Haaah.
Alright.
Let me try out my newly acquired Skills.
First up, Thread Manipulation.
If it does what the name suggests, this should make my Spider Silk way more useful.
The thought of my already ridiculously amazing Spider Silk getting even stronger? Can't beat that.
For starters, let me spin some thread like I always do.
The problem comes after that.
If I can't figure out how to manipulate the thread, there's no point in having this Skill.
Let me try focusing on it, like I did with Appraisal.
Move... move...
Oh, there's something weird going on with the thread.
Hmm?
What is it?
It's like something is entering the thread — a strange sensation that's hard to put into words.
If I had to compare it, it's like nerves threading their way into the silk.
Could this work?
I try sending a "move" command to whatever entered the thread.
Grrrrrr...
With movements so sluggish you'd expect to hear that kind of sound effect, the thread twitches little by little.
Yeah.
It moved.
It's the kind of movement that'll never be useful in a fight no matter how hard I try, but still...
Ah, I knew it!
I was sort of prepared for this!
I had considered this possibility too!
In my book, the fact that it moved at all counts as a win!
I wasn't expecting anything — I really wasn't!
Haaah.
Huh?
My MP dropped a little?
I've never seen my MP go down before, so this must be from Thread Manipulation, right?
So Thread Manipulation uses MP. Interesting.
Well, I've never used MP before, so I don't really mind.
I guess I'll use up MP whenever I'm idle to raise the Skill Level.
I'll believe that this, too, will pay off in the long run.
Alright, next up is Detection.
Yeah.
Not getting my hopes up.
This one's even more of a gamble than Thread Manipulation.
I have no idea if it'll be useful.
To be blunt, I don't even know if it has the enemy-detection function I'm looking for.
There's even a chance it's some completely different "what even are you" kind of Skill.
Plus, Thread Manipulation turned out like that, and Appraisal before it was like that too. Honestly, I shouldn't expect anything from Skill Level 1.
I should just be happy if it has the function I want and I can figure out how to use it.
Anyway, let me try focusing on it like I did with Appraisal.
I had vaguely pictured something like meditation, and that seems to have hit the mark.
Up until now I couldn't feel anything, but suddenly I can sense all sorts of things.
Huh?
What is this?
Each individual piece of information is incredibly faint, and I can't tell what anything is.
But the sheer volume is absurd.
Information about all kinds of things comes pouring into me from every direction.
Ugh!
A shock runs through my head, like my brain just got punched — the same kind of impact as when I used Appraisal on a massive scale.
I hurriedly shut off Detection.
<Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill "Detection LV1" has become "Detection LV2"> What?
Isn't that way too fast?
Wait, seriously? That raised my Skill Level?
I mean, I did pick up an insane amount of information, but... really?
No no no.
Hold on a second.
What was that, to begin with?
A mysterious phenomenon has occurred that bears absolutely zero resemblance to what I imagined Detection would be like, and I really want to shout about it at the top of my lungs, but can I request an explanation from the Voice of Heaven (tentative)? No? I figured!
Haaah.
Calm down, me.
Alright.
Just to verify what that mysterious phenomenon was, let me try Detection one more time.
I should get myself mentally prepared first, or this could be bad.
In... out...
Okay, Detection — activate.
Even more incomprehensible information floods into me than before.
<Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill "Detection LV2" has become "Detection LV3"> I said, isn't that too fast?!
Ugh, I'm reaching my limit.
Shutting off Detection.
Bwaaah.
Ugh, that's rough.
But I'm starting to get a vague idea.
Right — it is Detection.
The Skill's name is Detection.
What it detects — well, it never said that, did it.
This Detection Skill, if my theory is right, has a more powerful effect than I imagined.
Or rather, it's so far beyond what I imagined that it might actually be unusable.
In other words, I think this Detection Skill detects everything that exists in the surrounding area and delivers all of that information straight to the user.
No wonder it overwhelmed my brain with too much information to process.
Sure, the enemy-tracking function I wanted is in there somewhere, but picking out just that from a flood of information? There's no way my tiny little brain could manage that.
That'd require supercomputer-level processing power or something.
Ugh, I never imagined I'd end up with a Skill that's too high-performance to actually use.
What kind of trap is this?
What even is this?
Did whoever came up with this just have to sneak some kind of trap into every Skill?
Ugh.
Either way, Detection is useless.
Unlike Thread Manipulation, this isn't something I can fix by raising the Skill Level.
If anything, raising the Skill Level might make my head explode.
I guess I'll just have to shelve this one forever.
No good...
Can Skills be returned?
Yeah, probably not...
Uaaah, looks like I really don't have a talent for gambling.
The regret is real.
Haaah... what a bummer.