Heart-to-Heart and a Fiery Awakening
My vision went completely dark.
It was because Yisul suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, squeezing the breath right out of me. With that perfect 30cm height difference—the kind that's just right for hugging—my body fit snugly against hers. I flailed for a moment from the suffocation, then relaxed and let her hold me.
I didn't realize under those baggy clothes, but she's got way more curves than I thought!
Of all positions, my face ended up buried in her chest, which was embarrassing on multiple levels. Oblivious to my inner turmoil, she hugged me fiercely for several minutes until she finally calmed down. Then she pulled back and sat in a chair—apparently handed over discreetly by one of the elves who'd been watching us awkwardly from nearby.
"Sorry."
In the awkward silence, she spoke first, her voice low.
"…."
I was pondering how to respond when she started talking again.
"At first, I was just grateful. It was proof that the stoic you was finally opening up to me a bit more. But when I thought about the contribution points you must've spent to buy all that gear… I just felt so sorry for you."
I'd just hung out with slimes for a month and suddenly got showered with contribution points, so spending them didn't feel like a big deal to me. But she must've seen it differently.
"Truth is, I spent nearly 100 days alone on the 1st floor. From what I overheard earlier, most people escape in a day or two at most. Was I just unlucky? Thanks to that, I even got an achievement called 'Last Survivor of the 1st Floor'."
"A hundred days?!"
Even my month alone on the 1st floor would've been unbearably lonely without Dingdong keeping me company. A hundred days?!
"After all that hardship, I finally took down the ogre and cleared the floor. The contribution points I got were 300. I still don't know why I got more than others, but maybe because I had a bigger impact on the 1st floor?"
"What do you mean by 'bigger impact' exactly?"
"On my first day there, I actually made a contract with a water spirit. But even with its power, it wasn't enough to take down the ogre alone. I asked if I could summon it here to show you, but the mana in the air here is too thin compared to the 1st floor—it said it's impossible."
"Instead, over those months, I subtly guided the ogre's movements, herding it like fish in a net. I slowly reshaped the area around it into a river and drowned the thing to clear the floor."
"Whoa…."
"That's also why I teared up when you gave me those gifts. I have no idea how much suffering you went through to earn those contribution points."
Come to think of it, we'd both been avoiding talking about the 1st floor on purpose.
I remembered how the mood had soured back at the cafeteria when she asked about my clear. I'd just been struggling to adjust to life without Dingdong, but she must've thought I had some tragic backstory. Especially since a kid like me came out of hard mode with a ton of points—who wouldn't wonder what horrors I'd endured?
Of course, I'm not actually from hard mode, and my mind isn't a kid's either. But Yisul doesn't know that. She was probably projecting her own ordeals onto me.
All I could do in this situation was tell her not to worry about it—that I was purely grateful for the gifts and that was enough.
Yisul seemed to snap out of it, now looking embarrassed about her outburst instead.
Looking back now, maybe I've been overthinking her as some intimidating figure.
From the moment we met, she'd approached me with high energy and always showed her bright side, so I'd kind of idolized her. But really, she's just an ordinary early-20s girl. After months alone on the 1st floor, she must've been incredibly lonely deep down. Her over-the-top enthusiasm made sense now as a rebound from that isolation.
"It's okay, Sol unnie. Now you've got me, right?"
Heartened by my words of encouragement, Sol perked up and started chatting energetically again.
"Unnie's fine now. The sun must be setting soon—let's head home."
I accidentally called her 'Sol unnie' earlier, but she didn't notice.
I'd been too shy to say it out loud until now, but it slipped out by mistake. She'd shown me her vulnerable side too, so we're even.
Any lingering distance between us vanished completely. Before I knew it, comfortable silence had replaced the awkwardness as we quietly made our way home.
I stuffed myself until my belly was full to bursting for dinner, then flopped onto the bed. Sleep started creeping in.
"No!"
I kicked off the blanket and jumped out of bed. It wasn't some dark memory of my past making me lash out—it was just a sudden realization that living like this, just eating and sleeping, wouldn't cut it.
