chapter2 · 023-ep23
Episode 23: Job Unlocked
My eyes were glued to the window before me — to what it displayed.
【Job: Enchanter】
【Active Skill: Enchantment Domain】
【Activation Skill: Ability Grant】
...Huh?
Enchanter.
What's an Enchanter.
No — I understand what the word itself means.
I understand it. But.
Is this the name I wanted showing up at this exact moment? Not quite.
Like, come on. There's got to be something.
Swordsman.
Mage.
No, it's not that I wanted one of the easy-to-understand ones.
But — Enchanter.
This is just too much support class.
For a single instant in my head, a thought surfaced:
plain.
And in that instant, my consciousness had been dragged completely away with it.
Bad.
By the time I thought so, it was already too late.
Rio's fist was right in front of my face, and I twisted away on reflex.
But half a step too slow.
Can't dodge.
Just as I thought that, Rio's fist shifted its trajectory, ever so slightly.
Wind slipped past my cheek.
As it was, I took one big step back.
"...!"
Close call.
My concentration had genuinely cut out just there.
Rio didn't follow up, just let the tension loosely off his shoulders.
"That was a close one."
"...Sorry."
"Your focus is slipping. Thinking about something?"
"Something like that."
Not a lie.
If anything, it was nothing but thinking about something.
My head, right now, was wall-to-wall with the single word "Enchanter."
Seriously, what even is an Enchanter.
For now — I want to check.
The Job's role. The Skill effects.
I want to check right this second.
But Rio won't wait for me.
And we're mid-drill, for that matter.
I can't keep everyone waiting.
"What do you want to do? Keep going?"
"I'll keep going."
I said it, but that doesn't mean the noise in my head went and cleaned itself up.
Enchanter.
Enchantment Domain.
Ability Grant.
Plain.
Extremely plain.
Handling Rio's fists while thinking all that — there's no way my concentration was in working order.
I can see what I see.
My body moves.
Enemy Observation, Posture Control+, Contact Perception — all of them doing their jobs properly.
But the allocation of my attention is clearly wrong.
Chasing Rio's movements while, behind that, thinking about my Job the whole time.
Even I can tell.
Current me: pretty far gone.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, today's combat drills came to their end.
Regulating my breathing, I headed back to the wall.
And immediately, Rio lined up beside me.
"You know, you've been off since halfway through today."
There it is, as expected.
Well, naturally.
"...Your Job unlocked, didn't it?"
There, I blinked, a little.
"How'd you know?"
"I mean, I just took a shot."
Rio shrugged.
"Timing-wise, I figured it was about due — and then you suddenly, clearly started thinking about something else."
I see.
That would do it.
Or rather — of course it would.
With my focus snapping that blatantly.
"Then — report to Saeki-san."
"Right."
Yes.
Those are the rules here.
On reaching Level 10 or unlocking a Job, you report to your assigned instructor after that day's program ends.
Job name.
Active Skill.
Activation Skill.
You write those on the form they hand you and submit it.
Disclosure to others is optional.
But the report to the instructors alone is mandatory.
That part had been explained before.
It's a fairly important point, so even I remember it properly.
"Tell me what Job you got later, 'kay?"
Rio said it, sounding delighted.
"...Do I have to tell you?"
"Huh? Why are you making such a blatantly unwilling face?"
"Well... if the timing's right."
It's not that I mind, exactly.
But when someone comes at me this pushily, it throws me off in a way I can't cope with.
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool go-home-club hermit whose dealings with senpai have historically added up to nothing, you know.
"Well — anyway, go on, off you go."
"Okay."
And so I split from Rio and set off toward Saeki-san.
Today's program, as it happened, ended right there.
In a corner of the meeting room, not yet fully drained of people, Saeki-san was organizing documents.
I walked right up and spoke.
"Saeki-san — may I make my report?"
"Hm?"
Saeki-san looked up.
And the moment he saw me, his eyes narrowed, just slightly.
"It's come, has it."
"Yes. I've reached Level 10."
"Job too?"
"Unlocked."
"I see," Saeki-san said, nodding shortly.
