"What am I doing?"
As he ran in the morning, Mizuto wondered what they did last night. While they might not do it in the end, they kissed each other's lips slobbery and lewdly as if neither cared about anything. Moreover, their kiss was just natural, as they had done it many times before. Nevertheless, was this okay?
After all, his father had just married her stepmother; then, at night, when they started to live together, he and his stepsister started to kiss each other like a man and a woman instead of a stepsibling.
Still, he wasn't a hypocrite, as he enjoyed that kiss.
The only problem was whether it was okay or not and whether their parents could accept it or not since even if there was no law that disallowed stepsiblings from marrying each other, their parents had just married each other after all.
He knew that if they knew what they had done, they would definitely be surprised or—
He shook his head and knew that they had to keep what they had done last night a secret from their parents.
Still, he knew that Yume definitely wouldn't report something like this to their parents, so he could feel relief. If he was forced, then he might as well live alone as this was possible for him.
Nevertheless, he put Yume's problem aside since he had to say the skills that he gained after becoming a "Merchant" were more impressive than he had thought.
Last night, after he became a "Merchant," he put one point on every active skill to understand them better. Initially, it should have been "Discount" and "Overcharge" that surprised him, yet that wasn't the case as "Identify" and "Store" were also two skills that he couldn't look down upon.
The "Identify" skill made him able to identify many things, and whenever he walked, he could see a panel of an introduction of a variety of things such as [Street], [Bike], [House], etc. Still, this skill wasn't limited to non-living things, as he could also use it on himself and many people he saw while running.
Frankly, as it was only a level one, there wasn't much that it could do, but somehow, he felt that this skill would be full of potential, especially when it reached a maximum level.
Still, aside from the "Identify" skill, the "Store" skill also surprised him.
If he made a comparison, the "Store" was like online shopping. However, unlike the online shopping he knew, it was more developed, and as long as he bought something, it would be sent immediately.
As this skill was only level one, the items sold in the "Store" were something from the convenience store. There was a bottle of water, an onigiri, a fresh bento, and various other things.
At the same time, he could also sell something at a fair price in this store.
When he was in his room, he tried to sell his bed but hurriedly stopped as he was afraid that it would be really sold to the "Store." It wasn't that he would be troubled if he sold his bed, as he could buy the new one in the "Store," but he was afraid that if he bought the new one, how could he explain it to his parents and Yume?
In his opinion, when the "Store" reached a maximum level, he could imagine that he could buy a fantasy item like those legendary weapons from the Myth, such as Excalibur or Kusanagi no Tsurugi, which made him fall into a daze.
As for "Brainwash," even if he didn't explain it, one could tell how amazing this skill was. Unfortunately, he never tried it since he was a bit afraid, considering that level one of this skill only enhanced one's emotions.
If someone felt hatred toward him, then wouldn't this person wish to kill him?
So, he might as well wait until this skill reaches a maximum level so he can manipulate someone's mind, like in a fantasy story or movie.
Still, as he explained three active skills of the "Merchant," what about the rest, which was "Overcharge" and "Discount."
While he might say that the potential for "Identify" and "Store" might be above the "Overcharge" and "Discount," it didn't mean those two skills were bad. Instead, they were still on a level of outrageousness.
Yes, outrageous.
Those two skills were really outrageous.
He wasn't sure how many times he was going to say this, but this system was too cheating!
The reason why he became a "Merchant" was all due to his service business to make a thesis and capstone project for those who were in need.
Still, maybe someone might be confused or have forgotten how the "Overchage" works, but it was a skill that allowed him to charge the customers 10% more than the original price, so when his service was about 200,000 yen, another 20,000 yen would be added to his pocket due of his "Overcharge" skill.
Meanwhile, the "Discount" would give him a 10% discount whenever he or his store bought something. So, if he bought something for 100 yen, he would receive 10 yen of cashback.
In other words, those skills gave him a passive income.
An income that he would receive even without doing anything.
Yet, saying that he didn't do anything might be too much, as he needed to maintain the business if he wanted to get more money from the "Overcharge."
As for the "Discount," as long as he used the money, he would receive a cashback, so if he leveled up this skill to level 10, he would receive 100% of the return. It might not be wrong to say that he gained a perpetual income. When this skill reached a maximum level, he wouldn't lack money.
Mizuto had to say that with all of those skills, he might be able to become either a hero or a demon king in this world. Still, what gave him another surprise was how he suddenly became a Level 25.
Yes, a Level 25.
Wasn't this too fast?
After all, what did he do?
If he had to think about something, the reason why he could level up so fast was all due to the kiss he shared with Yume last night, like how a player would gain more EXP when they hunted down an Elite or Boss type of monster. Kissing his stepsister at night was a feat comparable to the two feats he mentioned above.
With his current level, he gained more than 15 skill points, and along with the ten skill points he gained before, he had a total of 25 skill points. However, as he has used five skill points, adding one point to every "Merchant" skill, he only had 20 skill points left.
"Now, what should he do?"
As those points were enough to max out two of the active skills, he thought to max two of the skill active skills while giving the remaining points to the "Store" as he was curious what would it sell when he put more points on this skill.
So, after a moment of thought, he decided to max "Discount" and "Identity."
Why?
If he maxed the "Discount" level, he would get 100% in the return. In other words, anything that he buys from now on will become free as the money he used to buy will return to his pocket.
Meanwhile, for the "Identify," he felt that this skill definitely wasn't simple and there was a lot of potential to it.
As he maxed out those two skills, he added the remaining two points to the "Store." While he wanted to check the "Store," he thought to try the "Identity" first as it was the first skill which he maxed out.
Then, when he tried it—
He stopped thinking since this skill was just too... shocking.
Still, at this moment, he thought that having a stepsister was a good thing.
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NOTE:
There you go~!
Five chapters in go~!