This story is certainly different from the rest, and is very interesting.

@Neorice - Any chance you can upload the pages all at once each day instead of throughout the day? It makes it easier to keep track.

So all 4 of the protagonists have supernatural powers due to the circumstances of their birth:
Noah and Held have magic,
Burk has esper powers,
Tobi has video game powers.

It must be hard being an adventurer in Neoricea unless you're born special. Illuani the Hatter deserves a fair bit of respect (even if his gadgets must utilize some magical pocket space as well).

@Jimmy Burk almost certainly doesn't have esper powers. Evyle made that up to scare Vonesperda, and she's no more qualified to guess Burk's powers than anyone else who's met him. My working assumption is that he actually has video game powers, like Tobi.

Also, the unfair advantage held by magic users is clearly intentional. It was an early plot point in both Noah's and Burk's stories.

@Jimmy I would note that strictly speaking, it hasn’t actually been said that Held has magic yet, both her father and the Clockmaker have specifically pointed out her hair isn’t a guaranteed sign of magic.

i'm definitely not worried that this guy's lying about having nothing to do with the warden/that this is a carrot or stick situation..

@player_03
Really? I took it at face value that Burk is an esper since a lot seems to match it.

He consorts with invisible spirits (like Evyle and his nerd assistant). He is immune to direct magical attacks and can ignore the magical defense of Goldman (because he has some control over the magic cast by others, like Noel?). In https://www.neorice.com/hoh/2442_Burk.png his facial expression when saying "for the sake of brevity let's assume I know [about espers]" suggests, if I'm not reading too much into it, that this strikes at some of his more personal and secret matters.

The only part that doesn't fit is - why is his physique so superhuman, even when there's no magic from magicians around for him to use? How does he jump so high with his thin legs? Maybe he's augmented with robotic legs. And some part of it must be just the general cartoon physics of the setting and the format.

@player_03 Burk has esper powers, specificly: he completely disrupts magical effects he touches and he can see spirits (including pandemonium spirits).

Note that Burk being.... Burk he doesn't seem to have a firm awareness of WHY his mildly idiosyncratic method works out exactly the way it does or much interest in experimenting with doing weird things. For example, hes used to being able to disrupt magical strength, and was thus caught off guard by the ghoul boars not being disrupted(because you apparently have to exorcise the original ghoul). Note hes normally very careful about dodging physical projectiles that have merely been moved or manipulated by magic, so its not that he doesn't know whats happening with magic.

Burk is basically running his anti spirit powers on the default settings. He doesn't know HOW to purge a spirit other than punching its vessel until its so weak it cant hold on anymore, unlike Evyle who could likely push one out with just a gesture. I think this is basically balling up the antimagic with casting like manipulation techniques.

@Jimmy Do we know that Burk was born an esper? I think that being an esper is usually, if not always, the result of prolonged, magic-induced trauma.

Hey, my guess that Held was his niece at the end of yesterday's multi-page release was correct. I'm probably wrong about Held's age in the story at the time of this retelling, though, as it sounds implied that this start was 40 years ago, suggesting that Held should be 40.

@ Tobi: Esper Powers aren't due to the circumstances of one's birth, they're a direct result of magical trauma. Also, Burk probably doesn't have Esper Powers, just an unexplained immunity to Spirit.

Noah has Spirit Magic & at least one Pandemonium Magic.
Tobi has Video Game Powers & Mechanical Knowledge.
Held most likely will have Free Magic, and possibly some sword/survival skills.
Burk has an incredibly trained physique akin, if not surpassing, that of the Royal Guard of Justiopia, and a mysterious immunity to Spirit.

I love it so very much. Thanks Neo!

I kinda enjoy the drip feed, its novel, and fun to drop by throughout the day and see the story progress. Love the new style you've dipped into with this chapter.

@Jimmy On page 2041, he straight-up admitted "I think it's best to just pretend I know what they're talking about" in response to a conversation about espers. So when he later says "for the sake of brevity let's assume I know," I can't read that as anything other than continuing to pretend.