After his journey to OniMachi, Tharrelan, and half-dying on several other occasions, Marcel was feeling particularly salty and accidentally voiced them out. 

“For some reason, all the non-magic-related skills I have are useless!” He thought, a grave expression on his face. 

Having traveled to not only Tharrelan but also OniMachi, he felt terribly uninformed about the matter of things. The different species of monsters in the dungeons, the people who threatened his fulfilling life, even Ains. He knew nothing at all.  

He moped around afterward, thinking that his skill, [Adept Comprehension] was kind of useless as it still meant that he had to work for his knowledge after returning from his dungeon trip when this happened. 

 

<< Ding! Skill [Adept Comprehension] is being analyzed by the World Administrator. World Administrator has completed analyzation of the skill [Adept Comprehension] and has deemed it inadequate for master, thus an upgrade is in order. >> 

<< Draining EP from current reserves. Evolution Points remaining: O. >> 

<< Skill [Intellectual] has been established. >> 

“What does this new skill entail, Mini Demon Lord?” Marcel asked. Yes, he calls his Informer ‘Mini Demon Lord’. 

<< Answer: Established skill, [Intellectual] is currently being established. >> 

<< Skill [Adept Comprehension] has been incorporated into [Intellectual]. >> 

<< Skill [Adept Comprehension] has been modified into active skill, [Eidetic Memory] >> 

<< Skill [Eidetic Memory] has been altered from Active skill to Passive skill. >> 

<< Skill [Processing Increase] has been added to [Intellectual] >> 

<< Skill [Processing Increase] has been enhanced into [Processing Increase - 2x] 

<< Skill [Mental Fortitude - Low] has been added to [Intellectual] >> 

<< Passive effect ‘Search for Knowledge’ has been added to [Intellectual] >> 

 

“Oh, nice!” He rejoiced. 

<< Notice: Direct message from the World Administrator has arrived. I’ll read it! >> 

The informer said, not paying any mind to whether Marcel wanted to hear it or not. He read it directly into Marcel’s head. It read: 

“Dear Marcel, 

I see that you are highly unsatisfied with the skills I have granted you, thus... I granted your wish! It comes at a great cost though; my feelings to be exact. Thus I, World Administrator, have decided to deduct a portion of your EP whenever you feel unsatisfied with my work and will try my best to grant your wishes. 

Good luck to you! You’ll regret making me feel sad!  

Bye~ ” 

So went the message that sent shivers down the little hero’s spine the moment he heard it. Ever since then, be it skills that Marcel wanted or even thought about, he got them all and they were all passive skills at that, impossible to turn them off. She only put the button there in his informer to create the illusion that it wasn’t. He learned this the hard way. [Intellectual] wasn't any different.

The skill [Intellectual] was sort of a punishment and a reward at the same time. On one hand, she finally increased his computational abilities with the skills [Eidetic Memory], [Processing Increase - 2x], and the passive effect ‘Search for Knowledge’. [Eidetic Memory] boosts memory functions to the stage of photographic, perfect memory, [Processing Increase - 2x] raises his processing capabilities twofold.  

Now, he can operate at least 15 clones of himself and might become a Tria-Mage much faster than he would have without it. Although, ‘Search for Knowledge’ is a bit annoying, making him a restless knowledge-seeking zombie at times, if used with the immense library: the dragon race’s database, he can finally not be the one whom others need to explain to. He will be on the path to becoming a true ‘Intellectual’. 

All the skills she included inside [Intellectual] might seem perfect, but I did say it was also sort of punishment, didn't I?

Firstly, [Eidetic Memory] created by modifying his former skill [Adept Comprehension], is a one-way ticket to traumas and nightmares becoming more influential on the skill’s owner than they would like. The moment the skill was bestowed upon its new owner, it got to enhancing all aspects of his memory, including the old ones he’d like tucked in a corner he never wants to access.  

Suddenly, the corner was right in the center, along with everything else. Memories like the pain of lightning resistance training, headache after poisoning, elven power rituals, the recent burns, and oh-so painful petrification are a few former corner inhabitants. All those memories were now freely living with the others. If not for [Mental Fortitude - Low] which boosted his already trained mental prowess from a young age, he would have turned into a trauma-filled 'vegetable'. That’s why the skill exists, of course. 

With the grand spirit listening in for any requests to grant while being as petty as she can be, skills like [Swift Jump] or [What to Cook] or even the passive skill [Monster Tracking], which literally made his life hell, were granted. Deliberately programmed by Vitalis as a passive skill with Marcel’s old views of the demon realm in mind, [Monster Tracking] recognized everything his former view of what was a monster, thus making enemy perception that much more impossible to do. After all, according to the 16-year-old him, everyone in his current world was his enemy. Oh, how much he wanted to go back and slap himself!  

And guys, this is what happens when you piss off the Spirit of the World by belittling her work. She makes your life hell until you desperately beg for her to stop. Even after months of begging her to turn off the passive skill [Monster Tracking], she still didn’t. She complied with his wish only a year later, although by then, he had already gotten used to the skill, and it had become a part of his perception ability. It was deliberate, of course. 

Talk about being petty! So, he had to beg her to turn it back on and you know how it goes. Looks like the aptly named [Blessed by the World] skill that Marcel thought he and the other heroes own only takes effect as long as Vitalis isn’t mad at you, because of the amount of bad luck he suffered that year compared to when he had to torture himself in Boltz, was so much more extreme. He almost died, twice. 

