The article contains a short essay written by Miki Kazuma, the editor of the Toaru Majutsu no Index novels, and is supervised by Kamachi Kazuma, regarding the barrier between a Level 3 and Level 4.
The Barrier between Level 3 and Level 4[]
The Teaching Methods of Academy City[]
Academy City is a city of students who are included in a curriculum of psychic power research and development. This large scale institution uses the slogan of “acquiring bodies that exceed humanity and arriving at the answer of god”. Students are obligated to undergo the System Scan which assesses their esper power.
Evaluation Standard and Details[]
The evaluation standard is divided into the six stages of Level 0, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 and also determines what power is manifested with classifications such as Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis, or Telepath.
Examples of Level 0 are Kamijou Touma (Imagine Breaker cannot be measured) and Tsuchimikado with his Auto Rebirth (the power to join together tiny blood vessels) which barely has any effect. Students in this area are considered to be failures so quite a few of them turn to delinquency. The armed group known as Skill-Out is made up of Level 0s.
Many students fall into the categories of Level 1 and Level 2, but not many have appeared in the story. Uiharu Kazari is one example. Most of these have powers on the level of bending a spoon, but their powers are not very useful in everyday life.
Level 3 is the classification given to Misaka Imouto's Radio Noise (in some cases, the phenomenon only reaches Level 2). As seen in her ability to break down the atmosphere or unlock electric locks, this level provides abilities that are convenient in everyday life but are not enough to be used in combat or as cutting edge technology.
Examples of Level 4 are Yotsuba, a Telepath member of Judgment, and Kongou Mitsuko, a second year at Tokiwadai Middle School with Aero Hand. The ones closest to being the symbols of Level 4 are Shirai Kuroko with Teleport and Musujime Awaki with Move Point. However, Shirai Kuroko has said Musujime could be Level 5 (given the high specs of her ability). They both have teleportation-type powers and at Level 4 have powers that exceed the modern scientific technology outside of Academy City.
Examples of Level 5 are Accelerator with his Vector Manipulation and Misaka Mikoto with her Railgun. At this level, they have enough power to fight evenly with an army. This classification is so rare that only seven exist out of Academy City’s 1.8 million students. Level 6, a power that exceeds Level 5, is said to reach the territory of god. No one has reached that level yet.
The Level 6 Shift project was designed for Accelerator who has the strongest power of the Level 5s, but it ended in failure.
Conclusion[]
One point to focus on is the great gap in the scope of power between Level 3 and Level 4. Level 3s only have a level of power that is useful in everyday life, but Level 4s possess enough power to have tactical value to an army. Naturally, the frequency at which esper powers manifest has an inverse proportion to the value of the powers.
This is related to the Personal Reality that is the fundamental law behind the manifestation of esper powers. Espers create the phenomena they wish for by focusing on making the impossible possible with their own power and by understanding, calculating, and naturally expressing the phenomena as “reality”. How well they can grasp these absurd phenomena in their Personal Reality is what determines an esper's evaluation. And that is what creates the barrier between Level 3 and Level 4.
Accelerator and Misaka Mikoto gained such high level powers because they both have strong minds and firm ideologies and principles. You could say their powers manifested in them because they knew they should.
(Author: Miki Kazuma • Supervisor: Kamachi Kazuma)