Chapter

chapter4 · 072-ep72

Episode 72: My Current Status

"...While I'm at it, why not take a quick look inside?"

I held up a corner of the poster and looked at the Gate behind it.

Haruto had said I could go in whenever I wanted, and it was only ten. Surely a quick visit would be fine.

But just as I was about to step forward, I stopped.

"...Wait."

I'd only taken the aptitude test today.

They'd said most of us were suitable, and after going through all that with Saeki-san and Kujō-san, I figured I could handle a dungeon.

But I hadn't received the official result yet.

The certification and this Gate weren't directly connected, but it felt wrong for someone who'd wanted a legal way into Gates up until yesterday to start sneaking into one on his own the very same night.

"...I'd better wait until I've passed."

The Gate wasn't going anywhere.

It was in my room, for crying out loud. I could go tomorrow, the day after, or whenever I liked.

With that thought, I let the poster fall back into place.

At lunch the following day.

"Himura-kun, did you get an email?"

Mibu asked me while I was eating my lunch.

"An email?"

"Yesterday's results."

"Already?"

I hurried to check my phone. There really was a message waiting.

It was from the office that had sent me the invitation to yesterday's aptitude test.

I opened it and read a little way in.

『Following the aptitude assessment conducted yesterday, we have determined that Himuro Ren is suitable to serve as an Awakener Incident Special Cooperation Officer.』

"All right!"

I actually said it out loud.

I hadn't completed the formal procedures yet, but they'd judged me suitable.

After working that hard yesterday, I was allowed to be happy about it.

"Did you pass too, Mibu?"

"Mm."

"You seem pretty calm about it."

"Eh? Was failing an option?"

"..."

Her confidence was incredible as ever.

Though with Mibu, maybe it wasn't overconfidence. Maybe she'd earned it.

She'd held her own against an instructor yesterday, too.

I looked back at the email.

The rest outlined the next steps.

Since I was a minor, they wanted to explain the work and its safety measures directly to my parents before proceeding with the formalities.

They'd attached a survey asking when my parents would be available for the explanation. The deadline was a week away.

"I'll have to ask Mom and Dad when I get home."

"About the meeting?"

"Yeah. I should talk to them about it myself first, too."

A job responding to Awakener crimes, a national certification, and five hundred thousand yen a month.

...I shouldn't start with that last part.

If I opened with the five hundred thousand, they'd want to know what kind of job it was first.

Well, I could think about that when I got home.

After school.

I went home, entered my room, set down my bag, and changed out of my uniform.

I needed to ask my parents about their schedules and tell them about this job ahead of time.

I knew that.

I really did, but...

"...Dungeon first, right?"

I'd held back yesterday.

I'd decided to wait until the results came in, and gone quietly to bed with a Gate right in front of me.

Now I'd received an email saying I was suitable.

That was enough, surely.

I approached the big poster on the wall and lifted one edge.

"Whoa..."

The black entrance was still there, just as it had been yesterday.

It really was something, looking at it again.

This was my room, right?

I lifted a poster, there was a Gate, and on the other side was a dungeon.

"Heh."

Uh-oh.

I couldn't help laughing a little.

Before now, I'd only entered Gates for things like an expedition or chasing Kanzaki. It had never been on my own terms.

Today was different.

I was going in because I wanted to.

"...This is nice."

Really nice.

I stepped into the Gate, and my vision went black for just an instant.

When my foot next touched the ground, the air that reached my nose was nothing like the air in my room.

"Ooooh...!"

Rugged rock walls stretched away on either side. Dirt and stones covered the ground beneath my feet.

Ahead lay a dim passage leading deeper inside.

"I'm heeere...!"

No one else was around, so I said it out loud.

Ahh, this was it.

This was what a dungeon ought to be like.

I turned around. The Gate back home was right there.

Step through that, and I'd be in my room.

"...This is the best."

I could get home from school, lift the poster, and walk straight into a dungeon.

No more waiting to see when I could dive in again. I could level up or test my battle armor whenever I pleased.

Haruto had given me something seriously incredible.

I headed deeper inside in high spirits. After a while, a low growl came from around a corner.

"Grrrr..."

"Oh?"

I stopped and waited, and a large shadow slowly came into view.

It looked like a wolf, but it was much too big to call an ordinary one.

Its thick body was covered in fur so dark gray it was almost black. It looked plainly stronger than Greyfish had been in my first dungeon.

If I remembered right, a dungeon's interior changed depending on the number and levels of the people who entered.

I was alone this time, and my level was higher than it had been back then. Maybe that was why.

"Nice."

I was getting excited again.

Seeing a monster wasn't exactly cause for celebration, but since I'd chosen to come here, I preferred this to an opponent that was too weak.

"Yesterday was speed. Let's test this today."

Against Kujō-san, I'd stacked three Agility enchants.

That battle armor had prioritized speed so I could land one hit.

This time, I'd go with Strength.

First, I used a Strength enchant on myself. When its effect shifted to Enchant Echo, I applied it again.

After stacking the third, I selected Battle Armor Form.

