Chapter 3

Inside the labyrinth, the passages and halls made of artificial stone stretched out like a maze.

The walls were equipped with luminous minerals at regular intervals, making it bright enough to see several meters ahead without any problem.

I walked carefully for a while, but it seemed there were no traps.

When I reached a hall-like area, I saw a shadow move in front of me.

Observing it carefully, I realized the shadow was a Horn Rabbit.

A Horn Rabbit is a monster resembling a rabbit with horns. It moves quickly but has low durability, so even a novice explorer can defeat it.

I activated the bracelet-type magical device on my left wrist, which contained a storage spell.

I summoned the sword stored inside to my right hand and gripped it.

(Holding a sword again, it's been a while.)

Since a Horn Rabbit wouldn't be much of a challenge, I decided to fight without any support magic, relying on my natural physical abilities.

As I approached slowly, the Horn Rabbit seemed to notice my presence and charged at me with its horns lowered.

"Too slow."

To me, who had been battling monsters in the lower and deeper levels of the Great Labyrinth until yesterday, this rabbit's movements were far too slow.

I drew it in until the last moment, then stepped back half a step to dodge the attack.

I swung my sword at the rabbit as it passed by me.

The blade, moving as I had imagined, touched the Horn Rabbit's abdomen and cleanly bisected it without any resistance.

The Horn Rabbit's body disappeared like black mist, leaving only a small magic stone behind.

"...It's been a while since I swung a sword, but the body remembers. I might have taken too much safety margin. I'll head down to the next level."

The battle was monotonous, but I was satisfied just to have swung a sword.

After that, I encountered other monsters like goblins and slimes, but since they were alone, I defeated them without much effort.

While defeating the monsters, I advanced to the third level without ever taking a wrong turn.

Even though it was described as a maze, compared to the lower and deeper levels of the Great Labyrinth, it was child's play.

There were too many hints, such as the flow of air and other clues.

Once I entered the third level, the enemies appeared in groups.

Even though they were in groups, they were just clusters of the same type of monster, and the monsters in this labyrinth had low intelligence. I could defeat them without any buffs, but I wanted to get used to using buffs, so I cast support magic on myself.

Support magic, as the name suggests, is magic that enhances the physical abilities or equipment performance of a target, or supports allies.

Conversely, magic that lowers abilities is also included in support magic. However, it is not very effective against powerful monsters, so there are few opportunities to use it.

Those who mainly use support magic are called Enchanters.

The role of an Enchanter is unfortunate. I've been an Enchanter for years, so I don't think this is a mistaken belief.

Enchanters are always pressed for time.

For example, if you cast the basic support magic "Strength Boost."

The effect is not permanent, so it will eventually wear off, but the time it takes to wear off varies from person to person.

This is due to individual differences in magic resistance, which affect the duration of the effect.

In other words, Enchanters must keep track of the effect duration for each ally and recast the same support magic before it wears off.

Moreover, the impression that other party members have of Enchanters is that they just cast support magic and leave the fighting to the other allies.

Since they don't seem to be fighting, most parties rely on Enchanters for battle commands.

The Hero's party was one of them.

Well, the appearance of a genius Enchanter has a lot to do with this perception.

Enchanters must keep track of the remaining duration of buffs for each ally and recast them before they wear off.

They must also cast new support magic as the situation demands and give commands simultaneously.

Furthermore, since they don't stand out, they are not often appreciated, which is the current state of Enchanters.

This can be called unfortunate.

The actual effort and the recognition from others do not match.

Thanks to the support magic, I easily defeated multiple monsters in an instant.

After finishing the battle, I stayed in place, alert to my surroundings, and waited for the support magic to wear off.

"Exactly 180 seconds, easy to count."

The duration of the support magic on me was exactly three minutes.

I have cast support magic on myself before.

However, I had always prioritized the counts of other party members, so I didn't know the duration of the effect on myself.

Once I knew the duration of the effect on myself, I tried various battle patterns.

First, I started a battle just before the effect was about to wear off and updated the support magic during the battle.

I also tried using attack magic during close combat and tested the feel of my original magic.

One of my original magics has a significant benefit but an extremely short duration.

Until now, it was difficult to synchronize the timing with my allies' movements.

However, since I could control the timing myself when using it on myself, it became much easier to handle, which was a significant gain.

I had already established a new style of combat that combined my past experience as a swordsman with my recent role as an Enchanter after about twenty battles.

"Jack of all trades, master of none, huh..."

My physical abilities are average compared to other explorers.

I don't match the upper-level explorers.

In terms of magic, for some reason, I can't cast magic above the advanced level.

I am an ordinary person.

But even I have my strengths.

That strength is the ability to quickly master techniques that an ordinary person can acquire through effort, though only at a basic level. It takes considerable time to improve from there.

I am truly a jack of all trades, master of none...

Still, I vowed to become stronger and became an explorer.

That's why, even when I felt the limits of my abilities soon after becoming an explorer, I couldn't give up.

What I could do was to voraciously absorb knowledge and techniques.

I pushed myself to the limit in things that an ordinary person could do with effort.

As a result, my magic casting speed became significantly faster than that of upper-level explorers, and by deeply understanding magic, I successfully developed my own original magic.

In terms of physical abilities, by mastering the use of my body and various martial arts, I managed to keep up with upper-level explorers.

Right now, the term "jack of all trades, master of none" used by the magic user in the Hero's party might still be accurate.

"Jack of all trades, master of none" is not a positive term.

However, if I can evolve further from there, can't I be called "omniscient"?

I won't let myself be called "jack of all trades, master of none" anymore. I will become an explorer known as an "omniscient" one day!

Thank you for reading to the end.

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