"Okay, I'm up… but what now?"
As I muttered to myself in embarrassment, my eyes landed on the staff I'd bought earlier. Unlike the basic one from the 1st floor, this one's luxurious wooden design was something to show off anywhere. Especially since it was fully optioned: lightweight for me, plus fancy enchants like mana circulation and mana stabilization.
Holding this staff made even me—who still couldn't sense mana—feel like I could pull off something amazing.
"Right! Magic study time today. I'm going to Jeonghyeon Yeo's lecture tomorrow anyway—might as well preview it."
Maybe it was the great gear, but the frustration of failing to sense mana on the 1st floor bubbled away like foam, replaced by unfounded confidence.
What if I end up better at magic than the instructor with this staff?
I imagined conjuring a massive fireball with a single chant or dropping a meteor. The instructor freaks out at my genius, students despair, and Sol shakes in awe. My lips curled into a grin without me realizing.
If this were a webnovel, I'd be the protagonist of 'I Became the World's Greatest Mage Alone with SSS-Class Gear Cheat'.
I gripped the staff tight. Glancing at my status window, the mana stat read 0 (+5), fueling my surging confidence even more.
Looking around, I could feel the flow of mana rippling like waves.
"So this is sensing mana! What comes next…?"
Recalling the brief magic demo from Yeo Jeonghyeon's speech earlier and Sol's casual mention of her spirit contract, I tried manipulating the mana. If I had to compare it, it was like steering a small boat through gentle waves with my will. As expected from mana 5, manipulation came effortlessly on the first try.
With mana under control, the next step was infusing it with my intent.
This is where it gets tricky. Guess even gear has its limits?
I could manipulate the mana itself, but I had no clue how to shape it into magic. Even visualizing gathering it into a blazing inferno just made it scatter repeatedly with no reaction.
"This is pointless."
Drawing magic circles with mana, spreading it out, condensing it—nothing changed. All I could do was play with the ambient mana like mud pies in the air.
I can manipulate mana but not cast spells? I'm basically a magical assistant!
I'd just gotten my passion for magic back thanks to the gear, and now this! The confidence that I could do anything with this staff deflated like a limp mushroom into hollow frustration.
All I could do was vent on the staff, slamming it against the floor. I wasn't in the mood to worry about noise complaints right now. If the downstairs neighbors got mad, they'd come up themselves.
After roughly five minutes of abusing the innocent staff, I noticed something. Was it the mana emission enchant the elf clerk mentioned when I bought it? Mana was leaking from the staff's core, rippling out in circular waves like stones dropped in a calm lake.
I'd sensed this much from the start, but I'd overlooked something key: when I swung the staff, the mana waves surged in sync with the motion.
"Am I seeing this right?"
Testing it, I slammed the staff hard against the floor. A massive boom echoed, and violent mana ripples exploded outward. The sound was just raw physical force, but my neighbors would forgive that much.
No time for trivial worries. Like a tsunami from an earthquake, the staff's swing created a huge mana wave. It swept to the end of my room, resonating with nearby mana.
What if I ride my own mana on this mana tsunami?
Bam! Bam!
This time, I gathered my mana into a point and slammed the staff down. My mana rode the powerful wave.
"No, this isn't enough!"
It felt 2% short. But this time, I intuitively knew what was missing.
"It's not just riding the flow—I have to control my mana!"
Gripping the staff tight, I focused harder than ever on manipulating my mana. Of course, pinpointing my tiny mana amid that massive flow was nearly impossible. Like finding my phone dropped in a packed swimming pool—hard to move through the crowd, and it'd be gone by the time I got close.
"Found it!"
Luckily, I spotted its position right away. But controlling it was another story. My hands were slick with cold sweat from gripping so hard, and my mind teetered on the edge of blackout.
Pouring every ounce of strength into focus…
"Did it work?"
The moment the mana connection linked, I panicked and yanked it toward me.
And in that instant!
BOOM!!!
A massive blaze engulfed my room.