 * * *

Now, back to the other thing I almost forgot before I thought of abilities, Marcel is getting one checked at by Sephana, specifically, the ‘I can walk through barriers’ kind that almost got him killed. 

Soon after returning, Sephana heard word from 'Pure Princess' Shalia herself and a few other informants about what happened in Tharrelan. She couldn’t wait to experime—sorry, ‘investigate’ this new thing that had to do with her Little Monster. 

Running some tests with barriers to investigate the full extent of Marcel’s abilities, she discovered something out of this world yet again. What did she find? I’ll reveal it later. 

After that, she had a different bizarre idea, yet it told her more than she needed. 

To Marcel, she presented a small wooden box. Its appearance was like any regular wooden box designed for valuables, with a carving here and there. It was very ordinary, except for one thing on it. 

“Please try unlocking that box with a normal ‘Unseal’ spell.” She commanded. 

“But I can’t do that!” Marcel replied. 

“Oh really~” She stared down at the box on the table. Having been his magic control instructor for a few years now, Marcel follows her orders before he protested them. He’d already done what she wanted, and it surprised him too. 

As normal locking-unlocking spells usually went, when it was used on an item like a gate, a treasure chest, or even an ordinary box, it registered the user’s magic signature on the item, something like an identification for later. Unless the same person tries to release the spell, it’s usually had to break it.  

Enchanted keys or stamps used to seal objects work in the same fashion, and this box she brought Marcel, was one with a highly advanced enchanted seal difficult to crack without its key. Now she was sure what the exact nature of Marcel’s power was, she told him. Also, after leaving, she called the Demon Lord and her brother and revealed the news. 

“Marcel is an enchanted key to the entire world!” She exclaimed. After that, she explained further until they understood what she meant. 

According to her, everything about Marcel bypasses all barriers set. Since the discovery of his magic’s unique attribute to how pure his aura is to this new thing where his body passes through barriers, she determined one thing that kept all the factors she found together: purity. 

Since Marcel’s body hates being tainted by other energies, it either devours them, isolates them for purification, and straight out cancels out their influence on him. This prevents any energy apart from his own from gaining influence inside his body, but Sephana thinks there might be more to it than that. 

From having Marcel walk out her barriers to him opening the chest, she learned something else. Marcel’s body and power didn’t influence them. They let him through.  

With the first barriers she used, Sephana made sure she reinforced them to see what would happen when Marcel came in them. For fun, when Marcel walked in, she decided to cut the space outside the barrier from Nephavion and hid it somewhere else, thus, if Marcel managed to get through it, his spatial coordinates would shift as well, and he’d be teleported to the newly specified spatial coordinates. That’s what should have happened. 

Marcel, when told to exit the barriers, did so and came out to the same spatial coordinates he’d left from earlier. She began concluding with this first test, and her next few barriers proved her right. No matter what coordinates she set the space outside the barrier to be when Marcel exited it, it was always rerouted back to the original coordinates. 

Since Marcel thought that by exiting the barriers, he’d end up back in the same place he was before the barriers were cast around him, the spatial coordinates on the outside of the barrier warped back to this originally perceived location. There was no power used on Marcel’s side, but everything changed just the same, like Sephana’s will meant nothing.  

If Marcel thought he would exit the barrier and be back in her lab, then he’d be back to the lab. If Marcel deemed a lock as something to be broken, even if he consciously thought he shouldn’t be able to, then the world just let him do it. 

What probably happened while he was in the dungeon rift on Tharrelan was probably the awakening of the ability of sorts. He wanted out of the barriers to fix the outermost one, thus the laws of space around him bent to his will. The barriers disregarded their owners' will and let him have his way, even though it would have brought harm to him. 

Basically, what she discovered is that Marcel is a disruptor of sorts, except, he doesn’t disrupt. Things disrupt themselves for him. Although she doesn’t know the extent of this power’s influence, she can say for certain that Marcel, if she isn’t mistaken, can ‘disrupt’ magic in the form of barriers, locks, and any kind of spatial interference by others.  

Someday, he might even have the power to disregard reality entirely, allowing him to pass through solid objects, define true spatial domination, and tell her what exactly he is. Who knows except the spirit hiding all this information from her? 

While she told Marcel that he can open any lock in the world, magical or not. Also that he should be careful around barriers if he doesn’t want a repeat of the dungeon rift incident, he told the other two the full detail behind the news. 

Marcel: “What kind of dangerous but useless ability is that? A lock opener?” He thought. He really didn’t want to be used like some random lock opener. 

Demon Lord: “Was I right? Have I made a mistake? What have I done?” He questioned his big decision to marry the beauty he’d coax in the future. He might have brought his extermination weapon right to his doorstep. 

Claude: “Should I be surprised? I’m raising a monster!” The more time passes, the more is revealed that his sister, himself, and their lord was raising a beast like no other. At this point, classifying Marcel as an anomaly will make things easier for them all. That guy is more abnormal than they thought. 

Meanwhile, green vine tattoo: “I’m just a blessing but everyone, including my master, forgets about me~! Nobody looks at me!” It cried. It had no idea that it was part of something greater than itself; something of a special blessing. It also wants some attention, but it blends in so well with Marcel’s energy and under Marcel’s clothes that they hardly notice. Poor thing! 

And so, Marcel lived his new life as a universal master key to breaking the seals of no-entry zones until he was made sick of it. Suddenly, friends are using you to invade your other friends’ privacy. Unacceptable!