chapter2 · 030-ep30

Episode 30: The Job-Exclusive Achievement's Reward

After the dungeon expedition ended.

In front of the Central Park Gate, we got a quick condition check from people who looked like city-office staff.

Blood pressure.

Pulse.

Any injuries.

Changes in condition, before and after the expedition.

The staff ran through all of it with practiced efficiency.

Honestly, I'd assumed we'd walk out of the dungeon and get a straight "thanks for your hard work~" dismissal, but of course it was never going to be that sloppy.

They have their act together.

And once the checks wrapped up, I got properly caught by Nanami.

『Ren-kun, fighting as self-defense isn't a bad thing.』

That's what Nanami said.

A gentle voice.

It was a gentle voice, but.

『But you see — coming here as observation and assistance and then pushing out that far front is not okay.』

There was no way out.

How do I put it — it was harsher than being yelled at.

Nanami doesn't yell.

She doesn't raise her voice.

If anything, she talks softly.

But inside that softness, she carefully walls off my retreats, one by one.

Scary.

Getting cornered with pure sound logic by a kind person is just plain scary.

『I'm not going to say an Enchanter must never step out front.』

Nanami continued.

『If you can enchant yourself, you can protect yourself. You can land attacks too. So the idea itself isn't wrong, I think.』

Hearing that surprised me a little.

Because I'd braced for total rejection.

The Enchanter is the team's center.

The side that supports allies.

Stepping out front — absolutely unthinkable.

That was the speech I'd been expecting.

But Nanami never went that far.

『But if you do go front, then that much more — the distance to everyone around you, where your Enchantment Domain sits, your allies' movement, the enemy's movement. You have to think about all of it.』

『Yes.』

『Today they were small ones, so it turned out fine — but what if they'd been regular Wood Wolves? What if another one had come from deeper in? What if, because Ren-kun took that one step forward, someone slipped out of my Enchantment Domain?』

『...Yes.』

『So if you're going to do it, practice properly first.』

Kind.

Kind, but incredibly strict.

That's probably just who Gokō Nanami is.

As a bonus, Takamiya gave me a short caution too.

『That it was handled in the end, and whether the action had prior permission — those are separate things.』

Yes.

Truly, exactly as you say.

I lowered my head without argument.

And so, my first expedition ended without incident.

It ended without incident, but.

Spiritually, I had been fairly wrung out.

And now.

After the send-off, at the edge of the sidewalk a little way off, I was taking a breather under the pretense of pulling out my phone.

The expedition team members were still talking with the staff.

With the Natori business on top, Takamiya and the others probably had a bit more checking to do.

As the nominal observer, I'd been told I could head home first.

Grateful for that.

Deeply grateful.

Because.

There was something I needed to check immediately.

First, item one.

MP.

The Status screen had an MP entry, showing a number and a gauge.

Sure enough, it was down about ten percent.

What I'd done was a Strength enchant on myself.

For a really short time, too.

Short enough to call an instant, probably.

Even so, MP had definitely dropped.

"...Well, fair enough."

I had used a skill.

It'd be weirder if it cost nothing.

The issue is the drop.

Just briefly layering a Strength enchant on myself had eaten more of the number than I expected.

Which means: doing it Nanami's way — keeping an Enchantment Domain up the whole fight, feeding Endurance to the vanguard, switching Agility over to Rio as the situation calls, going back to defense when needed —

burns an absurd amount of MP.

Yeah — without some serious MP, party-scale buffs aren't sustainable.

Also, isn't Nanami-san straight-up amazing?

She did all that with a spacey look on her face, but behind the scenes she must have been managing MP in fine detail.

Who to enchant.

How long to hold it.

When to switch.

Enchanter is way busier than I'd imagined.

No — not just busy.

Reading the battle's flow, watching each ally's state, and on top of that tracking remaining MP.

A support class.

Far, far too much work to file away under those two words.

But.

Interesting.

This Job really is interesting.

And the self-buff I pulled off today.

That had real heft to it too, beyond what I imagined.

The instant the Strength enchant went in, that feeling of force running out to the ends of my fists.

That punching-through feel when it stacked with Off-Hand Strike.

That, I can use in my way of fighting.

At minimum, an Enchanter is not only standing in the back handing buffs to allies.

Nanami is the Enchanter who supports the party.

I'm the Enchanter who counts himself among the pieces and moves.

Same Job, different playstyle.

Thinking that, my chest went a little hot.

No — not a little.

Pretty hot, actually.

And one last thing.

