Rather than looking at the top section of the screen, which showed his System Skills, Tsukuru focused his attention instead down towards the bottom half of the screen.
Just like how there was a long line extending from the top of the circle with the "DNA" symbol inside, leading towards his System Skills, there was also a line extending down from the circle.
This one led to a rectangle with a light-blue outline near the center of the lower half of the "Skills Tab" screen.
In the upper-right corner of the rectangle, there was a set of three symbols. They resembled the type of pixels that would appear whenever Tsukuru activated his ability. The middle pixel was shaped like a large, thick, vertical rectangle. To the right of this rectangle, there was another, somewhat smaller and narrower rectangle. And to the left of the larger rectangle, there was a square.
Just like with the rectangle for his "System" Skills, this one had words written in big, bold letters in a digital font across the bottom of the large rectangle along the left-hand side. It simply read "Video".
Along the lower-right corner of the rectangle were two rows of those strange "bars" that appeared in all of the rectangles of Skills that have Levels. While the top row had five bars just like all of the others, the lower row only had three. Making eight bars in total. The first four bars were filled.
Given that Tsukuru was a Level 4 Ability User, it didn't take a genius to figure out that these "bars" corresponded to his Ability Level.
Just like with the rectangle for his "System" Skills, multiple lines were extending out of the sides of this rectangle, all leading to smaller and narrower rectangles.
Coming out of the top of the rectangle, close to a third across its length towards the right, there was a line that went straight up before taking a full ninety-degree angle towards the left. The line continued a bit longer before it then connected to a smaller rectangle labeled "Video Stasis - Lv. 2".
Like with the others, this rectangle had the set of five "bars" along the right side of it, with the first two bars illuminated.
However, this rectangle also had a line extending out from the top along one-third of its length towards the right, taking a ninety-degree angle towards the left, and connecting to a new rectangle.
This one was labeled "Stasis Shift - Level 1". It also had a set of five "bars" along the right side, with only the first one illuminated.
The large rectangle for the "Video" Skills also had a line extending from the right side of it, going down a third of its length towards the bottom. This line connected to a new rectangle labeled "Hard-Light Projection - Lv. 2". The first two"bars" along the five were illuminated.
Finally, the large rectangle had three lines coming out of the bottom, evenly spaced, one in the center, and one along the far-left and the far-right. Each of the lines along the far sides went down a short distance before turning to the side and leading to a new rectangle. And just like with the "Video Stasis" Skill, the rectangle on the left had one line extending from the bottom of it, going over to the left, while the rectangle on the far right had two lines extending from it. When extended from a short distance down its right side, and one extending from its bottom towards the right. Strangely enough, both of these rectangles appeared right next to each other on the screen.
Lastly, the line in the center just went straight down, connecting to the center of the top of another rectangle.
The rectangle connected to the first line out of the three was labeled "Video Creation - Lv. 2", and the rectangle connected to the line extending from it was labeled "Video Transmutation - Lv. 1".
Meanwhile, the rectangle connected to the third line out of the three was labeled "Video Legion - Lv. 1", and the two rectangles that were off-shooting from it were labeled "Fictional Summoning"and "Video Exchange - Lv. 1" respectively.
The last visible rectangle on the screen, the one extended straight down from the larger rectangle, was labeled "Video Glitch - Lv. 2".
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes. The Skills all looked the same, but he decided to check just to make sure. He clicked on the first Skill he had ever acquired. The "Video Creation" Skill.
The Skill's rectangle illuminated, and an electronic beep was heard. Then, the Skill's info boxpopped up.
[Video Creation - Lv. 2
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can create any object you can think of. The amount of Energy required scales proportionally to the size of the creation.
Requires Energy
You can only create moderately large, semi-complex creations
Level-Up Requirements: Reach Level 20]
Tsukuru then dismissed the info box and clicked on his "Video Legion" Skill. Just like before, the rectangle illuminated, and an electronic beep was heard. Then, the Skill's info box opened up.
