After the fireworks were over and most of the cleaning was done, it was already almost deep into the night.
Because this was the last night of the camping trip, and they were returning to Chiba City tomorrow morning, everyone seemed a bit reluctant for it to end. It looked like the elementary schoolers weren't the only ones who had fun at the test of courage; the high school students also enjoyed themselves.
Thinking about it, it was understandable. In elementary school, they were the ones being scared. Now, they had become the ones scaring others. This experience was quite novel for the high school students.
People always seem to tireless when doing mischievous things, and it was pretty much the same here.
But joy is not always shared between people. At least Hachiman didn't feel happy. After all, anyone who diligently patrolled wearing a patrol vest, only to have the elementary schoolers they met on the way not even say a word of appreciation like 'good work', and even mistake him for a ghost...
If he had actually been playing a ghost, he wouldn't have felt so offended!
In the end, I should have just played a ghost from the start, damn it!
Finally, when that guy Shinra pulled him over to act as Saki's 'chōki' (a ghost that assists a tiger), he was even a little expectant. He thought it was time to show these amateurs what talent looked like.
But in the end, after waiting for a long time, he was told it. was. al. rea. dy. o. ver.
Are you kidding me! (flips table)
Speaking of which, how did that child end up?
After the unpleasant end to yesterday's discussion, they said they would continue today. But there was no news at all, even into the evening...
If it were ordinary people, Hachiman would think the matter had probably just blown over. But with Shinra's and Yukino's personalities, they definitely wouldn't let it go.
He just didn't know what the result of their handling was.
He had also seen Rumi's group at the bonfire party earlier. The atmosphere within the group felt quite bad.
Is it really okay?
Thinking of this, Hachiman couldn't help but ask, "How is that child, Rumi?"
Shinra didn't expect Hachiman to suddenly ask about this, but he didn't overthink it and replied, "Hm, you could say she's following in your footsteps."
"Doesn't that mean she's doomed?" Yui, who was walking beside the two, heard the conversation and asked with a worried expression.
"Hey, why does following in my footsteps mean she's doomed?" Hachiman felt there was a big problem with that statement.
"It's not that bad." Yukino chimed in. "Although she might not find friends, that strange trend of ostracism probably won't happen again."
"I see... Then at least it's much more relaxing. After all, it's very tiring to always follow everyone's opinions. I'm like that, so I know very well."
Shinra thought Yui would say that Rumi not finding friends would be even more pitiful. He didn't expect her to answer this way.
Looked at it this way, what Yukino said earlier about Rumi being like Yui wasn't entirely baseless.
"Are we going back tomorrow?" Saki suddenly interjected.
Throughout the entire summer activity, she was probably the only one diligently acting as a volunteer. She wasn't seen during the free activity time in the morning either. According to Ebina, she seemed to be leading a bunch of elementary schoolers on an adventure in the woods at that time?
In short, Saki's popularity among these children might even be higher than that of Hayato, the nice guy.
Her childcare skill points are maxed out, you could say.
"I heard from Hiratsuka Shizuka-sensei that after breakfast and packing up tomorrow, they will send us back to the school gate." Yui said.
"Feels like time passed so quickly." Saika lamented.
"According to scientific research, as long as you have things to do, time passes very quickly." Hachiman pushed up his non-existent glasses.
Shinra rubbed his chin, spotting the loophole. "In that case, once Hachiman gets home, won't his time pass much slower than ours?"
"Yes, so I've struck it rich." Hachiman felt proud rather than ashamed.
Even Komachi couldn't watch anymore and said, "When I get back, I'll tell Mom to arrange some things for Onii-chan to do."
"Komachi, I'm your brother, not your political rival."
"It's always been the case that the softest persimmon gets pinched first."
As soon as this was said, even Saki couldn't help but laugh.
Shinra intentionally slowed down, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Saki.
"How did you feel? This activity."
"It was okay."
Perhaps feeling that answer was too perfunctory, Saki added, "It was very fulfilling, and also very meaningful."
