chapter2 · 024-ep24

Episode 24: A Huge Chance

The day after my Job unlocked.

Wednesday, lunch break.

Sōsuke and I were sitting on the school rooftop floor, bentos spread open.

The air blowing across the rooftop felt pretty nice too.

Yeah.

A good time.

Not bad at all, really.

But even now, spending an ordinary high school lunch like this, my head was crammed full of the Job I'd unlocked yesterday.

Enchanter.

Enchantment Domain.

Ability Grant.

Look at it any way you like, it's a support class — it's even got a whiff of one of those dud classes from a generation or two ago.

But having read that description, the story's different now.

A fixed range.

You count as your own target.

Only one enchant maintained at a time.

Precisely because there are restrictions, the breadth of ways to use it is easy to see — and above all, the fact that effect magnitude hinges on the user's proficiency and stats is huge.

For the record, I did at least try it out last night.

The moment I got home, I opened my Status screen in my room and activated Enchantment Domain and Ability Grant.

The first thing I tested was a Strength enchant.

The instant I cast it on myself, there was this odd sensation of heat passing through my arms.

Not pain.

If anything, a feeling of strength flowing more easily from deep in my body.

Checked my Status, and the Strength value had gone up.

The increase: half of ten percent... no, maybe half of that again.

So, roughly two or three percent of the base figure, at a guess.

...No, hold on, that's tiny.

I thought that for a second.

I did.

But even so — the mere fact that a stat goes up by some means other than leveling is honestly pretty huge.

And this is a skill I only just learned.

If the effect scales with proficiency and stats, there's room for it to grow from here.

Think of it that way, and having it tick up even a little at the starting line might be plenty.

I tried lightly lifting the edge of my desk as a test, and immediately quit.

No — too scary.

If I broke furniture in my own room, the explanation would be way too much hassle.

Then I tested an Agility enchant too.

The increase was about the same.

Half of ten percent... and half of that again.

On numbers alone, unglamorous.

But the moment I took a step, my body shot further forward than I meant it to, and I straight-up banged my knee on the corner of the bed.

It hurt.

The first thing I did as an Enchanter was bang my knee in my own room.

Extremely anticlimactic.

I tested an Endurance enchant as well.

Same increase, again.

It's like the surface of your body gets just slightly harder — a sense of being braced against impacts.

Though to truly verify this one, I'd need someone to hit me, or to run into something.

No.

A high schooler alone in his room, body-checking the wall.

That's pretty far gone.

I did also test a Magic enchant, for the record.

The number goes up on the Status too.

But unlike Strength or Agility, there's no obvious on-the-spot change to your body.

I did feel like the sensation while maintaining Ability Grant got a tiny bit smoother.

I felt like it, but honestly, I can't tell yet.

This part I won't figure out without testing it properly.

Also — Ability Grant eats more than I expected.

Each use isn't so bad, but trying to maintain it gives you this creeping feeling of your MP being siphoned away.

Keep using it recklessly and it seems genuinely dangerous.

In the end, here's what last night's testing established — four things.

That I can enchant even myself, properly.

That the enchant's effect is visible on my Status too.

That at the starting state, the increase is half of ten percent... no, half of that again.

And that it is far too dicey to test inside the house.

That is all.

...I mean, I'd like to test it properly, you know.

I'd been running simulations in my head until bedtime, and after waking up this morning I went right back to it.

What happens if I stack Strength on myself?

Raise Agility — how far does my movement change?

Endurance seems straightforward enough, but does that alone let me hold the front line?

Magic... no, how much does that even mean for me right now?

That kind of thing.

My brain had gone completely over to that side of things.

"Must be nice, Ren-kun."

Sōsuke said so, onigiri still in hand.

"About what?"

"The Job unlock. Me, looks like it'll still take a good while."

Sōsuke shrugged a little.

"Beginner's mostly fundamentals rather than sparring, you know. Not many chances for XP to come in, either."

"Ah, is that how it is."

Figures, I guess.

Beginner is safety-first, after all.

Telling freshly Awakened people to start brawling right away would be a strange ask anyway.

"But hey, there's no need to rush your Level, right? And Sōsuke, you're not exactly big on the whole punching-each-other thing, are you?"

"Yeah, I mean, true, but..."

Sōsuke smiled wryly.

"Still, jealous is jealous. I do think — man, I'd love to get there soon too. A Job just feels like things suddenly getting real."

"Well, I can see that a little."

Honestly, I'd thought the same.

No — "a little" is underselling it.

I'd thought it a lot.

Level 10.

Job unlock.

There's still more road ahead, strength-wise.

That rush of excitement when I learned it — yeah, it was big for me too.

"So what did you end up getting? Your Job."

Sōsuke asked.

I stopped my chopsticks for just a moment, then answered.

"Enchanter."

"...Ohh."

Sōsuke's face went a little awkward.

"Stop making that 'ohh' face."

"No, sorry. Not in a bad way."

"That was pretty much in a bad way just now."

"It's just — how do I put it... I was picturing something more, like, Swordsman or Mage."

Well, fair.

I thought the same at first.

"But it actually sounds kind of interesting, see."

"Huh."

"Even just from messing with it a little last night, it felt like there's a lot you could do with it."

"Really?"

"Well, it was inside my room, so only super lightly, but yeah."

Plus there'd been the report to Saeki-san.

I hadn't tested it in earnest.

No — honestly, I want to use it right now.

Use it and pin down how my body changes, how big the buff actually gets.

But of course there's nowhere to do that on a weekday.

Ahh... being an Awakener is brutal.

"Still, an Enchanter, huh."

Sōsuke said it feelingly.