The main event, at last.

I opened the achievements field.

【Achievement Unlocked】

【C: Defeat a monster in a single hit while under a self-applied Strength enchant】

However many times I see it: good.

I could live off this string of characters alone.

No, I couldn't.

But emotionally, I could.

The question is the reward.

Slowly, I turned my eyes to the entry displayed below it.

【Exclusive Passive Skill: Enchant Echo】

...Enchant Echo.

What is that.

No — the name alone sounds a little bit broken already.

I checked the description.

【Enchant Echo】

【Applies only to Ability Grants targeting yourself: even after switching to a different Ability Grant, the previous enchant's effect is maintained for a fixed duration】

I froze for a good while.

Huh.

Wait.

This is what I think it is, right?

A normal Ability Grant: one type at a time.

That's how Nanami moved, too.

Put in Endurance.

Switch to Agility.

That instant, the previous Endurance cuts off and Agility goes in.

At least, that's the system at its base.

In fact, the Job description had said only one type can be maintained at a time.

But this reward.

Limited to Ability Grants targeting yourself.

Even after switching to a different Ability Grant.

The previous enchant's effect is maintained for a fixed duration.

Meaning.

Put a Strength enchant on yourself.

Then switch to Agility.

Normally, the Strength fades.

But with a self-enchant echo, a little of that Strength lingers.

With Agility layered on top of that.

And depending on how it's played, Endurance might stack too.

There have to be limits, of course.

It says fixed duration — so it won't linger forever.

It might eat MP while held.

The effect size might drop.

And to begin with, I don't even know if my current MP can maintain multiple enchants.

I don't know, but.

This is broken.

This is seriously broken.

"...That's just broken."

It slipped out loud.

I hurriedly looked around.

Good.

Nobody was looking this way.

That was close.

That came out at full voice.

But it couldn't be helped.

Because it's broken.

Self-enchants only, granted — but holding multiple buffs.

Which means the possibility of fighting as a self-buffing Enchanter had, all at once, turned real.

Supporting the party like Nanami.

That's valid too.

But me — I might be able to stack buffs on myself and step out front.

Enchanter.

Yeah — this was a winning pull, no?

No — at least for me, a genuinely interesting Job.

Thinking all that, I pulled the Status screen up again, and

I noticed a field I'd never seen before, separate from the usual entries.

【Unique Job Evolution Condition Progress】

"...Hah?"

Out loud again.

No — hold on, hold on.

What is that.

Unique Job?

Evolution conditions?

I opened the entry in a hurry.

【Conditions met: 1/3】

【Achieve two more Job-Exclusive Achievements to fulfill the conditions for evolving into a Unique Job】

Hah?

No — hold on, hold on, hold on.

Unique Job.

Evolution conditions.

Conditions met: one.

Two more.

Too much information.

Way too much.

For starters, I literally just became an Enchanter?

I just unlocked my Job and we're already talking evolution paths?

Isn't that jumping the gun just a little?

No, but.

But I have already cleared one of those conditions.

Insane.

I said "broken" a minute ago, but this is even more insane.

An outright bargain sale on "insane".

I was completely giddy.

Giddy, and buzzing.

Getting wrung out by Nanami, getting cautioned by Takamiya — for this one moment, all of it felt a little far away.

Because it can't be helped, right?

Enchant Echo.

Unique Job evolution conditions.

Show me that and there is no staying calm.

Two more.

Clear two more Job-Exclusive Achievements, and that's it?

What kind of Unique Job is waiting on the other side?

Of course, I have no way to know.

It's at the can't-even-guess level.

But the direction forward had come into view.

First, take the Enchanter achievements for certain, and

I will evolve into a Unique Job.

This is the most interesting development ever!

The me of that moment was, like that, completely giddy.

But around that same time.

In a corner of the internet, some strange posts were going up.

『I unlocked an achievement and something called a World-First Reward popped up — what is this?』

『Tried to post a screenshot and my post got deleted』

『Reposted the exact same text and it vanished again. Why?』

『You search "World-First Reward" and nothing comes up』

But those posts didn't last long.

Some vanished within minutes.

Some had only the images stop displaying.

Some became invisible along with the poster's entire account.

Who was deleting them?

And for what purpose?

At that point, nobody knew yet.

The only thing certain was that before the words "World-First Reward" could finish spreading through the world, they were being quietly erased, somewhere.

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There've been requests, so tomorrow's Episode 31 is up in a supporters-only status note.

It should mark the end of Chapter Two.