I don't know what's happening. The last thing I remembered was getting into bed and dreading the next day. Today was supposed to be my final exam—something I hadn't prepared for all year
Maybe I'm dreaming, maybe I'm crazy, but right now it feels like I'm floating on top of water. It's scary. I know I'm conscious but I can't open my eyes. Usually if I'm conscious in a dream, I could wake myself up. But no matter what I do, I can't move at all.
God am I a vegetable? No way, I don't want to live with my whole body paralyzed!
What was that? It was like a robotic voice. And that way of talking… No way! The Voice of the World? Let's see, um…I don't want to feel pain?
I became excited. Though for others it might've been odd that the world that they're a part of was actually part of a fictional world, but I'm very simple minded so I don't really think about stuff like that.
I want the Ultimate Skill, Lord of Wisdom Raphael.
Immediately I tried getting the most useful Skill in the story, one where it could answer my questions, do background analysis, remember stuff for me, and other stuff. Which worked...kinda.
Haha! Yes, I can be unstoppable!
…unsuccessful>
Wait, what? Why?
The Voice didn't give me an explanation.
Am I not strong enough?
Willpower is everything in Tensura, even the strongest in the world reached, his limit when he had five Ultimate Skills, and I'm a lazy bum who always procrastinates. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if I wasn't able to handle an Ultimate Skill.
I can't do anything about my soul or my willpower, but can you do something about energy levels? Reincarnate me in a strong body, please.
But that was only gonna help me when I get there. Right now, I can only use the energy I have in my soul.
If I can't get Raphael, I'll settle for Great Sage.
No no no. This is one thing I can't accept. I can't even get a Unique Skill?
Relief washed over me as I heard the confirmation that I was indeed able to handle a Unique Skill. I was worried that I was too weak for even that.
There you go. Thank you Voice of the World. Although it's not Great Sage, as long as it could analyze things and could answer my questions, it's fine.
Now that I have an analytical-type Skill, I just needed a Skill that would make acquiring new Skills easier. Rimuru Tempest and Hinata Sakaguchi both had two Unique Skills in that manner. Great Sage and Mathematician, and Predator and Usurper.
But while they're taking skills from others, I wanted to be the one who makes my own arsenal.
I want a skill that creates skills.
Alright this looks good. Send me there, Voice of the World.
After I said that, I could feel my body start to sink in the unknown liquid it was floating on. It was like I was falling deeper into the water. But after a while, I still felt like I was submerged in water.
This is weird. Shouldn't I be waking up in a forest by now?
Thinking that, I tried to move my body. And I found that I could feel my body now. I clutched my hands, moved my toes, I could even breathe now. Finally, I tried to open my eyes.
Wha…what am I? Why am I in a tube?
When I did, I found myself inside some sort of pod filled with water. I was wearing a respirator with a tube connected to the top of this pod.
When it said a "magicule rich body", I thought I was gonna be an Archdragon or a Greater Daemon. But nope! Looks like I'm a Homunculus.
How do I know that? Just a guess.
Inquisitor, you there?
(Y/N)
Yes. Inquisitor, where am I?
<"Answer. You are inside a pod to create Homunculus.">
How helpful. No, that's not what I meant. Like, what country am I in and the time period. Is Rimuru reincarnated yet?
<"Answer: That information is unavailable.">
You don't know? What abilities do you have?
<"Answer: Inquisitor has five subskills.
Thought Acceleration: Raises thought-processing speed by a thousand times.
Analytical Appraisal: The ability to analyze and appraise a target.
Parallel Operation: Allows the user to detach their analysis of phenomena from their regular thoughts.
Heart Sight: The ability to read the true intentions and feelings of the target.
Critical Record: The ability to access the records of a target's history.">
So you don't have All of Creation. Not even Chant Annulment, huh? Sorry, I thought you did. What about Megalomaniac?
<"Answer: Megalomaniac has one effect.
Skill Creation: Allows the user to freely manipulate their energy and create any ability they desire. The created Skill would be made out of the user's Soul Energy and therefore any ability created could be destroyed to regain that energy.">
Only one subskill? Though, I guess that's all I needed out of that.
I needed an ability to get out of here. Question was, how? I could've just broken the damn glass, but what was the most effective way to do that? Manipulate the water? That's not safe, I'm in the water. Punch it with enhanced strength? Could work, but the water's gonna give me resistance. How about just a simple force or a shockwave? I started to imagine the ability I want.
(Y/N)
Yes.
Just a simple single word command, and the Skill that I want is granted to me without me even having to do anything.
I placed the palms of both my hands on the glass tube. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. I thought about activating Material Crush, and then…
CRASH—!
The glass tube shatters all around me. As the water poured out, my body fell with the water, and my respirator got pulled from the ceiling of the tube. As I fell to the floor, shards of glass impaled themselves on my stomach.
"AH—Wait, what?"
Even though my entire front was full of glass, it didn't hurt. And then I realized I had Pain Resistance.
"All this glass in me and I don't feel a damn thing."
I was amazed. When I pulled them out, a lot of blood started flowing, so I created a regeneration skill.
"Ah…that feels better."
I walked around the room. There were rows and rows of the same water filled tube that I was in. Every last one of them had a Homunculus floating in it, strapped to a respirator. They all had pale skin and white hair.
This is some nasty tech. It feels like I'm in a sci-fi world rather than a fantasy one.
I walked around, trying to look for an exit. But aside from the green light that the Homunculus tubes gave off, the room was completely dark.
Let's fix that.
Inquisitor, use one of your parallel operations for Magic Sense. I want you to handle all of the processing.
