"Abilities?"
Kisara tilted her head curiously, glancing at Luo Shu and the other two. Seeing their knowing expressions, she pouted slightly, seeming jealous that Luo Shu, Utaha, and Eriri shared a secret she wasn't privy to.
But Luo Shu didn't notice this at the moment and continued:
"Due to certain reasons, I've acquired some common knowledge."
This knowledge came from the Mysticism Encyclopaedia, or rather, the Authority of Knowledge possessed by the Demon God Vassago.
Thus, Luo Shu considered this knowledge quite authoritative and naturally felt it necessary to share it.
"Because things have been rather busy these past two days, I haven't had the chance to tell you about this common knowledge. So, I'll explain it now."
With that, Luo Shu clasped his hands in front of him, resting his chin on them as he smiled at Utaha and Eriri, raising an index finger:
"Common Knowledge One."
"The name of an ability itself indicates its function."
"Common Knowledge Two."
"The name of an ability also represents the method for its evolution."
"What does that mean?" Eriri looked utterly confused.
Utaha, however, seemed thoughtful.
Luo Shu glanced at Eriri, signalling her to be quiet, then said:
"For example, suppose I obtained an ability called Wind Element Manipulation."
"As the name suggests, with this ability, I can manipulate the flow of wind."
"That's the first point—the name of the ability indicates its function."
"And the second point—the name of the ability also holds the secret to its evolution."
"Literally, it means that by diligently exploring the ways to use the ability, one can grow stronger. You could also think of it as a proficiency mechanism."
Luo Shu extended his hand, and a small whirlwind slowly formed in his palm, spinning continuously.
This was Luo Shu's Wind Arts ability. Although absorbed by the Calamity Bringer Class, it hadn't disappeared but had instead integrated into the Class.
"With the Wind Element Manipulation ability, I can continuously expend my body's energy, skilfully using and researching the limits of the ability to gain proficiency and push the ability to its maximum potential."
"This game-like explanation makes sense to you, right?"
Utaha and Eriri exchanged glances, then nodded in unison.
As residents of Japan with otaku leanings, both were familiar with games and thus found this easy to understand.
"This is the orthodox method of advancement. Just keep it in mind. Now, let me tell you about the unorthodox method."
Seeing their understanding, Luo Shu smiled, then suddenly flung the whirlwind in his hand toward the two of them.
A sudden gust of wind surged forth.
Utaha Kasumigaoka, wearing her school uniform skirt, immediately pressed her hands against the hem of her skirt.
Beside her, Eriri did the same.
"Ah!"
"What are you doing!"
Seeing their flustered reactions, Luo Shu calmly explained:
"Those not directly involved might not notice, but as the one who used Wind Element Manipulation to attack you both, I just gained roughly the equivalent of ten serious uses' worth of proficiency in Wind Arts."
"What?" Utaha, who had finally remembered she was wearing safety shorts, looked up sharply. "You mean... influence?"
"Correct. Influence, or more precisely, faith. To be exact – concepts."
"When I used wind to affect you, all three parties became enveloped in wind. The scope of wind's influence expanded, thereby strengthening the concept of wind in this vicinity."
"As someone at Elite Rank, I can only passively absorb a fraction of this wind concept. Hence, my ability showed signs of increased proficiency."
"Of course, you could also interpret this as me gaining some passive experience points by attacking you with wind."
Luo Shu paused here before continuing earnestly:
"Affecting others with your ability and receiving their feedback to rapidly improve – this is the unorthodox path to advancement."
"And the most effective method in this unorthodox path is to influence people or events that naturally hold significant sway in human society."
"For example, if my Wind Element Manipulation directly affected the formation of a typhoon that caused widespread economic damage across Japan, even flooding Tokyo with torrential seawater..."
Luo Shu's tone grew meaningful:
"Then my ability would receive feedback from such an event, potentially meeting advancement requirements in an instant."
