Free Web Novel"Uh...? Why are you crossing that out?"
Just as I'd expected, Vigdís questioned what I was doing.
Your disposition and swordsmanship make you suited to being a damage dealer, but 【Iron Blood Steel Body】 together with {Endurance} makes everyone see you as nothing but a Tank. So I'm hiding the only part that can be hidden.
Obviously, I couldn't tell her that.
I'd only done it to keep this swordsmanship prodigy from being forced into the wrong role.
But from everyone else's perspective, it would simply look like I didn't want my fiancée taking the brunt of the enemy's attacks.
So I concealed my real reason and gave her a more superficial explanation.
"There's nothing to gain from revealing your disposition."
"Why not? Isn't it an advantage?"
"Even so. A disposition is one of the defining words that describe who you are. Don't think of it as merely a single term. It conveys far more information than you might realize."
Although I was saying this to justify my actions while hiding my true motive, it wasn't entirely untrue.
The reason Vigdís had developed the {Endurance} disposition...
...was because she had spent her entire life enduring it.
Until now, she'd lived a repressed existence, unable to pursue what she truly wanted.
"Is that really so...?"
"It is. Professor Radvisin himself mentioned earlier that an individual's disposition is something people naturally hesitate to reveal."
"I thought he meant negative dispositions."
Exceptional patience certainly sounded like a virtue.
But considering what had given birth to that disposition, I couldn't regard it as something she ought to proudly advertise.
Perhaps it would be different if she'd escaped Count Sjalfráði's oppression through her own strength...
She hadn't secretly trained while avoiding his watchful eyes, waiting for the chance to break free.
Only after becoming engaged to another source of outside pressure—Karvaldr—had she finally begun training her body and learning the sword.
At least at this point in time, Vigdís's {Endurance} wasn't evidence that she'd overcome hardship to achieve her goals.
It was closer to submission.
Even when faced with unreasonable demands, she simply endured them, unable to insist on her own will.
That made her exactly the sort of person bad people loved to exploit.
...There's no need to tell her that.
Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.
So I decided to let her continue believing it was simply an advantage.
Besides...
There was something else I wanted to point out.
"Putting that aside... this phrase, 'invulnerable to swords and knives,' caught my attention."
"It means swords can't cut me or stab me."
"I know what the words mean."
I sighed.
"My question is whether the wording implies the skill protects only against physical attacks, rather than every form of attack. For example, what about fire, acid, or electricity?"
"Ah...! It doesn't block those. I get hurt by them just like everyone else."
"You should have written that down. Otherwise, how are we supposed to build proper battle strategies?"
"I didn't think of it. I copied the skill description exactly, so I thought that was enough."
Vigdís smiled awkwardly.
Rather than saying anything further, I silently picked up my pen and added another line beneath 【Iron Blood Steel Body】.
Effective only against purely physical attacks without an imbued attribute.
If everyone knew that beforehand, at the very least they wouldn't shove Vigdís to the front as a shield against monsters that specialized in elemental attacks.
Satisfied, I passed the paper to Reisir.
After thanking me for pointing out what she'd overlooked, Vigdís handed me the sheet she'd been holding.
【Flame Control】
: Grants control over the power of fire.
: Flames may be intensified and their flow and shape manipulated freely.
This belonged to Helga.
It wasn't that she'd written carelessly.
Elemental skills were simply described this way.
There was little need for detailed explanations because their applications weren't standardized.
The only reason it even had two lines was because it was a 【○○ Control】 skill.
A 【○○ Manipulation】 skill—the rank below it—usually consisted of a single sentence.
"Allows limited control over the power of ~."
That was all.
Below the description, Helga had written a few examples of combat applications.
Creating a wall of fire to block enemies.
Launching arrow-shaped flames.
Nothing especially remarkable.
Just the sort of things anyone would naturally think of.
Honestly, at this stage, that's about all you can do with fire anyway.
I passed Helga's paper to my right and received Lissy's.
【Superhuman Strength】
: Grants superhuman physical strength.
: Effect — Strength + [n]
In the original version of the novel, Lissy had also introduced her skill as 【Superhuman Strength】.
However, when the original protagonist later examined her with the 【Truth-Reading Eye】, her true skill name turned out to be 【Giant's Strength】.
Its description read:
"Grants the strength of a giant."
Considering she was barely one hundred fifty centimeters tall...
...I'd always suspected she found the word "Giant" embarrassing and quietly changed the name herself.
Quite a few readers had attached surprising significance to that tiny lie.
They'd confidently predicted the protagonist would eventually reveal his ability to read other people's Status Windows.
Naturally, that would lead to ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a scene where Reisir teased Lissy by calling her skill 【Giant's Strength】, leaving her bright red with embarrassment.
It was honestly a plausible prediction...
Unfortunately...
Lissy died before such a scene could ever happen.