[Video Legion - Lv. 1
Title-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can create and summon an army of intelligent, self-aware entities that can operate independently of yourself. Initially, summoning these entities has no Energy cost, but respawning them requires Energy. The amount of Energy required scales proportionally to the Summon's Grade.
Requires Energy
You can have up to 10 Video Summons active at a time
Level-Up Requirements: Reach Level 20]
Tsukuru then dismissed this screen as well. Then, he systematically began going through his Skills in the order in which he acquired them.
[Video Stasis - Lv. 2
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can telekinetically freeze and control objects. Controlled objects will be surrounded in an aura of glitching pixels.
Requires Energy
-5 Energy for every second of continual use per affected object
You can only affect objects weighing a maximum of 30 pounds
Level-Up Requirements: Costs 5 Skill Points]
[Video Glitch - Lv. 2
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can teleport across short distances, your body physically "glitching" to that location.
Requires Energy
Uses Stamina
-10 Energy per activation
-5 Stamina per activation
You can only teleport up to 10 meters from your current location
Level-Up Requirements: Costs 8 Skill Points]
[Stasis Shift - Lv. 1
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can teleport objects affected by Video Stasis to another location, as if they were using Video Glitch.
Requires Energy
-10 Energy per activation
You can only teleport objects with a 10-meter radius of their original location.
Level-Up Requirements: Costs 3 Skill Points]
[Hard-Light Projection - Lv. 2
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can manifest structures made out of interconnected, hard-light hexagons. These structures can be walls, domes, or even platforms.
Requires Energy
-5 Energy for every 1 minute of continuous use
You can only make structures composed of a maximum of 30 hexagons. Hexagons are as strong as tempered glass.
Level-Up Requirements: Costs 5 Skill Points]
[Video Exchange - Lv. 1
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can switch places with one of your Video Summons, similar to using the Video Glitch Skill.
Requires Energy
-40 Energy per activation
You can only swap places with one Video Summon at a time, and only those within 30 feet of your current location. Once used, the Skill cannot be used again until 24 hours have passed.
Level-Up Requirements: Reach Level 20]
[Video Transmutation - Lv. 1
Ability-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can reconfigure already-existing matter. The amount of Energy required scales proportionally to the complexity of the alteration.
Requires Energy
You can only alter the physical structure of non-living, inorganic matter. You can change its shape, coloration, and number of original parts, but you cannot change it from one form of matter into another. Additionally, it must retain its original weight. You must be in physical contact with an object to alter it
Level-Up Requirements: Costs 8 Skill Points]
[Fictional Summoning
Title-Exclusive Skill
Active Skill
You can summon individuals from fictional media that you are familiar with as General-Rank Summons. Initially, summoning a fictional entity costs 80 Energy and permanently decreases your Max Energy by 20. General-Rank Summons act exactly like your Video Summons. To summon a fictional entity, you must establish contact with a video screen large enough for the fictional entity to physically pass through, such as a TV or computer monitor.
No Energy Required
General-Rank Summons: 1/1]
Tsukuru closed the final info box, the one for "Video Transmutation", and narrowed his eyes.
'It seems that my Skills require twice as much of this 'Energy' as they did when I was using MC,' Tsukuru thought. However, he then glanced to the side. 'Although I seem to have twice as much Energy as I had MC, so I guess that checks out.'
The info boxes also told Tsukuru how he could Level Up his Skills. And while his two main Skills, Video Creation and Video Legion, seemed to be locked behind Level thresholds, like with his System Skills, his other Skills all required this new "Skill Point" thing.
'How do I even get these 'Skill Points'?' Tsukuru asked, mostly to himself.
However, the voice of the Reiju AI then piped in.
"You acquire Skill Points by Leveling Up, just like with Stat Points," she replied. "Additionally…there is another method to acquire them."
Tsukuru glanced back.
'You gonna tell me what that is?' he asked.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own before too long," she replied.
If the digital copy of his mother was real, Tsukuru would swear that she would be smirking as she said that.