"Handling for Level 10 is as I explained before. Just to confirm one more time: you'll fill in your Job name, Active Skill, and Activation Skill on the form and submit it. All right?"
"Yes."
"Also — hitting Level 10 doesn't mean you jump straight to Advanced. You understand that too?"
"Yes."
"As for promotion, we're planning promotion matches against the current Advanced members. Notice will come when the time arrives."
Promotion matches.
There'd been a glimpse of that explanation during the program.
Curious what it involves, but knowing my own Job comes first.
Saeki-san took a single sheet from a drawer and held it out to me.
Name.
Current Level.
Unlocked Job.
Active Skill.
Activation Skill.
Suddenly a very government-office document.
Borrowing a nearby desk, I picked up a pen.
Name.
Himuro Ren.
Current Level.
Up to there, it flowed from the pen.
At the next field, my hand stopped, just briefly.
Unlocked Job.
I thought for one instant, then wrote it.
Enchanter.
...Yep.
Still plain, even just looking at it on paper.
Not a speck of flash anywhere.
Active Skill.
Enchantment Domain.
Activation Skill.
Ability Grant.
Having written that far, I looked down at the form.
Too quiet.
So very tame-looking.
Thinking that, I handed in the completed form, and Saeki-san skimmed through it.
"An Enchanter, huh."
"Yes."
"What do you make of it, yourself?"
"...Too early to say."
That was my honest answer.
I couldn't call it good, couldn't call it bad.
Going purely by the first impression of seeing it just now, it's a one-word verdict: plain. But I don't know the Skill details yet.
Judgment deferred.
"Figures."
Saeki-san said it simply.
"For someone as gifted at close-quarters combat as you, Himuro — not getting a combat Job like Swordsman is bound to sting somewhere."
Then, setting the form back down on the desk, he continued.
"But Support is Support. In a party, it ought to count for plenty. Don't start wallowing."
"Yes."
I don't plan on wallowing.
For that matter, I haven't even reached anywhere worth wallowing over.
Right now it's just that the first impression — seems awfully plain — won't leave my head.
"That's all."
"Thank you very much."
With a light bow, I left the scene.
On the way home.
I finally opened the Job screen, properly.
【Job: Enchanter】
【Active Skill: Enchantment Domain】
【Activation Skill: Ability Grant】
Looking at it again — yes, still plain.
But judging it by name alone won't get me anywhere.
What matters is what's inside.
First, I opened the Active Skill's description.
【Enchantment Domain】
Enables enchantments to take effect within a fixed range. Stat increases can be granted to targets within the domain. The user themself counts as a target. Effect magnitude is influenced by the user's proficiency and stats.
...Ohh?
I stopped in my tracks there.
I see.
I see, I see.
So this is, in essence, a skill that creates the zone around me where enchantments become possible.
And then, on top of that, I use the Activation Skill, Ability Grant, to actually load on some kind of enhancement.
Good — next.
【Ability Grant】
Grants a chosen stat increase to targets within the Enchantment Domain. Grantable stats are limited to Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Magic. Only one stat increase can be maintained at a time.
"...No, wait."
It slipped out.
Isn't this, honestly, kind of interesting?
For one — it's area-type.
Not one touched target at a time.
"Within a fixed range" means that, depending on where you stand, it can hit multiple people at once.
But only one stat increase can be maintained at a time.
"...Well, obviously you can't enchant every stat at once."
Well, fair.
If that were possible, it'd be nothing short of a cheat skill.
And above all.
The user themself counts as a target.
That one line was enormous.
"...So it goes on me too."
That changes the whole conversation.
Of course, it's probably not a solo-everything class.
That much is plain at a glance from the description.
And the effect magnitude is influenced by proficiency and stats.
In other words, no convenient story of everything skyrocketing right from the start.
Which means, see.
For an Enchanter, your positioning within the party becomes the crucial thing.
How well you can stand at the center of your allies, laying buffs on them while still fighting respectably yourself.
However you look at it, a busy class.
But.
"...And that's exactly why it's interesting..."
Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth had gone soft.
Well — right.
At times like this, you test.
First up — lemme try buffing myself.