"Rapidly advancing abilities through such methods is precisely what is called the unorthodox path."
"Using abilities to make corresponding concepts manifest quickly, thereby strengthening oneself rapidly – this is the methodology of unorthodox advancement."
Hearing this, Utaha immediately grasped the dangers of such methods.
If someone's special ability involved earthquakes, their fastest path to advancement would be triggering a massive seismic event – something utterly devastating to innocent lives and property.
Realising this, Utaha pressed further: "Ordinary people must provide feedback too, right? Can you quantify the amount?"
"They do, but it's minimal. As for quantifying the difference..."
Luo Shu looked at Utaha with appreciation before explaining:
"Using you as a benchmark, Utaha, influencing about one million ordinary people would roughly equal affecting just you."
"Attacking you with wind equates to attacking a million people. The same applies to... lethal outcomes."
"A million people to match me?" Utaha couldn't help but seek confirmation.
"Exactly." Luo Shu added, "Common Rank ability users provide feedback equivalent to a thousand ordinary people. Excellent Rank is a thousand times that of Common Rank, and higher ranks likely follow the same scale."
"A thousandfold progression?" Utaha nodded in understanding, feeling somewhat relieved.
If this were true, ordinary people's safety margin would increase.
Even if only because their feedback was too insignificant to matter...
At this moment, Kisara, who had been listening quietly, seized the opportunity to interject before she was left out:
"So, according to what you're saying, Luo Shu, orthodox ability advancement doesn't affect others—one just needs to master their abilities independently."
"And the difference between orthodox methods and unorthodox methods that improve oneself by influencing others is that orthodox strength depends on personal practice, while unorthodox methods depend on how many people's lives you can affect with your abilities?"
"Correct."
Luo Shu nodded, then patted Kisara, gesturing for her to sit on the stool beside him before continuing:
"Based on the common knowledge I've acquired, at the same stage, the average requirement for unorthodox advancement is to influence about a hundred beings of equivalent level, leaving an indelible impact on them—that's roughly enough to advance to the next stage. As for orthodox cultivation, it purely depends on individual effort and talent."
"I see."
Utaha Kasumigaoka finally understood Luo Shu's point:
"After all this explanation, Luo Shu, you're just trying to present us with different methods to grow stronger and let us choose for ourselves?"
"Exactly." Luo Shu smiled.
The slow-to-catch-on Eriri finally realised:
"So you're saying if I want to improve my abilities, I'll have to use my shapeshifting frequently or use it to influence others?"
"The orthodox method is manageable, but the unorthodox one... Does that mean I have to impersonate my mum to deceive people?"
"Uh... I feel like I'd get beaten up for that. I definitely would, right?"
'You actually considered impersonating your mother to scam people?' Luo Shu gave Eriri an extremely peculiar look, as if she were an idiot.
He said irritably:
"Why don't you just shapeshift into me and flirt with Sayuri-san instead?"
"That way, you can mess with your mother while also gaining feedback for your abilities by affecting me. Two birds with one stone, no?"
"Oh, right—" Eriri had an epiphany... or so it seemed. "Who in their right mind would shapeshift into you to harass their own mother?! I'm not an idiot!!"
"Glad you're self-aware." Luo Shu stared at her with dead-fish eyes.
Meanwhile, Utaha Kasumigaoka couldn't help but chuckle:
"Sawamura-kun."
"You seem to have forgotten what Luo Shu just mentioned—that normal people provide very little feedback."
"So impersonating your mother—that is, Sayuri Sawamura—to do bad things wouldn't be very effective. As Luo Shu said, you'd have to shapeshift into him to make it work."
At this point, Kisara raised her hand, pointing at Eriri with a dramatic "the truth is clear" gesture:
"So you actually just want to frame your mother, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have immediately thought of this method!"
"Wha—" Eriri froze.
Could it be that she really had such a dark, mother-harassing dark side?
'Am I really that mean-spirited...?'
Eriri fell into deep self-reflection.