It all began one fateful day, which seems a little redundant because if it had happened any other day then that would have been the fateful day instead. Anyway, who cares about that sort of thing when there was something quite astounding going on?
Namely, that Negi had arrived this morning with a great big smile on his face and a medium-sized box in his arms.
"Good morning, everyone," he said, while the students all eyed the box with suspicion, trepidation, and in at least one case a hunger ravenous enough to blot out the sun. Feel free to guess which was which if you like. "This is a little unorthodox... However, I have received special permission so it shouldn't cause any problems. Then again it is a little strange they'd let me do this sort of thing, so maybe there's some ulterior motive that I'm not seeing? Or maybe that's just being paranoid..."
"Ahem!" some of the girls cough/yelled in unison. Again, feel free to guess which.
"Right, right!" Negi clapped his hands together. "We've got a special gift for everyone here called a 'Level Upper'. They're some sort of belt attachment with a pretty weak spell on them."
"What sort of spell?" Haruna asked.
"I haven't the faintest idea!" Some of the girls facefaulted right off their chairs. The rest were either expecting that response or too interested in the possibilities to be shocked. Again, guess which was which. "Still! You all have special permission to use this item however you see fit. So, it can't be anything too bad, I suppose? Please try not to break them. I'll hand them out at the end of class, so play nice, please!"
And that was it. At class's end they all took one for themselves and carried it out as if it were a newborn chick for which they'd been asked to care. A harmless little toy. A gift from their beloved teacher. Or a curiosity to be exploited as soon as the mechanics were worked out.
Once again: Feel free to guess which was which.
<hr>
Amazingly, the very first of them to figure the device out was Chisame. She had immediately returned to her room, staring down at the device and hoping it didn't get her into any kind of weirdness. Even so! Level Upper? It looked like a device more than anything else, and by goodness if anyone in class could work out a device it would be -
Satomi probably. But then Chisame herself! Without a doubt.
Whatever! The device itself was pretty simple. The interface was barebones enough that she could work it out by switching it on. Which she did. "Input Characteristic". Eh, fine then!
"Hmph! The greatest net idol the world has ever known," she declared, giving a little haughty laugh while doing so, deliberately making it as over the top as possible. The device flashed. The device beeped. Chisame raised an eyebrow. The text had changed.
"Characteristic accepted: Net Idol.
Net Idol: Level 30, EXP 750/1000"
Twitch. "Thirty?!" she yelled. "Actually, is that good? I don't know what metric this thing is using... If this is like one of those dumb RPGs, that would be thirty out of about one hundred! But that's not possible! Ooh! I'll show this dumb thing what a high-level net idol looks like, mark my words!"
On came the costume. Off came the glasses. On went the laptop and the camera, and on went her poses. Without even thinking about it, she had slapped the Level Upper onto her belt, and she certainly didn't notice when it started ticking up with each and every pose she adopted....
<hr>
The very next of the students to work it out was, in fact, Chachamaru. This sexy android doesn't really seem to have that much of her own life, merely taking care of Evangeline's various needs. She wasn't really programmed to do much more than serve as a maid.
Which makes the fact that she was staring at the device with even the slightest trace of emotion a pretty significant miracle, and tells us that even at this young age Negi was quickly reaching his father's level in a skill other than magic usage.
"What was that sap thinking?" Miss Evangeline asked rhetorically, holding out her own gifted device at arm's length. "He doesn't even know what this thing does, and he hands it out willy-nilly? Chachamaru! Analyse this feeble magic. Someone is up to something and I intend to discover what that something is."
"Analysis completed."
"That was quick."
"As you observed, the spell is 'feeble'," the android explained. "Its only effect is to enhance a particular skill that can be defined or modified by whomever holds the device. By making use of the skill while wearing the device, that skill may be supernaturally enhanced."
"In other words, 'practice makes perfect', the magic edition," Miss Evangeline snorted dismissively. "Lame. What sort of good is -"
"Basic manners," Chachamaru said into Evangeline's Level Upper. The command was immediately accepted, although her vampire mistress did back away rudely. Appropriately the level came out at four.
"Hmph! So it can tell you how good you are at something as well?" Evangeline huffed. And then she had an idea. You could tell because of the way her brow furrowed, her fangs became visible, and she did this sort of motion with her hand where the tips of her fingers pressed against their counterpart on her other hand in a sort of wavelike motion that seemed extremely sinister.
"Magic casting," she said, and stared at the screen. "Level 50! Ten thousand experience points to reach the next level! Well, well, Chachamaru... Shall we see how many I can gather tonight?"
"As you wish, mistress," Chachamaru said, giving a deep bow. Ah, but then she really had to think for a moment... Perhaps she ought to use it herself? "Maid," she said. Her level was 60. This was unacceptable. Clearly she needed to use this device to improve herself in any way that she could....
<hr>
As for the rest of the class, they too all fell victim to curiosity and intrigue, and wound up using the device to improve their own skill in a certain area. Rather than spending a whole lot of time showing them making their discovery, let's cut to the chase and assume their scenes were pretty similar to the above.
Sayo: Ghostliness
Yuna: Stamina
Kazumi: Senses
Yue: Giving advice
Ako: Healing
Akira: Athleticism
Misa: Cheerleading
Asuna: Studying
Misora: Feet skills
Chachamaru: Maid
Madoka: Cheerleading
Ku: Martial arts
Konoka: Strength
Haruna: Gossip
Setsuna: Swordfighting
Makie: Acrobatics
Sakurako: Cheerleading
Mana: Accuracy
Chao: Tricking people
Kaede: Speed
Chizuru: Melon growing
Fuka: Ninja
Fumika: Ninja
Satomi: Robotics
Chisame: Net idol
Evangeline: Magic casting
Nodoka: Pleasing Negi
Natsumi: Sex appeal
Ayaka: Acting sisterly
Satsuki: Cooking
Zazie: Fitting in
There, that's saved us a lot of time. A lot, a lot of time. Now we can get back to the point of the story, when something happens to one of these girls that made this seemingly thoughtful gift, perhaps just a little less wonderful than it might have first appeared....
- A group of the girls accidentally swap their Level Uppers with each other!
- A girl becomes so good at her chosen field of improvement that she can't stop being good at it.
- A Level Upper malfunctions in a way nobody could have foreseen.
- Someone starts playing jokes on people by making them level up things they didn't intend to level up.
- Something else
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