Meaningful, as in, adding points to her student record.
"What do you plan to do after we get back?"
"Attend cram school, and take care of my younger siblings."
Speaking of cram school, Saki seemed a bit embarrassed. The young woman lowered her head slightly, her gaze falling on the ground in front of her.
"Thank you for the matter with the cram school, and also the scholarship, the part-time job, and this activity..."
The more Saki spoke, the more she felt something was off. She seems to owe quite a few favors, doesn't she?
C-Can I even repay all this?
"We're classmates; it's normal to help each other." Shinra smiled and waved his hand. After seeing a total of 4 wish-power points enter his account, he felt it was even less of a big deal.
This help was definitely worth giving!
Saki's wish-power commission was a blue-level commission, and it was also a phased mission. It would be settled in stages after she obtained a scholarship, successfully enrolled in cram school, and got into her desired university.
Right now, Saki had successfully obtained the scholarship and, with Shinra's recommendation, enrolled in a very reliable cram school. This was considered as having met the settlement conditions for the first two-phased commissions.
It directly brought him a return of 4 wish-power points.
With these 4 wish-power points, plus the wish-power points that Hachiman regularly burst out for him every so often, Shinra had enough wish-power points on hand to draw his next ability.
The thought of getting a new superpower later made Shinra unable to resist humming lightly.
Speaking of which, they are only in their second year of high school, and scholarships are basically available every semester. So, if Saki can get a scholarship every semester, doesn't that mean he can settle the corresponding wish-power points every time?
It might not be as much as the first time, but even if it's just one point, that's still quite a lot!
The more Shinra thought, the more he felt it was possible. The gaze he directed at Saki became somewhat intense. This is all my wish-power points.
"I-Is there something on my face?" Saki felt a bit weak from his gaze. She touched her pretty face, only to find it burning hot.
"No, I just think it's great that Saki can realize her wishes."
In an instant, when Saki saw Shinra's smile, she felt all the surrounding sounds fade away. Only an unknown buzzing sound mixed with the loud thumping of her heart echoed in her ears.
"Wait... you... this..."
Faced with Shinra's words, Saki didn't know how to respond. Her thoughts were in a complete mess, and she couldn't organize any effective words at all.
"Saki-san, you have to keep working hard in the future, okay." Shinra encouraged.
"...Mm." Saki responded with a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
Afterward, she lowered her head and fell into a long silence. When she looked up again wanting to say something to Shinra, she found that he had already rejoined the main group.
"Huu..."
The light-blue-haired girl let out a soft breath, unclear whether it was out of relief or disappointment.
But soon, she patted her pretty cheeks with her hands and cheered herself on in her heart.
You have to keep trying, Kawasaki Saki.
...
[Host: Mori Shinra]
[Physique: 16]
[Spirit: 18]
[Abilities: Emotion Perception, Eidetic Memory, One Leaf Blocks the Eye, Heaven Rewards the Diligent, Current Control]
—Got a gold!
Back in the dorm, after bathing and changing, Shinra went all-in with the wish-power points he had.
He got 4 points in Physique, 1 point in Spirit, and one guaranteed ability—Current Control.
Although he hit the guarantee this time, Shinra didn't feel it was a loss at all; he even felt it was a huge gain.
The reason was simple: the ability the system gave this time was just too strong, so much so that Shinra wondered if it was real.
However, after Shinra made a Korean 'OK' gesture and saw the electric current leaping between his index finger and thumb, he truly realized that he had indeed grasped a superpower related to 'electricity'.
That's electricity! Although with Shinra's current ability, he can't release a very strong current—at most, just enough to light a cigarette, let alone activate magnetic field rotation.
But!
He could already see the hope, couldn't he?
It proved that Shinra's previous conjecture was correct. The abilities given by the system weren't just on the metaphysical level; they also included physical abilities that could interfere with reality.
Don't look down on it just because it's only current control now. If he gets ability points later, and adds them to this... Sss, Shinra felt the day he could shatter the Earth with one punch was within reach!