<"Understand.">
"Hmm…Homunculus and technology that looks like advanced science mixed with magic. There's only one answer; I'm in Sarion."
"Electric Shock."
Suddenly I heard the voice of an old man behind me, followed by crackling electricity. When I tried to look behind, I was hit by a lighting bolt.
That…didn't feel like anything.
Though I chalked it up to Pain Resistance and Paralysis Resistance, the attack did nothing to me, at least I didn't feel it.
When I turned back to look, there was a young man with long blonde hair and pointy ears in a green cloak. He was holding a large staff aimed at me.
Crap. I must've triggered an alarm.
In hindsight, I should've created an intangibility skill when I wanted to escape instead of breaking the damn glass.
"No effect? I guess they weren't kidding about the new Homunculus models." Though he whispered, what he said was caught by my Magic Sense. The man looked around, and saw the broken pod that I was in.
"How did you break out?" The man walked nonchalantly. "I can't imagine someone broke into here and smashed one of the Homunculus pods."
His tone was condescending, his nose was pointed up. "Homunculi are just a vessel, it doesn't have a soul. The only way it could move, much less break out of its pod, is if someone inhabited it."
He stops, he points his staff at me with a focused gaze. "I'm only gonna ask you this one time; who are you—"
"Woah an elf!"
"..."
"Sorry. It's just…
…I've only seen elves from a screen, you know?
…ah what am I saying? You won't get it."
The man's face slowly grew a scowl until his annoyance snapped. Waving around that staff, he ordered me "Stop saying nonsense. Answer my question—!"
"Strong Cleave!"
I formed my hand into a chop and swung it horizontally. A crescent shaped red energy blade flew at the elf.
The elf was surprised, but I guess he collected himself. He stomped his staff on the ground, his mouth muttering some incantation. Gusts of wind started collecting around him, spinning around. And as my Aura Slash hit his wind barrier, it got cut up by the torrent of wind.
First lightning, now wind?
I ducked behind one of the Homunculus pods as the elf retaliated with another spell.
"Wind Cutter!"
A razor-sharp gust of wind sliced through the air, making a crack into the pod beside me. My Magic Sense tracked his mana—he was already moving to flank.
Is it Aspectual Magic—or is an Elemental behind it?
I slashed sideways again, using Aura Slash, sending another red blade of force across the room.
It clipped a nearby pod, the contents spilling across the floor in a gurgling mess. The elf was fast; he leapt over the attack, using the falling debris as cover. As his cloak whipped around him, he pointed the staff my way and released another bolt of lightning.
I activated Magic Jamming without hesitation, but it did nothing, and I got hit. I felt them, but Pain Resistance kept it dull.
Elemental Magic it is, then.
While Aspectual Magic uses Magicules to create phenomenon, Elemental Magic uses the power of Elementals to conjure physical effects, so Magic Jamming wouldn't work on it.
Unless I could jam the connection between him and his Elemental.
But since I couldn't even see where his Elemental is, that plan wouldn't work.
I moved. Skating low along the wet floor, I dashed to another pod. He reacted quickly, tossing a sphere of crackling energy in my direction. I dove behind the new cover just in time as it exploded, vaporizing the remains of the pod I had just left.
Using the scattered light from the pods, I tracked his mana signature again. He was shifting his stance—trying to lock me down. Probably going to use wide-area suppression next.
I planted a hand on the floor and activated Material Crush through the ground. The resulting quake shattered three nearby pods and sent him off-balance.
His footing slipped in the water. I exploited the opening with another Aura Slash, slicing through the space between us.
He raised his staff again to intercept, but I feinted left, vaulted over a pod, and let loose a point-blank, vertical slash from my palm.
The raw force cracked his barrier this time, sending him staggering backward into a wall of glass.
He retaliated by launching dozens of tiny lightning darts with pinpoint precision, scattering them across the room to limit my mobility.
I ducked, rolled, twisted through the narrow gaps, letting shards scratch at me.
I countered with a sweeping Aura Slash, tearing through the darts and forcing him to retreat further. I pressed forward, not giving him room to reset, zigzagging between the pods, then launched a barrage of Aura Slashes
Waves and arcs of red energy came crashing down. He jumped back, narrowly dodging the attacks, but I was already on the move, shifting position before he could track me again.
C'mon, close the distance!
He was too preoccupied with blocking my barrage of slashes to stop me from rushing him. When I got close enough, I touched his wind barrier. The spinning winds rend my hand as I used Magic Jamming to disconnect him from his Elemental.
"You're all out of magic!"
"But not out of options."
He swung his staff, striking me clean across the face. This time, I actually felt it. My mind became dizzy as my brain got sloshed around from that hit, my nose dripping blood.
Crap… he'll put me back in the pod, or worse, I'll be disposed of.
As my body spun around, falling, I stretched my arm out.
This is it, there's nothing I could possibly do in this situation.
Until one finger grazed his chest.
Sike!
"Material Crush!"—directly into his ribs.
With a sickening, wet crunch, the bone beneath my touch crumpled like paper under a boot. The force crushed cartilage, ribs, and sternum in on themselves.
His chest sank, warped inwards by an invisible, collapsing fist.
He wheezed, a sharp, stuttering sound as blood surged up his throat. His staff clattered from his hand. His knees buckled. That arrogant poise he carried earlier was gone. All that remained was a face twisted in shock, spitting red.
He fell backwards, choking on his own breath.
I stood there, breathing hard, blood dripping from my noses, one arm hanging, the other held out like a weapon.
"Perfect victory!"