looks could kill, by now, I’m sure, I’d be a chalk outline on the floor, possibly ten times over.
Mission accomplished.
The next pair were the teacher and Shizuku’s mother. The teacher’s name was Kaname Toudou, elder sister of Karin. She had the same master class and subclass, even skill set as Arthur and Trayn’s fathers. The only difference was that she had 5 points more on agility and 10 points less in her strength stats.
Then we looked at the other one.
==================
Name: Tsukiyo Mochizuki
Level: 1
Experience: 0/400
Master Class: [Housewife]
Job Class: [Ninja]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
HP: 230
MP: 198
Stamina: 297
Movement: 80
Stat Rating: 570
STATS
Strength: 88
Agility: 151
Endurance: 109
Intelligence: 77
Will: 71
Arcana: 74
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Common] Helm Splitter (5) ??????????
[Common] Severing Strike (0) ??????????
[Rare] Backstab (0) ??????????
[Rare] Blink strike (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Common] Counter (5) ??????????
[Common] Riposte (5) ??????????
[Common] Knife Training (7) ??????????
[Common] Longsword Mastery (4) ??????????
[Common] Shortsword Mastery (6) ??????????
[Common] Blade Training (5) ??????????
[Common] Martial Training (9) ??????????
[Common] Cooking (5) ??????????
[Rare] Evasion (4) ??????????
[Rare] Silent Sweep (5) ??????????
[Rare] Pot Lid Parry (5) ??????????
[Rare] Stealth Apron (5) ??????????
[Rare] Domestic Deception (7) ??????????
[Rare] Homefront Reflexes (4) ??????????
[Rare] Superhuman Multitasker (1) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned]
[Ninja Housewife]
What the fuck? Like, why?
There were so many things I could unpack here. Keep it together, you’re stronger than this.
I exhaled a breath I didn’t know or realize I was holding.
Okay.
Well, if the king and Celestia were stunned and a loss for words before, their mouths were certainly hanging open now. Everyone was. We all looked at the impossible thing shown on the display.
The first one to have an actual offensive skill is a god damned housewife. Granted that housewife is the daughter of an unnecessarily powerful lighting wielding, katana slashing monster god monster but still.
Then I turned to look at the daughter of the daughter. Shizuku’s expression mirrored our collective disbelief and was looking at what the machine displayed with shock, incredulity, and no small measure of “what the hell is happening?”
“So, this whole time I was being recruited into a cult family of ninjas,” I said to Shizuku, trying to sound casual. “I’m flattered, honestly. I’ve always wanted to join a shady, elite shadow organization.”
Pfft!
Nana baa-san turned to the side, but her shoulders were slightly quivering. The rest of the boys were also trying to hold back laughter as Shizuku gave quite a stare. Still, I grinned and continued.
“But do you, like, offer dental, or is the stealthy self-extraction part of the training? Another, quick question though—if I join, do I have to vanish mysteriously, or is there a part-time option where I just disappear on weekends?”
She made a grab for my face but I managed to dodge by standing up.
“Just so you know, I’m great at sneaking snacks, disappearing from responsibilities, and wearing black,” I added. “So honestly, I might already be overqualified.”
Shizuku’s eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring slightly. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, and I could see the anger simmering like a pot about to boil over as veins pulsed on her head.
“You,” she spat, voice low and dangerous.
I raised my hands innocently, backing away towards the machine. “Hey, I’m just asking questions! Totally innocent inquiries!”
“We are a normal Japanese family! We are normal people! Not a cult! Not shady! Not some secret organization!” Shizuku’s voice rose through gritted teeth, with each word. It feels like she was saying those things more for her sake. No doubt she took quite a damage to her mental stat.
“My daughter is right, Vi-kun,” the ninja housewife said calmly, as if the display on the status plate was nothing more than a shared, collective hallucination by everyone here. “We’re a simple family, with simple skills.”
“Mother, be quiet!” Shizuku hissed, glaring daggers at her own parent. “After this, we need to have a private conversation.”
“Uhu?” I raised an eyebrow, glancing around the group. Then, with a sly smile, I held up my hand. “Who else wants to see the ninja daughter’s stats?”
Everyone raised a hand.
“What!? No! I’m not a Ninja daughter!” Shizuku protested, then she crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. “Hmpf. I just won’t give my plate. Besides, we’re a normal family!”
“Welp, too late,” I said, sticking out my tongue and casually showing her two plates, one of which was hers.
“Wha—!? When did you—!?” she stammered, frantically checking her pockets.
“Also, Rai, I took yours,” I added casually, strolling toward the machine.