Thinking of this, Shinra couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He had drawn an ability point once before, but he used it on 'Advancing One Step a Day', upgrading it to 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent'.
It wasn't that the 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' ability was bad, just... if he had saved that ability point for 'Current Control', would it have been better?
But Shinra quickly negated this idea. Just from a practical standpoint, 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent', a passive skill that didn't consume 'mana', was definitely much more useful than 'Current Control'.
Even if he traveled back to before he spent the point, Shinra would still choose to upgrade 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' instead of 'Current Control'.
Suddenly, a thought popped into Shinra's mind: Does the 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' ability work on 'Current Control'?
Unlike his previous abilities of 'Emotion Perception', 'One Leaf Blocks the Eye', and 'Eidetic Memory', with 'Current Control' obtained this time, Shinra could clearly feel that the amount of electricity he could currently manipulate was far from reaching the limit controllable by his current spiritual power. There was still considerable room for improvement, requiring him to familiarize and explore it further.
In that case, can this passive skill 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' be used on this ability? And even if he reaches the limit in the future, can he use this conceptual skill 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' to break through the so-called 'limit', making it possible to pull himself up by his bootstraps?
Thinking of this, Shinra felt a bit restless. He immediately began to experiment.
After discharging electricity with crackling sounds for about an hour, a faint smell of fresh grass permeated the room. It was the smell of ozone produced when the electric current broke down oxygen molecules in the air.
Considering ozone is toxic to humans, Shinra opened the doors and windows to ventilate after smelling the distinct odor. He didn't continue experimenting after that.
After preliminary tests, Shinra came to a conclusion—it works.
Although he didn't know the specific enhancement amount, 'Heaven Rewards the Diligent' indeed had an effect on 'Current Control'.
Shinra could clearly feel his body adapting more and more to this ability, much like a baby gradually becoming familiar with its own limbs and starting to control them for simple movements like crawling.
To put it simply, when he first got the ability, Shinra could only use it to light cigarettes. But now... Shinra felt he could try his hand at electric welding.
At least the current he manipulated was now gradually stabilizing. It was no longer fluctuating wildly like before and could be controlled within a certain range.
Later, Shinra planned to cram physics knowledge related to 'electricity'. He didn't intend to be an 'illiterate' superpower user like those depicted in most comics.
It's not just cultural workers who need to be cultured; superpower users need to be cultured even more!
This time, knowledge can truly be converted into power.
Besides, Shinra was also curious: since he could already control electricity, could external currents still harm him?
Anyway, when he was manipulating the current to try welding, he didn't feel any pain or any harm to the body parts near the current.
Shinra even zapped his own thigh a few times, but he didn't feel anything. As soon as the current he controlled touched his body, it entered his system as if water blending with milk, disappearing like a stone sinking into the sea without a trace. He himself felt nothing but a slight warmth, with no discomfort.
It seems that after gaining 'Current Control', his body also gained a certain resistance to electricity?
Shinra stared at the electrical socket in the room for a good while. After much deliberation, he ultimately decided his life was more important. Testing and such should be done later using a safer method.
Although Japan's household voltage is 100V, much lower than China's 220V, it still far exceeds the 60V maximum voltage the human body can withstand and can still kill people.
Even though Shinra's physique was as high as 16 points, he didn't dare challenge the limits of the human body.
Try it and you die.
He could, however, get a transformer and test it slowly at home. It might be slower, but it's safe!
After tinkering for half the night, the time had already reached the early morning of the next day. Shinra threw the steel nail clippers, which had been zapped beyond recognition, into the trash bin.
He closed the doors and windows he had opened for ventilation, lay back down on the bed, turned off the light, and closed his eyes.
After being quiet for a good while, suddenly, 'bzz bzz' crackles of electricity flashed in the dark room. The light it emitted briefly illuminated the entire space.
Kukuku, so fun!
He played for a while longer, only stopping after his spiritual power was completely drained.
With earnest hopes for a future of not eating beef, he sank into a deep sleep.
Nothing further happened that night.
...