"…Classes," I said, opening the tab.
The interface responded instantly.
[CLASSES] STATUS: UNINITIALIZED
Figures.
Skills told you what you could do.Classes told you who you were supposed to be.
And fantasy worlds were absolutely obsessed with that distinction.
I didn't overthink this.
I couldn't afford to.
Classes weren't about balance.They were about identity.
So I started listing what I remembered.
The Obvious Ones
First came the classics.
The ones that basically had to exist or the world would feel wrong.
Mage
Magic specialists.High mana efficiency.Low physical growth.
They didn't need help.Fantasy had already done all the work for me.
Warrior
Because of course there was one.
Simple. Direct. Reliable.
High physical stats.Passive reinforcement through mana.No fancy explanations needed.
Assassin
I paused here.
"Yeah, no, this one's mandatory."
High agility.Burst damage.Stealth-related skill affinity.
I didn't care how societies would feel about it.
Someone always becomes an assassin.
Adventurer
This one mattered more than it looked like.
Adventurer wasn't a job.
It was a permission slip.
A generalist class with:
Flexible growth
Broad skill access
Mild EXP bonuses for exploration
It told the world:
"You're allowed to go places and not belong."
That was important.
The Crafting Side (Because Someone Has to Build Things)
Next came the classes no one ever respects enough.
Artisan
General crafting.
Low combat growth.High precision bonuses.Skill unlocks tied to repetition and mastery.
These people would quietly run the world.
Forger
Weapon and armor specialists.
Better material compatibility.Improved durability outcomes.
I made sure forging wasn't just "hit metal until sword."
There were systems here.Processes.Techniques.
Enchanted Forger
I smiled at this one.
"Oh yeah. This is a thing."
A specialization of Forger that:
Could embed magic during creation
Used mana actively while crafting
Produced items that felt different
Because enchanted gear shouldn't just be better.
It should be alive.
The Smart Ones (I Think)
I hesitated before adding these.
But… fantasy worlds without smart idiots felt wrong.
Engineer
Non-magical.
Uses mechanics, structures, leverage, and materials.
Lower mana affinity.Higher problem-solving bonuses.
They would scare mages.
Magical Engineer
The compromise class.
Mana + mechanics.Rituals + structures.Magic as a system, not a mystery.
I didn't define their limits.
Let future disasters handle that.
Wizard (Yes, It's Different from Mage)
I knew someone would argue about this eventually.
Wizard was:
Knowledge-focused
Preparation-heavy
Slow growth, absurd late-game potential
They didn't throw fireballs.
They rewrote equations into reality.
I left that vague on purpose.
The Duplicate Problem
I noticed Assassin appeared twice in the list.
"…Eh."
I left it.
Maybe it would become a branching specialization later.
Or maybe future historians would argue about it.
Either way, it felt realistic.
And Then… the One I Cared About
I stared at the list.
It was fine.
Functional.
Completely genre-standard.
And utterly boring without this.
I added one more entry.
And this time, I didn't do it casually.
Hero
I didn't pretend this was balanced.
I didn't pretend it was fair.
I didn't even pretend it made sense.
This class existed because stories existed.
And stories needed someone who could stand where they shouldn't.
I defined it carefully.
Not the mechanics—those were easy.
The authority.
CLASS: HERO ASSIGNMENT METHOD: ADMINISTRATOR-ONLY
That line mattered.
No awakening.
No random chance.
No faith threshold.
Only me.
Because in my mind—right or wrong—I was the one watching the story unfold.
Which meant I was the one who decided when the world needed a protagonist.
Hero Class Mechanics
Now for the fun part.
I leaned into it.
Hard.
EXP Gain Modifier:
×200 EXP when fighting beings 50–100 levels higher
No bonus against equal or weaker opponents
Because heroes grow when they're outmatched.
Skill Growth Requirement Multiplier:
×58 EXP required to upgrade skills
Because plot armor has a cost.
Heroes don't get stronger easily.
They get stronger meaningfully.
Passive Effects:
Enhanced survival probability
Increased resistance to fatal damage under narrative conditions
Slight distortion of probability during critical moments
I didn't write plot armor anywhere.
But I didn't have to.
The Hero class didn't guarantee victory.
It guaranteed possibility.
What This Means In-World
I knew how this would be interpreted.
Not mechanically.
Culturally.
To the world, this would mean:
Fate chose you.
Not gods.
Not destiny.
Not bloodline.
Fate.
Someone, somewhere, would one day receive this class and become different.
Not immediately stronger.
Just… marked.
I sat there, looking at the class list.
Mage.Warrior.Assassin.Artisan.Forger.Enchanted Forger.Engineer.Magical Engineer.Wizard.Adventurer.Hero.
A perfectly normal fantasy lineup.
Except for the part where one of them existed because I wanted the story to stay interesting.
"…Yeah," I said quietly. "That'll do."
I finalized the tab.
Far below, people would grow into roles without knowing why.
A craftsman would feel drawn to a forge.
A child would throw their first fireball.
A shadow would move where it shouldn't.
And someday—much later—
Someone would stand in front of something impossible and feel reality lean in their favor.
Not because a god blessed them.
Not because they deserved it.
But because somewhere, long before gods even existed, a dead otaku decided:
"Every world needs a hero."
I closed the class menu.
"…Okay," I muttered. "Now I really hope I don't regret that."
And the world kept going.