“What!?” Reika exclaimed, patting down her pockets as she sprang to her feet. “Ae!”
Too late. I slid both plates into the machine.
==================
Name: Shizuku Mochizuki
Level: 1
Experience: 0/400
Master Class: [Samruai]
Job Class: [Hero]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 246
MP: 196
Stamina: 241
Movement: 69
Stat Rating: 510
STATS
Strength: 83
Agility: 125
Endurance: 83
Intelligence: 83
Will: 63
Arcana: 73
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Common] Helm Splitter (0) ??????????
[Common] Decapitating Strike (0) ??????????
[Common] Severing Strike (0) ??????????
[Rare] Swordsman Stance (0) ??????????
[Rare] Unsheathe (0) ??????????
[Rare] Quickstep (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Common] Cooking (2) ??????????
[Common] Counter (5) ??????????
[Common] Riposte (5) ??????????
[Common] Longsword Mastery (5) ??????????
[Common] Blade Training (7) ??????????
[Common] Martial Training (8) ??????????
[Common] Rapid Strike (5) ??????????
[Rare] Evasion (1) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned Hero]
[Ninja Daughter]
[Shadow of the Midnight Snack]
==================
Name: Reika Hanazono
Level: 1
Experience: 0/400
Master Class: [Healing Priest]
Job Class: [Hero]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 294
MP: 306
Stamina: 196
Movement: 54
Stat Rating: 528
STATS
Strength: 55
Agility: 53
Endurance: 91
Intelligence: 123
Will: 103
Arcana: 103
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Common] Magic Ward (0) ??????????
[Common] Heal (0) ??????????
[Common] Recovery (0) ??????????
[Common] Encouragement (0) ??????????
[Rare] Blessing Word (0) ??????????
[Rare] Hex Purge (0) ??????????
[Rare] Cure (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Common] Cooking (-10) ??????????
[Rare] Quick Learner (5) ??????????
[Rare] Divine Protection (0) ??????????
[Rare] Demon Bane (0) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned Hero]
[Stubborn]
[Bookworm]
[Dropped on the head, by Vi]
“I knew it!” I exclaimed loudly and pointing at the screen. “Both of our cooking skills aside, you’re a ninja, daughter!”
Her eyes went wide. I stepped back as she and Reika stood up and went to the display.
I stifled a laugh. “Well, that’s oddly specific. You both have rather impressive sounding titles.”
“No. No. NO!” she shouted, slapping her hands over the display.
“No! It’s not like!” Shizuku protested again, this time looking panicked. “That, those titles weren’t there when I checked! I really did check! When did—! No! I refuse to believe that, that machine!”
“I didn’t—I don’t even know how those got there!” she sputtered, pointing at the plate as if it had personally insulted her. “This machine is broken! Someone hacked it, or, or it’s cursed!”
““Wait… wait! My… my cooking skill is negative?! That’s impossible!” Reika agreed. “When I checked my status, it said zero! Not negative!”
“See? I told you!” Shizuku cried, stamping her foot. “This thing is faulty!”
Celestia, standing nearby with a wry grin, shook her head. “The arcane evaluator is not faulty,” she said calmly. “It’s actually pretty hard to destroy one of these things. Once, a machine fell from the second floor of the castle. The stand broke on impact, but they managed to reattach it and when they powered it on it was working perfectly.”
Shizuku blinked at Celestia, clearly not convinced but unable to argue against that. Reika crossed her arms, pouting, muttering under her breath about being insulted by a machine.
I leaned back against the wall, hands in my pocket, smiling. The rest of the group, including the boys, snickered quietly at the scene. Even the king raised a brow, though he said nothing. But the way his lips curled slightly at the edge of his mouth was a telling sign.
Celestia chuckled softly, clearly entertained. “Don’t worry, both of you. Your titles and skills may seem strange, but they reflect aspects of your soul and potential. Most of the titles have meanings and features that boost your capabilities.”
Shizuku groaned. “I don’t care about hidden meaning! I just—ugh!” she buried her face in her hands.
Reika pulled both plates from the machine and jabbed a finger at them. “How can my cooking skill be negative!? And that last title, dropped on the head!? That wasn’t here before! That’s just cruel!”
I smirked. “Honestly? I think it fits.”
“You, be quite!”
“Ae shut up!”
Celestia, ever the enthusiastic mage, leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Now, don’t fret. Once we fully evaluate your stats, you’ll see how these quirks might actually help in unexpected ways.”
Shizuku and Reika exchanged wary glances, clearly unconvinced.
