The Succubus's Gift

The stale bachelor stink of my cramped studio apartment hit me the moment I stepped inside. Tsk. A room like this, I couldn't invite a woman ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over — hell, I couldn't even invite family. Not that it mattered. I'd already burned my bridges with them. When I'd gone home last week, the only person who'd even bothered to greet me was my mother.

I did a half-assed job of tidying up. When a slump dragged on like this, I just cleared enough space to lie down and worked from there. Once I sank into the writing, the state of the room stopped mattering.

Once the worst of the mess was shoved aside, I found myself turning over what Sujin had told me a little while ago. Distilled to its essence, her problem was simple: she didn't have the power to become a Dungeon Hunter. The irony was almost too perfect — because I happened to possess an "ability" that could fill every gap she had.

"If Power of Sex raises your stats, does that mean your mana pool goes up too?"

My status window didn't list a mana stat. Intelligence might be the one that governed it, for all I knew. Either way, with Power of Sex in play, growing her stronger was entirely possible. A strange, unearned confidence settled over me.

This is going to sound crude, but the truth is that when Sujin had poured her heart out, I'd barely heard a word. I'd been too busy stealing glances at the smooth line of her throat, trying not to get caught. While she sighed that world-weary sigh and lamented her lack of talent, I was imagining pinning her down and taking her.

I really was a piece of garbage. I'd written so much erotica that my personality had probably disintegrated. Or had I always been this kind of guy?

Anyway. Setting that aside — the fact that my ability could help her grow was not in question. I'd never tested it, sure, but the countless realities the Unix Cube had shown me were proof enough. The odds that Power of Sex was a genuine ability were high.

I was purely, genuinely happy. Happy that I could help Sujin, yes — but if I'm being honest, I was happier that I now had a legitimate reason to take her. Was "legitimate" even the right word? Whatever. Sex between Sujin and me was a win-win for everyone involved.

"The problem, then, is how I actually have sex with her."

In my head I could pin her down as many times as I wanted. Reality was a different animal. Forget pinning her down — one off-color remark and I'd be sitting in a police station.

Obviously, I had zero interest in eating prison food at my age. But Sujin would have to be out of her mind to willingly sleep with an ordinary guy like me. And "ordinary" was generous. A piece of trash who didn't even qualify as average had no business with a beauty like her.

"Looks like I'll have to use this item after all. Almost like it was handed down to me for this exact moment."

Succubus's Gift!

What a magnificent name. With this in hand, taking Sujin would be as easy as breathing. Of course, actually getting her to swallow it was the hard part.

Then again, considering I'd already managed to strike up a conversation with her today, it might not be that difficult. I pictured her in front of me — breathless, disheveled, coming apart. Vulgar as it was, I got hard all over again. Ever since my stats had gone up, my stamina seemed to have climbed with them. Did virility count as Strength?

"Think this through. She cannot find out I used an aphrodisiac on her. I need a thorough plan."

Aphrodisiacs existed in the real world, too. Naturally, a civilian like me couldn't get anywhere near them. Even Sujin, who worked at a company that handled monster byproducts, wouldn't have access. So if the Succubus's Gift took hold of her, the last thing she'd suspect was that she'd been drugged.

I laid out a plan to take her. No — a plan to help her.

This wasn't purely for my own selfish reasons. It was for her sake, too. And, while I was at it, I'd satisfy my own lust and confirm the performance of my ability. Ah, why was I such a good person? If I was lucky, Sujin would still be a virgin.

Drawing on the experience of writing dozens of erotica, I put together a plan to fuck her. I couldn't honestly call it airtight. But I'd always been an improvisational kind of writer. If things went sideways, I could adapt on the fly.

As I built the plan, I noticed I'd started designing it around what would get me off rather than what would actually work. I really was irredeemable trash. I felt a little sorry for Sujin, caught in my clutches. Not that I had any intention of letting her go.

After settling on a plan to devour Sujin properly, a different kind of problem surfaced. Hunter registration. I had an ability now. In Korea, anyone who awakened was legally required to complete Hunter registration within three months — a law designed to keep Demonic in check.

Once you fell under the Hunter Association's supervision, illegal activity got a lot harder. That said, registered Demonic still made the news often enough, so registration alone clearly wasn't a perfect solution.

