Chapter 2

"K-Knight to Black Mage class change!?"

The guild receptionist let out a surprised cry.

The adventurers around her heard this and began to murmur—

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"Yeah. And wasn't that the young knight from the Female Hero's party…?"

"Seems he got kicked out of the Hero party, according to rumors."

"Oh… Maybe he went crazy from the shock of being kicked out."

They exchanged such whispers.

It was probably Lucius who had spread the news of Tio being kicked out at a bar or somewhere.

Tio could hear these voices, but he repeatedly pleaded with the receptionist to change his class to a Black Mage.

The receptionist, seemingly giving up, said, "Then, please come this way…" and led Tio to another room with a pitying look.

In the center of the room they moved to, there was a table with a strangely colored crystal orb placed on it. By touching this crystal orb and infusing it with magic power, one could change their class.

Tio touched the crystal orb.

Then, the name of the Black Mage class appeared in his mind. In the next moment, the crystal orb and Tio's body began to glow.

"Alright, class change complete…!"

Tio quietly rejoiced.

The receptionist, however, still looked at Tio with a pitying gaze.

"I need to buy some 'potions' first!"

Ignoring the receptionist's gaze, Tio left the room and headed to the guild's store, where he bought as many potions as he could.

Potions are magical elixirs that can heal injuries except for missing limbs and can also restore the user's magic power.

Holding the paper bag filled with potions, Tio was about to leave the guild—

When he almost bumped into a girl and quickly dodged.

The girl glanced at Tio with a disdainful look and said, "To be kicked out of the Hero party and then change your class to a Black Mage… How pitiful," before walking away.

"Whoa, the 'Sword Princess' is as scary as ever."

"Moreover, she looked at him with such disdain."

"The Sword Princess is incredibly cute, though…"

The adventurers who witnessed the scene exchanged such comments.

The girl who had looked at Tio with disdain… Her name was "Iris"—

An elf adventurer, like the Female Hero, she possessed the ultra-class "Sword Saint" class.

With silver-blonde hair down to her waist, porcelain-white skin, ice-blue eyes, and a beauty that could be mistaken for a bisque doll, she was a stunning girl.

Incidentally, she had two extremely large fruits—what one might call a "busty" figure.

She had come to this city, Gladstone, about a week ago during her journey to save the world.

Tio had seen her a few times, and her beauty still left him in awe. To be looked at with disdain by such a girl…

Under normal circumstances, it would be shocking, but Tio was not bothered by it. He was too eager to move on to his next action.

Leaving the guild again, Tio rushed to the city's market.

◆

(Alright, this place will do.)

Tio found a fruit stand and approached it quickly.

"Welcome! Apples are recommended today!"

The shop owner called out to Tio.

Tio replied casually, "Is that so?" while grabbing a fruit.

Then, in a voice so low that no one could hear, he whispered, "Black Drain…"

Black Drain is a low-level skill possessed by Black Mages, which absorbs a minuscule amount of the target's life force.

It is the only skill a Black Mage has upon class change and is so weak that the target often doesn't even realize it has been used.

Black Mages can only learn similar skills even as they grow, which is why they are often despised and oppressed as a low-class job.

Tio absorbed a tiny bit of life force from the fruit and then took a small sip of a potion from his bag.

The Black Drain he just used consumed very little magic power, and a small sip of potion was enough to fully restore it.

(What is this guy doing…?)

While looking at Tio with such thoughts, the shop owner continued to try to attract other customers, as Tio appeared to be examining the fruit.

Tio repeated the process of secretly using Black Drain and drinking potions to fully restore his magic power, doing this with all the fruits in the store.

After buying the recommended apples, Tio moved to another store and repeated the same process—

◆

The next day—

(Alright, this is the last one!)

Over the past two days, Tio had used Black Drain on various living things, including vegetables, fruits, animals, insects, and flowers.

The fruit he now held was the 666th one from which he would absorb life force.

With a sense of excitement, Tio activated Black Drain. Then, he felt a new power awaken within him.

When Tio changed his class to a Black Mage, he only had the initial skill, Black Drain.

However, that was not supposed to be the case. To confirm, Tio used the self-identification ability that anyone with a class possesses.

The following items appeared in his mind:

===========================

Name: Tio

Race: Human

Skill: Black Drain

【NEW】EX Skills: Black Bullet, Black Javelin, Black Storage

===========================

(Yes! The 'EX Skills' from my past life's memory are displayed, and there are three of them!)

Tio made a small fist pump in his mind.

Normally, there are four types of skills, just like classes:

Low-level skills, mid-level skills, high-level skills, and ultra-level skills.

However, Tio's current status showed an EX Skill category, which was not among the usual four.

Black Mages can become the strongest class if they master their skills—

The EX Skills that Tio had just awakened would be the foundation for this. By mastering these skills, he could obtain the strongest skills that surpass ultra-level skills.

The conditions for awakening these three EX Skills were—

Using the initial skill Black Drain, which Black Mages get, to absorb the life force of 666 different types of beings while in a fully restored magic power state.

—That's all.

Black Drain consumes almost no magic power—

Most people wouldn't think to use it while fully restored.

Moreover, it's normal to give up on the path of battle if the only class option is a Black Mage.

Thus, the only ones who had ever met the condition of using Black Drain 666 times while fully restored were the magic king Schwarze and his reincarnation, Tio.

"Alright, let's head to the 'dungeon' to train my skills!"

There is a dungeon, a den of monsters, near this city.

Tio intended to master and develop the EX Skills he had obtained by fighting monsters.

【To the Readers】

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