【Enter Battle Armor Form?】

【Ability Grants to be fixed】

【Strength enchant】

【Strength enchant: Enchant Echo】

"Okay."

【Execute】

【Battle Armor Form entered】

The three layers of Strength over my body were fixed in place.

The opposite of yesterday's triple Agility setup—this one was all about attacking.

The gray beast lowered its body.

The next instant, it sprang at me.

"Fast!"

It really was faster than I'd expected.

I moved aside to dodge its lunge, and it landed just behind me.

It turned and leaped at me again, mouth wide open.

"Whoa!"

I pulled back. Its fangs passed right in front of my face.

Definitely stronger than Greyfish.

Then again, yesterday I'd had enough trouble with Kujō-san alone, and halfway through the fight he'd added two huge Magic arms.

Compared to that, keeping an eye on a single monster in front of me was still a lot easier.

It shot past me and landed on the ground.

Before it could turn, I closed the gap myself.

"My turn!"

I swung my right fist.

It buried itself in the beast's side as it started to turn toward me, sending its huge body flying sideways.

"Whoa!"

The beast rolled over the ground a few times, then struck the rock wall.

I waited a little, but it showed no sign of getting up. Eventually it dissolved into particles of light.

"Yes!"

Nice.

Triple-Strength battle armor was seriously strong.

Losing to Saeki-san and then getting shut down so thoroughly by Kujō-san yesterday had apparently thrown off my sense of scale.

I could hold my own against a monster that had appeared for someone around my level.

And I'd only stacked three Strength enchants. There were plenty of other combinations to try.

I could mix in Agility with two Strength enchants, or perhaps add Endurance and attack more aggressively.

"...Man. Now I've got even more things to test."

Once I'd caught my breath, I decided to check where I stood now.

"Status."

【Name: Himuro Ren】

【Level: 16】

【Job: Battle-Armored Enchanter】

【Job Proficiency: 8】

Level fourteen.

I'd been twelve when I got Precise Status, so I'd gone up four levels since then.

I'd killed monsters at the unregistered Gate and fought Kanzaki.

Yesterday, I'd sparred with Saeki-san and Kujō-san in succession, both of whom were clearly higher-level than me.

Getting XP from fights with Awakeners had made a big difference.

"But seeing it like this, it's still weird."

Level sixteen with a Unique Job.

There'd been plenty of people on the government's side yesterday above level thirty. I'd evolved before even reaching half their level.

Well, in my case, I'd spent more time focused on Achievements than on raising my level.

My Job and Skills had developed first instead.

My proficiency was up to eight now, too.

It'd been three when I got Precise Status, so that had risen five levels.

"Eight, huh? That's gone up a fair bit."

As it rose, Ability Grant itself had changed quite a lot from when I first got it.

At proficiency one, it raised a stat by around twenty percent. Now it was more like forty percent.

It also took less MP than before to maintain, so even a single enchant was much easier to use.

"I have used it six thousand times..."

No wonder it had leveled up.

And now I had battle armor on top of that.

Normally, maintaining an enchant steadily drained MP. Once I fixed it with battle armor, that maintenance cost disappeared.

Even now, I had three Strength enchants fixed in place and my MP wasn't dropping.

"...Battle armor really is strong."

Next I opened my Skills field.

Looking at it again, I had incomparably more Skills than when I started.

It had begun with Achievement rewards like Off-Hand Strike and Posture Control. Now I used Enemy Observation and Contact Perception in fights as a matter of course.

After becoming an Enchanter, I'd gained Enchant Stabilization, Enchant Echo, and Shock Grant, among other things.

I'd since evolved into a Battle-Armored Enchanter, with Observer-related Skills mixed in too.

Achievement Inquiry, which Mizuki had given me yesterday, was there as well.

"I've gotten a lot..."

With this many, there were still quite a few I hadn't put to full use.

Now that I could enter a Gate whenever I wanted, I'd like to test those alongside battle armor.

"And then there are my Personal Achievements."

The achievements only I could see since becoming an Observer.

I should check the next condition for those too.

I opened the Personal Achievements section.

【Personal Achievements】

【Next condition: Defeat 10 monsters using an Observer Skill】

"So it has to be an Observer Skill."

I'd beaten that last monster with ordinary battle armor, so of course it didn't count.

As for Observer Skills, I had Interference Eye and Stagnation.

Interference Eye couldn't kill anything directly, so Stagnation was the one I could actually use.

"Ten? I could do that here."

With the condition checked, I closed Personal Achievements.

The last thing I wanted to check was my regular Achievements.

Thanks to Achievement Inquiry from Mizuki yesterday, I could see them differently now.

Everyone had always been able to see the conditions, but I couldn't tell whether someone else had already completed them.

Now I could check that too.

Being able to skip the ones already taken and go straight for Achievements that still had a world first available was huge.

But Awakeners all over the world had been chasing them since Haruto's stream.

I doubted many easy ones were left.

Anything remaining would probably be the hard stuff, like S-rank Achievements or Enchanter Job-Exclusive Achievements.

"Let's see how many are left."

I opened the achievement list.