Volume 2 Chapter 8 The Reason for Classes
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Treasure chests show up in dungeons. It’s a total staple-common sense in games-but when you actually stop to think about it, it’s pretty weird. Who’s even putting them there? (Well, I assume some Dungeon Master is setting them out.)
While the “Wyvern Slayers” pulled a total dud the other day, usually, around the fifth floor, you’ll find gold, silver, or steel gear. If it’s something you can use, great; if not, it still fetches a decent price. You can’t really blame people for getting excited when they spot one. They probably just couldn’t help themselves.
In the deeper reaches, you find stuff you can’t buy in any shop: weapons of legend, potions that can regrow missing limbs, priceless artifacts, and mountains of gold. It’s the “Dungeon Dream¹.” It’s why so many people jump into the adventurer life. But the dungeon isn’t that generous. Nothing like that has been found here in a decade, and globally, it only happens once or twice a year.
That “Monster House²” trap the Wyvern Slayers hit is rare for a shallow floor like the fifth. Around there, you usually just see pitfalls or arrow traps. They hurt, but they aren’t instant death.
As you go deeper, you start seeing poison arrows, toxic gas, sleep mist, and paralysis clouds. The most vicious, though, are the teleportation traps that split the party and dump you into a Monster House. If you’re a rearguard, you get mauled; even for vanguards, fighting without a healer is a nightmare. That’s the one trap I refuse to trigger, so I picked up the Trap Detection skill. Combined with Danger Sense, I can get a rough idea of the threat level. Now, I never trip a trap, and our safety has gone through the roof.
Then there are the monsters. They seem to spawn somewhere to keep their numbers constant. I’ve never seen it happen, but even though the density is higher than the forests outside, no matter how many we cull, it never feels like we’ve made a dent.
Past the tenth floor, “Floor Bosses” appear every five levels. If you aren’t prepared, you’re dead. That said, the spawns are fixed, so as long as you do your homework, it’s fine. The tenth-floor boss here is a Great Boar-a buffed-up version of the regulars. Our party is light on pure vanguards, so I’m planning to kit out Makoto in some top-tier armor to tank our way through.
* * *
Aptitude for magic is one thing, but skills like Item Box³ have aptitudes too. Usually, people have low compatibility, and the skill point cost is so high it’s basically untouchable. The Merchant class has some aptitude at low levels, but even for them, hitting Skill Level 5 is supposedly impossible. Me? My skill level is already maxed out, so I can cram whatever I want in there. It’s rare, but I keep extra rations stashed in case of a “Fluctuation⁴.”
Adventurers without an Item Box usually just hump whatever gear they can carry, hire porters, or use slaves. Obviously, that requires a decent income, meaning you have to be a pretty high-tier adventurer. That scary beastman lady who got into it with Mizuki-she was probably dragging a slave along for that very reason. Even now, I don’t think I could beat her in a straight fight.
There’s another reason adventurers keep slaves: combat fodder. Specifically, making them act as the vanguard. You aren’t allowed to “break” them through abuse, but it’s still a suicide mission. Of course, some guys buy slaves for s*xual “services” too, but only people with money to burn can afford a slave who doesn’t also double as a porter. Usually, your level and class dictate whether your slave is carrying the bags or taking the hits.
Sometimes, the slaves themselves are powerhouses-former high-level adventurers who fell into debt. Nobles love those guys. They use them for Power Leveling. Since they aren’t needed for long, they’re usually resold quickly or just “rented” from a slave trader. Since they’re expected to perform in combat, their treatment-food and such-is actually pretty good.
Magic Bags exist too, but they aren’t a real substitute for an Item Box. And they’re expensive as hell. If you find one in a ruin that can hold as much as a carriage, it’s worth hundreds of gold coins. Finding one is like hitting the lottery.
* * *
We cleared the fifth floor in two weeks. Then came the sixth (Mantises), the seventh (Spiders), and the eighth (Toads). It’s now late October on the Hero Calendar, about four months since I reincarnated. The party is around Level 28. I’m Level 34. The gap is starting to widen.
I still see Ilse about once a month. She’s still got a sharp tongue, but she’s working hard, so I “reward” her by making her come until she nearly faints. Even so, she treats me like a glorified meat vibrator. Not a hint of romance yet. Dammit.
Mantises don’t have status effects, but Spiders use poison and paralysis, and Toads have poison. Healing Magic clears them, but if I get paralyzed, the whole party is screwed, so I grabbed Paralysis Resistance early. I snagged Poison Resistance too. You can learn those manually, but it’s not worth the risk of a TPK just to save some points.
While the Wyvern Slayers’ situation was an outlier, I still see adventurers struggling. Kill-stealing is a huge breach of etiquette, so we usually just keep our distance. People rarely ask for help because the “rescue fee” market rate is so steep. It hasn’t happened to us yet, but a lot of adventurers die because they’re too cheap to ask for help. I’ve been thinking about how to fix that. I mean, if you’re a guy, you want to save the cute girls, right?
My solution: selling potions. Since we’re in a dungeon, the price usually spikes, but most adventurers can scrounge up enough for a basic heal. Healing Magic is fine, but potions save MP and keep me from revealing how high my skill level is.