"The name sounds handy to have around in a party, but how would it be solo, I wonder?"

"That's the thing."

Nibbling the karaage from my bento, I nodded without meaning to.

"Think about it normally, and it's the type that supports allies from behind."

"Right?"

"But it's probably not just that."

"Ohh?"

Sōsuke leaned in just a little.

"Your face is already turning into games-talk Ren-kun."

"What kind of face is that?"

"An annoying face."

"Kind of rude?"

"But you look a little happy about it."

Couldn't deny that one.

Honestly, it's a blast.

I haven't even properly tested it yet, and my head's already buzzing with everything it feels like it could do.

This kind of thing — plain at a glance, but with the potential to transform depending on how you use it.

I've always loved stuff like that.

Stacking skills everyone treats as duds until the game balance breaks — that beats some top-tier character's ultimate move any day of the week.

I've just been built that way from the start.

And right in the middle of that conversation —

with a clack, the rooftop door opened.

"You two are early."

A voice I knew well. Composed.

No need to turn around.

Mibu Iroha.

The root cause of us eating lunch on the rooftop instead of our usual classroom... makes it sound bad, but well, she's the one who set it off.

That was from back when Sōsuke and I were eating lunch in the classroom as usual.

『Himura-kun, Makino-kun. If you'd like, shall we have lunch together?』

The one who came out with that was her — Mibu Iroha.

The most conspicuous girl in our grade.

No — conspicuous isn't even the word. She's a person people watch, in every sense.

Grades.

Looks.

Quality as an Awakener.

Probably all top-tier.

And when someone like that strolls into the dead center of the classroom and casually invites you to lunch — yeah, the room buzzes.

The stares that day were something else, even looking back now.

"Painful" doesn't cover it.

They pierce.

Genuinely pierced way too hard.

I hadn't done anything wrong, and yet it felt like the entire classroom was aiming a silent "who even are you people?" pressure at us.

Sōsuke, for his part, had pretty much gone rigid.

And so, in conclusion.

We started eating on the rooftop.

Fine by me.

Low profile.

And as always, she walked over without a hint of stiffness and sat down beside us like it was the most natural thing.

Then she looked at me.

"Your Job — it unlocked?"

"How'd you know?"

"I could hear you just now."

"What, eavesdropping? That's baaad, you know~!"

"..."

Scary!

Her eyes are so cold I might die on the spot!

Dammit.

Never thought I'd be craving one of my little sister's on-the-mark tsukkomi at a time like this.

"...M-Mibu-san's unlocked hers too, right?"

Maybe the air had gotten to him — Sōsuke opened his mouth, a little tentative.

"I have."

"As expected — Mage-type?"

When Sōsuke asked, Mibu nodded shortly.

"Mage."

Figures.

It's almost too fitting.

If Mibu had told me "Swordsman," that would've been funny in its own way, but what fits her best really is Mage.

"And you, Himura-kun?"

Mibu's gaze came back to me.

"Enchanter."

"I see."

Mibu didn't act surprised.

She just narrowed her eyes slightly, as if thinking.

"I don't think it's bad."

"Huh? So it's a good Job?"

Mibu tilted her head just a little.

"I'm deciding how to put it."

And then, in a very matter-of-fact voice:

"Honestly, my impression is plain. But the type that's a help to have one of in a party."

Mibu said it evenly.

"Put the other way — alone, you can't do much of anything."

"...Harsh."

"Facts."

Well, she's probably right.

Mibu doesn't dress up her words in places like this.

"An Enchanter, fundamentally, isn't a Job that steps up front. Rear guard, or leaning mid. Stay close to your allies, be the side that supports."

"I see."

That's how it'd look generally, and that's probably the basic way to run it.

Pretty much what I'd imagined.

"But man, must be nice."

The words slipped out of me before I noticed.

"At what?"

Mibu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You're out on dungeon expeditions and stuff, fighting full-tilt on weekends, right?"

"More or less."

"Then you get to test your Job Skills to your heart's content."

Honestly, I was pretty jealous about that.

Whether an Enchanter actually functions as a party member — that's not something you can prove without diving into a dungeon as an actual party.

Worrying over it alone at school only gets you so far.

When will regular people like us ever get to set foot in a dungeon?

Straight-up woe-is-me hours over here.

"...Then — want to come see?"

"Where?"

"This weekend. On the dungeon expedition."

For a moment, I lost my words.

Sōsuke let slip an "Ehh?" too.

No wonder.

The person here just said something outrageous.

And extremely offhandedly.

"If it's just observing, I may be able to clear it with them."

Mibu went on.

"Strictly observing. Don't get the wrong idea there."

"No, that alone is already way more than enough."

I caught myself leaning forward.

The field.

An expedition.

Actual operation.

If I could see that — it's huge.

"I'll at least ask, and see what they say."

At those words, I went quiet for a moment.

Saying "please" and pouncing on it — easy.

But something about that felt off, too.

Mibu has already gone more than far enough out of her way for us here.

Taking even more as if it's owed would be wrong.

"I appreciate it."

So I just said it, plainly.

Mibu gave a small nod.

"It isn't settled yet, you know."

"I know."

I know — but deep in my chest, something went a little warm.

Plain.

Can't do anything alone.

A help to have one of in a party.

Those assessments won't change, probably.

But even so.

I might learn all sorts of things about being an Enchanter.

I might get to test them.

Just that was enough to set my heart bouncing abnormally.

And on top of that —

could this, maybe, just maybe, be my first achievement in a good long while?

And so on, and so forth.

Spinning through all those thoughts, there I was, looking forward to the weekend to an utterly helpless degree.