Surrounded by many companions, I was glowing.
"Leveling up at a time like this...!"
And the new job was Dowser...!
A dowser is a kind of magic job, but it cannot use flashy magic. The only magic it can use is one. Dowsing.
Dowsing takes the power of the ley lines in through the soles of the feet, into the body, and searches for something somewhere underground. You watch the motion of a stick or pendulum in your hand and learn the direction of a water source or an ore vein.
It looks terribly plain while you do it. Do not look down on it. Among legendary treasures found in the past, there are said to be some that would never have been found without a dowser's power.
Either way, it was a job I could not have wished for more. I did not even have to think.
Leopin
Job: Axe Battler → Dowser
Job Skills
Wood Dowsing (Active)
Dowse using a wooden branch.
Especially effective for finding water.
Gold Dowsing (Active)
Dowse using metal.
Especially effective for finding ore.
"All right. I'll try dowsing now! A habashiri branch is supposed to be right for wood-branch dowsing. And for a water source, a dead branch is better."
Luckily we were in a forest, so there were branches everywhere. I picked up a dead branch that had fallen under a habashiri tree.
I set the branch on my palm, pinned my elbows, and fixed it around chest height. That is the dowsing pose.
I closed my eyes and murmured.
"Spirits of the earth... lead me where there is water..."
I opened my eyes wide, and the skill Wood Dowsing activated. The branch on my palm started to sway, like the needle of a compass.
"If I walk the way the tip of this branch points... All right. Let's go, everyone."
I started walking, leading many animals. It was the start of a long, long journey.
Seven Days of Flame, day two.
No water found.
We wandered the vast forest and camped with the canopy as a roof. Maybe it was my mind, but the plants in the forest seemed low on life.
Seven Days of Flame, day three.
No water found.
Morning dew, plants, and the water in fruit held off hunger and thirst. That said, I had not put a drop of water in my mouth.
Everything I found, I gave to the animals.
Seven Days of Flame, day four.
No water found.
Headaches and weakness hit me. Ready for a longer stretch, I tried reallocating my status.
The power needed to live, and a heart that would not break. Senses that would not miss a thin lead.
"And Luck..."
For the first time since I became Jack of All Trades, I tried putting points into Luck. Then I noticed. No matter what I did, Luck alone would not take points.
"Why...?"
Something I would normally let go with a whatever drove me with thirst. I almost shouted, and gave up on Luck.
Leopin
Job: Dowser
LV 18
HP 1010 → 4001
MP 1010 → 4001
Status
Life 101 → 401
Endurance 101 → 401
Toughness 101 → 401
Spirit 101 → 401
Resistance 101 → 401
Agility 101 → 1
Focus 101 → 201
Strength 101 → 201
Magic Power 101 → 401
Divine Power 101 → 1
Intelligence 101 → 401
Education 101 → 1
Five Senses 101 → 201
Sixth Sense 101 → 201
Charm 1
Luck 5
Dexterity 100
Thanks to that, my mood and my body came all the way back.
Seven Days of Flame, day five.
No water found.
I thought the dowsing might work stronger, so I took off my shoes and went barefoot. I found several ponds that had been filled in.
I snapped the Sorry signs with my knee. With no water, the plants in the forest were visibly wilting.
Seven Days of Flame, day six.
No water found.
By a miracle I had kept moving close to a week with no water. A normal person would have been unable to move long before this.
Heart and body were fine. My appearance was already hopeless. My clothes were black with dust.
My hair was loose. My skin had gone dull. But my eyes, I believed, had not lost their light. I kept walking.
Seven Days of Flame, day seven.
In a corner of the still-sealed residential district, the whole student body had been gathered in the central square.
On a special stage, a huge crystal panel like an aurora. A sign hung over it, huge.
Watch the trash get expelled together! Tragic! The end of those who defy the principal and vice principal!
In the special seat on the stage, Nekodoran sprawled like a principal. Yes-man was running the stage, looking pleased.
"Come, come, today is at last the final day of the state of emergency, zamasu! We will celebrate that joy in grand event form, zamasu! And we will all see the trash's last moments, zamasu!"
The crystal panel lit up. There was Leopin, covered in dust. A thin branch in one hand, a thick branch like a staff, staggering.
The area was a forest full of green, and he looked like he was wandering a desert. Some of the girls cried out as if their hearts had stopped.
They tried to slip out of morning assembly, unable to sit still, and were blocked by the honor guard and the guards. Only a few girls showed that kind of defiance. Most of them were worked up.
"Whoa! The trash looks like a refugee!"
"This is it! This is what I wanted to see!"
"Yeah! Dropouts from the Special Training Class exist to fall apart like that and entertain us!"
Nekodoran and Yes-man looked satisfied at the students' reaction.
"That trash is so stupid he doesn't even know where the water is, zamasu! At this rate he'll die, zamasu! Ahh, how sad, zamasu! That idiot will die without finding a thing, zamasu!"
Suddenly, Leopin beyond the crystal panel started running as if he had been flicked. Yes-man pointed and burst out laughing.
"Muhohohoho! He's finally lost his mind, zamasu! There's no water around there, zamasu! I had the contractors fill every last bit, zamasu! The only thing there is what I hid with care... Wh-what!?"
The dowsing rod showed a reaction stronger than it ever had, so I ran without looking aside. I pushed through stacked thorn brush, cleared rock from a collapsed cliff, and went into a hole beyond it.
It was a small cave, about the size of a little room. Light fell through a broken ceiling. On a pedestal lit like a spotlight sat something that made me catch my breath.
"A-a treasure chest...!?"
Maybe because I had raised my sense parameters, I thought I heard something like this.
"H-how did you find that, zamasu!? Without a hint you should never have found it...!? D-don't open that, zamasu! If you open it, something terrible will happen, zamasu! I didn't hide it to give to trash like you!"