Buying a surplus is expensive, though, so I picked up Alchemy to DIY them. Usually, you’d have to apprentice under an Alchemist and learn “secret” recipes, but with Alchemy plus my high-level Appraisal, I can brute-force the process. (Don’t tell Aya-chan from the “Working Women” party, though. She’s so serious, she’d probably cry if she knew I was cheesing her profession.)
So, I’ve got a mountain of homemade potions in my Item Box. Alchemy also lets me make temporary stat boosters, status cures, and resistance meds for extreme heat or cold. I’ll get around to those. There are even “joke” recipes for s*x-changes, growth spurts, and rejuvenation. The materials for those are way too rare for me to worry about right now.
* * *
Today we ran into that party of professional women. They have one more person than us, which slows down their XP, but they make up for it with volume.
”Ugh, each fight is easy enough, but the sheer grind is just soul-crushing…” Rei said.
”Rei-san, maybe don’t put it like that…” Aya replied.
”Oh, come on! At least say ‘I’ll give it my all today! ☆’ or something! ☆” Rei said.
”Aya-chan, don’t engage,” Manami said. “If you acknowledge the bit, she wins.”
”True, Manami-san,” Aya replied.
”Hey! Don’t ignore me! ☆” Rei said.
”Rei-chan, you’re still young,” Yumiko said. “Don’t start sounding like a jaded middle-aged lady, okay?”
”She’s right!” Misaki said. “Do you need some Healing Magic for that fatigue?”
”Yumiko-san, Misaki-san, this is just Rei-san’s ‘comedy routine,’” Mai said. “She always puts herself on the line for a laugh!”
”I’m not doing a bit! This is just who I am!” Rei said.
Glad to see they’re getting along. Their energy is actually pretty infectious. Yumiko-san seems to have her spark back. She’s the motherly type, despite looking like a 17-year-old. The contrast is wild.
”Our group, the ‘Leemans,’ were all salarymen in our past lives,” Mai said. “What about you guys?”
”I was just your average corporate drone who did cosplay as a hobby! ☆” Rei said.
”Rei-san… average?” Aya asked.
”Aya-chan…” Manami said.
”Sorry, I couldn’t help it…” Aya replied.
”What’s that supposed to mean?! ☆ I’m being serious! ☆” Rei said. “Anyway, cosplay was great, but the job sucked… No, it was the absolute worst. My boss was a total harasser, clients made impossible demands, the internal software was garbage, and the PCs were ancient bricks. Life here is a total blast compared to that! ☆”
I feel that. Sounds like the same crap I dealt with at my old company. I guess the corporate grind is universal.
”What about you, Manami-san?”
”I was an office worker too,” Manami said. “I wanted to work at a pet shop, but animals never liked me… so I’m loving it here too.”
”Living the dream, then,” Mai said. “Aya-san?”
”I was a pharmacist,” Aya said. “Alchemy has enough overlap with my old life that I’m comfortable in this class.”
”Makes sense. Misaki-san, you said you were in elder care, right?”
”Yup!” Misaki said. “It was rewarding, but the physical labor was a lot. I was exhausted all the time.”
”And Mai-san, you were the athlete?”
”Correct!” Mai said. “I was a gym instructor. I’ve always loved staying active, so the adventurer life fits me like a glove!”
”Yumiko-san?”
”I was a housewife for a long time, but I worked in an office before that,” Yumiko said. “It’s been ages since I picked up a bow, but I was in the Kyudo club back in high school.”
Everyone’s class has a link to their past. It’s clear that our classes are reflections of our past lives’ habits or tastes.
I’m still not sure about Sakura’s Destroyer class, though. Maybe she’s a “Social Circle Crusher⁵“-the kind of girl who blows up groups for fun? If so, it fits. Luckily, Shouta and Takumi haven’t started swinging at each other yet. If those two high-level powerhouses ever have a falling out, the collateral damage will be insane.
I also don’t get Takumi’s Holy Knight class. What part of that punk screams “Holy”? A “Delinquent Holy Knight”? No way. Maybe he’s secretly a pushover? Or maybe he saved a kitten once? Does the “Delinquent saves a Puppy” trope count as being “Holy” now? If so, the system is a joke.
In this world, classes seem to be somewhat hereditary. Elves have race-specific classes like Spirit Mage, and other races have their own quirks. Humans are the “jacks-of-all-trades,” so our class range is huge.
Classes like Berserker are high-maintenance, but they’re powerhouses if you can tame them. Like the gods said, no class is strictly “better” than another. High-power classes usually have massive drawbacks, and vice versa.
The Onanist class is probably meant to be a “Late Bloomer” type-weak at first, but versatile. It’s only because of the Green God’s Blessing that mine has become this broken monster. Usually, by the time someone meets the requirements, they’re 40 or older. Nobody starts an adventuring career at 40. Plus, people’s s*x drive usually tanks by then, so they’d never see the class’s true potential. Not to mention, who would actually admit to having this class? It’s embarrassing. Even though I’m reaping the rewards, I still think this class is fundamentally broken.
