Given the power that Shien displayed, it was normal for him to be suspected.

Putting aside everything else, if the reality didn't match the results of the adventurers guild's magic appraisal, there could even be suspicions of purposeful infiltration. The result might be suspicions of being a demon or a spy from some other country.

Thus, Shien had long since prepared excuses with which to shift the blame. It wouldn't be able to completely remove all suspicions, but it could at least prevent anyone from openly using it as a way to cause trouble for him.

It was also for the sake of not getting dragged into unpleasant things.

Shien was already used to shifting blame by now after all. He had no problem with using it, and he found it naturally advantageous.

But, since Vivian had already said this much, Shien thought that it might not be such a bad thing to exposed a few things.

However, Shien did know full well just what should or shouldn't be exposed.

Didn't Vivian just say to "show a portion of your true abilities when appropriate"?

In that case..

"Truth be told, it's only natural that you'd be suspicious."

Shien shrugged and spoke.

"However, didn't the adventurers guild state back when they're doing the magic scan that the scanner can't detect level 7+ skills, level 70+ individuals, nor any unique or special skills?"

Shien decided to use that as the basis for his argument.

"Just as you've thought, there's no way that I could be only level 10. Nor was it possible for me to have not a single skill."

Putting aside beforehand, it is true now.

Shien then explained it as such.

"The reason the magic scanner showed that my level was 10 was due to my unique skill's effect."

That was the explanation that Shien used.

"Unique skill?" Balon sucked in a deep breath and asked, "You're saying that you have a unique skill?"historical

"That's right." Shien nodded and explained further as he admitted it, "My unique skill's effect is to allow me to adjust my own level and skill levels to a certain degree. That's the reason why the magic scanner showed that I was only level 10 and didn't have a single skill."

When they heard Shien's explanation, everyone was shocked.

"Adjust your own level and skills?" Leon was stunned, "You mean that you can freely determine your own level and skills?"

Isn't that just way too overpowered?

"Of course not." Shien denied immediately, "I already said it was to a certain degree. There are limitations and conditions."

Shien didn't so much as blink at the lie he's spitting out.

But there shouldn't be any issues with Shien saying a lie like that.

The current Shien had already educated himself on much of this world's common sense via the adventurers guild's library. Thus, he was able to make up a certain amount of things without any holes in his explanation.

Thus, for the sake of avoiding suspicions about his level and skill information, Shien just directly made up his own unique skill.

"By satisfying certain limitations and conditions, I can adjust my levels and skills within bounds of said limitations and conditions. That's the reason I was able to so easily defeat Baydr."

Shien explained in such an ambiguous way.

"Don't bother asking me what kind of conditions or limitation, or how much I'm able to adjust my level and skills. Those are important secrets to my unique skill. There's nothing good in it for me to reveal them, and the information could even be used against me. All you need to know is that I have a unique skill with that kind of effect."

That was the excused that Shien prepared.

Without something like that, Shien wouldn't have been able to explain his true strength.

Originally, Shien also wanted to just tell everyone straight out that he only had such strength because he was higher leveled than Baydr. However, after thinking through it more carefully, if a mere 20 years old youth was higher leveled than 84, it might end up causing some kind of commotion.

The situation with the skills were the same. Normally speaking, a 20 year old youth shouldn't have been able to raise his skills that high. Otherwise, Diere wouldn't have been known as a prodigy.

In that case, Shien just pushed all the issues onto a unique skill.

(I couldn't toss the blame onto someone else, but it's fine for me to toss it onto a unique skill, right?)

Shien had that kind of impish thought.

But this was the most suitable explanation for himself. He could explain everything with that without even needing to go into much detail.

"So that's how it is.." Balon had accepted that explanation and muttered, "If it's a unique skill, then anything could be possible."

Leisha had once said it too. In this world, when determining a person's strength, the first criteria is the effect of that person's unique skill. Only after are levels and skills relevant.

Unique skills can be said to be the most special power in this world. Truly, anything could happen when they're involved.

It was exactly for that reason that any nation or race without exception would pay a great deal of special attention to anyone with a unique skill.

Only..

"Although there are limits and conditions, this also means that so long as they can be satisfied, you can become strong enough to make even a level 84 Old Demon Faction member helpless before you, right?'

Eudrice gave Shien a complicated look.

Leon did the same. He showed enough admiration and even a bit of envy that anyone could see it.

If he had a unique skill like that then he wouldn't have needed to rely of women to rise.

Unfortunately for him, not just anyone could get a unique skill. Even across all three worlds, those with unique skills are only a very tiny fraction of the population. Even among the gods and demons, most of don't have a unique skill.

Whether or not one has a unique skill isn't dependent on one's talent or even pure luck. Some people are simply born with it. Some manage to awaken it later on in life via all kinds of ways. There are many factors involved, and no one could figure out just what are the rules governing it.

Thanks to that, people with unique skills are also called the ones beloved by their time. Even if one had a unique skill completely unusable for combat, it would still be greatly admired by others.

Shien is now one of them.

That was the "portion of his true abilities" that he had chosen to reveal.

With that, there won't be anyone looking down on him from now on. At the same time, it won't end up bringing too much scrutiny upon Shien either.

(At the very least, this result is better than exposing my identity as the Hero, right?)

Shien was preparing to use this unique skill as an excuse. In the future, it can be used to explain away any great improvements in his strength or any other unnaturalness.

After all, whether it be by using the Holy Sword or other cheat skills, Shien's strength before and after such use vary just a bit too much, so it's best to have a handy excuse available.

Perhaps..

(This is also the result that Vivian wanted, right?)

Shien gave Vivian a glance.

Vivian probably wanted to tell Shien that it's fine to hide his identity. It's also fine to hide his trump cards. However, there's no need to hide his true strength forever.

In this world, only when one has power can one gain the respect of others.

Just like this time. If Shien had shown power enough that no one dared to disrespect, then Balon and the rest wouldn't have tried to so blatantly steal credit for his achievement in the first place.

Of course, overly great power will also attract trouble. This was also a reason why Shien didn't want to get too much attention.

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