Suddenly their eyes sharpened, like a bolt of understanding had passed between them. Then, almost in unison, they grabbed me by the shoulders.
“He’s next!” they both exclaimed to Celestia. Celestia was all too happy to take the plates from my pockets.
I sighed internally. Well, it’s not like I was hiding any—
—okay, I was hiding a lot of things. I just hope I didn’t forget anything important.
When they finally released me, I settled back into my chair.
“Now, which one is yours?” Shizuku said, her grin practically demonic. Reika, looking like an accomplice in mischief, held out two plates.
“Since it’s Ae,” she said raising the one with a burning hand. “It’s got to be this!”
Without hesitation and with undisguised glee, she slid it into the machine. The device hummed to life, lights rippling across the golden surface as symbols and numbers began to etch themselves in radiant lines.
==================
Name: Nana Kagamiya
Level: 1
Experience: 0/400
Master Class: [Old Woman]
Job Class: [Old Woman]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 272
MP: 232
Stamina: 152
Movement: 30
Stat Rating: 344
STATS
Strength: 30
Agility: 30
Endurance: 72
Intelligence: 82
Will: 100
Arcana: 30
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Rare] Heal (0) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Common] Cooking (8) ??????????
[Common] Cane (10) ??????????
[Common] Fan (10) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
[None]
TITLE
[Summoned]
[Old Woman]
“Oh, that’s the wrong one,” Reika said casually staring at the plate. “It was baa-san.”
“Why are her Master Class, Job Class, and title all the same?” Arthur asked slowly, squinting at the display.
“I… I don’t know,” Celestia replied. She looked just as confused as everyone else. “It’s also my first time seeing skills called ‘Cane’ and ‘Fan.’ Weirdly enough, if they’re common, why am I only hearing about them now?”
“Possibly an old-people thing,” I said nonchalantly, letting out a small chuckle. “Hehehe.”
THWACK!
Before anyone could react, Nana baa-san, quicker than the eye could follow, produced a fan from her robes.
“Ow!” I rubbed the back of my head but I still managed to keep a small, victorious smile. Mission accomplished.
“That would mean his is… this?” Shizuku and Reika leaned over my plate, curiosity and confusion sharp in their eyes.
“A watermelon with a bite mark?” they both said, raising an eyebrow at the absurd symbol gleaming on the golden surface.
“Yeah, that’s gotta be his,” Arthur said with a chuckle. The smile spread quickly, infecting everyone else as they digested what the two had said.
Nana baa-san raised a single eyebrow at me.
What? It was the best I could do at the moment. They were lucky I hadn’t gone with, say, two llamas humping.
…On second thought, that might’ve actually been funnier.
Both girls looked at each other and almost hesitantly inserted my plate into the slot.
==================
Name: Vi
Level: 1
Main Class: [None]
Job Class: [None]
Subclass: [None]
ATTRIBUTES
HP: 100
MP: 100
Stamina: 100
Movement: 200
Stat Rating: 583
STATS
Strength: 36
Agility: 20
Endurance: 169
Intelligence: 169
Will: 169
Arcana: 20
SKILLS (ACTIVE)
[Rare] Identify (10) ??????????
SKILLS (PASSIVE)
[Rare] Rapid Analysis (10) ??????????
[Rare] Rapid Calculations (10) ??????????
[Rare] Evasion (10) ??????????
[Rare] Design Creation (8) ??????????
[Rare] Expert Guitar (8) ??????????
[Rare] Expert Cello (10) ??????????
[Rare] Expert Violin (10) ??????????
[Rare] Piano (10) ??????????
[Rare] Living Language Translation (10) ??????????
[Epic] Master Cooking (8) ??????????
BONUS
[None]
DEBUFFS
Tired [STR -10, AGI -10]
Sleepy [WILL -10, AGI -10]
Angry [STR +10, WILL +10, AGI +10]
TITLES
[Just a guy]
[Accidentally Summoned]
[Ambidextrous]
[Night Owl]
[Long sleeper]
[Escape Artist]
[Deep thinker]
[Quick learner]
[Nonsensical]
[Sensible]
[Methodical]
[Random]
[Calculating]
[Spontaneous]
[Cold person]
[Warm person]
[An idiot according to his father]
[An idiot according to Hanazono Reika]
[An idiot according to Mochizuki Shizuku]
[Likes dwarfs tied to chairs]
[Once found a radish that looked like a sexy butt with legs]
[Googled “is dragon venom addictive?”]
[Might accidentally join a cult]
[Curiosity level: concerning]
[Researching substances they shouldn’t be]
[Definitely doesn’t have contraband]