So, the grind continues. The dungeon is efficient, but the scenery never changes, and it’s starting to get to me. Eventually, I want to travel and see the world. In my old life, I was too worried about language barriers, safety, and food to travel abroad. Here? As long as my level is high enough, I can handle anything.
—
Summary:
The protagonist reflects on dungeon mechanics and class systems while grinding through floors five to eight. He encounters a party of former Japanese salarymen, the ‘Woman Leemans,’ and learns about their past lives and class connections. The chapter explores the sociopolitical aspects of slave usage and the rarity of magic items in this world.
—
Trivia:
- The protagonist is Level 34, out-leveling his party which is around 28.
- The ‘Monster House’ trap is considered rare for shallow dungeon floors.
- Skill points for ‘Item Box’ are normally prohibitively expensive for most classes.
- Abuse of slaves is legally prohibited in this world, preventing them from being ‘used up’.
- The protagonist has acquired Alchemy to produce his own potions using his high Appraisal skill to learn recipes.
- The Hero Calendar is currently at the end of October, four months post-reincarnation
—
Character Insight:
The protagonist shows a cynical but practical worldview, prioritizing survival (obtaining resistance skills) over pride. His interactions with Ilse remain purely physical, much to his frustration, while his meeting with the ‘Leemans’ highlights his lingering connection to his past life’s corporate struggles.
—
Behind the Scenes:
The author uses the ‘Leemans’ party to satirize Japanese corporate culture, contrasting the ‘hell’ of modern office life with the ‘fun’ of a dangerous fantasy world.
—
TL Notes:
Notes:
• Makoto – Short, chubby Earth‑summoned Leeman blacksmith (Lv20+), speaks in stiff samurai‑style “sogashi”. High STR/VIT, tanks goblins, never kills humans, dreams of mastering the forge under a mentor, frequents the workshop, awes at an elegant elven girl—his elven enthusiasm legendary. Party member, friend and apprentice blacksmith, open lolicon who says “cuteness is justice”, called Makoto‑san by Milliam, vanguard/tank with hammer and heavy armor, high endurance.
• Mizuki – 165 cm tall, standard‑built girl with long hair, wearing modest chest armor and speaking politely; reincarnated as a Saint‑class high‑school student and member of the JK Party, deeply religious and devout. She bravely confronts slave abuse despite legal risks, earning respect by defending the vulnerable, and often joins the protagonist’s circle at the temple, aligning with Nanami’s party.
• Ilse – A 16‑year‑old demi‑human female bandit, level 5 Archer with Archery Lv3, large‑breasted yet youthful, stubborn and child‑like. She’s a slave of Elmer, receives sexual “rewards” from Daisuke, faints at climax, meets the protagonist monthly, has a sharp tongue but works hard, and is now in a sexual relationship with him.
• Aya – Standing 165 cm tall, she is a slender alchemist with long hair and a flat chest, wearing no chest armor. Serious and straight‑laced, she serves diligently in both the Working Women Party and the Leemans Party, having been a pharmacist in a past life. In the protagonist’s delusions she appears as his lover.
• Rei – A 155 cm, standard‑built member of the Leemans party, she sports twin‑tails, thick chest armor and a bright, high‑energy aura. Former corporate employee and hobbyist cosplayer, she’s known for comedy routines and wields the unique “Rainbow Raiment” skill that brightens allies and makes her stand out in the magic‑clad class.
• Manami – Leemans party member, former office worker turned pet‑shop enthusiast, cat lover with sharp, elegant eyes, thriving in her new world.
• Yumiko – Petite 155 cm Bow Saint with medium‑length hair and thin chest armor, appearing 17. Polite and reserved, she is a Leemans party member, former long‑term housewife and corporate worker, ex‑Kyudo club participant, and now seeks emotional closure in the Working Women Party.
• Misaki – 165 cm tall, standard build, semi‑long hair, wearing thick chest armor, she exudes a calm, kind older‑sister aura. A priest of the Working Women Party and former nurse, she also belongs to the Leemans party, once cared for elders, and is used to physical labor — yet in combat she surprises with fierce mace violence.
• Mai – Standing 175 cm tall with a toned, athletic build, she wears thick chest armor and a single ponytail, giving a slightly masculine look. As a War Saint Vanguard of the Working Women Party and member of the Leemans, she’s a former gym instructor who loves physical activity, adventure, and speaks briskly and clearly.
• Sakura – Reincarnated high‑school girl, Destroyer class, 160 cm slender with twin‑tails, perpetual scowl, thin chest armor and short‑hair yankee look; JK Party member, high‑tension toward Daisuke, double‑dates Hero Shouta and Holy Knight Takumi, and is the girl the protagonist openly dislikes.
• Shouta – A teenage boy, 17, a high‑school student summoned as a Hero, wields the Sword Saint class and holds the titles Hero of the Slash and Hero of Lightning; he refuses any caretakers.
• Takumi – A teenage boy in modest holy‑knight armor, summoned as a Level‑1 Holy Knight. Arrogant and over‑familiar, he earns a beating from Martina, is hot‑headed, and was betrayed by his girlfriend Sakura. Once a delinquent, he now serves as a Holy Knight in the Hero Party.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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