There were even entire clans founded by Demonic that hit the headlines from time to time. Still, one of the Association's core reasons for existing was Demonic control, which meant registration wasn't optional.

My problem was that registering with Power of Sex as my ability was going to be… difficult. I'd initially considered registering with my acceleration skill instead, but that had its own issues.

The performance of Time Acceleration was far worse than I'd expected. The skill demanded a monstrous cost and, in exchange, sped me up for a paltry ten seconds. Compared to a genuine acceleration ability, it was embarrassingly inferior. Maybe that was why skills were cheaper than abilities.

Look at actual acceleration users. Even a freshly awakened Hunter could keep it up for a full minute without breaking a sweat. A seasoned one could accelerate for over an hour. Compared to my ten seconds, it was the difference between heaven and earth.

Skill levels might close that gap eventually, but right now the ability was pathetically weak.

Of course, a weak ability didn't disqualify you from registering. Anyone who had awakened could register as a Hunter; there was no discrimination based on type or proficiency.

That said, Hunters with powerful abilities received considerably more support from the Association. The Hunter Association was an organization that revolved around Dungeon Hunters above all else. Dungeon Hunters enjoyed all kinds of backing, and to become one, the type and mastery of your ability mattered a great deal.

"Once you register an ability, you can't swap it out for a different one. I need to be careful."

There had never been a single recorded case of someone's ability changing, or of anyone wielding more than one. Pulling a stunt like that would draw exactly the kind of public attention I didn't want. What I wanted was to register with a reasonably useful ability — something good enough to qualify me as a Dungeon Hunter.

Acceleration itself was an enhancement-type ability well suited to dungeon work, but the effect I could actually produce was so limited that registering with it felt like a waste.

"Which means I have no choice but to roll a new ability or skill."

Power of Sex and Time Acceleration were both excellent. Power of Sex, especially, was not something I would ever give up. But I needed something else to put on the registration forms.

I currently held a staggering 36,100 credits. That was enough to unlock two abilities, or acquire three skills. I could also mix it — one ability and two skills.

After a moment's thought, I decided to go with skills. Every time you unlocked an ability, the credit cost went up. If I burned a roll on an ability and got something mediocre, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Skill acquisition cost the same as the initial ability unlock, and the price didn't increase.

I opened the skill window and tapped a little "+" button in the corner that I hadn't noticed before. A prompt bloomed in my mind.

Even with 36,100 credits in the bank, 10,000 wasn't a small sum. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for something good, then answered the prompt.

"Acquire skill."

An A-Rank skill. For someone who already owned an SS-Rank Root Skill, the result was painfully underwhelming. Even the acquisition bonus was identical to what I'd gotten for a B-Rank item.

"Still, let's check the effects. It might turn out better than it looks."

I kept my expectations in check and opened the skill window.

"Hnh. Is this… good?"

A mental-type passive, from the look of it. Status resistance was treated as a pretty important stat even in MOBA games, and it would probably come in handy in a real fight. But it was nowhere near something I could present as my registered ability. This roll was a bust.

I let out a long sigh. Succeeding on the first try had been too much to hope for. At least I'd invested in skills. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If I'd spent this on an ability, I'd be staking everything on a single remaining roll. I still had two chances left.

I drew a deep breath and said yes. My precious credits drained away in a rush. Please. This time. This time.

Jackpot. I didn't even need to read the descriptions. This was a confirmed, certified, no-doubt-about-it jackpot. My mouth fell open and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stayed that way, hanging at the sheer enormity of those three letters: SSS.

Abilities, skills — SSS-Rank just kept dropping for me. Was this what they called beginner's luck? Or maybe there were grades even higher than SSS. Either way, an SSS-Rank skill was more than welcome. I hurried to open the skill window.

Good god.

Among the Branch Skills I'd just acquired was one called Water Control — the exact same name as Sujin's ability. Whether it was the same kind of power as a real-world ability, I couldn't say. Either way, it was incredible.

Six elemental control skills, bundled in as a set! Elemental Mastery looked like nothing less than an overwhelming upgrade of Sujin's ability. I'd assumed abilities were strictly superior to skills. Apparently that wasn't always the case.