Character Assessment

Haruto groaned, half-buried in dirt and branches. Cuts and bruises covered him as he lay dazed in a crater.
“Owww… my everything hurts..." he muttered.

He tried to sit up, but his body protested. Squinting through the ache, he noticed a glowing screen hovering in front of him. His vision faded in and out of focus, the landing rattling his brain. The familiar interface of the System seemed all too bright before him.

As his vision began to focus, the words on the screen became clear. The screen displayed details of his current job, with the level number ticking from two to three, indicating that the fall had given him enough experience to level up.

Stress Management Consultant Lvl. 3

A job centered on managing stress and reducing both physical and emotional pain for oneself and others. While it does not reduce actual damage or injury, it greatly alleviates the sensation of pain, allowing individuals to cope more effectively under duress.

Active Skill: Stress Management Advice

Temporarily reduces the pain felt by others after receiving stress management advice. The effect lasts for a number of minutes of your choice, up to twice the job level, and reduces the pain felt by 8% per job level. This skill allows others to better handle injuries and stress for a brief period without diminishing the actual damage.

Passive Skill: Stress Management Practices

Reduces the pain felt by the user by 8% per job level. While injuries and damage remain unchanged, the reduced pain allows the user to function with less hindrance from physical or mental suffering. Current: 24%                                                                                                                  

Haruto stared blankly at the description. "So it doesn’t reduce damage… only pain?" he thought. "Then how did I survive that fall?"

Before he could dwell on it, the System’s voice chimed in, its digital tone echoing above him.

“You can thank me now for cushioning your fall,” it said expectantly.

Haruto’s eyes shot open in disbelief.

“Cushioning my fall?!” Haruto scrambled to his feet, conveniently forgetting he couldn’t move a second ago. He jabbed a finger at the System. “Is this how you send people here? Just drop them from orbit?!”

“That doesn't sound like 'Thank you,'” the System replied dryly.

Haruto groaned, pulling himself out of the crater. Dirt clung to his clothes as he dusted himself off, spinning around to take in his surroundings. Dark, twisted trees loomed over him, their branches curling like multi-jointed fingers.

“Alright, fine. Where are we anyway?” He muttered, his voice dripping with frustration.

“Looks like a forest,” the System said flatly.

Haruto squinted. “Wow, brilliant deduction. Got a name?”

“I run the job system, not Google Maps.”

Haruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Great. Useless for anything outside of jobs…” He opened the System interface again. “Alright, let’s see what you do know.”

A list of jobs appeared, his eyes scanning the options:

Stress Management Consultant (Lvl. 3)

Isekai Lover (Lvl. 3)

Junior Data Entry Clerk (Lvl. 3)

Coffee Fetcher (Lvl. 2)

RPG Player (Lvl. 2)

Wizard (30-Year-Old Virgin) (Lvl. 1)

"What are these choices?!" Haruto asked, his face twisted in disgust at himself.

"Ha! That's you wrapped up in a nutshell, huh?" The System began to laugh, spit flying at Haruto from its eye. "What a loser!"

He felt tears well up as he looked at the humiliating list. That wasn't even all of them, as he noticed a bar that would allow him to scroll down. However, after his rough day, he didn't have the heart to look at what was down there.

"This is what my life looks like laid out in a list, huh?" A single tear threatened to escape from his eye. "Why couldn’t I get a normal Wizard?"

"You didn't qualify for a 'Normal Wizard'. A normal Wizard would be useful," the System said flatly. Haruto grimaced at the smile in the Systems voice, mocking him for his past choices.

But then, something caught his eye: "Stick Hero (Lvl. 1)."

Haruto had found something that could be useful. Heroes were always strong. Weren't they? How did he get a Hero job?

The System floated closer, reading over Haruto's shoulder. Haruto tapped on the screen, bringing up more details.

Stick Hero (Lvl. 1)

A hero of simple weapons, using sticks and branches to defeat enemies. The strength of a Stick Hero comes from their boundless imagination.

Active Skill: Stick Barrage

Generate 2 Barrage Stacks each time you deflect or dodge an attack during combat. You can hold up to 5 times your job level in stacks. Whenever you hit a creature with your stick, you can expend any number of Barrage Stacks. The attack then hits a number of times equal to the number of stacks used.

Passive Skill: Imaginary Bravery

The Stick Hero is immune to Fear, bolstered by their unwavering belief in their own invincibility.

Passive Skill: Stick Blade Wielder

Grants proficiency with sticks that vaguely resemble swords. The user can wield these sticks with a mastery equal to 10% of the users imagination per job level. Imagination doesn't change the amount of damage you deal with sticks.                                                                                            

"How do you quantify imagination?!" Haruto yells, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Are you unhappy with your jobs?" The System chuckled, its eye glowing a joyful yellow. "Come on, tell me about it."

But as Haruto looked at the information on the screen before him, a memory flashed before his eyes. He was six years old, running through the park with a stick in hand. He had found the stick earlier and, oh was it a good one. Girls just didn't understand most of the time, but he knew. This stick was special.

His laughter filled the air as he fought invisible monsters, declaring himself the strongest hero in the world. He protected imaginary kingdoms, made imaginary friends. And it was all thanks to the power in this stick.

“Take that, Demon King!” Young Haruto cried, swinging his mighty blade with all the confidence of a child. Confidence that the world of grown-ups had yet to beat out of him.

Snapping back to reality, Haruto grabbed a nearby branch and raised it high. His eyes sparkled with childish glee. For a moment, he wasn’t a grown man that had been working the same job he hated for 15 years. He was a child again, playing hero with a stick in his hand, believing he could conquer anything.

“Nothing can stop us! Me and my Holy Blade Yggdrasil!” he shouted, filled with the same boundless energy he had as a kid.

The screen flickered again, displaying the Stick Hero job description changing slightly. Haruto’s excitement grew as he read it once again.

Stick Hero (Lvl. 1)

A hero of simple weapons, using sticks, branches, and the Holy Blade Yggdrasil to defeat enemies. The strength of a Stick Hero comes from their boundless imagination.

"Oh, you might actually be useful..." the System said quietly.

Haruto looked back at the System, his eyes wider than usual, almost sparkling. Suddenly, almost in the blink of an eye, his triumphant moment was halted by a whistle.

Haruto leaned back, dodging with a strange grace he shouldn't have, as an arrow zipped past his head. Haruto spun around, swiping two more arrows from the air with his stick. He looked in disbelief, finding himself surrounded by a pack of snarling goblins, their weapons brandished and eyes gleaming with malice. Haruto stared the monsters down, raising his stick to point at them.

“Hey! You big poop heads!” Haruto shouted, waving his stick in front of him. Excitement flooded his chest, but a spark of bravery lit up in his eyes. For some reason he wasn't afraid. In his mind, he knew he had little experience fighting, but the fear just wasn't there. “You better cut it out, or I’m gonna beat you up!”

The goblins snarled and advanced. Haruto's grip tightened. He wasn’t sure he could fight—
But hey, he was the Stick Hero, right?