Info Dump

Aki and the System could only watch in stunned silence as Haruto finished the Gob-uh-lin. The sheer, brutal efficiency of it silenced any crying—or sarcastic remarks.

“It’s open!” Haruto exclaimed, pushing himself up. He passed the corpse, scooping up his key ring on the way.

“Oh, uh… good work, Haruto,” the System said, eye glowing yellow. “Looks like I got lucky with you.”

Haruto staggered to the food cell and unlocked it, freeing Aki. He began retying his tie, vision blurring. He grabbed Aki by the waist, pulling her close.

“Hehe… Hi!” Aki blushed at Haruto's unexpected forwardness.

Haruto stared into her soul, pressing her into his chest. She looked up, drawn into the deep blue of his eyes, lifting herself toward him. Eyes closed, lips puckered, she shivered in anticipation.

Haruto, however, wasn’t exactly... present. Concussion on top of concussion had left his mind hazy. His body moved on autopilot, reaching for the closest thing to a clear thought he had: Aki had a healing potion.

His eyes narrowed. He scanned her, looking for the vial. She didn’t have the bosom to hide a second one—so it had to be elsewhere.

As he pressed against her, his hands slid from her waist to her hips, then lower. Aki let out a surprised squeak, weakly pushing him away—until his fingers found something hard tucked into her skirt.

“W-Wait, I need a bath first,” she whimpered as he retrieved the pungent vial of glittering pink liquid.

Aki froze in disappointment as Haruto staggered back and uncorked the potion. He downed it in one gulp. As he drank the potion, Aki's face contorted as she took a labored gasp, jumping to the floor and covering her head. As the wounds stitched up and clarity returned to his eyes, he turned to find Aki cowering in the corner.

Haruto's wounds began to stitch themselves together. Focus came back to his eyes and mind. He could think clearly again. He looked to Aki, cowering in the corner like he was about to explode, and then to the vial.

“What’s with that reaction?” he squeaked. “You said it was a healing potion.”

Aki peeked between her arms. “You feeling okay? No side effects?”

Haruto stared at her blankly, thinking about his jobs and their specificity. "You said you're an alchemist... Any specific kind?" Haruto probed, curious about her reaction.

“A... Super Alchemist?” She mumbled, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Look at that guilty face,” Haruto muttered. “System, can you see what her job is?”

The System could—provided no one was actively concealing it. It peered over her head: “Lvl. 4 Unlucky Alchemist.”

“She’s… definitely an alchemist,” the System said, deciding to explain later.

“Fine…” Haruto scratched his head where his skin had regrown. He opened his menu, looking through his options. “You kind of dumped me into this. Do I have a status screen or something?”

“Yeah.” The System floated over. “Click your name—right there. That opens your personal menu. I’ve even got an options tab! You can change the screen color, font size, and even unlockable theeemes!”

“That’s... actually pretty cool.” Haruto gave a thumbs-up. The System glowed green with pride.

Haruto read through his stats:

Name: Haruto Ishikawa             Age: 33                       Job: Sprinter (Flee) Lv. 1
HP: 150 (+30)                                MP: 40                        Stamina: 100%

Strength: 4 (1.5) → Str x 10 = Kilograms of Force Exerted
Agility: 6 → 1000 ÷ (Agility × 2) = Reaction speed in milliseconds
Constitution: 5 (1.2) → Con% Stamina Cost Reduction / Con x 30 = Max HP
Speed: 5 [2] → Spd = (Str+ Agi) ÷ 2 / Spd x 4 = Top Movement Speed in km/h
Intelligence: 8 → Int x 5 = Max MP / Regain (Int) MP per minute
Wisdom: 7 → Wis x 2 = Perception Range in meters / Intuition and ability to read people
Charisma: 5 → A mix of your social ability and looks
Luck: 2 → Luck × 2% = Chance of favorable random outcomes

Passives:

Chronic Depression: -10% Stamina regen, action lock during downtime, -20% Wisdom skills.
Anger Issues: +50% Strength when angry, -50% Int & Wis.
Malnourished: -5 to Strength/Con caps.
Quick Learner: Double EXP. Half job unlock requirements.
Isekai Encyclopedia: Encyclopedic knowledge of Earths Isekai stories.

Personal Skill:

Job Change Lv. 1 — Swap between unlocked jobs.

“What the hell am I looking at?” Haruto asked flatly.

“What do you mean?” The System shrank to hover beside each passage. “See? Stats, formulas, simple layout. There’s even tooltips!”

“‘Simple’? I can’t do 1000 ÷ 12 in my head!”

