Chapter 160

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 160

Chapter Title: Mana or Breast Milk

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After taking a warm shower and lying down on the bed, a swell of satisfaction brought a smile to my face unbidden.

"Is this the taste of a successful investment?"

Truth be told, there had been a sense of responsibility—not quite responsibility, but something like it—toward Han Semi since I'd gotten her pregnant. She had her own charms, and while I wished her age was just a digit lower, she offered a richer flavor that Im Hyeji, Kang Hana, and Lee Sua lacked.

But somehow, she didn't pull at my heartstrings as much.

I'd felt like once I earned the Space Leap skill, that was it... after that, eh.

It wasn't that I disliked her or anything.

It was just that feeling.

The long, lingering pull I felt toward Im Hyeji, Lee Sua, and Kang Hana.

She didn't have that.

It wasn't just her appeal as a woman; it was the unique spark that came with impregnating her. That combination was what made me want to nurture her as a Kang Jik Guild member, build her up, refine her abilities, pump out more SSS-grade skills like clockwork, and eventually even try skill synthesis.

Han Semi didn't inspire that.

I tried not to blame the late-childbirth penalty, but those two weeks had felt like a hassle, so maybe that was it.

Level this up to 5, then do it all again? Really? Wouldn't it be better to find someone younger with a similar vibe?

I might've been thinking along those lines subconsciously.

Of course, Han Semi had her appeal.

And her uses.

With the feasts laid out by Semi Guild, we could just show up as mercenaries, hunt, and leave—easy, fun dungeon trips. I couldn't ditch her for that.

But it wasn't like she demanded the same level of care as the other three women.

Today, though, my thinking shifted a bit.

You don't toss a gacha account that pulls an SSR Risema.

It had been a grind for that Risema.

Took several times the usual farming time, and even as an SSR, it came with flaws that made it a pain to manage.

But that miraculous, never-before-seen option unique to SSRs sparked a greed that made Han Semi worth maining.

"If she just gets one more miracle ability... Flaws are easy to fix anyway. It's whether she gets the miracle that matters."

The odds of a miracle with SS-grade magic stones—mixing in B-grade mana daily—were 33%.

Could I push ability attachment odds that high?

Where would I even get SS-grade stones?

The ones from the Hunter Association covered body prices for me and three women over ten years.

Go back and say, "Do another ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ten years, gimme one more"? Like they'd hand over an SS-grade stone on a silver platter.

And even if I scraped one together somehow.

That only got me to 33%.

"A no-flaw miracle would be insane."

Guess I'm just a guy after all.

Passing up safe, low-risk young girls with higher floors, hooked on the dopamine from one taste of miracle flavor, now chasing the next one.

In that sense, Han Semi suddenly became useful.

Not just as miracle gacha fodder.

Because of that miracle, future pregnancies would be smoother.

Now she had that irreplaceable pregnancy allure all her own.

As long as we skipped her birth year, her looks hit the mature beauty level I wanted.

And with her obsession-level fixation on appearance, she'd keep up maintenance without me saying a word.

"This'll be fun."

Excitement bubbled up.

What hunter rank would Han Semi end up with?

She could hide it, sure, but when I asked, she'd already made up her mind.

'If you want, Jik, I'll hide it. My abilities haven't fully grown anyway, and it'll take time to master them.'

Hunters crave rank-ups fiercely.

A-rank, S-rank, SS-rank, SSS-rank.

It's like a birthmark etched on them. Whether you've hunted ten years or a hundred, unless you're a fresh awakener stacking experience fast, ranks rarely budge.

There's a hard cap.

The limit of what your skills, abilities, and stats can chain into.

Exceed it and wear a lower-rank badge anyway?

For hunters who could die any day, half their drive—recognition and daring higher dungeons—comes from rank. No way.

Yet Han Semi said she'd hide it if I wanted.

Kang Jik Guild was already under the spotlight.

Adding her would make things unpredictable.

But I shook my head.

'Register it. Show it off. Let 'em see a 40s spinster pussy pulled it off.'

If we were hiding, I'd have concealed Lee Sua and Kang Hana's powers first.

Im Hyeji aside, we could've sucked honey privately, bred skills into a soccer team, and debuted flashy without anyone batting an eye.

Before the next S-grade and SS-grade dungeons, I'd absorb level 5 first awakenings, learning skills and abilities.

Hiding power? I could handle that myself.

"Hiding abilities among the bitches."

The thought alone felt like it'd spawn a killer power-fantasy novel. I chuckled dumbly.

Another shitpost dropped for the day. I eyed the tumbler in my subspace with pride and drifted off.

The quest reward abilities drew involuntary admiration.

"Now this is prime reward material."

Efficient Mana Management was a solid ability to begin with.

Even if you grabbed skills without abilities and mana drain was an issue, this let you at least use them.

Up till now, with only Resurrection, I'd mostly used it to boost mana absorption from stones rather than cut consumption.

But going forward, I'd rely on it heavily.

Hitting Lv2 with that 5% no-mana chance? Huge for high-drain skills.

Especially spatial skills.

Even with fewer flaws, they'd guzzle mana, and my magic power was low anyway—hard to spam freely. That 5% proc could decide if I chained skill combos or not.

Wish I could level Efficient Mana Management more, but it's pricey like the rest. Probably trade up B-grades to higher stones later for P farming.

Sperm Targeting was the same story.

These two ability level-ups—reward for clearing that brutal late-childbirth quest—were worth at least 2,000P by value alone.

Sperm Targeting especially: the wording's tricky, but it lets you tweak the displayed pregnancy probabilities on a pregnant woman pre-birth.

Take Han Semi fresh off delivery: peel 10% from the 11% protection skill odds, shift to miracle, boom—43%.

This was super sperm power incarnate, and why the Lv2 cost seemed too low to believe.

Finally, Concentrated Semen Lv6.

True super hidden achievement reward for landing both miracle and flaw—this was the star.

No changes to old effects, but the new one? Gold.

Shell game perfection.

Blast 16x semen, it hits 32x, 11% for overabsorption, then 10% for 'one more round!'...

You'd get addicted to semen for real.

Perfect rewards from that late-childbirth quest.