In the end, her lie had amounted to nothing.
Perhaps Author Senna had intended to write that scene but lost interest after readers guessed it in advance.
Or perhaps it had never been planned.
Or maybe the opportunity simply never arose.
Only Author Senna knew.
So did she lie about her skill's name this time too? Or was it actually changed to 【Superhuman Strength】 in the revised version?
The thought crossed my mind only briefly.
Since it wasn't important, I let it go and passed the paper on.
The next sheet belonged to Fjodora.
【Space Leap】
: Instantly traverses space to arrive at a chosen destination.
: The destination must remain within the user's field of vision.
: Maximum leap distance — [20] meters
In Korean fantasy novels, this sort of ability was usually called Blink.
When Reisir first encountered Fjodora in the original story, this skill had already reached S-Rank.
There was no way an ability involving spatial movement would be A-Rank or lower.
It's probably S-Rank.
More importantly...
Just as I'd expected...
Part of the description had been omitted.
: Exception — when cooperating with another being possessing the same ability, the line-of-sight restriction may be ignored, allowing travel directly to that individual's location.
▶ Maximum travel distance becomes [n] kilometers, where n is determined by the user's own maximum leap distance.
That was the missing portion.
Using Fjodora's current abilities as an example...
...she could instantly teleport to Lausa's location even if the bird were twenty kilometers away.
If her life were ever in danger, her wind-attribute familiar could flee the battlefield first, allowing Fjodora to immediately escape by jumping to its location.
Incidentally...
The assassins sent by the Imperial Family in the original story already knew about this.
They prevented Lausa from escaping first.
As a result...
Fjodora had no means of using that escape route.
...That's definitely not information you'd reveal lightly.
Looking farther down, I found the description for 【Wind Control】.
It was identical to 【Flame Control】, with only the word "fire" replaced by "wind."
There was no need to repeat it.
She's a princess and considerably older than Helga. There's no way her Ether skill is lower-ranked. Is it A-Rank?
When she first appeared in the original story, she possessed 【Wind Dominance】, an SS-Rank skill.
Considering the Imperial Family's information network, they had probably already figured out the naming conventions for elemental skills.
I couldn't help wondering whether she actually possessed 【Wind Dominance】 already but had deliberately written 【Wind Control】 instead.
After handing Fjodora's paper to Reisir, I received Sveinn's.
His water-element skill was called 【Water Current Control】.
I could almost feel Author Senna's determination to make every elemental name preceding "Control" consist of exactly two Chinese characters.
But then why leave "wind" as just "wind"? Did it simply need to be two syllables?
As a writer myself...
...I understood.
Sometimes forcing a term into a perfectly symmetrical naming convention simply ruined its nuance.
Next is Pret's skill...
【Disguise】
: Allows the user to freely change the color of their Ether.
Once the true purpose of the skill—changing the user's appearance—was omitted...
...the description became absurdly short.
Perhaps Pret found that too suspicious.
Below it, they had added several examples explaining how transparent Ether could be used in combat.
They even noted that surrounding oneself with Ether matching the environment made it possible to evade monsters by blending into the surroundings.
That's practically a trade secret, yet they're sharing it.
It wasn't true invisibility.
Only the color changed, like a chameleon.
Anyone looking carefully would still notice.
Even so...
It was invaluable when escaping pursuit or preparing an ambush.
Pret had probably decided it was worth sharing with the companions who would eventually enter the Demon Realm together.
【Armor of Protection】
: Protects the user by surrounding the body with armor-shaped Ether.
: The protective barrier covers both the user's body and any equipped gear.
: As the skill's rank and proficiency increase, the armor's defensive strength rises, and any portion damaged by attacks exceeding its durability is automatically restored through the consumption of Ether.
That really was everything there was to Ríolíkin's skill.
I'd already talked about it several times before.
There wasn't much else to add.
So I moved straight on to Reisir's lightning skill.
【Thunder Dominance】
: Grants command over the power of thunder and lightning.
: Electricity may be projected, while its flow and form can be manipulated freely.
: The user may call lightning down from the heavens or seize and command lightning already under another's control.
"Why do you look so unconvinced after reading my skill?"
"...Isn't the lightning attribute incredibly rare? Does the ability to seize someone else's lightning actually have any practical use?"
"W-well... if we ever run into a lightning-type monster, wouldn't it make the fight much easier?"
Contrary to Reisir's expectations...
Lightning monsters were just as rare as lightning Awakened.
You could introduce one once as a special event to showcase the protagonist's strength.
But if they appeared all the time, every battle would become trivial.
Besides...
Author Senna thoroughly enjoyed watching the protagonist suffer.
Of course things had to be that way.
Naturally, I couldn't say any of that aloud.
So I reluctantly nodded and gave the answer opposite to what I was actually thinking.
"...I suppose you're right."