“It’s 83.33 repeating, idiot! Easy math!” It retorted. "Then you have your personal passives and skills. These aren't dependent on your current job."

Haruto groaned. “So, my luck is trash, my strength is mediocre, and I’m basically a low-tier character with a side of existential dread. Perfect...”

"Hey, you might have Chronic Depression..." the System chirped, glancing at the Gob-uh-lin corpse on the floor. "But you also have Anger Issues! That can be useful under the right circumstances."

“Wait... what’s with the parentheses and brackets?” Haruto asked.

"The parentheses are your job-based stat modifiers, while the brackets are skill-based modifiers. You took math, right? You know what to do with these?" The System snarked.

“So Strength is actually 6 right now? And speed is doubled because of a skill?” Haruto vaguely remembered that his current job had a skill that increased speed while fleeing. He had read it quickly as he ran from the Gob-uh-lins, but something didn't sit right.

He reopened the job screen:

Sprinting Speed (Passive):
Increase speed by 2% per job level while fleeing hostile creatures.

“…Wait a minute,” Haruto frowned. “It says 2%, but my speed doubled.”

The System’s eye flickered suspiciously. “Oh, it must be a rounding error. Happens in complex systems.”

Haruto grabbed the System, shaking it in the air. "That's one hell of a rounding error. Or maybe you're hiding something from me?" Haruto said through gritted teeth.

"Don't shake me! I'm getting motion sick!" The System squealed.

“It’s because your job is specific,” Aki said, leaning against him and pointing at the screen. "We don't know why, but the more specific the job is, the more powerful it is. Why don't you know that?"

Haruto held the System up. “Yeah? Why didn’t I know that?”

“C-could you repeat the question?” The System tried to look away, avoiding Haruto's gaze as best he could.

"Stop playing around!" Haruto said, shaking it again.

“I didn’t tell you because humans are cheaters!” it confessed, eye spinning in place.

Haruto narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”

“Humans discovered a bug." The System looked around nervously. "People weren't supposed to do just one thing. When a being reaches maturity, it gains a job that is made from multiple smaller jobs being fused together. These 'General Jobs' have multiple skills that divide the power equally based on the job's level. The same amount of power is generated regardless of the number of skills a job possesses. Fewer skills means more power for each, so a 2% increase in speed can become more like 200%..."

"That's..." Haruto dropped the System. “That’s broken.”

“So you agree! You’ll follow the rules, right?” it asked hopefully. "You won't exploit me, right?"

“Oh, System...” Haruto smiled deviously. “Of course I’m going to exploit this.”

"But, it's against the rules..." Pixelized tears began to fall from the System's eye, breaking upon the ground and fading away.

"Hey, I'm not gonna weaken myself just to follow the rules." Haruto said smugly.

Aki chuckled, patting the System on its head. “You should’ve expected this. No one plays fair when survival’s on the line.”

Haruto smirked, arms crossed. “Exactly. If the world’s rigged, I’m rigging it back. It’s not a bug—it’s a feature.”

Aki peeked over his shoulder, eyes widening. “Wait… You can change jobs!?”

"I don't remember giving you permission to look at his menu!" The System replied.

Haruto ignored the two of them, looking through his job options, changing every now and then to compare his stats. As he did, he noticed that his "Job Change" skill was gaining experience.

"Hey!" The System jumped in front of his face. "Stop changing for no reason. You're supposed to improve skills gradually."

Haruto shot him a deadpan look and began to rapidly click on his jobs, changing at break neck speed. His skill increased to level 2 before the System could do anything about it. The description added the words "quick change available."

"What does quick change mean?" Haruto asked.

"It means you just think about a job and you can change." The System flashed and made a pinging noise. "I've locked your experience, so you can't spam your skill."

"Why!?" Haruto screamed, wrestling with the System again. "I need all of the advantages I can get!"

"Stop cheating!" the System yelled, flying into his face repeatedly.

Another ruckus could be heard outside as another Gob-uh-lin busted into the room. "What is going on in here!?" It looked at the prisoners beating on each other and then at the dead one on the floor. As he looked back at Haruto, its vision became rose-tinted as it accentuated all of the curves and muscles Haruto had.

Haruto grabbed the vial of acid from the table, uncorking it and splashing it on the mesmerized Gob-uh-lin. The acid worked faster than it should, erasing the top half of the target and most of the door behind it before growing a patch of wildflowers from the corpse. Haruto looked at the vial and then at Aki as a job notification popped up for "Acid Slinger."

Aki was drooling and looking up and down Haruto's body. He looked back to his menu to see the job he had ended his spamming on: "Fan Service Delivery Boy."

"I think I have a plan." He said, smiling smugly.