The carriage rocked gently as it traveled down the paved path toward the Duke’s estate. The once-chaotic atmosphere had given way to calm conversation.
Inside, Kazuki, Garron, and Elara sat opposite Drake and Arin, with the butler up front guiding the horses.
Drake leaned forward, his arms folded casually. “So, C-rank already? That’s… unusually fast. I heard most adventurers take a year just to reach D.”
Garron grinned. “What can I say? We’re built different!”
Elara giggled. “It was a lot of work, to be honest. But with Kazuki around… things tend to escalate fast.”
Drake chuckled. “Clearly. I hope to become a proper adventurer soon myself. Though… today was a bit of a wake-up call.”
As the group shared stories and laughter, Kazuki remained silent, his arms crossed and eyes half-lidded.
But inside his mind, thoughts churned.
I need something that gives me more awareness. Something that can let me feel danger before it happens… he thought.
He focused on the Intellect stat in his mental status screen and began funneling his energy inward. Minutes passed in silence.
[INT +1]
[INT +2]
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[INT +3] …
After a steady climb from 40 to 60, a new window blinked in front of him.
---
[Skill Unlocked: Search]
Allows the user to scan the surrounding area for lifeforms, mana signals, or anomalies within a 50-meter radius.
---
Kazuki blinked.
Search... He activated it immediately and felt a faint, invisible pulse spread out around the carriage. Birds in the trees. Small animals nearby. A fallen branch. All of it came into his awareness like a sixth sense.
Over the next several minutes, he activated it again and again.
[Search Skill Rank: Novice → Adept]
Range Increased: 50 meters → 500 meters → 2 miles → 10 miles]
He closed his eyes briefly, overwhelmed by the range, then slowly muted the sensory influx.
“Kazuki?” Drake tilted his head, “You’ve been awfully quiet. What’s on your mind?”
Kazuki glanced at him with his usual blank expression. “Just… thinking.”
Drake chuckled. “That’s vague.”
Kazuki avoided elaborating. “What happened before you lost consciousness?”
Drake’s expression hardened. “The mutant beast… I thought I could fight it. I was wrong. Took a hit and blacked out. The healers… they couldn’t fix the damage. Internal magic backlash, they said.”
“You healed me,” he added, looking at Kazuki intently. “No healer could. How?”
Elara chimed in, “Kazuki’s amazing. He unlocked light and healing magic recently. Somehow, he fused both into… I don’t know, something more.”
Kazuki answered calmly. “I realized that combining light’s purity with healing's regenerative nature could enhance the effect. The synergy made it more effective.”
Drake narrowed his eyes. “That’s… a brilliant hypothesis. But how did you come up with that on the spot?”
Kazuki looked away.
Why? he asked himself. Why do I know this?
His memories were still fragments, yet one thing stood out.
Anime.
Back in his previous life, he was a hardcore otaku, obsessed with fantasy series, magical systems, theories, and battle mechanics. While he couldn’t remember school lessons or names of people, he remembered every anime spell breakdown, every theory he crafted during long nights alone.
Maybe that education mattered… or maybe I just trained myself in a different way. I don’t know who I was, but this world lets me be what I always wanted to be.
Drake eyed him carefully.
“He’s hiding something,” the young noble thought. “No one that young should be this… refined.”
Before either could speak again, the butler knocked gently on the window.
“We’ve arrived.”
Outside the window, the view changed—lush gardens, marble archways, and towering stone walls welcomed them to House Valenhart’s estate.
Garron whistled. “Well damn. That’s a castle.”
Elara’s jaw dropped. “It’s beautiful…”
Kazuki looked forward calmly, already scanning the area with Search as the gates opened.
Time to see what kind of nobles they really are.
